S100B and homocysteine in the acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome

Elevations of serum homocysteine levels are a consistent finding in alcohol addiction. Serum S100B levels are altered in different neuropsychiatric disorders but not well investigated in alcohol withdrawal syndromes. Because of the close connection of S100B to ACTH and glutamate secretion that both are involved in neurodegeneration and symptoms of alcoholism the relationship of S100B and homocysteine to acute withdrawal variables has been examined. A total of 22 male and 9 female inpatients (mean age 46.9 ± 9.7 years) with an ICD-10 diagnosis of alcohol addiction without relevant affective comorbidity were examined on admission and after 24, 48, and 120 h during withdrawal. S100B and homocysteine levels in serum were collected, and severity of withdrawal symptoms (AWS-scale), applied withdrawal medication, initial serum ethanol levels and duration of addiction were recorded. Serum S100B and homocysteine levels declined significantly (P < .05) over time. Both levels declined with withdrawal syndrome severity. Females showed a trend to a more intense decline in serum S100B levels compared to males at day 5 (P = .06). Homocysteine levels displayed a negative relationship to applied amount of clomethiazole (P < .05) and correlated with age of onset of addiction. No withdrawal seizures were recorded during the trial. As it is known for homocysteine, S100B revealed to decline rapidly over withdrawal treatment in alcoholism. This effect is more pronounced in female patients. S100B could be of relevance in the neurobiology of alcohol withdrawal syndromes. It may be indirectly related to the level of stress level or glutamatergic activity during alcohol withdrawal

Screening for antimicrobial activity of ten medicinal plants used in Colombian folkloric medicine: A possible alternative in the treatment of non-nosocomial infections

BACKGROUND: The antimicrobial activity and Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the extracts of Bidens pilosa L., Bixa orellana L., Cecropia peltata L., Cinchona officinalis L., Gliricidia sepium H.B. & K, Jacaranda mimosifolia D.Don, Justicia secunda Vahl., Piper pulchrum C.DC, P. paniculata L. and Spilanthes americana Hieron were evaluated against five bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus β hemolític, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli), and one yeast (Candida albicans). These plants are used in Colombian folk medicine to treat infections of microbial origin. METHODS: Plants were collected by farmers and traditional healers. The ethanol, hexane and water extracts were obtained by standard methods. The antimicrobial activity was found by using a modified agar well diffusion method. All microorganisms were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). MIC was determined in the plant extracts that showed some efficacy against the tested microorganisms. Gentamycin sulfate (1.0 μg/ml), clindamycin (0.3 μg/ml) and nystatin (1.0 μg/ml) were used as positive controls. RESULTS: The water extracts of Bidens pilosa L., Jacaranda mimosifolia D.Don, and Piper pulchrum C.DC showed a higher activity against Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli than gentamycin sulfate. Similarly, the ethanol extracts of all species were active against Staphylococcus aureus except for Justicia secunda. Furthermore, Bixa orellana L, Justicia secunda Vahl. and Piper pulchrum C.DC presented the lowest MICs against Escherichia coli (0.8, 0.6 and 0.6 μg/ml, respectively) compared to gentamycin sulfate (0.9 8g/ml). Likewise, Justicia secunda and Piper pulchrum C.DC showed an analogous MIC against Candida albicans (0.5 and 0.6 μg/ml, respectively) compared to nystatin (0.6 μg/ml). Bixa orellana L, exhibited a better MIC against Bacillus cereus (0.2 μg/ml) than gentamycin sulfate (0.5 μg/ml). CONCLUSION: This in vitro study corroborated the antimicrobial activity of the selected plants used in folkloric medicine. All these plants were effective against three or more of the pathogenic microorganisms. However, they were ineffective against Streptococcus β hemolytic and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Their medicinal use in infections associated with these two species is not recommended. This study also showed that Bixa orellana L, Justicia secunda Vahl. and Piper pulchrum C.DC could be potential sources of new antimicrobial agents

Muscle Fiber Viability, a Novel Method for the Fast Detection of Ischemic Muscle Injury in Rats

Acute lower extremity ischemia is a limb- and life-threatening clinical problem. Rapid detection of the degree of injury is crucial, however at present there are no exact diagnostic tests available to achieve this purpose. Our goal was to examine a novel technique - which has the potential to accurately assess the degree of ischemic muscle injury within a short period of time - in a clinically relevant rodent model. Male Wistar rats were exposed to 4, 6, 8 and 9 hours of bilateral lower limb ischemia induced by the occlusion of the infrarenal aorta. Additional animals underwent 8 and 9 hours of ischemia followed by 2 hours of reperfusion to examine the effects of revascularization. Muscle samples were collected from the left anterior tibial muscle for viability assessment. The degree of muscle damage (muscle fiber viability) was assessed by morphometric evaluation of NADH-tetrazolium reductase reaction on frozen sections. Right hind limbs were perfusion-fixed with paraformaldehyde and glutaraldehyde for light and electron microscopic examinations. Muscle fiber viability decreased progressively over the time of ischemia, with significant differences found between the consecutive times. High correlation was detected between the length of ischemia and the values of muscle fiber viability. After reperfusion, viability showed significant reduction in the 8-hour-ischemia and 2-hour-reperfusion group compared to the 8-hour-ischemia-only group, and decreased further after 9 hours of ischemia and 2 hours of reperfusion. Light- and electron microscopic findings correlated strongly with the values of muscle fiber viability: lesser viability values represented higher degree of ultrastructural injury while similar viability results corresponded to similar morphological injury. Muscle fiber viability was capable of accurately determining the degree of muscle injury in our rat model. Our method might therefore be useful in clinical settings in the diagnostics of acute ischemic muscle injury

Search for strongly interacting massive particles generating trackless jets in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV

A search for dark matter in the form of strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs) using the CMS detector at the LHC is presented. The SIMPs would be produced in pairs that manifest themselves as pairs of jets without tracks. The energy fraction of jets carried by charged particles is used as a key discriminator to suppress efficiently the large multijet background, and the remaining background is estimated directly from data. The search is performed using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 16.1 fb - 1 , collected with the CMS detector in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected background. For the simplified dark matter model under consideration, SIMPs with masses up to 100 GeV are excluded and further sensitivity is explored towards higher masses

Observation of the B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi Decay

Using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment in 2016-2018, the B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi decay is observed. Decays into J/psi pi(+)pi(-) and K+K- are used to reconstruct, respectively, the X(3872) and phi. The ratio of the product of branching fractions B[B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi]B[X(3872) -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-)] to the product B[B-s(0) ->psi(2S)phi]B[psi(2S) -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-)] is measured to be [2.21 +/- 0.29(stat) +/- 0.17(syst)]%. The ratio B[B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi]/B[B-0 -> X(3872)K-0] is found to be consistent with one, while the ratio B[B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi]/B[B+-> X(3872)K+] is two times smaller. This suggests a difference in the production dynamics of the X(3872) in B-0 and B(0)s meson decays compared to B+. The reported observation may shed new light on the nature of the X(3872) particle.Peer reviewe