Int J Immunopath Ph
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Int J Immunopath Ph · Mar 2016
Letter Case ReportsRefractory chronic spontaneous urticaria and permanent atrial fibrillation associated with dental infection: Mere coincidence or something more to it?
Controversy surrounds the role of dental infection/inflammation in the oral cavity in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) and atrial fibrillation (AF), which is mainly due to scarce literature in this area. Therefore, this case report and review of literature illustrate a possible association between the acute-phase response (APR) and clinical conditions, such as CSU and dental infection/inflammation of oral cavity and AF. We describe a 36-year-old man with an 8-year history of difficult-to-treat, uncontrolled CSU, co-existent with dental infection/inflammatory processes of oral cavity and permanent atrial fibrillation (AF). ⋯ Dental treatment may have a beneficial effect on the systemic inflammatory response, reducing/normalizing the circulating levels of APR markers. APR activation appears to worsen CSU course, early identification and treatment of infectious/inflammatory foci in the oral cavity would form the mainstay of supportive therapy for CU probably through reduction of the systemic inflammatory burden. APR associated with infectious/inflammatory foci in the oral cavity could be taken into account as a predisposing agents to AF.
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Int J Immunopath Ph · Sep 2015
Low prevalence of metallo-beta-lactamase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from a tertiary burn care center in Tehran.
Production of metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) is one of the main mechanisms for resistance in carbapenem antibiotics. Detection of MBL-producer Pseudomonas aeruginosa is crucial in preventing its spread to other gram-negative bacteria. The aim of this study was to evaluate combination disc (CD) for identification of MBL-producer P. aeruginosa by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). ⋯ Further, blaVIM and blaIMP were detected in five and four strains, respectively. None of the isolates were positive for BlaNDM-1 and blaSPM-1. The results of this study showed that the prevalence of MBL is low in imipenem resistance P. aeruginosa and that other mechanisms could be involved in resistance to imipenem in this bacterium.
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Int J Immunopath Ph · Jun 2015
Letter Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialComparison of shock wave therapy and nutraceutical composed of Echinacea angustifolia, alpha lipoic acid, conjugated linoleic acid and quercetin (perinerv) in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
Even though the initial treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is conservative, knowledge of the clinical effects of supplements and of some methods of physiotherapy is still preliminary. Many biological mechanisms can support the administration of shock wave therapy (ESWT) or of alpha lipoic acid (ALA) based nutraceutical, conjugated linoleic acid (GLA), anti-oxidants and Echinacea angustifolia for CTS. The shock waves reduce the nerve compression, produce an anti-inflammatory action, and accelerate the regeneration of neuropathy. ⋯ We verified a trend to a better pain regression in the nutraceutical group. The presence of the medicinal Echinacea represents an added value to the antioxidant effect in ALA and GLA, which can justify this result. ESWT or the association of ALA, GLA, and Echinacea proved to be two effective treatments for controlling symptoms and improving the evolution of CTS.
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Int J Immunopath Ph · Jul 2013
LetterHuperzine A inhibits CCL2 production in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mice and in cultured astrocyte.
The active role of chemokines and inflammatory cytokines in the central nervous system (CNS) during the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) has been clearly established. Recent studies from our laboratory reported that Huperzine A (HupA) can attenuate the disease process in EAE by the inhibition of inflammation, demyelination, and axonal injury in the spinal cord as well as encephalomyelitic T-cell proliferation. In this study, the effects of low dose HupA on CCL2, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1beta expression were evaluated in EAE. ⋯ Conditioned culture media from HupA-treated astrocyte decreased PBMC migration in vitro. Collectively, these results suggest that HupA can ameliorate EAE by inhibiting CCL2 production in astrocyte, which may consequently decrease inflammatory cell infiltration in the spinal cord. HupA may have a potential therapeutic value for the treatment of MS and other neuroinflammatory diseases.
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Int J Immunopath Ph · Oct 2011
Randomized Controlled TrialMicro opioid receptor A118G polymorphism and post-operative pain: opioids' effects on heterozygous patients.
The single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNP) 118A>G in the micro-1 opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) is associated with a decrease in the analgesic effects of opioids. The aim of this study is to assess whether 118A >G polymorphism could influence the analgesic response to opioid-based postoperative pain (POP) therapy. The study consisted of two parts: section alpha, observational, included 199 subjects undergoing scheduled surgical procedures with pain management standardized on surgery invasiveness and on expected level of postoperative pain; section beta, randomized, included 41 women undergoing scheduled caesarean delivery with continuous intra-operative epidural anesthesia and post-operative analgesia (CEA). ⋯ In section alpha, with cluster analysis, subjects were analyzed according to their genotype: a group (no. 1) of 34 patients reporting VAS score >3 at every time lapse was identified and included only A118G carriers, while wild-type (A118A - absence of 118A>G polymorphism) patients were unevenly distributed between those with cluster no. 2 (VAS score <3 at every study steps) and those with cluster no. 3 (VAS score progressively reducing from T6h). In section beta, A118G carriers receiving epidural sufentanil had the lowest VAS scores at T24h; also in these patients, cortisol levels remained more stable, with a mild decrease at T6h. This study shows that the OPRM1 118A>G polymorphism affects postoperative pain response in heterozygous patients: they have a different postoperative pain response than patients with wild-type genes, which may affect the efficacy of the analgesic therapy.