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Background: The association between Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and the risk of developing major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients with dialysis hypotension is unclear and has not yet been investigated. This study aimed to determine whether CMH intervention could reduce the risk of MACEs in patients with dialysis hypotension. Methods: The study data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database were analyzed to clarify this association. For this study, a case-control design with a cohort of patients who received hemodialysis (HD) from 2008 to 2018, 20 295 HD patients who had received blood pressure (BP) raising drugs were identified. After 1:1 frequency-matching, 730 patients were identified as CHM users and CHM non-users. Vascular access revision/reconstruction and MACEs were observed as the main outcomes during the follow-up period. Results: The occurrence of vascular access revision/reconstruction in HD patients receiving BP raising drugs was associated with a 0.34-fold lower risk in CHM users than in CHM non-users [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 0.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.26, 0.45]. The occurrences of MACEs in HD patients receiving BP raising drugs was associated with a 0.41-fold lower risk in CHM users than in CHM non-users (aHR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.33, 0.51). A markedly predominant effect was observed in those receiving CHM for more than 180 days (aHR = 0.32; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.45). Conclusion: The findings revealed lower vascular access dysfunction and MACEs risk correlated with the use of CHM treatment among HD patients who received BP raising drugs.

Background: The incidence of opioid use disorder (OUD) is increasing worldwide, and the opioid-related overdose crisis is currently a major global challenge. This study investigated the effects of adjuvant laser meridian massage (LMM) in men with OUD undergoing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Methods: A case-controlled study was conducted from February 2019 to April 2020. Fourteen men with OUD on MMT were enrolled from an addiction treatment center as an experimental group. An age-matched control group comprising 13 men was also enrolled. The experimental group received LMM on the back, including over the Bladder meridian and Governor Vessel, three times weekly for 4 weeks. The control group received only MMT. Urinary morphine levels, patients’ self-reports of the number of episodes or days of heroin use, and visual analog scale scores for heroin craving/refusal to use heroin during the previous week were evaluated. Quality of life was reported using the Short Form (SF)-12v2. Results: The experimental group showed a significant decrease in heroin use (p

The flower buds of Lonicera japonica are commonly used as popular healthy beverages that are also effective in the prevention and cure of a variety of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, and also as an anti-inflammatory treatment for thousands of years. In this study, three new iridoid glycosides along with twenty-five known analogues were isolated from the aqueous extract of L. japonica. Their structures were determined by extensive 1D NMR, 2D NMR and HR-ESIMS spectroscopic data analyses, and all the isolates were investigated with regard to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production and α-glucosidase inhibitory effects. Among these compounds, 12 and 13 exhibited strong NO inhibitory activities and no cytotoxic effects. Moreover, most compounds were potent α-glucosidase inhibitors compared with the positive control acarbose. These findings will enhance knowledge about the bioactive components of L. japonica and help promote its potential application in functional foods.

Hawthorn is becoming increasingly popular as a functional food that has numerous medicinal and nutritional properties. Antithrombotic activity-guided fractionation of hawthorn leaves resulted in the isolation of four new monoterpene glycosides (1–4) and a new phenolic glycoside (10) in addition to 10 known ones (2–9, 11–15). Based on physicochemical properties and spectral data, such as NMR and HRESIMS, the isolated compounds identified as pinnatifidanoside A–E (1–4, 10), byzantionoside B (5), (3S,5R,6R,7E,9R)-3,6-epoxy-7-megastigmen-5, 9-diol-9-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (6), (6S,7Z,9R)-roseoside (7), icariside B6 (8), linalool oxide β-D-glucoside (9), shanyenoside A (11), dihydrocharcone-2′-β-D-glucopyranoside (12), eriodectyol (13), vitexin (14), and 2″-O-rhamnosyl vitexin (15). In vitro and in vivo antithrombotic assays of compounds 1–15 were carried out and found that compounds 7, 13 and 15 exerted potent antithrombotic activity in vitro, which was in agreement with the in vivo results of their antithrombotic activity in a transgenic zebrafish system.

