Preclinical trial of the effectiveness of a safety nasogastric tube to detect the tube position based on tidal volume and pepsin assay results in the gastrointestinal tract of Macaca fascicularis.

BACKGROUND: Tube misplacement into the tracheobronchial tract is associated with pneumothorax in 0.5% of cases. NGT verification only detects the position of the tube at the end of the procedure. Therefore, a safe nasogastric tube (SNGT) was created to detect the NGT position in real time in a simple and inexpensive way. This study aimed to prove the effectiveness of the SNGT prototype in Macaca fascicularis. RESULT: An SNGT producing 50% of the TV had 100% sensitivity and specificity in detecting the position of the tube at 100% of the TV, with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 87.5%. There was a significant difference between the movement of the SNGT 50% TV and SNGT 100% TV airbags (p ≤ 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the accuracy of placement of the 50% TV SNGT, 100% TV SNGT, and conventional NGT (p > 0.05). The pepsin enzyme had better sensitivity (100%) than pH paper (91.66%) in detecting the end-of-procedure tube position. This research has the potential to advance into human clinical trials. CONCLUSION: SNGTs are highly effective in detecting the NGT position inside the respiratory and digestive tracts to prevent misplacement.

Anti-inflammatory Effects of Hibiscus Sabdariffa Linn. on the IL-1ß/IL-1ra Ratio in Plasma and Hippocampus of Overtrained Rats and Correlation with Spatial Memory.

Overtraining leads to an increase in IL-1ß systemically due to muscle microtrauma, which affects the hippocampus, an important structure in spatial memory consolidation. The administration of Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn is expected to decrease IL-1ß and increase IL-1ra, thereby potentially preventing impairments in spatial memory consolidation. This research was an experimental study using 20 male Wistar rats. The overtraining of Wistar rats altered the ratio of IL-1ß/IL-1ra in the plasma and hippocampus. Moreover, this overtraining impaired spatial memory consolidation. The methanol extract of H. sabdariffa improved spatial memory consolidation in Wistar rats and prevented impairment in spatial memory consolidation by maintaining the ratio of IL-1ß/IL-1ra in the plasma and hippocampus of Wistar rats who experienced overtraining. H. sabdariffa is a potent anti-inflammatory substance that prevents impairments in spatial memory consolidation in overtrained Wistar rats.

Effects of Curcumin on Parameters of Myocardial Oxidative Stress and of Mitochondrial Glutathione Turnover in Reoxygenation after 60 Minutes of Hypoxia in Isolated Perfused Working Guinea Pig Hearts.

In cardiovascular surgery ischemia-reperfusion injury is a challenging problem, which needs medical intervention. We investigated the effects of curcumin on cardiac, myocardial, and mitochondrial parameters in perfused isolated working Guinea pig hearts. After preliminary experiments to establish the model, normoxia was set at 30 minutes, hypoxia was set at 60, and subsequent reoxygenation was set at 30 minutes. Curcumin was applied in the perfusion buffer at 0.25 and 0.5 µM concentrations. Cardiac parameters measured were afterload, coronary and aortic flows, and systolic and diastolic pressure. In the myocardium histopathology and AST in the perfusate indicated cell damage after hypoxia and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels increased to 232.5% of controls during reoxygenation. Curcumin protected partially against reoxygenation injury without statistically significant differences between the two dosages. Mitochondrial MDA was also increased in reoxygenation (165% of controls), whereas glutathione was diminished (35.2%) as well as glutathione reductase (29.3%), which was significantly increased again to 62.0% by 0.05 µM curcumin. Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) was strongly increased in hypoxia and even more in reoxygenation (255% of controls). Curcumin partly counteracted this increase and attenuated GPx activity independently in hypoxia and in reoxygenation, 0.25 µM concentration to 150% and 0.5 µM concentration to 200% of normoxic activity.