It was found that asthma, through its disease status and its pharmacotherapy, carries some risk factors including decreased salivary flow rate and pH for caries development. It was also demonstrated that the duration of medication and illness had significant influences on the risk of caries in asthmatics.

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Study design: Experimental animal model to assess ischemic spinal cord injury following occlusion of the thoraco-abdominal aorta. Objectives: To measure whether melatonin administered to rabbits before and after occlusion exerts an effect on the repair of ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. Setting: Medical Biology Laboratory, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey Methods: Rabbits were divided into three IR treatment groups and one sham-operated (ShOp) control group. The three treatment groups had their infrarenal aorta temporarily occluded for 25 min, while the ShOp group had laparotomy without aortic occlusion. Melatonin was administered either 10 min before aortic occlusion or 10 min after the clamp was removed. Physiologic saline was administered to the control animals. After treatment, the animals were euthanized and lumbosacral spinal cord tissue was removed for the determination of relevant enzyme activities. Results: Malondialdehyde levels, indicating the extent of lipid peroxidation, were found to be significantly increased in the nonmelatonin treated (IR) group when compared to the ShOp group. Melatonin, whether given to pre-or post occlusion groups, suppressed malondialdehyde levels below that of the ShOp group. Catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) enzyme activities were increased in the IR group compared to the ShOp group. Melatonin given preocclusion resulted in a significant decrease in both CAT and GSH-Px enzyme levels. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme activity was decreased in the ischemia-reperfusion treatment group. However, the melatonin treatment increased SOD enzyme activity to levels approximating that of the ShOp group. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study that shows the effects of melatonin administered both pre-and postischemia on induced oxidative damage to injured spinal cords. Our data also expands on reports that melatonin administration may significantly reduce the incidence of spinal cord injury following temporary aortic occlusion.

Study design: Experimental animal model to assess ischemic spinal cord injury (SCI) following occlusion of the thoracoabdominal aorta. Objectives: In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of melatonin on SCI induced by ischemia and following reperfusion. Setting: Animal Research Laboratory, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey. Methods: We evaluated oxidative damage and caspase-3 activity. In total, 32 adult Wistar albino rats were divided into four groups: Group 1, control (n = 8); Group 2 (n = 8), those subjected to ischemia/reperfusion (IR) by clamping the thoraco-abdominal aorta; Group 3 (n = 8), melatonin (50 mg kg −1 ) treated; and Group 4 (n = 8), melatonin (50 mg kg −1 ) followed by ischemia. All animals were kept alive for 48 h, and then spinal cord samples were removed. We assayed oxidative damage by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA), apoptosis by measuring activated caspase-3 (using immunoblots) and intrinsic antioxidative capacity by measuring reduced glutathione (GSH) levels in the spinal cord. Results: The results indicated a significant decrease in activity of caspase-3 in SCI animals after treatment with melatonin, as it significantly decreased the formation of MDA and decelerated the loss of GSH. Conclusion: This study suggested that melatonin could be an effective neuroprotective agent for treatment of SCI.

OBJECTIVE:Nerium oleander (Apocynaceae) and Aloe vera (Liliaceae) are among the widely used herbal remedies for treating skin diseases and possess numerous activities such as antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antioxidant. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible wound healing effect of Aloev era-based extract of the N. oleander leaf (NAE-8®) based on its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and DNA repair capacity along with histological changes and to compare them with the traditional silver sulfadiazine treatment (SSD).METHODS:Twenty-four Wistar albino rats were randomly grouped as follows: i) control, ii) burn alone (burn), iii) burn with topical NAE-8® (burn+NAE-8®) treatment, and iv) burn with topical 1% silver sulfadiazine (burn+SSD) treatment. All groups received their related topical application twice a day for 14 consecutive days. Upon completion of the experimental protocol, trunk blood and skin tissues were collected for measuring malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), myeloperoxidase (MPO), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), %DNA in the tail (%DNAT) levels along with histological examinations.RESULTS:Thermal injury-induced alterations in MDA, GSH, MPO, TNF-α, IL-1β, and %DNAT levels were significantly reversed by NAE-8® treatment. These ameliorative effects were also supported by histological findings.CONCLUSION:Findings of the present study suggest that NAE-8® is a promising remedy for treating skin burn injury.