Protective effect of two essential oils isolated from Rosa damascena Mill. and Lavandula angustifolia Mill, and two classic antioxidants against L-dopa oxidative toxicity induced in healthy mice.

Levodopa (L-dopa) is a "gold standard" and most effective symptomatic agent in the Parkinson's disease (PD) treatment. The several treatments have been developed in an attempt to improve PD treatment, but most patients were still levodopa dependent. The issue of toxicity was raised in vitro studies, and suggests that L-dopa can be toxic to dopaminergic neurons, but it is not yet entirely proven.

Fourier analysis of peripheral blood pressure and flow in intraoperative assessment of infrainguinal arterial reconstructions.

Aim: To assess infrainguinal arterial reconstructions by intraoperative flowmetry under the distal anastomosis using a fast Fourier transformation; calculate and compare the amplitude ratios of peripheral arterial blood pressure and volume flow before and after drug-induced vasodilation of occluded bypass grafts and bypass grafts that have been patent at least for 1 year. To find what magnitude of the change of these ratios indicate a long-term patency of the bypass grafting.

Patients And Methods: We compared the results of the intraoperative flowmetry tests of 97 patients with infrainguinal arterial reconstructions.

[In life determination of the physiological status of decapod crustaceans (Crustacea: Decapoda) by hematological characteristics].

The application of hematological analysis techniques to detecting the physiological status of the economically valued decapods during their culturing, and in monitoring of the condition of their natural populations, is restrained by the incomplete knowledge of these invertebrates circulatory system and its properties. Scarce data on the use of hematological indicators for determining the physiological status of decapods may be found sporadically in published sources; there is shortage of basic standards needed for interpretation of the analytical results. In this regard the paper considers some data on the major properties of hemolymph and its cellular elements; on methods of their examination; and on the results of application of hematological characteristics to assessing the physiological condition of various species of decapods.

[The use of enzymatic preparation for the production of low molecular-weight chitosan from the king crab hepatopancrease].

This article describes the optimal conditions for the enzymatic hydrolysis of chitosan and its chemically-modified derivatives using the preparation extracted from the king crab hepatopancrease possessing pronounced hydrolythic activity. The following preparations were used: chitosan with a molecular weight of 100 kDa and an acetylation level of 0.15, carboxymethyl chitosan 200 kDa witih an extent of replacement of 0.

Microsatellite analysis of Rosa damascena Mill. accessions reveals genetic similarity between genotypes used for rose oil production and old Damask rose varieties.

Damask roses are grown in several European and Asiatic countries for rose oil production. Twenty-six oil-bearing Rosa damascena Mill. accessions and 13 garden Damask roses were assayed by molecular markers.