Melatonin enhances cell death and suppresses the metastatic capacity of ovarian cancer cells by attenuating the signaling of multiple kinases.

Background: Ovarian cancer is a highly aggressive disease that is frequently diagnosed in advanced stages. Melatonin, with its numerous antitumor properties, holds great promise in cancer treatment. Herein, we investigated the effects of melatonin on apoptosis, cell migration, and kinase levels in human ovarian carcinoma SKOV-3 cells and determined whether these effects are mediated by the activation of the MT1 receptor.

Orofacial anti-hypernociceptive effect of citral in acute and persistent inflammatory models in rats.

Unlabelled: Orofacial pain has significant psychological and physiological effects. Citral (3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadienal) is the main component of Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf, an herb with analgesic properties. Although citral has been considered a potent analgesic, its putative effects on orofacial pain are still unknown.

Citral Modulates MMP-2 and MMP-9 Activities on Healing of Gastric Ulcers Associated with High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity.

Obesity causes low-grade inflammation that results in the development of comorbidities. In people with obesity, exacerbation of gastric lesion severity and delayed healing may aggravate gastric mucosal lesions. Accordingly, we aimed to evaluate the citral effects on gastric lesion healing in eutrophic and obese animals.

The essential oil from Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC improves gastric ulcer healing in rats through modulation of VEGF and MMP-2 activity.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC known as "carqueja" in Brazil has been acknowledged as a medicinal plant in folk medicine for the treatment of stomach aches and gastrointestinal disorders.

Aim Of The Study: The present study aimed to evaluate the gastroprotective and healing effects of essential oil from B.

Hypothermic Effect of Acute Citral Treatment during LPS-induced Systemic Inflammation in Obese Mice: Reduction of Serum TNF-α and Leptin Levels.

Citral is a mixture of monoterpenes present in the essential oil of several plants, such as and , possessing anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcerogenic, and antipyretic actions. We investigated the action of citral on body temperature (Tb) and inflammatory signaling in eutrophic and obese mice during Systemic Inflammation (SI) induced by Lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Thus, we assessed the effect of citral (25, 100, and 300 mg/kg) and ibuprofen in LPS-induced SI in Swiss male mice fed a standard diet (SD) or high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks.

Systematic Analysis of Monoterpenes: Advances and Challenges in the Treatment of Peptic Ulcer Diseases.

Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a multifactorial and complex disease caused by an imbalance of protective and aggressive factors (endogenous and exogenous). Despite advances in recent years, it is still responsible for substantial mortality and triggering clinical problems. Over the last decades, the understanding of PUD has changed a lot with the discovery of Helicobacter pylori infection.

Endovascular Solutions for Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms with Challenging Anatomies.

Introduction: The suitability of the proximal and distal landing zones remains one of the main limitations to thoracic endovascular aortic repair. The advent of custom-made scalloped stent grafts widened the endovascular options in some challenging anatomies.

Methods: The authors present three cases of thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA), with three different hostile anatomies, successfully treated with custom-made scalloped stent grafts.

Foil Strain Gauges Using Piezoresistive Carbon Nanotube Yarn: Fabrication and Calibration.

Carbon nanotube yarns are micron-scale fibers comprised by tens of thousands of carbon nanotubes in their cross section and exhibiting piezoresistive characteristics that can be tapped to sense strain. This paper presents the details of novel foil strain gauge sensor configurations comprising carbon nanotube yarn as the piezoresistive sensing element. The foil strain gauge sensors are designed using the results of parametric studies that maximize the sensitivity of the sensors to mechanical loading.

Antipyretic Effects of Citral and Possible Mechanisms of Action.

Citral is a mixture of the two monoterpenoid isomers (neral and geranial) widely used as a health-promoting food additive safe for human and animal (approved by the US Food and Drug Administration). In vitro studies have reported on the capability of citral to reduce inflammation. Here, we report antipyretic effects of citral in vivo using the most well-accepted model of sickness syndrome, i.

Development of an Acoustic Levitation Linear Transportation System Based on a Ring-Type Structure.

A linear acoustic levitation transportation system based on a ring-type vibrator is presented. The system is composed by two 21-kHz Langevin transducers connected to a ring-shaped structure formed by two semicircular sections and two flat plates. In this system, a flexural standing wave is generated along the ring structure, producing an acoustic standing wave between the vibrating ring and a plane reflector located at a distance of approximately a half wavelength from the ring.

[Early type I Endoleak after Endovascular Management of an Aorto-esophageal Fistula].

Objective: Presentation of a clinical case of an aorto-esophageal fistula secondary to thoracic aorta pseudoaneurysm, complicated by early type Ia endoleak after endovascular repair.

Clinical Case: A 64 years old male patient, with a history of arterial hypertension, smoking, alcohol abuse and ischemic heart disease with previous coronary revascularization was observed because of chest pain and abundant hematemesis, with Angio-CT revealing a 77mm pseudoaneurysm of the descending thoracic aorta, close to the left subclavian artery, with mass effect on the esophagus and trachea and signs of fistulization. He was proposed to endovascular repair with sealing in zone 2 of the aortic arch after building a left carotid-subclavian bypass.

