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Scientific Reports Oct 2022Currently, there is no specific pharmaceutical agent for treating acute pancreatitis (AP). Somatostatin and its analogues have been used to prevent the autolysis of the... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Currently, there is no specific pharmaceutical agent for treating acute pancreatitis (AP). Somatostatin and its analogues have been used to prevent the autolysis of the pancreas in AP, however, their effectiveness has not been confirmed. This investigation aimed to examine the efficacy of ulinastatin, a protease inhibitor, combined with somatostatin analogues in the treatment of AP. We conducted a systematic database search in 4 databases to identify randomized controlled trials in which the efficacy of ulinastatin in combination with somatostatin analogue was compared to somatostatin analogue alone in patients with AP. Since the patient populations of analysed papers were slightly different, we used random effect models to pool odds ratios (OR) and mean differences (MD) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). A total of 9 articles comprising 1037 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The combination therapy significantly reduced the complication rates for acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney injury, and multiple organ dysfunction. Symptoms were relieved threefold with the combination therapy compared to somatostatin alone, and combination therapy significantly shortened the length of hospital stay. The decrease in mortality was not statistically significant..
Topics: Humans; Acute Disease; Pancreatitis; Protease Inhibitors; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Somatostatin
PubMed: 36289288
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22341-7 -
Toxins Feb 2023The relative lack of marine venom pharmaceuticals can be anecdotally attributed to difficulties in working with venomous marine animals, including how to maintain venom... (Review)
Review
The relative lack of marine venom pharmaceuticals can be anecdotally attributed to difficulties in working with venomous marine animals, including how to maintain venom bioactivity during extraction and purification. The primary aim of this systematic literature review was to examine the key factors for consideration when extracting and purifying jellyfish venom toxins to maximise their effectiveness in bioassays towards the characterisation of a single toxin.An up-to-date database of 119 peer-reviewed research articles was established for all purified and semi-purified venoms across all jellyfish, including their level of purification, LD50, and the types of experimental toxicity bioassay used (e.g., whole animal and cell lines). We report that, of the toxins successfully purified across all jellyfish, the class Cubozoa (i.e., and ) was most highly represented, followed by Scyphozoa and Hydrozoa. We outline the best practices for maintaining jellyfish venom bioactivity, including strict thermal management, using the "autolysis" extraction method and two-step liquid chromatography purification involving size exclusion chromatography. To date, the box jellyfish has been the most effective jellyfish venom model with the most referenced extraction methods and the most isolated toxins, including CfTX-A/B. In summary, this review can be used as a resource for the efficient extraction, purification, and identification of jellyfish venom toxins.
Topics: Animals; Cnidarian Venoms; Scyphozoa; Cubozoa; Cell Line; Chromatography, Gel
PubMed: 36977061
DOI: 10.3390/toxins15030170 -
Romanian Journal of Morphology and... 2017Establishing the postmortem interval (PMI) is vital in legal medicine as it allows to retrospectively estimate the hour of death, which is essential for the police as a... (Review)
Review
Establishing the postmortem interval (PMI) is vital in legal medicine as it allows to retrospectively estimate the hour of death, which is essential for the police as a starting point for their inquiries (especially in violent deaths). Ultrastructure studies aimed specifically to detect autolytic changes are scarcely identified in the scientific literature. Moreover, they are performed in a variety of conditions (different temperatures, species, in vitro ÷ in situ, and so on), making the results difficult to interpret for legal medicine purposes. The main aim of this review is to determine the potential usefulness of ultrastructure studies for the estimation of the postmortem interval and to provide a summary of relevant scientific literature in the area, which might be useful as a starting point for more specific and detailed studies in the field. We performed a search on the ISI Thomson Web of Knowledge database using a series of predefined keywords; the articles fulfilling the inclusion criteria were systematically analyzed to identify ultrastructure changes associated with autolysis. Our investigation revealed 20 relevant articles, which detailed ultrastructure changes in the brain, heart, liver, pancreas, kidney, bone, sweat glands, thyroid, skeletal muscle, cartilage and sweat glands. For each organ, we arranged systematically postmortem ultrastructure changes that were described by various authors. Ultrastructure changes appear early and may be useful in determining the time since death in the early postmortem interval. However, most studies published in this area followed methodologies that could not allow a proper reproducibility in forensic circumstances. Therefore, before using ultrastructure for estimating the PMI in practical environments, further studies are needed. They should be performed ideally on human samples, obtained at regular intervals after death, at variable, decreasing temperatures.
