Serum vitamin E levels negatively correlate with severity of age-related macular degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) pathogenesis has been related to UV radiation and other factors that may promote increased oxidative damage to the retina. Patients with different AMD grading (n = 25) were compared with an age-matched group of AMD-free subjects (n = 15), both groups older than 60 years. A modification of the AMD grading system is proposed that allows patient grading and not single eye grading. AMD patients showed statistically significant lower serum levels of vitamin E and Zn than AMD-free subjects. Moreover, a negative correlation (Spearman's correlation coefficient r = -0.815, P < 0.001) could be established between AMD grading of both the patients' eyes and serum …

Incidence rates of narcolepsy diagnoses in Taiwan, Canada, and Europe: The use of statistical simulation to evaluate methods for the rapid assessment of potential safety issues on a population level in the SOMNIA study

Vacunación; Narcolepsia; Simulación y modelado: en Vacunació; Narcolèpsia; Simulació i modelització Vaccination; Narcolepsy; Simulation and modeling Background & objectives Vaccine safety signals require investigation, which may be done rapidly at the population level using ecological studies, before embarking on hypothesis-testing studies. Incidence rates were used to assess a signal of narcolepsy following AS03-adjuvanted monovalent pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) influenza vaccination among children and adolescents in Sweden and Finland in 2010. We explored the utility of ecological data to assess incidence of narcolepsy following exposure to pandemic H1N1 virus or vaccination in 10 sites that use…

Prevention of the acute neurotoxic effects of phenytoin on rat peripheral nerve by H7, an inhibitor of protein kinase C.

Abstract The neurotoxic effects of a single dose of phenytoin (150 mg/kg body weight) alone or 30 min after H7 (a protein kinase C inhibitor) injection (20 mg/kg body weight) were investigated in terms of peripheral neuromuscular function and Na + ,K + -ATPase activity of the sciatic nerve. This intraperitoneal injection of phenytoin induced complete blockade of muscle action potentials in the dorsal segmental muscles of the rat tail evoked by electric stimulation of the caudal nerve and a 40% decrease in the Na + ,K + -ATPase activity of the rat sciatic nerve when compared with control values, measured as the difference between total and ouabain-insensitive ATPase activity. Prior administr…

Some glutathione-related enzymic activities in skeletal muscle and myocardium of the rat : adaptations to endurance training

Variability in recording and scoring of respiratory events during sleep in Europe: a need for uniform standards.

Abstract: Uniform standards for the recording and scoring of respiratory events during sleep are lacking in Europe, although many centres follow the published recommendations of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The aim of this study was to assess the practice for the diagnosis of sleep-disordered breathing throughout Europe. A specially developed questionnaire was sent to representatives of the 31 national sleep societies in the Assembly of National Sleep Societies of the European Sleep Research Society, and a total of 29 countries completed the questionnaire. Polysomnography was considered the primary diagnostic method for sleep apnea diagnosis in 10 (34.5%), whereas polygraphy was …

Efficacy of the antioxidant ebselen in experimental uveitis.

Inflammation results in the production of free radicals. In a model of experimental uveitis upon subcutaneous injection of endotoxin to Lewis rats, i.e., endotoxin-induced experimental uveitis (EIU), we have evaluated the status of the antioxidant capacity of ocular tissues. EIU results in a decrease of glutathione (GSH) content and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity in whole eye homogenates 24-h after endotoxin administration. Furthermore, an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) content was observed in these same samples, thus confirming the involvement of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of the process. In view of the ability of the antioxidant ebselen as GPx enzyme mimic, we teste…

Antioxidant and glutathione-related enzymatic activities in rat sciatic nerve

Abstract The present work tries to establish the antioxidant capacity of the peripheral nervous tissue of the rat, in terms of the enzymatic activities present in this tissue that either prevent the formation of activated species as the semiquinone radical (DT-diaphorase), protect against activated oxygen species (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase), conjugate natural toxic products or xenobiotics (glutathione S-transferases, especially the activity conjugating 4-hydroxy-nonenal), or complete the glutathione system metabolism (glutathione disulfide reductase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase). All the activities studied are lower in this tissue than they are in liver, except for γ-glutam…

Some aspects of cardiac antioxidant defence: Ebselen (PZ 51) treatment increases glutathione peroxidase activity in the rat heart

Ebselcn (PZ 5 1 : 2-phenyl1.2-benzisoelenazol-3-( 2H)-one 1 is ii synthetic organoselenium compound with anti-inflammatory activity ( I . 21, which exhibits glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px)-like activity, catalysing the reduction o f hydrogen peroxide as well as other organic peroxides [3-5]. Its antiinflammatory effect may be mediated by either the GSH-Px activity, the inhibition of leukotriene B4 formation [6], the antioxidant capacity, or a combination of all of them. Many attempts have been made to increase the antioxidant capacity of the myocardium, since free radical generation has been demonstrated in ischaemia-reperfusion damage [7, 81; superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase have be…