Sladjana Savic

Prevalence and characteristics of orofacial pain in university students.

This cross-sectional study investigated the characteristics and prevalence of orofacial pain, and its associations with sociodemographic characteristics, in 319 university students: 188 second-year students in the Medical Faculty and 131 students in the Faculty of Technical Sciences at the University of Kosovska Mitrovica. A specially designed questionnaire was used to assess the prevalence and characteristics of pain. Among the 319 students, 101 (32%) reported previous orofacial pain, and pain was more frequent among women (P < 0.05). Logistic regression revealed that gender was an important predictor of pain and that the risk for pain development among women was 1.8 times that among men. Place of residence and relationship status were not associated with frequency of orofacial pain. The regions with the highest pain prevalences were the temporal region (7%; 95% confidence interval, 4-10%) and the region around the eye (6%; 95% confidence interval, 4-9%). The first episode of orofacial pain was less than 3 months previously in 59% of the participants, and 39% of students had sought professional medical help. (J Oral Sci 58, 7-13, 2016).

Endocardial endothelium as a blood-heart barrier

Introduction. Endocardial endothelium is formed from a single layer of closely related cells with complex interrelationships and extensive overlap at the junctional edges. Morphological characteristics of blood-heart barrier. Endocardium is composed of three layers: endocardial endothelium, subendothelial loose connective tissue and subendocardium. The fibrous component of the subendothelium consists of small amount of collagen and elastic fibers. Several cell types are present in subendocardium: telocytes, fibroblasts and nerve endings. Intercellular bonds between the endocardial endothelial cells. Endocardial endothelial cells are attached to one another via sets of binding proteins forming solid, adherent and communicating connections. Communicating connections form transmembrane channels between the neighboring cells, while solid and adherent connections form pericellular structures like stitches. The maintenance of the presumed transendocardial electrochemical potential difference provides a high gradient for certain ions as well as a selective boundary barrier, basal lamina, preventing ionic leakage. The negatively charged glycocalyx also modulates endothelial permeability. Electrophysiological characteristics of heart-blood barrier. Electrophysiological studies have shown the existence of a large number of membrane ion channels in the endocardial endothelial cells: inward rectifying K+ channels, Ca2+ dependent K+channels, voltage-dependent Cl- channels, volume-activated Cl- channels, stretch-activated cation channels and one carrier mediated transport mechanism - Na+K+adenosine triphosphatase. Conclusion. Numerous diseases of the cardiovascular system may be a consequence, but also the cause of the endocardial endothelium dysfunction. Selective damage to the endocardial endothelium and subendocardium is found in arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, ischemia/reperfusion injury and heart failure. Typical lesions of endocardial and microvascular endothelium have also been described in sepsis, myocardial infarction, inflammation and thrombosis. The result of endothelial dysfunction is the weakening of the endothelial barrier regulation and electrolyte imbalance of the subendocardial interstitium.