Prevention of atrial fibrillation and inflammatory response after on-pump coronary artery bypass using different statin dosages: a randomized, controlled trial.

Background: This randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the effects of seven-day preoperative treatment with two different dosages of atorvastatin on the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) and release of inflammatory markers such as high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and interleukin-6 in patients undergoing elective first-time on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Methods: The cohort study comprised 212 consecutive patients, already taking statins, who underwent elective first-time CABG with cardiopulmonary bypass without history of atrial fibrillation (AF). Patients were randomly divided into two groups: those who received atorvastatin 40 mg (TOR40 group, 111 patients) and those who received 80 mg (TOR80 group, 101 patients) once a day for 7 days before the planned operation.

Osteopontin: a new facilitating factor in alopecia areata pathogenesis?

Osteopontin (OPN) is a multifunctional glycophosphoprotein secreted by many cell types, including osteoblasts, lymphocites, macrophages, epithelial cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells. It has been implicated in many physiological and pathological processes, such as cell-mediated immunity, inflammation, cell survival, and tumor invasion and metastasis. Osteopontin has multiple emerging roles in cutaneous biology and pathology and OPN involvement has been emphasized in Th1-mediated diseases such as psoriasis.

Early life permethrin exposure leads to hypervitaminosis D, nitric oxide and catecholamines impairment.

The aim of this study is to gain more knowledge on the impact of early life pesticide exposure on premature aging. The effect of a low dose of the insecticide permethrin administered to rats during early life (1/50 LD50, from 6th to 21st day of life) was analyzed by measuring some metabolites in plasma and urine of 500-day-old animals. Significant differences in early life treated rats compared to the control group were found in the plasma levels of Ca(++), Na(+), 25-hydroxy-vitamin D, adrenaline, noradrenaline, nitric oxide, cholesterol and urea while in urine only Na(+) content was different.