ABSTRACT
Hepatocellular carcinomas will emerge as a major form of malignancy in the coming decades. When these tumors are in advanced stages, few therapeutic options are available. Therefore, it is essential to search for new treatment modalities to fight this disease. Evaluate the possible protective and therapeutic effects of Cannabis extract on dimethylnitrosamine [DMNA]-induced hepatocarcinogenicity in mice. Seventy-five male mice were divided into five groups of 15 each: group I mice received corn oil only as the control group; group II mice were injected intraperitoneally with DMNA [10 microg/kg body weight] weekly for 12 weeks; group III mice were pretreated orally with cannabis extract [0.5 ml/kg body weight] every other day for two weeks before the injection of DMNA, and continued until the end of the experiment [12 weeks]; group IV mice were treated orally with cannabis extract every other day simultaneously with DMNA injection and continued until the end of the experiment; group V mice were treated orally with cannabis extract every other day after receiving the last intraperitoneal injection of DMNA. A real time PCR was used to quantify telomerase reverse transcriptase and caspase-8 m-RNA expression level
ABSTRACT
In this study, sputum induction was done on 10 healthy subjects and 24 asthma patients. Sputum induced by inhalation of either hypertonic saline [HS] or uridine 5-triphosphate [UTP] was induced in all the studied subjects. Inhaled UTP produced a larger amount of sputum than HS. There were significant differences in oxygen desaturation during the procedure between the two methods and no significant difference in spirometric measurements during the procedure by both methods. Sputum total cell and differential cell counts with a high proportion of eosinophils in asthmatics were similar between specimens obtained by HS and UTP. Therefore, sputum induction either by HS or UTP is noninvasive, relatively safe, reproducible and repeatable measurement. Patients with asthma have a higher proportion of eosinophils in their induced sputum with a significant negative correlation to FEV1% pred. The analysis of induced sputum has a relevant role in the identification and monitoring of airway inflammation