Frequency and determinants of erectile dysfunction in Turkish diabetic men

Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) or impotence is a sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis during sexual performance. ED is observed more frequently and manifests earlier in diabetic patients compared to the normal population.Material and Methods: One hundred and seventeen consecutive male type 2 diabetes patients seen in our Diabetes Outpatient Clinic were included in our study and these patients were evaluated in terms of the presence and duration of ED, treatment and response to treatment of ED, duration of diabetes mellitus, HbA1c levels, and the presence of microalbuminuria, estimated from 24‑hour urine collections.Results: The patients included in our study were divided into three groups: Patients with no ED, mild‑to‑moderate ED, and severe ED. Twenty‑nine patients (24.8%) fell in the no ED group, 28 (23.9%) in the mild‑to‑moderate ED group, and 60 (51.3%) in the severe ED group. There were statistically significant differences between these three groups in terms of age (P = 0.015) and duration of diabetes mellitus (P = 0.03). The groups were similar in terms of microalbuminuria measured from 24‑hour urine collections and HbA1c levels (P = 0.328 and P = 0.905, respectively). Twenty‑three of the 88 patients with ED (26.1%) were on ED treatment and 43.5% of these patients reported benefit from the therapy.Conclusion: Age and duration of diabetes were the main determinants of the presence and severity of ED in male Turkish type 2 diabetic patients. The HbA1c levels were higher in patients with ED, but the differences in levels between the groups did not reach statistical significance.Key words: Diabetes mellitus, erectile dysfunction, microalbuminuri

Natural Compounds as Medical Strategies in the Prevention and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders Seen in Neurological Diseases

Psychiatric disorders are frequently encountered in many neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson diseases along with epilepsy, migraine, essential tremors, and stroke. The most common comorbid diagnoses in neurological diseases are depression and anxiety disorders along with cognitive impairment. Whether the underlying reason is due to common neurochemical mechanisms or loss of previous functioning level, comorbidities are often overlooked. Various treatment options are available, such as pharmacological treatments, cognitive-behavioral therapy, somatic interventions, or electroconvulsive therapy. However oral antidepressant therapy may have some disadvantages, such as interaction with other medications, low tolerability due to side effects, and low efficiency. Natural compounds of plant origin are extensively researched to find a better and safer alternative treatment. Experimental studies have shown that phytochemicals such as alkaloids, terpenes, flavonoids, phenolic acids as well as lipids have significant potential in in vitro and in vivo models of psychiatric disorders. In this review, various efficacy of natural products in in vitro and in vivo studies on neuroprotective and their roles in psychiatric disorders are examined and their neuro-therapeutic potentials are shed light

Phytochemical Profiles, Antioxidant, Cytotoxic, and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Traditional Medicinal Plants: Centaurea pichleri subsp. pichleri, Conyza canadensis, and Jasminum fruticans

Centaurea pichleri subsp. pichleri, Conyza canadensis, and Jasminum fruticans are traditionally used plants grown in Turkey. Methanol extracts were obtained from these plants and pharmacological activity studies and phytochemical analyses were carried out. To evaluate the phytochemical composition, spectrophotometric and chromatographic techniques were used. The extracts were evaluated for antioxidant activity by DPPH●, ABTS●+ radical scavenging, and FRAP assays. The cytotoxic effects of the extracts were investigated on DU145 prostate cancer and A549 lung cancer cell lines. The anti-inflammatory effects of extracts were investigated on the NO amount, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and PGE 2 levels in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated Raw 264.7 cells. The richest extract in terms of phenolic compounds (98.19 ± 1.64 mgGAE/gextract) and total flavonoids (21.85 ± 0.64 mgCA/gextract) was identified as C. pichleri subsp. pichleri methanol extract. According to antioxidant activity determinations, the C. pichleri subsp. pichleri extract was found to be the most active extract. Finally, the C. pichleri subsp. pichleri methanol extract was revealed to be the most effective inhibitor of viability in the cytotoxic activity investigation, and the extract with the best anti-inflammatory action. The findings point to C. pichleri subsp. pichleri as a promising source of bioactive compounds in the transition from natural sources to industrial uses, such as new medications, cosmeceuticals, and nutraceuticals

Value of Perineural Edema/Inflammation Detected by Fat Saturation Sequences in Lumbar Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Patients with Unilateral Sciatica

