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Friday, 30 October 2015

Where is the #cannabis & #hemp market is going? http://bit.ly/1OUx9qH via @NatProdInsider

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Isocaloric fructose restriction and metabolic improvement in children with obesity and metabolic syndrome

Original Article
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  1. Robert H. Lustig1,*,
  2. Kathleen Mulligan2,3,
  3. Susan M. Noworolski4,
  4. Viva W. Tai2,
  5. Michael J. Wen2,
  6. Ayca Erkin-Cakmak1,
  7. Alejandro Gugliucci3 and
  8. Jean-Marc Schwarz5
Article first published online: 26 OCT 2015
DOI: 10.1002/oby.21371
Article has an altmetric score of 253

Additional Information(Show All)
  1. Funding agencies: NIH (R01DK089216), UCSF CTSI (NCATS-UL1-TR00004), and Touro University.
  2. Disclosure: The authors declared no conflict of interest.
  3. Author contributions: All authors had access to the study data and are responsible for the conclusions. Study concept and design: Lustig, Schwarz, Mulligan; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: all authors; drafting of the manuscript: Lustig; critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: all authors; statistical analysis: Erkin-Cakmak, Mulligan; obtained funding: Lustig, Schwarz, Noworolski, Gugliucci, Mulligan; administrative, technical, or material support: Lustig, Schwarz, Mulligan, Gugliucci, Tai, Wen; study supervision: Lustig, Schwarz, Mulligan.

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Objective

Dietary fructose is implicated in metabolic syndrome, but intervention studies are confounded by positive caloric balance, changes in adiposity, or artifactually high amounts. This study determined whether isocaloric substitution of starch for sugar would improve metabolic parameters in Latino (n = 27) and African-American (n = 16) children with obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Methods

Participants consumed a diet for 9 days to deliver comparable percentages of protein, fat, and carbohydrate as their self-reported diet; however, dietary sugar was reduced from 28% to 10% and substituted with starch. Participants recorded daily weights, with calories adjusted for weight maintenance. Participants underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and oral glucose tolerance testing on Days 0 and 10. Biochemical analyses were controlled for weight change by repeated measures ANCOVA.

Results

Reductions in diastolic blood pressure (−5 mmHg; P = 0.002), lactate (−0.3 mmol/L; P < 0.001), triglyceride, and LDL-cholesterol (−46% and −0.3 mmol/L; P < 0.001) were noted. Glucose tolerance and hyperinsulinemia improved (P < 0.001). Weight reduced by 0.9 ± 0.2 kg (P < 0.001) and fat-free mass by 0.6 kg (P = 0.04). Post hoc sensitivity analysis demonstrates that results in the subcohort that did not lose weight (n = 10) were directionally consistent.

Conclusions

Isocaloric fructose restriction improved surrogate metabolic parameters in children with obesity and metabolic syndrome irrespective of weight change.
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CALL FOR PAPERS – International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics


