Spectral analyses of fresh and dry Hypericum perforatum L. Effects with colloidal nano silver 30 ppm

Spectral analyses of 1% water extracts of fresh and dry Hypericum perforatum L. and 1% dry H. perforatum with colloidal nano silver (NSPs) 30 ppm were conducted. The nano silver is standardised and patented by the Swiss company Evodrop. Non-equliblrium energy spectrum (NES) and Differential non-equliblrium energy spectrum (DNES) methods were used for the spectral analysis. A comparative analysis of 1% extracts of fresh and dry H. perforatum was performed in order to determine the local extremums for effects of nerve tissue conductivity at (-0.1112) eV, anti-inflammatory (-0.1212) eV, anti-tumor effects (-0.1387) eV. The results showed stimulating effect on the nervous system and improvement of nerve conduction (local extremums E=-0.1112 eV)(?=11.15 ?m) (?=897 cm-1), as well as anti-inflammatory effect (E = -0.1212 eV)( ?=10.23 ?m) (?=978 cm-1) and inhibition of development of tumor cells at a molecular level (E=-0.1387 eV) (?=8.95 ?m) (?=1117 cm-1). It was found that clusters of 16 and 15 water molecules are formed in the water herbal extracts of fresh H. perforatum and of dry H. perforatum with AgNPs 30 ppm. The fresh plant showed better results then the dry one. The addition of colloidal nano silver 30 ppm led to better results of the drug.

Sex Differences in Drug-Induced Arrhythmogenesis

The electrical activity in the heart varies significantly between men and women and results in a sex-specific response to drugs. Recent evidence suggests that women are more than twice as likely as men to develop drug-induced arrhythmia with potentially fatal consequences. Yet, the sex-specific differences in drug-induced arrhythmogenesis remain poorly understood. Here we integrate multiscale modeling and machine learning to gain mechanistic insight into the sex-specific origin of drug-induced cardiac arrhythmia at differing drug concentrations. To quantify critical drug concentrations in male and female hearts, we identify the most important ion channels that trigger male and female arrhythmogenesis, and create and train a sex-specific multi-fidelity arrhythmogenic risk classifier. Our study reveals that sex differences in ion channel activity, tissue conductivity, and heart dimensions trigger longer QT-intervals in women than in men. We quantify the critical drug concentration for dofetilide, a high risk drug, to be seven times lower for women than for men. Our results emphasize the importance of including sex as an independent biological variable in risk assessment during drug development. Acknowledging and understanding sex differences in drug safety evaluation is critical when developing novel therapeutic treatments on a personalized basis. The general trends of this study have significant implications on the development of safe and efficacious new drugs and the prescription of existing drugs in combination with other drugs.

Radiofrequency Thermoablation On Ex Vivo Animal Tissues: Changes on Isolated Swine Thyroids

The use of Radiofrequency thermoablation (RFA) for treating large thyroid nodules is limited by the modest efficiency of the available systems in terms of volume of the ablation zones (AZs). This increases the risk of incomplete ablation of the nodule. Systems employing perfused electrodes have been developed to increase the volume of the AZ. Aim of this study is to compare the size of the AZ induced by RFA systems using internally cooled perfused vs. non-perfused electrodes in swine thyroids. RFAs were performed on 40 freshly isolated swine thyroids using both systems. The perfused system was tested using 0.9% saline, 7% and 18% hypertonic saline solutions. Energy delivery to the tissue was stopped when tissue conductivity dropped (real life simulations) and after an established time of 20 seconds (controlled duration). Following RFA, thyroids were transversally and longitudinally cut. Photographs were taken for macroscopic morphometry of the ablated zones before and after formalin fixation, to evaluate tissue shrinkage. Microscopic morphometry was performed on PAS stained sections. In real life simulation experiments, gross morphometry revealed that AZs produced with electrodes perfused using 7.0% saline are larger compared to isotonic saline. Microscopically, all the conditions tested using the perfused system produced larger AZs compared to non-perfused system after 20 seconds of RFA. In conclusion, the perfusion with 7.0% NaCl solution increased the electrical conductivity of the tissue in real life simulations, resulting in larger ablated areas compared to the use of isotonic saline.

