Nutritional characterization of Cicer arietinum L. cultivars with respect to morphological and agronomic parameters

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the grain legumes more interesting for its nutritional value and genetic improvement in order to resistance to Aschochyta rabiei, seeds weight and adaptation to mechanical harvesting. The aim of this research was the agronomic and qualitative characterization of 15 cultivars of chickpea. During the cultural cycle resistance and sensitiveness to Aschochyta rabiei were analyzed. At harvesting, grain yield and yields components were registered. Moreover, proximate composition, fatty acids content and saturated/unsaturated ratio of grain samples were determined. Cultivars with high 1000 seeds weight showed a more favourable oleic acid content and unsaturated/saturated ratio but those with smooth seeds had a higher content in linolenic acid. All cultivars showed high values of polyunsaturated fatty acids (42.9-56.2%), inferior of monounsaturated (29.5-36.1%) and low of saturated (10.0-22.9%). Black chickpea (2.9) had the lowest unsaturated/saturated ratio, while the highest was noticed for cv. Visir (7.46). Cultivars with small and smooth seeds showed a better proteins content. These results showed availability of seeds with favourable characteristics useful for different utilization. In particular, the cultivars with small and smooth seeds, usually not preferred by consumers, seem to be interesting for processing in nutritional foods and dietetics

Health-Care Resource Utilization and Treatment Patterns in Men with Erectile Dysfunction and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia-Associated Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in the United States: A Retrospective Database Study

Irwin Goldstein,1 Tarek Hassan,2 Kelly Zou,3 Victoria Divino,4 Mitch DeKoven,4 Joseph Imperato,3 Vamshi Ruthwik Anupindi,4 Jim Li3 1Department of Sexual Medicine, Alvarado Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA; 2Department of Urology, Viatris Inc, Canonsburg, PA, USA; 3Global Medical Analytics and Real World Evidence, Viatris Inc, Canonsburg, PA, USA; 4Health Economics/Outcomes Research and Real-World Insights, IQVIA, Falls Church, VA, USACorrespondence: Tarek Hassan, Global Medical Lead, Department of Urology, Global Medical and Clinical, Viatris Inc, 1000 Mylan Blvd, Canonsburg, PA, 15317, USA, Tel +1 3474432850, Email [email protected]: To compare health-care resource utilization (HCRU) outcomes in patients with erectile dysfunction (ED) and benign prostatic hyperplasia-associated lower urinary tract symptoms (BPH-LUTS) treated with tadalafil or non-phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (PDE5i), adherence to and persistence with tadalafil by dose in the United States (US).Methods: This was a noninterventional, real-world evidence study of men (aged ≥ 45 years) with ED and BPH-LUTS treated with tadalafil or non-PDE5i. The IQVIA US PharMetrics Plus claims database was used. Outcomes included all-cause and disease-specific HCRU over a 12-month follow-up. Persistence with and adherence to tadalafil were evaluated stratified by dose (10 or 20 mg as needed; 2.5 or 5 mg as once daily [OD]).Results: The final sample comprised 11,351 tadalafil and 48,722 non-PDE5i patients. For all-cause and disease-specific HCRU, including prescription fills, physician office visits, emergency room visits, laboratory tests, radiology examinations, outpatient surgical services, ancillary services, hospitalizations, mean number of utilizations, and proportions of patients with one or more utilizations, were lower for tadalafil compared with non-PDE5i patients. For all-cause HCRU, proportions of patients with one or more emergency room visits (18.6% vs 21.7%, p< 0.0001) and outpatient surgical visits (63.0% vs 68.8%, p< 0.0001) were significantly lower for tadalafil compared with non-PDE5i patients. For disease-specific HCRU, the proportion with one or more disease-specific physician office visits (55.1% vs 91.4%), laboratory tests (34.8% vs 58.2%), outpatient surgery (24.3% vs 38.9%), or outpatient ancillary services (18.0% vs 29.8%) were significantly lower for tadalafil compared with non-PDE5i patients (all comparisons, p< 0.0001). Mean persistence days (179.8 vs 61.2), proportion persistence (35.8% vs 6.5%), and mean adherence (0.5 vs 0.2) were higher for tadalafil OD doses than as-needed tadalafil doses.Conclusion: Patients on tadalafil demonstrated less HCRU and higher persistence and adherence (OD versus as-needed tadalafil) than non-PDE5i patients, which demonstrates its benefit in the management of ED and BPH-LUTS in the US.Plain Language Summary: Erectile dysfunction (ED) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) conditions are more common in adult men and increase with age. These conditions affect their sexual satisfaction, create mental stress, and impact their interactions with family and associates. This study examined the patterns of health-care resource utilization (HCRU) in 11,351 patients treated with tadalafil versus 48,722 not treated with any PDE5i and compared treatment adherence to and persistence with tadalafil in patients with ED and comorbid BPH-LUTS in the US. All-cause and disease-specific HCRU were lower in patients treated with tadalafil than patients not treated with any PDE5i. The persistence with and adherence to therapy was higher with once-daily dose of tadalafil (2.5 or 5 mg) compared with as-needed dose of tadalafil (10 or 20 mg). Therefore, a lower dose of tadalafil demonstrated benefit in the management of men with ED and BPH-LUTS.Keywords: medication adherence, persistence, phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor, real-world evidence, tadalafi

