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Objectives: To evaluate the effect of Atorvastatin as an adjuvant with betamethasone valerate on disease severity and cardiovascular risks in chronic plaque type psoriatic patients. Methods: It is an interventional study conducted in Pharmacology Department of BMSI, JPMC with the collaboration of Dermatology Department of JPMC, Karachi. The duration of study was from June 2013 to June 2016. Seventy five psoriatic patients were prescribed Tablet Atorvastatin 40-20 mg/day (40mg for first three months twice daily followed by 20mg once daily for the next three month) plus topical Betamethasone Valerate 0.1% once daily for 6 months (three week apply than one week interval). The efficacy and safety profile of drugs was measured by PASI, DLQI, hsCRP, LFTS and Lipid profile. Results: The percentage change of PASI is 86.749±0.547, DLQI is 82.697±.2.61 and hsCRP is 40.371±8.505, which showed highly significant improvement in patient at the end of last follow up. LFTs and CPK for safety profile of therapy showed non-significant results. Conclusion: Atorvastatin used as an adjuvant therapy with currently existing standard therapy (topical betamethasone) in patients having mild to moderate plaque type psoriasis reduces disease severity and cardiovascular risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Background & aims The present study aimed at investigating whether dietary supplementation of seabuckthorn seed oil which is rich in omega fatty acids at an oral dose of 0.75 ml could affect cardiovascular risk factors and reduce hypertension and systolic blood pressure. Methods Toxicological evaluation and efficacy of seabuckthorn seed oil in reducing high fat diet induced dyslipidemia was initially conducted on adult male Sprague Dawley rats. 32 normal and 74 hypertensive and hypercholestrolemic human subjects participated in the randomized, controlled, double blind longitudinal study. Seabuckthorn seed oil or sunflower oil placebo was orally supplemented at a daily dose of 0.75 ml for 30 days. Results Supplementation of seabuckthorn seed oil at a daily dose of 0.75 ml for 30 days resulted in normalization of blood pressure in hypertensive subjects. Dietary supplementation of seabuckthorn seed oil markedly reduces cholesterol, oxy-LDL and triglycerides in hypercholesterolemic subjects though it's effect on subjects with normal blood pressure and cholesterol is less pronounced. Seabuckthorn seed oil supplementation also improves circulatory antioxidant status in both normal and hypertensive subjects. Conclusion The present study demonstrates the efficacy of seabuckthorn seed oil in reducing dyslipidemia, cardiovascular risk factors and hypertension in human population which may be due to presence of omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids in the oil. The improvement in antioxidant status can be attributed to presence of beta carotene and vitamin E in seabuckthorn seed oil. The trial was registered with Clinical Trial Registry of India (Clinical trial registration number – CTRI/2015/11/006368). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an increasingly health disease all around the world with a high burden of mortality and cardiovascular (CV) morbidity rate. Even when renal replacement therapy is reached, more than half patients die, mainly for CV causes due either to uremia-related cardiovascular risk factors (such as anemia, hyperhomocysteinemia, mineral bone disease-CKD with hyperparathyroidism, oxidative stress, hypoalbuminemia, chronic inflammation, prothrombotic factors) or to traditional ones (age, male gender, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, smoking, insulin levels, family history, dyslipidemia). Among the latter causes dyslipidemia represents one of the major, potentially correctable risk factor. Statins have demonstrated to effectively and safely reduce cholesterol levels in CKD patients. Here we will examine the effects of statins on CV risk factors in CKD patients and particularly in patients on dialysis treatment, in the light of the unfavorable results of the large trials 4D and AURORA, recently published, underlining the role of malnutrition/inflammation as confounding factor. Probably it will be that only with a real prevention, starting statins even in the early stages of CKD, as indicated by post hoc analysis of large trials, that we will reach results in reducing the mortality rate in CKD patients. In the meanwhile, all the other remediable CV risk factors have to be at the same time corrected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]