Call for papers from the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, Vol. 10, No. 2: Health and Ecological Destruction: Fracking and Beyond
The deadline for submission for this issue is January 1, 2016.
IJFAB, vol. 10, no. 2
Guest Editors: Laura Purdy and Wendy Lynne Lee
“Which questions moral philosophers choose to study—and choose not to study—is itself a moral issue,” wrote Virginia Warren in her groundbreaking 1979 article. Indeed, bioethics has often focused on important, but relatively narrow issues based on the assumption that health is a natural lottery and that the chief moral questions have to do with the quality of care, and fair access to it, or with the implications of new technologies to treat or cure, and questions about reproduction and death. Of course, some writing has always acknowledged many influences on health and thus longevity, encouraged, no doubt, by scholarship in epidemiology, the social determinants of health, interest in food/agriculture issues, and concern about occupational and environmental pollution.
This special issue of IJFAB aims to examine, through a feminist lens, human activities such as fracking, that, by negatively impacting the environment, threaten health.
Science fiction, such as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, abounds with post-apocalyptic nightmares, but rarely devotes any attention to how they came about or whether they could have been prevented.
Yet, as ever more paths to environmental disaster are opened up by corporate and governmental decisions, the preventable is being touted as inevitable, natural, and good.
Many of us now live in disbelief at the deliberate dismantling of the conditions required for human (and nonhuman) flourishing by people apparently oblivious or disdainful of the consequences. If these forces continue to prevail, it is only a matter of time before the consequences of widespread lack of access to clean water, air and land pollution, desertification, and deforestation, will drastically reduce human life spans, and quite possibly lead to human extinction. The process will exacerbate the fight for survival at all levels, from the individual to the national.
We encourage readers to think about the many ways human activities are putting at risk human health, shortening lives, and risking species suicide.
Possible Topics:
Basic Theories/Concepts:
Public good vs. Property Rights
Precautionary Principle vs. Cost/Risk/Benefit
Environment/Ecology
Industrialized extraction
Feminist environmental bioethics
Thriveability/Flourishing
Focus:
Climate Change
Energy Production Policy
Food/Agriculture Issues
Environmental/Health Legislation
Drugs (Legal and Illegal)
Exploitation of Public Assets
Wildlife Preservation
Our main goal is to evaluate the health consequences of activities intended to maintain and expand dependence on fossil fuels, and technology in general, especially that held to be necessary for sustaining rapidly growing populations, no matter at what cost to the environment. These goals, in turn, reflect the needs and interests of continued western hegemony. We encourage potential contributors to contact us for a more detailed description of possible topics. In addition, we hope for submissions on the many related topics not listed here, such as mountain top removal, tar sands development, or as yet unidentified threats.
If you plan to contribute, please contact the guest editors at wlee@bloomu.edu or laura.purdy@gmail.com.
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JOB – Postdoc, Knowledge Infrastructures for Environmental Justice, Drexel University



Job Opening: Knowledge Infrastructures for Environmental Justice Postdoc
Center for Science, Technology, and Society, Drexel University
Deadline for applications: 1 January 2016
Description
A postdoctoral researcher is sought in the area of Knowledge Infrastructures for Environmental Justice. The successful applicant will join an interdisciplinary team working with non-profit groups and community activists to design and testing an interactive interface for visualizing data from real-time air monitoring at refinery fencelines. S/he will work with P.I. Dr. Gwen Ottinger to collect activists’ feedback on the interface and track their use of it, as well as to theorize the implications of the project for understanding how knowledge infrastructures can be designed to better support environmental health and justice movements. S/he will also participate in the intellectual life of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society at Drexel University.
The position is a one-year appointment, beginning July 1, 2016, with the possibility of renewal for a second year. The work will be conducted primarily at Drexel University in Philadelphia, but the postdoc will be expected to make occasional research trips to the San Francisco Bay area.
Requirements
Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies or a related field required at time of appointment. Applicants should also have experience working in interdisciplinary teams and with social movement groups. For more information and to apply, visit www.DrexelJobs.com and search for Department 3180 – Politics, Requisition number 6744. A complete application will consist of a cover letter, C.V., work sample, and the names of 3 references
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Fixing What Harper Broke: A to-do list for the incoming government


