OBJECTIVE Prostacyclin (PGI2) has been shown to inhibit the expression of pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic mediators in pulmonary fibrosis. In this study, we aimed to test the preventive effects of intraperitoneally administered iloprost, a stable PGI2 analog, on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats and to compare the effects of iloprost with the effects of methyl-prednisolone, a tradi...

Administration of aqueous extract of T. aestivum (200 and 400 mg/kg/day, po, for 30 days) and risedronate (20 microg/kg, sc, five times a week for 30 days) following methyl prednisolone sodium succinate (10 mg/kg, sc, thrice a week for 4 weeks) induced osteoporosis in Wistar rats showed an increase in the serum levels of bone mineral content markers, decrease in the serum and urinary levels of ...

Pulse methylprednisolone therapy has dramatic effects on clinical and immunological parameters of disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Previous studies of this treatment have all used the intravenous route and methylprednisolone succinate. This study addresses the question of whether oral prednisolone in equivalent doses can substitute for intravenous methylprednisolone in pu...

BACKGROUND Despite their frequent use, systemic corticosteroids have rarely elicited immediate-type reactions. OBJECTIVE We report two male patients, aged 26 and 70 years, respectively, with severe immediate-type hypersensitivity secondary to the administration of corticosteroids esterified with succinate. METHODS Skin tests, basophil activation tests and challenge tests were performed for ...

A prospective, randomised, double-blind study of 28 patients presenting with Achilles paratendonitis was undertaken in order to evaluate the role of peritendonous injection of methy prednisolone acetate (Depo Medrone). At presentation patients were either administered peri-tendonous injection of 40 mgs of methyl prednisolone acetate suspended in 1 ml of 0.25% marcaine or 2 ml of 0.25% marcaine ...

Thirty-one patients who were undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass for elective aortic valve replacement were studied. The effects on some aspects of lung function of intravenous methyl prednisolone, administered immediately before bypass, were assessed by measuring alveolar-arterial oxygen differences and shunt fractions. No significant differences in pulmonary function were found between the trea...

The efficacy of corticosteroid therapy in severe viral hepatitis has never been demonstrated in a controlled clinical trial. For this reason, patients with severe viral hepatitis were randomly assigned to methyl-prednisolone or placebo treatment groups. The two groups were comparable in clinical findings, laboratory results and the presence of bridging necrosis on liver biopsy. Seven of the 14 ...

The secondary signals emanating from increased glucose metabolism, which lead to specific increases in proinsulin biosynthesis translation, remain elusive. It is known that signals for glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and proinsulin biosynthesis diverge downstream of glycolysis. Consequently, the mitochondrial products ATP, Krebs cycle intermediates, glutamate, and acetoacetate were investi...