Cissus sicyoides (princess vine) in the long-term treatment of streptozotocin-diabetic rats

Leaf decoctions of Cissus sicyoides (princess vine) are taken widely as a popular remedy for diabetes mellitus in Brazil, where its common name is 'vegetal insulin'. However, there have been practically no attempts so far to determine scientifically whether it has antidiabetic effects and we decided to administer leaf decoctions, over extended periods, to normal and streptozotocin-diabetic rats, and investigate the effects of this treatment on the physiological and metabolic parameters that are altered in diabetic animals. The experimental model adopted was shown to be appropriate by running a parallel treatment with insulin, which led to expected improvements in several abnormal parameter values. The decoction treatment significantly reduced the intake of both food and fluid and the volume of urine excreted, as well as the levels of blood glucose, urinary glucose and urinary urea, in comparison with controls. Lipid metabolism was not affected by the treatment; nor was the level of hepatic glycogen in diabetic animals, which indicated that the mechanism responsible for the improvement in carbohydrate metabolism, observed in animals treated with the decoction, could not involve inhibition of glycogenolysis and/or stimulation of glycogenesis. The fact that normal animals treated with C. sicyoides exhibited no changes in any of the measured parameters suggests that its mode of action in diabetic animals does not resemble those of sulphonylurea or insulin. It may, however, act in a similar way to biguanide, via inhibition of gluconeogenesis.

THE LONG-TERM EVOLUTION OF IMMUNE DEPOSITS IN PASSIVE HEYMANN NEPHRITIS

1. To study the long term course of passive Heymann nephritis (PHN), 42 adult male Wistar rats were injected with rabbit anti-FX1A serum (PHN group) and 42 rats received normal rabbit serum (control group). Two animals from each group were sacrificed 2 weeks after the inoculation and 10 animals each from the control and PHN groups were sacrificed 4, 13, 25 and 53 weeks later.2. The PHN group exhibited a significant elevation in 20-h proteinuria which lasted from the first week (control group, 9.19 +/- 0.87; PHN group, 25.3 +/- 2.66) to the 25th week (control group, 22.6 +/- 2.15; PHN group, 66.7 +/- 10.4) except for week 17. From week 29 to week 53 there was no statistical difference between the 2 groups.3. Light microscopy showed no difference between the kidneys of PHN and control rats. Immunofluorescence microscopy in PHN rats showed granular deposition of autologous and heterologous IgG on the glomerular basement membrane (GBM), whose intensity and pattern did not change during 53 weeks of observation.4. When examined by electron microscopy the glomeruli of PHN rats showed: a) electron-dense deposits which were initially subepithelial and homogeneous and later intramembranous, granular and often surrounded by an electron-transparent halo; b) focal thickening of the GBM at the sites of intramembranous deposits; c) effacement of podocytes located close to the deposits; d) penetration of the podocytes into the GBM associated with the deposits; e) presence of osmiophilic granules in the cytoplasm of the podocyte located inside the GBM similar to the granules of the deposits next to them. The association of the penetration of the podocytes into the GBM with the deposits and the presence of the osmiophilic granules inside the foot process have not been described previously in PHN.5. The results suggest that the podocytes play a role in the clearing of intramembranous deposits in PHN.

A nonlinear model for the long-term hydro-thermal generation scheduling problem over multiple areas with transmission constraints

This paper presents a nonlinear model with individual representation of plants for the centralized long-term hydrothermal scheduling problem over multiple areas. In addition to common aspects of long-term scheduling, this model takes transmission constraints into account. The ability to optimize hydropower exchange among multiple areas is important because it enables further minimization of complementary thermal generation costs. Also, by considering transmission constraints for long-term scheduling, a more precise coupling with shorter horizon schedules can be expected. This is an important characteristic from both operational and economic viewpoints. The proposed model is solved by a sequential quadratic programming approach in the form of a prototype system for different case studies. An analysis of the benefits provided by the model is also presented. ©2009 IEEE.

