Aluminium may have an important role in the aetiology/pathogenesis/precipitation of Alzheimer's disease. Because green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) reportedly has health‐promoting effects in the central nervous system, we evaluated the effects of green tea leaf extract (GTLE) on aluminium chloride (AlCl3) neurotoxicity in rats. All solutions were injected into the cornu ammonis region 1 hippocampal region. We measured the performance of active avoidance (AA) tasks, various enzyme activities and total glutathione content (TGC) in the forebrain cortex (FbC), striatum, basal forebrain (BFb), hippocampus, brain stem and cerebellum. AlCl3 markedly reduced AA performance and activities of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in all regions. It decreased TGC in the FbC, striatum, BFb, hippocampus, brain stem and cerebellum, and increased superoxide dismutase activity in the FbC, cerebellum and BFb. GTLE pretreatment completely reversed the damaging effects of AlCl3 on AA and superoxide dismutase activity, markedly corrected COX and AChE activities, and moderately improved TGC. GTLE alone increased COX and AChE activities in almost all regions. GTLE reduces AlCl3 neurotoxicity probably via antioxidative effects and improves mitochondrial and cholinergic synaptic functions through the actions of (−)‐epigallocatechin gallate and (−)‐epicatechin, compounds most abundantly found in GTLE. Our results suggest that green tea might be beneficial in Alzheimer's disease. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

1 Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Stroger Hospital of Cook County, Chicago, Illinois, USA; 2 Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 3 Department of Periodontology and Oral Medicine, Institute of Dentistry, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 4 Department for Certification, The Republic of Srpska Agency for Certification, Accreditation and Quality Improvement in Health Care, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 5 Department of Endodontic, Institute of Dentistry, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

INTRODUCTION Statins have similar side effects that do not always occur at the same rate among the various statins. We present a case of simvastatin-induced muscle toxicity that disappeared when pravastatin was substituted for the original drug. CASE OUTLINE A 74-year-old male, a nonsmoker, complained of severe nocturnal leg cramps. The patient also complained that similar painful cramping occurred when he walked rapidly or jogged. Because some components of his lipid panel exceeded the'desirable' range, and as he had a history of myocardial infarction, his family physician prescribed simvastatin (40 mg/day). The patient had taken this medication for the past eight years. The painful nocturnal episodes started two years ago and affected either one or the other leg. Four months ago we discontinued his simvastatin and prescribed pravastatin (80 mg/day). At a follow-up visit six weeks later, the patient reported that his leg pains at night and the pain experienced after brisk walking had disappeared. Four months after the substitution of pravastatin for simvastatin, the patient reported that his complete lack of symptoms had continued. CONCLUSION These painful muscle cramps were probably caused by an inadequate vascular supply to the calf and foot muscles. Perhaps a combination of advanced age and atherosclerotic changes created a predisposition for the simvastatin-induced leg cramps. Pravastatin differs from simvastatin in several ways.l It is not metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 oxidases, and thus is not influenced by CYP 3A4 inhibitors like simvastatin. Also, simvastatin is associated with single-nucleotide polymorphisms located within the SLCO1B1 gene on the chromosome 12 and established myopathy, while pravastatin lacks this association. These differences may contribute to increased tolerance to pravastatin in this particular case.

Smokers have an increased risk of perioperative and postoperative complications, including a higher incidence of airway and respiratory, cardiovascular events, and impaired wound healing. This brief review will remind anesthesiologist and surgeons that their preoperative smoking intervention for smoking cessation can be effective in decreasing the incidence of complications. Preoperative smoking intervention, even if it is both brief and intensive, may help to decrease this risk. The surgical event is the important ‘teachable moment’ that could translate, with proper smoking intervention, into permanent smoking cessation.

We surveyed 27 anesthesiology residents to determine their basic understanding of biostatistics. We wanted to see how well they could interpret statistical presentation in biomedical literature and assess research outcomes. The questionnaire included three sections: demographics of the participants, their knowledge of statistics (21 questions) and their attitude and self reported confi dence about biostatistics. Recognition of a meta-analysis was the highest scoring question (85% gave the correct answer), and recognition of a case-control study scored the lowest (22%). There was no effect of gender, the year of study, the number of years elapsed since graduation at the medical school, or country in which the participants had attended medical school (US or foreign schools). The only factor that increased the number of correct answers signifi cantly was an additional course in biostatistics that two participants had attended after graduation. Sixty six percent indicated they did not understand all of the statistics they encountered in journal articles, but all of the participants felt it was important to be able to understand the literature. We conclude that most residents in this study lack the knowledge in biostatistics needed to interpret results in medical publications. Most participants in this survey expressed the desire to improve their knowledge on this subject, even though it would require taking special courses in basic epidemiology, and statistics for the non-statistician during their residency training.

