Pre-Chemotherapy Differences in Visuospatial Working Memory in Breast Cancer Patients Compared to Controls: An fMRI Study

Introduction: Cognitive deficits are a side-effect of chemotherapy, however pre-treatment research is limited. This study examines neurofunctional differences during working memory between breast cancer (BC) patients and controls, prior to chemotherapy. Methods: Early stage BC females (23), scanned after surgery but before chemotherapy, were individually matched to non-cancer controls. Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a Visuospatial N-back task and data was analyzed by multiple group comparisons. fMRI task performance, neuropsychological tests, hospital records, and salivary biomarkers were also collected. Results: There were no significant group differences on neuropsychological tests, estrogen, or cortisol. Patients made significantly fewer commission errors but had less overall correct responses and were slower than controls during the task. Significant group differences were observed for the fMRI data, yet results depended on the type of analysis. BC patients presented with increased activations during working memory compared to controls in areas such as the inferior frontal gyrus, insula, thalamus, and midbrain. Individual group regressions revealed a reverse relationship between brain activity and commission errors. Conclusion: This is the first fMRI investigation to reveal neurophysiological differences during visuospatial working memory between BC patients pre-chemotherapy and controls. These results also increase the knowledge about the effects of BC and related factors on the working memory network. Significance: This highlights the need to better understand the pre-chemotherapy BC patient and the effects of associated confounding variables

Rapid evidence assessment on online misinformation and media literacy: final report for Ofcom

This report summarises the results of the Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) on Online Misinformation and Media Literacy (REA), conducted from November 2020 to April 2021 and commissioned by Ofcom. The review is focused on studies that measure the effectiveness of interventions designed to tackle misinformation, both within the media literacy curriculum and in relation to technological interventions that draw on literacy principles (such as critical thinking, information evaluation and active engagement), even if they are not conducted in an educational setting. The results showed that robust evaluation of media literacy curriculum interventions is not very common. More evaluation has been done on the effectiveness of non-curricular interventions. Nonetheless, findings from both types of research provide important insights into how evidence-based, targeted approaches to dealing with misinformation by improving media literacy might be further developed, building on existing policy and industry initiatives and fostering audience empowerment and agency

Deconvolution of complex G protein-coupled receptor signaling in live cells using dynamic mass redistribution measurements

Label-free biosensor technology based on dynamic mass redistribution (DMR) of cellular constituents promises to translate GPCR signaling into complex optical 'fingerprints' in real time in living cells. Here we present a strategy to map cellular mechanisms that define label-free responses, and we compare DMR technology with traditional second-messenger assays that are currently the state of the art in GPCR drug discovery. The holistic nature of DMR measurements enabled us to (i) probe GPCR functionality along all four G-protein signaling pathways, something presently beyond reach of most other assay platforms; (ii) dissect complex GPCR signaling patterns even in primary human cells with unprecedented accuracy; (iii) define heterotrimeric G proteins as triggers for the complex optical fingerprints; and (iv) disclose previously undetected features of GPCR behavior. Our results suggest that DMR technology will have a substantial impact on systems biology and systems pharmacology as well as for the discovery of drugs with novel mechanisms

Soothing the Threatened Brain: Leveraging Contact Comfort with Emotionally Focused Therapy

Social relationships are tightly linked to health and well-being. Recent work suggests that social relationships can even serve vital emotion regulation functions by minimizing threat-related neural activity. But relationship distress remains a significant public health problem in North America and elsewhere. A promising approach to helping couples both resolve relationship distress and nurture effective interpersonal functioning is Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples (EFT), a manualized, empirically supported therapy that is strongly focused on repairing adult attachment bonds. We sought to examine a neural index of social emotion regulation as a potential mediator of the effects of EFT. Specifically, we examined the effectiveness of EFT for modifying the social regulation of neural threat responding using an fMRI-based handholding procedure. Results suggest that EFT altered the brain\u27s representation of threat cues in the presence of a romantic partner. EFT-related changes during stranger handholding were also observed, but stranger effects were dependent upon self-reported relationship quality. EFT also appeared to increase threat-related brain activity in regions associated with self-regulation during the no-handholding condition. These findings provide a critical window into the regulatory mechanisms of close relationships in general and EFT in particular

kakapo, a Gene Required for Adhesion Between and Within Cell Layers in Drosophila, Encodes a Large Cytoskeletal Linker Protein Related to Plectin and Dystrophin

