“We report a 79-year-old patient with post-polio syndrome (PPS). In the course of this disease, recurrent upper abdominal pain and a therapy-resistant nausea developed without vomiting. In addition, the patient was limited by the combination of muscular weakness, obesity, dietary-treated diabetes and a degenerative spinal cord injury significantly in its mobility and physical capacity.
Tag Archives: cannabis
Impact of Chronic Cannabis Use on Auditory Mismatch Negativity Generation in Schizophrenia Patients.
“Cannabis use disorders (CUD) are highly prevalent among patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). Deficient mismatch negativity (MMN) generation is a characteristic finding in SCZ patients and cannabis users. This study therefore examined the effects of CUD on MMN generation in SCZ patients.
These results demonstrate that comorbid cannabis use in SCZ patients might be associated with superior cognitive functioning. It can be assumed that the association between cannabis use and better cognitive performance may be due to a subgroup of cognitively less impaired SCZ patients characterized by lower genetic vulnerability for psychosis.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29506304 https://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/a-0573-9866]]>Extraction Method and Analysis of Cannabinoids in Cannabis Olive Oil Preparations.
“Recently, an increasing number of pharmacists had to supply medicinal products based on Cannabis sativa L. (Cannabaceae), prescribed by physicians to individual patients.
Cannabis olive oil preparation is the first choice as a concentrated extract of cannabinoids, even though standardized operative conditions for obtaining it are still not available.
In this work, the impact of temperature and extraction time on the concentration of active principles was studied to harmonize the different compounding methods, optimize the extraction process, and reduce the variability among preparations.“
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29202510
https://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0043-123074
“Therapeutic Use of Δ9-THC and Cannabidiol: Evaluation of a New Extraction Procedure for the Preparation of Cannabis-based Olive Oil.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29189144
]]>Nutritional Value of Commercial Protein-Rich Plant Products.
“The goal of this work was to analyze nutritional value of various minimally processed commercial products of plant protein sources such as faba bean (Vicia faba), lupin (Lupinus angustifolius), rapeseed press cake (Brassica rapa/napus subsp. Oleifera), flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum), oil hemp seed (Cannabis sativa), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). Basic composition and various nutritional components like amino acids, sugars, minerals, and dietary fiber were determined. Nearly all the samples studied could be considered as good sources of essential amino acids, minerals and dietary fiber. The highest content of crude protein (over 30 g/100 g DW) was found in faba bean, blue lupin and rapeseed press cake. The total amount of essential amino acids (EAA) ranged from 25.8 g/16 g N in oil hemp hulls to 41.5 g/16 g N in pearled quinoa. All the samples studied have a nutritionally favorable composition with significant health benefit potential. Processing (dehulling or pearling) affected greatly to the contents of analyzed nutrients.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29500810
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11130-018-0660-7
Hypoxia mimetic activity of VCE-004.8, a cannabidiol quinone derivative: implications for multiple sclerosis therapy.
“Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by a combination of inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes variously dominant in different stages of the disease. Thus, immunosuppression is the goal standard for the inflammatory stage, and novel remyelination therapies are pursued to restore lost function.
Cannabinoids such as 9Δ-THC and CBD are multi-target compounds already introduced in the clinical practice for multiple sclerosis (MS). Semisynthetic cannabinoids are designed to improve bioactivities and druggability of their natural precursors. VCE-004.8, an aminoquinone derivative of cannabidiol (CBD), is a dual PPARγ and CB2agonist with potent anti-inflammatory activity.
Activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) can have a beneficial role in MS by modulating the immune response and favoring neuroprotection and axonal regeneration.
We investigated the effects of VCE-004.8 on the HIF pathway in different cell types. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides new significant insights about the potential role of VCE-004.8 for MS treatment by ameliorating neuroinflammation and demyelination.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29495967 https://jneuroinflammation.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12974-018-1103-y]]>Toxicity, Cannabinoids.
“Cannabinoids are a collective group of compounds that act on cannabinoid receptors. They include plant-derived phytocannabinoids, synthetic cannabinoids, and endogenously-derived endocannabinoids. The primary source of cannabinoid toxicity is from plant-derived cannabinoids and synthetic cannabinoids. These agents act as cannabinoid receptor agonists. More than 60 naturally occurring cannabinoids are found in the Sativa and Indica species of Cannabis, with delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) being the main psychoactive compound. Other naturally occurring cannabinoids include cannabidiol and cannabinol. Marijuana is the most common colloquial name for crushed, dried leaves and flowers of the Cannabis plant. In recent years, there have been many reports of marijuana toxicity, primarily in the pediatric population, as medical and recreational marijuana has been legalized. The terms phytocannabinoids, marijuana and cannabis are used interchangeably. Synthetic cannabinoids were created for therapeutic and research purposes; however, despite legal efforts to limit their availability, synthetic cannabinoids have become an increasingly common drug of abuse, sold under various street names such as K2, Spice, and Black Mamba. Synthetic cannabinoids are associated with much more morbidity and mortality than the phytocannabinoids. Prescription preparations for medical usage include dronabinol, or pure THC, nabilone, a synthetic cannabinoid, and cannabidiol (CBD). Pharmaceutical use of cannabinoids is an ongoing field of research.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29489164 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482175/]]>
Prospective analysis of safety and efficacy of medical cannabis in large unselected population of patients with cancer
“Cancer is a major public health problem as the leading cause of death. Palliative treatment aimed to alleviate pain and nausea in patients with advanced disease is a cornerstone of oncology.
In 2007, the Israeli Ministry of Health began providing approvals for medical cannabis for the palliation of cancer symptoms. The aim of this study is to characterize the epidemiology of cancer patients receiving medical cannabis treatment and describe the safety and efficacy of this therapy.
Methods
We analyzed the data routinely collected as part of the treatment program of 2970 cancer patients treated with medical cannabis between 2015 and 2017.
Results
The average age was 59.5 ± 16.3 years, 54.6% women and 26.7% of the patients reported previous experience with cannabis. The most frequent types of cancer were: breast (20.7%), lung (13.6%), pancreatic (8.1%) and colorectal (7.9%) with 51.2% being at stage 4. The main symptoms requiring therapy were: sleep problems (78.4%), pain (77.7%, median intensity 8/10), weakness (72.7%), nausea (64.6%) and lack of appetite (48.9%). After six months of follow up, 902 patients (24.9%) died and 682 (18.8%) stopped the treatment. Of the remaining, 1211 (60.6%) responded; 95.9% reported an improvement in their condition, 45 patients (3.7%) reported no change and four patients (0.3%) reported deterioration in their medical condition.
Conclusions
Cannabis as a palliative treatment for cancer patients seems to be well tolerated, effective and safe option to help patients cope with the malignancy related symptoms.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29482741
http://www.ejinme.com/article/S0953-6205(18)30023-2/pdf
“Epilepsy is a devastating disease, with cognitive and emotional consequences that are not curable.
In recent years, it became apparent that cannabinoids help patients to cope with epilepsy.
We have studied the effects of