Grzegorz Bazylak

An outbreak of body weight dissatisfaction associated with self-perceived BMI and dieting among female pharmacy students

Some reports indicate that in various groups of society living in the highly developed countries a body weight perception and weight satisfaction tend to be inappropriate when compared with body mass index (BMI) calculated from estimated actual weight and height. Thus in present studies a relationship between body weight perceptions, measured actual BMI, gender, and dieting practices in a sample population of pharmacy students in Poland were examined to verify hypothesis that their incorrect self-perception would provoke occasional, seasonal and permanent eating disorders. Height and weight data of 178 pharmacy students (mean age 22.6+/-2.4 years) in Bydgoszcz, Poland, were collected and validated by completed self-reported questionnaire assessing their self-perceived body weight, desired body weight and past/current dieting practices. Only 34.4% of female and 37.1% of male pharmacy students was satisfied with their current body weight. Statistical analyses revealed significant differences in estimated BMI status (chi(2)=28.5; p=0.0001), desired body weight (chi(2)=15.6; p=0.0004) and past dieting (chi(2)=7.6; p=0.0050) by gender. In the male sub-group of students (n=27) unclear association (chi(2)=6.1; p=0.046) between measured actual BMI status and self-perceived body weight have been presented. Moreover, in male students a significant relationship (chi(2)=4.9; p=0.0261) between actual BMI status and both past as well as current weight control behavior in the form of dieting practices was exhibited. In case of a sub-group of female students (n=151) a diffuse association of actual BMI and self-perception of their body weight (chi(2)=69.5; p=0.0001) was obtained. However, a close relation (chi(2)=16.9; p=0.0007) between actual BMI and only past dieting practices was observed in females. Furthermore, in this last sub-group of students the significant relationship (chi(2)=53.9; p=0.0001) between measured actual BMI and desired body weight was also demonstrated. The study showed an evidence of distorted self-perception of body weight in both sub-groups of considered pharmacy students. There was a tendency to overestimate of body weight in female students, and to underestimate in male students. These results suggest common dissatisfaction of body weight, especially among females, who were more often engaged in dieting, despite not being overweight or obese according to measured actual BMI status.

Proteomic screening of antioxidant effects exhibited by Radix Salvia miltiorrhiza aqueous extract in cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells under homocysteine treatment.

AIM OF THE STUDY Still little is known about the cellular mechanisms that contribute to the attenuated proliferation of aortic smooth muscle cells under the influence of the oxidative stress factors such as homocysteine (Hcy). Thus, we aimed to evaluate whether Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Labiatae), a Chinese medicinal herb widely used in folk medicine for therapy of variety of human cardiovascular disorders would modulate this Hcy promoted growth effect in model animal aortic cells system. MATERIALS AND METHODS The Salvia miltiorrhiza roots aqueous extract (SMAE) containing 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl lactic acid and salvianolic acid B, as confirmed by narrow-bore HPLC analyses with binary gradient elution was used in variable concentrations for the treatment of the rat aortic smooth muscle A10 cells under Hcy stimulation. Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) coupled with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry was applied for the elucidation of protein changes characterizing the response of the rat A10 cells into the Hcy-induced oxidative stress. RESULTS This study showed that a low dose (0.015 mg/mL) of the SMAE significantly inhibited growth (>60%, p<0.05) of the Hcy stimulated rat A10 cells. In addition, concentration of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) obviously decreased in the rat A10 cells after its incubation with SMAE in terms of catalase increasing activity. Next, marked down-regulation of protein kinase C beta-1 (PKC beta-1) and phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase (p-MAPK) expression suggest that observed inhibitory effect of the polyphenol-rich SMAE on the Hcy-induced growth of rat A10 cells was realized via the PKC/p44/42 MAPK-dependent pathway. The intensity changes of 10 protein spots in response of the rat A10 cells to the Hcy-induced oxidative damage as alpha-4-tropomyosin, vimentin, F1F0-ATP synthase (beta subunit), glucose regulated protein 75 (GRP75), actin (fragment), prohibitin, capping protein, plakoglobin, endoplasmic reticulum protein (ERp29), and peptidylprolyl isomerase A (PPIase A), were detected with statistical significance (p<0.05). Meanwhile, it was showed that used here SMAE resist carbonylation of specific cytoskeleton and chaperone proteins as vimentin, alpha-4-tropomyosin and GRP75, respectively, leading to phenotype transformations in the rat A10 cells. CONCLUSION These data suggest that applied here SMAE exerts its protective effect through circulating ROS suppression and subsequent modulation of protein carbonylation in rat aortic smooth muscle A10 cells. Redox-proteomics protocol highlighted in this study may be applicable in facilitating the assessing potential novel molecular therapeutic targets to reduce cardiovascular risk related with elevated Hcy levels in various human populations and elucidating new mechanisms through which protein functions can be regulated by the redox status with the use of naturally occurring antioxidants.

