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The present study was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity, and acute toxicity of Moroccan Erica arborea leaves.Antioxidant capacity was assessed by diphenyle-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH), phosphomolybdate (PPM) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) tests and anti-inflammatory capacity was evaluated by hind paw oedema model using carrageenan-induced inflammation in rat. The acute toxicity was evaluated using mice.Acute toxicity of ethanolic extract of E. arborea showed no sign of toxicity at dose of 5 g/kg B.W. Our extracts have important antioxidant properties. The efficient concentration of the ethanolic extract (10.22 μg/ml) required for decreasing initial DPPH concentration by 50% was comparable to that of standard solution butyl-hydroxy-toluene (BHT) (8.87 μg/ml). The administration of ethanolic extract at doses of 200 and 400mg/kg B.W. was able to prevent plantar oedema and exhibited a significant inhibition against carrageenan-induced inflammation when compared to the control group (NaCl 0.9%) but comparable to those of diclofenac (reference drug).Our results show that the leaves of E. arborea may contain some bioactive compounds which are responsible for the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities observed here. Our finding may indicate the possibility of using the extracts of this plant to prevent the antioxidant and inflammatory processes.

Energy is an essential factor regarding the economic development and for providing a high standard of living to the population of any country. Because energy is produced mainly using classic fuels (coal, oil and gas) for a few decades there are signals regarding their exhaustion. Therefore, mankind should concern more about finding viable alternatives to replace the classical fuels. This way the use of nuclear fuels appeared, then the force of the wind, of the tides and of the photovoltaic cells. However, there are still enough energy resources for further growth of the global energy production. The great consumers are both the major energy producers, only their hierarchy has changed and changes over time. The paper presents all these countries, and also Romania, including its specific developments in recent years.

The risk of developing a tumor of the nervous system in humans is analysed in several studies of populations, exposed to ionising radiation for medical reasons, or exposed to military or occupational radiation. The main data come from series of patients who underwent radiotherapy during childhood: a high incidence of tumors of the nervous system is found after irradiation of one to a few grays as treatment of a benign disease (especially tinea capitis), as well as after irradiation at higher doses of a few tens of grays for the treatment of cancer (in particular cerebral irradiation in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia). The type of radiation-induced tumors is variable, but meningioma is more frequent after low doses and glioma and sarcoma after higher doses used in the treatment of neoplastic diseases. A dose-effect relationship appeared between the risk of tumor of the nervous system and the radiation dose. The risk was higher when radiation was delivered at a younger age. Much less data are available after radiotherapy in the adulthood, but an increased risk of cerebral tumor appears in the series of ankylosing spondylitis patients. As for the exposures to radiodiagnosis exams, the main problem is the risk of cerebral tumor in children whose mother has undergone abdominal or pelvic X-rays during pregnancy. No risk of neurologic tumor was found in the A-bomb survivors irradiated at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Occupational exposure to ionising radiation has been incriminated in the first radiologists exposed to high doses. In nuclear industry workers, the results of epidemiological studies are contradictory and at the present time it is not possible to link their radiologic exposure with a risk of tumor of the nervous system. In populations living near nuclear plants, mortality due to tumors of the nervous system was not increased.

We have studied the hyperglycemic effect of glucagon (20 microgram/kg) and adrenaline (5 microgram/kg/mn/3 mn) on the rat subjected to a subacute alcoholic intoxication (6,4 g/kg by day during 12 days). The hyperglycemic action of the glucagon is increased while that of the adrenaline slightly decreased. So, the alcoholic intoxication allows to dissociate the both mechanisms of the glycogenolytic action of both hormones. Two hypothesis are brought forward in the discussion.

With over 70,000 patients treated worldwide, protontherapy has an evolution on their clinical applications and technological developments. The ballistic advantage of the Bragg peak gives the possibility of getting a high conformation of the dose distribution to the target volume. Protontherapy has accumulated a considerable experience in the management of selected rare malignancies such as uveal melanomas and base of the skull chordomas and chondrosarcomas. The growing interest for exploring new and more common conditions, such as prostate, lung, liver, ENT, breast carcinomas, as well as the implementation of large pediatric programs advocated by many experts has been challenged up to now by the limited access to operational proton facilities, and by the relatively slow pace of technical developments in terms of ion production, beam shaping and modelling, on-line verification etc. One challenge today is to deliver dynamic techniques with intensity modulation in clinical facilities as a standard treatment. We concentrate in this paper on the evolution of clinical indications as well as the potentialities of new technological concepts on ion production, such as dielectric walls and laser-plasma interactions. While these concepts could sooner or later translate into prototypes of highly compact equipments that would make easier the implantation of cost-effective hospital-based facilities, the feasibility of their clinical use must still be proved.