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases against humans. To tackle this menace, humans have developed several high-technology therapies, such as chemotherapy, tomotherapy, targeted therapy, and antibody therapy. However, all these therapies have their own adverse side effects. Therefore, recent years have seen increased attention being given to the natural food for complementary therapy, which have less side effects. Garlic 大 蒜 Dà Suàn; Allium sativum), is one of most powerful food used in many of the civilizations for both culinary and medicinal purpose. In general, these foods induce cancer cell death by apoptosis, autophagy, or necrosis. Studies have discussed how natural food factors regulate cell survival or death by autophagy in cancer cells. From many literature reviews, garlic could not only induce apoptosis but also autophagy in cancer cells. Autophagy, which is called type-II programmed cell death, provides new strategy in cancer therapy. In conclusion, we wish that garlic could be the pioneer food of complementary therapy in clinical cancer treatment and increase the life quality of cancer patients.

Antrodia cinnamomea, a Taiwan-specific medicinal mushroom, can manipulate biological activities, including hepatoprotection, anti-inflammation, anti-hepatitis B virus activity, anticancer activity, etc. In this study, the anti-liver cancer activity and molecular mechanisms of eburicoic acid, the second most abundant triterpenoid from the fruiting bodies of basswood cultivated Antrodia cinnamomea was investigated using the human hepatoma Hep 3B cells. The results show that eburicoic acid effectively reduced Hep 3B cell viability within 24 hours, and the IC50 was 18.4 μM, which was equivalent to 8.7 μg/mL. Besides, eburicoic acid induced conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II and a large number of autophagosomes/autolysosomes formation. In depth investigation for the molecular mechanisms, revealed that eburicoic acid firstly promoted reactive oxygen species generation and ATP depletion, leading to endoplasmic reticulum stress, followed by elevated cytosolic calcium ion concentration and BiP expression, downregulated phosphorylation of DAPK, upregulated phosphorylation of Beclin-1, JNK, and Bcl-2, and finally induced autophagy in Hep 3B cells. These results indicate that eburicoic acid has significant anti-liver cancer effects and more distinctive mechanisms.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a complex chronic disease and is associated with a spectrum of liver injury ranging from steatosis and steatohepatitis to fibrosis and cirrhosis. Since effective therapies for ALD are still limited, Chinese herbal medicine is thought to be an important and alternative approach. This review focuses on the current scientific evidence of ALD by ten Chinese Materia Medica (中藥 zhōng yào), including Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix (丹參 dān shēn), Notoginseng Radix (三七 sān qī), Lycii Fructus (枸杞子 gǒu qǐ zǐ), Cnidii Fructus (蛇床子 shé chuáng zǐ), Gentianae Radix (龍膽 lóng dǎn), Puerariae Radix (葛根 gé gēn), Puerariae Flos (葛花 gé huā), Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex (厚朴 hòu pò), Platycodonis Radix (桔梗 jié gěng), and Trigonellae Semen (胡蘆巴 hú lú bā). Potential mechanisms of these herbal medicines in ALD are involved in amelioration of enhanced inflammation, reduction of hepatic oxidative stress and lipogenesis, and enhancement of intestinal permeability in alcohol-induced liver injury models in vitro and in vivo. Accordingly, the evidenced therapeutic potential suggests that these herbs are promising candidates for prevention and development of new drugs for ALD in the future.

Summary: Objective: Whole genome amplification (WGA) is a crucial procedure for genomic DNA analysis from limited sources, such as in forensic analysis, embryo biopsy for preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or needle aspiration biopsies. Several strategies for WGA have been developed for either genotyping or microarray-based comparative genome hybridization (array-CGH) during the past decade. Nevertheless, there were few studies in which various WGA methods had been performed side-by-side and results evaluated with multiple methods. Materials and Methods: Ease of performance, qualitative accuracy, and quantitative fidelity of different WGA methods, such as degenerate oligonucleotide-primed polymerase chain reaction (DOP-PCR), ligation-mediated PCR (LM-PCR) and strand displacement amplification (SDA), were compared in amplifyinggenomic DNA derived from karyotype-confirmed amniocytes and the cancer cell line SAOS2. Results: Using analysis with microsatellite markers, single nucleotide polymorphism markers, and array-CGH, our results suggested that: (1) genomic DNA amplified from DOP-PCR resulted in false positive and negative results by analysis with array-CGH; (2) SDA is the easiest performance method among the three WGA methods; and (3) amplified DNA products generated by LM-PCR best reflect the original genomic DNA. Conclusion: The amplified DNA products generated by LM-PCR best reflect the original genomic DNA. Key Words: array-CGH, DOP-PCR, LM-PCR, SDA, whole genome amplification