October 29, 2015
We need a stock-taking A “to-do” list. Some of what the Harper administration broke will be easy to fix; much will be very hard indeed.
What we must do is insist the damage be reversed. There is an equally long list of steps to take moving forward – but we need to repair immense damage to nearly every aspect of federal law and policy.
Here’s a start:
1) Fixing security law:
  • Repeal Bill C-51. As a compromise, the Liberals could amend part 2 (No Fly lists) while repealing Parts 1 (info sharing), 3 (terrorism in general propaganda), 4 (the most dangerous, unleashing CSIS as covert disruptors) and 5 (allowing evidence obtained by torture).
  • Repeal C-44 – allowing CSIS agents to operate over-seas.
  • Repeal C-38 – with a section eliminating the Inspector General for CSIS.
  • Repeal C-3 (2007 legislation that introduced unconstitutional security certificates).
  • Instead – build security law drawn from advice from the Arar and Air India Commissions of Inquiry.
2) Rebuilding our criminal law system:
  • Reinstate the Law Reform Commission and Court Challenges programme.
  • Repeal C-10 and other mandatory minimum provisions.
  • Repeal C-2 (Insite).
  • Repeal C-14 (NCR).
  • Repeal C-25 (Truth in Sentencing Act).
  • Repeal C-309 (Preventing Persons from Concealing Their Identity during Riots and Unlawful Assemblies Act).
3) Reverse trend to slippery citizenship:
  • Return Canada’s embassies to aggressively act for Canadians abroad in trouble – including on death row.
  • Repeal C-24 (only one citizenship exists – unless obtained by fraud, citizenship is citizenship).
  • Repeal FATCA (found in omnibus C-31).
  • Restore citizenship for Lost Canadians.
4) Immigration and refugee law:
  • Repeal the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act from Fall 2011 that puts refugees arriving by boat in jail for a year (C-31).
  • Return to principles of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act – create a predictable path to citizenship.
  • Prioritize family reunification.
  • Create a sponsor-friendly refugee support process. Restore health, housing, language and other supports to refugee claimants.
  • Appoint board members to Immigration appeal board to deal with backlog.
5) Restore evidence-based decision making:
  • Restore Long Form Census. Rehire Munir Sheik as Chief Statistician of Canada and give him the Order of Canada.
  • Repeal C-38 sections that wrecked environmental assessment (EA). Eliminate any EA role for energy regulatory agencies (NEB, offshore petroleum boards, CNSC, etc) and return EA to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. Repeal C-38 destruction of CEAA, and further amend the Act to remove the conflict of interest found in the pre-2011 CEAA. A good model can be found in the Liberal 1993 Red Book (never implemented).
  • Repeal C-38 elimination of the National Round Table on Environment and Economy.
  • Re-hire scientists.
  • Restore funding to the Canadian Climate Forum (formerly the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences).
  • Restore funding to Polar Environmental Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL).
  • Restore the Marine Mammals Contaminants Programme.
  • Restore testing of smokestacks for air quality.
  • Restore ozone layer testing.
  • Restore freshwater science. Resume funding and DFO work in Experimental Lakes Area.
  • Restore research funding and monitoring for ecological integrity to Parks Canada.
6) Repair environmental laws and policy:
  • Repeal C-38:
I. Damage to Fisheries Act (restore habitat protection, reverse administrative changes in interpretation of “deleterious to fish” as meaning acute toxicity at LD50, as well as removing the equivalency provisions for provincial down-loading);
II. Section that amended NEB also damaged Species at Risk Act, Navigable Waters Protection At, Fisheries Act exempting these acts – as not applying along route of a pipeline;
III. As above in decision-making section, restore CEAA as sole agency to oversee environmental reviews.
  • Repeal C-45:
I. Restore Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA), and repeal the 2009 omnibus bill that re-defined “navigable waters” to a matter of ministerial discretion. Return NWPA to its pre-2006 condition. Navigable waters are any and all waters that can be navigated.
  • Restore funding to Canadian Environmental Network.
7) Climate action:
  • Ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
  • Work with other Kyoto parties and support the information sections and the mechanisms, especially the Clean Development Mechanism. No new targets need be established within the KP as our new targets will evolve in the new comprehensive COP21 agreement.
  • Restore ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program.
  • Consider the other actions in place in 2006 that the Harper administration cancelled.
8) Repair Official Development Assistance:
  • Restore funding to MATCH, KAIROS, Canadian Council for International Cooperation, etc.
  • Consider re-establishing CIDA as its own agency, but at a minimum reverse funding cuts and restore goal of poverty alleviation.
9) Service Canada:
  • In what was described as an effort to save money, the Harper administration created a new department to house administrative, IT and finance roles. Call for a full audit by the Auditor General and determine if Service Canada has in fact resulted in savings, or, if, as many suspect, it has been a boondoggle. Consider restoring functionality in the public service.
10) Reverse monumental mistakes:
  • Cancel any federal funding to Canadian Memorial to the Victims of Communism and cancel plans for its current location. Allow it to proceed in another location with a more modest and reasonable design as a private charitable project.
  • Restore land from French Cove in Cape Breton Highlands National Park to the park, reversing private give-away to private sector interests. Allow the so-called Mother Canada statue to be built on an appropriate site in industrial Cape Breton.
11) Repair national parks:
  • Cancel any and all plans to further privatize within national parks.
  • Amend the Sable Island National Parks Act to remove the role of the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board as a regulator within the park. Ban seismic testing, drilling and any industrial activity in the park.
  • Amend the Rouge Valley National Parks Act to restore ecological integrity.
  • Re-affirm the guiding principle of the National Parks Act to protect ecological integrity.
12) Repair legislative damage to First Nations rights and title:
  • Amend the NWT devolution act to restore the water boards and other agencies created by treaty.
  • Repeal C-27 (First Nations Financial Transparency Act) and S-2 (Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act).
  • Restore funding and re-open the National Aboriginal Health Organization and the First Nations Statistical Institute.
13) Women’s rights:
  • Restore purpose of Status of Women Canada to include achieving equality for women.
  • Restore funding to Canadian Association of Women and the Law, National Action Committee, etc.
  • Institute an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.
  • Implement pay equity for women in federal civil service.
  • Repeal manipulative laws that contort women’s rights creating increased risks to women:
I. S-7 (Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act)
II. C-36 (Sex trade worker law)
14) Restore funding to CBC-Radio Canada:
  • Cancel sale of assets.
15) Reverse cessation of home delivery by Canada Post
16) Investor State agreements that cannot be undone:
  • Canada-China Investment Treaty was signed and ratified without any hearings in Parliament, without a ratification vote in the House or Senate.
  • The earliest Canada can be out from under this treaty is 2045. To protect Canadian interests and sovereignty, we need a law requiring immediate public disclosure of any and all complaints by the People’s Republic of China against Canadian legislation, regulation or policy changes, pending or concluded, at all levels of government. This notification includes any diplomatic pressure from the PRC in the six month window for conflict resolution prior to the lodging of an actual arbitration claim. Canada must be prepared to pay damages to the People’s Republic of China if our environment, labour or safety laws require it. The Canada-China Investment Treaty is the worst of the changes wrought in the Harper era. It could operate to stop the needed repairs. All we can do now is ask to re-negotiate while ensuring our domestic legislation guarantees transparency.
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Thursday, 29 October 2015

