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Epimedii Herba (EH) is an herbal medicine originating from several plants of the genus Epimedium. It is a major therapeutic option for kidney yang deficiency syndrome, which is closely related to androgen hormones and also has been used to treat hemiplegia following a stroke in traditional medicine of Korea and PR China. To date, many clinical and basic researches of EH have shown the activities on functional recovery from brain diseases. Recently, neuroplasticity, which is the spontaneous reaction of the brain in response to diseases, has been shown to accelerate functional recovery. In addition, androgen hormones including testosterone are known to be the representative of neuroplasticity factors in the brain recovery processes. In this review, we described the neuro-pharmacological activities of EH, focusing on neuroplasticity. Thirty-three kinds of papers from MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, and CNKI were identified and analyzed. We categorized the results into five types based on neuroplasticity mechanisms and presented the definition of each category and briefly described the results of these papers. Altogether, we can suggest that neuroplasticity is a novel viewpoint for guiding future brain research of EH and provide the evidence for the development of new clinical applications using EH in the treatment of brain diseases. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in cognitively impaired elderly residents of long‐term care facilities in East Asia and to explore the factors associated with these patterns. Methods: This was a cross‐sectional survey of BPSD in cognitively impaired elderly residents of long‐term care facilities in Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Mini‐Mental State Examination, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), and Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Nursing Home version (NPI‐NH), were used to assess cognitive status, dementia severity, and BPSD, respectively. NPI‐NH subscale severity scores were multiplied by frequency scores to obtain the subscale scores and aggregated into two groups based on score (clinically insignificant = 1– 3; clinically significant ≥4). Results: Data from 662 people were analyzed. Median age, median Mini‐Mental State Examination scores, and median CDR scores differed significantly among the seven study sites. The prevalence of BPSD varied from 64% in Taiwan to 100% in dementia care units in Japan, and the median total NPI‐NH scores ranged from 2 in Taiwan to 14 in dementia care units in Japan. After stratification of the sample by dementia severity and clinical significance of NPI‐NH scores, differences in the prevalence of clinically significant BPSD were mostly observed among facilities dedicated to dementia patients in the CDR 1 group. In the CDR 3 group, the prevalence of some clinically significant BPSD, such as apathy, was high even among study sites with low median total NPI‐NH scores. Conclusions: Our findings may suggest referral and selection biases in the study sites. Future prospective studies are needed to address the impact of environmental and care factors on the occurrence of BPSD in Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study aims to synthesise evidence on time trends of dementia prevalence in East Asian countries including Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan and assess the impact of the societal changes on future prevalence. Method Relevant reviews and recent nationwide studies in East Asia were identified to investigate changes in prevalence of dementia over time taking into account the potential impact of methodological factors and study designs. Results The robust evidence that has been interpreted to suggest a substantial increasing trend over time is less compelling once fundamental differences in study methods and populations across individual surveys are considered. In Japan, longitudinal studies in small areas suggest the potential increase of prevalence after 2000. Increasing trends in China, South Korea and Taiwan over the last 20-30 years are based on the literature review without adjustment for methodological differences. Economic development and huge societal changes alongside the rise of non-communicable disease in East Asia could lead to increasing prevalence of dementia in the future once those cohorts with high risk of dementia reached their older age. Conclusion Current evidence is not sufficient to suggest increasing trends of dementia prevalence in East Asia. Longitudinal studies with representative samples and stable methodology are needed to provide fundamental information of the epidemiology of dementia and identify important risk factors in East Asian societies. © 2015 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]