Mutations in kakapo were recovered in genetic screens designed to isolate genes required for integrin-mediated adhesion in Drosophila. We cloned the gene and found that it encodes a large protein (>5,000 amino acids) that is highly similar to plectin and BPAG1 over the first 1,000–amino acid region, and contains within this region an α-actinin type actin-binding domain. A central region containing dystrophin-like repeats is followed by a carboxy domain that is distinct from plectin and dystrophin, having neither the intermediate filament-binding domain of plectin nor the dystroglycan/syntrophin-binding domain of dystrophin. Instead, Kakapo has a carboxy terminus similar to the growth arrest–specific protein Gas2. Kakapo is strongly expressed late during embryogenesis at the most prominent site of position-specific integrin adhesion, the muscle attachment sites. It is concentrated at apical and basal surfaces of epidermal muscle attachment cells, at the termini of the prominent microtubule bundles, and is required in these cells for strong attachment to muscles. Kakapo is also expressed more widely at a lower level where it is essential for epidermal cell layer stability. These results suggest that the Kakapo protein forms essential links among integrins, actin, and microtubules

Laser Heating Tunability by Off-Resonant Irradiation of Gold Nanoparticles

"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Hormeño, Silvia, Paula Gregorio-Godoy, Jorge Pérez-Juste, Luis M. Liz-Marzán, Beatriz H. Juárez, and J. Ricardo Arias-Gonzalez. 2013. Laser Heating Tunability by Off-Resonant Irradiation of Gold Nanoparticles. Small 10 (2). Wiley: 376 84. doi:10.1002/smll.201301912, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201301912. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."[EN] Temperature changes in the vicinity of a single absorptive nanostructure caused by local heating have strong implications in technologies such as integrated electronics or biomedicine. Herein, the temperature changes in the vicinity of a single optically trapped spherical Au nanoparticle encapsulated in a thermo¿responsive poly(N¿isopropylacrylamide) shell (Au@pNIPAM) are studied in detail. Individual beads are trapped in a counter¿propagating optical tweezers setup at various laser powers, which allows the overall particle size to be tuned through the phase transition of the thermo¿responsive shell. The experimentally obtained sizes measured at different irradiation powers are compared with average size values obtained by dynamic light scattering (DLS) from an ensemble of beads at different temperatures. The size range and the tendency to shrink upon increasing the laser power in the optical trap or by increasing the temperature for DLS agree with reasonable accuracy for both approaches. Discrepancies are evaluated by means of simple models accounting for variations in the thermal conductivity of the polymer, the viscosity of the aqueous solution and the absorption cross section of the coated Au nanoparticle. These results show that these parameters must be taken into account when considering local laser heating experiments in aqueous solution at the nanoscale. Analysis of the stability of the Au@pNIPAM particles in the trap is also theoretically carried out for different particle sizes.This work has been partially supported by Comunidad de Madrid through NANOBIOMAGNET S2009-MAT-1726 and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through RYC-2007-01709, RYC-2007-01765 and MAT-2009-13488. P. G-G. acknowledges a Research Initiation Grant at IMDEA Nanociencia. The authors thank Dr. Reinhold Wannemacher for fruitful discussions.Hormeño, S.; Gregorio-Godoy, P.; Pérez-Juste, J.; Liz-Marzán, L.; Juárez, B.; Arias-Gonzalez, JR. (2014). Laser Heating Tunability by Off-Resonant Irradiation of Gold Nanoparticles. Small. 10(2):376-384. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201301912S376384102Huang, X., Jain, P. K., El-Sayed, I. H., & El-Sayed, M. A. (2007). Gold nanoparticles: interesting optical properties and recent applications in cancer diagnostics and therapy. Nanomedicine, 2(5), 681-693. doi:10.2217/17435889.2.5.681Pitsillides, C. M., Joe, E. K., Wei, X., Anderson, R. R., & Lin, C. P. (2003). Selective Cell Targeting with Light-Absorbing Microparticles and Nanoparticles. Biophysical Journal, 84(6), 4023-4032. doi:10.1016/s0006-3495(03)75128-5PEREZJUSTE, J., PASTORIZASANTOS, I., LIZMARZAN, L., & MULVANEY, P. (2005). Gold nanorods: Synthesis, characterization and applications. Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 249(17-18), 1870-1901. doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2005.01.030Averitt, R. D., Sarkar, D., & Halas, N. J. (1997). Plasmon Resonance Shifts of Au-CoatedAu2SNanoshells: Insight into Multicomponent Nanoparticle Growth. Physical Review Letters, 78(22), 4217-4220. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.78.4217Arias-González, J. R., & Nieto-Vesperinas, M. (2001). Resonant near-field eigenmodes of nanocylinders on flat surfaces under both homogeneous and inhomogeneous lightwave excitation. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 18(3), 657. doi:10.1364/josaa.18.000657Seol, Y., Carpenter, A. E., & Perkins, T. T. (2006). Gold nanoparticles: enhanced optical trapping and sensitivity coupled with significant heating. Optics Letters, 31(16), 2429. doi:10.1364/ol.31.002429Govorov, A. O., & Richardson, H. H. (2007). Generating heat with metal nanoparticles. Nano Today, 2(1), 30-38. doi:10.1016/s1748-0132(07)70017-8Bendix, P. M., Reihani, S. N. S., & Oddershede, L. B. (2010). Direct Measurements of Heating by Electromagnetically Trapped Gold Nanoparticles on Supported Lipid Bilayers. ACS Nano, 4(4), 2256-2262. doi:10.1021/nn901751wQin, Z., & Bischof, J. C. (2012). Thermophysical and biological responses of gold nanoparticle laser heating. Chem. Soc. Rev., 41(3), 1191-1217. doi:10.1039/c1cs15184cHaro-González, P., Ramsay, W. T., Maestro, L. M., del Rosal, B., Santacruz-Gomez, K., del Carmen Iglesias-de la Cruz, M., … Paterson, L. (2013). Quantum Dot-Based Thermal Spectroscopy and Imaging of Optically Trapped Microspheres and Single Cells. Small, 9(12), 2162-2170. doi:10.1002/smll.201201740Do, J., Schreiber, R., Lutich, A. A., Liedl, T., Rodríguez-Fernández, J., & Feldmann, J. (2012). Design and Optical Trapping of a Biocompatible Propeller-like Nanoscale Hybrid. Nano Letters, 12(9), 5008-5013. doi:10.1021/nl302775eGoldenberg, H., & Tranter, C. J. (1952). Heat flow in an infinite medium heated by a sphere. British Journal of Applied Physics, 3(9), 296-298. doi:10.1088/0508-3443/3/9/307Pustovalov, V. K. (2005). Theoretical study of heating of spherical nanoparticle in media by short laser pulses. Chemical Physics, 308(1-2), 103-108. doi:10.1016/j.chemphys.2004.08.005Pustovalov, V. K., & Babenko, V. A. (2004). Optical properties of gold nanoparticles at laser radiation wavelengths for laser applications in nanotechnology and medicine. Laser Physics Letters, 1(10), 516-520. doi:10.1002/lapl.200410111Richardson, H. H., Hickman, Z. N., Govorov, A. O., Thomas, A. C., Zhang, W., & Kordesch, M. E. (2006). Thermooptical Properties of Gold Nanoparticles Embedded in Ice:  Characterization of Heat Generation and Melting. Nano Letters, 6(4), 783-788. doi:10.1021/nl060105lSiems, A., Weber, S. A. L., Boneberg, J., & Plech, A. (2011). Thermodynamics of nanosecond nanobubble formation at laser-excited metal nanoparticles. New Journal of Physics, 13(4), 043018. doi:10.1088/1367-2630/13/4/043018Shah, J., Park, S., Aglyamov, S., Larson, T., Ma, L., Sokolov, K., … Emelianov, S. Y. (2008). Photoacoustic imaging and temperature measurement for photothermal cancer therapy. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 13(3), 034024. doi:10.1117/1.2940362Baffou, G., Kreuzer, M. P., Kulzer, F., & Quidant, R. (2009). Temperature mapping near plasmonic nanostructures using fluorescence polarization anisotropy. Optics Express, 17(5), 3291. doi:10.1364/oe.17.003291Gupta, A., Kane, R. S., & Borca-Tasciuc, D.