Metabolic effects of pamidronate in patients with metastatic bone disease

We have evaluated the value of specific bone resorption markers in monitoring metastatic bone disease to define the duration of action of a single high-dose pamidronate infusion. Twenty patients received a single infusion of pamidronate 120 mg for painful bone metastases. Ten out of these 20 patients also received a second infusion. They were evaluated at baseline, 2, 4 and 8 weeks after each infusion. A composite pain questionnaire, serum and urine tests were carried out at these time points. Bone resorption markers measured included urinary calcium, hydroxyproline and two new markers: pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline. Reference values were defined by 20 healthy controls matched by age and sex. Pamidronate induced a profound fall in bone resorption with a maximal effect within the first month after therapy. Changes in urinary calcium levels were confounded by a rise of 100% in the parathyroid hormone levels. Before treatment, pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline were increased in 70% of patients, while urinary calcium was increased in only 40% of them. Thirteen patients had a > or = 50% fall in deoxypyridinoline levels and were considered as biochemical responders. These patients had a mean reduction in pain score of about 30% of baseline levels, which was significantly higher than the seven non-biochemical responders. In conclusion, urinary calcium is not a precise marker of bone resorption. Deoxypyridinoline seems to be the most specific bone resorption marker in cancer patients. Biochemical responders have the most benefit from pamidronate in terms of pain relief. This suggests that patients may benefit from more potent or repeated infusions of bisphosphonates

In vitro assessment of the antihyperglycemic and antioxidant properties of araçá, butiá and pitanga.

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Association Studies and Legume Synteny Reveal Haplotypes Determining Seed Size in Vigna unguiculata.

Highly specific seed market classes for cowpea and other grain legumes exist because grain is most commonly cooked and consumed whole. Size, shape, color, and texture are critical features of these market classes and breeders target development of cultivars for market acceptance. Resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses that are absent from elite breeding material are often introgressed through crosses to landraces or wild relatives. When crosses are made between parents with different grain quality characteristics, recovery of progeny with acceptable or enhanced grain quality is problematic. Thus genetic markers for grain quality traits can help in pyramiding genes needed for specific market classes. Allelic variation dictating the inheritance of seed size can be tagged and used to assist the selection of large seeded lines. In this work we applied 1,536-plex SNP genotyping and knowledge of legume synteny to characterize regions of the cowpea genome associated with seed size. These marker-trait associations will enable breeders to use marker-based selection approaches to increase the frequency of progeny with large seed. For 804 individuals derived from eight bi-parental populations, QTL analysis was used to identify markers linked to 10 trait determinants. In addition, the population structure of 171 samples from the USDA core collection was identified and incorporated into a genome-wide association study which supported more than half of the trait-associated regions important in the bi-parental populations. Seven of the total 10 QTLs were supported based on synteny to seed size associated regions identified in the related legume soybean. In addition to delivering markers linked to major trait determinants in the context of modern breeding, we provide an analysis of the diversity of the USDA core collection of cowpea to identify genepools, migrants, admixture, and duplicates

Psidium cattleianum fruits: A review on its composition and bioactivity.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T00:55:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MarciaVizzottoFoodChemistryaracareview.pdf: 387499 bytes, checksum: 0a535ad8e61374eab9b36932654606f1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-20bitstream/item/181667/1/Marcia-Vizzotto-Food-Chemistry-araca-review.pd

Assessment of bone response to systemic therapy in an EORTC trial: preliminary experience with the use of collagen cross-link excretion

This study was designed to evaluate new bone resorption and tumour markers as possible alternatives to serial plain radiographs for the assessment of response to treatment. Thirty-seven patients with newly diagnosed bone metastases from breast cancer, randomized to receive oral pamidronate or placebo tablets in addition to anticancer treatment within the context of a multicentre EORTC trial, who were both assessable for radiographic response in bone and had serum and urine samples collected for more than 1 month were studied. The markers of bone metabolism measured included urinary calcium (uCa), hydroxyproline (hyp), the N-telopeptide cross-links of type I collagen (NTx) and total alkaline phosphatase. The tumour markers measured were CA15-3 and cancer-associated serum antigen (CASA). Before treatment, levels of Ntx, uCa and Hyp were elevated in 41%, 24% and 28% respectively, and CA15-3 and CASA increased in 69% and 50%. For assessment of response and identification of progression, Ntx was the most useful bone marker. All markers behaved similarly in no change (NC) and partial response (PR) patients. There was a significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) in Ntx levels (compared to baseline) at 1 and 4 months and in CA15-3/CASA at 4 months between patients with PR or NC and those with progressive disease (PD), and at 4 months between those with time to progression (TP) > 7 and those with TP ≤ 7 months. The diagnostic efficiency (DE) for prediction of PD following a > 50% increase in Ntx or CA15-3 was 78% and 62% respectively. An algorithm to predict response to therapy has been developed for future prospective evaluation

Inhibitory activity of red and yellow araçá genotypes towards carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes: putative role of ellagitannins.

Abstract: Psidium cattleianum Sabine (araçá) is a species native to Southeast Brazil that grows under abiotic stress conditions conferring high content of bioactive compounds to its fruits. The presence of these compounds is thought to be responsible for the many health-promoting effects including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging and antidiabetic activities. In this study, we evaluated the inhibitory potential of 10 (red and yellow) araçá genotypes towards carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes (CHEs) using cell-free (α-glucosidase, α-amylase) and cell-based assays (sucrase). Araçá extracts displayed stronger inhibition towards α-glucosidase than α-amylase, and only 3 inhibited sucrase activity. The high variability towards the in vitro inhibitory CHEs activity was reflected in the total phenolics content with values ranging between 38.9 and 117 mg/100 g. Of the thirty compounds identified by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detection-Electrospray Ionization-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESIMS/MS), including caffeic acids (9), organic acids (3) ellagitannins (15) and flavonoids (3), ellagitannins were the most abundant class. Statistical analysis showed ellagitannins were the main discriminators to the CHEs inhibitory activity. In summary, by expanding the panel of red and yellow araçá varieties studied, our results show that not all araçá genotypes inhibit CHE as only YA-23, RA-29, and RA-87 inhibited all 3 CHE which were related to the presence of ellagitannins. Information on the araçá genotypes with greater CHE inhibitory activity allied with the health-promoting effects of ellagitannin-rich foods, can be used to scale-up commercially exploitable genotypes with the aim to develop araçá-containing food formulations targeted to the pre-diabetic population