Increased ventral striatal volume in college-aged binge drinkers

BACKGROUND Binge drinking is a serious public health issue associated with cognitive, physiological, and anatomical differences from healthy individuals. No studies, however, have reported subcortical grey matter differences in this population. To address this, we compared the grey matter volumes of college-age binge drinkers and healthy controls, focusing on the ventral striatum, hippocampus and amygdala. METHOD T1-weighted images of 19 binge drinkers and 19 healthy volunteers were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry. Structural data were also covaried with Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores. Cluster-extent threshold and small volume corrections were both used to analyze imaging data. RESULTS Binge drinkers had significantly larger ventral striatal grey matter volumes compared to controls. There were no between group differences in hippocampal or amygdalar volume. Ventral striatal, amygdalar, and hippocampal volumes were also negatively related to AUDIT scores across groups. CONCLUSIONS Our findings stand in contrast to the lower ventral striatal volume previously observed in more severe forms of alcohol use disorders, suggesting that college-age binge drinkers may represent a distinct population from those groups. These findings may instead represent early sequelae, compensatory effects of repeated binge and withdrawal, or an endophenotypic risk factor

Why honey is effective as a medicine. 1. Its use in modern medicine

Honey has been used as a medicine for thousands of years and its curative properties are well documented. However, modern medicine turned its back on honey and it is only now, with the advent of multi-resistant bacteria, that the antibiotic properties of honey are being rediscovered

Algorithms to predict cerebral malaria in murine models using the SHIRPA protocol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Plasmodium berghei </it>ANKA infection in C57Bl/6 mice induces cerebral malaria (CM), which reproduces, to a large extent, the pathological features of human CM. However, experimental CM incidence is variable (50-100%) and the period of incidence may present a range as wide as 6-12 days post-infection. The poor predictability of which and when infected mice will develop CM can make it difficult to determine the causal relationship of early pathological changes and outcome. With the purpose of contributing to solving these problems, algorithms for CM prediction were built.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventy-eight <it>P. berghei</it>-infected mice were daily evaluated using the primary SHIRPA protocol. Mice were classified as CM+ or CM- according to development of neurological signs on days 6-12 post-infection. Logistic regression was used to build predictive models for CM based on the results of SHIRPA tests and parasitaemia.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall CM incidence was 54% occurring on days 6-10. Some algorithms had a very good performance in predicting CM, with the area under the receiver operator characteristic (_auROC) curve ≥ 80% and positive predictive values (PV+) ≥ 95, and correctly predicted time of death due to CM between 24 and 72 hours before development of the neurological syndrome (_auROC = 77-93%; PV+ = 100% using high cut off values). Inclusion of parasitaemia data slightly improved algorithm performance.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These algorithms work with data from a simple, inexpensive, reproducible and fast protocol. Most importantly, they can predict CM development very early, estimate time of death, and might be a valuable tool for research using CM murine models.</p

The Effects of Tamoxifen on Plasma Lipoprotein(a) Concentrations: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: Tamoxifen is a selective estrogen receptor modulator widely used in the treatment of breast cancer. Tamoxifen therapy is associated with reduced circulating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and increased triglycerides, but its effects on other lipids are less-well studied. Aims: We aimed to investigate the effect of tamoxifen on circulating concentrations of lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) through systematic review and meta-analysis of available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies. Methods: This study was registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42016036890). Scopus, Medline and EMBASE were searched from inception until 22nd March 2016 to identify studies investigating the effect of tamoxifen on Lp(a) values in humans. Results: Meta-analysis of 5 studies with 284 participants suggested a significant reduction of Lp(a) levels following tamoxifen treatment (weighted mean difference [WMD]: -3.53 mg/dL, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -6.53, -0.53, p=0.021). When studies were categorized according tamoxifen dose, there was a significant effect in the subset of studies with administered doses ≥20 mg/day (WMD: -5.05 mg/dL, 95% CI: -7.86, -2.23, p<0.001), but not in the subset with doses <20 mg/day (WMD: -1.41 mg/dL, 95% CI: -5.13, 2.31, p=0.458). With respect to duration of treatment, a greater effect was observed in subgroup of studies administering tamoxifen for <12 weeks (WMD: -4.01 mg/dL, 95% CI: -7.84, -0.18, p=0.04) versus the subgroup of studies lasting ≥12 weeks (WMD: -2.48 mg/dL, 95% CI: -5.50, 0.53, p=0.107). Conclusions: Meta-analysis suggested a significant reduction of Lp(a) levels following tamoxifen treatment. Further well-designed trials are required to validate these results

Towards eco-friendly crop protection: natural deep eutectic solvents and defensive secondary metabolites

Plant science