Multiple pharmacognostic characterization on hemp commercial cultivars: Focus on inflorescence water extract activity.

One of the most promising economic perspectives of hemp production chain is female inflorescence valorization, despite there being actually no chemical composition or biological data from water fraction. In this context, the focus of this study is the evaluation of protective effects related to hemp water flower extracts from four commercial cultivars (Futura 75, Kc virtus, Carmagnola Cs and Villanova). We evaluated the phytochemical profile through validated spectrophotometric and HPLC methods. Then, we studied the biological activity on C2C12 and HCT116 cell lines, and in an ex vivo experimental model of ulcerative colitis, constituted by isolated LPS-stimulated colon. Particularly, we assayed the blunting effects induced by hemp water extract treatment on LPS-induced levels of nitrites, malondialdehyde (MDA), prostaglandin (PG)E2 and serotonin (5-HT). All tested cultivars displayed similar total phenolic and flavonoid profile. However, Futura 75 water extract displayed a better antioxidant and anti-inflammatory profile. Considering this, Futura 75 extract activity has been subsequently assayed on bacterial and fungal species involved in ulcerative colitis, finding a significant inhibition on C. albicans and selected Gram positive and negative bacterial strains. Concluding, our results support the potential efficacy of hemp inflorescence water extracts in managing the clinical symptoms related to ulcerative colitis.

Diuretic plants in the Bible: ethnobotanical aspects.

Besides its religious importance, the Bible, because of its ancient origin represents a relevant witness of the way of life of the people mentioned in it. The Holy Scripture is also the first text revealing the utility of plants for man, as natural sources of food, wood, fibers, oils and medicinal herbs. In the last 60 years, several distinguished botanists have attempted to identify the scientific names of the plants cited in the Bible. Nonetheless, these scholars have provided different lists of plants appearing in the Bible, none of which could be accepted as indisputable. The authors have combined their expertise to focus on the identification of the diuretic plants, through an historical analysis of the literature on this issue.

[Foam in urine: from Hippocrates to the Medical School of Salerno]. / La schiuma nelle urine: da Ippocrate alla Scuola Medica di Salerno.

The formation of persistent little bubbles in urine, similar to those of beer, was noticed since ancient times by the first scholars of uroscopy. The diagnostic interest, rare and uncertain in Hippocrates, has increased over time. The Hippocratic school limited itself to observe the sign without interpreting the pathophysiology and they did not compare it with other clinical signs. Hippocratic texts only expressed an opinion on the severity and prognosis of the pathology which had produced it. Galen does not differ much from the Hippocratic school, however he tries to interpret the cause of the formation of bubbles in urine. Certainly, because of being unfamiliar to the laws of fluids and to the surperficial tension of liquids, he believes that the air contained in the bubbles of the foam in the urine comes from inside the organism. However, he realizes that the foam in urine is formed only when the urine is denser (more viscous).The Byzantine uroscopy, with Theophilus Protospatharius and Stephen of Athens considers the presence of foam quite important. In fact, they state that the bubbles appear in the urine when there is a severe failure of the organism. It is a sign of the attempt of the body to eliminate the bad humours produced in the different zones where digestion takes place. Several authors from the School of Salerno express different opinions on the production of foam in urine. Cofone affirms it derives from the putrefied blood in dense urine and he also uses this sign for diagnostic and prognostic results. Mattheus Archiepiscopus confirms Galens belief that the foam derives from wind bubbles produced in the stomach. The "De Urinis" of Maestro Mauro is strongly influenced by the writings of Constantine the African, who reports the experience of Isaac. The "humani corporis regiones" and the "regiones urine" are described and therefore Mauro tries to localize in which region of the body the bad humours were produced. In particular, the chapter on "De ycteritia" is an exact description of the foam in urine generated by the elimination of bad humours produced in excess by the liver (bile salts).

Crisis management: an extended reference framework for decision makers.

The paper discusses a reference framework for capabilities supporting effective crisis management. This framework has been developed by joining experiences in the field and knowledge of organisational models for crisis management, and executives' empowerment, coaching and behavioural analysis. The paper is aimed at offering further insight to executives on critical success factors and means for managing crisis situations by extending the scope of analysis to human behaviour, to emotions and fears and their correlation with decision making. It is further intended to help familiarise them and to facilitate approaching a path towards emotional awareness.

Byzantine doctrines on uroscopy in the Liber Orinalibus of Hermogenes (codex 69 Montecassino).

The Liber medicine orinalibus (codex 69 Montecassino) of Hermogenes is the first known manuscript to have a Latin translation from the original Greek work of Magnus of Emesa (or Nisibis). The particular text here translated, from the so-called Commentatio, mentions direct transliteration of Greek concepts such as chyma and hypostasis, suggesting that the Latin text derived directly from the Greek original, without the intermediation of Arabic translations. The implementation of our text is considered to have been undertaken in the city of Ravenna, which housed a medical school during the sixth century ad, or in southern Italy, with its scriptoria. Evidence of the presence of Latin translations of Greek medical texts in Calabria during the Gothic age is provided by Cassiodorus (Inst. 1, 31, 2). The Greek to Latin workshops testify to an uninterrupted activity of copying from Greek medical texts, with particular attention to the Iatrosophists of the Alexandrian school, of which Magnus was a representative.

"De medicina et morbis" from De rerum naturis by Rabano Mauro.