PURPOSE We used a pulse carbon monoxide (CO)-oximeter to measure the levels of carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) in smokers and non-smokers. Our goal was to determine if this device could not only define smoking status, but also to increase accuracy of self-reported data at various surveys on smoking. METHODS Thirty-four healthy volunteers participated in this study. Twenty-two of them were current daily smokers; 12 participants were non-smokers who lived alone or with a nonsmoker, and who worked in non-smoking environment. Nicotine dependency level was determined by the modified Fagerstrom questionnaire. Blood COHb levels were measured with a pulse CO-oximeter (Masimo, Radical 7). RESULTS The COHb levels in both moderate/heavy smokers and light smokers increased significantly after they smoked a single cigarette. This increase persisted for more than 6 h in the moderate/heavy smokers, while in the light smokers COHb levels returned to the baseline level after one hour. The pulse rate of all smokers increased significantly 20 min after smoking. CONCLUSION We conclude that the CO-oximeter can detect smoking by moderate/heavy smokers and light smokers if they smoked 6 h or 20 min earlier, respectively. We concluded that it could be used as a validation test for smoking at the time of admission to the surgical facility and to increase smoking abstinence during preoperative and postoperative periods. This noninvasive, simple and inexpensive test may also be used at various surveys to increase accuracy of self-reports on smoking.

Great scientifi c discoveries rarely originate from small and poor countries, especially if they are frequently engulfed in wars, like it was the case with Serbia, and other parts of the former Yugoslavia. Despite the odds, quite a few well educated, curious, wise, and brave minds have made signifi cant contributions under such circumstances. For example, the achievements of Laza K. Lazarević (18511891), Milutin Milankovic (1879-1958), Ivan Djaja (18841957), Pavao Stern (1913-1976), and several other Yugoslav researchers clearly show that some scientists are able to make great discoveries under limited resources. 1 Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), and two Nobel laureates of Yugoslav origin, Leopold Ruzicka (1887-1976) and Vladimir Prelog (1906-1998), are only mentioned here because their major scientifi c contributions had been mostly conducted in the USA and Switzerland.

Scientists rely upon statistics to report their findings accurately and to interpret the published findings of others. The proper application of this discipline provides confidence in statements based upon experimental results. Professional statisticians may help at some phases of planning experiments even before results are obtained, but not all scientists avail themselves of such services. As a result, errors can occur in presentation of variability of data, and more often than not, such errors are ultimately published in biomedical journals. This paper examines the most common descriptive statistics for quantitative and categorical data. Standard deviation (SD), standard error of the mean (SEM), confidence intervals (CI), and various technical details, including how to present data in publications, and when to use particular statistical tools, are discussed as well.

A dissertation is a document that presents the author’s research and findings that are submitted as a major requirement in support of the candidate for a Ph.D. degree. The Ph.D. proposal should set up the area of the research project, the central research question, the methods to be employed, and present major publications that are the basis for this research. This paper presents instructions on writing a Ph.D. proposal.

In 1939, two research groups a great geographical distance apart independently discovered a novel pressor agent that was released by renin. The Argentine group named it hypertensin, and called its plasma protein substrate hypertensinogen. The US group named it angiotonin. Both names were used over the next two decades, even though Braun Menendez and Irvine Page, in 1958, suggested that the peptide should be named angiotensin. Eventually, this combined name became commonly accepted in order to overcome lasting linguistic confusion. Research scientists and physicians today acknowledge that the discoveries of both renin and angiotensin greatly improved our understanding of several diseases. Certainly medical practice profited significantly from the synthesis and application of numerous pharmacological agents that antagonize either the biosynthesis or pharmacological responses of endogenously generated angiotensin II. Ultimately, discovery of the renin‐angiotensin system enabled many studies that resulted in successful control of vascular disease.

The renin-angiotesin system (RAS) was initially recognized as the body’s most powerful hormone system for controlling body fluid volumes and arterial pressure. Then, it was shown that the RAS operates at both systemic (endocrine) and tissue (local) level. Development of ACE inhibitors proved that the RAS is effective in controlling hypertension and heart failure, and in preventing the vascular injury in chronic diseases. The success of ACE inhibitors stimulated research into inhibitors of other components of this system. Major challenge in the future will be to utilize the technological advances for better understanding the physiology and pathophysiology of the RAS, and to develop new therapeutic paradigms. This article briefly reviews the research in this area, and points out the seventieth anniversary of angiotensin.