Τhe 1821 Greek War of Independence, following 400 years under Turkish occupation, resulted, after long-term sacrifices, in the establishment of Greece as a sovereign nation-state, marking the first ...in the autocratic Europe of the time. The poor public health and the lack of doctors, medical supplies, safe water, food, and sewage favored the outbreak of epidemics. The Greek cause attracted worldwide support, and a great number of philhellenes, physicians, and aristocrats offered services and even their lives on the battlefields. Greek and foreign historians stress the international importance of the Greek Revolution for the activation of the term nation into a social force for democracy and the right to public and individual health and welfare all around the world.
Nakon četiristo godina pod turskom okupacijom, Grčki rat za neovisnost 1821. rezultirao je, uz mnogobrojne žrtve, uspostavom Grčke kao suverene nacionalne države, prve takve u autokratskoj Europi toga doba. Loše organiziran sustav javnoga zdravstva te nedostatak liječnika, medicinskog materijala, čiste vode, hrane i sustava odvodnje otpadnih voda pogodovali su izbijanju epidemija. ‘Grčka stvar’ privukla je svjetsku podršku, a velik broj filhelenista, liječnika i aristokrata ponudio je svoje usluge, pa čak i svoje živote na bojištima. Grčki i strani povjesničari ističu međunarodnu važnost grčke revolucije u aktiviranju pojma nacija kao društvene snage za uspostavu demokracije i prava na javno i individualno zdravlje i blagostanje diljem svijeta
Studies on the serum concentration of hyaluronic acid (HA) in newly diagnosed patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), and mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) are ...scarce. In this study, we focused on investigating whether HA could serve as a possible prognostic marker in patients with AML, B-ALL, and MCL.
The serum concentration of HA was measured in a total of 51 patients with newly diagnosed AML, B-ALL, and MCL. Venous blood was collected 1 day before the initiation of chemotherapy (D0), on day 16 of the first cycle of chemotherapy (D16), and on D30.
The serum HA concentration on D0 in patients with AML, B-ALL, and MCL was higher than in the control group. For all types of hematological malignancy, on D0, serum HA values of nonsurvivors were higher than in survivors. Moreover, patients in relapse had higher levels of serum HA than patients in remission. A strong positive correlation between serum HA and ferritin, β2-microglobulin, and lactate dehydrogenase was found.
Serum HA may serve as a possible prognostic marker for AML, B-ALL, and MCL patients, especially on D0. Prospective case-control studies on larger populations may provide further information.
Nifedipine is a widely used anti-anginal and anti-hypertensive agent. It is associated with significant gingival changes attributed more to collagen hyperplasia than to enhancement of protein ...synthesis. We investigated the influence of nifedipine on morphological changes in the parotid glands of rats in a model of hypertension. Twenty-eight male Wistar rats (8-10 weeks; 200±15 g) were divided into four groups (A-D). Hypertension was induced by surgical means in groups C and D. Animals in groups B and D were treated with nifedipine (0.85 mg/kg) via a gastroesophageal catheter the day after surgery (experimental day-1) for 2 weeks. A significant difference was observed between the control group and nifedipine group and between the control group and hypertension group with regard to the weight of the parotid gland and its surface area. Histological findings demonstrated changes in the parotid glands of hypertensive animals with mild vessel dilatation and infiltration of inflammatory cells. These histological findings seemed to be due more to changes in venous function than to alterations in gland architecture.
Lidocaine is an amide local anesthetic and clonidine is an antihypertensive (α2-adrenergic agonist). The use of these two drugs in combination is recommended to enhance the analgesic effect of ...lidocaine. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of clonidine co-administration on the extent of lidocaine binding to rat serum, heart and maxillofacial tissues in vivo and in vitro. Thirty-two Wistar rats received either lidocaine alone, or lidocaine and clonidine, in the masseter muscle, and were then sacrificed 15 or 30 min after treatment. Serum, masseter, mandible and heart samples were then isolated and incubated in 0.9% NaCl solution for 12 h at 8°C. The extent of binding in the incubation medium and the serum was estimated by ultrafiltration, and the free lidocaine fraction was determined by the radioscopic method in a β-counter. An in vitro procedure was also performed. Serum, heart, masseter and mandible samples were incubated at 37°C for 15 or 30 min in Ringer's solution containing either lidocaine or lidocaine and clonidine, and the samples were similarly subjected to ultrafiltration. The percentage binding of lidocaine was again estimated by the radioscopic method. Lidocaine levels were found to be increased by clonidine co-administration in vivo and the free lidocaine fraction was enhanced in vitro as well in the examined tissues, obviously through mechanisms related to protein binding alterations. (J Oral Sci 53, 61-66, 2011)
Pharmacies for pain and trauma in ancient Greece Mavrogenis, Andreas F.; Saranteas, Theodosis; Markatos, Konstantinos ...
International orthopaedics,
06/2019, Volume:
43, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Purpose
To summarize pharmacies for pain and trauma in ancient Greece, to present several pharmaceutical/therapeutical methods reported in myths and ancient texts, and to theorize on the medical ...explanation upon which these pharmacies were used.
Method
A thorough literature search was undertaken in PubMed and Google Scholar as well as in physical books in libraries to summarize the pharmacies and pain practices used for trauma in ancient Greece.
