Rebamipide Does Not Protect Against Naproxen-induced Gastric Damage: A Randomized Double-blind Controlled Trial

Rebamipide is a gastroprotective agent with promising results against gastric damage induced by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The present study evaluated if rebamipide protects against naproxen-induced gastric damage in healthy volunteers. Changes in gastric PGE2 tissue concentration were also evaluated. Methods: After a preliminary endoscopy to rule out previous gastric macroscopic damage, twenty-four healthy volunteers of both sexes were divided into 2 groups. One group received sodium naproxen 550 mg b.i.d. plus placebo for 7 days, while the other group received sodium naproxen 550 mg b.i.d. plus rebamipide 100 mg b.i.d. At the end of treatment, a new endoscopy was performed. Gastric macroscopic damage was evaluated by the Cryer score and by the modified Lanza score. The primary outcome measure of the trial was the macroscopic damage observed in each treatment group at the end of treatment. Biopsies were collected at both endoscopies for PGE2 quantification and histopathological analysis (secondary outcomes). Tissue PGE2 was quantified by ELISA. The randomization sequence was generated using 3 blocks of 8 subjects each. Volunteers and endoscopists were blind to whether they were receiving rebamipide or placebo. Results: All recruited volunteers completed the trial. Sodium naproxen induced gastric damage in both groups. At the end of the study, median Cryer score was 4 in both groups (Difference = 0; 95% CI = -1 to 0; p = 0.728). In the placebo group, the mean tissue PGE2 concentration was 1005 +/- 129 pg/mL before treatment and 241 +/- 41 pg/mL after treatment (p < 0.001). In the rebamipide group, the mean tissue PGE2 concentration was 999 +/- 109 pg/mL before treatment, and 168 +/- 13 pg/mL after treatment (p < 0.001). There was no difference in mean tissue PGE2 between the two groups (difference = 5; 95% CI from -334.870 to 345.650; p = 0.975). No significant change was observed at the histopathological evaluation, despite the evident macroscopic damage induced by naproxen. Conclusion: Rebamipide does not protect against naproxen-induced gastric damage in healthy volunteers.16Biolab Industria Farmaceutica Ltd

Charge-density waves in one-dimensional Hubbard superlattices

We study the formation of charge density waves (CDW's) in one-dimensional Hubbard superlattices, modeled by a repeated pattern of repulsive (U>0) and free (U=0) sites. By means of Lanczos diagonalizations for the ground state, we calculate the charge structure factor. Our results show that while the superlattice structure affects the modulation of the charge density waves, the periodicity can still be predicted through an effective density. We also show that, for a fixed repulsive layer thickness, the periodicity of the CDW is an oscillatory function of the free layer thickness.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Epigenetics in Glaucoma

Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is defined as a “genetically complex trait”, where modifying factors act on a genetic predisposing background. For the majority of glaucomatous conditions, DNA variants are not sufficient to explain pathogenesis. Some genes are clearly underlying the more “Mendelian” forms, while a growing number of related polymorphisms in other genes have been identified in recent years. Environmental, dietary, or biological factors are known to influence the development of the condition, but interactions between these factors and the genetic background are poorly understood. Several studies conducted in recent years have led to evidence that epigenetics, that is, changes in the pattern of gene expression without any changes in the DNA sequence, appear to be the missing link. Different epigenetic mechanisms have been proven to lead to glaucomatous changes in the eye, principally DNA methylation, post-translational histone modification, and RNA-associated gene regulation by non-coding RNAs. The aim of this work is to define the principal epigenetic actors in glaucoma pathogenesis. The identification of such mechanisms could potentially lead to new perspectives on therapeutic strategies

Primary Intravascular Synovial Sarcoma of the Femoral Vein in a Male Patient, Case Report

