Chloroformic and Methanolic Extracts of Olea europaea L. Leaves Present Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Activities

Olea europaea L. is used in traditional medicine in the Mediterranean areas. Its natural products are used in the treatment of different disorders, like fighting fever and some infectious diseases such as malaria, the treatment of arrhythmia, and relief of intestinal spasms. The aim of the current study is to investigate the possible anti-inflammatory and anatinociceptive effects of methanol and chloroformic extracts prepared from leaves of Olea europaea L. The anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects of the different extracts of Olea europaea leaves were assessed after intraperitoneal administration into rats and mice, using the carrageenan-induced paw edema model in rats to test the anti-inflammatory effect and the acetic acid-induced writhing in mice to test the analgesic effect. The chloroformic and methanolic leaves extracts, studied at the doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg (Body Weight: BW), exhibited significant dose-dependent anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that Olea europaea leaves extracts have anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects

Pulmonary functions of narghile smokers compared to cigarette smokers: a casecontrol study

Background: Studies of the lung function profiles of exclusive narghile smokers (ENS) are few, have some methodological limits, and present contradictory conclusions. The present study aimed to compare the plethysmographic profiles of ENS with age- and height-matched exclusive cigarette smokers (ECS).Methods: Males aged 35-60 living in Sousse, Tunisia, who have been smoking narghile exclusively for more than 10 narghile-years (n=36) or cigarettes exclusively for more than 10 pack-years (n=106) were recruited to participate in this casecontrol study. The anthropometric and plethysmographic data were measured according to international recommendations using a body plethysmograph (ZAN 500 Body II, Meβgreräte GmbH, Germany). Large-airway-obstructive-ventilatory-defect (LAOVD) was defined as: first second forced expiratory volume/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) below the lower-limit-of-normal (LLN). Restrictiveventilatory- defect (RVD) was defined as total lung capacity <LLN. Lung hyperinflation was defined as residual volume>upper-limit-of-normal. Student t-test and x2 test were used to compare plethysmographic data and profiles of the two groups.Results: The subjects in the ENS and ECS groups are well matched in age (45+7 vs. 47+5 years) and height (1.73+0.06 vs. 1.72+0.06 m) and used similar quantities of tobacco (36+22 narghile-years vs. 35+19 packyears). Compared to the ENS group, the ECS group had significantly lower FEV1 (84+12 vs. 60+21%), FVC (90+12 vs. 76+18%), and FEV1/FVC (99+7 vs. 83+17%). The two groups had similar percentages of RVD (31 vs. 36%), while the ECS group had a significantly higher percentage of LAOVD (8 vs. 58%) and lung hyperinflation (36 vs.57%).Conclusion: Chronic exclusive narghile smoking has less adverse effects on pulmonary function tests than chronic exclusive cigarette smoking.Keywords: plethysmography; tobacco; narghile; tabamel; agein