Results
Archeological findings and historical texts have revealed that humans have always suffered from diseases and trauma that were initially managed and healed by priests and magicians. In early Greek antiquity, the term pharmacy was related to herbal inquiries, with the occupants called charmers and pharmacists. Additionally, apart from therapeutic methods, ancient Greeks acknowledged the importance of pain therapy and had invented certain remedies for both acute and chronic pain management. With observations and obtaining experience, they used plants, herbs, metals and soil as a therapeutic method, regardless of the cultural level of the population. They achieved sedation and central and peripheral analgesia with opium and cold, as well as relaxation of smooth muscle fibers and limiting secretions with atropina.
Conclusion
History showed a lot of experience obtained from empirical testing of pain treatment in ancient people. Experience and reasoning constructed an explanatory account of diseases, therapies and health and have provided for the epistemology of medicine.
Binding of drugs to plasma and tissue proteins is critically involved in their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Stress affects drugs’ protein binding via alterations in plasma proteins’ levels ...and excessive increase of free fatty acids due to cortisol-induced fat mobilisation. Free fatty acids play a crucial antagonistic role to drugs for the binding sites on albumin, the major binding plasma protein, resulting in subtherapeutic or toxic levels of many medications’ pharmacological classes (oral anticoagulants, beta-lactames, fluoroquinolones, local anaesthetics). Upon stress, changes in blood flow rate and vascular function are also important parameters that can alter drug distribution and pharmacokinetics. Many cases are reported where stress-induced pharmacokinetic alterations led to serious clinical consequences. However, the stress affected drug activity do not always deteriorate the clinical outcome, due to the adaptive and defensive mechanisms of healthy organism. Sensitive population as patients with serious underlying diseases or after trauma or surgery should be given special attention. Clinicians should be alert and monitor cases where stress-induced drugs’ pharmacokinetic modifications can have negative impact on the clinical outcome.
In the recent Greek ages the most devastating epidemics were plague, smallpox, leprosy and cholera. In 1816 plague struck the Ionian and Aegean Islands, mainland Greece, Constantinople and Smyrna. ...The Venetians ruling the Ionian Islands effectively combated plague in contrast to the Ottomans ruling all other regions. In 1922, plague appeared in Patras refugees who were expelled by the Turks from Smyrna and Asia Minor. Inoculation against smallpox was first performed in Thessaly by the Greek women, and the Greek doctors Emmanouel Timonis (1713, Oxford) and Jakovos Pylarinos (1715, Venice) made relevant scientific publications. The first leper colony opened in Chios Island. In Crete, Spinalonga was transformed into a leper island, which following the Independence War against Turkish occupation and the unification of Crete with Greece in 1913, was classified as an International Leper Hospital. Cholera struck Greece in 1853-1854 brought by the French troops during the Crimean War, and again during the Balkan Wars (1912-13) when the Bulgarian troops brought cholera to northern Greece. Due to successive wars, medical assistance was not always available, so desperate people turned many times to religion through processions in honor of local saints, for their salvation in epidemics.
Posljednjih su stoljeća razarajuće za Grke bile epidemije kuge, boginja, gube i kolere. Godine 1816. kuga je pogodila otoke u Jonskom i Egejskom moru, kopnenu Grčku, Konstantinopol i Smirnu. Mlečani ...koji su vladali Jonskim otocima uspješno su se borili protiv kuge, za razliku od Osmanlija koji su upravljali ostalim regijama. Godine 1922. kuga se pojavila kod prognanika iz Patra, koje su Turci protjerali iz Smirne i Male Azije. Cijepljenje protiv malih
boginja najprije je provedeno u Tesali i izvodile su ga grčke žene, a grčki liječnici Emmanouel Timonis (1713., Oxford) i Jakovos Pylarinos (1715., Venecija) napisali su relevantne znanstvene publikacije. Prva kolonija gubavaca otvorena je na otoku Chiosu. Na Kreti je Spinalonga pretvorena u otok gubavaca koji je nakon rata za nezavisnost protiv turske okupacije i ujedinjenja Krete s Grčkom 1913. bio klasificiran kao Međunarodna bolnica za gubavce. Kolera je pogodila Grčku 1853. – 1854., a donijeli su je francuski vojnici tijekom Krimskog rata i opet tijekom balkanskih ratova (1912. – 1913.) kada su bugarske postrojbe donijele koleru u sjevernu Grčku.
Zbog uzastopnih ratova medicinska pomoć nije bila uvijek dostupna, tako da su se očajni ljudi više puta okretali religiji procesijama u čast lokalnih svetaca, za svoj spas u vrijeme epidemija.
Summary
Hyperlipidaemic diets induce increase in serum lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL etc). It has also been proven that stress interferes in lipid metabolism. Many drugs modify ...their pharmacokinetic properties in presence of lipoproteins, as a result of alterations in their plasma protein and tissue binding. Lidocaine, a synthetic amide, used as a local anesthetic and secondary as antiarrhythmic agent is also protein bound and therefore conditions, which favor lidocaine dissociation from plasma proteins, modify its pharmacokinetic profile. The purpose of this study was: To investigate and compare the effects of stress( cold water 4 °C swimming of 20 days duration) and various high lipid diets (olive oil, butter, sunflower oil) on the serum and tissue (liver and tongue) levels of
14
C lidocaine.
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