Search

The urinary excretion of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP), corrected for urinary creatinine, was determined in 177 patients with primary or metastatic tumours and in 149 normal subjects. In 26 patients with malignancy and in 10 control subjects the excretion of cyclic guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP) was also evaluated. The urinary cAMP/Cr ratio in human neoplasms of epithelial origin was often significantly lower than normal, irrespective of the extension of malignancy. Surgical resection of the tumour, radiotherapy, or theophylline treatment increased urinary excretion of the nucleotide. In patients with malignancy, intravenous infusion of glucagon failed to produce the degree of elevation of plasma cAMP seen in normal subjects. Urines from patients with malignant neoplasms had low values of cAMP/Cr ratio with increased values of cGMP/Cr ratio. These findings could be the result of systemic alteration in synthesis or breakdown of the nucleotides. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Although FD may affect up to 10% of the general population, the therapy for FD is not standard. Recently, ginger-based food supplements have been proposed in order to restore FD symptoms. Our aim was to assess the efficacy of a new nutraceutical formulation containing extract of gingerol and thymus as a possible natural treatment in managing the symptoms of functional dyspepsia (FD)., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the efficacy and safety profiles of a nutraceutical formulation containing Zingiber officinalis root extract and a standardized Thymus extract. It was administered as 1 ml/day twice a day for 90 days. Patients were assessed at baseline and after 1, 2 and 3 months of treatment, following a month of pharmacological washout by completing a questionnaire reporting the trend of the following symptoms: epigastric pain, epigastric heaviness, early satiety, belching, and regurgitation. Every symptom was assessed by a Visual Analogic Scale (VAS), ranging from 0= absence to 10= maximal severity., Results: We enrolled 272 patients (99 males and 173 females; median IQR age 49.5, 36-64 yrs). Obesity (BMI>30) was present in 28 (12.5%) patients; smokers were 83 (30.5%); and comorbidities were present in 107 (39.3%) patients. Improvement of symptom scores during treatment and one month after its suspension was extremely significant (p<0.000)., Conclusion: This large study found that nutraceutical formulation could be one of the tools for an empirical approach to treat patients with FD, especially when a non-conventional drug treatment is preferable for the patient and considered suitable by the physician., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

To evaluate the response of bone cells and kidney to parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcitonin (CT), the acute effects of these hormones given intravenously on plasma cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP), nephrogenous cAMP and clearance ratio (cAMP:creatinine), have been studied in normal subjects and in patients with Paget's disease, hypoparathyroidism and osteopetrosis. Twenty-five subjects were given bovine synthetic PTH, thirty-eight calcitonin (sixteen salmon, eighteen human and four porcine CT). In normal subjects and in patients with Paget's disease and hypoparathyroidism plasma cAMP increased within 1 h following PTH intravenous infusion. The same dose of PTH failed to produce any increase in plasma cAMP level in two children with marble bone disease. Nephrogenous cAMP increased in all cases. A different relative potency of calcitonins in increasing plasma cAMP has been observed in normal subjects, according to previous results on the plasma calcium lowering effect. Paget's disease patients showed a greater increase in plasma cAMP following infusion than normal subjects. The measurement of nephrogenous cAMP and the clearance ratio (cAMP: creatinine) demonstrated a minor involvement of the kidney in the production of cAMP after CT infusion; the late increase observed in nephrogenous cAMP was probably due to a parathyroid rebound following the hypocalcemic effect of CT.