Novel nutraceutical supplements with yeast β-glucan, prebiotics, minerals, and Silybum marianum (silymarin) ameliorate obesity-related metabolic and clinical parameters: A double-blind randomized trial

Purpose

It is known that obesity has a multifactorial etiology that involves genetic and environmental factors. The WHO estimates the worldwide prevalence of 1.9 billion overweight adults and more than 650 million people with obesity. These alarming data highlight the high and growing prevalence of obesity and represent a risk factor for the development and aggravation of other chronic diseases, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) that is frequently considered the hepatic outcome of type 2 diabetes. The use of non-pharmacological therapies such as food supplements, nutraceuticals, and natural integrative therapies has grown as an alternative tool for obesity-related diseases compared to conventional medications. However, it is a still little explored research field and lacks scientific evidence of therapeutic effectiveness. Considering this, the aim is to evaluate whether a new nutraceutical supplement composition can improve and supply essential mineral nutrients, providing an improvement of obesity-related metabolic and endocrine parameters.

Methods

Sedentary volunteers (women and men) with body mass index (BMI) ≤34.9 kg/m2 were divided into two groups: Novel Nutraceutical Supplement_(S) (n = 30) and Novel Nutraceutical Supplement (n = 29), differing in the absence (S) or presence of silymarin, respectively. Volunteers were instructed to take two capsules in the morning and two capsules in the evening. No nutritional intervention was performed during the study period. The data (anthropometrics and anamneses) and harvest blood (biochemistry and hormonal exams) were collected at three different time points: baseline time [day 0 (T0)], day 90 (T90), and day 180 (T180) post-supplementation.

Results

In the anthropometric analysis, the waist circumference in middle abdomen (WC-mid) and waist circumference in iliac crest (WC-IC) were reduced. Also, the waist-to-height ratio (WHt R) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) seem to slightly decrease alongside the supplementation period with both nutraceutical supplements tested as well as transaminase enzyme ratio [aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio (AAR)], a known as a biomarker of NAFLD, and endocrine hormones cortisol and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) at 90 and 180 days post-supplementation.

Conclusions

In a condition associated with sedentary and no nutritional intervention, the new nutraceutical supplement composition demonstrated the ability to be a strong and newfangled tool to improve important biomarkers associated with obesity and its comorbidities.

Fostering emotional self-regulation in female teachers at the public teaching network: A mindfulness-based intervention improving psychological measures and inflammatory biomarkers

OBJECTIVE

To examine the effect of a mindfulness-based program specifically designed for teachers in reducing perceived stress and improving the quality of experienced emotion in female active working teachers. A second outcome evaluated is the associated change in cellular inflammatory activity, measured by peripheral blood levels of cytokines.

METHOD

Eighty-eight female active teachers from public schools from São Paulo Municipality were recruited, and randomly allocated to an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Health Program for Educators (MBHP-Educa) or to Neuroscience for Education Program (Neuro-Educa: active control group). The venue of both programs were several public school facilities, where many of the teachers actually worked. Both groups received activities during eight weeks in a 2 ​h/week regimen, totalizing 16 ​h. Sixty-five participants completed the program and pre- and post-interventions measures were taken from the following scales: Interpersonal Multidimensional Reactivity Scale (IRI), Positive-and-Negative Affects Scale (PANAS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and a primary outcome in Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scale (PBWS). At pre-and post-intervention, blood samples were collected for the measurement of several important inflammatory biomarkers, Tumor Necrosis Factor - α (TNF-α), Interleukin 1β (IL-1β), Interleukin 6 (IL-6), Interleukin 8 (IL-8), Interleukin 10 (IL-10) and Interleukin 12p70 (IL-12P70) through flow cytometry assay. Intervention effects were analyzed via Generalized mixed models (GLMM).