Inclusion of the European Nordic model in the debate concerning social protection reform: the long-term development of Nordic welfare systems (1890-2005) and their transferability to Latin America in the twenty-first century

Includes bibliography

América Latina y el déficit del petróleo: el proceso de ajuste a largo plazo de la balanza de pagos = Latin america and the oil deficit: the long-term balance of payment adjustment process

Incluye Bibliografía

The long-term outcome after acute kidney injury: a narrative review

This review will focus on long-term outcomes after acute kidney injury (AKI). Surviving AKI patients have a higher late mortality compared with those admitted without AKI. Recent studies have claimed that long-term mortality in patients after AKI varied from 15% to 74% and older age, presence of previous co-morbidities, and the incomplete recovery of renal function have been identified as risk factors for reduced survival. AKI is also associated with progression to chronic kidney (CKD) disease and the decline of renal function at hospital discharge and the number and severity of AKI episodes have been associated with progression to CKD. IN the most studies, recovery of renal function is defined as non-dependence on renal replacement therapy which is probably too simplistic and it is expected in 60-70% of survivors by 90 days. Further studies are needed to explore the long-term prognosis of AKI patients.

The long-term administration of calcineurin inhibitors decreases antioxidant enzyme activity in the rat parotid and submandibular salivary glands

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

A Randomized, Naturalistic, Parallel-Group Study for the Long-Term Treatment of Panic Disorder With Clonazepam or Paroxetine

This long-term extension of an 8-week randomized, naturalistic study in patients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia compared the efficacy and safety of clonazepam (n = 47) and paroxetine (n = 37) over a 3-year total treatment duration. Target doses for all patients were 2 mg/d clonazepam and 40 mg/d paroxetine (both taken at bedtime). This study reports data from the long-term period (34 months), following the initial 8-week treatment phase. Thus, total treatment duration was 36 months. Patients with a good primary outcome during acute treatment continued monotherapy with clonazepam or paroxetine, but patients with partial primary treatment success were switched to the combination therapy. At initiation of the long-term study, the mean doses of clonazepam and paroxetine were 1.9 (SD, 0.30) and 38.4 (SD, 3.74) mg/d, respectively. These doses were maintained until month 36 (clonazepam 1.9 [ SD, 0.29] mg/d and paroxetine 38.2 [SD, 3.87] mg/d). Long-term treatment with clonazepam led to a small but significantly better Clinical Global Impression (CGI)-Improvement rating than treatment with paroxetine (mean difference: CGI-Severity scale -3.48 vs -3.24, respectively, P = 0.02; CGI-Improvement scale 1.06 vs 1.11, respectively, P = 0.04). Both treatments similarly reduced the number of panic attacks and severity of anxiety. Patients treated with clonazepam had significantly fewer adverse events than those treated with paroxetine (28.9% vs 70.6%, P < 0.001). The efficacy of clonazepam and paroxetine for the treatment of panic disorder was maintained over the long-term course. There was a significant advantage with clonazepam over paroxetine with respect to the frequency and nature of adverse events.

Steel and macro-synthetic self-compacting fibre reinforced concrete, experimental study on the long-term deformations

Experimental study on the long-term deformations of the fibre reinforced concrete. Steel and macro-synthetic fibers were used to evaluate the shrinkage, creep, mid-span deflection, cracking and rupture analysis of three different types of samples. At the end the main topics of ACI guidelines were analyzed in order to perform an overview of design.

Validation of a new method to assess the long-term Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Activity using hair glucocorticoids as biomarkers. - Studies on pigs and laboratory Sprague-Dawley Rats

The evaluation of chronic activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is critical for determining the impact of chronic stressful situations. The potential use of hair glucocorticoids as a non-invasive, retrospective, biomarker of long term HPA activity is of great interest, and it is gaining acceptance in humans and animals. However, there are still no studies in literature examining hair cortisol concentration in pigs and corticosterone concentration in laboratory rodents. Therefore, we developed and validated, for the first time, a method for measuring hair glucocorticoids concentration in commercial sows and in Sprague-Dawley rats. Our preliminary data demonstrated: 1) a validated and specific washing protocol and extraction assay method with a good sensitivity in both species; 2) the effect of the reproductive phase, housing conditions and seasonality on hair cortisol concentration in sows; 3) similar hair corticosterone concentration in male and female rats; 4) elevated hair corticosterone concentration in response to chronic stress manipulations and chronic ACTH administration, demonstrating that hair provides a good direct index of HPA activity over long periods than other indirect parameters, such adrenal or thymus weight. From these results we believe that this new non-invasive tool needs to be applied to better characterize the overall impact in livestock animals and in laboratory rodents of chronic stressful situations that negatively affect animals welfare. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to improve this methodology and maybe to develop animal models for chronic stress of high interest and translational value in human medicine.

Delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage in the long-term follow-up after Perthes disease

Aim of this study was to assess the glycosaminoglycan content in hip joint cartilage in mature hips with a history of Legg-Calvé-Perthes (LCPD) disease using delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC).