Yarrow (Achillea millefolium L. s.l.): pharmaceutical quality of commercial samples

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium L. s.l.) is traditionally used against inflammatory and spasmodic gastrointestinal complaints, hepato-biliary disorders, as an appetite enhancing drug, against skin inflammations and for wound healing due to its antiphlogistic, choleretic and spasmolytic properties. The main pharmacologically active principles were shown to be the essential oil (antimicrobial), proazulenes and other sesquiterpene lactones (antiphlogistic), dicaffeoylquinic acids (choleretic) and flavonoids (antispasmodic). In order to assess the pharmaceutical quality of the drug we evaluated the content of these bioactive compounds in 40 commercial drug samples. The essential oil and the proazulenes were analysed according to the European Pharmacopoeia, whereas the content of dicaffeoylquinic acids and flavonoids was determined by solid phase extraction (SPE)-HPLC. This comprehensive survey revealed that the quality of the drug material was very heterogenous, and only 50% of the samples met the standards of the European Pharmacopoeia. Moreover, this study gives information about the content of phenolic compounds in the drug and allowed to establish tentative reference values which may be used as additional parameters in the quality control of the drug.     

Rolipram, an Antidepressant That Increases the Availability of cAMP, Transiently Enhances Wakefulness in Rats

A study was carried out on the effects on sleep of rolipram, an antidepressant that increases the availability of cAMP by inhibiting a phosphodiesterase isoenzyme. Rats were treated with rolipram (0.1 or 1 mg/kg) twice a day (at light and dark onset) for 11 days, after a chronic period of injection of physiological saline for habituation purposes. The sleep–wake activity was recorded for 12 h following the injection at light onset on the baseline day (physiological saline), on rolipram days 1, 5, and 11, and also on day 12, when physiological saline was injected again (withdrawal day). The high (1 mg/kg) dose of rolipram enhanced wakefulness (W) in postinjection h 1 on day 1 of rolipram treatment. After administration of 0.1 mg/kg rolipram, only a tendency to an increase in W was noted. The promotion of W might be attributed, at least in part, to an increased release of noradrenaline due to a cAMP-mediated stimulation of tyrosine hydroxylase.     

肺癌CT普查--疾病分期与肿瘤大小的关系

目的：肺癌分期与肿瘤直径的关系已被证实是一个预后指标,因此被纳入1986年肺癌分类的国际系统。近年来由于CT飞速发展,人们可以诊断出更小的肺癌,于是有人提倡对肺癌Ⅰ期进一步分期,即根据肿瘤直径小于还是大于30mm,将无确切远处淋巴结转移的病例（Ⅰ期病例）细分为Ⅰa和Ⅰb期。在诊断无症状（即潜伏）的肺癌时,CT普查的开展使人们考虑肿瘤大小的预后价值。在此我们对CT普查诊断的无症状潜伏型肺癌作了分期与大小关系的报道。     

Fibronectin on the surface of human lymphocytes

Fibronectin was detected by immunofluorescence technique on the surface of one part of separated normal peripheral blood lymphocytes by using FITC-conjugated anti-human fibronectin antibodies. Approximately one-fifth of isolated B cells and 7% of O cells contained surface-bound fibronectin but T cells failed to stain. There were no detectable free receptors for fibronectin on the surface of lymphocytes of different subsets as it was studied with FITC-labelled purified fibronectin. The percent of B and O cells bearing surface bound fibronectin was markedly decreased in patients with acute and chronic lymphocytic leukemias.     

Brain and soccer: Functional patterns of brain activity during the generation of creative moves in real soccer decision‐making situations

