Thomas Fayreford: An English Fifteenth-Century Medical Practitioner
Roger French, Jon Arrizabalaga, Andrew Cunningham, Luis García-Ballester in Medicine from the Black Death to the French Disease, 2019
Eye ailments are similarly carefully differentiated, and here there is another case (case 9) where the list and a case history in the Practica evidently correspond. Fayreford refers in the list of cures to a youth of Tiverton who lost the sight of his eye and recovered it with swallow's blood and betony. In the section headed de oculis in the Practica we find the following: there was a boy from Tiverton in Devon about twelve years of age who lost the sight of one eye after a blow to it, so that he could not see at all with the other eye closed. Twice daily I put in the affected eye swallow's blood and daily he drank betony mashed up with ale, and within fifteen days he recovered his sight by the grace of God. And certainly in many cases I have discovered betony to be effective in getting rid of all fleshy growths in eyes when drunk in this fashion, and after bathing with rosewater as mentioned else-where.82 The use of swallow's blood for eye problems is mentioned in a number of academic authorities, and probably achieved widest currency through the chapter on the swallow in the well-known encyclopedia of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De proprietatibus rerum (which itself follows Constantinus Africanus), where blood from the right wing of the swallow is said to have the power of healing eyes.83 Fayreford's remedies for the Tiverton boy, despite the exotic impression they make at first sight, are not his own invention but derive from standard academic sources (most obviously Macer's herbal for the use of betony, which is copied in an earlier hand in Harley MS 2558, ff. 197r-233v)). Another case, that of a woman of Barnstaple with eyes troubled by rheum, is cured within three nights with another medicine compounded by Fayreford.84
The Role of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in the Ocular System
Published in Current Eye Research, 2022
Yingsi Li, Luoying Xie, Wenjing Song, Meiting Huang, Yu Cheng, Shudi Chen, Yuan Gao, Xiaoming Yan
The NET formation in vivo occurs in response to different danger signals. For example, Bilyy et al. have already shown that layers of aggNETs sequestered necrosis and protected viable tissue in pancreatic glands.36 The eye rheum is exposed to the outside environment and may contain dust, particles, bacteria, LPS, and antimicrobial substances, such as IgA, complements, and lactoferrin.37 The environment of the ocular surface of the open eye shifts toward a state with less CO2 and more O2 compared to closed eyes. Mahajan et al. found that this moderate alkalinization induced NETosis, which was further augmented by LPS and bacteria.13 The aggNETs in the conjunctival space enwrapped these foreign structures and debris, and the exudates were discharged from the ocular surface via canthi with eye closure.13 The discovery of aggNETs flowing in the eye rheum further strengthened the dominant role of neutrophils under physiological conditions. The proteolytic property of eye rheum degradation of inflammatory mediators, such as IL-12, IL-17A, and MCP-1, was attributed to serine proteases in aggNETs, which control potential inflammation to a lower level.13 Therefore, aggNETs exert an anti-inflammatory role in protecting the ocular surface from inflammatory cascades.
Effect of isgin (Rheum ribes L.) on biochemical parameters, antioxidant activity and DNA damage in rats with obesity induced with high-calorie diet
Published in Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry, 2023
Bedia Bati, Ismail Celik, Abdullah Turan, Nese Eray, Elif Ebru Alkan, Ali Kemal Zirek
Plant-derived compounds are very important due to their various biological effects such as anti-obesity, anti-cancer, anti-diabetes mellitus, anti-hypertension, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-Alzheimer (Gulcin 2006, Ak and Gulcin 2008, Gulcin 2010, Sharifi-Rad et al. 2018, Salehi et al. 2019, Islam et al. 2020). Rheum ribes has been commonly used as a food source, medical and supplementary medication in Turkey and around the world since ancient times. Rheum ribes L. is a perennial plant, a species of wild rhubarb, which is a member of the Polygonacea family cultivated in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and eastern regions of Turkey. Additionally, in northern Iraq and in Van and surrounding counties in Turkey, the shoots and roots of this plant are commonly used among the public in the spring months (Ozturk et al. 2007). The Polygonaceae family comprises 8 genera and 70 species, with Rheum ribes L. the only genera of Rheum grown in Turkey (Cullen 1966). Rheum ribes roots are used in the treatment of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and renal diseases (Abu-Irmaileh and Afifi 2003, Uyar 2006, Keser et al. 2019). Additionally, some rhubarb species were identified to have hypoglycaemic activity (Konak and Aktar 2009). Plant boiled roots are used in treatment of anaemia, anorexia, mental exhaustion, gangrene and hypertension in alternative medicine (Abu-Irmaileh and Afifi 2003). Rheum ribes is used as one of the most important pharmaceutical raw materials in Asia and the Middle East as the structure includes anthracene derivatives. Rhubarb contains more than 250 bioactive chemical materials including anthropinones (emodin, crysophanol, physcion, aloe emodin and emodin glycosides), anthrones, flavonoids, alkyl glucosides and pylone stilbene (Oktay et al. 2007, Singh et al. 2016). A study revealed that Rheum was a functional food due to high phenolic material content, strong bonding to free radicals and antioxidant characteristics (Meral 2017).
Quantum dot-based lateral-flow immunoassay for rapid detection of rhein using specific egg yolk antibodies
Published in Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 2018
Yue Zhang, Hui Kong, Xiaoman Liu, Jinjun Cheng, Meiling Zhang, Yongzhi Wang, Fang Lu, Huihua Qu, Yan Zhao
The LCS was used to detect RHE in several producing areas of Rheum officinale extract and compared with HPLC. As shown in Table 2, the results obtained by LCS and HPLC showed good concordance for all samples while the sample without RHE (licorice extract, S5) yielded negative results by LCS.