Nutraceutical Properties of Syringic Acid in Civilization Diseases-Review

Civilization diseases account for a worldwide health issue. They result from daily behavioral, environmental, and genetic factors. One of the most significant opportunities to prevent and alleviate the occurrence of these diseases is a diet rich in antioxidants like polyphenols. This review paper is concentrated on syringic acid (SA), one of the representative compounds of phenolic acids subgroups. There are many in vitro and in vivo studies on SA that assess its pivotal effects on oxidative stress and inflammation parameters. It is effective on metabolic risk factors as well, including hyperglycemia, high blood pressure, and hyperlipidemia. SA is one of the prominent polyphenolic compounds that may help address health issues related to civilization diseases.

Gilbert's syndrome revisited

Gilbert's syndrome, also known as benign hyperbilirubinaemia, was described more than 100 years ago. It has usually been considered a physiological abnormality characterised by a mild elevation of the systemic level of unconjugated bilirubin, in the absence of any underlying liver or overt haemolytic disease. However, since the re-discovery of the potent antioxidant effects of bilirubin in the late 1980s, as well as multiple intracellular signalling pathways affected by bilirubin, an ever-increasing body of evidence suggests that individuals with Gilbert's syndrome may benefit from the mild hyperbilirubinaemia and are actually protected from the development of a wide variety of "diseases of civilisation" such as cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, and autoimmune or neurodegenerative diseases. This review analyses the current state of medical knowledge given recent discoveries in this rapidly developing field, as well as their possible clinical significance, and provides a new perspective on this condition.

Exploring the Heart-Mind Connection: Unraveling the Shared Pathways between Depression and Cardiovascular Diseases

Civilization diseases are defined as non-communicable diseases that affect a large part of the population. Examples of such diseases are depression and cardiovascular disease. Importantly, the World Health Organization warns against an increase in both of these. This narrative review aims to summarize the available information on measurable risk factors for CVD and depression based on the existing literature. The paper reviews the epidemiology and main risk factors for the coexistence of depression and cardiovascular disease. The authors emphasize that there is evidence of a link between depression and cardiovascular disease. Here, we highlight common risk factors for depression and cardiovascular disease, including obesity, diabetes, and physical inactivity, as well as the importance of the prevention and treatment of CVD in preventing depression and other mental disorders. Conversely, effective treatment of CVD can also help prevent depression and improve mental health outcomes. It seems advisable to introduce screening tests for depression in patients treated for cardiac reasons. Importantly, in patients treated for mood disorders, it is worth controlling CVD risk factors, for example, by checking blood pressure and pulse during routine visits. It is also worth paying attention to the mental condition of patients with CVD. This study underlines the importance of interdisciplinary co-operation.

Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside as a Nutrigenomic Factor in Type 2 Diabetes and Its Prominent Impact on Health

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) accounts for a global health problem. It is a complex disease as a result of the combination of environmental as well as genetic factors. Morbidity is still increasing across the world. One of the possibilities for the prevention and mitigation of the negative consequences of type 2 diabetes is a nutritional diet rich in bioactive compounds such as polyphenols. This review is focused on cyanidin-3-O-glucosidase (C3G), which belongs to the anthocyanins subclass, and its anti-diabetic properties. There are numerous pieces of evidence that C3G exerts positive effects on diabetic parameters, including in vitro and in vivo studies. It is involved in alleviating inflammation, reducing blood glucose, controlling postprandial hyperglycemia, and gene expression related to the development of T2D. C3G is one of the beneficial polyphenolic compounds that may help to overcome the public health problems associated with T2D.

