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Objectives: To investigate a 6-month intervention with an olive leaf extract (OLE) on knee functionality and biomarkers of bone/cartilage metabolism and inflammation. Design: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-centric trial included 124 subjects with knee pain or mobility issues. Subjects received twice a day one capsule of placebo or 125 mg OLE (Bonolive ™ , an OLE containing 50 mg of oleuropein) for 6 months. The co-primary endpoints were Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and serum Coll2-1NO2. The secondary endpoints were the subscales of the KOOS, knee pain VAS at rest and at walking, OARSI core set of performance-based tests and multiple inflammatory and bone or cartilage remodeling serum biomarkers and concentration of oleuropein’s metabolites in urine. Results: At 6 months, OLE group was not efficient on global KOOS score, changes of inflammatory and cartilage remodeling biomarkers compared to placebo. Post hoc analyses demonstrated a large and significant treatment effect of OLE in a sub-group of subjects with high walking pain at baseline ( p = 0.03). This was observed at 6 months for the global KOOS score, and each different subscale and for pain at walking ( p = 0.02). OLE treatment was well tolerated. Conclusion: OLE was not effective on joint discomfort excepted in a sub-group of subjects with high pain at treatment initiation. As oleuropein is well tolerated, OLE can be used to relieve knee joint pain and enhance mobility in subjects with articular pain.

There is no literature (e.g. a novel, feature film) without a medium (e.g. a book, film), but one should be clearly differentiated from the other. Particular works can only be compared based on a comparison made between particular means of expression, i.e. media. A production-related and aesthetic approach, which has been regarded as unscientific for a long time, should be replaced by the much more appropriate media-related and aesthetic approach. Werner Faulstich and Ricarda Strobel’s reflections on the novelization of film refer to Ridley Scott’s picture titled Alien (1979), Richard J. Anobile’s movie novel (photonovel) which is based on Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson’s comics as well as to Alan Dean Foster’s novelized screenplays. Moreover, references are also made to two popular-science books: Paul Scanlon and Michael Gross’s The Book of Alien (New York 1979) and H.R. Giger’s Giger’s Alien (Basel 1979), which are treated as “books written on the basis of a film”. The film Alien deals, in a disguised form, with the topic of a man’s fear of a woman as the one who gives birth. It describes the sequence of processes that occur in a woman’s body, from conception and pregnancy to birth, as seen by a man who is “on the outside”. A man perceives a woman’s reproductive capacity, which is unattainable to him, as something alien and disturbing.

Money, which is a phenomenon of the economic system, can be perceived from the perspective of eroticism, which is a phenomenon that is embedded in the interpersonal system. Eroticism is based on a drive and it means some particular attraction or inclination to someone. The following questions arise then: What kind of attraction is it? How should this inclination be understood? Eroticism entails the convergence of desire and a promise, which can only be captured from the perspective of cultural studies, i.e. by situating money in a cultural system. The eroticism of money is an attractive topic as its meaning goes beyond the boundaries of a system and society, which is why also those who are not competent in the field of economics can take a stance with regard to this matter. The cultural aspect of money has been discussed occasionally so far. As for cultural studies, the analysis of money mostly entails two approaches: historical and critical. This is because one should analyze the issue of money from the historical perspective while keeping a critical distance and not being afraid of making evaluations.

This study focuses on the analysis of high-resolution seismic profiles, integrated with sedimentological, echosounder, SRTM and satellite image datasets, of the Brazilian continental shelf adjacent to the Rio Grande do Norte State, NE Brazil. Located in the northeast of Brazil, the State of Rio Grande do Norte is bounded by two main coastal and shelf systems: the eastern coastal-shelf, from the Sagi River to the Touros High, and the northern coastal-shelf, extending from Touros High to Tibau. This shelf represents a modern, highly dynamic mixed carbonate-siliciclastic system characterized by reduced width and shallow depths as compared with other parts of the Brazilian shelf. It has an average width of 40 km, the shelf-break lying at a depth of ~ 60 m. This shelf is subject to the full strength of the westerly South Equatorial current combined with high winds and moderate to high tides and waves. A sharply defined stratigraphic boundary, probably between the Pleistocene and Holocene deposits, is clearly to be observed in the seismic record. Incised-valleys extending from the main river mouths (e.g.the Potengi, Açu, and Apodi) to the shelf break dominate the area investigated and may indicate periods of lower sea level.Este estudo está direcionado ao conhecimento da plataforma continental brasileira adjacente ao Estado do Rio Grande do Norte, NE do Brasil, através da analise de perfis sismicos de alta resolução integrados a dados sedimentológicos, batimétricos, SRTM e imagens de satélites. O Estado do Rio Grande do Norte, localizado no nordeste do Brasil, apresenta dois sistemas costeiros-plataformais: Setor Este, do Rio Sagi (divisa PB-RN) ao Alto de Touros e Setor Norte, do Alto de Touros a Tibau (divisa RN-CE). Esta plataforma representa um sistema plataformal moderno misto (carbonático-siliciclástico), altamente dinâmico. É caracterizado por sua reduzida largura e águas rasas, quando comparado com outras partes da plataforma brasileira. A plataforma apresenta largura média de 40 km e a sua quebra encontra-se a profundidades médias de 60 m. A plataforma é sujeita a ação da corrente sul equatorial, combinada a ventos fortes e variação de maré moderada a alta e/ou ondas. Um limite estratigráfico fortemente definido, provavelmente entre os depósitos Pleistocênicos e Holocênicos, pode ser bem observado e vales incisos, estendendo-se a partir dos principais rios (como por ex., Potengi, Açu e Apodi) dominam a área investigada.

