History, epidemiology and regional diversities of urolithiasis

Archeological findings give profound evidence that humans have suffered from kidney and bladder stones for centuries. Bladder stones were more prevalent during older ages, but kidney stones became more prevalent during the past 100 years, at least in the more developed countries. Also, treatment options and conservative measures, as well as ‘surgical’ interventions have also been known for a long time. Our current preventive measures are definitively comparable to those of our predecessors. Stone removal, first lithotomy for bladder stones, followed by transurethral methods, was definitively painful and had severe side effects. Then, as now, the incidence of urolithiasis in a given population was dependent on the geographic area, racial distribution, socio-economic status and dietary habits. Changes in the latter factors during the past decades have affected the incidence and also the site and chemical composition of calculi, with calcium oxalate stones being now the most prevalent. Major differences in frequency of other constituents, particularly uric acid and struvite, reflect eating habits and infection risk factors specific to certain populations. Extensive epidemiological observations have emphasized the importance of nutritional factors in the pathogenesis of urolithiasis, and specific dietary advice is, nowadays, often the most appropriate for prevention and treatment of urolithiasis

EFFECT OF CONCENTRATIONS AND CARRIERS ON CHARACTERISTICS OF SPRAY-DRIED TAMARIND PULP EXTRACT

Tamarind pulp comprises reducing sugar, organic acid, pectin, protein, fiber and cellulosic material. Organic acids in tamarind pulp are tartaric acid, malic acid and citric acid which are alpha hydroxy acids. The aims of this study were to prepare spry-dried tamarind pulp extract using different carriers, maltodextrin and acacia with different concentrations, 5 and 10% w/w with or without silicon dioxide 1% w/w. In the preparation of spray-dried tamarind pulp extract, 10% w/w acacia, inlet temperature 110 degree Celsius, fan setting 50 were successful for spray drying. Percent yield of spray-dried tamarind pulp extract was 55.73 ± 4.75% w/w. Percent moisture content was 6.41 ± 0.64% w/w, spherical and smooth surface with slightly aggregated particles were obtained with mean particle size of 16.20 ± 0.09 micrometers. The spray-dried tamarind pulp extract contained 7.83 ± 0.13% w/w of tartaric acid. Stability of spray-dried products were determined by keeping in tight, clean or light protected vials at accelerated temperature 40 ± 2 degree Celsius relative humidity 75 ± 5% for 6 months. The percent remaining of tartaric acid in spray-dried product in both vials was 93.16% w/w. The final product is still free flowing

CURCUMIN INDUCES ANOIKIS IN H460 NON-SMALL LUNG CANCER CELLS THROUGH SUPEROXIDE ANION INDUCTION

Anoikis or apoptosis triggered by loss of cell anchorage plays an important role in prevention of tumor cell metastasis. During metastasis process, anticancer drugs are not able to completely eliminate cancer cells that suspended in the blood stream; therefore, the use of natural safety compounds to enhance apoptosis of these suspended cells may improve the therapy. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a major active component in turmeric, Curcuma longa, has been shown to inhibit neoplastic initiation, promotion and progression of a wide variety of tumor cells. However, the effect of curcumin on anoikis process has not been well characterized. We herein demonstrated that 10 µM of curcumin triggered 1.2-folds anoikis of detached lung carcinoma H460 cells compared with controlled cells. Cell viability was detected by XTT assay and anoikis cells were indicated by annexin V staning assay. Mechanism of curcumin induced anoikis was associated with its ability to generate intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Curcumin caused 1.6-folds induction of intracellular ROS level as detected by DCF-DA and flow cytometry. Our inhibitory study revealed that superoxide anion generated by curcumin was a principle ROS responsible for anoikis induction in these cells. Thus, our results showed that curcumin induced anoikis in detached-H460 cells resulted from increasing of intracellular ROS

PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF A PHYLLANTHUS EMBLICA EXTRACT AGAINST CISPLATIN-INDUCED APOPTOSIS IN DERMAL PAPILLA FIBROBLASTS

Cisplatin is a widely prescribed anticancer agent that causes hair loss in patients. Since the dermal papilla (DP) fibroblasts are known as a key mediator in controlling hair growth and loss, protection against cisplatin-induced cell damage on these cells may lead to a new strategy for hair loss protection in chemotherapy patients. We herein reported that cisplatin induced DP cell death in a concentration-dependent manner through apoptosis mechanism, which was further found to be related to the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Therefore, extract from emblica fruits (Phyllanthus emblica), a known natural antioxidant, was examined for its protective effect on cisplatin-induced DP fibroblast cell death. Our results indicated that emblica extract attenuated the intracellular ROS induction following cisplatin treatment and subsequently protected against cisplatin-induced DP fibroblast apoptotic cell death. Co-treatment of emblica extract (250-500 µg/mL) and cisplatin 100 µmol/L (LD50) markedly increased the DP fibroblast relative cell viability to the same level as the non-treated control

EMBLICA EXTRACT INDUCES TYPE I PRO-COLLAGEN SYNTHESIS AND INHIBITS COLLAGENASE ACTIVITY IN MOUSE FIBROBLASTS

Decrease of type I collagen generation as well as the increase of its degradation via matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs; e.g. gelatinases and collagenases) are considered as a major cause of skin aging. A potent natural antioxidant exblica extract from emblica fruits (Phyllanthus emblica) was herein evaluated for collagen promoting activity in mouse fibroblasts. We demonstrated that the level of intracellular type I pro-collagen increased following emblica extract treatment in concentration-dependent manner. Emblica extract at the concentration of 100 µg/mL exhibited the maximum effect on type I pro-collagen; approximately 7 fold-induction versus non-treated control determined by Western blot analysis. Moreover, our result indicated that emblica extract affected the MMPs function. Percentage of collagenase inhibition exceeded forty at the concentration of 100 µg/mL of emblica extract. Taken together, emblica extract has a promising anti-aging effect attributed to its positive effect on type I collagen formation as well as the protection against collagen degradation