ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Inflammation processes are implicated in many degenerative diseases. Piper guineense, a West African spice belonging to the Piperaceae family has been reported to contain anti-inflammatory agents. AIM OF STUDY This study determined the modulatory effects of methanolic extracts of Piper guineense leaves and seeds on egg albumin-induced inflammation in rats. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS Inflammation in the hind paw was induced by injecting 0.1ml egg albumin subcutaneously. Treatments including diclofenac were given orally. Rectal temperature and paw size were monitored hourly for the first 3 h' post-induction of inflammation and then at the 6th and 24th hour. Serum levels of CRP, MDA, LDH and GGT activities were determined at these hours. RESULTS Results showed that egg albumin-induced inflammation caused a significant (p  less then  0.05) increase in paw size and rectal temperature. It further showed that treatment with the leaves and seed extracts reversed the effect of inflammation on serum levels of CRP and MDA, and on LDH and GGT activities similar to diclofenac in rats. CONCLUSION Extracts of the Piper guineense seed and leaves have potentials of being used as an anti-inflammatory agent but further studies need to be done to determine their toxicity and effects on immunological markers of inflammation. ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE In spite of worldwide efforts, malaria remains one of the most devastating illnesses in the world. The huge number of lives it takes and the resistance of malaria parasites to current drugs necessitate the search for new effective antimalarial drugs. Medicinal plants have been the major source of such drugs and A. pirottae is one of these plants used traditionally for the treatment of malaria in Ethiopia. AIM This study was aimed at evaluating the antimalarial activity of the aqueous extract of A. pirottae against chloroquine sensitive P. berghei in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS The extract was obtained by macerating the latex of A. pirottae with distilled water. To determine its antiplasmodial activity, a 4-day suppressive model was used by dividing 40 mice into five groups of 8 mice each and given 200, 400 & 600mg/kg of the extract, the standard drug (chloroquine 25mg/kg) and the vehicle (distilled water). Then parasite suppression by the extract, survival time and prevention of loss of body weight, rectal temperature and packed cell volume were assessed. All data were presented as the Mean ± SEM (Standard Error of the Mean) and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20. RESULTS The extract showed moderate antimalarial activity by significantly (p  less then  0.001) suppressing parasitemia at all dose levels with maximum parasitemia suppression of 47.0% and significantly (p  less then  0.01) increasing survival time. Furthermore, 400 mg/kg and 600 mg/kg doses showed significant (p  less then  0.01) prevention of loss in body weight, rectal temperature and packed cell volume. CONCLUSION Based to the results of this study, A. pirottae is endowed with a moderate antimalarial activity that is in agreement with the traditional claim of A. pirottae, hence may be used as a basis for further studies to be conducted on antimalarial activity of the plant. Dystrophinopathies are the most common genetic neuromuscular disorders during childhood, with an X-linked recessive inheritance pattern. Because of clinical and genetic heterogeneity of dystrophinopathies, genetic testing of dystrophin gene at Xp21.2 is constantly evolving. Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (MPCR) is used in the first line to detect common exon deletions of dystrophin gene (accounting for 65% of mutations), followed by the Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) technique to reveal deletions of exons outside the usual hotspot and duplications in male and female carriers. (MLPA adds another 10-15% positive cases to MPCR). Recently, Next Generation Sequencing allows to screen for rare large and point mutations. We report here, molecular analysis results of dystrophin gene during 27 years in a large Moroccan cohort of 356 patients, using the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (MPCR) to screen for hot-spot exon deletions. First applications of whole dystrophin gene sequencing in our lab lead to the identification of six novel mutations. BACKGROUND Due to a high prevalence of thalassemia in southwest China, the diagnostic value of glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is limited in the local population. Glycated albumin (GA) must also be measured for glucose monitoring. We sought to explore the relationships between HbA1c and GA. METHODS We analyzed 3,414 participants and allocated to four groups GA > 14% and HbA1c > 5.7% (group 1), GA > 14% and HbA1c ≤ 5.7% (group 2), GA ≤ 14% and HbA1c > 5.7% (group 3), and GA ≤ 14% and HbA1c ≤ 5.7% (group 4). We used stepwise multivariable logistic regression analysis to study the inconsistency of HbA1c and GA. GF120918 concentration Furthermore, we explored their association using multiple linear regression (MLR), random forest regression (RFR), and 3 blended models. Finally, we performed sensitivity analyses by changing the thresholds of HbA1c (6.5%) and GA (12% or 16%). RESULTS There were 934 participants in group 1, 86 in group 2, 964 in group 3, and 1,430 in group 4. Age, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol concentration, and red blood cell count were associated with the discordance in HbA1c and GA values. We constructed an RFR model that included MLR predictions as independent variables and could explain 97.80% of the variance in HbA1c in the training set, and 91.65% in the cross-validation set. Our results remained robust in 3 sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS HbA1c and GA values are inconsistent in the population we studied. A model that blends MLR and RFR can be used to correct HbA1c values when conflicting HbA1c and GA values are encountered in patients. V.Cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) are necessary to maintain extracellular matrix (ECM) homeostasis in the heart. Normally, CFs are quiescent and secrete small amounts of ECM components, whereas, in pathological conditions, they differentiate into more active cells called cardiac myofibroblasts (CMF). CMF conversion is characteristic of cardiac fibrotic diseases, such as heart failure and diabetic cardiomyopathy. TGF-β1 is a key protein involved in CMF conversion. SMADs are nuclear factor proteins activated by TGF-β1 that need other proteins, such as forkhead box type O (FoxO) family members, to promote CMF conversion. FoxO1, a member of this family protein, is necessary for TGF-β1-induced CMF conversion, whereas the role of FoxO3a, another FoxO family member, is unknown. FoxO3a plays an important role in many fibrotic processes in the kidney and lung. However, the participation of FoxO3a in the conversion of CFs into CMF is not clear. In this paper, we demonstrate that TGF-β1 decreases the activation and expression of FoxO3a in CFs.