Clinical Efficacy of A Nutraceutical Approach for the Management of Dyslipidemia in Metabolic Disorders: A One-Year Treatment With Armolipid Plus

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Novelty in hypertension in children and adolescents: Focus on hypertension during the first year of life, use and interpretation of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, role of physical activity in prevention and treatment, simple carbohydrates and uric acid as risk factors

The present article intends to provide an update of the article "Focus on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in children and adolescents" published in 2013 (Spagnolo et al., Ital J Pediatr 39:20, 2013) in this journal. This revision is justified by the fact that during the last years there have been several new scientific contributions to the problem of hypertension in pediatric age and during adolescence. Nevertheless, for what regards some aspects of the previous article, the newly acquired information did not require substantial changes to what was already published, both from a cultural and from a clinical point of view. We felt, however, the necessity to rewrite and/or to extend other parts in the light of the most recent scientific publications. More specifically, we updated and extended the chapters on the diagnosis and management of hypertension in newborns and unweaned babies, on the use and interpretation of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, and on the usefulness of and indications for physical activity. Furthermore, we added an entirely new section on the role that simple carbohydrates (fructose in particular) and uric acid may play in the pathogenesis of hypertension in pediatric age

Curcumin protects against NMDA-induced toxicity: A possible role for NR2A subunit

PURPOSE. Curcumin, a phenolic compound extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, was found to attenuate NMDAinduced excitotoxicity in primary retinal cultures. This study was conducted to further characterize curcumin neuroprotective ability and analyze its effects on NMDA receptor (NMDAr). METHODS. NMDAr modifications were analyzed in primary retinal cell cultures using immunocytochemistry, whole-cell patch-clamp recording and western blot analysis. Cell death was evaluated with the TUNEL assay in primary retinal and hippocampal cultures. Optical fluorometric recordings with Fura 2-AM were used to monitor [Ca 2ϩ ] i . RESULTS. Curcumin dose-and time-dependently protected both retinal and hippocampal neurons against NMDA-induced cell death, confirming its anti-excitotoxic property. In primary retinal cultures, in line with the observed reduction of NMDAinduced [Ca 2ϩ ] i rise, whole-cell patch-clamp experiments showed that a higher percentage of retinal neurons responded to NMDA with low amplitude current after curcumin treatment. In parallel, curcumin induced an increase in NMDAr subunit type 2A (NR2A) level, with kinetics closely correlated to time-course of neuroprotection and decrease in [Ca 2ϩ ] i . The relation between neuroprotection and NR2A level increase was also in line with the observation that curcumin neuroprotection required protein synthesis. Electrophysiology confirmed an increased activity of NR2A-containing NMDAr at the plasma membrane level. CONCLUSIONS. These results confirm the neuroprotective activity of curcumin against NMDA toxicity, possibly related to an increased level of NR2A, and encourage further studies for a possible therapeutic use of curcumin based on neuromodulation of NMDArs. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci

Blood pressure measurement in children: which method? which is the gold standard

The burden of hypertension has become increasingly prevalent in children. Hypertension that begins in childhood can carry on into adulthood, therefore early detection, accurate diagnosis and effective therapy of high blood pressure may improve long-term outcomes of children and adolescents. As far as pediatric hypertension is concerned, doubts still persist about the right instruments, modalities and standards of reference that should be used in routine practice. Due to the dynamic process of growth and development, many physiological parameters undergo intensive change with age. Therefore, in children, the definition of hypertension can not rely on a single blood pressure level but should be based on age- and height-specific percentiles. In this review, we introduce the nephrologist to the correct definition of high blood pressure in children. Moreover, we specifically address the main characteristics of different modalities for blood pressure measurement in children, focusing on practical aspects. The latest international guidelines and appropriate standards of reference for office, ambulatory and home blood pressure data collection are presented. As clinicians are being faced with a greater number of children with hypertension, they should be aware of these peculiarities

Structural Relaxation around Cr3+ in YAlO3-YCrO3 Perovskites from Electron Absorption Spectra

