Antiviral and Antioxidant Activity of a Hydroalcoholic Extract from L.

A hydroalcoholic extract from female inflorescences of L. (HOP extract) was evaluated for its anti-influenza activity. The ability of the extract to interfere with different phases of viral replication was assessed, as well as its effect on the intracellular redox state, being unbalanced versus the oxidative state in infected cells.

Investigation of the effects of vitamin D and calcium on intestinal motility: In vitro tests and implications for clinical treatment.

The presence of vitamin D receptors in small intestine muscle cells may lead one to think that vitamin D may act locally, influencing intracellular calcium concentration and contributing to the contraction-relaxation regulation of the intestinal smooth muscle cells. This study investigates the potential effects of vitamin D and calcium on intestinal motility using an in vitro test. Different calcium concentrations added to the tissue not pre-treated with 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol [1α,25(OH)2D3] produced no response at low doses (1.

The human papillomavirus vaccination: a review of the cost-effectiveness studies.

Background: The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted viruses, its infection with certain subtypes is the primary cause of cervical cancer. Several countries conducted specific cost-effectiveness evaluations toward HPV vaccination. The constant growth of healthcare demand, in an economic context characterized by limited resources, requires that the decision-making process be based on the comparison of alternative choices.

Pilot study of the effect of vitamin B6 on the motility of guinea pigs ileum: possible implications for human intestinal motility.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of vitamin B6 and neostigmine on the intestinal motility of guinea pigs, to obtain beneficial effects on human health.

Materials And Methods: Segments of the ileum of guinea pigs have been removed and mounted in an organ bath in order to record their motility when treated with vitamin B6, atropine and neostigmine. This motility has been compared with the contraction produced by acetylcholine.

A pilot study of the effect of pantothenic acid in the treatment of post-operative ileus: results from an orthopedic surgical department.

Objectives: Post-operative ileus can also occur in other types of surgery not strictly related to abdomen. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of pantothenic acid administration to stimulate intestinal peristalsis in case of post-operative ileus and estimate the most effective dose. This vitamin can be used for the treatment of chronic atonic intestine or for chronic constipation, but therapeutic indications are not precise in these conditions.

Plasma and platelet ascorbate pools and lipid peroxidation in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Background: As diabetes mellitus represents a situation in which production of peroxides is increased, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between plasma and platelet levels of ascorbic acid (AA)/dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) and those of malonyldialdehyde (MDA), an indirect marker of lipoperoxides, both assayed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), in 59 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) compared with 51 healthy control subjects matched for sex, age, smoking habits, as well as for dietary intake of energy, alcohol and vitamin C.

Results: Mean plasma and platelet MDA were significantly higher in the patients affected with IDDM than in control subjects. Moreover, the diabetic group was characterized by a huge decrease in plasma AA [8.

Renal excretion of ascorbic acid in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

Serum ascorbic acid (AA) is reduced in diabetic patients. Aim of this study was 1) to verify whether such a decrease might be due to an altered urinary excretion of AA, and 2) whether this latter was modified in presence of early diabetic nephropathy with microalbuminuria (albumin excretion rate [AER] > 20 micrograms/min) in a group of 21 patients affected by insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetes mellitus (IDDM) as compared with 13 healthy controls matched for sex, age, dietary AA intake, and creatinine clearance per 1.73 m2 (CCl).

Plasma retinol and alpha-tocopherol concentrations in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus: their relationship to microvascular complications.

Plasma alpha-tocopherol and retinol, both assayed by an HPLC method, have been evaluated in a group of 60 patients affected by insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetes mellitus, stratified according to the presence of retinopathy and nephropathy diagnosed by an urinary albumin excretion rate ranging between 20 and 200 micrograms/min (microalbuminaria) or > 200 micrograms/min (macroalbuminuria), all of whom were compared with 26 healthy controls strictly matched for age and sex. Plasma lipids and age were positively correlated with plasma retinol and alpha-tocopherol in both diabetic and control subjects. Either plasma retinol or its ratio to cholesterol were significantly and independently reduced in the younger subset of diabetics, as compared to controls, independently from other confounding variables, while plasma alpha-tocopherol was unchanged in diabetic subjects and in healthy controls.

Vitamin C and nutritional status of institutionalized and noninstitutionalized elderly women in Rome.

A cross-sectional study on 64 institutionalized and 65 noninstitutionalized elderly women has been undertaken. The age range was 60 through 90 years. Vitamin C status was assessed by serum ascorbic acid measurement and the nutritional status was evaluated by a three-day dietary record and main anthropometric measurements.

[Serum values of vitamins A, E, C and carotenoids in healthy adult subjects and those with breast neoplasia].

Serum values of retinol, carotenoids, tocopherol and ascorbic acid were assayed in healthy adult females (Group A: 20 cases) and in subjects with fibrocistic mastopathy (Group B: 20 cases), benign breast neoplasms, as fibroadenomas and intraductal papillomas (Group C: 18 cases), and breast carcinoma in situ (Group D: 36 cases). Retinol and carotenoids were evaluated by spectrophotometry using trifluoroacetic acid. Tocopherol was determined by a colorimetric method involving the reduction of Fe to Fe++ by tocopherol with the formation of a red complex of the Fe++ with alpha, alpha'-dipirydyl.

A comparative study of Atropa belladonna and atropine on an animal model of urinary retention.

The ability of Atropa belladonna L. and atropine to produce urinary retention has been studied in the rat. Our results suggest that A.

Croton macrostachys, a plant used in traditional medicine: purgative and inflammatory activity.

Croton macrostachys seeds are widely used in Somalia as a purgative. In the present study, pharmacologic and chemical investigations confirm the laxative effect of the seeds and indicate the presence of phorbolesters. There appears to be no direct correlation between phorbolester content and laxative effect.

[Therapeutic action of vitamin C on cholesterol metabolism].

As a part of the research work on the role played by Vitamin C on lipidic metabolism, the effects on man were considered that result from the administration of high vitamin C doses, chiefly with reference to the serum levels of colesterol, of total lipids and of triglycerides. Our research was conducted on male subjects of 65-90 years, who were administered 3 g/day of vitamin C for three weeks. Our findings show that the administration of high vitamin C doses causes a statistically significant decrease in colesterol, in total lipids and in triglycerides, in all the subjects under consideration.

[Vitamin C in the plasma and leukocytes of Italians in different periods of the year].

After briefly mentioning the factors which influence the vitamin C levels in tissues, the findings are reported of an investigation, conducted on 11 volunteers, in which some variations were revealed in vitamin C concentrations in the plasma and in the leukocytes of the subjects examined during a period of one year. The lowest levels were found in the months of March and December.

[Research in experimental electrocardiography. I: action of DCA-ajmaline on the electrocardiogram of the rat].

In the course of their experiments, the Authors did not observe any modifications in the rat electrocardiogram, induced by a 2,5 mg DCA-ajmaline intravenous injection, nor, in particular, any negative bathmotropic action due to it.

[Research in experimental electrocardiography. II: effect of a beta-blockader (pindolol) on the electrocardiogram of the rat].

From the Authors' observations during this research, there emerges the fact that pindololo does not seem deprived of that cardiodepressive action, which is typical of all beta-blocking drugs.