Multivariate Pharma Technology Transfer Analysis: Civilization Diseases and COVID-19 Perspective

The importance of studying civilization diseases manifests itself in the impact of changing lifestyles, on the number of deaths and causes of death. Technology transfer plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of these diseases. Through this, it is possible to transfer new treatments and diagnostics to clinics and hospitals more quickly and effectively, which leads to better healthcare for patients. Technology transfer can also aid in the development of new drugs and therapies that can be effective in the treatment of civilization diseases. The paper aims to evaluate the technology transfer process in the field of civilization diseases, using COVID-19 as an example of a pandemic that requires quick development and transfer of technology. To achieve the assumed goal, we propose a multivariate synthetic ratio in the field of civilization diseases (SMTT-Synthetic Measure of Technology Transfer) to analyze data from the Global Data database. We used sub-measures like SMTT_value (Synthetic Measure of Technology Transfer_value) and SMTT_quantity (Synthetic Measure of Technology Transfer_quantity) to measure technology transfer and put the data into a graph. Our analysis focuses on 14 diseases over a period of 10 years (2012-2021) and includes nine forms of technology transfer, allowing us to create a tool for analysing the process in multiple dimensions. Our results show that COVID-19 is similar in terms of technology transfer to diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and breast cancer, even though data for COVID-19 is available for only 2 years.

Neglected Facts on Mycobacterium Avium Subspecies Paratuberculosis and Type 1 Diabetes

Civilization factors are responsible for the increasing of human exposure to mycobacteria from environment, water, and food during the last few decades. Urbanization, lifestyle changes and new technologies in the animal and plant industry are involved in frequent contact of people with mycobacteria. Type 1 diabetes is a multifactorial polygenic disease; its origin is conditioned by the mutual interaction of genetic and other factors. The environmental factors and certain pathogenetic pathways are shared by some immune mediated chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, which are associated with triggers originating mainly from Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, an intestinal pathogen which persists in the environment. Type 1 diabetes and some other chronic inflammatory diseases thus pose the global health problem which could be mitigated by measures aimed to decrease the human exposure to this neglected zoonotic mycobacterium.

Nanoformulations for Delivery of Pentacyclic Triterpenoids in Anticancer Therapies

The search for safe and effective anticancer therapies is one of the major challenges of the 21st century. The ineffective treatment of cancers, classified as civilization diseases, contributes to a decreased quality of life, health loss, and premature mortality in oncological patients. Many natural phytochemicals have anticancer potential. Pentacyclic triterpenoids, characterized by six- and five-membered ring structures, are one of the largest class of natural metabolites sourced from the plant kingdom. Among the known natural triterpenoids, we can distinguish lupane-, oleanane-, and ursane-types. Pentacyclic triterpenoids are known to have many biological activities, e.g., anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. Unfortunately, they are also characterized by poor water solubility and, hence, low bioavailability. These pharmacological properties may be improved by both introducing some modifications to their native structures and developing novel delivery systems based on the latest nanotechnological achievements. The development of nanocarrier-delivery systems is aimed at increasing the transport capacity of bioactive compounds by enhancing their solubility, bioavailability, stability in vivo and ensuring tumor-targeting while their toxicity and risk of side effects are significantly reduced. Nanocarriers may vary in sizes, constituents, shapes, and surface properties, all of which affect the ultimate efficacy and safety of a given anticancer therapy, as presented in this review. The presented results demonstrate the high antitumor potential of systems for delivery of pentacyclic triterpenoids.

Bilirubin as a signaling molecule

For long time bilirubin was only considered as a potentially dangerous sign of liver diseases, but it now appears clear that it is also a powerful signaling molecule. Together with potent antioxidant activities that were only reported in the last few decades, many other biological effects have now been clearly described. These include especially profound inhibitory effects on almost all effectors of the immune system, with their clinical consequences in the bilirubin-mediated protection against autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Separate from these, bilirubin activates various nuclear and cytoplasmic receptors, resembling the endocrine activities of actual hormonal substances. This is true for the "classical" hepatic nuclear receptors, including the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, or the constitutive androstane receptor; and also for some lesser-explored receptors such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors α and γ; Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor; or other signaling molecules including fatty acid binding protein 1, apolipoprotein D, or reactive oxygen species. All of these targets have broad metabolic effects, which in turn may offer protection against obesity, diabetes mellitus, and other metabolic diseases. The (mostly experimental) data are also supported by clinical evidence. In fact, data from the last three decades have convincingly demonstrated the protective effects of mildly elevated serum bilirubin concentrations against various "diseases of civilization." Additionally, even tiny, micromolar changes of serum bilirubin concentrations have been associated with substantial alteration in the risks of these diseases. It is highly likely that all of the biological activities of bilirubin have yet to be exhaustively explored, and thus we can expect further clinical discoveries about this evolutionarily old molecule into the future.

