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Low-grade inflammation is often an underlying cause of several chronic diseases such as asthma, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Defining the mediators of such chronic low-grade inflammation often appears dependent on which disease is being investigated. However, downstream systemic inflammatory cytokine responses in these diseases often overlap, noting there is no doubt more than one factor at play to heighten the inflammatory response. Furthermore, it is increasingly believed that diet and an altered gut microbiota may play an important role in the pathology of such diverse diseases. More specifically, the inflammatory mediator endotoxin, which is a complex lipopolysaccharide (LPS) derived from the outer membrane cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria and is abundant within the gut microbiota, and may play a direct role alongside inhaled allergens in eliciting an inflammatory response in asthma. Endotoxin has immunogenic effects and is sufficiently microscopic to traverse the gut mucosa and enter the systemic circulation to act as a mediator of chronic low-grade inflammation in disease. Whilst the role of endotoxin has been considered in conditions of obesity, cardiovascular disease and T2DM, endotoxin as an inflammatory trigger in asthma is less well understood. This review has sought to examine the current evidence for the role of endotoxin in asthma, and whether the gut microbiota could be a dietary target to improve disease management. This may expand our understanding of endotoxin as a mediator of further low-grade inflammatory diseases, and how endotoxin may represent yet another insult to add to injury.

This paper presents a geomorphological map of the seafloor north east of the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean) at a scale of 1:50,000. The map was compiled following the integration, analysis and interpretation of several high-resolution seafloor bathymetry datasets. Several structural features, coastal and marine landforms and anthropogenic features have been mapped. Most of the mapped submerged landforms – including fluvial, gravity-induced and karst landforms – appear to have been formed during the sea-level lowstand of the last glacial cycle. The map provides valuable insights on the submerged landscape of the Maltese Islands and its evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum.

The 2-arylpropionic acid derivatives or "profens" are an important group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that have been used for the symptomatic treatment of various forms of arthritis. These compounds are chiral and the majority of them are still marketed as racemate although it is know that the S form is the principal effective in the COX inhibition. However, recent findings suggest that certain pharmacological effect of 2-arylpropionic acids cannot be attributed exclusively to the S (+) enantiomer. To obtain further insights into the pharmacological effect of profen, the present study investigated the influence of racemic and pure enantiomers, of flurbiprofen on the production of nitric oxide (NO) and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), key molecules involved in cartilage destruction. The culture of human articular cartilage stimulated by interleukin -betaƒzƒnƒnwich play an important role in the degradatation of cartilage, has been established, as a profit experimental model, for reproducing the mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of arthritic diseases. Our results show that mainly S (+) flurbiprofen decrease, at therapeutic concentrations, the IL-1-beta induced cartilage destruction.

A series of N-arylglycine derivatives and their thioisosters (1-10) was synthesized and evaluated as in vitro aldose reductase inhibitors. Among these, (6-chloro-1,2,4-benzothiadiazine-1,1-dioxide-3-yl)-2-propanoic acid (5) shows an inhibitory activity (IC50:5.1 microM) comparable to Alrestatin.