Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a potentially fatal autoimmune blistering disease.
Our purpose was to summarize reported results of treatment for PV and suggest a basis for future studies.
This ...retrospective review applies objective criteria to 77 studies published during the last half century. It inculudes only patients older than 18 years of age with idiopathic PV and excludes patients with drug-induced PV.
Systemic corticosteroids significantly (
p = 0.001) reduced the mortality rate associated with PV compared with no treatment in the presteroid era. Adjuvants used with steroids significantly (
p = 0.001) reduced the mortality rate compared with the steroid era. The mortality rate of Jewish patients is significantly (
p = 0.001) higher than for non-Jewish patients. The outcome of PV is not influenced by the site of the initial lesion.
Although the retrospective nature of this review limits its validity, we conclude prednisone with an adjuvant is the preferred treatment, and methotrexate should be avoided.
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•Calcineurin function is required for the role of CaRch1 in SDS and ER stress.•Deletion of CaRCH1 elevates calcium signaling level of cells lacking CaPMR1.•CaRch1 and CaPmr1 have ...additive effects on the in vitro filamentation.•CaPmr1 plays a dominant role over CaRch1 in the mouse virulence of C. albicans.
Pmr1 is the Golgi/ER calcium pump, while Rch1 is a newly identified negative regulator of calcium influx in the plasma membrane of yeast cells. We show here that CaRch1 plays a dominant role over CaPmr1 in response of Candida albicans to SDS and tunicamycin stresses, while CaPmr1 has a major role in cell wall stress. Deletion of CaRCH1 increases the calcium/calcineurin signaling level in cells lacking CaPMR1. Calcineurin function is required for the role of CaRch1 in SDS stresses, while it is required for the function of CaPmr1 under all conditions examined. Disruption of CaRCH1 alone does not reduce the cell wall chitin, mannan or β-glucan content, but lack of CaRCH1 slightly decreases the chitin content of cells lacking CaPMR1. Furthermore, CaRch1 and CaPmr1 have an additive effect on filamentation of C. albicans cells in vitro. Cells lacking both CaRCH1 and CaPMR1 and cells lacking CaPMR1 alone show a similar degree of virulence attenuation, being much more attenuated than cells lacking CaRCH1 alone. Therefore, CaRch1 genetically interacts with CaPmr1 in the regulation of in vitro filamentation in C. albicans.
Natural and de-novo biosynthesized phyto-compounds have gained much significance because of their non-controversial nutritional, health and safety benefits as compared with chemically synthesized ...commercially rivalry antioxidants. However, none of natural de-novo biosynthesized phyto-compounds has been commercially available and used in customary food business and processing. In this study, efficacy of sesame seed extracts (SSEs) in stabilizing sunflower oil during storage has been studied. Fine powder of sesame seed was extracted in different solvents. The results showed that significant differences in extractability of different solvents and maximum extraction yield (29.48%) were achieved with methanol. The antioxidant components and capability of different extracts were further investigated and evaluated via total phenolic contents, DPPH radical scavenging activity and β-carotene/linoleic acid calorimetric assays respectively. Being highest in yield and antioxidant potential, methanolic extract was used; three different concentrations of SSE (500, 750, and 1000 μL) were added in 100 mL of sunflower oil to further evaluate its oxidative stability. Sensory and oxidative analysis of baked product from these groups was also evaluated.
Arachis hypogaea roots are used as traditional Chinese medicine to treat different ailments, and the present study involves the exploration and comparison of phenolic profile and antioxidant ...activities (ABTS+ and DPPH assay) of A. hypogaea root extract in different solvents. 70% aqueous acetone and 70% aqueous ethanol were proved to be the best solvents to recover total phenolic compounds, with a yield of 42.59 ± 1.96 and 41.34 ± 0.92 mg/g dry weight of extract, respectively. ABTS+ radical scavenging activity was the highest in 70% aqueous ethanol, while the absolute methanol extract showed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity (29.50 ± 2.19 μg/mL). Furthermore, phytochemical profiling of 70% acetone extract of A. hypogaea roots was performed by LC-ESI-TOF-MS analysis which in turn indicated the presence of diverse compounds in the A. hypogaea root extract, namely, quinones, stilbenoids, and flavones and flavonoid glucosides.
