Sex-Dependent Effects of CYP2D6 on the Pharmacokinetics of Berberine in Humans.

An over-the-counter product berberine (a major alkaloid in goldenseal) is a substrate of the uptake transporter OCT1 and the metabolizing enzyme CYP2D6. The two genes exhibit common functional polymorphisms. Approximately 9% of Europeans and white Americans are either poor CYP2D6 metabolizers or poor OCT1 transporters.

Exopeptidase combination enhances the degradation of isotopically labelled gluten immunogenic peptides in humans.

Introduction: Celiac disease is a common autoimmune-like enteropathy caused by an aberrant response to incompletely digested dietary gluten. Gluten immunogenic peptides including the immunodominant 33-mer are thought to be resistant to proteolytic digestion by human gastrointestinal peptidases. We developed a novel enzyme therapy approach to support gluten peptide digestion using a combination of two tandem-acting exopeptidases, AMYNOPEP, that complement the intrinsic enzymatic activity of intestinal brush border enterocytes.

Enhanced platelet sensitization is accompanied by increased expression of the transporter MRP4 and elevated plasma S1P levels in mild COVID-19 convalescents.

Viral infections can lead to platelet activation and hemostatic complications. However, the extent to which platelet reactivity remains altered after convalescence, contributing to long-term health impairments as observed after COVID-19 is not yet fully understood. Therefore, we conducted a cohort study (DRKS00025217) to determine platelet function in individuals convalesced from mild COVID-19.

Individual use of self-medication and other remedies in COVID-19 outpatients in Western-Pomerania.

We analyzed data from positively tested COVID-19 outpatients to describe self-medication with OTC drugs and use of other remedies against symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We specifically considered their type and frequency, as well as associations with patient characteristics, and reasons for use. Data were collected between May 1, 2020 and February 22, 2021 with two questionnaires in an observational cohort study with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-positive adult outpatients in the district of Western Pomerania in Germany.

Impact of advanced age on the gastric emptying of water under fasted and fed state conditions.

Although older people are the main users of oral medications, few studies are reported on the influence of advanced age on gastric emptying rate of non-caloric liquids. This study aimed at evaluating the gastric emptying of 240 ml water in healthy older and young adults in fasted and fed state conditions using the established method of salivary caffeine kinetics. The gastric emptying of water was evaluated in 12 healthy older volunteers (mean age: 73 ± 6 years) and 12 healthy younger volunteers (mean age: 25 ± 2 years) with the ingestion of a rapid disintegrating tablet containing 20 mg of C-caffeine.

Prednisolone Versus Colchicine for Acute Gout in Primary Care: statistical analysis plan for the pragmatic, multicenter, randomized, and double-blinded COPAGO non-inferiority trial.

Background: To date, colchicine and prednisolone are two effective therapies for the treatment of acute gout but have never been compared directly in a randomized clinical trial. In addition, in previous trials of treating acute gout patients with concomitant comorbidities were often excluded due to contraindications to naproxen.

Study Design: This pragmatic, prospective, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel-group, randomized, non-inferiority trial compares prednisolone with colchicine in terms of non-inferiority in patients with acute gout.

Prednisolone Versus Colchicine for Acute Gout in Primary Care (COPAGO): protocol for a two-arm multicentre, pragmatic, prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial of prednisolone and colchicine for non-inferiority with a parallel group design.

Background: Gout is the most common form of rheumatic disease in which monosodium urate crystals are deposited in the joints followed by acute inflammatory reactions. There are various approved drugs that can be prescribed for pain relief during an acute gout attack. However, to date, no direct comparison of efficacy of colchicine and prednisolone for the treatment of acute gout attacks has been investigated.

Intragastric Carbon Dioxide Release Prolongs the Gastric Residence Time of Postprandially Administered Caffeine.

Sparkling water is said to increase gastric motility by the release of carbon dioxide, thereby potentially affecting the pharmacokinetics of orally administered drugs. The hypothesis of the present work was that the induction of gastric motility by intragastric release of carbon dioxide from effervescent granules could promote the mixing of drugs into the chyme under postprandial conditions, resulting in a prolonged drug absorption. For this purpose, an effervescent and a non-effervescent granule formulation of caffeine as a marker for gastric emptying were developed.

Clinical-pharmacological drug information center of Hannover Medical School: experiences and analysis from a tertiary care university hospital.

Drug information centers (DICs) are institutions dedicated to provide objective, independent, and up-to-date information on drugs and their rational use. To overcome the lack of recent DIC reports from central Europe, we analyzed all queries (n = 594) submitted to the DIC run by the Institute for Clinical Pharmacology of Hannover Medical School between October 2018 and April 2022. Approximately one in three queries (31.

Exploring the weight bias of professionals working in the field of obesity with a mobile IAT: a pilot study.

Background: Obesity is common in many industrialized nations and often accompanied by related health issues. Furthermore, individuals living with overweight or obesity are often confronted with stigmatization in their daily lives. These problems may be aggravated if the objectivity of health care professionals is compromised due to (unconscious) prejudices.

Course of disease and risk factors for hospitalization in outpatients with a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

We analyzed symptoms and comorbidities as predictors of hospitalization in 710 outpatients in North-East Germany with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. During the first 3 days of infection, commonly reported symptoms were fatigue (71.8%), arthralgia/myalgia (56.

Low-fat hypocaloric diet reduces neprilysin in overweight and obese human subjects.