-A. (2010). Local temperature measurement in the vicinity of electromagnetically heated magnetite and gold nanoparticles. Journal of Applied Physics, 108(6), 064901. doi:10.1063/1.3485601Maestro, L. M., Haro-González, P., Coello, J. G., & Jaque, D. (2012). Absorption efficiency of gold nanorods determined by quantum dot fluorescence thermometry. Applied Physics Letters, 100(20), 201110. doi:10.1063/1.4718605Jones, C. D., & Lyon, L. A. (2000). Synthesis and Characterization of Multiresponsive Core−Shell Microgels. Macromolecules, 33(22), 8301-8306. doi:10.1021/ma001398mDas, M., Sanson, N., Fava, D., & Kumacheva, E. (2007). Microgels Loaded with Gold Nanorods:  Photothermally Triggered Volume Transitions under Physiological Conditions†. Langmuir, 23(1), 196-201. doi:10.1021/la061596sKarg, M., Pastoriza-Santos, I., Pérez-Juste, J., Hellweg, T., & Liz-Marzán, L. M. (2007). Nanorod-Coated PNIPAM Microgels: Thermoresponsive Optical Properties. Small, 3(7), 1222-1229. doi:10.1002/smll.200700078Sershen, S. R., Westcott, S. L., Halas, N. J., & West, J. L. (2000). Temperature-sensitive polymer-nanoshell composites for photothermally modulated drug delivery. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 51(3), 293-298. doi:10.1002/1097-4636(20000905)51:33.0.co;2-tSvoboda, K., & Block, S. M. (1994). Optical trapping of metallic Rayleigh particles. Optics Letters, 19(13), 930. doi:10.1364/ol.19.000930Arias-González, J. R., & Nieto-Vesperinas, M. (2003). Optical forces on small particles: attractive and repulsive nature and plasmon-resonance conditions. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 20(7), 1201. doi:10.1364/josaa.20.001201Hansen, P. M., Bhatia, V. K., Harrit, N., & Oddershede, L. (2005). Expanding the Optical Trapping Range of Gold Nanoparticles. Nano Letters, 5(10), 1937-1942. doi:10.1021/nl051289rHormeño, S., Bastús, N. G., Pietsch, A., Weller, H., Arias-Gonzalez, J. R., & Juárez, B. H. (2011). Plasmon-Exciton Interactions on Single Thermoresponsive Platforms Demonstrated by Optical Tweezers. Nano Letters, 11(11), 4742-4747. doi:10.1021/nl202560jRodríguez-Fernández, J., Fedoruk, M., Hrelescu, C., Lutich, A. A., & Feldmann, J. (2011). Triggering the volume phase transition of core–shell Au nanorod–microgel nanocomposites with light. Nanotechnology, 22(24), 245708. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/22/24/245708Kyrsting, A., Bendix, P. M., Stamou, D. G., & Oddershede, L. B. (2011). Heat Profiling of Three-Dimensionally Optically Trapped Gold Nanoparticles using Vesicle Cargo Release. Nano Letters, 11(2), 888-892. doi:10.1021/nl104280cMao, H., Ricardo Arias-Gonzalez, J., Smith, S. B., Tinoco, I., & Bustamante, C. (2005). Temperature Control Methods in a Laser Tweezers System. Biophysical Journal, 89(2), 1308-1316. doi:10.1529/biophysj.104.054536Hormeño, S., Ibarra, B., Chichón, F. J., Habermann, K., Lange, B. M. H., Valpuesta, J. M., … Arias-Gonzalez, J. R. (2009). Single Centrosome Manipulation Reveals Its Electric Charge and Associated Dynamic Structure. Biophysical Journal, 97(4), 1022-1030. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2009.06.004Honda, M., Saito, Y., Smith, N. I., Fujita, K., & Kawata, S. (2011). Nanoscale heating of laser irradiated single gold nanoparticles in liquid. Optics Express, 19(13), 12375. doi:10.1364/oe.19.012375Ionov, L., Stamm, M., & Diez, S. (2006). Reversible Switching of Microtubule Motility Using Thermoresponsive Polymer Surfaces. Nano Letters, 6(9), 1982-1987. doi:10.1021/nl0611539Pelton, R. (2000). Temperature-sensitive aqueous microgels. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 85(1), 1-33. doi:10.1016/s0001-8686(99)00023-8Garner, B. W., Cai, T., Ghosh, S., Hu, Z., & Neogi, A. (2009). Refractive Index Change Due to Volume-Phase Transition in Polyacrylamide Gel Nanospheres for Optoelectronics and Bio-photonics. Applied Physics Express, 2, 057001. doi:10.1143/apex.2.057001Schmidt, S., Motschmann, H., Hellweg, T., & von Klitzing, R. (2008). Thermoresponsive surfaces by spin-coating of PNIPAM-co-PAA microgels: A combined AFM and ellipsometry study. Polymer, 49(3), 749-756. doi:10.1016/j.polymer.2007.12.025Sánchez-Iglesias, A., Grzelczak, M., Rodríguez-González, B., Guardia-Girós, P., Pastoriza-Santos, I., Pérez-Juste, J., … Liz-Marzán, L. M. (2009). Synthesis of Multifunctional Composite Microgels via In Situ Ni Growth on pNIPAM-Coated Au Nanoparticles. ACS Nano, 3(10), 3184-3190. doi:10.1021/nn9006169Johnson, P. B., & Christy, R. W. (1972). Optical Constants of the Noble Metals. Physical Review B, 6(12), 4370-4379. doi:10.1103/physrevb.6.4370Aden, A. L., & Kerker, M. (1951). Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves from Two Concentric Spheres. Journal of Applied Physics, 22(10), 1242-1246. doi:10.1063/1.1699834Wang, M. C., & Uhlenbeck, G. E. (1945). On the Theory of the Brownian Motion II. Reviews of Modern Physics, 17(2-3), 323-342. doi:10.1103/revmodphys.17.323Berg-Sørensen, K., & Flyvbjerg, H. (2004). Power spectrum analysis for optical tweezers. Review of Scientific Instruments, 75(3), 594-612. doi:10.1063/1.1645654Andrä, W., d’ Ambly, C. ., Hergt, R., Hilger, I., & Kaiser, W. . (1999). Temperature distribution as function of time around a small spherical heat source of local magnetic hyperthermia. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 194(1-3), 197-203. doi:10.1016/s0304-8853(98)00552-6Sengers, J. V., & Watson, J. T. R. (1986). Improved International Formulations for the Viscosity and Thermal Conductivity of Water Substance. Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, 15(4), 1291-1314. doi:10.1063/1.555763Andersson, O., & Johari, G. P. (2011). Effect of pressure on thermal conductivity and pressure collapse of ice in a polymer-hydrogel and kinetic unfreezing at 1 GPa. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 134(12), 124903. doi:10.1063/1.3568817Arai, F., Ng, C., Maruyama, H., Ichikawa, A., El-Shimy, H., & Fukuda, T. (2005). On chip single-cell separation and immobilization using optical tweezers and thermosensitive hydrogel. Lab on a Chip, 5(12), 1399. doi:10.1039/b502546jCoelho, J. M. P., Abreu, M. A., & Carvalho Rodrigues, F. (2004). High-speed laser cutting of superposed thermoplastic films: thermal modeling and process characterization. Optics and Lasers in Engineering, 42(1), 27-39. doi:10.1016/s0143-8166(03)00071-xDavidson, S. R. H., & Sherar, M. D. (2003). Measurement of the thermal conductivity of polyacrylamide tissue-equivalent material. International Journal of Hyperthermia, 19(5), 551-562. doi:10.1080/02656730310001607995HOARE, T., & PELTON, R. (2008). Characterizing charge and crosslinker distributions in polyelectrolyte microgels. Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science, 13(6), 413-428. doi:10.1016/j.cocis.2008.03.004Carregal-Romero, S., Buurma, N. J., Pérez-Juste, J., Liz-Marzán, L. M., & Hervés, P. (2010). Catalysis by Au@pNIPAM Nanocomposites: Effect of the Cross-Linking Density. Chemistry of Materials, 22(10), 3051-3059. doi:10.1021/cm903261bMurphy, K. P., & Freire, E. (1992). Thermodynamics of Structural Stability and Cooperative Folding Behavior in Proteins. Advances in Protein Chemistry, 313-361. doi:10.1016/s0065-3233(08)60556-2Evans, J. S., Sun, Y., Senyuk, B., Keller, P., Pergamenshchik, V. M., Lee, T., & Smalyukh, I. I. (2013). Active Shape-Morphing Elastomeric Colloids in Short-Pitch Cholesteric Liquid Crystals. Physical Review Letters, 110(18). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.110.187802Sun, Y., Evans, J. S., Lee, T., Senyuk, B., Keller, P., He, S., & Smalyukh, I. I. (2012). Optical manipulation of shape-morphing elastomeric liquid crystal microparticles doped with gold nanocrystals. Applied Physics Letters, 100(24), 241901. doi:10.1063/1.4729143Contreras-Cáceres, R., Pacifico, J., Pastoriza-Santos, I., Pérez-Juste, J., Fernández-Barbero, A., & Liz-Marzán, L. M. (2009). Au@pNIPAM Thermosensitive Nanostructures: Control over Shell Cross-linking, Overall Dimensions, and Core Growth. Advanced Functional Materials, 19(19), 3070-3076. doi:10.1002/adfm.200900481Smith, S. B., Cui, Y., & Bustamante, C. (2003). [7] Optical-trap force transducer that operates by direct measurement of light momentum. Biophotonics, Part B, 134-162. doi:10.1016/s0076-6879(03)61009-