WOS: 000263560200010PubMed ID: 19096956Background: Routine lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may not show any evidence of the cause of sciatica in some cases. The relationship between nerve root compression detected on lumbar MRI and sciatica is also sometimes uncertain. Purpose: To ascertain whether axial (and, when necessary, sagittal and coronal) short-tau inversion recovery or fat-saturated T2-weighted MRI findings can be used to study the level of sciatica in patients with a non-yielding routine MRI examination. Material and Methods: A total of 215 patients with unilateral sciatica underwent MRI. All patients were asked to complete pain drawing forms describing their pain dermatomal distributions. Perineural edema/inflammation corresponding to the pain location indicated by the pain drawings was sought on short-tau inversion recovery or fat-saturated T2-weighted images. Results: Routine MRI findings revealed that 110 of the 215 patients had nerve root compromise related to the patients' symptoms. Routine MRI could not ascertain the cause of these symptoms in the remaining 105 patients. In 31 (29.5%) of these 105 patients, short-tau inversion recovery or fat-saturated T2-weighted magnetic resonance images revealed perineural edema/inflammation surrounding the nerve roots related to the pain locations indicated in the pain drawings. Conclusion: Axial (and, when required, sagittal and coronal) short-tau inversion recovery or fat-saturated T2-weighted magnetic resonance images may be helpful for revealing additional findings in cases of unexplained sciatica in standard magnetic resonance imaging. However, the value of this imaging may be not great enough to justify routine use of these additional sequences to study the level of sciatica

Is emodin with anticancer effects completely innocent? Two sides of the coin

Many anticancer active compounds are known to have the capacity to destroy pathologically proliferating cancer cells in the body, as well as to destroy rapidly proliferating normal cells. Despite remarkable advances in cancer research over the past few decades, the inclusion of natural compounds in researches as potential drug candidates is becoming increasingly important. However, the perception that the natural is reliable is an issue that needs to be clarified. Among the various chemical classes of natural products, anthraquinones have many biological activities and have also been proven to exhibit a unique anticancer activity. Emodin, an anthraquinone derivative, is a natural compound found in the roots and rhizomes of many plants. The anticancer property of emodin, a broad‐spectrum inhibitory agent of cancer cells, has been detailed in many biological pathways. In cancer cells, these molecular mechanisms consist of suppressing cell growth and proliferation through the attenuation of oncogenic growth signaling, such as protein kinase B (AKT), mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK), HER‐2 tyrosine kinase, Wnt/‐catenin, and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K). However, it is known that emodin, which shows toxicity to cancer cells, may cause kidney toxicity, hepatotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity especially at high doses and long‐term use. At the same time, studies of emodin, which has poor oral bioavailability, to transform this disadvantage into an advantage with nano‐carrier systems reveal that natural compounds are not always directly usable compounds. Consequently, this review aimed to shed light on the anti‐proliferative and anti‐carcinogenic properties of emodin, as well as its potential toxicities and the advantages of drug delivery systems on bioavailability

Oxidative stress and marine carotenoids: Application by using nanoformulations

Carotenoids are natural fat-soluble pigments synthesized by plants, algae, fungi and microorganisms. They are responsible for the coloration of different photosynthetic organisms. Although they play a role in photosynthesis, they are also present in non-photosynthetic plant tissues, fungi, and bacteria. These metabolites have mainly been used in food, cosmetics, and the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to their utilization as pigmentation, they have significant therapeutically applications, such as improving immune system and preventing neurodegenerative diseases. Primarily, they have attracted attention due to their antioxidant activity. Several statistical investigations indicated an association between the use of carotenoids in diets and a decreased incidence of cancer types, suggesting the antioxidant properties of these compounds as an important factor in the scope of the studies against oxidative stress. Unusual marine environments are associated with a great chemical diversity, resulting in novel bioactive molecules. Thus, marine organisms may represent an important source of novel biologically active substances for the development of therapeutics. Marine carotenoids (astaxanthin, fucoxanthin, beta-carotene, lutein but also the rare siphonaxanthin, sioxanthin, and myxol) have recently shown antioxidant properties in reducing oxidative stress markers. Numerous of bioactive compounds such as marine carotenoids have low stability, are poorly absorbed, and own very limited bioavailability. The new technique is nanoencapsulation, which can be used to preserve marine carotenoids and their original properties during processing, storage, improve their physiochemical properties and increase their health-promoting effects. This review aims to describe the role of marine carotenoids, their potential applications and different types of advanced nanoformulations preventing and treating oxidative stress related disorders

A New MLP Approach for the Detection of the Incipient Bearing Damage

In this study, it is aimed to track the aging trend of the incipient bearing damage in an induction motor which is subjected to an accelerated aging process. For this purpose, a new Multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network approach is introduced. The input signals are extracted from power spectral densities (PSD) of the vibration signals taken from a 5-HP induction motor. Principal component analysis (PCA) has been applied to select the best possible feature vectors as a dimensionality reduction purpose. Variance and entropy values are used as the targets of the MLP network. The healthy motor condition was modelled by the MLP network considering all load conditions. The results showed that the incipient bearing damage was clearly extracted by the oscillations of the MLP output error