Because of the hepatotoxic, mutagenic, and cancerogenic effects of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) recommends not to exceed a daily PA intake of ...0.007 µg/kg body weight (0.42 µg/60 kg adult). In a recent study conducted by the BfR, up to 5647 µg PA/kg dried herbal material were detected in tea products marketed as food.
The present study aimed at elucidating whether medicinal teas licensed or registered as medicinal products contain PAs as well.
One hundred sixty-nine different commercially available medicinal teas, i.e. 19 nettle (Urtica dioica L.), 12 fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.), 14 chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.), 11 melissa (Melissa officinalis L.) and 4 peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) teas as well as 109 tea mixtures were analyzed for the presence of 23 commercially available PAs.
LC/MS was used for the determination of the PAs
In general, the total PA contents ranging 0–5668 µg/kg. Thirty percent of the tested single-ingredient tea products and 56.9% of the tested medicinal tea mixtures were found to contain PA concentrations above the limit of quantification (LOQ) of 10 µg/kg. In 11 medicinal teas PA contents >300 µg/kg dry herb were determined thus exceeding the recommended limit for PA intake by BfR. In addition three products of the investigated tea mixtures revealed extremely high PA contents of 4227, 5137, and 5668 µg/kg. Generally, single-ingredient tea products contained much less or even no detectable amounts of PAs when compared to the tea mixtures. PAs in the range between 13 and 1080 µg/kg were also detected in five analyzed aqueous herbal infusions of the medicinal tea mixture products with the highest PA content. Two out of the five investigated herbal infusions exceeded the recommended BfR limit for PA intake.
This study demonstrates clearly that also medicinal teas licensed as medicinal products may partly contain high amounts of PAs exceeding current recommendations. For that reason manufacturers are advised to carry out more rigorous quality control tests devoted to the detection of PAs. This is very important to minimize PAs in medicinal teas accounting for possible additional exposure of the consumer to PAs from other food sources (e.g. honey).
Display omitted
► Real time monitoring of neuronal cell death in cell lines and primary neurons by impedance measurements. ► For neuronal cell lines and neuronal progenitor cells impedance readouts correlate well ...with viability assays. ► The kinetics of cell death in cell lines is well reflected by impedance measurements. ► Monitoring cell death in primary cultures is less accurate compared to cell lines.
Detection of neuronal cell death is a standard requirement in cell culture models of neurodegenerative diseases. Although plenty of viability assays are available for in vitro applications, most of these are endpoint measurements providing only little information on the kinetics of cell death. Here, we validated the xCELLigence system based on impedance measurement for real-time detection of cell death in a neuronal cell line of immortalized hippocampal neurons (HT-22 cells), neuronal progenitor cells (NPC) and differentiated primary cortical neurons. We found a good correlation between impedance measurements and endpoint viability assays in HT-22 cells and NPC, for detecting proliferation, cell death kinetics and also neuroprotective effects of pharmacological inhibitors of apoptosis. In primary neurons we could not detect dendritic outgrowth during differentiation of the cells. Cell death in primary neurons was detectable by the xCELLigence system, however, the changes in the cell index on the basis of impedance measurements depended to a great extent on the severity of the insult. Cell death induced by ionomycin, e.g. shows as a fast paced process involving a strong cellular disintegration, which allows for impedance-based detection. Cell death accompanied by less pronounced morphological changes like glutamate induced cell death, however, is not well accessible by this approach. In conclusion, our data show that impedance measurement is a convenient and reliable method for the detection of proliferation and kinetics of cell death in neuronal cell lines, whereas this method is less suitable for the assessment of neuronal differentiation and viability of primary neurons.
Rational
in silico optimization of the Whelk-O1 chiral stationary phase (CSP) has been carried out based on the chiral recognition mechanism extracted from previous molecular dynamics simulations ...C.F. Zhao, N.M. Cann, Anal. Chem. 80 (2008) 2426 of this CSP. Three modified CSPs have been examined. The first two are designed to increase selectivity by reducing the docking probability of the less retained analyte. The third modified selector reverses the amide bridge to introduce a structural motif found in the popular carbamate-derivatized polysaccharide CSPs Y. Okamoto, M. Kawashima, K. Hatada, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 106 (1984) 5357. For each modified selector, an atomistic model has been obtained through extensive
ab initio calculations. The effect of selector modification is then evaluated via simulations of the modified interface in the presence of target analytes. Simulation results show that the separation factors are increased for the modified CSPs but in some cases elution orders are reversed. The Whelk-O1 CSP was originally designed to separate naproxen W.H. Pirkle, C.J. Welch, B. LAmm, J. Org. Chem. 57 (1992) 3854. With this in mind, molecular dynamics simulations of naproxen are compared for the original, and the modified, selectors.
Routine ultrasound before medication abortion may create an impediment to expanding abortion access. This study examines clinical outcomes among medication abortion patients without pretreatment ...ultrasound evaluation at Planned Parenthood health centers in multiple states.
We conducted a secondary analysis among 23 Planned Parenthood affiliates that provided medication abortion without pretreatment ultrasound for eligible patients from March 2020 to December 2021. Affiliates collected and aggregated electronic health record data from 19,041 medication abortion patients at <=77 days’ gestation (based on self-report of last menstrual period) without a pretreatment ultrasound. Among patients with follow up (n=10,085, 53%), we calculated the incidence rates and 95% CI of the following outcomes: completed abortion, ongoing pregnancy, surgical intervention, emergency department and hospital admissions associated with medication abortion, and confirmed ectopic pregnancies.
Among medication abortion patients with follow-up, 96.6% had a complete abortion (95% CI, 96.3–97.0%), and 2.0% had an ongoing pregnancy (95% CI, 1.7%–2.3%). Four percent of medication abortion patients had a subsequent surgical procedure (4.0%, 95% CI, 3.6%–4.4%), and 2.3% had a documented emergency department/hospital admission (95% CI, 2.0%–2.6%). About 2 in 1,000 had a confirmed ectopic pregnancy (1.7, 95% CI, 1.0–2.7 per 1,000).
Our calculated incidence rates of clinical outcomes align with rates from the previous literature on medication abortion with pretreatment ultrasonography and from the emerging literature on medication abortion without pretreatment ultrasonography. Findings from this analysis suggest that medication abortion without pretreatment ultrasound is safe and effective for eligible patients.
PDF