Inventing a herbal tradition: The complex roots of the current popularity of Epilobium angustifolium in Eastern Europe

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Currently various scientific and popular sources provide a wide spectrum of ethnopharmacological information on many plants, yet the sources of that information, as well as the information itself, are often not clear, potentially resulting in the erroneous use of plants among lay people or even in official medicine. Our field studies in seven countries on the Eastern edge of Europe have revealed an unusual increase in the medicinal use of Epilobium angustifolium L., especially in Estonia, where the majority of uses were specifically related to “men's problems”. The aim of the current work is: to understand the recent and sudden increase in the interest in the use of E. angustifolium in Estonia; to evaluate the extent of documented traditional use of E. angustifolium among sources of knowledge considered traditional; to track different sources describing (or attributed as describing) the benefits of E. angustifolium; and to detect direct and indirect influences of the written sources on the currently documented local uses of E. angustifolium on the Eastern edge of Europe. Materials and methods: In this study we used a variety of methods: semi-structured interviews with 599 people in 7 countries, historical data analysis and historical ethnopharmacological source analysis. We researched historical and archival sources, and academic and popular literature published on the medicinal use of E. angustifolium in the regions of our field sites as well as internationally, paying close attention to the literature that might have directly or indirectly contributed to the popularity of E. angustifolium at different times in history. Results: Our results show that the sudden and recent popularity in the medical use of E. angustifolium in Estonia has been caused by local popular authors with academic medical backgrounds, relying simultaneously on “western” and Russian sources. While Russian sources have propagated (partially unpublished) results from the 1930s, “western” sources are scientific insights derived from the popularization of other Epilobium species by Austrian herbalist Maria Treben. The information Treben disseminated could have been originated from a previous peak in popularity of E. angustifolium in USA in the second half of the 19th century, caused in turn by misinterpretation of ancient herbals. The traditional uses of E. angustifolium were related to wounds and skin diseases, fever, pain (headache, sore throat, childbirth), and abdominal-related problems (constipation, stomach ache) and intestinal bleeding. Few more uses were based on the similarity principle. The main theme, however, is the fragmentation of use and its lack of consistency apart from wounds and skin diseases. Conclusions: Historical ethnobotanical investigations could help to avoid creating repeating waves of popularity of plants that have already been tried for certain diseases and later abandoned as not fully effective. There is, of course, a chance that E. angustifolium could also finally be proven to be clinically safe and cost-effective for treating benign prostatic hyperplasia, but this has not yet happened despite recent intensive research. Documented traditional use would suggest investigating the dermatological, intestinal anti-hemorrhagic and pain inhibiting properties of this plant, if any