Chemical investigation of a biologically active schinus molle L. leaf extract

The pepper tree Schinus molle L. is an evergreen ornamental plant belonging to the Anacardiaceae family, native to South America and widespread throughout the world. It has biological activities and is used in folk medicine. This paper aims to contribute to a deeper knowledge of its chemical composition and biological properties. S. molle leaf extracts were obtained by sequential extraction with solvents of different polarities and subsequently tested on the HL-60 human leukaemia cell line to define a possible cytotoxic activity. Among the investigated extracts, the petroleum ether extract revealed a high cytotoxic activity, and its chemical composition was further investigated. By a silica column chromatography, eight fractions were obtained, and their compositions were determined by GC-MS analysis. Compounds and relative abundance differed widely among the fractions; sesquiterpenes resulted the main component and alcoholic sesquiterpenes the most abundant

Liquid and vapour phase of lavandin (Lavandula × intermedia) essential oil: chemical composition and antimicrobial activity

Essential oils from Lavandula genus and the obtained hybrids are widely used for different purposes such as perfume production in the cosmetic field and for its biological properties. This is the first study on the liquid and vapour phase of Lavandula × intermedia “Grosso” essential oil grown in the Lazio Region, Italy, investigated using headspace coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (HS-GC/MS). The results showed the most abundant components were linalool and linalyl acetate, followed by 1,8-cineole and terpinen-4-ol, while lavandulyl acetate and borneol were identified as minor compounds, maintaining the same proportion in both the liquid and vapour phase. Furthermore, we tested lavandin liquid and vapour phase essential oil on gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter bohemicus, and Pseudomonas fluorescens) and gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus cereus and Kocuria marina)

Scoping review and bibliometric analysis of Big Data applications for Medication adherence: An explorative methodological study to enhance consistency in literature

Background: Medication adherence has been studied in different settings, with different approaches, and applying different methodologies. Nevertheless, our knowledge and efficacy are quite limited in terms of measuring and evaluating all the variables and components that affect the management of medication adherence regimes as a complex phenomenon. The study aim is mapping the state-of-the-art of medication adherence measurement and assessment methods applied in chronic conditions. Specifically, we are interested in what methods and assessment procedures are currently used to tackle medication adherence. We explore whether Big Data techniques are adopted to improve decision-making procedures regarding patients' adherence, and the possible role of digital technologies in supporting interventions for improving patient adherence and avoiding waste or harm. Methods: A scoping literature review and bibliometric analysis were used. Arksey and O'Malley's framework was adopted to scope the review process, and a bibliometric analysis was applied to observe the evolution of the scientific literature and identify specific characteristics of the related knowledge domain. Results: A total of 533 articles were retrieved from the Scopus academic database and selected for the bibliometric analysis. Sixty-one studies were identified and included in the final analysis. The Morisky medication adherence scale (36%) was the most frequently adopted baseline measurement tool, and cardiovascular/hypertension disease, the most investigated illness (38%). Heterogeneous findings emerged from the types of study design and the statistical methodologies used to assess and compare the results. Conclusions: Our findings reveal a lack of Big Data applications currently deployed to address or measure medication adherence in chronic conditions. Our study proposes a general framework to select the methods, measurements and the corpus of variables in which the treatment regime can be analyzed

High Polymorphism for Forage Production of \u3ci\u3eLotus corniculatus Sn\u3c/i\u3e Transformants

Transgenic plants obtained from transformation of one individual of Lotus corniculatus with the maize gene Sn, a transactivator of anthocyanin pathway, were analysed for the expression of the transgene and for the accumulation of condensed tannins. A great variability was observed for these two traits. Some extreme individuals were clonally propagated and analysed for rooting ability and plant growth. Unexpectedly, a strong correlation between condensed tannin level, rooting ability and plant growth was observed. These results are discussed in order to explore new strategies to increase plant productivity in forage legumes

