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OBJECTIVE: Modern treatment of peptic ulcers includes antibacterial and gastroprotective medications. However, current anti-ulcer drugs possess severe side effects. Therefore, all attempts to find new effective medications free from side effects are justified. Though Berberis vulgaris is a medicinal plant commonly used for the treatment of numerous disorders, gastroprotective effect of its leaf extract was not investigated before. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Gastric ulcer was modelled in Sprague-Dawley rats after treatment with B. vulgaris leaf extract containing 0.07% of alkaloids, 0.48% of flavonoids and 8.05% of tanning substances, 10 or 50 mg of dry extract/kg, changes in the stomach mucosa were assessed semi-quantitatively, and the gastric wall was evaluated for prostaglandin E2 level using ELISA and assessed histologically by calculation of the lesion index. RESULTS: B. vulgaris leaf extract at the dose of 50 mg/kg reduced the macroscopic ulcer score and the microscopic lesion index, increased prostaglandin E2 concentration in the gastric wall significantly higher than atropine and B. vulgaris leaf extract 10 mg/kg. CONCLUSION: The gastroprotective effect of the high dose of B. vulgaris leaf extract may be due to stimulation of prostaglandin E2 secretion in the stomach, and anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties of polyphenolic complex of flavonoids and tannins present in the leaves of this plant.
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BACKGROUND: The Anatomy Education Environment Measurement Inventory (AEEMI) evaluates the perception of medical students of educational climates with regard to teaching and learning anatomy. The study aimed to cross-validate the AEEMI, which was previously studied in a public medical school, and proposed a valid universal model of AEEMI across public and private medical schools in Malaysia. METHODS: The initial 11-factor and 132-item AEEMI was distributed to 1930 pre-clinical and clinical year medical students from 11 medical schools in Malaysia. The study examined the construct validity of the AEEMI using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. RESULTS: The best-fit model of AEEMI was achieved using 5 factors and 26 items (χ 2 = 3300.71 (df = 1680), P < 0.001, χ 2/df = 1.965, Root Mean Square of Error Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.018, Goodness-of-fit Index (GFI) = 0.929, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.962, Normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.927, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.956) with Cronbach's alpha values ranging from 0.621 to 0.927. Findings of the cross-validation across institutions and phases of medical training indicated that the AEEMI measures nearly the same constructs as the previously validated version with several modifications to the item placement within each factor. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirmed that variability exists within factors of the anatomy education environment among institutions. Hence, with modifications to the internal structure, the proposed model of the AEEMI can be considered universally applicable in the Malaysian context and thus can be used as one of the tools for auditing and benchmarking the anatomy curriculum.
