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Pain is strongly associated with neuro-immune activation. Thus, the emerging role of the endocannabinoid system in neuro-inflammation is important. Acupuncture has been used for over 2500 years and is widely accepted for the management of pain. Our study aimed to investigate the effects of electroacupuncture on the regulation of cannabinoid receptor type 1 within the peripheral nervous system. Inflammatory pain was induced by injecting Complete Freund's adjuvant to induce mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia. Electroacupuncture significantly attenuated the mechanical and thermal sensitivities, and AM251, a cannabinoid receptor type 1 antagonist, eliminated these effects. Dual immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that electroacupuncture elevated expression of cannabinoid receptor type 1, co-localized with Nav 1.8. Furthermore, electroacupuncture significantly reduced levels of Nav 1.8 and COX-2 by western blot analysis, but not vice versa as AM251 treatment. Our data indicate that electroacupuncture mediates antinociceptive effects through peripheral endocannabinoid system signaling pathway and provide evidence that electroacupuncture is beneficial for pain treatment., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Ho et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Introduction: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of cupping therapy in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS)., Methods: This systematic review focused on patients with MetS and included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the effects of cupping therapy with control groups. A total of 12 electronic databases were searched from inception until February 03, 2023. The main outcome after the meta-analysis was waist circumference; the others included anthropometric variables, blood pressure, lipid profile, fasting blood glucose level, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level. The incidence of adverse events and the follow-up courses were also evaluated. Risk of bias (ROB) was evaluated using ROB 2.0 from the Cochrane Handbook., Results: This systematic review included five studies involving 489 patients. Some risks of bias were also identified. The meta-analysis revealed a statistically significance in waist circumference (MD = -6.07, 95% CI: -8.44 to -3.71, P < .001, I2 = 61%, τ2 = 3.4), body weight (MD = -2.46, 95% CI: -4.25 to -0.68, P = .007, I2 = 0%, τ2 = 0) and body mass index (MD = -1.26, 95% CI: -2.11 to -0.40, P = .004, I2 = 0%, τ2 = 0) between the cupping therapy and control groups. However, there were no significant results in total fat percentage and blood pressure values. Regarding biochemical markers, cupping significantly lowered the concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (MD = -3.98, 95% CI: -6.99 to -0.96, P = .010, I2 = 0%, τ2 = 0) but had no significant effect on total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. 3 RCTs reported no adverse events., Conclusions: Despite some ROB and low to substantial heterogeneity of the included studies, cupping therapy can be considered a safe and effective complementary intervention for reducing waist circumference, body weight, body mass index, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients with MetS. In the future, well-designed, high-quality, rigorous methodology, and long-term RCTs in this population are required to assess the efficacy and safety of cupping therapy., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder involving the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Cellular clearance mechanisms, including the autophagy-lysosome pathway, are commonly affected in the pathogenesis of PD. The lysosomal Ca 2+ channel mucolipin TRP channel 1 (TRPML1) is one of the most important proteins involved in the regulation of autophagy. Artemisia argyi Lev. et Vant., is a traditional Chinese herb, that has diverse therapeutic properties and is used to treat patients with skin diseases and oral ulcers. However, the neuroprotective effects of A. argyi are not explored yet., Hypothesis: This study aims is to investigate the neuroprotective effects of A. argyi in promoting the TRPML1-mediated autophagy/mitophagy-enhancing effect METHODS: In this study, we used 1-methyl-4-phenyl-pyridinium (MPP+)-induced PD model established in an SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cell line as well as in a 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydro-pyridine (MPTP)-induced PD model in C57BL/6 J mice. MTT assay was conducted to measure the cell viability and further MitoSoX and DCFDA assay were used to measure the ROS. Western blot analysis was used to access levels of TRPML1, p-DRP1 (ser616), p-AKT, PI3K, and β-catenin, Additionally, IF and IHC analysis to investigate the expression of TRPML1, LC3B, β-catenin, TH+, α-synuclein. Mitotracker stain was used to check mitophagy levels and a lysosomal intracellular activity kit was used to measure the lysosomal dysfunction. Behavioral studies were conducted by rotarod and grip strength experiments to check motor functions., Results: In our in vitro study, A. argyi rescued the MPP+-induced loss of cell viability and reduced the accumulation of mitochondrial and total reactive oxygen species (ROS). Subsequently, it increased the expression of TRPML1 protein, thereby inducing autophagy, which facilitated the clearance of toxic accumulation of α-synuclein. Furthermore, A. argyi played a neuroprotective