Vegetal products with hypocholesterolemic activity

Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Botany, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, The 8th International Medical Congress for Students and Young Doctors, September 24-26, 2020Introduction. Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that's found in all the cells in our body. The body needs some cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help in digesting. High-density lipoprotein (HDL), sometimes called „good cholesterol” carries cholesterol from other parts of the body back to the liver. HDL has been shown to have a variety of functions that may contribute to its cardiovascular protective effects, including the promotion of macrophage cholesterol efflux, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative effects. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) called „bad cholesterol” in a high level leads to the buildup of plaque in the arteries. LDL has now largely replaced total cholesterol as a risk marker and the primary treatment target for hyperlipidemia. Aim of the study. The selection of vegetal products with hypocholesterolemic activity in light of the chemical compounds and usage in medicine. Materials and methods. Analysis of bibliographical data concerning the selected vegetal products, and their products with hypocholesterolemic activity according to the chemical compounds. Results. Medicinal plants can be used for the treatment and prevention of hyperlipidemia in conjunction with lifestyle changes. From medicinal plants with hypocholesterolemic activity, we mention those rich in polyholosides – Lini semina (Linum usitatissimum L.) with Detoxi Plus product; Laminariae stipites (Laminaria saccharina L.) with Laminarie, VD, Lamivit, No-Colest; steroid saponosides: Dioscoreae rhizomata cum radicibus (Dioscorea nipponica Makino) with Polisponinum and Diosponinum; bitter substances – Taraxaci radices, T. herba, T. folia (Taraxacum officinale L. Weber ex F.H.Wigg) with Antitox, Detoxiphyt, Normoponderol, and polyphenol compounds – Cynarae folia (Cynara scolymus L.) with Cholesterin products and Cichorii herba (Cichorium intybus L.) with Cortelax and Rhamnolax. Conclusions. Medicinal plants can serve as accessible sources in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia due to vegetal products rich in polyholosides, steroid saponosides, bitter substances, and polyphenol compounds

DIAGNOSIS OF BOVINE ANAPLASMA MARGINALE IN NORTH WESTERN LIBYA USING SEROLOGY AND BLOOD FILM EXAMINATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Anaplasmamarginale (A. marginale) is an obligate intra-erythrocytic rickettsia;it is the cause of anaplasmosis, an important tick-borne disease of cattle. Recovered and vaccinated cattle in endemic areas are apparently normal but remain persistently infected and serve as reservoirs for the parasite.This study intended to detect A. marginale in infected and apparently healthy subclinically infected cattle in North Western Libya. During the period extended from March-2006 till September-2007, blood samples and blood smears were collected from totally 119 adult cow (group – I). These cows were raised at some governmental and private farms in Tripoli, Al-Zawiya and Imssallata districts. Blood smears were stained with May-Grunewald- Giemsa stain and examined under Light microscope to detect the presence of intraerythrocytic bacteria. Indirect- ELISA (IELISA) using a 19 KD A. marginale recombinant antigen was used to detect serologically positive reactors.During the study period, 20 cases of acute anaplasmosis were diagnosed in these farms (Group-II); where, three cows died and two aborted. The Seroprevalence for A. marginale by IELISAwas 64% and 100% in group I and II, respectively. Stained thin blood smears failed to detect infective RBCs in group I, however, variable degrees of parasitaemia were detected in group II. In conclusion, this study approved that serological test (IELISA) was more reliable than direct microscopic examination of stained blood smear in detection of chronic persistent anaplasma-infected cows in endemic areas

A multidisciplinary treatment of congenitally missing maxillary lateral incisors: a 14-year follow-up case report

Absence of the maxillary lateral incisor creates an aesthetic problem which can be managed in various ways. The condition requires careful treatment planning and consideration of the options and outcomes following either space closure or prosthetic replacement. Recent developments in restorative dentistry have warranted a re-evaluation of the approach to this clinical situation. Factors relating both to the patient and the teeth, including the presentation of malocclusion and the effect on the occlusion must be considered. The objective of this study was to describe the etiology, prevalence and alternative treatment modalities for dental agenesis and to present a clinical case of agenesis of the maxillary lateral incisors treated by the closure of excessive spaces and canine re-anatomization. A clinical case is presented to illustrate the interdisciplinary approach between orthodontics and restorative dentistry for improved esthetic results. In this report, the treatment of a girl with a Class II malocclusion of molars and canines with missing maxillary lateral incisors and convex facial profile is shown. Treatment was successfully achieved and included the space closure of the areas corresponding to the missing upper lateral incisors, through movement of the canines and the posterior teeth to mesial by fixed appliances as well as the canines transformation in the maxillary lateral incisors. This is a 14-year follow-up case report involving orthodontics and restorative dentistry in which pretreatment, posttreatment, and long-term follow-up records for the patient are presented

Automatic multi-anatomical skull structure segmentation of cone-beam computed tomography scans using 3D UNETR

The segmentation of medical and dental images is a fundamental step in automated clinical decision support systems. It supports the entire clinical workflow from diagnosis, therapy planning, intervention, and follow-up. In this paper, we propose a novel tool to accurately process a full-face segmentation in about 5 minutes that would otherwise require an average of 7h of manual work by experienced clinicians. This work focuses on the integration of the state-of-the-art UNEt TRansformers (UNETR) of the Medical Open Network for Artificial Intelligence (MONAI) framework. We trained and tested our models using 618 de-identified Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) volumetric images of the head acquired with several parameters from different centers for a generalized clinical application. Our results on a 5-fold cross-validation showed high accuracy and robustness with a Dice score up to 0.962±0.02. Our code is available on our public GitHub repository