AbstractSynovial Sarcoma (SS) is an aggressive neoplasm commonly affecting deep soft tissues of the extremities. In rare instances SS can arise in large veins of the lower extremities or trunk. We report the first case of intravascular synovial sarcoma (IVSS) occurring in a male patient. A biphasic tumor was diagnosed by histology and immunohistochemistry. Molecular analysis at RNA level confirmed the diagnosis demonstrating the chromosomal translocation t(X;18) (p11.2;q11.2) in the tumor. Although extremely rare, IVSS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of primary intravascular neoplasms and as a potential cause of deep vein thrombosis and thromboembolism

Decoding the Tumour Microenvironment: Molecular Players, Pathways, and Therapeutic Targets in Cancer Treatment

The tumour microenvironment (TME) is a complex and constantly evolving collection of cells and extracellular components. Cancer cells and the surrounding environment influence each other through different types of processes. Characteristics of the TME include abnormal vasculature, altered extracellular matrix, cancer-associated fibroblast and macrophages, immune cells, and secreted factors. Within these components, several molecules and pathways are altered and take part in the support of the tumour. Epigenetic regulation, kinases, phosphatases, metabolic regulators, and hormones are some of the players that influence and contribute to shaping the tumour and the TME. All these characteristics contribute significantly to cancer progression, metastasis, and immune escape, and may be the target for new approaches for cancer treatment

Recursion Method in Quantum Spin Dynamics: The Art of Terminating a Continued Fraction

The results obtained from applications of the recursion method to quantum many‐body dynamics can be greatly improved if an appropriate termination function is employed in the continued‐fraction representation of the corresponding relaxation function. We present a general recipe for the construction and use of such termination functions along with two applications in spin dynamics. The method can be adapted to any other problem in quantum many‐body dynamics

Drude Weight of the Two-Dimensional Hubbard Model -- Reexamination of Finite-Size Effect in Exact Diagonalization Study --

The Drude weight of the Hubbard model on the two-dimensional square lattice is studied by the exact diagonalizations applied to clusters up to 20 sites. We carefully examine finite-size effects by consideration of the appropriate shapes of clusters and the appropriate boundary condition beyond the imitation of employing only the simple periodic boundary condition. We successfully capture the behavior of the Drude weight that is proportional to the squared hole doping concentration. Our present result gives a consistent understanding of the transition between the Mott insulator and doped metals. We also find, in the frequency dependence of the optical conductivity, that the mid-gap incoherent part emerges more quickly than the coherent part and rather insensitive to the doping concentration in accordance with the scaling of the Drude weight.Comment: 9 pages with 10 figures and 1 table. accepted in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Charge and spin excitations of insulating lamellar copper oxides

A consistent description of low-energy charge and spin responses of the insulating Sr_2CuO_2Cl_2 lamellar system is found in the framework of a one-band Hubbard model which besides $U$ includes hoppings up to 3^{rd} nearest-neighbors. By combining mean-field calculations, exact diagonalization (ED) results, and Quantum Monte Carlo simulations (QMC), we analyze both charge and spin degrees of freedom responses as observed by optical conductivity, ARPES, Raman and inelastic neutron scattering experiments. Within this effective model, long-range hopping processes flatten the quasiparticle band around $(0,\pi)$. We calculate also the non-resonant A_{1g} and B_{1g} Raman profiles and show that the latter is composed by two main features, which are attributed to 2- and 4-magnon scattering.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, To be published in PRB (july

Low-Energy Structure of Heisenberg Ferrimagnetic Spin Chains

Static and dynamic structure factors of Heisenberg ferrimagnetic spin chains are numerically investigated. There exist two distinct branches of elementary excitations, which exhibit ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic aspects. The ferromagnetic feature is smeared out with the increase of temperature, whereas the antiferromagnetic one persists up to higher temperatures. The scattering intensity is remarkably large at lower boundaries of the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic spectra. All these observations are consistent with the ferromagnetic-to-antiferromagnetic crossover in the thermal behavior which has recently been reported.Comment: 3 pages, 5 PS figures, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol. 67, No. 11 (1998