Effect of m-Trifluoromethyl-diphenyl diselenide on the Pain-Depression Dyad Induced by Reserpine: Insights on Oxidative Stress, Apoptotic, and Glucocorticoid Receptor Modulation

Chronic pain and depression often coexist sharing common pathological mechanisms, and available analgesics and antidepressants have demonstrated limited clinical efficacy. Evidence has demonstrated that neuronal oxidative stress, apoptosis, and also glucocorticoid receptor dysregulation facilitate the occurrence and development of both chronic pain and depression. This study evaluated the effect of the organoselenium compound m-trifluoromethyl-diphenyl diselenide [(m-CF₃-PhSe)₂] in the pain-depression comorbidity induced by reserpine. Mice were treated with reserpine 0.5 mg/kg for 3 days (intraperitoneal, once a day), and in the next 2 days, they were treated with (m-CF₃-PhSe)₂ 10 mg/kg (intragastric, once a day). Thirty minutes after the last administration of (m-CF₃-PhSe)₂, mice were subjected to the behavioral testing. (m-CF₃-PhSe)₂ treatment reverted the reserpine-increased thermal hyperalgesia and depressive-like behavior observed in the hot-plate test and forced swimming test, respectively. Reserpine provoked a decrease of crossings and rearings in the open-field test, while (m-CF₃-PhSe)₂ presented a tendency to normalize these parameters. Reserpine and/or (m-CF₃-PhSe)₂ treatments did not alter the locomotor activity of mice observed in the rota-rod test. These effects could be related to modulation of oxidative stress, apoptotic pathway, and glucocorticoid receptors, once (m-CF₃-PhSe)₂ normalized thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and 4-hydroxynonenal modified protein levels, markers of lipoperoxidation, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleaved/total ratio, and glucocorticoid receptor levels increased by reserpine in the hippocampus. Considering that pain-depression dyad is a complex state of difficult treatment, this organoselenium compound could raise as an interesting alternative to treat pain-depression condition.

Brachydactyly, mesomelia, mental retardation, aortic dilatation, mitral valve prolapse, and characteristic face

We report on a male with brachydactyly, thin habitus with narrow shoulders, mesomelic shortness of the arms, long lower face with obtuse mandibular angle, maxillary hypoplasia with beaking of the nose, aortic root dilatation, and mitral valve prolapse. This combination of findings has not been reported previously.

Socio-economic Stratification Generated by International Migration Loops

This paper analyzes the migration phenomenon within a framework that treats migration movements as continuous loops, from the country of origin to the destination and back. Significant social-psychological factors at each step of the loop process contribute to the development of migration streams along a predictable pattern. The general model of the loop process shows that the migration stream is 1st sparked when labor is recruited from less developed countries for work in developed industrialized countries. Once the social process of migration has begun, it tends to acquire a self-feeding character. Social and economic change in sending and receiving societies brought about by migration make further migration more likely. The case of the Mexico-US-Mexico loop process is analyzed. This case illustrates the effects of socioeconomic stratification that occurs in communities where the migration loop process reaches a certain level of maturity. The majority of a town's population may become committed to migration as a way of life. Eventually, wealth becomes concentrated in the hands of those that are most able to migrate. Thus, migrants may become a new elite segment of rural populations that were once relatively homogenous societies. Further research of the migration loop process should be conducted. At least in the case of Mexico, the socioeconomic stratification in the villages and towns acting as sources of migration loops with destinations in the US have significant internal economic, social, and political implications.