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Colchicine is one of the oldest drugs in medicine. Traditionally used to treat and prevent gouty attacks, it has been introduced into cardiovascular medicine for the treatment and prevention of pericarditis, starting from the positive experience in the treatment and prevention of polyserositis in familial mediterranean fever. Colchicine is a lipophilic drug that enters the cells and is eliminated by glycoprotein P. As granulocytes are lacking in this protein, colchicine is able to concentrate in these cells, exerting a substantial anti-inflammatory action, even with low oral doses. As these cells may trigger acute cardiovascular events, colchicine has been shown to be efficacious and safe to prevent acute coronary syndromes and ischemic stroke with an efficacy comparable to more established treatments, such as antiplatelet agents and statins. On this basis, colchicine seems a promising, efficacious, well tolerated, and cheap option for the prevention of several cardiovascular events, and it may become an additional pillar in the pharmacologic treatment of cardiovascular diseases., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the Italian Federation of Cardiology.)

Polysaccharides and their derivatives are used as additives in numerous petroleum industrial processes, especially in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). There exists however, a lack of studies concerning how their physicochemical properties affect the oil recovery process. This work presents an investigation of a series of 2-hydroxy-3-(trimethylammonium)propyl starches (HTPS) with different molar masses and cationic degrees that are potentially useful for EOR. It was investigated surface/interfacial tensions, rheological profile, emulsion index and wettability alteration. The results provide experimental evidence that the HTPS intrinsic properties affect the measured properties. The HTPS solution/oil interfacial tension (IFT) ranged from a low value of 19.0 to a high value of 34.0 mN/m and correlates positively with the molar mass of the HTPS. In contrast, the rheological behavior displays correlations with the molar mass and the degree of cationization. Furthermore, the 1 % HTPS solutions presented around 10 % of viscosity increase in comparison to brines typically used in waterflooding. The derivative with a higher molar mass and intermediate degree of cationization (HTPS 2) was more effective in changing the wetting condition of an aged limestone with a wettability alteration index (WAI) of 52 % while the commercial surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) presented a WAI of 32.6 %., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)