Inhibitory effects of different medicinal plants on Candida albicans growth

The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antifungal properties of ethanol extracts and essential oils of medicinal plants from Serbia against Candida albicans (C. albicans) ATCC 10231. Ethanol extracts of fifteen plants were investigated, and their effects were compared with those of three different essential oils. The sensitivity of C. albicans to all plants was tested by the agar dilution method. The assay plates were estimated to contain 300, 150, 75, and 37.5 mu g/ml of active extracts and 100, 50, 25, and 12.5 mu g/ml of active essential oils. Inocula were applied to agar surfaces, giving approximately 10(6) cfu/ml of C. albicans. No inhibitory effects were observed for ethanol extracts of Hypericum perforatum and Salvia officinalis (MIC > 300 mu g/ml). The most effective were the ethanol extract of Aesculus hippocastanum (MIC = 37.5 mu g/ml) and the essential oil of Satureja kitaibelii (MIC = 12.5 mu g/ml). Other plants showed MIC from 25 to 300 mu g/ml. As far as we know, the inhibitory effects of these medicinal plants against the reference strain of C. albicans have not been commonly investigated in our country. Although the essential oil of Satureja kitaibelii shows strong activity against C. albicans, these results need clinical evaluation

Calibration of diffuse correlation spectroscopy with a time-resolved near-infrared technique to yield absolute cerebral blood flow measurements

A primary focus of neurointensive care is the prevention of secondary brain injury, mainly caused by ischemia. A noninvasive bedside technique for continuous monitoring of cerebral blood flow (CBF) could improve patient management by detecting ischemia before brain injury occurs. A promising technique for this purpose is diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) since it can continuously monitor relative perfusion changes in deep tissue. In this study, DCS was combined with a time-resolved near-infrared technique (TR-NIR) that can directly measure CBF using indocyanine green as a flow tracer. With this combination, the TR-NIR technique can be used to convert DCS data into absolute CBF measurements. The agreement between the two techniques was assessed by concurrent measurements of CBF changes in piglets. A strong correlation between CBF changes measured by TR-NIR and changes in the scaled diffusion coefficient measured by DCS was observed (R2 = 0.93) with a slope of 1.05 ± 0.06 and an intercept of 6.4 ± 4.3% (mean ± standard error)

Quantitative analysis of CT-perfusion parameters in the evaluation of brain gliomas and metastases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The paper reports a quantitative analysis of the perfusion maps of 22 patients, affected by gliomas or by metastasis, with the aim of characterizing the malignant tissue with respect to the normal tissue. The gold standard was obtained by histological exam or nuclear medicine techniques. The perfusion scan provided 11 parametric maps, including Cerebral Blood Volume (CBV), Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF), Average Perfusion (P_mean) and Permeability-surface area product (PS).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The perfusion scans were performed after the injection of 40 ml of non-ionic contrast agent, at an injection rate of 8 ml/s, and a 40 s cine scan with 1 s interval was acquired. An expert radiologist outlined the region of interest (ROI) on the unenhanced CT scan, by using a home-made routine. The mean values with their standard deviations inside the outlined ROIs and the contralateral ROIs were calculated on each map. Statistical analyses were used to investigate significant differences between diseased and normal regions. Receiving Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were also generated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Tumors are characterized by higher values of all the perfusion parameters, but after the statistical analysis, only the <it>PS</it>, <it>Pat</it>_{<it>Rsq </it>}(Patlak Rsquare) and <it>T</it>_{<it>peak </it>}(Time to Peak) resulted significant. ROC curves, confirmed both <it>Pat</it>_{<it>Rsq </it>}and <it>PS </it>as equally reliable metrics for discriminating between malignant and normal tissues, with areas under curves (AUCs) of 0.82 and 0.81, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>CT perfusion is a useful and non invasive technique for evaluating brain neoplasms. Malignant and normal tissues can be accurately differentiated using perfusion map, with the aim of performing tumor diagnosis and grading, and follow-up analysis.</p

Timing and minimal access surgery for sciatica: a summary of two randomized trials

Scientific Assessment and Innovation in Neurosurgical Treatment Strategie