2009 Characterisation of phenolics in Flor-Essence--a compound herbal product and its contributing herbs

Phytochem Anal. 2009 Sep-Oct;20(5):395-401. doi: 10.1002/pca.1139.

Saleem A1, Walshe-Roussel B, Harris C, Asim M, Tamayo C, Sit S, Arnason JT.

Author information

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

Commercially available herbal mixture FE, a proprietary natural health product manufactured by Flora Manufacturing and Distributing Ltd (Flora), is a unique North American traditional herbal product. FE is a chemically complex mixture of eight herbs and has not been subjected to phytochemical analysis.

OBJECTIVE:

To develop analytical methods to undertake detailed phytochemical analyses of FE, and its eight contributing herbs, including burdock (Arctium lappa L.), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella L.), Turkish rhubarb (Rheum palmatum L.), slippery elm Muhl. (Ulmus rubra), watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. Br.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), blessed thistle (Cnicus benedictus L.) and kelp (Laminaria digitata Lmx.).

METHODOLOGY:

The identification was undertaken by a combination of reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation-mass selective detection (RP-HPLC-DAD-APCI-MSD) analysis and phenolics metabolomic library matching.

RESULTS:

New separation methods facilitated the identification of 43 markers in the individual herbs which constitute FE. Sixteen markers could be identified in FE originating from four contributing herbs including four caffeoyl quinic acids, three dicaffeoyl quinic acids and two caffeic acid derivatives from A. lappa, luteolin-7-O-glucoside, luteolin, five apigenin glycosides and apigenin from R. acetocella and N. officinale and sissostrin from T. pretense. A validated method for quantitative determination of three markers is reported with good intraday, interday and interoperator repeatability using a reliable alcohol based extraction technique.

CONCLUSION:

FE and its contributing herbs predominantly contain phenolics. This methodology can be applied to further develop full-scale validation of this product.
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Invasive plant species in the Swedish flora: Developing criteria and definitions, and assessing the invasiveness of individual taxa (Article)

Volume 33, Issue 3, 1 June 2015, Pages 300-317


a  Biological Museums, Dept of Biology, Lund Univ., PO Box 117, Lund, Sweden
b  Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, Stockholm, Sweden
c  IFM Biology, Conservation Ecology Group, Linköping Univ., Linköping, Sweden