Topics: Humans; Muscle, Skeletal; Postmortem Changes
PubMed: 28730221
DOI: No ID Found -
Applied Immunohistochemistry &... Feb 2020The postmortem diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction is one of the main problems in forensic practice, especially in cases in which death occurs soon after (from...
The postmortem diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction is one of the main problems in forensic practice, especially in cases in which death occurs soon after (from minutes to a few hours) the onset of the ischemic damage. Several authors have highlighted the possibility to overcome the limits of conventional histology in this diagnosis by utilizing immunohistochemistry. In the present research, we examined over 30 scientific studies and picked out over 20 main immunohistochemical antigens analyzed with a view to enabling the rapid diagnosis of early myocardial infarction. The aim of our review was to examine and summarize all the principal markers studied to date and also to consider their limitations, including protein alteration because of cadaveric autolysis and putrefaction.
Topics: Biomarkers; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Myocardial Infarction
PubMed: 32044877
DOI: 10.1097/PAI.0000000000000688 -
World Journal of Microbiology &... Jun 2020Development of new strategies to add-value to agro-industrial by-products are of environmental and economical importance. Innovative and low-cost sources of protein and...
Development of new strategies to add-value to agro-industrial by-products are of environmental and economical importance. Innovative and low-cost sources of protein and bioactive peptides have been explored worldwide. Spent brewer's yeast (SBY) is the second most relevant by-product from the brewing industry, and despite its nutritional (about 50% protein, dry weight) and technological potential, it is still underused or needs to be disposed of. SBY cells need to be disrupted to release intracellular and cell wall proteins. This procedure has been performed using autolysis, glass bead milling, enzymatic hydrolysis and ultrasound processing. Enzymatic treatment is usually performed without prior purification and is a challenging process, which involves multiple factors, but has been successfully used as a strategy to add value to agro-industrial by-products. Scope and approach: in this review, we particularly focused on enzymatic hydrolysis as a strategy to promote SBY valorisation, illustrating the state-of-the-art processes used to produce protein extracts from this material as well as exploring fundamental concepts related to the particularities of yeast cell disruption and protein hydrolysis. Furthermore, innovative applications of value-added yeast by-products in food, biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries are presented and discussed. Key findings and conclusions: the discovery of valuable compounds found in spent yeasts as well as the development of new processing methodologies have been widening the possibilities of reuse and transformation of SBY as an ingredient and innovative matrix. Once released, yeast proteins and peptides may be applied as an innovative non-animal protein source or a functional and bioactive ingredient.
Topics: Animal Feed; Beer; Biomass; Cell Wall; Databases, Factual; Fermentation; Food Handling; Fungal Proteins; Hydrolysis; Kynurenic Acid; Nutritive Value; Polyphenols; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
PubMed: 32583032
DOI: 10.1007/s11274-020-02866-7 -
International Journal of Legal Medicine Mar 2019Stillbirth is defined by the WHO as birth of a fetus with no vital signs, at or over 28 weeks of pregnancy age. The estimation of time of death in stillbirth appears...
BACKGROUND
Stillbirth is defined by the WHO as birth of a fetus with no vital signs, at or over 28 weeks of pregnancy age. The estimation of time of death in stillbirth appears crucial in forensic pathology. However, there are no validated methods for this purpose.
OBJECTIVE
To perform a systematic review of the available literature regarding the estimation of the time of death in stillborn fetuses, in terms of hours or days.
METHODS
Electronic databases were searched from their inception to August 2018 for relevant articles. Macroscopic, histologic, and radiologic parameters were evaluated.
RESULTS
Nine studies with 664 stillborns were included. The evaluation of extent and location of fetal maceration signs showed good accuracy in estimating the time of death; by contrast, a dichotomous assessment of maceration (present vs absent) was found to be unreliable in a subsequent study. Histologic assessment of the loss of nuclear basophilia in fetal and placental tissues showed excellent accuracy; an "autolysis equation" was proposed to achieve an even higher accuracy in fetuses who had been dead for < 24 h. Magnetic resonance imaging of the lung parenchyma, pleural fluids, and brain parenchyma could estimate the death-to-autopsy time, but the results appeared weak and conflicting.
CONCLUSION
Pathologic examination, based on the assessment of maceration, and even more of the loss of nuclear basophilia, may be a reliable method to estimate the time of death in stillborn fetuses. Further studies should be encouraged to validate these results. Imaging techniques have not yet found application in this field.
Topics: Basophils; Brain; Cell Nucleus; Female; Forensic Pathology; Humans; Lung; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Placenta; Postmortem Changes; Pregnancy; Stillbirth
PubMed: 30617766
DOI: 10.1007/s00414-019-01999-1