De rerum naturis from the Monastery of Montecassino (MS codex 132) by Rabano Mauro, is a medieval encyclopedia issued around the year 1025, in the Abbey of Montecassino, during the period of Abbot Teobaldo. It is a copy of a more ancient text, written almost certainly in the Abbey of Fulda 2 centuries before, when Rabano Mauro was the abbot - that is, in the Carolingian age. In the Book 18 there is a chapter entitled "De medicina et morbis," in which we find related the fundamental principles on which studies of the human body, illness and the principal medicinal herbs were based. The text is not intended for teaching the medical art, but has the precise objective of helping to form the cultured Christian, trying to combine the old Greek-Roman tradition with a mystical vision, giving a moral application according to the dictates of Jewish-Christian religion. This text is indicative of the fusion of the scientific and religious worlds in the West during the Middle Ages. This interpretation of the universe will last for about a millennium, and only the Renaissance will be able to separate the 2 worlds again.

Monastic medicine from the classic era to the renaissance: development of nephrology.

The monastic medicine era started in the VI century A.D. and developed in the following centuries particularly in the IX and X centuries. The development of Nephrology was fundamental in this period. In fact, for about two thousand years, the study of urine was the only test carried out directly by the doctor. Rereading old codes that are still found in Montecassino's archives, it is possible to observe the great efforts made by the monks to copy, translate and organize ancient texts, which sometimes consisted only of notes written in Greek. These texts which were surely used for teaching and were consulted in the 'Ospitia', were not only used to treat sick monks, but also all the population that resorted to the 'Ospitia' when in need. This opening towards the world external to the Monastery, towards the so-called lay world, ensured that all copied and stored texts became available to the various Medical Schools established in the centuries that followed, particularly to the Salernitan Medical School that became a principal centre for the study of Medicine in the Western world during the early Middle Ages.

Renal diseases in John Allen's 'Synopsis Universae Medicinae Practicae...'.

John Allen, a British physician of the eighteenth century, deserves being remembered for a series of inventions, but most importantly -- from a 'medical' point of view -- for his highly praised manuscript, the 'Universae Medicinae Practicae,sive Doctissimorum Virorum de Morbis Eorumque Causis ac Remediis Judicia', which long served as a text-book for medical students of the time, and also as a reference book for practitioners throughout European countries, for several decades after its original first publication. It contains the opinions ('Sententiae') of the most celebrated authors of all ages, from Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna up to Allen's contemporaries, concerning a wide number of diseases, their causes, signs, symptoms, and therapeutical remedies where available. The present paper deals mostly with parts of the Synopsis concerning renal diseases and related clinical signs.

The kidney in heart failure.

Renal dysfunction is a constant feature of congestive heart failure and is a stronger predictor of mortality than left ventricular ejection fraction or New York Heart Association classification. In heart failure, a reduction of glomerular filtration rate and renal plasma flow occurs, although the filtration fraction increases. There are many reason for this pattern. A reduction in effective circulating volume stimulates sympathetic activity and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, and it is associated with increased concentrations of atrial natriuretic peptide, brain natriuretic peptide, and tumor necrosis factor alpha. Because in chronic kidney disease heart dysfunction commonly is present, an efficient cardiologist-nephrologist interaction should be promoted.

Temporary dialysis treatments for heart failure in chronic kidney disease.

Patients with cardiac disease and chronic kidney disease are admitted to our emergency unit with signs and symptoms of severe heart failure more and more frequently. Resistance to high-dose loop diuretics imposes the use of renal replacement therapy. We treated a group of these patients with personalized bicarbonate dialysis, deciding the number and frequency of treatment sessions according to the patient's clinical conditions. Heart failure can be classified as mainly diastolic or systolic. Results show that bicarbonate dialysis is effective and well tolerated, primarily in the treatment of patients with prevalently diastolic heart failure. Patients with prevalently systolic heart failure have a worse prognosis.

Galeno's De Pulsis et Urinis from the Casinensis Codex 97.

Between the end of the 9th and the first decade of the 10th century, two medical codes were produced in the Cassino area: The Pluteo 73.41 manuscript of the Laurenziana library in Florence and the Casinensis Codex 97 kept in the archives of the abbey. They are written in Beneventano-Cassinese language and are enriched with drawings of plants and animals. They were most certainly used for the teaching and learning of medicine. On pages 26-31, there is Galeno's De Pulsis et Urinis, that is presented in the form of "Epistola", containing 30 chapters in which the characteristics and variations of pulse, fever and urine are described in different illnesses, thus influencing the prognosis. Galeno's manuscript De Pulsis et Urinis, as well as his other manuscripts contained in Code 97, have an important role in emphasizing the writings of one of the greatest and prolific doctors of ancient times who laid the basis for medicine in the East and in the West. The source is most likely Sergio's which belong to the medical school of Costantinople (his death is known to be in 536); he translated all of Galeno's known writings in the 6th century.

Contributions of monastic medicine: from Hippocratic School to Salernitan Medical School. De urinis et pulsis secundum praecepta dionisi.

Due to the intense relationship between Byzantium and the Abbey of Montecassino, which lasted for about three centuries, some of the Hippocratic Medical Texts were gathered by the Roman Catholic Church during the last years of the Roman Empire. Some texts were transferred directly from the Byzantine Empire to the abbey. Some of the earliest texts which were written in Greek and Latin have been lost; afterwards they were only written in Latin and in Beneventano-Cassinese type. They constituted the basis of medical assistance that was given in the "ospitia" near the monastery to sick monks and pilgrims needing treatment on their way from Rome to Monte Sant'Angelo of Gargano. The Diuresis et pulsis secundum praecepta Dionisi is kept in Cod. Cas. No. 69 (10th century), pp 551-562, in the Montecassino archive. The author of this text tried to perform a urine examination considering the clinical signs, such as high temperature and pulse examination. The text is thought to have been written by Dionysius, a Hippocratic physician and contemporary of Herophilus, who lived around the 4th century BC. This text was read again in the Salernitan Medical School and compared with other texts from Arabic countries also influenced by Hippocrates.