Impact of different types of olive oil on cardiovascular risk factors: A systematic review and network meta-analysis

Background and aimThis network meta-analysis (NMA) compares the effects of different types of olive oil (OO) on cardiovascular risk factors.Methods and resultsLiterature search was conducted on three electronic databases (Medline, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central). Inclusion criteria: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (≥3 weeks duration of intervention) comparing at least two of the following types of OO: refined OO (ROO), mixed OO (MOO), low phenolic (extra) virgin OO (LP(E)VOO), and high phenolic (extra) virgin OO (HP(E)VOO). Random-effects NMA was performed for seven outcomes; and surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) was estimated, using an analytical approach (P-score). Thirteen RCTs (16 reports) with 611 mainly healthy participants (mean age: 26–70 years) were identified. No differences for total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triacylglycerols, and diastolic blood pressure were observed comparing ROO, MOO, LP(E)VOO and HP(E)VOO. HP(E)VOO slightly reduce LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) compared to LP(E)VOO (mean difference [MD]: −0.14 mmol/L, 95%–CI: −0.28, −0.01). Both, HP(E)VOO and LP(E)VOO reduces SBP compared to ROO (range of MD: −2.99 to −2.87 mmHg), and HP(E)VOO may improve oxidized LDL-cholesterol (oxLDL-C) compared to ROO (standardized MD: −0.68, 95%–CI: −1.31, −0.04). In secondary analyses, EVOO may reduce oxLDL-C compared to ROO, and a dose-response relationship between higher intakes of phenolic compounds from OO and lower SBP and oxLDL-C values was detected. HP(E)VOO was ranked as best treatment for LDL-C (P-score: 0.83), oxLDL-C (0.88), and SBP (0.75).ConclusionsHP(E)VOO may improve some cardiovascular risk factors, however, public health implications are limited by overall low or moderate certainty of evidence.     

Some digenetic trematodes of the olive ridley sea turtle, Lepidochelys olivacea (Testudines, Cheloniidae) in Costa Rica

Summary Three species of digeneans including 1 Gorgoderidae (Plesiochorus cymbiformis) from the urinary bladder, 1 Plagiorchiidae (Enodiotrema megachondrus) from the duodenum, and 1 Pachypsolidae (Pachypsolus irroratus) from the stomach were recovered from 2 of 3 olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) found stranded along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. All trematodes represent new locality records. Histopathological changes associated with eggs of cardiovascular flukes (Digenea, Spirorchiidae) were described from the lungs, spleen, and intestine of a single turtle.     

Effects of cimetropium bromide on gallbladder contraction in response to oral and intraduodenal olive oil

Summary To evaluate the influence of the stomach and the cholinergic system on gallbladder contraction induced by physiological stimuli, the reduction in gallbladder volume in 7 healthy volunteers has been studied by real-time ultrasonography after the oral and intraduodenal administration of olive oil, preceded by pretreatment with cimetropium bromide or placebo. After an overnight fast, each subject swallowed 50 ml olive oil or it was administered through a naso-duodenal tube in the proximal duodenum. Cimetropium bromide 5 mg or placebo was given intravenously under double-blind control.After the placebo pretreatment, gallbladder contraction was greater and faster after intraduodenal oil than after oral oil. Cimetropium bromide decreased the extent, velocity and duration of gallbladder contraction induced by intraduodenal olive oil but it only reduced the velocity of the contraction induced by oil given orally.It is concluded that in normal human subjects the stomach modulates the extent and velocity of postprandial gallbladder contraction and that anticholinergic agents antagonize the gastric and duodenal phases of the response of the gallbladder to a meal.     

衡阳市城区市售甲鱼中检测霍乱弧菌的采样调查

目的了解衡阳市城区市售甲鱼中有无霍乱弧菌的感染。方法共采样55份，其中甲鱼肛门涂抹样36份，甲鱼表面粘液涂抹样19份。采用霍乱弧菌食物中毒的国家标准的检验方法进行检测。结果衡阳市市售甲鱼55份样本中有1份检测出O139血清型霍乱弧菌的感染。结论需采取相应的预防措施以防止霍乱弧菌引起的疫情。     

Influence of picrotoxin and strychnine on the spectral sensitivity of the turtle ERG b- and d-waves: II. Light adaptation

The aim of the present work was to investigate the role of GABA and glycine, the two main inhibitory neurotransmitters in the retina, in the spectral sensitivity coding under conditions of light adaptation. To study this question, spectral sensitivity curves, based on the turtle ERG responses to stimuli of different wavelengths, were constructed. The spectral sensitivity curves, obtained before and during treatment with picrotoxin (PT), a GABA_A antagonist, or with strychnine (ST), a glycine antagonist, were compared. Both PT and ST increased the b- and d-wave absolute sensitivity in a wavelength-dependent manner. PT significantly changed the shape of the b- and d-wave spectral sensitivity curves and the latter lost their peaks. It is concluded that, under conditions of light adaptation, GABA and glycine took part in the formation of the b- and d-wave spectral sensitivity curves, that both of them exerted an effect on the gain and that, furthermore, GABA had a well pronounced effect on the tuning of the spectral sensitivity curves.     