RESULTS

According to the GLMM, MBHP-Educa significantly reduced the scores of perceived stress (p ​< ​0.0001), and negative affect (p ​< ​0.0001) compared to active control group (Neuro-Educa). Conversely, an increase was observed on Psychological Well Being Scale in dimensions of Self-acceptance (p ​< ​0.0001), and Autonomy (p ​= ​0.001), as well as improvements in Resilience (p ​< ​0.0001), and Positive Affect (p ​< ​0.0001). MBHP-Educa also promoted a reduction in the levels of IL-6 (p ​= ​0.003), IL-8 (p ​= ​0.036), and increase in the levels of IL-10 (p ​< ​0.0001) and IL-12p70 (p ​< ​0.044). TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-10p70 showed results below theoretical limit of detection accepted for CBA kit.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that mindfulness-based interventions introduced as a strategy for reducing stress, promoting well-being and improve immune function can be a useful asset in promoting psychological health among teachers in Basic Education.

Mindfulness meditation training effects on quality of life, immune function and glutathione metabolism in service healthy female teachers: A randomized pilot clinical trial

BACKGROUND

Despite the crucial role of educators in encourage students' academic learning, addressing educator stress inside the classroom remains a significant challenge in the educational context. Mindfulness Meditation training (MM) has been recommended as an environmental enrichment strategy in schools to help teachers cope with stress and cultivating a state of awareness in daily life. Although studies have shown that MM can improve immune system dynamics the biological mechanism underlying glutathione metabolism in a healthy human is unclear.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine whether MM training benefits psychological and behavioral response, immunological functions and glutathione metabolism in service healthy female teachers from public schools.

METHODS

We randomly assigned 76 teachers to an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Health Program for Educators (MBHPEduca) or Neuroscience for Education program (Neuro-Educa; active control group). Using the quality of life as our primary outcome, perceived stress, negative affectivity, and resilience as our secondary outcome, and pro-inflammatory cytokines and glutathione levels as our third outcome at baseline and post-intervention that occurred in public schools. Blood samples were collected for the measurement of three proinflammatory markers, including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) and three GSH metabolism, including Cysteine (Cys), Homocysteine (HCys) and GSH were conducted at pre-and post-intervention, with selfreported assessments over time. Treatment effects were analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEE) with to intention to treat.

RESULTS

We observed statistically significant improvements to the MBHP-Educa group compared to active control in perceived stress, resilience, positive and negative affect, and quality of life after 8-weeks MM (p ​< ​0.0001). Further, the MBHP-Educa group exhibited lower circulating IL-6 production accompanied by high circulating GSH, and Cys (p ​< ​0.0001). Additional analyses indicated that enhancing quality of life through mindfulness meditation training was mediated by reducing perceived stress and serum levels of IL- 6 and increasing resilience and teachers 'plasma GSH levels.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study is a pilot trial with low-power and provides preliminary evidence that mindfulness meditation training help teachers to cope with stress in the school environment with an impact on the quality of life, immune function, and glutathione metabolism.

Nitro-Heterocyclic compounds induce apoptosis-like effects in Leishmania (L). amazonensis promastigotes

Background

Three drugs - pentavalent antimonials, amphotericin B and pentamidine - are currently used for leishmaniasis treatment. They are administered for long periods, only parenterally, and have high cardiac, renal and hepatic toxicities. Therefore, the investigation of new compounds is required. Nitro-heterocyclic derivatives have been used as possible drug candidates to treat diseases caused by trypanosomatids.

Methods

Leishmania (L.) amazonensis promastigotes (MHO/BR/73/M2269), maintained in the Laboratório de Soroepidemiologia - Instituto de Medicina Tropical- USP, were exposed to five nitroheterocyclic derivatives, with differences at phenyl-ring position 4: BSF-C₄H₉, BSF-H, BSF-NO₂, BSF-CH₃ and BSF-Cl, for 48 hours. After analyzing viability (MTT assay), we evaluated cellular-morphology activity of compounds by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and measurement of apoptosis (phosphatidylserine expression) by flow cytometry.

Results

EC₅₀ of amphotericin B and BSF-CH₃ were 0.50 (M and 0.39 (M respective. Other nitro-heterocyclic compounds presented EC₅₀ higher than amphotericin B. All compounds showed greater AV- and PI-positive expression than amphotericin B at 100 (M, except BSF-NO₂. TEM showed complete nuclear disfigurement with 100 (M of BSF-NO₂, 25 and 6.25 (M of BSF-H, and 6.25 (M BSF-Cl; presence of vesicles within the flagellar pocket with 25 (M BSF-H; alteration of the kinetoplast with 25 (M BSF-C₄H₉, 25 (M of BSF-H, 6.25 (M BSF-CH₃ and 6.25 (M of BSF-Cl.