Serum creatine kinase isoenzymes in children with osteogenesis imperfecta

This study evaluates serum creatine kinase isoenzyme activity in children with osteogenesis imperfecta to determine its usefulness as a biochemical marker during treatment with bisphosphonate. The changes of creatine kinase (CK) isoenzyme activity during and after discontinuation therapy were observed. These results could be useful in addressing over-treatment risk prevention. Introduction The brain isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CKbb) is highly expressed in mature osteoclasts during osteoclastogenesis, thus plays an important role in bone resorption. We previously identified high serum CKbb levels in 18 children with osteogenesis imperfect (OI) type 1 treated for 1 year with bisphosphonate (neridronate). In the present study, serum CK isoenzymes were evaluated in the same children with continuous versus discontinued neridronate treatment over a further 2-year follow-up period. Methods This study included 18 children with OI type 1, 12 with continued (group A) and 6 with ceased (group B) neridronate treatment. Auxological data, serum biochemical markers of bone metabolism, bone mineral density z-score, and serum total CK and isoenzyme activities were determined in both groups. Results Serum CKbb was progressively and significantly increased in group A (p < 0.004) but rapidly decreased to undetectable levels in group B. In both groups, the cardiac muscle creatine kinase isoenzyme (CKmb) showed a marked decrease, while serum C-terminal telopeptide (CTx) levels were almost unchanged. Conclusions This study provides evidence of the cumulative effect of neridronate administration in increasing serum CKbb levels and the reversible effect after its discontinuation. This approach could be employed for verifying the usefulness of serum CKbb as a biochemical marker in patients receiving prolonged bisphosphonate treatment. Moreover, the decreased serum CKmb levels suggest a systemic effect of these drugs

Topic modeling and user network analysis on twitter during world lupus awareness day

Twitter is increasingly used by individuals and organizations to broadcast their feelings and practices, providing access to samples of spontaneously expressed opinions on all sorts of themes. Social media offers an additional source of data to unlock information supporting new insights disclosures, particularly for public health purposes. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex, systemic autoimmune disease that remains a major challenge in therapeutic diagnostic and treatment management. When supporting patients with such a complex disease, sharing information through social media can play an important role in creating better healthcare services. This study explores the nature of topics posted by users and organizations on Twitter during world Lupus day to extract latent topics that occur in tweet texts and to identify what information is most commonly discussed among users. We identified online influencers and opinion leaders who discussed different topics. During this analysis, we found two different types of influencers that employed different narratives about the communities they belong to. Therefore, this study identifies hidden information for healthcare decision-makers and provides a detailed model of the implications for healthcare organizations to detect, understand, and define hidden content behind large collections of text

Drug-eluting Microspheres Compared to Conventional Transarterial Chemoembolization as First Line Treatment for Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Single-center Retrospective Cost-utility Analysis

Purpose: To assess the cost-utility of initial treatment with drug-eluting microspheres (DEM) transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) versus conventional (C)-TACE in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma considering the perspective of a Local Healthcare Authority in Italy. Materials and methods: The economic evaluation is based on a retrospective single-center study and individual patients' data whose details have been previously reported. The impact of initial treatment with DEM-TACE or C-TACE on disease progression, mortality, and direct health costs over a lifetime horizon were simulated and compared in terms of incremental cost-utility ratio expressed as costs per quality adjusted life years (QALY). Costs included direct health costs related to the first chemoembolization procedure and all subsequent follow-up costs associated with health care resources used for disease management. Probabilistic (PSA) sensitivity analysis was used to assess the robustness of the results. Results: A total of 101 patients in each treatment group were considered. All over the time-horizon median costs were €3,145.14 and €2,158.32 in the DEM-TACE and C-TACE group, respectively (p &lt; 0.001); while mean costs were € 24,619 and € 17,001, respectively (p &lt; 0.001). The ICUR was 6,461.86 €/QALY when using median costs derived from the study population as input for the health-economic evaluation and 49,932.15 €/QALY when the mean costs were considered. Results from PSA highlighted that using median costs DEM-TACE was always cost-effective, while using mean costs, it was preferable only 24.7% of times. Conclusions: The higher prices of DEMs are counterbalanced by the positive impact on QALY

Antiproliferative properties of papaver rhoeas ovule extracts and derived fractions tested on HL60 leukemia human cells

Papaver rhoeas plant is common in many regions worldwide and contributes to the landscape with its red flower. In the present study we first carried out morphological investigation by optical and scanning electron microscopy of the ovules within the ovary. After ovules’ isolation we prepared extracts to test possible cytotoxic activities on HL60 leukemia human cells and investigated the extracts using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). P. rhoeas ovules showed an elongated, round shape and the presence of ordered sculptures on the ovule surface. The ovule extracts showed cytotoxic activity on HL60 human cells mainly found in some TLC-isolated spots. Compounds consisting of active spots were identified by GC-MS investigations. Our findings on the P. rhoeas ovule compounds open perspectives for further investigations of TLC-isolated spots on other human cancer cell lines