Vitamin D (VTD) treatment is recommended in patients presenting different causes of diseases. To treat these patients, physicians rely on the different available pharmaceutical forms present in their country. Unfortunately, even in a given country, there is no consensus on the best way to treat the patients. In Belgium, VTD is mostly prescribed as ampoules containing 25,000 IU of VTD. In this randomised controlled study, we evaluated whether four therapeutic schemes using multiples of 25,000 IU of VTD according to basal vitamin D concentration were able to increase or maintain the 25(OH)D serum level above 30 ng/mL. We randomized 175 subjects who received the drug (n=140) or placebo (n=35). Total duration of the study was 12 weeks. Doses ranged from 4167 to 1667 IU/day. Blood sampling was performed at baseline and each 4 visits. In the treated (placebo) subjects, mean 25(OH)D serum concentration was 18.7 (19.1) ng/mL at baseline and 31.5 (20.7) ng/mL at w-12. At the end of the study, 57.1% of the subjects treated with VTD presented 25(OH)D serum concentration ≥30 ng/mL, whereas 94.3% were ≥20 ng/mL. In conclusion, the doses administered were safe and increased or maintained the 25(OH)D concentration ≥20 ng/mL. However, concentrations ≥30 ng/mL were only achieved in 57.1% of the subjects.

From numerous studies during the last years it became evident that bacteria and bacterial constituents play a decisive role both in the maintenance of intestinal immune homeostasis as well as in the development and perpetuation of chronic intestinal inflammation. In this review we focus on the role of bacterial DNA which is a potent immunomodulatory component of the bacterial flora. Bacterial DNA has been shown to be protective against experimental colitis. In contrast bacterial DNA essentially contributes to the perpetuation of an already established chronic intestinal inflammation in a Toll-like receptor (TLR)9-dependent manner. This dichotomic action may be explained by a different activation status of essential regulators of TLR signaling like Glycogen synthase kinase 3-𝛽 (GSK3-𝛽) depending on the pre-activation status of the intestinal immune system. In this review we suggest that regulators of TLR signaling may be interesting therapeutic targets in IBD aiming at the restoration of intestinal immune homeostasis.

BACKGROUND:Several facultative anaerobic bacteria with potential therapeutic abilities are known to preferentially colonize solid tumors after systemic administration. How they efficiently find and invade the tumors is still unclear. However, this is an important issue to be clarified when bacteria should be tailored for application in cancer therapy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We describe the initial events of colonization of an ectopic transplantable tumor by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Initially, after intravenous administration, bacteria were found in blood, spleen, and liver. Low numbers were also detected in tumors associated with blood vessels as could be observed by immunohistochemistry. A rapid increase of TNF-alpha in blood was observed at that time, in addition to other pro-inflammatory cytokines. This induced a tremendous influx of blood into the tumors by vascular disruption that could be visualized in H&E stainings and quantified by hemoglobin measurements of tumor homogenate. Most likely, together with the blood, bacteria were flushed into the tumor. In addition, blood influx was followed by necrosis formation, bacterial growth, and infiltration of neutrophilic granulocytes. Depletion of TNF-alpha retarded blood influx and delayed bacterial tumor-colonization. CONCLUSION:Our findings emphasize similarities between Gram-negative tumor-colonizing bacteria and tumor vascular disrupting agents and show the involvement of TNF-alpha in the initial phase of tumor-colonization by bacteria.