碱性脂肪酶测定方法的探讨

对碱性脂肪酶酶活的测定方法进行了研究，对反应底物及其形态、反应的酸碱度、温度、稳定时间等条件进行了对比和选择。     

Abnormal spontaneous and harmaline-stimulated Purkinje cell activity in the awake genetically dystonic rat

The genetically dystonic rat is an autosomal recessive mutant with a movement disorder that closely resembles the generalized dystonias seen in humans. Abnormal activity of neurons within the cerebellar nuclei is critical to the dystonic rat motor syndrome. Increased glutamic acid decarboxylase activity, increased glucose utilization, and decreased muscimol binding within the cerebellar nuclei of the dystonic rat suggests that Purkinje cell firing rates are increased in these animals. However, under urethane anesthesia, Purkinje cell simple spike firing rates in dystonic rats were less than half the rates seen in normal littermates. In this study, both spontaneous and harmaline-stimulated single-unit Purkinje cell recordings were obtained from awake normal and dystonic rats. In striking contrast to previous results obtained under urethane anesthesia, there was no statistically significant difference in average Purkinje cell spontaneous simple spike frequency between dystonic and normal rats. Similar to previous studies obtained under urethane anesthesia, Purkinje cell spontaneous complex spike frequency was much lower in dystonic than in normal rats. Many Purkinje cells from dystonic rats, particularly those from the vermis or older animals, exhibited rhythmic bursting simple spike firing patterns. Cross-correlations showed that complex spikes produced less suppression of simple spikes in dystonic than in normal rats and harmaline-stimulated complex spike activity was, on average, faster and more rhythmic in normal than in dystonic rats. These findings indicate that olivocerebellar network abnormalities in the dystonic rat are not due to an inability of Purkinje cells to fire at normal rates and suggest that abnormal Purkinje cell bursting firing patterns in the dystonic rat are due to a defect in the pathway from the inferior olive to climbing fiber synapses on Purkinje cells.     

Olive pollen allergen Ole e 8: identification in mature pollen and presence of Ole e 8-like proteins in different pollens

In a first approach, Ole e 8, a novel Ca2+-binding protein from olive pollen, was cloned and produced in Escherichia coli. We have obtained the natural form of Ole e 8 (nOle e 8) from the pollen and examined its immunologic equivalence with its recombinant form (rOle e 8). Size exclusion chromatography and a phenyl-Sepharose CL-4B affinity column were used to obtain nOle e 8 from the olive pollen. Inhibition assays by immunoblotting, using rOle e 8-specific rabbit antiserum, were performed to analyze the immunologic equivalence between the natural and the recombinant allergen, as well as to detect its presence in other pollens. Recombinant and natural Ole e 8 resulted immunologically equivalents, since they completely inhibited the IgG binding of the polyclonal antiserum to each other. Ole e 8-like proteins were detected in Oleaceae and Juniperus communis pollen, and might contribute to cross-reactivity processes between taxonomically related pollens.     

Lateral and medial sub-divisions within the olivocerebellar zones of the paravermal cortex in lobule Vb/c of the cat anterior lobe

Summary The olivocerebellar projection to the c₁,c₂ and c₃ zones in the paravermal cortex of lobule Vb/c has been investigated in the cat using a combined electrophysiological/neuroanatomical tracing technique. The zonal boundaries in the paravermal cortex were located by recording, on the cerebellar surface, climbing fibre field potentials evoked in response to percutaneous stimulation of one or more paws. A small (10–30 nl) injection of WGA-HRP was then made either into the centre or into the medial or lateral geographical half of a chosen zone and the resultant distribution of retrogradely labelled cells within the contralateral inferior olive was plotted. The c₁ and c₃ zones were each found to consist of two mediolaterally oriented sub-zones which could be distinguished by their olivocerebellar input. The medial part of the c₁ zone received climbing fibre input from the rostromedial part of the dorsal accessory olive (DAO) while the lateral part of the c₁ zone received climbing fibre input from middle/rostral regions of the medial accessory olive (MAO). Both medial and lateral sub-zones within the c₃ zone were found to receive climbing fibre input from the rostral pole of DAO but, whereas there was heavy overlap between the olivary territories projecting to the medial c₁ and medial c₃ subzones, olivary cells projecting to the lateral part of c₃ were located more rostrally within DAO. The c₂ zone was found not to be divisible into mediolaterally oriented subzones and to receive climbing fibre input from a region of MAO located rostral and somewhat lateral to the region projecting to the lateral part of the c₁ zone. The sub-zonal organisation of the olivocerebellar projection to the c₁, c₂ and c₃ zones is discussed in relation to the functional properties of the different zones.