A New Lignan from Annona squamosa L. (Annonaceae) Demonstrates Vasorelaxant Effects In Vitro.

Esquamosan, a new furofuran lignan, has been isolated by bio-guided assays from the methanolic extract of the leaves of Annona squamosa L., and its structure was elucidated by spectroscopic methods. Esquamosan inhibited the rat aortic ring contraction evoked by phenylephrine in a concentration-dependent manner and showed an inhibitory effect on vasocontraction of the depolarized aorta with high-concentration potassium. The vasorelaxant effect by esquamosan could be attributed mainly to the inhibition of calcium influx from extracellular space through voltage-dependent calcium channels or receptor-operated Ca2+ channels and also partly mediated through the increased release of NO from endothelial cells. The ability of esquamosan to modify the vascular reactivity of rat aortic rings incubated with high glucose (D-glucose 55 mM) was then evaluated, and this furofuran lignan reverted the endothelium-dependent impairment effect of high glucose in rat aortic rings. The antioxidant capacity of esquamosan was assessed using DPPH and FRAP assays. Esquamosan exhibited a similar antioxidant capacity compared to ascorbic acid, which was used as a positive control. In conclusion, this lignan showed a vasorelaxant effect, free radical scavenging capacity, and potential reductive power, suggesting its potential beneficial use to treat complex cardiometabolic diseases due to free radical-mediated diseases and its calcium antagonist effect.

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Latin America: Development and Current Status.

Disability disproportionately affects women, older individuals, and ethnic minorities in low-income countries, many of which are located in Latin America. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) is the medical specialty that manages disability and works on restoring function, and over the past 6 decades has significantly expanded its importance in Latin America. The specialty has developed graduate and postgraduate educational programs, provides services to individuals of all ages in inpatient and outpatient settings, has increased its research productivity, and has become an advocate for patients with disabling conditions, which has resulted in improved access to care for many patients.

World Congresses of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine 2013-2015: the way forward - from Beijing to Berlin.

Scientific congresses are an important tool to support communication among scientists, enabling exchange of knowledge and discussion of research results. They can also provide specialist education and allow a forum in which to develop the goals and policies of scientific societies. The World Congresses of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM) aims at continuous improvement of congress quality. The programme development aims are: to operate at the highest possible scientific level; to guarantee continuous communication within the main areas of science in the field; and to invite experts to present topics of recent interest. The first section, the basic programme, largely comprises original papers selected from submitted abstracts. The second section covers topics of recent interest in more depth. Other sessions include recent topics arising from the ISPRM-World Health Organization (ISPRM-WHO) liaison, collaborative sessions with other societies, including national societies special interest sessions and ISPRM partners, and sessions organized by young scientists and students. These aims and programme guide the organizers of the 9th World Congress, which will be held on 19-23 June 2015 in Berlin. The concepts described here will be developed further for use in future ISPRM World Congresses.

Disability and rehabilitation in Mexico.

Recent disability-related data are available from the 13th National Census of Population and Housing, which was performed in 2010. Disability assessment followed the recommendations of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics and identified 5,739,270 (5.1%) persons with disability, 51.1% of whom were women. Almost 60% of all persons 85 yrs or older reported disabilities. Policies and legislation endorse the rights of persons with disabilities. However, little is known about the real-life situation of persons with disabilities in Mexico as well as the met and unmet needs for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation services in Mexico are mainly organized by the Mexican Institute of Social Security. Because of the increasing need for rehabilitation, an innovative model of small first-level rehabilitation services has been designed and successfully implemented. This model has increased the capacity of rehabilitation services by 60% since 2003.

Pomolic acid of Licania pittieri elicits endothelium-dependent relaxation in rat aortic rings.

Pomolic acid has recently shown hypotensive effect in rats. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the vascular effects of this triterpenoid and to examine its mode of action. Functional experiments in rat aortic rings precontracted with norepinephrine were performed to evaluate the vasorelaxant effect of pomolic acid. This triterpenoid induced a vasorelaxation (IC50 = 2.45 µM) in a concentration- and endothelium-dependent manner and showed no effect on contractions evoked by KCl (25 mM). Pre-treatment of aortic rings with L-NAME (100 µM), methylene blue (100 µM) or glibenclamide (10 µM), totally prevented the vasorelaxation induced by pomolic acid, while indomethacin (10 µM) had no effect on this response. Additionally, pomolic acid relaxation was unaffected under the muscarinic- and ß-adrenergic-receptor blocked ensured for atropine and propanolol respectively (10 µM each). In contrast, the vasorelaxant effect of pomolic acid was abolished under the purinergic-receptor blocked ensured for suramin (10 µM). Finally, apyrase (0.8 U/ml) an enzyme which hydrolyses ATP and ADP did not affect pomolic acid relaxation. In summary, pomolic acid has a potent endothelium-dependent vasorelaxant effect, possibly acting through the direct activation of endothelial purinergic receptors via NO-cGMP signaling pathway, which could be part of the mechanism underlying its hypotensive effect.