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Illness and Illusion
Published in Marc D. Feldman, Gregory P. Yates, Dying to be Ill, 2018
Marc D. Feldman, Gregory P. Yates
Galen writes of Romans who repeatedly bit the inside of their cheeks, so that they would have “the power, whenever they pleased, toward the end of a cough, to spit blood … as if it came from the chest or abdomen.” Exactly the same technique has been documented in cases reported in the last decade, and I have witnessed patients do this myself. One of Galen’s more ingenious fraudsters rubbed a poisonous plant (thapsia, “deadly carrots”) onto his leg to cause swelling—all the while claiming he was in agony. Although Galen insisted that there were “many reasons” for the deceptive behaviors he described, psychiatric motives would not be considered until the 19th century.
In vivo evaluation of antivenom activity of Adenocarpus anagyrifolius methanolic extract against Hottentotta gentili scorpion venom
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2023
Karima Benrazzouk, Mehdi Ait Laaradia, Malika Ait Sidi Brahim, Soukaina Ouhaddou, Ahmed Ouhammou, Abderrahman Chait, Khalid Bekkouche, Mohammed Markouk, Mustapha Larhsini
To this day, antiserums are the only therapeutic agents available to treat patients suffering from scorpion intoxication. In Morocco, antivenom therapy is not usual; the main strategy to treat scorpion sting is symptomatic treatment with surveillance of the clinical symptoms of the patient. Traditional treatment of scorpion sting is very common in Morocco and developing countries in general. Treatments with several herbs are very used and useful in Morocco. Recently, numerous scientific investigations confirmed that several Moroccan medicinal plants offered a source of therapeutic potential with antivenom activities. In fact, methanolic extract of Thapsia garganica and Lactuca serriola demonstrated a protective capacity against the venoms of Buthusoccitanus and Buthusatlantis, respectively, at doses of 2 g/kg (Bouimeja et al. 2018, 2019).
Targeting the integrated stress response in ophthalmology
Published in Current Eye Research, 2021
Hsiao-Sang Chu, Cornelia Peterson, Albert Jun, James Foster
Many toxins or drugs induce extensive ISR,103 including arsenic,104 tunicamycin,105 thapsigargin,106 and mitomycin C.107 Environmental arsenic contamination in drinking water has been a global health issue that was associated with many cancers.108 Arsenic generates oxidative stress and mediates ER and mitochondrial cross-talks that results in apoptosis via ATF4 regulated pathways.104 Arsenic-induced-VEGF production in retinal-pigmented epithelium via eIF2α-ATF4 branch has suggested non-hypoxic stresses also contributed to VEGF expression.98 Tunicamycin, an antibiotic mixture produced by Streptomyces lysosuperificus, has antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Tunicamycin not only impairs protein glycosylation, but also depletes the calcium in ER which further aggravates unfolded proteins stress.105 Tunicamycin has not been used as human medicine103 due to its toxicity, but has been broadly applied as an ER stressor in studying various pathological and physiological processes of diabetes and asthma.109,110 Thapsigargin is a highly potent drug isolated from the plant Thapsia garganica L (Linnaeus),106 its cytotoxicity is derived from its ability to inhibit calcium transport leading to calcium depletion in ER. Therefore, in addition to ER stress-related cell death, thapsigargin induces concomitant increase in free cytosolic calcium is also a potent pro-apoptotic signal in cells.106 Mitomycin C, is a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating anticancer drug. Mitomycin C can induce human fibroblast apoptosis via PERK pathway,107 and its anti-fibrotic effect has been applied in many ophthalmic surgeries such as pterygium excision111 and glaucoma filtering surgery.112