Aims: Neprilysin (NEP), a zinc metallopeptidase, degrades a variety of bioactive peptides including natriuretic peptides terminating their biological action on arterial blood pressure and natriuresis. Pharmacological inhibition of NEP reduces mortality in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Physiological interventions reducing NEP levels are unknown in humans.

Effect of normobaric hypoxic exercise on blood pressure in old individuals.

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that the combination of endurance training and hypoxia leads to greater improvements in resting and exercise blood pressure in old sedentary individuals compared to endurance training only.

Methods: We randomly assigned 29 old overweight participants (age: 62 ± 6 years, body mass index (BMI): 28.5 ± 0.

Modern pharmacological treatment of obese patients.

There are many angles to consider in drug treatment of obese patients. On the one hand, some specific weight loss drugs are available, on the other, several drugs are associated with unintentional weight changes. When treating an obese patient for any given disease, several physiological changes may influence the pharmacokinetic properties of the drugs required.

An act of balance: Interaction of central and peripheral chemosensitivity with inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors in obstructive sleep apnoea.

Objectives: Central and peripheral chemosensitivity i.e. ventilatory response to CO and O are thought to be decisive for ventilatory control instability in obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

Influences of Hypoxia Exercise on Whole-Body Insulin Sensitivity and Oxidative Metabolism in Older Individuals.

Context: Aging is a primary risk factor for most chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes. Both exercise and hypoxia regulate pathways that ameliorate age-associated metabolic muscle dysfunction.

Objective: We hypothesized that the combination of hypoxia and exercise would be more effective in improving glucose metabolism than normoxia exercise.

Ultrafine particles and ozone perturb norepinephrine clearance rather than centrally generated sympathetic activity in humans.

Cardiovascular risk rapidly increased following exposure to air pollution. Changes in human autonomic regulation have been implicated based on epidemiological associations between exposure estimates and indirect autonomic nervous system measurements. We conducted a mechanistic study to test the hypothesis that, in healthy older individuals, well-defined experimental exposure to ultrafine carbon particles (UFP) increases sympathetic nervous system activity and more so with added ozone (O).

High Intensity High Volume Interval Training Improves Endurance Performance and Induces a Nearly Complete Slow-to-Fast Fiber Transformation on the mRNA Level.

We present here a longitudinal study determining the effects of two 3 week-periods of high intensity high volume interval training (HIHVT) (90 intervals of 6 s cycling at 250% maximum power, P/24 s) on a cycle ergometer. HIHVT was evaluated by comparing performance tests before and after the entire training (baseline, BSL, and endpoint, END) and between the two training sets (intermediate, INT). The mRNA expression levels of myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms and markers of energy metabolism were analyzed in M.

Eat healthy? Attitudes of the German population towards industrially produced cardioprotective food.

Background And Aim: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is likely to increase in incidence. Foods with cardioprotective functions, e.g.

The effects of angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibition by sacubitril/valsartan on adipose tissue transcriptome and protein expression in obese hypertensive patients.

Increased activation of the renin-angiotensin system is involved in the onset and progression of cardiometabolic diseases, while natriuretic peptides (NP) may exert protective effects. We have recently demonstrated that sacubitril/valsartan (LCZ696), a first-in-class angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor, which blocks the angiotensin II type-1 receptor and augments natriuretic peptide levels, improved peripheral insulin sensitivity in obese hypertensive patients. Here, we investigated the effects of sacubitril/valsartan (400 mg QD) treatment for 8 weeks on the abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (AT) phenotype compared to the metabolically neutral comparator amlodipine (10 mg QD) in 70 obese hypertensive patients.

Effect of Sacubitril/Valsartan on Exercise-Induced Lipid Metabolism in Patients With Obesity and Hypertension.

Unlabelled: Sacubitril/valsartan (LCZ696), a novel angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor, was recently approved for the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Neprilysin degrades several peptides that modulate lipid metabolism, including natriuretic peptides. In this study, we investigated the effects of 8 weeks' treatment with sacubitril/valsartan on whole-body and adipose tissue lipolysis and lipid oxidation during defined physical exercise compared with the metabolically neutral comparator amlodipine.

Branched-chain amino acid catabolism rather than amino acids plasma concentrations is associated with diet-induced changes in insulin resistance in overweight to obese individuals.

Background & Aims: 3-Hydroxyisobutyrate (3-HIB), a catabolic intermediate of the BCAA valine, which stimulates muscle fatty acid uptake, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. We tested the hypothesis that circulating 3-HIB herald insulin resistance and that metabolic improvement with weight loss are related to changes in BCAAs and 3-HIB.

Methods And Results: We analyzed plasma and urine in 109 overweight to obese individuals before and after six months on hypocaloric diets reduced in either carbohydrates or fat.

Systemic and tissue-specific effects of aliskiren on the RAAS and carbohydrate/lipid metabolism in obese patients with hypertension.

Aliskiren penetrates adipose and skeletal muscle in hypertensive patients with abdominal obesity and reduces renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system activity. After discontinuation, blood pressure-lowering effects are observed possibly through drug-tissue binding. We performed microdialysis evaluation of adipose tissue and skeletal muscle before and during an insulin-modified frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (IM-FSIGT).

Adipokine concentrations in lipoaspirates may have a role in wound healing.

Objectives: In addition to its use as a volume filler, fat grafting may have a potential role in wound healing based on the concentration of growth factors in the lipoaspirate. In this study, we compare the quantitative and qualitative concentration of the various growth factors and adipokines using the Shippert or the Coleman techniques to prepare the lipoaspirate.

Methods: We measured leptin, adiponectin and the growth factors, i.