Acute alcohol ingestion can induce drug interactions, either pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic. Metabolically, they especially result from interference in the enzymatic systems which catalyse ethanol oxidation, the blocking of alcohol dehydrogenase, blocking of the microsomal oxidation system of ethanol with accumulation of the xenobiotic and risk of overdose, and blocking of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase with an antabuse effect. Pharmacodynamically, the main interactions result from the action of drugs having a sedative effect, such as tranquilizers but also antidepressants, neuroleptics, analgesics, H1 antihistamines, central antihypertensive drugs (CNS depressant?), etc. This sedative effect is increased by ethanol, which can be dangerous in at-risk situations.

Serum concentrations of psychotropic drugs were measured in 363 drivers injured in road accidents and admitted to the emergency department of Angers regional university hospital. The figures obtained were correlated to the presumed responsibility of each driver in the accident. Benzodiazepines and phenobarbitone were found in the serum of 39 drivers, and responsibility was significantly increased in this group. The role played by these medicines in road accidents has often been alluded to in the literature, but the value of these previous studies was limited by the lack of quantitative assays. Measuring serum concentrations has permitted a more accurate analysis of the relationship between responsibility for road accident and consumption of psychotropic drugs, including barbiturates. This has prompted the authors to organize a regional information campaign intended for the general public and doctors and aimed at drawing attention to the higher risk of accident among road users taking these drugs.

Epidemiological studies have shown the role of alcohol in esophageal cancer in the West of France. Experiments were undertaken on Wistar rats to study the effect of locally consumed alcoholic beverages on the esophagus. Neither histological modifications, precancerous lesions nor cancer were observed in the animals. There was no significant excess of benign or malignant tumours in treated animals when compared with controls.

Early and appropriate treatment of acute pancreatitis (AP) depends on early causal diagnosis. Published studies have shown favourable results following sphincterotomy performed within the 72 hours of onset of severe gallstone-associated AP. Among the various bio-clinical indices, the lipase/amylase (L/A) ratio, computed within 72 hours after onset, has been shown to discriminate between alcoholic and non alcoholic AP. Our study evaluates the data of biochemical disorders in 51 patients presenting with an episode of AP; these patients were divided into 3 groups: A: alcoholic AP, n = 15; B: biliary AP, n = 25; and C: post-ERCP AP, n = 11. These 3 groups were similar with respect to clinical severity of AP and CT scan. The time delays between onset of the symptoms and the biochemical assay were 1.9 +/- 0.3, 1.9 +/- 0.2 and 0.6 +/- 0.3 d (P < 0.01). AST, ALT, bilirubin, GGT and alkaline phosphatase were significantly (P < 0.05) greater in group B. Blamey's score was 0.5 +/- 0.2, 2.8 +/- 0.2 and 2.5 +/- 0.4 in groups A, B and C respectively. Serum amylase, serum lipase and L/A ratio were identical in groups A and B. The decrease in serum amylase after 48 hours was more important only in group B (56 +/- 8, 80 +/- 4, 47 +/- 3% respectively in groups A, B and C). L/A ratio was significantly greater in group C when compared with group A and B (1.7 +/- 0.4, 1.5 +/- 0.2 and 2.2 +/- 0.3 in groups A, B and C respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Hepatocellular carcinoma has as poor prognosis. Curative surgical treatment remains the first-line treatment. However, because of the limited indications and the high recurrence rate of this cancer, nonsurgical treatments have been developed. Intraarterial chemotherapy (with or without embolization or lipiodol), although effective on tumour bulk, has not yet been demonstrated to be effective on survival in the controlled studies published to date. Ultrasound-guided percutaneous alcohol injection, which is a more recent method, is simple, inexpensive and well tolerated. The inclusion of patients into controlled therapeutic protocols remains essential for both of these methods. Outside of the context of these studies, inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma without extrahepatic metastases can be treated by chemo-embolization in the case of unilobar tumours, without portal thrombosis, or major hepatocellular insufficiency or renal failure, and by alcohol injection in the case of small tumours, limited in number, without any serious clotting disorders or abundant ascites. When these two methods are contraindicated, endocrine therapy by tamoxifen remains an alternative to symptomatic treatment. In contrast, external beam radiotherapy, systemic chemotherapy and intraarterial chemotherapy without Lipiodol or embolization are no longer indicated. Finally, internal radiotherapy by intraarterial injection of lipiodol radioactive iodine is currently under evaluation.