Renal ablation for treatment of hypertension without Symplicity catheter: The first human experience

BACKGROUND: Hypertension (HTN) treatment has remained insufficient. New modalities such as &ldquo;Symplicity method&rdquo; for the treatment of HTN are a priority, especially in patients with resistant hypertension. In this study, we describe our first experience with a novel percutaneous treatment modality, without using Symplicity catheter. METHODS: 30 Patients who were resistant to at least three types of antihypertensive medical therapy were selected. Patients received percutaneous renal artery denervation, without Symplicity catheter method, and were followed up for 1 week, 1, 3, and 6 months later after treatment. Ambulatory 24-hour blood pressure (BP) Holter was performed 1 week before intervention and after 1 month. The primary outcome was change in 24-hour ambulatory BP and change in office and home-based BP measurements. RESULTS: The mean age of the studied patients was 52 &plusmn; 15.4 years and 43.3% (n = 13) were female. Systolic and diastolic BP at baseline was 163 &plusmn; 17.2 and 95 &plusmn; 8.2 mmHg, respectively. Patients took 3.6 &plusmn; 1.3 hypertensive medications. Systolic and diastolic BP at 1-week, 1-month, 3-month and 6-month after renal denervation significantly decreased compared to the baseline (P &lt; 0.0001). Average BP derived from 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring changed in parallel with office-based BP measurements. Most of patients (50%) who underwent renal denervation had reductions of 10 mmHg or greater in systolic BP and 56.7% of them had reductions of 5 mmHg or greater in diastolic BP. 33.3% of patients also achieved the target of systolic BP less than 140 mmHg and 60% achieved the target of diastolic BP less than 90 mmHg. No patients showed vascular damage at final angiography. CONCLUSION: Catheter based renal ablation was associated with a significant reduction in both systolic and diastolic BP, on top of maximal medical therapy, which persisted throughout 6 months follow-up in the first-in-man study without the Symplicity catheter. &nbsp; Keywords: Renal Denervation, Resistant Hypertension, Catheter</div

Optimization of Lutein Extraction from Pistachio Waste Using Experimental Design and Ultrasonic Method

Background Agricultural by-products rich in lutein such as pistachio hull can be applied in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food manufacturing. The development of rapid and cost-effective extraction methods of lutein from pistachio hull to optimize lutein recovery is of great interest to transpose to an industrial scale. Herein, we optimized the extraction protocol of lutein from the Iranian pistachio hull using experimental design and ultrasonic method. Methods Fresh raw un-hulled pistachios were harvested and dehulled, then hulls were dried and finely powdered to use for further analysis. Soxhlet process was carried out to obtain pistachio hull oleoresin and response surface methodology (RSM) was used for the optimization of saponification and ultrasonic methods. The lutein contents were quantitatively analyzed and validated using LC-MS/MS system. Results Our results showed that lutein in pistachio hull is mainly in free form, therefore the saponification method is not necessary for its extraction. Under optimal experimental design conditions, the maximum amount of lutein predicted and observed was 7.90 and 7.97 mg/100 g, respectively. Ethyl acetate was applied as an extraction solvent with the ultrasonic method followed by the setting up of the extraction time, temperature and solvent/sample ratio as variables. Under optimal experimental conditions corresponding to 45 min extraction time at 50 °C and 35.5 mg/ml of the solvent/sample ratio, the amount of lutein obtained from dried pistachio hull was 5.14 mg/100 g. Conclusion Pistachio waste products are rich in lutein which is in free from, so the administration of ultrasonic extraction using Ethyl acetate as a green and cost-effective method can be applied for lutein extraction from other plant materials and suggested for application on an industrial scale.</p

Application of Microwave-Assisted Method for Lutein Extraction from Pistachio Waste

Lutein is a xanthophyll family of carotenoids, found in flowers, vegetables, and fruits either in esterified or non-esterified fatty acid form. It is mainly administered in pharmacological products, dietary additives, the food industry, and animal feeding industries. This study was conducted on the ̳Fandoghi‘ variety from the Markazi province for pistachio hull lutein extraction and quantification. This study aimed to assess the lutein in pistachio hull and optimize its extraction protocol by new extraction methods with emphasis on microwave-assisted method (MAE). The powder from dried pistachio hulls obtained from fresh raw un-hulled pistachios was applied for further analysis. An experimental design based on the central composite design was applied for the extraction using the MAE method and extraction optimization. The lutein contents were quantitatively analyzed using a validated LC-MS/MS method. According to the free form of lutein, Ethyl acetate was applied as an extraction solvent with the MAE method followed by the setting up of the extraction time, temperature, and solvent/sample ratio as variables. Under optimal experimental conditions corresponding to 5 min extraction time at 40°C, and 30 mg ml-1 of the solvent/sample ratio, the amount of lutein obtained from dried pistachio hull was 3.86 mg 100 g-1. The MAE method is a green, time-saving, and cost-effective method for lutein extraction from pistachio hull that can be suggested for lutein extraction from other plant materials and it can be applied in industrial scale