role by activating the PI3K/AKT/β-catenin cell survival pathway. MPP+-mediated mitochondrial damage was overcome by upregulation of mitophagy and downregulation of the mitochondrial fission regulator p-DRP1 (ser616) in SH-SY5Y cells. In the in vivo study, A. argyi ameliorated impaired motor function and rescued TH+ neurons in the SNpc region. Similar to the results of the in vitro study, TRPML1, LC3B, and β-catenin expression was enhanced in the SNpc region in the A. argyi-treated mice brain., Conclusion: Thus, our results first demonstrate that A. argyi can exert neuroprotective effects by stimulating TRPML1 and rescuing neuronal cells by boosting autophagy/mitophagy and upregulating a survival pathway, suggesting that A. argyi can further be exploited to slow the progression of PD., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Acupuncture has been applied as a complementary therapy in stroke survivors worldwide and approved to be beneficial to stroke recovery. However, there is little medical evidence regarding the association between acupuncture and the risk of poststroke comorbidities. We reviewed big data studies from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database to investigate the risk of poststroke comorbidities after acupuncture treatment in a real-world situation. Ten English (PubMed, Embase, Medline, Cochrane, Alt HealthWatch, CINAHL, Health Source, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection) and two Chinese (AiritiLibray and Visualizing Health Data) electronic databases were searched from inception until December 2020 for nationalized cohort studies comparing the effects of acupuncture treatment with a nonacupuncture control group among stroke patients. Eight nationalized cohort studies were included. Six of eight studies showed a moderate overall risk of bias, while two studies showed a serious overall risk of bias. Included studies have investigated the effect of acupuncture in reducing the risk of seven medical conditions after stroke, including stroke recurrence, new-onset acute myocardial infarction (AMI), pneumonia, dementia, epilepsy, urinary tract infection (UTI), and depression. The meta-analysis showed clinically significant reductions in the risk of poststroke comorbidities in the acupuncture group compared to the nonacupuncture group (HR, 0.776; 95% CI, 0.719-0.838; p < 0.0001). In this systematic review and meta-analysis of nationalized cohort studies, acupuncture showed clinically relevant benefits in reducing the incidence of poststroke comorbidities, such as stroke recurrence, new-onset acute myocardial infarction (AMI), pneumonia, dementia, epilepsy, and UTI., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Li-Kung Wu et al.)

Heart failure (HF) and cardiac hypertrophy is an unfavorable outcome of pathological cardiac remodeling and represents the most important contributing factor for HF and cardiac hypertrophy. Amygdalin (AMG) is a cyanogenic glycoside derived from bitter almonds. Accumulating evidences have highlighted their pharmacological potentials against various diseases. However, there is no report delineating the potential of AMG against angiotensin (Ang II) induced cardiac injuries. Thus, the present study was performed to explore whether AMG could ameliorate Ang II induced cardiomyopathies and thereby ascertain the underlying mechanisms thereof. To this end, H9c2 cells were treated with Ang II and thereafter treated with various concentration of AMG and finally the cardio-protective effects of AMG were analyzed through Western blotting, immunofluorescence, and insilico analysis. Our results showed that the cardiomyocyte cell size, inflammatory markers and cytokines(pNF-κB, TNF-α, iNOS and COX-2) were markedly increased following Ang II treatment; nevertheless, treatment with AMG led to considerable decrement in the Ang II induced enlargement of the cardiomyocytes, and attenuate the expression of hypertrophic markers(ANP, BNP and MHC-7), inflammatory markers and cytokines. Additionally, oxidative stress related proteins (Nrf2, catalase, SOD-2, and GPX-4) were markedly increased following AMG treatment. Molecular docking reveals the interaction of AMG with Nrf2 possessing good binding affinity. Cumulatively, our study highlights the cardio-protective role of AMG against Ang II induced cardiomyopathies, including oxidative stress and inflammation effects. The intriguing in vitro results warrants the need of further animal studies to truly ascertain their potentialities., (© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

N-Acetyl-D-galactosamine (GalNAc)-specific lectins are of great interest because they have been reported to detect tumor-associated antigens of malignant cells. We isolated a novel lectin from Carica papaya seeds, named C. papaya lectin (CPL). Purification of the lectin involved ammonium sulfate fractionation and DEAE anion exchange and repeated gel filtration chromatography. Inhibition of CPL causing hemagglutination on human erythrocytes showed that the lectin shows specificity to GalNAc and lactose. Surface plasmon resonance further revealed that the lectin possesses high specificity toward GalNAc with a dissociation constant of 5.5 × 10(-9) M. The lectin is composed of 38- and 40-kDa subunits with a molecular mass of ∼804 kDa estimated by size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography. Incubation of CPL with Jurkat T cells showed significant induction of IL-2 cytokine, which suggests that CPL has potent immunomodulatory effects on immune cells.