A four-point measurement probe for brain tissue conductivity and permittivity characterization

We present a measurement probe consisting of four platinum electrodes fused into soda-lime glass. The probe is based on a four-terminal sensing technique that uses separate pairs of current-carrying and voltage-sensing electrodes and performs more accurate measurements than the simpler and more usual two-terminal sensing technique. The electrodes are aranged within an area of 1 mm2 allowing for local characterization of different brain tissues. The operation of the probe is demonstrated in situ on post mortem porcine brain tissue by measuring the impedance spectra of grey and white matter in a frequency range of 1 kHz < f < 1 MHz. The conductivity and relative permittivity are derived from the impedance spectra using the geometry factor of the probe. The geometry factor is obtained experimentally by measuring the impedances of an electrolytical dilution series with known conductivities. The obtained conductivity of grey matter is in the order of 0.11 S/m and of white matter is in the order of 0.07 S/m over the acquired frequency range.

Structured Water: effects on animals

This review focuses on the effects of structured water on animals when it is consumed on a daily basis. Structured water is liquid water that is given altered H-bonding structure by treatment with various forms of energy including magnetic fields and light. While most of the research has been conducted on ‘magnetized’ water, which has structure of short duration, recent research has examined effects of a structured water with stability of at least 3.5 months. A variety of laboratory and farm animals have been studied over the past twenty years. Consistent (three or more studies) responses amongst animals consuming structured water for one month or more include increased rate of growth, reduced markers of oxidative stress, improved glycemic and insulinemic responses in diabetics, improved blood lipid profile, improved semen and spermatozoa quality, and increased tissue conductivity as measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis. While it is known that fluids in and around cells and molecules are structured, it remains unknown if this endogenous water structuring is influenced by drinking structured waters. The mechanisms by which structured water affects biological systems are unknown and require investigation. Effects of structured water, when taken up by biological systems, are likely associated with altered water structuring around biological surfaces, such as proteins and membranes.

Conductivity Variation during Irreversible Electroporation

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is an emerging tumour ablation technique, which utilizes non thermoelectric pulse to ablate tumours. Compared with the common tumour treatment methods, e.g., surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, IRE has advantages of short action time, no massive bleeding of tissue during ablation, avoiding heat sink effect, etc. However, the process of IRE will be affected by the distribution of E-field of the tissue. The major factors which affect E-field distribution are parameters of the electrical pulse and characteristics of the tissue, e.g., the conductivity of the tissue. We utilized the finite element analysis software COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4 to calculate the variation in liver tissue conductivity during IRE. In this study, there is a Low-Voltage High-Frequency (LVHF) pulse involves 3500 unipolar and bipolar pulses, and a High-Voltage Low-Frequency (HVLF) pulse involves eight unipolar and bipolar pulses. The results show that the conductivity change of the HVLF pulse is higher than that of the LVHF pulse due to the higher strength of E-field. The most important conclusion is that the LVHF pulse can only change the tissue conductivity near the electrode tip. The HVLF pulse will significantly change the conductivity in the tissue between the electrodes.

Brain Tissue Conductivity Measurements with MR-Electrical Properties Tomography: An In Vivo Study

First in vivo brain conductivity reconstructions using Helmholtz MR-Electrical Properties Tomography (MR-EPT) have been published. However, a large variation in the reconstructed conductivity values is reported and these values differ from ex vivo conductivity measurements. Given this lack of agreement, we performed an in vivo study on eight healthy subjects to provide reference in vivo brain conductivity values. MR-EPT reconstructions were performed at 3 T for eight healthy subjects. Mean conductivity and standard deviation values in the white matter, gray matter and cerebrospinal fluid (σWM, σGM, and σCSF) were computed for each subject before and after erosion of regions at tissue boundaries, which are affected by typical MR-EPT reconstruction errors. The obtained values were compared to the reported ex vivo literature values. To benchmark the accuracy of in vivo conductivity reconstructions, the same pipeline was applied to simulated data, which allow knowledge of ground truth conductivity. Provided sufficient boundary erosion, the in vivo σWM and σGM values obtained in this study agree for the first time with literature values measured ex vivo. This could not be verified for the CSF due to its limited spatial extension. Conductivity reconstructions from simulated data verified conductivity reconstructions from in vivo data and demonstrated the importance of discarding voxels at tissue boundaries. The presented σWM and σGM values can therefore be used for comparison in future studies employing different MR-EPT techniques.