Our aim is to assess the effect of cinnamon powder capsules on insulin resistance, anthropometric measurements, glucose and lipid profiles, and androgens of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Out of 80 women that were diagnosed as PCOS by Rotterdam Criteria, 66 were enrolled in this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. All of the PCOS women were taking medroxy progesterone acetate 10 mg/day for the last 10 days of their menstrual cycles. The cases were randomly allocated to 2 groups. The women in the first group were treated by cinnamon powder capsules 1.5 g/day in 3 divided doses for 12 weeks and the second group by similar placebo capsules. Anthropometric measurements, fasting blood sugar, fasting insulin, blood glucose 2 hr after taking 75 g oral glucose, HbA1c, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance, triglyceride, and cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, and total) before and after the intervention were evaluated and compared as outcome measures. Fasting insulin (p = .024) and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (p = .014) were reduced after 12 weeks in the cinnamon group compared with the placebo. There was also a significant decrease in low-density lipoprotein in cinnamon group (p = .004) as compared with baseline that caused significant difference with placebo (p = .049). However, changes in other outcome measurements did not lead to statistically significant difference with placebo. The present results suggest that complementary supplementation of cinnamon significantly reduced fasting insulin and insulin resistance in women with PCOS.

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Silver cations have been known as potent antimicrobial agents since ancient time and were used in burns, wounds and ulcers treatment(1). Silver was known to the Chaldeans as early as 4,000 B.C.E, and it was the third metal known to be used by the ancients, after gold and copper(2). Silver colloids have been used for numerous medical conditions, mostly empirically before realizing that microbes were the agents causing infection. The ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Egyptians had used silver compounds as food and water preservative. The use of silverbased compounds for wound-healing and wound infection prevention and treatment were used by Hippocrates and Macedonians. They believed that treatment of ulcers with silver compounds not only could prevent infections but also promote the healing process. Even silver nitrate, an strong oxidative chemical, has had medical applications and was specified in a Roman pharmacopeia about 69 BCE (2). The first report of using silver nitrate in medicine in the CE was reported by Gabor in 702-705 for the treatment of wounds. Angelo Sal used silver nitrate in 1614 as a counterirritant, purgative, and for the treatment of brain infections (2). During

The biotransformation of several monoterpenes by the locally isolated unicellular microalga, Oocystis pusilla was investigated. The metabolites were identified by thin layer chromatography and GC/MS. The results showed that O. pusilla had the ability to reduce the C=C double bond in (?)-carvone to yield trans-dihydrocarvone and traces of cis-dihydrocarvone. O. pusilla also converted (?)-limonene to trans-carveol, as the main product, and yielded carvone and trans-limonene oxide. Furthermore, (-)-linalool was converted to trans-furanoid and trans-pyranoid linalool oxide, thymol was converted to thymoquinone, (-)-carveol was converted to carvone and trans-dihydrocarvone, (-)-menthone and (?)-pulegone were converted to menthol, (L)-citronellal was converted to citronellol, and (?)-b-pinene was converted to trans-pinocarveol.

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