1,721,099 research outputs found
ADVERSE REACTIONS TO HERBAL EXTRACTS USED FOR OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY
No full textBACKGROUND: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing worldwide. Lifestyle change is a critical aspect in addressing the problem; nevertheless, sometimes a pharmacotherapeutic approach is also needed. In Italy, orlistat, liraglutide, bupropion/naltrexone are approved for the treatment of obesity and overweight, but the adverse effects limit their use. An alternative strategy is represented by the use of dietary supplements and galenic preparations based on herbal extracts. These products
have no approved therapeutic effects, but they are perceived as safe due to their natural origin. With the increase of natural products popularity, also reports of adverse events associated with them became more frequent. Therefore, monitoring their safety is an urgent need.
METHODS: A comprehensive search was made using PubMed and SCOPUS electronic databases and selecting English as preferred language, although neither language limitations nor filters were applied. For more specific requirements, Google Scholar was considered too. The following
searching keywords and their combinations through the Boolean logical operators were used: “overweight”, “obesity”, “phytochemicals”, “nutraceuticals”, “medicinal plants”, “herbal extracts”, “botanicals”, “weight loss”, “weight control”, “adverse effects”, “side effects”, “adverse reaction”, and “safety”.
RESULTS: Several herbal preparations used for weight control have been associated with adverse reactions (ARs). Particularly, cardiovascular ARs have been reported for Citrus aurantium, owing to its active substance synephrine, although concomitant use of other compounds (e.g., caffeine) could contribute. Based on this evidence, the Ministry of Health has established that synephrine is not allowed in food supplements and in magistral galenic preparations. Conversely, C. aurantium extract is allowed in both of them, but in food supplements the daily intake of synephrine cannot be higher than 30 mg. Green tea (Camellia sinensis) has been associated with hepatic ARs. Most reports of hepatotoxicity were related to products containing extracts enriched in catechins. These compounds are believed the culprit for the liver injury, but recently association with HLA-B*35:01 polymorphism has been showed. Liver damage, sometimes requiring transplantation, has been also reported for Garcinia cambogia. Although some green tea-based products have been recalled, G. cambogia has never been banned; indeed, often products involved in the ARs contained other components, so making difficult
to establish a causal relationship. Recently, turmeric (Curcuma longa) supplements used for slimming purposes have been involved in liver injury. In many products, turmeric was present in particular formulations (inclusion in liposomes and/or nanoparticles, combination with piperine) able to increase the curcumin bioavailability. Furthermore, in some cases, products contained enriched extracts (C. longa dry extract with 95%). Such preparations resemble a pure substance rather than a traditional preparation, so their safety is completely unknown.
CONCLUSIONS: Serious ARs have been reported from the use of herbal weight loss preparations, although to establish a causal relationship is often difficult. Considering the poor clinical evidence supporting their use, the safety concerns become more relevant. In this context, since 2017, as established in a Decree issued by the Ministry of Health (DM 31/03/2017), the Italian National Institute of Health has the task to monitor the use and safety of magistral prescriptions for weight control (often containing herbals) in order to point out potential risks associated with their consumption
Deviations from fundamentals in US and EU stock markets: a comparative analysis
No full textA 'two-stage growth' discounted cash flow (DCF) model is built to test whether changes in the underlying market fundamentals help to explain movements in stock prices. Empirical results on two samples of US and EU stocks show that the 'fundamental' earning price ratio (E/P) explains a significant share of cross-sectional variation of the observed E/P, this impact being stronger in the US market. It is also found that: (i) the fundamental component of the E/P has superior explanatory power than simpler measures of expected earnings growth; (ii) 'non-fundamental' components, interpreted as signals reducing asymmetric information (such as firm size, the number of forecasts and the chartist momentum), mitigate the role of the fundamentals; (iii) current deviations from the fundamentals are affected by ex post adjustment of publicly available information in the EU sample. It is argued that differences in regulatory environments and in the composition of investors between the US and EU financial systems may help to explain these comparative findings. Results appear consistent with the 'market integrity hypothesis' postulating that reliance on publicly observable fundamentals is higher when insider trading is lower
Safety and efficacy of herbal supplements used for weight loss
No full textOverweight and obesity are increasing worldwide. Lifestyle change represents the first strategy to counteract the problem, although sometimes a pharmacotherapeutic approach is necessary. People also recourse to herbal products ignoring the real effectiveness and underestimating their safety profile [1]. In this context, the present work aimed at critically evaluating the efficacy and potential risk associated with weight loss botanicals.