In this investigation, detection dogs are trained and used in identifying red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta Buren, and their nests. The methodology could assist in reducing the frequency and scope of chemical treatments for red imported fire ant management and thus reduce labor costs and chemical use as well as improve control and quarantine efficiency. Three dogs previously trained for customs quarantine were retrained to detect the scents of red imported fire ants. After passing tests involving different numbers of live red imported fire ants and three other ant species--Crematogaster rogenhoferi Mayr, Paratrechina longicornis Latreille, and Pheidole megacephala F.--placed in containers, ajoint field survey for red imported fire ant nests by detection dogs and bait traps was conducted to demonstrate their use as a supplement to conventional detection methods. The most significant findings in this report are (1) with 10 or more red imported fire ants in scent containers, the dogs had >98% chance in tracing the red imported fire ant. Upon the introduction of other ant species, the dogs still achieved on average, a 93% correct red imported fire ant indication rate. Moreover, the dogs demonstrated great competence in pinpointing emerging and smaller red imported fire ant nests in red imported fire ant-infested areas that had been previously confirmed by bait trap stations. (2) Along with the bait trap method, we also discovered that approximately 90% of red imported fire ants foraged within a distance of 14 m away from their nests. The results prove detection dogs to be most effective for red imported fire ant control in areas that have been previously treated with pesticides and therefore containing a low density of remaining red imported fire ant nests. Furthermore, as a complement to other red imported fire ant monitoring methods, this strategy will significantly increase the efficacy of red imported fire ant control in cases of individual mount treatment.

We examined the effects of garlic oil (GO) and two of its organosulfur compounds, diallyl sulfide (DAS) and diallyl disulfide (DADS), on the drug-metabolizing and antioxidant systems in rats and sought to determine whether these effects are associated with dietary fat. Rats were fed a high-fat diet and received GO or DADS (200 mg/kg body wt) or DAS (100 mg/kg) orally three times a week for seven weeks. Control animals received corn oil alone. Another group of rats was fed a low-fat diet, with or without GO. GO and DADS significantly reduced the body weight gain of rats (p < 0.05). GO, however, dramatically increased the spleen weight and spleen weight-to-body weight ratio (p < 0.05). DAS increased glutathione S-transferase (GST) and 7-pentoxyresorufin O-dealkylase activities, whereas DADS increased only GST activity (p < 0.05). Immunoblot assay showed GO-, DAS-, and DADS-enhanced expression of the placental form of GST and cytochrome P-450 IIBI but suppressed cytochrome P-450 IIEI expression. Hepatic antioxidant enzyme activities were also modulated by these garlic components. GO and DADS inhibited glutathione peroxidase activity (p < 0.05), and DADS and DAS enhanced glutathione reductase activity (p < 0.05). Only GO enhanced the superoxide dismutase activity (p < 0.05). All these garlic components increased glutathione levels in red blood cells (p < 0.05) but did not influence hepatic glutathione levels. Although the amount of fat in the diet modulated drug-metabolizing and antioxidant functions, no interactions between GO and dietary fat were observed. These results indicate that GO and its allyl sulfide components, as well as dietary lipid, modulate drug-metabolizing and antioxidant enzyme activities. The action of GO appears to be independent of dietary lipid content.