Development and validation of an HPLC-DAD method for Rapid quantification of vasicine in Adhatoda vasica leaves and commercial products.

Leaves from Adhatoda vasica Nees, Acanthaceae (synonym Justicia adhatoda L.) have been widely used in traditional medicine for their beneficial effect in the treatment of respiratory diseases. Vasicine, the main quinazoline alkaloid in A. vasica, has been linked to its medicinal properties. The purpose of this work was to develop and validate a reliable analytical method for the quantification of vasicine in A. vasica leaves and commercially available products. For this purpose, a high-performance liquid chromatography method coupled to diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) was used. After optimization of the extraction process and the HPLC conditions, linearity, precision, accuracy, and specificity were checked. During the validation, six commonly available food supplements and dosage forms were tested using the validated method. The calibration model was found to be linear in the concentration range of 5.125-205 µg/mL. The average vasicine content at different concentration levels was 0.99 g/100 g with an RSD% of 0.05%. The average recovery was found to be 102.3% with an RSD of 4.3%. Additionally, it was confirmed that the validated method was still precise and accurate for quantifying vasicine in other matrices like the tested preparations. In summary, the validated method was suitable for the determination of vasicine in leaves of Adhatoda vasica, as well as for investigating the quality and the prescribed intake of several commercial products.

Rapid quantification of 14 saponins of Maesa lanceolata by UPLC-MS/MS.

Saponins are high molecular weight glycosides which are known for their broad range of biological activities. In case of Maesa lanceolata, a tree growing in African countries, the maesasaponins showed virucidal, haemolytic, molluscicidal and anti-angiogenic activity. Since the different activities are dependent on the structure of the saponins, a method was developed and validated for the analysis of the individual saponins in this plant. Since the saponins were only present in small amounts, it was necessary to develop a very sensitive analytical method. For the fast and sensitive analysis of the extracted and purified plant samples ultra-performance liquid chromatography was coupled to a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer for MS/MS detection. A method in positive ESI mode, using sodium acetate in the mobile phase, was developed. The sodium adduct ion was selected as the precursor ion since it provided better sensitivity and a better, more stable fragmentation compared to the deprotonated and protonated ions. The intensity of the signal obtained by fragmentation of the sodium adducts of the saponins, was optimized by the addition of different concentrations of sodium acetate to the mobile phase. Reference standards were not available for all 14 saponins. Therefore, a relative MS/UV response was calculated allowing the estimation of the saponins in real samples. alpha-Hederin was used as external standard. The method was linear over the investigated concentration range with a good correlation coefficient (>0.99). The intra- and inter-day precisions were below 15% for most maesasaponins with the exception of maesasaponin II, which showed a precision within 20%. The recoveries of the spiked pure compounds maesasaponin IV.1 and VII.1 were 96.6% and 85.5%, respectively. The validated method can be applied in the investigation of the content of 14 saponins in transgenic and non-transgenic plant material of M. lanceolata.

The role of acceptance in psychological functioning in adolescents with cystic fibrosis: a preliminary study.

This study explored the role of acceptance in accounting for the heterogeneity in psychological functioning in adolescents suffering from cystic fibrosis. Thirty-four adolescents completed a battery of questionnaires assessing acceptance, anxiety, depression, and disability. Regression analyses revealed that acceptance had a significant and unique contribution in explaining adolescents' anxiety, depression, and disability beyond the effects of demographic variables and parameters of disease severity. Forced expiratory volume, a parameter of disease severity, had a unique contribution in explaining disability, but not in explaining anxiety and depression. Our results support the idea that accepting the limitations imposed by a chronic disease and readjusting life goals has a positive effect upon psychological functioning in adolescents with cystic fibrosis. Acceptance-based therapies might prove useful in promoting well-being in adolescents with cystic fibrosis.

Self-image and performance in children with nocturnal enuresis.