Abstract

In a north European context, identifying invasive species is far from trivial because the vegetation has been influenced by human activities for thousands of years. New species have immigrated continuously since the end of the last glaciation, both spontaneously and through direct or indirect help by man. Still, newly immigrated species may be problematic in a nature conservation context and may harm biodiversity, and cause changes in ecosystem services. In this study, all 721 presently established vascular plant and bryophyte taxa known to have been introduced to, or to have immigrated to, Sweden since the year 1700 are assessed for their invasive potential. The assessment is based on six components considered relevant for their invasiveness: 1) ability to compete in natural vegetation, 2) ability to form dense populations, 3) realized dispersal ability, 4) gene flow to native relatives, 5) time since immigration and 6) distance to their native range. Although the relative importance of these components is context dependent, a compound general index of invasive concern is proposed and calculated for all taxa. The index of invasive concern is validated by comparing it to assessments by a Bayesian Belief Network in which the influences of the same six components are assigned by expert opinions. In addition, rough estimates of the present-day abundance of each taxon in Sweden are presented. The origin, biology and possible impact of the 150 taxa with the highest index values are discussed. Based on the index of invasive concern, Campylopus introflexus, Epilobium adenocaulon, E. ciliatum, Rosa rugosa, Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. argentatum, Orthodontium lineare, Solidago canadensis, Calystegia sepium subsp. spectabilis, Rubus armeniacus and Prunus serotina are identified as the ten most problematic alien vascular plant and bryophyte taxa in Sweden. © 2015 Nordic Society Oikos.

Indexed keywords

GEOBASE Subject Index: biodiversity; bryophyte; ecosystem service; evolutionary biology; flora; gene flow; human activity; immigration; invasive species; invasiveness; last glaciation; nature conservation; new species
Regional Index: Sweden
Species Index: bryophytes; Calystegia sepium; Campylopus introflexus; Epilobium ciliatum ciliatum; Lamiastrum galeobdolon; Orthodontium lineare; Prunus serotina; Rosa rugosa; Rubus armeniacus; Solidago canadensis; Tracheophyta
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Electricity pylons may be potential foci for the invasion of black cherry Prunus serotina in intensive farmland (Article)

Volume 62, January 01, 2015, Pages 40-44


a  Department of Ecology, Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz Str. 46, Kraków, Poland
b  Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego Str. 71C, Poznań, Poland

Abstract

Electricity pylons are used by birds for nesting platforms, song posts, roosting, perching and therefore as defecation sites. Consequently we predict that pylons may facilitate the dispersal of endozoochorous plants, such as black cherry Prunus serotina, an invasive species in Europe producing fruits that are often eaten by birds. To test the influence of electricity pylons on the abundance of P.serotina in farmland in western Poland we surveyed 124 areas under pylons and 124 paired control plots within fields under power lines. P.serotina occurred under 81.5% of the investigated pylons but only in 2.4% of the control plots. The vast majority of P.serotina plants occurred under pylons (99.9% of 5820 individuals) of which only 0.7% (42 individuals), found under 12 pylons, were fruiting. The few plants in control plots were all seedlings. The density of plants was related to landscape variables; the occurrence of P.serotina was higher when pylons were situated within arable crops, had a lower level of herb cover and were closer to human settlements. These results suggest that one approach to protect semi natural or even anthropogenic landscapes from exotic and invasive species is by encouraging permanent land use involving some form of annual disturbance, such as hay cutting or ploughing. © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS.

Author keywords

Dispersal foci; Electricity pylons; Endozoochory; Farmland; Prunus serotina

Indexed keywords

Species Index: Prunus serotina; Aves
GEOBASE Subject Index: agricultural land; biological invasion; dispersal; disturbance; fruit; intensive agriculture; invasive species; land use change; zoochory
Regional Index: Poland
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African sea-coconut cough medicine

elm, ammonium acetate, benzoic acid, caramel, ipecac, licorice, menthol,  drimia maritima bulb, sodium benzoate, sucrose, tolu balsam, prunus serotina bark

Volume 28, Issue 19, 1 October 2014, Pages 1583-1590

Urgineaglyceride A: A new monoacylglycerol from the Egyptian Drimia maritima bulbs  (Article)

a  Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt
b  Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
c  Suez Canal University Hospital, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Abstract

