Hypoglycemic effect of Cecropia obtusifolia Bertol aqueous extracts on type 2 diabetic patients.

Cecropia obtusifolia is widely used in Mexican traditional medicine due to its reputed hypoglycemic effect. During a period of 32 weeks, aqueous extracts of the leaves of this plant were administrated daily to 12 recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients, controlled only with diet and exercise. Serum glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and insulin levels were determined every 15 days; HbA1c, ALT, AST and ALKP were measured every month. A significant reduction of glucose was detected after 4 weeks of administration but the reduction was significant and sustained after 18 weeks of administration. The HbA1c was also significantly reduced after 6 weeks of treatment. No significant changes on cholesterol, triglycerides ALT, AST, ALKP or insulin could be detected. No collateral effects were observed. After suspending the administration of the extract, and a follow-up of 34 weeks, the glucose and HbA1c levels increased reaching levels higher than the basal ones. It can be concluded that the aqueous extracts of Cecropia obtusifolia have a significant hypoglycemic effect with no adverse effects and that the mechanism of action is not brought about by stimulating the insulin secretion. The results support the fact that the extracts of Cecropia obtusifolia have a great potential to be further developed into a phytomedicine.

[Involvement of the primitive cardiac segments in the normal cardiogenesis. Its importance in the pediatric cardiology]. / Los segmentos cardíacos primitivos, su implicación en la cardiogénesis normal aplicada a la cardiología pediátrica.

The ample development of diagnostic echocardiography in pediatric cardiology has demanded precise knowledge of the abnormal anatomy of hearts that present congenital cardiac diseases. As a result, the information on morphologic and molecular aspects of cardiac embryogenesis has become fundamental to understand the anomalous anatomy of the malformed hearts. Based on these facts, in this paper we reviewed normal cardiogenesis, integrating the new information obtained experimentally in the chick embryo and from classic descriptive knowledge in humans. The age at which each cardiac segment appears is specified. At the same time, the changes in shape, relationships and position of these cardiac segments are detailed. Some implications of this process in the production of congenital cardiac defects and the importance of some specific genes are also discussed. This information is useful in the diagnosis of congenital cardiac diseases, as well as in discussing their embryogenesis. It is also beneficial in studying the possible mechanisms and genes implicated in normal morphogenesis of cardiac chambers, septa and valves. All this knowledge is important to plan strategies to avoid the production of this type of congenital pathologies.