Chemical composition and biological activities of aerial parts' methanol fractions.

Methanol extract of , was evaluated for its antiradical potential and capacity in inhibiting lipoxygenase and aldose/aldehyde reductase enzymes. The ethyl acetate fraction derived from the methanol extract partition, showed the greatest antioxidant capacity, while the butanol was the strongest inhibitor of lipoxygenase enzyme. All fractions (diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, butanol and the aqueous residue) exhibited strong inhibition capacity of both aldose/aldehyde reductase enzymes, which comes in agreement with the ethnomedicinal plant utilization as an antidiabetic agent.

Postpartum unconscious dynamics emerging from the Lüscher color test in Ethiopian women.

The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of the Lüscher color test (LCT), a psychological instrument based on theory that colors are selected in unconscious way and that the color sensory perception of color is objective and universal. The research has involved 24 Ethiopian women, which delivered at the Getche Health Center in Gurage. It seemed to be relevant for the majority of Ethiopian women identify the rejected color (58.

Functional brain organization of working memory in adolescents varies in relation to family income and academic achievement.

Working memory (WM) capacity reflects executive functions associated with performance on a wide range of cognitive tasks and education outcomes, including mathematics achievement, and is associated with dorsolateral prefrontal and parietal cortices. Here we asked if family income is associated with variation in the functional brain organization of WM capacity among adolescents, and whether that variation is associated with performance on a statewide test of academic achievement in mathematics. Participants were classified into higher-income and lower-income groups based on family income, and performed a WM task with a parametric manipulation of WM load (N-back task) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

The interaction of personality profile and lactation differs between mothers of late preterm and term neonates.

Late preterm birth, a rapidly growing segment of premature deliveries, has the potential to cause deleterious effects on women's psycho-emotional experience of labor and the establishment of successful lactation. We compared personality traits by the Lüscher Color Test, the mother-to-infant bonding attitudes by the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) and lactation outcome, between mothers of late preterm and at term infants. Our results indicated that mothers idealize their condition and wish to enjoy this magic and extraordinary time in spite of feeling stressed.

Phytochemical analysis with the antioxidant and aldose reductase inhibitory capacities of Tephrosia humilis aerial parts' extracts.

The aerial parts of Tephrosia humilis were tested about their antioxidant potential, their ability to inhibit the aldose/aldehyde reductase enzymes and their phenolic content. The plant material was exhaustively extracted with petroleum ether, dichloromethane and methanol, consecutively. The concentrated methanol extract was re-extracted, successively, with diethyl ether, ethyl acetate and n-butanol.

Neuroanatomical correlates of the income-achievement gap.

In the United States, the difference in academic achievement between higher- and lower-income students (i.e., the income-achievement gap) is substantial and growing.

Cognitive skills, student achievement tests, and schools.

Cognitive skills predict academic performance, so schools that improve academic performance might also improve cognitive skills. To investigate the impact schools have on both academic performance and cognitive skills, we related standardized achievement-test scores to measures of cognitive skills in a large sample (N = 1,367) of eighth-grade students attending traditional, exam, and charter public schools. Test scores and gains in test scores over time correlated with measures of cognitive skills.

Head-to-body delivery by "two-step" approach: effect on cord blood hematocrit.

Background: There is no study to support a relationship between placental transfusion and active management techniques of the second stage of labor.

Objective: To examine the association between head-to-body delivery by a "two-step" approach (which includes waiting for the next contraction to deliver the shoulders) and its effect on the amount of blood that remains in the infant's circulation at birth.

Study Design: Observational study on 500 consecutive, singleton, and at term deliveries from January to June 2012 in Policlinico Abano Terme, Abano Terme, Italy.

Retinal pigment epithelium, age-related macular degeneration and neurotrophic keratouveitis.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of impaired vision and blindness in the aging population. The aims of our studies were to identify qualitative and quantitative alterations in mitochondria in human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) from AMD patients and controls and to test the protective effects of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), a known neurotrophic and antiangiogenic substance, against neurotrophic keratouveitis. Histopathological alterations were studied by means of morphometry, light and electron microscopy.

The emergence of time as a lever for learning.

Expanding learning time in schools by extending their schedules is a growing movement aimed at helping high-poverty students get stronger academic skills and enjoy a more well-rounded education and positive development.

Correlation between spectral-domain optical coherence tomography findings and visual outcome after primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair.

Purpose: To correlate the postoperative visual outcome with the spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) findings in the fovea after successful rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair. Cross-sectional, observational study.

Methods: Thirty-five patients with preoperative macula-on rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (12 eyes) and macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (23 eyes) who underwent scleral buckling surgery for primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment were recruited.

Combined intravitreal ranibizumab and verteporfin photodynamic therapy versus ranibizumab alone for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To compare same-day combined therapy of photodynamic therapy with verteporfin (PDT-V) and intravitreal ranibizumab versus monotherapy with ranibizumab for the treatment of choroidal neovascularization.

Methods: IN THIS PROSPECTIVE STUDY, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF EYES WAS RANDOMIZED INTO TWO GROUPS: in the first, treatment consisted of a combined therapy of PDT-V and ranibizumab 0.5 mg on the same day; in the second, ranibizumab 0.

Choroidal neovascularization in pathologic myopia: intravitreal ranibizumab versus bevacizumab--a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: To compare the short-term efficacy and safety of intravitreal ranibizumab versus bevacizumab in treating myopic choroidal neovascularization (CNV).