OBJECTIVE: To study the self-image of children between 8 and 12 years with nocturnal enuresis, and to correlate the findings with age, sex, clinical symptoms, primary versus secondary enuresis and treatment failures. METHODS: The study-group embraced 50 university hospital, and therefore selected therapy-resistant nocturnal enuresis-children, 27 boys and 23 girls. The mean age was 9.8, which means children aged between 8 and 12 years. Children were classified into two age groups: I=8-9 years and II=9-12 years. A total of 41 out of 50 had primary nocturnal enuresis. The mean number of treatments before intake was 5.6, A=1-4, B=5-8, C=9-12. Seventy-seven children without nocturnal enuresis were included in the control group, 31 boys and 46 girls. The method we used to measure the perceived competence of the children on specific domains of their life was the Dutch translation and also validation of the "Self-Perception Profile for Children" by Harter. The testing was performed before and after therapy. RESULTS: Children with nocturnal enuresis have a significantly lower perceived competence than children without nocturnal enuresis, concerning physical appearance (p<0.05) and global self-esteem (p<0.01). There is a main effect of gender (p<0.01) and age (p<0.05) concerning scholastic skills. There is a correlation with the number of treatment failures. The more treatment failures, the lower the self-esteem. After successful treatment, there is an improvement of 'athletic competence' and 'global self-esteem', but it is not significant. CONCLUSION: Nocturnal enuresis has important negative effects on the self-image and performance of children. Perceived competence was lower in girls than in boys with enuresis, and it was significantly lower in the higher age than in the lower. Children with day-time and night-time incontinence have a significantly decreased perceived competence on scholastic skills compared to children with nocturnal problems only. Successful treatment tended to increase athletic competence and global self-esteem.

Outpatient pelvic-floor therapy in girls with daytime incontinence and dysfunctional voiding.

OBJECTIVES: Analysis of an experience in treating girls with dysfunctional voiding with an outpatient pelvic-floor therapy consisting of voiding and drinking schedule, pelvic-floor relaxation biofeedback, instructions on toilet behavior, and uroflowmetry. METHODS: The files of 50 girls (between 6 and 13 years of age) with urodynamically proven dysfunctional voiding who participated in the training program were analyzed retrospectively. Thirty-five girls received anticholinergics during the entire course of the training. The long-term absence of diurnal incontinence was used as the criterion for the success of the therapy. The duration of treatment before reaching this success was used as a parameter to measure the intensity of therapy. For a portion of the study group, a comparison is made with the duration of the preceding therapies to demonstrate indirectly the cumulative effect of the pelvic-floor therapy. RESULTS: Forty-six girls (92%) normalized their flow and bladder capacity after therapy and saw their daytime incontinence disappearing. All of these girls achieved this result in a maximum of 18 sessions within a 6-month period. At the follow-up examination after 6 months, five of the girls had relapsed (10%), which brings the ultimate success after 6 months of follow-up to 82%. CONCLUSIONS: Pelvic-floor therapy seems to be a reasonable and meaningful component in the treatment of bladder dysfunction in which detrusor-sphincter dyscoordination plays a role.

Commercial television bladder dysfunction.

Bladderdysfunction seems to have an increasing frequency in infancy, and especially in children without obvious congenital organic or functional bladderdysfunction. The disorder seems is related with changes in our behaviour, that are stimulated by familial and social pseudo-reasons. Commercial interests and marketing play a major role. This leads to wrong dry-training, an exaggerated hygienic education, prudisheness, wrong toilet-posture, lack of time to void, post-poning, wrong drink- and void-pattern, wrong food-pattern and increasing constipation. Prevention is necessary by an adapted reeducation of parents ans society.

Bladder function and non-neurogenic dysfunction in children: classification and terminology.

Urological function and dysfunction in children are different from function and dysfunction in adults. The dynamics of the urinary tract in children are more complex as development from simple reflex controlled infant bladder to mature bladder function takes place during the first five years of live. The most crucial event in this development is the maturation of the inhibition that takes place in the growing urinary tract. Apart from gaining neurological control over de lower urinary tract there is the physical growth of the bladder-sfincter unit. Otherwise in children there exist a large amount of structural organic congenital pathology of the lower urinary tract that can trouble the normal development. Finally there is the cognitive function that has no anatomical substrate in the lower urinary tract but which takes place in the central nervous system and which is influenced by training and which can play a major role in development of non structural functional dysfunction. In order to train a child adequately the anatomical structure needs to have undergone enough maturation. By training a child on a too early age one can help to develop non structural functional dysfunction. In a time where competition in dry-training is encouraged by commercial pressure and where parents have less time, so that they are urged to train their children dry, more and more non-structural functional dysfunction in children is seen. The most prominent symptom of maldevelopment of the urinary tract, be it structural or functional is urinary incontinence. It is the most common problem seen in the paediatric urology practice.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)