Only some herbal supplements have been tested for their clinical effectiveness, among these Ephedra sinica, Citrus aurantium, Camellia sinensis (green tea), Garcinia cambogia, and Curcuma longa (turmeric). Often, the products were characterized by a huge variability, in term of kind of preparation, lacked of standardization or used the purified active compounds, whose effects could be different from that of the phytocomplex [2]. Moreover, the weight loss induced was not clinically significant [3]. Conversely, the same botanicals were sometimes associated with adverse reactions (ARs). E. sinica and C. aurantium induced cardiovascular ARs, which led
in several countries to their restriction in food supplements. Green tea, G. cambogia and turmeric showed hepatic ARs. Some green tea-based products have been recalled while G. cambogia has never been banned owing to the uncertain causal relationship [4]. Regarding turmeric, supplements involved contained curcumin with enhanced availability or enriched extracts5, thus a pure substance rather than a traditional preparation whith known safety.
Considering the poor clinical evidence supporting the use of botanicals for weight loss, the safety concerns become more relevant. A careful evaluation of the risk/benefits profile of these supplements is necessary also considering they are often used as self-medication.
References
[1] Mazzanti et al., Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2019;75(11):1599.
[2] Farrington et al., J Integr Med 2019;17(2019):87.
[3] Maunder et al., Diabetes Obes Metab 2020;22(6):891.
[4] Yousaf et al., World J Hepatol 2019;11(11):735.
[5] Lombardi et al., Br J Clin Pharmacol 2020; doi:10.1111/bcp.14460
Diet only and diet plus simvastatin in the treatment of heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia in childhood
No full textAnalisi dei tempi di calcolo dell’algoritmo FastICA per applicazioni di brain-computer interface in tempo reale
Full text linkUn sistema di Brain Computer Interface (BCI) è in generale un’interfaccia che prevede l'acquisizione di segnali cerebrali mediante un sistema di elettrodi e un amplificatore di segnali elettroencefalografici, una fase di elaborazione informatica, la visualizzazione del feedback su un monitor e la realizzazione di un evento desiderato.
L'Analisi delle Componenti Indipendenti (ICA), consente di identificare le componenti originali dei segnali cerebrali a partire dall’analisi di segnali elettroencefalografici raccolti sulla superficie del cuoio capelluto, che sono considerati come una combinazione lineare di essi, sotto il presupposto fondamentale che le componenti cercate siano statisticamente indipendenti. L'output dell’algoritmo ICA fornisce la matrice di mixing che trasforma il vettore dei dati registrati nel vettore delle sorgenti originali.
Questo lavoro è stato finalizzato a valutare la possibilità di applicare l'algoritmo ICA in tempo reale, stimando I tempi di calcolo dell'algoritmo, e di eliminare automaticamente le sorgenti di rumore identificate.
L'analisi dei dati in tempo reale consente molte applicazioni per la comunicazione con l’ambiente esterno di tutti coloro che si trovano in uno stato di "disabilità": in primo luogo applicazioni mediche per le persone locked-in, ma anche applicazioni spaziali per gli astronauti che si muovono con estrema difficoltà in assenza di gravità; infine, vi è un notevole interesse commerciale per la produzione industriale di dispositivi BCI.
In questo lavoro, al fine di valutare la possibilità di un’analisi in tempo reale, è stato creato un software in linguaggio C++ per analizzare i dati utilizzando la libreria open-source "IT++" per l’algoritmo FastICA. Il software è stato utilizzato per valutare la stabilità dei pesi e la riduzione dei tempi di calcolo usando come input la matrice di mixing calcolata per un intervallo precedente.
I dati utilizzati per la simulazione sono stati registrati con un sistema di 59 elettrodi posti direttamente sul cuoio capelluto del soggetto. Si è verificata la linearità del tempo di calcolo dell’ algoritmo in relazione al numero di iterazioni eseguite.
Ipotizzando un intervallo di tempo di 1 minuto e l'utilizzo come matrice iniziale per l'algoritmo della matrice di mixing calcolata per un intervallo di dati parzialmente sovrapposto a quello in esame, con un offset di 70 campioni, è stato possibile stimare una riduzione dei tempi di calcolo di circa il 60%. È stato inoltre possibile verificare un effetto di "trascinamento", cioè la stabilità nell’ordine delle sorgenti stimate (l'incertezza nell’ordine delle sorgenti rappresenta il più grande limite del metodo ICA), in modo da rendere possibile la rimozione automatica delle sorgenti di rumore. Infine, nel caso di 59 canali, è stato stimato che la potenza di elaborazione necessaria per implementare l'algoritmo FastICA in un dispositivo hardware è di circa 30 GFLOPS.A Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is generally an interface system that provides for the acquisition of brain signals through a set of electrodes and an amplifier of electroencephalographic signals, a data-processing stage, the display of feedback on a monitor and the execution of an event you want.