Apoptotic effects on HL60 human leukaemia cells induced by lavandin essential oil treatment

Recent scientific investigations have reported a number of essential oils to interfere with intracellular signalling pathways and to induce apoptosis in different cancer cell types. In this paper, Lavandin Essential Oil (LEO), a natural sterile hybrid obtained by cross-breeding L. angustifolia × L. latifolia, was tested on human leukaemia cells (HL60). Based on the MTT results, the reduced cell viability of HL60 cells was further investigated to determine whether cell death was related to the apoptotic process. HL60 cells treated for 24 h with LEO were processed by flow cytometry, and the presence of Annexin V was measured. The activation of caspases-3 was evaluated by western blot and immunofluorescence techniques. Treated cells were also examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy to establish the possible occurrence of morphological alterations during the apoptotic process. LEO main compounds, such as linalool, linalyl acetate, 1,8-cineole, and terpinen-4-ol, were also investigated by MTT and flow cytometry analysis. The set of obtained results showed that LEO treatments induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent, but not time-dependent, manner on HL60 cells, while among LEO main compounds, both terpinen-4-ol and linalyl acetate were able to induce apoptosis

A comparative study of the in vitro activity of iodopropynyl butylcarbamate and amphotericin B against Prototheca spp. isolates from European dairy herds.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to assess the in vitro effect of iodopropynyl butylcarbamate (IPBC) and amphotericin B (AMB) on Prototheca zopfii genotype 2 and Prototheca blaschkeae isolates recovered from dairy herds of Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, and Poland. The combination of IPBC with AMB on Prototheca isolates and toxicity of IPBC to the bovine mammary epithelial cells were also evaluated. The in vitro activity of IPBC and AMB against 96 isolates of P. zopfii genotype 2 and 42 isolates of P. blaschkeae was performed. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimum algicidal concentrations (MAC) of IPBC and AMB were determined. To determine any synergistic, additive, or antagonistic effect of the combination of IPBC and AMB, 2-dimensional checkerboard combination tests were also performed to calculate fractional inhibitory concentrations. Cytotoxicity analysis of IPBC to the bovine mammary epithelial cell line was performed using a 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The MIC for 50 and 90% of isolates (MIC 50 and MIC 90 , respectively) for IPBC were 4 and 8 mg/L versus 0.5 and 1 mg/L for AMB, respectively. The MIC profiles differed between P. zopfii genotype 2 and P. blaschkeae , with the latter species being more susceptible to both compounds. The MIC 50 and MIC 90 of IPBC were 4 and 8 mg/L for P. zopfii genotype 2 and 1 and 2 mg/L for P. blaschkeae , respectively. The MIC 50 and MIC 90 of AMB were both 1 mg/L for P. zopfii genotype 2 and 0.25 and 1 mg/L for P. blaschkeae , respectively. Both IPBC and AMB exhibited the ability to kill Prototheca spp. The MAC for 90% of isolates of IPBC was twice the MIC 90 , whereas an 8-fold increase of the MIC 90 was algicidal in the case of AMB. Overall, the combined use of IPBC and AMB exhibited an increased algicidal effect, albeit the fractional inhibitory concentration index showed synergistic activity only against 3 P. zopfii genotype 2 isolates. For all the remaining isolates (87.5%), this combination produced only an additive effect. The MTT assay results showed both IPBC and AMB, at the concentrations employed in the study, to be nontoxic to the epithelial mammary gland cells (cell viability >90%). Notably, only IPBC at the highest concentration (i.e., 8 mg/L) exerted a slight cytotoxic effect on the cell line tested (mean cell viability: 88.54 ± 3.88 and 90.66 ± 3.0, after 2 and 4 h of MTT treatment, respectively). The anti- Prototheca activity of IPBC was here demonstrated for the first time. In addition, the combined use of IPBC with AMB enhanced each other's effect, creating an additive rather than synergistic interaction. Both agents, used at concentrations corresponding to MIC values against Prototheca spp., showed no toxic effect for the mammary epithelial cells. In conclusion, IPBC, used either alone or in combination with AMB, can be considered a promising option in the treatment armamentarium for protothecal mastitis in dairy cows