Conclusions

Nitro-heterocyclic compounds have shown activity against promastigotes of L. amazonensis, at lower concentrations. However, improvement of compound scaffolds are needed to assist the elucidation of the mechanism of action and to achieve greater activity.

Investigating the structure-activity relationships of N'-[(5-nitrofuran-2-yl) methylene] substituted hydrazides against Trypanosoma cruzi to design novel active compounds

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is a neglected chronic tropical infection endemic in Latin America. New and effective treatments are urgently needed because the two available drugs - benznidazole (BZD) and nifurtimox (NFX) - have limited curative power in the chronic phase of the disease. We have previously reported the design and synthesis of N'-[(5-nitrofuran-2-yl) methylene] substituted hydrazides that showed high trypanocidal activity against axenic epimastigote forms of three T. cruzi strains. Here we show that these compounds are also active against a BZD- and NFX-resistant strain. Herein, multivariate approaches (hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis) were applied to a set of thirty-six formerly characterized compounds. Based on the findings from exploratory data analysis, novel compounds were designed and synthesized. These compounds showed two-to three-fold higher trypanocidal activity against epimastigote forms than the previous set and were 25-30-fold more active than BZD. Their activity was also evaluated against intracellular amastigotes by high content screening (HCS). The most active compounds (BSF-38 to BSF-40) showed a selective index (SI') greater than 200, in contrast to the SI' values of reference drugs (NFX, 16.45; BZD, > 3), and a 70-fold greater activity than BZD. These findings indicate that nitrofuran compounds designed based on the activity against epimastigote forms show promising trypanocidal activity against intracellular amastigotes, which correspond to the predominant parasite stage in the chronic phase of Chagas disease.

Novel capsaicin analogues as potential anticancer agents: synthesis, biological evaluation, and in silico approach

A novel class of benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-ylmethyl alkyl/aryl amide and ester analogues of capsaicin were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against human and murine cancer cell lines (B16F10, SK-MEL-28, NCI-H1299, NCI-H460, SK-BR-3, and MDA-MB-231) and human lung fibroblasts (MRC-5). Three compounds (5f, 6c, and 6e) selectively inhibited the growth of aggressive cancer cells in the micromolar (µM) range. Furthermore, an exploratory data analysis pointed at the topological and electronic molecular properties as responsible for the discrimination process regarding the set of investigated compounds. The findings suggest that the applied designing strategy, besides providing more potent analogues, indicates the aryl amides and esters as well as the alkyl esters as interesting scaffolds to design and develop novel anticancer agents.

Ligand-based design, synthesis, and experimental evaluation of novel benzofuroxan derivatives as anti-Trypanosoma cruzi agents

A set of substituted-[N'-(benzofuroxan-5-yl)methylene]benzohydrazides (4a-t), previously designed and synthesized, was experimentally assayed against Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas' disease, one of the most neglected tropical diseases. Exploratory data analysis, Hansch approach and VolSurf formalism were applied to aid the ligand-based design of novel anti-T. cruzi agents. The best 2D-QSAR model showed suitable statistical measures [n = 18; s = 0.11; F = 42.19; R(2) = 0.90 and Q(2) = 0.77 (SDEP = 0.15)], and according to the optimum 3D-QSAR model [R(2) = 0.98, Q(2) = 0.93 (SDEP = 0.08)], three latent variables explained 62% of the total variance from original data. Steric and hydrophobic properties were pointed out as the key for biological activity. Based upon the findings, six novel benzofuroxan derivatives (4u-z) were designed, synthesized, and in vitro assayed to perform the QSAR external prediction. Then, the predictability for the both models, 2D-QSAR (Rpred(2) = 0.91) and 3D-QSAR (Rpred(2) = 0.77), was experimentally validated, and compound 4u was identified as the most active anti-T. cruzi hit (IC50 = 3.04 μM).