The ethanol leaf extract of Andrographis paniculata blunts acute renal failure in cisplatin-induced injury in rats through inhibition of Kim-1 and upregulation of Nrf2 pathway.

Background Cisplatin (CP) is a novel drug of choice in the treatment of cancer but its major limitation is nephrotoxicity, which is dose limiting. Andrographis paniculata (AP) is a common Indian dietary component. It is well known for its medicinal properties. This present study investigated the nephroprotective effect of ethanol leaf extract of Andrographis paniculata (EEAP) on CP-induced nephrotoxicity. Methods CP was used to induce nephrotoxicity in male Wistar rats to study the effect of EEAP on renal damages using hematological parameters, biochemical parameters, histology, and immunohistochemistry studies. Results The effects of EEAP were determined by CP-induced changes in different kidney tissue on antioxidant enzymes, markers of oxidative stress, serum creatinine, and urine parameters. Administration of EEAP (200 mL/kg and 400 mg/kg orally), prior to and following a single dose CP treatment (10 mg/kg i.p), significantly mitigated the CP-induced decrease in antioxidant enzymes, and increase in markers of oxidative stress, serum creatinine, and urinary protein. On histopathological examination of the kidney tissue, there was severe glomerular degeneration and infiltration of inflammatory cells in CP only treated rats, mild glomerular degeneration, and infiltration of inflammatory cells in EEAP pre-treated rats. Furthermore, EEAP activated Nrf2 and mitigated Kim-1 pathways in CP-induced nephrotoxicity. Conclusions The results showed the protective effect of EEAP against CP-induced nephrotoxicity.

First-principles study of silicon nanocrystals: structural and electronic properties, absorption, emission, and doping.

Total energy calculations within the Density Functional Theory have been carried out in order to investigate the structural, electronic, and optical properties of un-doped and doped silicon nanostructures of different size and different surface terminations. In particular the effects induced by the creation of an electron-hole pair on the properties of hydrogenated silicon nanoclusters as a function of dimension are discussed in detail showing the strong interplay between the structural and optical properties of the system. The distortion induced on the structure by an electronic excitation of the cluster is analyzed and considered in the evaluation of the Stokes shift between absorption and emission energies. Besides we show how many-body effects crucially modify the absorption and emission spectra of the silicon nanocrystals. Starting from the hydrogenated clusters, different Si/O bonding at the cluster surface have been considered. We found that the presence of a Si--O--Si bridge bond originates significative excitonic luminescence features in the near-visible range. Concerning the doping, we consider B and P single- and co-doped Si nanoclusters. The neutral impurities formation energies are calculated and their dependence on the impurity position within the nanocrystal is discussed. In the case of co-doping the formation energy is strongly reduced, favoring this process with respect to the single doping. Moreover the band gap and the optical threshold are clearly red-shifted with respect to that of the pure crystals showing the possibility of an impurity based engineering of the absorption and luminescence properties of Si nanocrystals.

[Chronic tonsillitis in childhood: a bacteriological study in connection with benzathine penicillin treatment and the role of bacterial flora in tonsillar hypertrophy]. / Tonsillite cronica dell'età pediatrica: studio batteriologico in rapporto al trattamento con benzatin-penicillina e ruolo della flora batterica nell'ipertrofia tonsillare.

In this study the authors evaluated the importance of bacteriological study in the diagnostics of chronic tonsillitis in children and investigated the eventuality of modification in superficial as well as parenchymal tonsillar microflora brought about by preventive treatment with benzylpenicillin G. The study further aimed at revealing an eventual relationship between microflora and classic laboratory parameters (haemochromocytometric examination, leukocytic formula, VES, ASLO and urine analysis) as well as at evaluating the possibility of a correlation between the degree of tonsillar hypertrophy and microflora. The 100 patients studied had chronic tonsillitis, were between the ages of 4 and 12 and were all candidates for tonsillectomy. The subjects were divided into two groups of 50 patients each; one group had not had any antibiotic treatment for at least 30 days prior to the study, while the second group had undergone antibiotic treatment during the days or weeks immediately before the study and was administered benzylpenicillin G 24 hours prior to sampling. The superficial and intraparenchymal tonsillar tampon samples taken in both groups underwent bacteriological studies. The most frequently isolated bacteria was Haemophilus Influenzae (40% of the cases). A clear-cut prevalence of this bacteria was observed in those patients treated with benzylpenicillin G as opposed to those not treated. Haemolytic Group A Streptococcus was found almost exclusively in the tonsils of those patients not treated with antibiotics (14 out of 15 cases). Various degrees of tonsillar hypertrophy were observed although no sure correlation between the presence of the pathology and the bacteria found, either superficially or in the parenchyma, was established. Furthermore, no significant was revealed between the presence of superficial or intraparenchymal bacteria.