The controversy over the association between statins use and progression of age-related macular degeneration: a mini review

Vasileios Peponis1, Spyridon E Chalkiadakis1, Stefanos Bonovas2,3, Nikolaos M Sitaras21Athens Eye Hospital, 2nd Eye Clinic, Athens, Greece; 2Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece; 3Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, Athens, GreeceObjective: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in ¬western societies. Statins comprise a class of pharmacological agents that reduce plasma cholesterol levels, and have been shown to prevent progression of atherosclerosis and reduce cardiovascular mortality. The relationship between these medications and AMD has been evaluated in several recent studies. Herein, we examine the current evidence for an association between statin use and risk of AMD.Methods: Literature database search (Medline, Scopus, and Science Citation Index Expanded) for articles published up to March 2010, using particular search terms.Results: From the current evidence available, it is not safe to conclude upon the assumption of a protective effect of statins against age-related maculopathy and AMD.Conclusion: There is a need for large scale prospective studies with a long follow-up period and accurate assessment of AMD to further explore this matter.Keywords: age-related macular degeneration (AMD), blindness, statin use, controvers

Quantitative determination of glycosaminoglycans in tears of diabetic patients

Marilita M Moschos1, Alexandros A Rouvas1, Spyridon Papadimitriou1, Athanasios Kotsolis1, Nikolaos Sitaras2, Michael Apostolopoulos11Department of Ophthalmology; 2Department of Pharmacology, University of Athens, GreecePurpose: To determine the amount of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in tears of patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and to compare it with normal subjects.Methods: 38 patients with DR and 24 normal volunteers were included. Thirty subjects suffered from background diabetic retinopathy (BDR) and 8 from proliferate diabetic retinopathy (PDR). For the GAGs assay, the uronic carbazole reaction was used.Results: The mean concentration of GAGs was significantly higher in patients with DR than in normal subjects. The GAGs concentration in patients with BDR or PDR was significantly higher than in normal subjects.Conclusion: The measurement of GAGs in tears of diabetic patients could be a tool in order to assess the stability or not of the disease.Keywords: glycosaminoglycans, tears, diabetic retinopath

The diagnostic role of glycosaminoglycans in pleural effusions: A pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pleural effusions are classified into transudates and exudates. Various criteria have been used with Light's et al being the most accepted ones. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) have been detected during pleural fluids (PF) analysis in various causes. In this pilot study, we investigated: (a) the usefulness of GAGs in the assessment of pleural effusions, and (b) whether and in what way GAGs correlate with established criteria used to indicate an exudate.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>LDH, total protein, cholesterol and GAG levels were measured in pleural fluid and serum from 50 patients with pleural effusion. GAG levels were defined by the photometric method of Hata. The discriminative properties of pleural GAGs (pGAG), pleural fluid/serum GAG ratio (GAGR), serum GAGs (sGAG) and serum LDH (sLDH) were explored with ROC analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>According to ROC analysis, pGAG and GAGR exhibited satisfactory discriminative properties in the separation of pleural effusions. For GAGR, at a 1.1 cut off point, sensitivity and specificity reached 75.6%; 95%CI: 60.5–87.1 and 100%; 95%CI: 47.8–100, respectively. For pGAG at a cut off value of 8.4 μg/ml, these percentages changed to 86.7%; 95%CI: 73.2–94.9 and 100%; 95%CI: 47.8–100. The study also revealed the differential role of sGAG between malignancies and benign cases, scoring 68.8%; 95%CI: 50.0–83.9 for sensitivity, and 84.6%; 95%CI: 54.5–97.6 for specificity at a 7.8 μg/ml cut off.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that glycosaminoglycan measurement of both serum and pleural effusions could be useful for simultaneous differentiation of exudates from transudates, and of malignant from benign exudates.</p

LEARNING AND ESTORGENIC INFLUENCE IN FEMALE RATS

Αποβίωσε το 2016

Does pravastatin promote cancer in elderly patients? A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: An increase in the incidence of cancer among elderly people assigned to pravastatin therapy has been reported in a randomized controlled trial; however, this finding has been attributed to chance. Our aim was to assess the effect of pravastatin therapy on cancer risk and to examine whether the effect varies according to age by performing a detailed meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis of randomized controlled trials. METHODS: We performed a comprehensive literature search for relevant studies published before February 2006. Before analysis, the selected studies were evaluated for publication bias and heterogeneity. Pooled relative risk estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using fixed-and random-effects models. Meta-regression analysis was performed to examine the impact of age on the study estimates of the relative risk of cancer due to pravastatin therapy. RESULTS: Twelve trials that investigated the use of pravastatin therapy for cardiovascular outcomes were included in the analysis (n = 42 902). Although the overall association between pravastatin use and cancer was not statistically significant in the fixed-effects (risk ratio [RR] 1.06, 95% CI 0.99–1.13) or random-effects model (RR 1.06, 95% CI 0.97–1.14), the meta-regression analysis showed that the age of study participants significantly modified the effect of pravastatin therapy on cancer risk (p = 0.006). Specifically, this analysis showed that pravastatin therapy was associated with an increasing risk of cancer as age increased. This finding was remarkably robust in the sensitivity analysis. INTERPRETATION: Our findings suggest an association between pravastatin therapy and cancer in elderly patients. However, given the importance of this potential association, further verification is warranted

Isolation and Quantification of Glycosaminoglycans from Human Hair Shaft

Background: There is evidence that glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are present in the hair shaft within the follicle but there are no studies regarding GAGs isolation and measurement in the human hair shaft over the scalp surface, it means, in the free hair shaft. Objective: The purpose of our research was to isolate and measure the total GAGs from human free hair shaft. Methods: Seventy-five healthy individuals participated in the study, 58 adults, men and women over the age of 50 and 17 children (aged 4 similar to 9). GAGs in hair samples, received from the parietal and the occipital areas, were isolated with 4 M guanidine HCI and measured by the uronic acid-carbazole reaction assay. Results: GAGs concentration was significantly higher in the occipital area than in the parietal area, in all study groups. GAG levels from both areas were significantly higher in children than in adults. GAG levels were not associated with gender, hair color or type. Conclusion: We report the presence of GAGs in the human free hair shaft and the correlation of hair GAG levels with the scalp area and participants&apos; age