Design: Prospective, comparative, randomized, interventional study.

Methods: Thirty-two eyes from 32 patients with myopic CNV were consecutively enrolled and randomly treated, in a 1:1 ratio, with intravitreal ranibizumab (0.

Photorefractive keratectomy in the management of refractive accommodative esotropia in young adult patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the visual, motor, and sensory outcomes of photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in the treatment of purely refractive accommodative esotropia in young adult patients.

Setting: Policlinico Umberto I, Department of Ophthalmology, Rome, Italy.

Methods: This prospective study comprised patients with hyperopia and purely accommodative hyperopic esotropia.

Intravitreal bevacizumab as primary treatment for retinal angiomatous proliferation: twelve-month results.

Purpose: To evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of intravitreal bevacizumab for the treatment of retinal angiomatous proliferation.

Methods: Seventeen eyes from 16 patients with newly diagnosed retinal angiomatous proliferation underwent intravitreal injections of bevacizumab, 1.25 mg.

The phytochemical analysis and antioxidant activity assessment of orange peel (Citrus sinensis) cultivated in Greece-Crete indicates a new commercial source of hesperidin.

The flavonoid content of several methanolic extract fractions of Navel orange peel (flavedo and albedo of Citrus sinensis) cultivated in Crete (Greece) was first analysed phytochemically and then assessed for its antioxidant activity in vitro. The chemical structures of the constituents fractionated were originally determined by comparing their retention times and the obtained UV spectral data with the available bibliographic data and further verified by detailed LC-DAD-MS (ESI+) analysis. The main flavonoid groups found within the fractions examined were polymethoxylated flavones, O-glycosylated flavones, C-glycosylated flavones, O-glycosylated flavonols, O-glycosylated flavanones and phenolic acids along with their ester derivatives.

Intravitreal bevacizumab treatment for choroidal neovascularization in pathologic myopia: 12-month results.

Purpose: To evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of intravitreal bevacizumab for the treatment of myopic choroidal neovascularization (CNV).

Design: Prospective, nonrandomized, interventional case series.

Methods: Twenty eyes from 20 patients with CNV secondary to pathologic myopia participated in this prospective nonrandomized interventional case series.

Development and validation of a high performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of oxcarbazepine and its main metabolites in human plasma and cerebrospinal fluid and its application to pharmacokinetic study.

An isocratic reversed-phase HPLC-UV procedure for the determination of oxcarbazepine and its main metabolites 10-hydroxy-10,11-dihydrocarbamazepine and 10,11-dihydroxy-trans-10,11-dihydrocarbamazepine in human plasma and cerebrospinal fluid has been developed and validated. After addition of bromazepam as internal standard, the analytes were isolated from plasma and cerebrospinal fluid by liquid-liquid extraction. Separation was achieved on a X-TERRA C18 column using a mobile phase composed of 20 mM KH(2)PO(4), acetonitrile, and n-octylamine (76:24:0.

An instrument for biofeedback applied to vision.

One hundred and ten patients (179 eyes) with reduced visual acuity caused by different ocular disorders underwent visual rehabilitation with an instrument for biofeedback: improved biofeedback integrated system (Ibis). One hundred and fourteen eyes had age-related macular degeneration, 39 eyes had myopic macular degeneration, and 26 eyes were affected by different ocular disorders. A placebo training was developed on 34 patients (47 eyes).

Frequency distribution of dextromethorphan O-demethylation in a Greek population.

Objective: To determine the CYP2D6 phenotype in a Greek population by using dextromethorphan (DM) as a probe drug.

Methods: DM (30 mg) was given orally to 102 unrelated Greek subjects and 8-hour urine samples were collected. Concentrations of DM and its metabolite dextrorphan (DX) were determined using a validated HPLC assay.

Antioxidant activity of flavonoids from Sideritis raeseri.

Nine 7-o-allosyl glucosides of 5,8-dihydroxy substituted flavones were isolated from a fraction of the methanol extract of the aerial parts of Sideritis raeseri Boiss et Heldr. subsp. raeseri.

No increased levels of the nicotine metabolite cotinine in smokers with schizophrenia.

The prevalence of smoking cigarettes has repeatedly been found to be greater in schizophrenia as compared with other psychiatric patients and the general population. Patients with schizophrenia have been found to engage in heavy smoking and consumption of higher doses of nicotine, probably by deeper inhalation of cigarettes. The aim of the current study was to assess nicotine exposure through smoking by measuring urinary cotinine, the major nicotine metabolite, in a group of smokers from Greece of smokers with schizophrenia and smokers from the general population.

Simultaneous reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of diosmin, hesperidin and naringin in different citrus fruit juices and pharmaceutical formulations.

Diosmin, hesperidin and naringin are flavonoid glycosides that occur naturally in citrus fruits. They exert a variety of pharmacological properties such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and free radical scavenging and antiulcer effects and also inhibit selected cytochrome P-450 enzymes resulting in drug interactions. A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of diosmin, hesperidin and naringin in different citrus fruit juices and pharmaceutical preparations.

A new acetylated glucoside of luteolin and two flavone glucosides from Lavandula stoechas ssp. stoechas.

Fractionation of ethyl acetate extract of Lavandula stoechas aerial parts revealed the presence of a novel acetylated glucoside (1) together with apigenin 7-O-glucoside (2) and luteolin 7-O-glucoside (3). The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses, notably UV, MS, and NMR.