One new compound, (2S)-1-O-(Z)-tetracos-6-enoate glycerol (1) named urgineaglyceride A, along with six known compounds, 3,5,7,3',5'-pentahydroxydihydroflavonol (2), stigmasterol (3), (25S)-5β-furostane-3β-22α-26-triol (4), scillaridin A (5), (2S)-(+)-2-hydroxynaringenin-4'-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (6) and quercetin-3'-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (7), were isolated from the EtOAc fraction of Drimia maritima (L.) Stearn bulbs. Their structures were secured based on their IR, UV, 1D and 2D NMR data, in addition to HR-MS data and comparison with the literature data. The isolated compounds were evaluated for their in vitro growth inhibitory activity against A549 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), U373 glioblastoma (GBM) and PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines. Compounds 2 and 3 displayed variable activities against the tested cancer cell lines. Compound 2 was a selective inhibitor of the NSCLC cell line with an IC50 of 2.3 μM, whereas 3 was selective against GBM with IC50 of 0.5 M and against PC-3 with 2.0 μM. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Author keywords

Drimia maritima; in vitro growth inhibitory activity; monoacylglycerol; urgineaglyceride A

Indexed keywords

EMTREE drug terms: 2 hydroxynaringenin 4' o beta dextro glucopyranoside; 3,5,7,3',5' pentahydroxydihydroflavonol; 5beta furostane 3beta 22alpha 26 triol; antineoplastic agent; monoacylglycerol; quercetin 3' o beta dextro glucopyranoside; scillaridin a; squill; stigmasterol; unclassified drug; urgineaglyceride a; antineoplastic agent; monoacylglycerol; monosaccharide; quercetin; quercetin-3'-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside; urgineaglyceride A; (2) 2 hydroxynaringenin 4' o beta dextro glucopyranoside; (25) 5beta furostane 3beta 22alpha 26 triol; 3,5,7,3',5' pentahydroxydihydroflavonol; antineoplastic agent; cisplatin; quercetin 3'o beta dextro glucopyranoside; scillaridin a; stigmasterol; urgineaglyceride a
EMTREE medical terms: Article; cancer inhibition; comparative study; drug activity; drug cytotoxicity; drug isolation; drug structure; glioblastoma cell line; human; human cell; IC50; in vitro study; infrared spectroscopy; non small cell lung cancer; nonhuman; nuclear magnetic resonance; plant bulb; prostate cancer cell line; ultraviolet spectroscopy; analogs and derivatives; chemical structure; chemistry; drug screening; Egypt; isolation and purification; Liliaceae; male; plant root; controlled study; Drimia maritima; lung cancer cell line; mass spectrometry; medicinal plant; structure activity relation; ultraviolet radiation
MeSH: Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Egypt; Humans; Inhibitory Concentration 50; Liliaceae; Male; Molecular Structure; Monoglycerides; Monosaccharides; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; Plant Roots; Quercetin
Medline is the source for the MeSH terms of this document.
Chemicals and CAS Registry Numbers: stigmasterol, 83-48-7; quercetin, 117-39-5; cisplatin, 15663-27-1, 26035-31-4, 96081-74-2;Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; Monoglycerides; Monosaccharides; Quercetin; quercetin-3'-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside; urgineaglyceride A
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True and common balsams (Review)

Volume 22, Issue 6, 2012, Pages 1372-1383


Departamento de Química, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract

Balsams have been used since ancient times, due to their therapeutic and healing properties; in the perfume industry, they are used as fixatives, and in the cosmetics industry and in cookery, they are used as preservatives and aromatizers. They are generally defined as vegetable material with highly aromatic properties that supposedly have the ability to heal diseases, not only of the body, but also of the soul. When viewed according to this concept, many substances can be considered balsams. A more modern concept is based on its chemical composition and origin: a secretion or exudate of plants that contain cinnamic and benzoic acids, and their derivatives, in their composition. The most common naturally-occurring balsams (i.e. true balsams) are the Benzoins, Liquid Storaque and the Balsams of Tolu and Peru. Many other aromatic exudates, such as Copaiba Oil and Canada Balsam, are wrongly called balsam. These usually belong to other classes of natural products, such as essential oils, resins and oleoresins. Despite the understanding of some plants, many plants are still called balsams. This article presents a chemical and pharmacological review of the most common balsams.