Maximizing phononic band gaps in piezocomposite materials by means of topology optimization.

Phononic crystals (PCs) can exhibit phononic band gaps within which sound and vibrations at certain frequencies do not propagate. In fact, PCs with large band gaps are of great interest for many applications, such as transducers, elastic/acoustic filters, noise control, and vibration shields. Previous work in the field concentrated on PCs made of elastic isotropic materials; however, band gaps can be enlarged by using non-isotropic materials, such as piezoelectric materials.

[Occlusion of Peripheral Bypass - Changing of an Institutional Paradigm].

The vast majority of renovascular hypertension is treated nowadays resorting to endovascular procedures (angioplasty/stenting). We report a case of malignant hypertension derived from bilateral ostial renal artery occlusion with unfit anatomy for endovascular correction. The patient maintained assymptomatic with controlled arterial tension at the thirteenth yeah of follow-up, due to a splenorenal bypass.

Wide dynamic range homodyne interferometry method and its application for piezoactuator displacement measurements.

Multiactuated piezoelectric flextensional actuators (MAPFAs) is a fast-growing technology in development, with a wide range of applications in precision mechanics and nanotechnology. In turn, optical interferometry is an adequate technique to measure nano/micro-displacements and to characterize these MAPFAs. In this work, an efficient method for homodyne phase detection, based on a well-known Bessel functions recurrence relation, is developed, providing practical applications with a high dynamic range.

[Coronary-subclavian steal syndrome].

Objective: Presentation of 3 consecutive cases of coronary-subclavian steal syndrome, with special attention to clinical evolution, diagnosis, treatment strategies and outcomes.

Material And Methods: We present three consecutive cases of male patients, aged 60 to 69 years (average: 63 years) with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking as the most prevalent cardiovascular risk factors. The 3 cases had a history of previous coronary revascularization using the left internal mammary artery to the anterior descending coronary, with an interval of 4 months to 4 years before the onset of symptoms, 2 of the cases with stable angina, 1 with V4 to V6 ST segment depression in the exercise test and 1 with myocardial infarction with no ST segment elevation.

Modeling of functionally graded piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers.

The application of functionally graded material (FGM) concept to piezoelectric transducers allows the design of composite transducers without interfaces, due to the continuous change of property values. Thus, large improvements can be achieved, as reduction of stress concentration, increasing of bonding strength, and bandwidth. This work proposes to design and to model FGM piezoelectric transducers and to compare their performance with non-FGM ones.

Characterization of mineralized collagen-glycosaminoglycan scaffolds for bone regeneration.

Mineralized collagen-glycosaminoglycan scaffolds designed for bone regeneration have been synthesized via triple co-precipitation in the absence of a titrant phase. Here, we characterize the microstructural and mechanical properties of these newly developed scaffolds with 50 and 75 wt.% mineral content.

Three-dimensional electrical impedance tomography: a topology optimization approach.

Electrical impedance tomography is a technique to estimate the impedance distribution within a domain, based on measurements on its boundary. In other words, given the mathematical model of the domain, its geometry and boundary conditions, a nonlinear inverse problem of estimating the electric impedance distribution can be solved. Several impedance estimation algorithms have been proposed to solve this problem.

Mechanical characterization of collagen-glycosaminoglycan scaffolds.

Tissue engineering scaffolds are used extensively as three-dimensional analogs of the extracellular matrix (ECM). However, less attention has been paid to characterizing the scaffold microstructure and mechanical properties than to the processing and bioactivity of scaffolds. Collagen-glycosaminoglycan (CG) scaffolds have long been utilized as ECM analogs for the regeneration of skin and are currently being considered for the regeneration of nerve and conjunctiva.

Effect of the activation of central 5-HT2C receptors by the 5-HT2C agonist mCPP on blood pressure and heart rate in rats.

In the present study we investigated the role of central 5-HT2C receptors in the control of blood pressure and heart rate in non-stressed and stressed, adult, male, Wistar rats. Third ventricle injections of the 5-HT2C agonist mCPP elicited a significant increase in blood pressure in non-stressed animals. The initial period of this hypertensive response (10-30 min after mCPP administration) was accompanied by baroreflex-mediated bradycardia, while after this period the coexistence of hypertension and tachycardia was observed.

Systemic use of metronidazole in the treatment of chronic periodontitis: a pilot study using clinical, microbiological, and enzymatic evaluation.

The aim of the present parallel, double-blind investigation was to evaluate the effect of using systemic metronidazole alone or associated to scaling and root planing on adult chronic periodontal disease, monitored at baseline, 30, 60 and 90 days. Twelve subjects were divided into three groups: the first group (Group I - 22 sites) was submitted to scaling and root planing (SRP) alone; the second group (Group II - 30 sites) received SRP and 250 mg of metronidazole (3 times a day for 10 days), and the third group (Group III - 31 sites) was treated with metronidazole alone. The clinical parameters evaluated were probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), plaque index (PlI), gingival index (GI) and bleeding upon probing (BP).