Fibromyalgia: Recent advances in diagnosis, classification, pharmacotherapy and alternative remedies

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome that does not present a well-defined underlying organic disease. FM is a condition which has been associated with diseases such as infections, diabetes, psychiatric or neurological disorders, rheumatic pathologies, and is a disorder that rather than diagnosis of exclusion requires positive diagnosis. A multidimensional approach is required for the management of FM, including pain management, pharmacological therapies, behavioral therapy, patient education, and exercise. The purpose of this review is to summarize the recent advances in classification criteria and diagnostic criteria for FM as well as to explore pharmacotherapy and the use of alternative therapies including the use of plant bioactive molecules

Plant natural sources of the endocannabinoid (E)-β-caryophyllene: A systematic quantitative analysis of published literature

(E)-β-caryophyllene (BCP) is a natural sesquiterpene hydrocarbon present in hundreds of plant species. BCP possesses several important pharmacological activities, ranging from pain treatment to neurological and metabolic disorders. These are mainly due to its ability to interact with the cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) and the complete lack of interaction with the brain CB1. A systematic analysis of plant species with essential oils containing a BCP percentage > 10% provided almost 300 entries with species belonging to 51 families. The essential oils were found to be extracted from 13 plant parts and samples originated from 56 countries worldwide. Statistical analyses included the evaluation of variability in BCP% and yield% as well as the statistical linkage between families, plant parts and countries of origin by cluster analysis. Identified species were also grouped according to their presence in the Belfrit list. The survey evidences the importance of essential oil yield evaluation in support of the chemical analysis. The results provide a comprehensive picture of the species with the highest BCP and yield percentages

Metabolomics-Based Profiling, Antioxidant Power, and Uropathogenic Bacterial Anti-Adhesion Activity of SP4™, a Formulation with a High Content of Type-A Proanthocyanidins

Flavonoids and proanthocyanidins (PACs) have been the subject of intense scientific investigations, both for their antioxidant properties and anti-adhesion activity against uropathogenic bacteria. We investigated the metabolomics and antioxidant capacity of SP4(TM), a patent-pending formulation based on a mixture of plant extracts with a high content of bioactive PACs and other polyphenols. The total content of polyphenols (885.51 ± 14.19 mg/g), flavonoids (135.52 ± 8.98 mg/g), anthocyanins (54.84 ± 2.97 mg/g), and PACs (379.43 ± 12.44 mg/g) was quantified using UV-Vis assays. Use of HPLC-ESI-MS/MS revealed the presence of 5 flavanols (100.77 ± 3.90 mg g(−1) d.wt), 11 flavonols (59.96 ± 1.83 mg g(−1) d.wt), and 8 anthocyanins (46.96 ± 1.59 mg g(−1) d.wt), whereas MALDI-TOF MS showed that SP4(TM) contains PACs with one or more type-A interflavan bonds at each degree of polymerization. Regarding antioxidant properties, LUCS technology on HepG2 cells evidenced the ability of SP4(TM) to neutralize intracellular free radicals, inhibit membrane lipid peroxidation, quench H(2)O(2), and reduce free radicals mainly through chelating mechanism, as demonstrated by a higher FRAP value (2643.28 ± 39.86 mmol/g) compared with ABTS (139.92 ± 6.16 mmol/g) and DPPH (89.51 ± 3.91 mmol/g). Finally, the SP4(TM) type-A PAC content strongly prevented bacterial adhesion of P-fimbriated uropathogenic Escherichia coli (0.23 mg/mL). In conclusion, SP4(TM) has a strong antioxidant capacity involving multitarget mechanisms and is a potential supplement to fight urinary tract infections due to its ability to inhibit uropathogenic E. coli adhesion

Towards a Multimodal Time-Based Empathy Prediction System

We describe our system for empathic emotion recognition. It is based on deep learning on multiple modalities in a late fusion architecture. We describe the modules of our system and discuss the evaluation results. Our code is also available for the research community