Preclinical development of a standardized extract of Ilex paraguariensis A.St.-Hil for the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Obesity is a global epidemic often associated with serious medical complications such as diabetes, hypertension and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. Considering the multifactorial nature of these diseases, medicinal plants could be a valuable therapeutic strategy as their phytoconstituents interact with multiple and relevant biological targets. In this context, Ilex paraguariensis emerges as a potential alternative to treat obesity and associated metabolic diseases since several studies have demonstrated its anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects.

Trait responsiveness to verbal suggestions predicts nocebo responding: A meta-analysis.

Background: Nocebo responding involves the experience of adverse health outcomes in response to contextual cues. These deleterious responses impact numerous features of mental and physical health but are characterized by pronounced heterogeneity. Suggestion is widely recognized as a contributing factor to nocebo responding but the moderating role of trait responsiveness to verbal suggestions (suggestibility) in nocebo responding remains poorly understood.

Case report: Ectopic production of intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) by malignoma mimicking primary hyperparathyroidism.

Background: Malignant hypercalcemia is usually caused by osteolytic processes of metastases, production of parathormone-related peptide, or secretion of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. Ectopic PTH (parathyroid hormone) production by malignancy is very unusual.

Methods: Case report and review of the literature.

The space of transport coefficients allowed by causality.

As an effective theory, relativistic hydrodynamics is fixed by symmetries up to a set of transport coefficients. A lot of effort has been devoted to explicit calculations of these coefficients. Here we adopt a more general approach, deploying bootstrap techniques to rule out theories that are inconsistent with microscopic causality.

Illusions exist in everyday life with natural stimuli: The banana-bisection Illusion.

We report a novel visual illusion that is present in the natural environment. In attempting to cut a banana in half, many people make the side adjacent to the stem shorter, because they see it as longer than it is. This study tested the presence of the banana bisection illusion with outline drawings and a 3D realistic-looking plastic banana.