New potential phytotherapeutics obtained from white mulberry ( Morus alba L.) leaves

The present work demonstrates the profound and unique phyto-pharmacological and nutritional profile of white mulberry (Morus alba L.) leaves which containing considerable amounts of easy digestive proteins, carbohydrates, micro- and macronutrients, polyphenols, free amino acids, organic acids. The wide range of significant biopharmaceutical activities of the aqueous and polar organic solvents extracts from mulberry leaves - including antidiabetic, antibacterial, anticancer, cardiovascular, hypolipidemic, antioxidant, antiatherogenic, and anti-inflammatory - have been critically discussed. The main objective was to demonstrate the results of recently published study on the components of white mulberry leaves exhibiting their biological activity in the various pathological and health human ailments. In addition, we intend to drawn the attention of researchers and public health workers for the extended exploration of this deciduous plant leaves as the source of potential indigenous nutraceuticals and functional food products to enable development of alternative prevention and treatment protocols offered in therapy of the common non-communicable diseases and malignances.

Supramolecular Systems-Based HPLC for Chiral Separation of Beta-Adrenergics and Beta-Adrenolytics in Drug Discovery Schemes

Increasing amount of data considering polymorphism, splice variants and various affinity states of beta-adrenoceptors has resulted in a new range of opportunities for enantiopure beta-adrenergic and beta-adrenolytic drug discovery and continuous development of reliable high-throughput screening procedures enabling tissue specific pharmacological evaluation of these drugs. Design and fast pharmacological profiling of single enantiomeric molecules combining beta-adrenoceptor affinity with other pharmacophores is also still challenging ability. As the use of chiral stationary phases in HPLC has particularly benefited from results of supramolecular chemistry, this review summarises recent achievements provided by this technique in deciphering of enatiorecognition phenomena affecting pharmacological selectivity of beta-adrenergics and beta-adrenolytics and modifying the efficiency of currently proposed beta-adrenoceptor-targeted therapies. Detailed characteristic of chiral separation performance of these drugs in the range of available supramolecular HPLC systems has also been presented.

Supramolecular chiro-biomedical assays and enantioselective HPLC analyses for evaluation of profens as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, potential anticancer agents and common xenobiotics.

The permanent world-wide increase in therapeutic administration of racemic profens as easy available non-prescribed analgesic drugs and a common first-choice anti-inflammatory agents was recently linked with renewed interest in their beneficial use, also as enantiopure formulations, to treat and/or prevent a variety of human malignancies including its four major types as colorectal, breast, lung, and prostate cancer. This underlies the continuous need of selecting perfectly suited chiral separation methods of profens capable to determine nanolevels of a distomer in presence of the eutomer in a variety of complex biological and environmental media. Thus, current improvements for direct enantiomeric separations of profens by well defined supramolecular-based chiral HPLC and recently developed monolithic, combinatorial, bimodal and polymeric chiral stationary phases employing a modern supramolecular chirality concepts has been outlined in this review. The use of diverse supramolecular approaches for chiral HPLC as an easy accessible tool enabling fast development of nanoscale enantioselective, high-throughput and gradient screening procedures for in situ monitoring of stereoselective ADME properties of profens in range of anticancer drug discovery technologies has been also addressed.

