Chloroformic and Methanolic Extracts of Olea europaea L. Leaves Present Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Activities.

Olea europaea L. is used in traditional medicine in the Mediterranean areas. Its natural products are used in the treatment of different disorders, like fighting fever and some infectious diseases such as malaria, the treatment of arrhythmia, and relief of intestinal spasms. The aim of the current study is to investigate the possible anti-inflammatory and anatinociceptive effects of methanol and chloroformic extracts prepared from leaves of Olea europaea L. The anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects of the different extracts of Olea europaea leaves were assessed after intraperitoneal administration into rats and mice, using the carrageenan-induced paw edema model in rats to test the anti-inflammatory effect and the acetic acid-induced writhing in mice to test the analgesic effect. The chloroformic and methanolic leaves extracts, studied at the doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg (Body Weight: BW), exhibited significant dose-dependent anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that Olea europaea leaves extracts have anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects.

[Morphological approach to facial esthetics: a Tunisian study]. / Approche morphologique de l'esthétique faciale: une étude tunisienne.

Over the course of time, an esthetic standard, molded by a certain number of rules, recognized virtually universally, has gained widespread recognition. Orthodontics, like the rest of the world, accepts this rule. So, we all try in our treatment objectives to conform to a set of standardized "norms" of facial and cephalometric esthetics. Still, one question must be asked: can these norms be the same throughout the four corners of the globe? Having pondered this matter carefully, we attempted to find an answer by undertaking a study of 53 patients with "normal dentitions", all students of dental medicine. On profile cephalograms and profile photographs of these patients, we carried out a variety of esthetic analyses. We then compared the results obtained with orthodontic averages and found that they differed in many points. Should this finding impel us to adopt different esthetic criteria? However, this question may be answered, we retain our essential conviction that we should endeavor to preserve the goal of achieving facial harmony for our patients and that we should know what its criteria are.

[AIDS and tuberculosis in central Tunisia]. / SIDA et tuberculose en Tunisie centrale.

PIP: 7 men and 2 women seropositive for HIV were carefully screened for tuberculosis in the internal medicine service of a hospital in Sousse, central Tunisia, and all tuberculosis patients aged 20-50 years registered at the tuberculosis treatment center in Sousse between May 1987-December 1988 were screened for HIV infections using the ELISA test. The HIV seropositive patients ranged in age from 21-42 years and averaged 28 at the time of diagnosis. Marriage to an HIV-positive man was the only risk factor for the 2 seropositive women. 1 of the men had hemophilia and the rest had travelled abroad and used drugs or had homosexual or heterosexual relations while outside Tunisia. 4 of the 9 HIV positive patients were diagnoses with tuberculosis, 2 with isolated pulmonary tuberculosis, 1 with pulmonary and hepatoslenic tuberculosis, and 1 with a cervical ganglionary tuberculosis. 3 of the 4 with tuberculosis had apparently normal thoracic X-rays. The 4 were treated with the normal course of antitubercular drugs for a year or more. Screening for HIV in the 104 tuberculosis patients aged 20-50 years revealed no cases of HIV infection. Tuberculosis appears to be 1 of the most frequent opportunistic infections among patients seropositive for HIV, but it is not an indicator or predictor of HIV infection in central Tunisia as it reportedly is in some African countries.^ieng