The anti-inflammatory effects of urolithins at concentrations that are physiologically relevant for gut tissues (≥40 μM), as revealed in this study, support the data from in vivo studies showing the beneficial effects of ellagitannin-rich products toward intestinal inflammation.

Potassium is an essential mineral which plays major roles for the resting membrane potential and the intracellular osmolarity. In addition, for several years, it has been known that potassium also affects endothelial and vascular smooth muscle functions and it has been repeatedly shown that an increase in potassium intake shifts blood pressure to a more preferable level. Meanwhile, the blood pressure lowering effects of potassium were presented in several intervention trials and summarized in a handful of meta-analyses. Furthermore, accumulating epidemiological evidence from, especially, the last decade relates low dietary potassium intake or serum potassium levels to an increased risk for insulin resistance or diabetes. However, intervention trials are required to confirm this association. So, in addition to reduction of sodium intake, increasing dietary potassium intake may positively affect blood pressure and possibly also glucose metabolism in many populations. This concise review not only summarizes the studies linking potassium to blood pressure and diabetes but also discusses potential mechanisms involved, like vascular smooth muscle relaxation and endothelium-dependent vasodilation or stimulation of insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells, respectively.

1 In this study, we investigated the e ect of Panax ginseng root aqueous extracts upon inducible nitric oxide synthesis in RAW 264.7 cells. Panax ginseng root extract has been used in the Asian world for centuries as a traditional herb to enhance physical strength and resistance and is becoming more and more popular in Europe and North America. 2 Incubation of murine macrophages (RAW 264.7 cells) with increasing amounts of aqueous extracts of Panax ginseng (0.05 ± 0.8 mg ml 71 ) showed a dose dependent stimulation of inducible nitric oxide synthesis. 3 Polysaccharides isolated from Panax ginseng showed strong stimulation of inducible nitric oxide synthesis, whereas a triterpene-enriched fraction from an aqueous extract of Panax ginseng did not show any stimulation. 4 Inducible nitric oxide synthase protein expression was enhanced in a dose dependent manner as revealed by immunoblotting when cells were incubated with increasing amounts of Panax ginseng extract. This was associated with an incline in inducible nitric oxide synthase mRNA-levels as determined by semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction and electromobility shift assay studies indicated enhanced nuclear factor-kB DNA binding activity. 5 As nitric oxide plays an important role in immune function, Panax ginseng treatment could modulate several aspects of host defense mechanisms due to stimulation of the inducible nitric oxide synthase.

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We have introduced echocardiography into the physiology courses for medical students to improve their understanding of cardiac physiology. Echocardiography allows a visualization of the events of the cardiac cycle and facilitates the correlation of anatomic structures with their physiological functions. The students record views on the human heart in the long and short axis, they follow wall and value motions, and they interpret the obtained data in correlation with electrocardiography and phonocardiography. Echocardiography offers the opportunity to measure the interval of isovolumetric contraction and isovolumetric relaxation and permits the calculation of parameters assigned to left ventricular contractility. An evaluation showed that medical students consider echocardiography to be the most significant and interesting part of the physiology courses. In conclusion, echocardiography has been shown to be a valuable tool for teaching cardiac physiology.