[Shift work as a factor increasing the risk of civilization diseases - what's new in the old issue?]

People are more and more often taking up shift work, which in the long run may have harmful health effects. Whether a person working in a shift system gets sick is influenced by many external factors (rotation and type of changes and work performed, socio-psychological factors) and endogenous (sex, age, health and physiological status, individual, internal biological clock - chronotype, physiological tolerance work at night). Many authors in their work prove that work in a rotational rotation system affects the occurrence of various types of cancer, hormone production, occurrence of metabolic disorders and civilization diseases (type II diabetes, insulin resistance, overweight and obesity, hypertension and coronary heart disease), microflora differentiation intestinal and contributes to increased stress of the body. In addition, the time in which a person works has a direct impact on the consumption and quality of meals. Shift workers often do not have time to eat regular, properly balanced meals that would satisfy their energy and nutritional needs. For this reason, most often reach for ready-to-eat foods that are characterized by low nutritional value at a relatively high energy value. Shift work also carries a risk of circadian rhythm disturbances and sleep disorders. Many studies indicate that there is an increased risk of some types of cancer and civilization diseases, but there is no clear evidence as to whether this is only the fault of rotary night work.

Biological Effect of Soy Isoflavones in the Prevention of Civilization Diseases

Scientific advancements in recent years have shed new light on the relationship between diet and human health. Nutrients play an important role in the prevention of many civilization diseases, such as osteoporosis, type II diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and cardiovascular diseases. The biological activity of natural plant components allows their use in the treatment of various diseases, especially civilization diseases, to be speculated. Special attention is paid to phenolic compounds that have numerous health-promoting properties. Isoflavones, phenolic compounds, are commonly found in legumes, especially in soybeans. Their structural similarity to 17-β-estradiol (E2), the main female sex hormone, allows them to induce estrogenic and antiestrogenic effects by binding to estrogen receptors, and their consumption has been associated with a decreased risk of hormone-related cancers. In addition, numerous epidemiological studies and related meta-analyses suggest that soy consumption may be associated with a lower incidence of certain diseases. However, there are some doubts about the potential effects on health, such as the effectiveness of cardiovascular risk reduction or breast cancer-promoting properties. The purpose of this review is to present the current knowledge on the potential effects of soy isoflavone consumption with regard to civilization diseases.

Ethopathology and Civilization Diseases: Niko and Elisabeth Tinbergen on Autism

The idea that some diseases result from a poor fit between modern life and our biological make-up is part of the long history of what historian of medicine Charles Rosenberg has called the "progress-and-pathology narrative." This article examines a key episode in that history: 1973 Nobel laureate Niko Tinbergen's use of an evolutionary framework to identify autism as a pathogenic effect of progress. Influenced by British psychiatrist John Bowlby's work, Tinbergen and his wife Elisabeth saw autistic children as victims of environmental stress caused mainly by mothers' failure to bond with their children and to protect them from conflicting situations. However, the author argues that their position was not "environmental." For them, autism was due to a failure of socialization but the mechanisms that explain that failure were established by biological evolution. Situating their views within the context of Niko's concern about the derailment of biological evolution by cultural evolution, this article shows that their ideas are of special significance for understanding the persistence of the view that civilization poses a risk to human health.