The Independent Component Analysis (ICA) allows to identify the original components of the brain signals starting precisely from the analysis of electroencephalographic signals collected on the surface of the scalp which are regarded as a linear combination of them, under the fundamental assumption that the wanted components are statistically independent. The output of the ICA algorithm provides the mixing matrix that transforms the vector of the recorded data in the vector of original sources.
This work was intended to explore the possibility of applying the ICA algorithm in real time, estimating the computation time of the algorithm, and the ability to automatically eliminate the noise sources identified.
The analysis of data in real time enables many applications for communication with the outside of all those people who are in a state of “disability”: medical applications for the total locked-in people, space applications for the astronauts that move with extreme difficulty in absence of gravity and finally there is a considerable commercial interest for the industrial production of BCI devices.
In this work, in order to assess the possibility of a real-time analysis, software in C++ language has been created to analyze data using open-source libraries “IT++” for the FastICA algorithm. The software was used to assess the stability of the weights using as input the mixing matrix calculated for a previous interval and estimating the reduction in computation time. The data used for the simulation were recorded with a system of 59 electrodes placed directly on the scalp of the subject. It was verified the linearity of the algorithm for computation time in relation to the number of iterations performed.
Assuming a processing time of 1 minute and using as initial matrix for the algorithm the mixing matrix calculated previously for a interval of data partially overlapped with the interval under consideration, with an offset of 70 samples, it was possible to estimate a reduction of computation time of about 60%. It was also possible to verify an effect of “dragging”, that is the stability in the order of estimated sources (the uncertainty of the order of sources represents the greatest limit of the ICA method), making possible automatic removal of the noise sources. Finally, analyzing 59 channels it was estimated that the processing power needed to implement FastICA algorithm in a hardware device is about 30 GFLOPS
New evidences of D.A.LI. LDL-apheresis effects on circulating pro- and anti- inflammatory cytokines
No full textNew evidences of D.A.LI. LDL-apheresis effects on circulating pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines
Stefanutti Claudia, Serafina Di Giacomo, Claudia Morozzi
Extracorporeal Therapeutic Techniques Unit - Immunohematology and Transfusion Medicine
Department of Molecular Medicine - University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, ‘Umberto I’ Hospital
155, V.le del Policlinico Rome I-00161 EU
The effects of Direct Adsorption of Lipids LDL-apheresis (D.A.LI. LDL_a) on plasma cytokines in 2 Homozygous and Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemic (HozFH, HtzFH) and in 4 HyperLp(a)lipoproteinemic [HyperLp(a)] patients, were investigated. Plasma, macrophage inflammatory proteins 1α (MIP-1α), macrophage inflammatory proteins 1β (MIP-1β), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), RANTES (Regulated upon Activation, Normal T-cell Expressed, and Secreted), granulocyte–colony stimulating factor (GCSF), granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin-1α (IL-1α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), concentrations, were determined before and after LDL_a on three consecutive sessions for each patient. MIP-1α was significantly reduced (P=0.05), while MIP-1β was significantly increased (P=0.05) in plasma. MCP-1 was reduced, although not significantly, while RANTES was significantly increased (P=0.05). GCSF and GM-CSF were significantly reduced (GM-CSF:P=0.05 - GCSF:P=0.05, respectively). IL-1α level was significantly reduced (P=0.001). IL-1β, IL-6, and IFN-γ levels were significantly reduced in plasma after D.A.LI. LDL_a (IL-1β: P=0.001; IL-6: P=0.001; IFN-γ: P=0.001). IL-2 level in plasma was significantly reduced at T0, and T2 (P=0.001). However, IL-2 level showed a statistically significant increase at T1 (P=0.001). A significant correlation between IL-1α and IFN-γ was found: r = 0.882 (P= 0.001). LDL-a induced profound changes in several circulating cytokines and promoted anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic cytokine profile in plasma of patients with severe dyslipidemia, with pre-existing angiographically demonstrated Coronary Artery Disease, and Aortic Valvular Disease (#=1)
- …