Proteomic profiling of oxidative stress in human victims of traffic-related injuries after lower limb revascularization and indication for secondary amputation.

Microsurgical replantation and revascularization are frequently performed to salvage devascularized severe lower-extremity fractures in the human victims of road traffic-related injuries. However, some patients require secondary amputation within 1 week of successful revascularization due to tissue necrosis and sepsis. Enhanced efforts to understand the underlying molecular mechanism of such events are needed and should characterized in depth. Thus, functional proteomics were applied in this study to evaluate the role of oxidative stress in acute injury following microsurgery in a set of human subjects surviving serious road traffic accidents. Changes in the levels of protein volume and the accompanying content in protein carbonylation were visualized using two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and immunoblot analysis. Since oxidation of some acute-phase proteins not only causes them to lose their function as antioxidants but also initiates the intracellular stress signaling pathway that regulates cytokine and chemokine responses, how cytokine expression correlated with oxidative stress was also evaluated via protein array assays. It was observed that the growth-regulated oncogene protein family (GRO), the range of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), which are responsible for neutrophil and monocyte aggregation with subsequent cytotoxic effects, were significantly elevated in the plasma of amputees subjects, whilst the level of chemokine recruiting leucocytes into inflammatory sites (RANTES) was diminished in the salvaged group of patients. Our results suggest that severely oxidative injury during revascularization perturbs the normal redox balance and induces carbonylation of specific proteins, thereby activating pro-inflammatory factors leading to severe tissue damage. The dissimilar 2-DE protein and cytokine profiles revealed here might reflect distinct etiologies resulting in oxidative damage to tissues and may serve as pivotal indicators of local necrosis and the subsequent need for secondary amputation of limbs. We believe that the combination of proteomic and cytokine profile results presented in this work offers more reliable information and defines more sophisticated criteria in clinical practice than currently used C-reactive protein levels (CRP) or white blood cells counts (WBC) for predicting secondary amputation requirements in patients requiring limb salvage surgery.

Chlamydophila pneumoniae antibodies may be independently associated with increased BMI and percentage of body fat among women.

Objective:To examine the potential association between Chlamydophila pneumoniae infection and obesity indicators after controlling for nutrient and energy intake, as well as age, smoking status, physical activity and educational level.Subjects:A total of 118 healthy adult females randomly recruited from the local community of Bydgoszcz, aged 20–80 years.Methods:Serum was tested for specific IgG antibodies against C. pneumoniae using qualitative enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Usual dietary intake was assessed by a 7-day food record. Information regarding smoking, physical activity and educational level was collected using the questionnaire. Body mass index (BMI) and percentage of total body fat (%FM) were calculated respectively, as weight (kilograms) divided by height (meters) squared and with the equations of Durnin and Womersley.Results:The prevalence of C. pneumoniae infection was significantly higher among overweight/obese subjects (77.1 vs 60.0%; P=0.047) in comparison with normal-weight individuals. Using multivariate regression analysis, a significant positive association of BMI (β=0.194; P=0.036) and %FM (β=0.176; P=0.049) with C. pneumoniae IgG antibody positivity was found after adjustment for age, total energy intake, percentage of energy from fat, carbohydrate and protein, physical activity, educational level and smoking habits. Moreover, the multivariable adjusted odds ratio of being overweight/obese for the seropositive group compared with seronegative individuals was 1.70 (95% confidence interval: 1.02–2.89; P=0.037).Conclusion:The results indicated that C. pneumoniae infection may be associated with a risk of becoming overweight/developing obesity independently of dietary and lifestyle factors.

