In this study, we evaluated the antiproliferative activity on two human osteosarcoma cell lines (MG-63 and Saos2) of oleuropein, an olive oil compound traditionally found in the Mediterranean diet. Oleuropein exhibited obvious cytotoxic effects on human osteosarcoma cells in a concentration-and timedependent manner. Statistical analysis of IC 50 by the Probit regression method suggested that oleuropein had similar toxic effects on both cell lines tested (IC 50 range from 247.4-475.0 µM for MG63 cells and from 798.7-359.9 µM for Saos2 cells).

We aimed to investigate and compare the effects of chronic antiepileptic therapy on bone health in pediatric patients using quantitative ultrasound of the phalanges (QUS) and controlling for potential confounding factors, particularly nutrient intake. The amplitude-dependent speed of sound (Ad-SoS) was measured in 33 epileptic children and 32 healthy children aged 6.5 ± 3.1 and 6.3 ± 1.1 (mean ± SD) years, respectively. There were no significant differences in the demographics such as age, weight and height between epileptic children and the control group children. None of the children in the epileptic or the treatment group were found to have a vitamin D deficiency. There were no significant differences in laboratory tests between groups. Lower QUS figures were found in the epileptic children (p = 0.001). After further adjustment for potential confounders such age, height, weight, calcium intake, vitamin D intake, physical activity and sex, the differences remained significant (p < 0.001). After further classification of the participants based on the tertile of calcium intake, no significant differences were found between patients and healthy controls in the greatest tertile of calcium intake (p = 0.217). We conclude that anticonvulsant therapy using valproate may lead to low bone mass in children and that an adequate intake of calcium might counteract such deleterious effects.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome characterized by widespread chronic pain and is associated with elevated systemic inflammatory biomarkers, and an elevated innate cellular response. The aim of this study was to determine if fibromyalgia patients have altered ability to release pro-inflammatory chemokines by isolated neutrophils and monocytes. The study participants were women diagnosed with FM (n ¼ 6) and a control group of healthy women (HW) (n ¼ 6). Supernatant concentrations of eotaxin (CCL11), human macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC) (CCL22) and growth regulatedoncogene (GRO-a) (CXCL1) released by both monocytes and neutrophils either resting or stimulated by LPS were determined by ELISA and compared between the FM and HW groups. Both resting and activated monocytes from FM patients released more eotaxin, MDC and GRO-a than those from HW. However, there were no significant differences in the release of chemokines from neutrophils of FM patients and the ones from healthy women. In conclusion, monocytes from women with FM are deregulated, releasing higher amounts of eotaxin, MDC and GRO-a than healthy individuals. This fact does not occur in neutrophils from women with FM.

Background: Dietary supplements have been proposed to help manage blood cholesterol, including red yeast rice (RYR) extracts, plant sterols and stanols, beta-glucans, and some probiotics. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of RYR (containing 10 mg of monacolin K) combined with 109 CFU of three Lactoplantibacillus plantarum strains (CECT7527, CECT7528, and CECT7529). Methods: A 12-week randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted. In total, 39 adult patients were enrolled, having total cholesterol (TC) ≥200 mg/dL, and being statin-naïve or having recently stopped statin treatment because of intolerance. Active product or placebo were taken once daily, and subjects were evaluated at baseline, 6, and 12 weeks. Results: Study groups were comparable at baseline, except for history of recent hypercholesterolemia treatment (81% in active vs. 22% in placebo). Changes in LDL cholesterol and TC became significant compared to placebo (mean difference between groups and standard error of the mean = 23.6 ± 1.5 mg/dL, p = 0.023 and 31.4 ± 1.9 mg/dL, p = 0.011, respectively) upon adjusting for the baseline imbalance in hypercholesterolemia treatment. No adverse effects were noted during the study. Conclusion: This combination of 10 mg of monacolin K and L. plantarum strains was well tolerated and achieved a statistically significant greater reduction in LDL-C and TC in the intervention group compared to the placebo, once adjusting for recent history of hypercholesterolemia treatment.