Investigating the Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Various Brown Algae Species.

This literature review investigated the anti-inflammatory properties of brown algae, emphasizing their potential for dermatological applications. Due to the limitations and side effects associated with corticosteroids and immunomodulators, interest has been growing in harnessing therapeutic qualities from natural products as alternatives to traditional treatments for skin inflammation. This review explored the bioactive compounds in brown algae, specifically looking into two bioactive compounds, namely, fucoidans and phlorotannins, which are widely known to exhibit anti-inflammatory properties. This review synthesized the findings from various studies, highlighting how these compounds can mitigate inflammation by mechanisms such as reducing oxidative stress, inhibiting protein denaturation, modulating immune responses, and targeting inflammatory pathways, particularly in conditions like atopic dermatitis. The findings revealed species-specific variations influenced by the molecular weight and sulphate content. Challenges related to skin permeability were addressed, highlighting the potential of nanoformulations and penetration enhancers to improve delivery. While the in vivo results using animal models provided positive results, further clinical trials are necessary to confirm these outcomes in humans. This review concludes that brown algae hold substantial promise for developing new dermatological treatments and encourages further research to optimize extraction methods, understand the molecular mechanisms, and address practical challenges such as sustainability and regulatory compliance. This review contributes to the growing body of evidence supporting the integration of marine-derived compounds into therapeutic applications for inflammatory skin diseases.

Did medical doctors who order abdominal CT scans during on-call hours truly become worse at clinical reasoning? Yes, they did.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate temporal changes in clinical reasoning quality of physicians who requested abdominal CT scans at a tertiary care center during on-call hours within a 15-year period. METHODS: This retrospective study included 531 patients who underwent abdominal CT at a tertiary care center during on-call hours on 36 randomly sampled unique calendar days in each of the years between 2005 and 2019. Clinical reasoning quality was expressed as a percentage (0-100%), taking into account the degree by which the differential diagnoses on the CT request form matched the CT diagnosis. Temporal changes in the quality of clinical reasoning and number of CT scans were assessed using Mann-Kendall tests. Associations between the quality of clinical reasoning with patient age and gender, requesting department, and time of CT scanning were determined with linear regression analyses. RESULTS: The median annual clinical reasoning score was 0.4% (interquartile range: 0.3 to 0.6%; range: 0.1 to 1.9%). The quality of clinical reasoning significantly decreased between 2005 and 2019 (Mann-Kendall Tau of -0.829, p < 0.001), while the number of abdominal CT scans significantly increased (Mann-Kendall tau of 0.790, p < 0.001). There was a significant association between the quality of clinical reasoning and patient age (ß coefficient of 0.210, p = 0.002). The quality of clinical reasoning was not significantly associated with patient gender, requesting department, or time of CT scanning. CONCLUSION: The clinical reasoning quality of physicians who request abdominal CT scans during on-call hours has deteriorated over time. Clinical reasoning appears to be worse in younger patients. KEY POINTS: • In patients with suspected acute abdominal pathology who are scheduled to undergo CT scanning, referring physicians generally have difficulties in making an accurate pretest (differential) diagnosis. • Clinical reasoning quality of physicians who request acute abdominal CT scans has deteriorated over the years, while the number of CT scans has shown a significant increase. • Clinical reasoning quality appears to be worse in younger patients in this setting.