Cardioprotective, hypotensive and toxicological studies of Populus ciliata (Wall. ex Royle).

Populus ciliata Wall ex. Royle has folkloric repute to treat various cardiovascular ailments and related disorders. The current study was designed to evaluate the toxic profile, cardioprotective and hypotensive effects of Populus ciliata (Wall. ex Royle). Populus ciliata crude ethanolic extract (Pc. Cr) and its aqueous (Pc. Aq) & organic (Pc. Dcm) fractions were tested on isolated aorta of rat and rabbit having intact and non-intact endothelium respectively. Pc. Cr & Pc. Aq relaxed the contractions induced by PE (1 µM)-induced and K+ (80 mM)-induced on aorta, possibly by mediating endothelium derived relaxing factor (EDRF) in intact endothelium and voltage dependent L-type calcium channels blocking (CCB) mechanism in non-intact endothelium. Pc. Cr showed anti-hypertensive & cardioprotective activity by decreasing force of contraction & heart rate on isolated rabbit paired atria and reduced blood pressure in anesthetized rat. Cardioprotective effect of Pc. Cr was assessed in isoproterenol induced acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in Sprague Dawley rats. In LVH, Pc. Cr exerted positive effects by decreasing angiotensin II & renin and increasing cGMP & nitric oxide (NO) with reduced cardiac fibrosis, necrosis and cardiac cell size. In AMI, Pc. Cr responded effectively by decreasing cardiac markers creatinine kinase (CK), creatinine kinase myocardial band (CK-MB) and lactate dehydrogenase (LD) in blood associated with less edema and necrosis. Presence of catechin, vinallic acid, P-coumeric acid and quercitin identified through HPLC support the effectiveness of Pc. Cr in hypertension, AMI and LVH. Pc. Cr showed no significant adverse effects in Sprague Dawley albino rats after acute & sub-acute treatment in histopathological investigation. Extract of Populus ciliata showed vasorelaxant, hypotensive and cardioprotective effect in Sprague Dawley albino rats and white albino rabbit by mediating EDRF and voltage dependent L-type CCB mechanism respectively.

An Overview on the Conservative Management of Endometriosis from a Naturopathic Perspective: Phytochemicals and Medicinal Plants.

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a chronic and debilitating disease, which affects millions of young women worldwide. Although medicine has incontestably evolved in the last years, there is no common ground regarding the early and accurate diagnosis of this condition, its pathogenic mechanisms, and curative treatment. Even though the spontaneous resolution of endometriosis is sometimes possible, recent reports suggested that it can be a progressive condition. It can associate chronic pelvic pain, vaginal bleeding, infertility, or malignant degenerescence. Conventional treatments could produce many side effects, and despite treatment, the symptoms may reappear. In recent years, experimental evidence suggested that plant-based medicine could exert beneficial effects on endometriosis and endometriosis-related symptoms. This study aims to highlight the pharmaceutical activity of phytochemicals and medicinal plants against endometriosis and to provide a source of information regarding the alternative treatment of this condition. METHODS: For this review, we performed a research using PubMed, GoogleScholar, and CrossRef databases. We selected the articles published between January 2000 and July 2020, written in English. RESULTS: We found 17 medicinal plants and 13 phytochemicals, which have demonstrated their beneficial effects against endometriosis. Several of their biological activities consist of antiangiogenic, anti-inflammatory effects, and oxidative-stress reduction. CONCLUSION: Medicinal herbs and their bioactive compounds exhibit antiangiogenic, antioxidant, sedative and pain-alleviating properties and the effects recorded until now encourage their use for the conservative management of endometriosis.

Prevalence and antifungal susceptibility patterns of dermatophytes isolated from patients with neoplastic diseases: a case control study.

Patients with neoplasia who are severely immunocompromised have a higher risk of fungal infections. There are limited data in the literature regarding the frequency of dermatophyte infections and efficacy of antifungals in patients with malignancies. Objective was assessment of the incidence of dermatophyte infections and antifungal susceptibility, determination of dermatophyte species isolated from patients with neoplastic diseases. 138 patients diagnosed with various malignancies and 160 immunocompetent patients who were referred to the Department of Dermatology in Brasov, Romania, for suspicion of dermatophyte infections were included in the study. Nail clippings or skin scrapings were examined by direct microscopy and cultures in Sabouraud agar medium. Susceptibility tests for antifungals were conducted in vitro using a method of broth microdilution. Infections with dermatophytes were identified in 30.4% of patients with neoplastic diseases and in 29.37% in the control group. There was a significantly higher frequency of dermatophyte infections in patients with hematologic malignancies (52%) compared to those with solid cancers (25.66%) (P=0.01). The clinical aspects of dermatophyte infections in patients with neoplastic diseases were not different from those of patients without cancer; though in some cases the infections were more extensive. There were no statistically significant differences between mean values of minimum inhibitory concentration of antifungals compared with controls. Terbinafine had the highest antidermatophyte activity for all tested dermatophyte species isolated from patients with neoplastic diseases. There were no differences in frequency of dermatophyte infections and antifungal susceptibility to dermatophytes between patients with neoplastic diseases and immunocompetent patients.