The structural relaxation around Cr(3+) in YAl(1-x)CrxO(3) perovskites was investigated and compared with analogous Cr-Al joins (corundum, spinel, garnet). Eight compositions (x(Cr3+) from 0 to 1) were prepared by sol-gel combustion and were analyzed by a combined X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron absorption spectroscopy (EAS) approach. The unit cell parameters and the XRD averaged octahedral (Cr,Al)-O and tv([VIII])Y-O bond distances scale linearly with the chromium fraction. The optical parameters show an expected decrease of crystal field strength (10Dq) and an increase of covalency (B(35)) and polarizability (B(55)) toward YCrO(3), but a nonlinear trend outlines some excess 10Dq below x(Cr3+) similar to 0.4. The local Cr-O bond lengths, as calculated from EAS, indicate a compression from 1.98 angstrom (x(Cr3+) = 1.0) down to 1.95 angstrom (x(Cr3+) = 0.035) so that the relaxation coefficient of perovskite (epsilon = 0.54) is the lowest in comparison with garnet (epsilon = 0.74), spinel (epsilon = 0.68), and corundum (epsilon = 0.58) in contrast with its structural features. The enhanced covalent character of the Cr(3+)-O-Cr(3+) bond in the one-dimensional arrangement of corner-sharing octahedra can be invoked as a factor limiting the perovskite polyhedral network flexibility. The increased probability of Cr-O-Cr clusters for x(Cr3+) greater than similar to 0.4 is associated to diverging trends of nonequivalent interoctahedral angles. The relatively low relaxation degree of Y(Al,Cr)O(3) can be also understood by considering an additional contribution to 10Dq because of the electrostatic potential of the rest of the lattice ions upon the localized electrons of the CrO(6) octahedron. Such an "excess" of 10Dq increases when the point symmetry of the Cr site is low, as in perovskite, and would be affected by the change of yttrium effective coordination number observed by XRD for x(Cr3+) greater than similar to 0.4. This would justify the systematic underestimation of local Cr-O bond distances, as inferred from EAS, compared to what is derived from X-ray absorption (XAS) Studies implying a stronger degree of relaxation around Cr(3+) of all the Structures considered and Supporting the hypothesis that 10Dq from EAS contains more information than previously retained particularly an additional contribution from the next nearest neighboring ions

Advanced Parameters of Cardiac Mechanics in Children With Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD): a Preliminary Report From the Cardiovascular Comorbidity in Children with CKD (4C) Study

WOS: 000321387201079

Reduced Systolic myocardial chronic renal insufficiency

WOS: 000243917300029PubMed ID: 17215443Increased left ventricular (LV) mass in children with chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) might be adaptive to sustain myocardial performance in the presence of increased loading conditions. It was hypothesized that in children with CRI, LV systolic function is impaired despite increased LV mass (LVM). Standard echocardiograms were obtained in 130 predialysis children who were aged 3 to 18 yr (59% boys) and had stages II through IV chronic kidney disease and in 130 healthy children of similar age, gender distribution, and body build. Systolic function was assessed by measurement of fractional shortening at the endocardial (eS) and midwall (mS) levels and computation of end-systolic stress (myocardial afterload). The patients with CRI exhibited a 6% lower eS (33.1 +/- 5.5 versus 35.3 +/- 6.1%; P < 0.05) and 10% lower mS (17.8 +/- 3.1 versus 19.7 +/- 2.7%; P < 0.001) than control subjects in the presence of significantly elevated BP, increased LVM, and more concentric LV geometry. Whereas the decreased eS was explained entirely by augmented end-systolic stress, mS remained reduced after correction for myocardial afterload. The prevalence of subclinical systolic dysfunction as defined by impaired mS was more than five-fold higher in patients with CRI compared with control subjects (24.6 versus 4.5%; P < 0.001). Systolic dysfunction was most common (48%) in patients with concentric hypertrophy and associated with lower hemoglobin levels. CRI in children is associated with impaired intrinsic LV contractility, which parallels increased LVM

Temperature-resolved synchrotron X-ray diffraction of nanocrystalline titania in solvent: the effect of Cr\u2013Sb and V\u2013Sb doping

Nanocrystalline titania pigments were produced by high temperature-forced hydrolysis in a coordinating high-boiling solvent (and water for reference). The effect of synthesis conditions and co-doping with Cr-Sb and V-Sb on particle size and anatase-to-rutile transformation (A -> R) was studied by temperature-resolved synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The experiments were performed directly on low concentration (3.5 vol.%) as-synthesized suspensions of titania nanoparticles (up to 230 A degrees C) and on the corresponding dried powders (up to 950 A degrees C). Crystallite size of as-synthesized nano-anatase is around 20 nm (glycol) or 70 nm (water); it exhibits a slow growth rate up to the onset temperature of the A -> R. Phase composition and crystallite size are drastically influenced by both synthesis conditions and doping. Synthesis in water resulted in the simultaneous occurrence of anatase and brookite; transformation into rutile begins early but with a slower rate with respect to glycol-based samples. Doping affected the A -> R, whose onset temperature in undoped titania (700 A degrees C) was lowered to 650 A degrees C (V-Sb) or prevented up to 950 A degrees C (Cr-Sb). Both (V-Sb) and (Cr-Sb) dopings reduced the volume thermal expansion rate of anatase

Advanced Parameters of Cardiac Mechanics in Children With Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD): a Preliminary Report From the Cardiovascular Comorbidity in Children with CKD (4C) Study

WOS: 00032138720107