Enzymatic and metabolic alterations as an early predictor of a potential piroxicam-induced hepatorenal toxicity: a possible protective role for the calcium antagonist diltiazem

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of piroxicam administration on the enzymatic and the metabolic functions of the liver and kidneys in order to evaluate the effect of diltiazem administration on any piroxicam-induced hepatorenal toxic events. 120 rats were used in the study. They were divided into 4 major groups of 30 rats each. Piroxicam was given orally in a dose of 10 mg/kg [group 1] and diltiazem was given in a dose of 50 mg/kg [group 2]. Group 3 received a combination of both drugs and group 4 served as controls. The data obtained revealed that, piroxicam can induce hepatic and/or renal toxic effects on repeated administration and diltiazem may be able to protect against such toxic events if used with piroxicam in medical treatment of patients

Comparative study of cholesterol and fibrinogen as risk factors for ischemic heart disease in cigarette smokers

Serum cholesterol and fibrinogen were measured in 80 men, 20 of them were non-smokers and had no history of ischemic heart disease and 60 were chronic heavy smokers and divided into 3 equal groups, 20 men had no ischemic heart disease, 20 had history of angina pectoris and 20 had established myocardial infarction. There were highly significant elevations of both cholesterol and fibrinogen concentrations in smokers than in non smokers and significant elevation of both of them in smokers with ischemic heart disease than in smokers without ischemic heart disease. In myocardial infarction, the level was significantly higher than in angina pectoris. When the association of cholesterol and fibrinogen elevations with IHD was compared, both of them were found to be correlated with fibrinogen than with cholesterol. On conclusion, fibrinogen is a better indicator of ischemic heart disease than cholesterol and it should replace the later as a screening test of ischemic heart disease. Patients with hyperfibrinogenemia should be encourage to stop smoking because up- till now it is the only effective method to decrease serum fibrinogen

Dermal changes induced by low voltage electric current

Although torture is prohibited by the International Convention on Civil Political Rights, some countries still practice it to an increasing extent. Low voltage [50 AC] electric current was required to produce pain convulsions with no external visible scars. So, 40 albino rats were used for conduction of this study in a trial to demonstrate dermal sequelae to electric torture. Special device was prepared for induction of electric injury and sections from the exposed skin and unexposed areas were examined histopathologically for detection of any alterations. The main lesions were present in day 14 post injury more than immediately, 3 days and a week. The changes were mainly fragmentation of collagen elastic and muscle fibers. The main striking finding is the calcium deposits in collagen fibers