This fMRI study investigated brain activity while soccer players were imagining creative moves in real soccer decision‐making situations. After presenting brief video clips of a soccer scene, participants had to imagine themselves as the acting player and think either of a creative or obvious move that might lead to a goal. Findings revealed stronger activation during trials in which the generation of obvious moves was required, relative to trials requiring creative moves. The reversed contrast (creative > obvious) showed no significant effects. Activations were mainly left‐lateralized, primarily involving the cuneus, middle temporal gyrus, and the rolandic operculum, which are known to support the processing of multimodal input from different sensory, motor and perceptual sources. Interestingly, more creative solutions in the soccer task were associated with smaller contrast values for the activation difference between obvious and creative trials, or even with more activation in the latter. Furthermore, higher trait creative potential (as assessed by a figural creativity test) was associated with stronger activation differences between both conditions. These findings suggest that with increasing soccer‐specific creative task performance, the processing of the manifold information provided by the soccer scenario becomes increasingly important, while in individuals with higher trait creative potential these processes were recruited to a minor degree. This study showed that soccer‐specific creativity tasks modulate activation levels in a network of regions supporting various cognitive functions such as semantic information processing, visual and motor imagery, and the processing and integration of sensorimotor and somatosensory information.     

Estrogen protects both sexes against EAE by promoting common regulatory cell subtypes independent of endogenous estrogen

Autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis predominantly affect females. Although high levels of sex hormones, particularly estrogen (E2), can reduce proinflammatory immune responses, it remains unclear if a lack of endogenous sex hormones might affect treatment with exogenous sex hormones. Pretreatment with E2 almost completely prevents intact female and male mice from developing clinical and histological signs of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) by promoting various regulatory immune cell phenotypes. To evaluate the effects of exogenous estrogen in the absence of endogenous sex hormones, the current study compared EAE severity and the emergence of different immunoregulatory cell populations after E2 pretreatment of ovariectomized (OVX) female versus male mice. We found that E2 equally protected both OVX females and males from EAE over a 21 day observation period concomitant with reduced total cell numbers in spleen and spinal cord (males only), but enhanced percentages of CD19⁺CD5⁺CD1d^hi, CD19⁺CD138⁺CD44^hi and CD19⁺Tim-1⁺ Breg cells, CD8⁺CD122⁺ Treg cells and CD11b⁺CD 206⁺ARG-1⁺ anti-inflammatory M2-like monocytes/macrophages in both groups. In contrast, E2 decreased the percentage of CD4⁺CD25⁺FoxP3⁺ Treg cells in OVX females but increased these Treg cells in males and intact female mice. These data suggest that with the exception of CD4⁺CD25⁺FoxP3⁺ Treg cells, E2 protection against EAE promotes highly overlapping immunoregulatory subsets in OVX females and males.

     

Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1-Alpha Release After Intracoronary Versus Intramyocardial Stem Cell Therapy in Myocardial Infarction

We have investigated the effect of stem cell delivery on the release of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) in peripheral circulation and myocardium in experimental myocardial ischemia. Closed-chest, reperfused myocardial infarction (MI) was created in domestic pigs. Porcine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were cultured and delivered (9.8?±?1.2?×?10⁶) either percutaneously NOGA-guided transendocardially (Group IM) or intracoronary (Group IC) 22?±?4 days post-MI. Pigs without MSC delivery served as sham control (Group S). Plasma HIF-1α was measured at baseline, immediately post- and at follow-up (FUP; 2 h or 24 h) post-MSC delivery by ELISA kit. Myocardial HIF-1α expression of infarcted, normal myocardium, or border zone was determined by Western blot. Plasma level of HIF-1α increased immediately post-MI (from 278?±?127 to 631?±?375 pg/ml, p?<?0.05). Cardiac delivery of MSCs elevated the plasma levels of HIF-1α significantly (p?<?0.05) in groups IC and IM immediately post-MSC delivery, and returned to baseline level at FUP, without difference between the groups IC and IM. The myocardial tissue HIF-1α expression in the infarcted area was higher in Group IM than in Group IC or S (1,963?±?586 vs. 1,307?±?392 vs. 271?±?110 activity per square millimeter, respectively, p?<?0.05), while the border zone contained similarly lower level of HIF-1α, but still significantly higher as compared with Group S. Trend towards increase in myocardial expression of HIF-1α was measured in Group IM at 24 h, in contrast to Group IC. In conclusion, both stem cell delivery modes increase the systemic and myocardial level of HIF-1α. Intramyocardial delivery of MSC seems to trigger the release of angiogenic HIF-1α more effectively than does intracoronary delivery.