Nanostructured Glasses Based on Hybrid Silica Materials Incorporating a New Asymmetrical Phenyl-Substituted Porphyrin

The new asymmetrical, phenyl substituted porphyrin structure, namely: 5,10,15-tris(3-hydroxy-phenyl)-20- (3,4-dimethoxy-phenyl)-21H,23H-porphyrin, along with the nanostructured glasses and silica-based nanoparticles embedded with this compound were synthetized and characterized as to be designated for potential use in construction of advanced optoelectronic devices or electrochemical sensors. This porphyrin was synthesized by a multicomponent Adler- Longo type reaction using two different substituted aldehydes, and next characterized by HPLC, TLC, MS, UV-vis, fluorescence spectroscopy, AFM, 1 H-NMR and 13 C-NMR analysis. The observed changes in UV-vis and emission spectra were also discussed in terms of various pH conditions. The series of novel porphyrin-silica nanomaterials have been prepared by using silica matrices obtained in two variable sol-gel processes, i.e. via the one step acid- or two steps acid- base-catalyzed hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethylorthosilicate. Especially, the hybrid monolithic glass nanomaterials obtained here via the one step acid-sol-gel procedure exhibited a high intensity of the emission spectra bands and, besides, a very sharp bathochromic shift in the red region towards 723 nm, thus making also these nanoparticles as the valuable source of potential second generation photosensitizers. In the atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements this hybrid nanomaterials displayed the spherical and highly monodispersed particles of ultra low size (less than 70 nm and with an average height of 20 nm), controlled shape, high porosity, and superior stability as the potential water-insoluble photosensitizers.

A novel potentiometric approach for detection of beta-adrenergics and beta-adrenolytics in high-performance liquid chromatography

Potentiometric approach enabling sensitive and reliable detection for a series of 20 autonomic beta-adrenergic ligands with the use of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) based liquid membrane electrode coatings in the normal-bore cation exchange HPLC and narrow-bore reversed phase HPLC system is presented. It was found that in both kinds of HPLC modes with a contemporary hybrid polymer-silica packings an application of electrodes containing a tetrakis(p-chlorophenyl)borate (TCPB) gives limits of detection below to 8.0x10(-7) mol l(-1) (injected concentrations). In case of highly hydrophobic beta-adrenergic drugs the use of binary aqueous mobile phases with high concentrations of acetonitrile (up to 25% v/v) shifting an observable detection limits (DL) down to 2.0x10(-8) mol l(-1), especially for electrodes with addition of trioctylated alpha-cyclodextrin. The characteristics of developed potentiometric detectors was established by proposed a quantitative structure-potentiometric response relationships (QSPRRs) for a series of diversified beta-adrenergic compounds and for a set of the PVC based electrodes using TCPB alone as well as in combination with trioctylated alpha-cyclodextrin, dibenzo-18-crown-6, or calix[6]arene hexaethylester as the neutral macrocycle ionophore. A highly significant QSPRRs equations were obtained leading to reasonable prediction of the DL of specified electrodes in terms of the computationally derived set of molecular descriptors of beta-adrenergics and beta-blocking agents and similar amino alcohol type xenobiotics.

In Situ Arrangement of Supramolecules Throughout Direct Separation of Carbuterol Enantiomers in RP-HPLC System with Helical Additives in Mobile Phase

ABSTRACT The underivatized enantiomers of carbuterol, chemically known as [5-[2-[(1, 1-dimethylethyl)amino]-1-hydroxyethyl]-2hydroxyphenyl]urea, an isoprenaline like oral β 2 -adrenoceptor agonist widely used as bronchodilator, have been separated in chiral RP-HPLC isocratic system employing a conventional octadecylsilica packed column and chiral, helically self-assembled, neutral, coordinatively unsaturated chelate (-)(M)(λ, Λ)-[4,4′-(1S)-methyl-(2R)-propylethane-diyldiimino)bis(pent-3-en-2-onato)nickel(II) as the chiral selector in the mobile phase comprising acetonitrile-sodium acetate solution. The changes in observed enantioselectivity and resolution of carbuterol stereoisomers caused by organic modifier concentration or chiral selector adsorption were investigated. The formation of hydrogen bonded supramolecules by involving three molecules of the helically self-assembled chiral selector and a single molecule of individual enantiomer of carbuterol have been suggested. Hybridized orientation of inter...