Statins and cognitive function: an updated review.

Ischemic heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the USA. Statins have substantially contributed to the decline in mortality due to heart disease. Historically, statins are hypothesized to be neuroprotective and beneficial in dementia, but recent reports have suggested an association with transient cognitive decline. We have critically appraised the relationship between statins and cognitive function in this review. Most of the data are observational and reported a protective effect of statins on dementia and Alzheimer's disease in patients with normal cognition at baseline. Few studies, including two randomized control trials, were unable to find a statistically significant decrease in the risk or improvement in patients with established dementia or decline in cognitive function with statin use. As more randomized control trials are required to definitively settle this, cardiovascular benefits of statins must be weighed against the risks of cognitive decline on an individual basis.

Diospyros Peregrina Fruit Preparation Mediated Immunomodulation of Lymphocytes Isolated From The Blood of Breast Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of epithelial cells. The loss of Breast Cancer gene1 (BRCA1) activity due to mutation or down-regulation of gene expression promotes tumorigenesis and increases the risk of breast cancer. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to pulsate lymphocytes of breast cancer patients and normal individuals, using Diospyros peregrina fruit preparation (DFP) to study the cancer-protective immunity, and the signal transduction processes involved with it. We also investigated the role of DFP in the release of lymphocytic nitric oxide (NO), which is a key tumoricidal agent, known to regulate T-cell proliferation, cytokine production, cell signaling, and apoptosis. METHODS: Using Ficoll-Hypaque gradient centrifugation, lymphocytes were isolated from the blood of 12 patients and 12 normal individuals. Cells were treated with or without DFP (2.5 µg/ml) for 48 hours. Both non-stimulated and stimulated cells were then subjected to MTT and NO release assay; following which qPCR was performed to estimate mRNA levels and percentage enrichment of certain genes. RESULTS: DFP stimulates lymphocytic proliferation (p=0.0118) and release of NO (p=0.01) significantly. DFP also noticeably enhances the expression of T helper (TH) cell 1 specific interferon-gamma (IFNG), interleukin 12 (IL12), T-Box Transcription Factor 21 (TBX21) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) genes. DFP treatment significantly increases tumor protective immunity by decreasing the expression levels of TH2 network-specific GATA3 and interleukin 4 (IL4) genes but increasing the expression levels of TH1 network-specific IFNG, IL12, TBX21, and STAT1 genes. CONCLUSION: DFP increases the expression levels of TH1 specific network genes which in turn help in evoking tumor protective immunity.