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BackgroundPre-diabetes is a disturbing trend in the population, who are at risk of developing type-two diabetes. The aim of this study was to determine the effects use of Aloe vera in different doses on glucose and lipid profile in pre-diabetic subjects.MethodsThis study was a double blind randomized controlled trial (72 subjects) with pre-diabetes symptoms in 3 groups consumed capsules twice a day: Aloe vera 300 mg (AL300), 500 mg (AL500) and placebo (PL). Fasting blood glucose (FBS), HbA1C and lipid profile were evaluated in baseline, 4 or 8 weeks. On-way ANOVA, Friedman, Wilcoxon, Kruskal-Wallis , Mann–Whitney and Chi-square tests were used for within or between groups statistical analysis.ResultsFBS level in group AL300, showed significantly decreased in fourth week after the intervention, compared to PL in the same time (p = 0.001). Also, HbA1C level in this group at the eighth week after the intervention (p = 0.042), had a significant decrease. The levels of Total cholesterol and LDL-C, only in the group AL500 (p < 0.001 and p = 0.01), was significantly reduced, along with HDL-C level improvement just after eight weeks (p = 0.004). Triglyceride level showed a significant decrease (p < 0.045) just after four weeks use of AL500.ConclusionsThe Use of Aloe vera extract in pre-diabetic patients, could revert impaired blood glucose within four weeks, but after eight weeks could alleviate their abnormal lipid profile.

Detection of myocardial apoptosis increased with prolongation of reperfusion time, as opposed to infarct detection where reperfusion was essential to detect infarction, but the infarct size did not increase with time. Pretreatment with hyperoxia significantly decreased infarct size and apoptotic cell death. Pretreatment, immediately before coronary occlusion, was most cardioprotective.

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These data indicate that losartan and ramiprilat protect the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury independently of their hemodynamic effects but in a time-dependent manner.

Background: Phlebitis is among the most common complications of intravenous therapy. It significantly correlates with the length of hospital stay and mortality rate. Objectives: This study sought to examine the effects of quercetin topical cream on phlebitis caused by peripheral intravenous catheters. Methods: This single-blind randomized controlled trial was done in 2015 on 66 patients hospitalized at the internal medicine ward of Valiasr (PBUH) hospital, Birjand, Iran. The patients were conveniently recruited and randomly allocated to a control and an experimental group. The data collection tool was a five-point phlebitis assessment scale. As soon as the symptoms of phlebitis were observed, the related catheter was removed and the catheter insertion site was treated every twelve hours for 72 hours with either 2% quercetin cream (the experimental group) or a eucerin-based cream (the control group). Friedman, Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U tests were run using the SPSS software for data analysis (v. 14.0). Results: There was no significant difference between the groups regarding patients' age (P = 0.068) and gender (P = 0.69). No significant changes were observed in the severity of phlebitis in the control group during the 72-hour course of the study. However, in the quercetin group, the severity of phlebitis decreased significantly after twelve hours from the beginning of the intervention and the trend of its variations was downward (P < 0.001). Consequently, after 72 hours (or six episodes of quercetin cream use), 90% of all phlebitis cases achieved complete recovery without any side effect. Conclusions: 2% Quercetin cream could be effective in treating phlebitis caused by intravenous catheters and can be used as a useful and safe treatment modality for phlebitis management. The positive effects of quercetin on phlebitis appear very soon after its use.

This study was carried out to determine the effects of cupping on hemodynamic parameters, arrhythmias and infarct size (IS) after myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury in male rats. Rats were randomly subjected to dry or wet cupping. While dry cupping simply involved stimulation of the skin by suction, in wet cupping, scarification of the back skin was also carried out with a surgical blade and 0.5 ml blood was sucked out in each session. For ischemic reperfusion injury, rats were subjected to 30 min of left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion and 120 min of reperfusion. Our results show that cupping did not change the baseline heart rate or mean arterial blood pressure. Ischemic reperfusion injury caused an IS of 50 ± 5%, whereas dry cupping, single and repeated wet cupping significantly reduced IS to 28 ± 3%, 35 ± 3% and 22 ± 2% of area at risk, respectively. The rate of ischemic induced arrhythmias was significantly modified by wet cupping (P < 0.05). These results indicate for the first time in rats that cupping might be cardioprotective in the ischemic reperfusion injury model.