Author keywords

Balsams; Benzoic acid; Cinnamic acid

Indexed keywords

EMTREE drug terms: balsam; balsam Peru; benzoic acid; benzoin; benzyl alcohol; benzyl benzoate; cabreuva balsam; canada balsam; cinnamic acid; copaiba balsam; gurjun balsam; liquid storaque; nerolidol; tolu balsam; unclassified drug
EMTREE medical terms: bronchitis; chemical composition; Commiphora; diarrhea; human; laryngitis; leukorrhea; Myroxylon; nonhuman; review
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Basics of compounding with balsams. (Article)

international journal of pharmaceutical compounding

Volume 17, Issue 6, 2013 Nov-Dec, Pages 490-495


International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding, Edmond, OK 73034, USA.

Abstract

Balsams have been used in pharmacy for centuries for many different purposes. Balsams include benzoin, Peruvian balsam, storax, and tolu balsam. Balsams are aromatic and usually oily resinous substances flowing from various plants and generally containing some amount of benzoic or cinnamic acid. Historically, they have been used orally and topically in various formulations. Today, their primary use is topically in solutions, ointments, creams, and lotions. Today, the most common use would be in diaper ointments and to treat various skin disorders. Pharmacists are still called upon to compound various preparations using balsams.

Indexed keywords

EMTREE drug terms: balsam; balsam Peru; benzoin; Tolu balsam
EMTREE medical terms: article; drug formulation; Liquidambar
MeSH: Balsams; Benzoin; Drug Compounding; Liquidambar
Medline is the source for the MeSH terms of this document.
Chemicals and CAS Registry Numbers: balsam Peru, 8007-00-9; benzoin, 119-53-9
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Pick Your Poison: What's New in Poison Control for the Preschooler (Review)

journal of Pediatric Nursing

Volume 30, Issue 2, 1 March 2015, Pages 395-401


Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY, United States

Abstract

Accidental childhood poisonings are a major public health concern despite many efforts to alleviate this problem. While the rate of pediatric fatalities due to poisonings have decreased over the last two decades, poison control centers around the US have collectively fielded over one million calls with regard to toxic exposures in the preschool age group. According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers nearly half of all human exposures reported last year involved children under six. By focusing poison prevention efforts on the preschooler, we can attempt to decrease morbidity and mortality in the most vulnerable age group affected. Although the subject is still prevalent, current discussion on this topic is limited. Newer literature discusses past initiatives such as child resistant packaging and sticker deterrent programs and addresses their efficacy. This article revisits older mechanisms of prevention as well as the science behind the human motivation to change one's own practice and behavior. © 2015 Elsevier Inc.

Author keywords

Button battery; Health belief model; Laundry pods; Mr. Yuk; Nicotine; Poison; Poison control; Protection motivation; Syrup of ipecac
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Natural plant alkaloid (Emetine) inhibits HIV-1 replication by interfering with reverse transcriptase activity

Volume 20, Issue 6, 1 June 2015, Pages 11474-11489

a  Laboratório de Virologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Avenida Carlos Chagas Filho 373, Predio CCS Bloco A, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
b  Grupo de Bioinformática Estrutural, Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Goncalves 9500, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Abstract

Ipecac alkaloids are secondary metabolites produced in the medicinal plant Psychotria ipecacuanha. Emetine is the main alkaloid of ipecac and one of the active compounds in syrup of Ipecac with emetic property. Here we evaluated emetine's potential as an antiviral agent against Human Immunodeficiency Virus. We performed in vitro Reverse Transcriptase (RT) Assay and Natural Endogenous Reverse Transcriptase Activity Assay (NERT) to evaluate HIV RT inhibition. Emetine molecular docking on HIV-1 RT was also analyzed. Phenotypic assays were performed in non-lymphocytic and in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) with HIV-1 wild-type and HIV-harboring RT-resistant mutation to Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (M184V). Our results showed that HIV-1 RT was blocked in the presence of emetine in both models: in vitro reactions with isolated HIV-1 RT and intravirion, measured by NERT. Emetine revealed a strong potential of inhibiting HIV-1 replication in both cellular models, reaching 80% of reduction in HIV-1 infection, with low cytotoxic effect. Emetine also blocked HIV-1 infection of RT M184V mutant. These results suggest that emetine is able to penetrate in intact HIV particles, and bind and block reverse transcription reaction, suggesting that it can be used as anti-HIV microbicide. Taken together, our findings provide additional pharmacological information on the potential therapeutic effects of emetine. © 2015 by the authors; licensee.

Author keywords

Emetine; HIV-1; PBMC; Resistance; Reverse transcriptase
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