Energy drinks (ED) are containing large doses of metabolic stimulants and its use with ethanol has increased dramatically among young adults. In this study, we examined the effects of ED exposure either alone or in combination with ethanol on oxidative stress parameters including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and lipid peroxidation parameter malondialdehyde (MDA) in rat. Some histopathological findings were also evaluated. ED exposure led to a dose-dependent increase in liver MDA compared to the control indicating oxidative damage. Histopathological findings also revealed that ED alone may generate liver damage. Ethanol exposure increased MDA level and SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px activity in both the brain and the liver. The combination of ethanol and ED produced greater damage which is considered by further increases in SOD and GSH-Px activity in the brain. Similar results for MDA were observed in both the liver and brain as well. Our findings suggest that ED consumption alone or combination with ethanol may represent a significant public health concern.

No abstract

Optimal sedation and analgesia are of key importance in intensive care. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of sedoanalgesia and outcome parameters in regimens containing midazolam and either fentanyl or remifentanil. A prospective, randomized, open-label, controlled trial was carried out in the ICU unit of a large teaching hospital in Istanbul over a 9-month period. Thirty-four patients were randomly allocated to receive either a remifentanil-midazolam regimen (R group, n = 17) or a fentanyl-midazolam regimen (F group, n = 17). A strong correlation between Riker Sedation-Agitation Scale (SAS) and Ramsey Scale (RS) measurements was observed. Comparatively, remifentanil provided significantly more potent and rapid analgesia based on Behavioral-Physiological Scale (BPS) measurements and a statistically nonsignificantly shorter time to discharge. On the other hand, remifentanil also caused a significantly sharper fall in heart rate within the first six hours of treatment.

No abstract

Aging is a progressive and catabolic process by cells of the body are broken down. Study scrutinized the effects of exercise and caloric restriction in cardiovascular hemodynamics and antioxidant system parameters. Rats divided to 5 categories as 1 control group (including 3 months aged animals) and 4 test groups (including 15 months aged animals) named by A-SED (aged-sedentary), A-CR (aged-caloric restricted), A-EX (aged-exercised) and A-CR-EX (aged-(exercised + caloric restricted)) created by adding carbachol (CAR) and phenylephrine (PE) cumulatively and during 6 weeks, 40% caloric restriction and swimming were administered to aged animals. At the beginning and end of study, blood pressure (BP) and ECHO of the animals were measured. After decapitation process, tissue (heart and aorta) samples were collected. In tissue samples, apoptotic and oxidative stress parameters, and in blood samples NO levels were studied. Additionally, tissues were viewed as histologically at light microscopy. GraphPad Prism 5v. program was used for statistics and p<0.05 were considered significantly. Contraction-relaxation responses of aorta improved after CR and EX administrations (p<0.05). In both tissues, oxidative stress parameters (8-OHdG, MDA, SOD, GSH), caspase-3 activity and caspase-3 dansity were recovered meaningfully (p<0.05). Finally, NO levels were significantly recovered with CR and EX administrations in aged animals (p<0.05). To sum up, it is suggested that CR and EX administrations contribute to the recovery of hemodynamic and antioxidant system parameters in aged rats.