The therapeutic use of natural herbs is an ancient human civilization act and the numbers of people have reliance on their pharmacological properties and preferred to use the natural herbs. People ...also use to consume these herbs as supplements to energize, bolster, and eventually enhance sexual ability. Polyherbal formulation (PHF) is one of these herbal amalgams that can be used to treat sexual dysfunction including erectile dysfunction, impotence, ejaculation dysfunction, and hypogonadism. The pilot study was aimed at evaluating the capacity of PHF in enhancing the spermatogenic potential of oligospermic patients. Thirty-six male patients with oligospermia were enrolled and randomized either to treatment (n = 23) with PHF (750 mg/d in three doses for 90 days) or to placebo (n = 13) in the same protocol. The preintervention semen analysis was compared with posttreatment semen analysis. Based on the postintervention semen analysis, patients were advised to undergo either in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to assess their fertility status. After polyherbal treatment, there was a 256% increase in sperm concentration (9.59±4.37×106/mL to 25.61±8.6×106/mL; P ≤0.001), 154% increase in semen volume (1.7±0.14 mL to 4.32±0.38 mL; P ≤0.001), and 215% increase in sperm motility (15.43±2.40% to 48.65±5.10%; P ≤ 0.001) on day 90 from baseline. Furthermore, a significant improvement and regulation were also observed in serum hormone levels with PHF treatment as compared to the placebo group. The present study demonstrated the evidence on synergistic spermatogenic effect of PHF as attributed in ayurveda for the treatment of oligospermia leading to infertility.
Optimized extraction of antioxidants from Mucor circinelloides WJ11 (MCWJ11) biomass was studied. Storage, stability, composition and antioxidant properties in model food emulsion systems were also ...investigated. Both the extraction approach and solvent type were found to significantly (p<0.05) influence the recovery yield of antioxidants and their antioxidant capacity. The 90% aqueous binary solvent system with semi-polar solvents (i.e., acetone and ethanol) showed increased recovery levels of TPC, TFC and TCT, with the highest antioxidant bioactivity obtained using a pressurized liquid extraction. Ninety-day storage studies of microbial ethanolic extracts with accelerated storage/processing showed increased degradation of antioxidants at elevated temperatures (22–28 oC), with a negligible influence of white light. Substantial loss of microbial polyphenolic compounds was also observed, especially in fetal bovine serum at 37 °C with a 48 h stability test in biologically relevant buffers. Liquid–liquid fractionation of microbial ethanolic extracts led to the most active antioxidative fractions with ethyl acetate and 1-butanol. Comparatively, EtAc had better antioxidative activity (in a dose-dependent manner) against lipid oxidation in the tested food model emulsion systems. Furthermore, metabolic fingerprinting of the ethanolic extracts showed that the secondary metabolites of MCWJ11 were alkaloids, pigments, benzoic acids, terpenoids, cinnamic acids, benzopyrans, aspalathins and phloretins.
To determine the throat carriage rate of Streptococcus pyogenes in patients having chronic plaque psoriasis and the effect of antibiotics as compared with that of oral methotrexate.
...Quasi-experimental study.
Dermatology Department, Combined Military Hospital, Abbottabad, from January to December 2006.
Forty patients and 40 age and gender-matched controls were selected. Throat swab for culture of Streptococcus pyogenes was taken from each patient and control. All patients were treated with oral Penicillin V 250 mg, 6 hourly, and oral Rifampicin, 600 mg daily, for 10 days. Pre- and posttherapy 'Psoriasis Area and Severity Index' (PASI) were compared. Thirty of these 40 patients were later given oral methotrexate, 5-10 mg weekly, for 04 weeks and pre- and post-therapy PASI were compared. Chi-square and paired-samples t-test were used for data analysis.
Throat swab cultures were positive for Streptococcus pyogenes in 05 (12.5%) patients and none (0%) of the controls (p=0.02). Mean pre- and postantibiotic therapy PASI were 15.92 +/- 05.94 and 15.19 +/- 06.17 respectively (p=0.078). Mean pre- and postmethotrexate PASI were 15.81 +/- 5.55 and 8.79 +/- 4.19 respectively (p < 0.01).
Throat carriage of Streptococcus pyogenes is common in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis. Short-term antibiotic treatment has no role in routine treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis. However, it would be worthwhile to consider the effects of long-term antibiotics on chronic plaque psoriasis.
A Co-Planar Waveguide (CPW) Fed frequency reconfigurable antenna for compact portable devices and heterogeneous applications is presented in this paper. The antenna offers a small electrical size of ...0.17 \lambda_{0} \times 0.12 \lambda_{0} \times 0.013 \lambda 0, where} \lambda_{0} correspond to free space wavelength at lowest resonance. The geometrical configuration of the antenna comprises of the simple structure consist of a triangular radiator connected with two serpentines by means of the diode. By switching the diode state the antenna either operates in single wideband mode, dual-band mode or 2 tri-band modes. To verify the performance parameters of proposed work a prototype was fabricated and measured. Moreover, to demonstrate the potential of the proposed work it is compared with the state of the artworks.
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