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IntroductionNumerous factors influence hair health, including genetic predisposition, hormonal changes, stress, nutritional deficiencies, medical conditions, or medications. With the rising interest in maintaining hair health, alternative approaches such as functional cosmetics and food products are gaining attention. Probiotics, health-beneficial live microorganisms, are emerging as potential candidates for improving hair health. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects and safety of oral intake of Latilactobacillus curvatus LB-P9 on hair health.MethodsThe study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving participants (aged 18–60 years old) with mild to moderate hair damage. Participants were randomly assigned to the test (receiving LB-P9 supplements) or control (receiving a placebo) groups, respectively. Efficacy was assessed using measures such as hair luster, elasticity, and participant satisfaction. Safety evaluations comprised physical examinations, vital sign measurements, laboratory tests, and observation of adverse reactions.ResultsOverall, 80 participants were enrolled in the trial. Significant improvements were observed in hair luster, elasticity, and participant satisfaction in the test group compared to the control group. In the test group, the hair luster parameter increased by 1.65 ± 2.30 (LBNT) at 24 weeks (p

Saururus chinensis is a perennial herb found in the northeastern regions of Asia, including Korea, China, and Japan, and is used in traditional medicine. Studies have identified the four major constituents in Saururus chinensis water extract (LHF618®) as miquelianin (11.75 ± 0.092 mg/g), rutin (1.20 ± 0.008 mg/g), quercitrin (2.38 ± 0.389 mg/g), and quercetin (0.068 ± 0.017 mg/g). Saururus chinensis can improve the symptoms of ovalbumin- or fine dust-induced allergic pulmonary disease by suppressing the effects of WBCs and neutrophils in BALF and IgE in the serum. Saururus chinensis dose-dependently recovered morphological changes such as mucous hyper secretion (from 2.7 ± 0.46 to 0.6 ± 0.65), pulmonary epithelial cell hyperplasia (from 2.4 ± 0.55 to 0.7 ± 0.67), and inflammatory cell infiltration (from 2.3 ± 0.45 to 0.6 ± 0.43), and effectively controlled cDNA levels and protein levels of IL-13. It inhibited NF-κB translocation and COX-2 protein synthesis and suppressed the expression of PGE2. Our results show that Saururus chinensis controlled allergic pulmonary disease via the anti-inflammatory pathways, NF-κB/COX-2 and PGE2. Saururus chinensis may be a promising drug candidate against fine dust-induced allergic pulmonary disease.

HT048 is a combination composed of Crataegus pinnatifida leaf and Citrus unshiu peel extracts. This study aimed to investigate potential anti-obesity effect of the combination. The 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated with different doses of HT048 and triglyceride accumulation, glycerol release and adipogenesis-related genes were analyzed. For in vivo study, male Sprague Dawley rats were divided according to experimental diets: the chow diet group, the high-fat diet (HFD) group, the HFD supplemented with orlistat group, the HFD supplemented with HT048 group (0.2% or 0.4%) for 12 weeks. We measured the body weight, serum lipid levels and the expression of genes involved lipid metabolism. HT048 treatment dose-dependently suppressed adipocyte differentiation and stimulated glycerol release. The expressions of PPARγ and C/EBPα mRNA were decreased by HT048 treatment in adipocytes. HT048 supplementation significantly reduced the body and fat weights in vivo. Serum lipid levels were significantly lower in the HT048 supplemented groups than those of the HFD group. Expression of the hepatic lipogenesis-related genes were decreased and expression of the β-oxidation-related genes were increased in rats fed HT048 compared to that of animals fed HFD. These results suggest that HT048 has a potential benefit in preventing obesity through the inhibition of lipogenesis and adipogenesis.

Monitoring of specific biomarker is critical for determining progression of a disease or efficacy of a treatment. Currently, the standard for assessing amount of specific biomarkers is the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which measures quantities on the nanogram scale. However, ELISA has high material costs, long incubation periods, requires large volume of samples and involves special instruments, which necessitates clinical samples to be sent to a lab. In order to provide rapid, accurate, easy, point-of-care measurement of biomarkers, electrochemical immunosensor can be used to provide specific and sensitive biomarker detection. Immunosensor allow near real-time results, reduced costs, and simple assays with no labelling. In this work, we developed an electrochemical biosensor to measure total immunoglobulin E (IgE), a marker of asthma disease that varies with age, gender, and disease in concentrations from 0.3–1000 ng/mL with consuming 20 µL volume of real blood sample. Also, sequential monitoring of total IgE with OVA induced mice is another application of this work and this sensor is an alternative approach for recording data and a more effective assay for understanding the cytotoxic effects of toxic materials.

This study evaluated the anti-obesity effects of HT048, a combination of C. pinnatifida fruit and C. unshiu peel extracts, in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats. 4-Week-old male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were divided into normal and high fat diet (HFD) groups. The HFD groups were further divided into five groups treated with distilled water, orlistat (40 mg/kg, twice daily, p.o) and HT048 (30, 100 and 300 mg/kg, twice daily, p.o.) for 12 weeks. Orlistat, an anti-obesity drug, was used as positive control in the HFD-induced obese rats. We measured the food intake, body weight, epididymal adipose tissue and liver weights, and serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), alanine transaminase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels. The body weight and epididymal adipose tissue and liver weights of the HT048 100 and 300 mg/kg treated groups were significantly lower than that of the HFD control group. Also, serum TC, TG, ALT, and AST levels in the HT048 100 and 300 mg/kg treated groups were significantly decreased. Moreover, the orlistat treated group showed significantly reduced body weight and improved serum lipoprotein, compared with the HFD control group. These results show that HT048 supplements improved obesity-related body weight and serum lipoprotein parameters in a HFD-induced obese rat model.

It is well established that obesity causes a variety of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Despite the diligent scientific efforts to find effective ways to lower the level of obesity, the size of obese population grows continuously around the world. Here we present the results that show feeding diet containing HT048, a mixture of the extracts of Crataegus pinnatifida leaves and Citrus unshiu peel, two of the well-known traditional herbal medicines in Eastern Asia, decreases obesity in rats. We fed rats with five different diets for 10 weeks: chow diet (STD), high-fat diet (HFD), high-fat diet with 0.04% orlistat, a drug to treat obesity (HFD + Orlistat), high-fat diet with 0.2% HT048 (w/w; HFD + 0.2% HT048), and high-fat diet with 0.6% HT048 (w/w; HFD + 0.6% HT048). It was found that both body and total white adipose tissue weight of HT048 groups significantly decreased compared to those of the HFD group. Moreover, HT048 decreased serum insulin levels in HFD-fed obese rats. At the molecular level, HT048 supplementation downregulated genes involved in lipogenesis, gluconeogenesis, and adipogenesis, while the expression level of β-oxidation genes was increased. Supplementation-drug interactions are not likely as HFD and HT048-containing diet did not significantly induce genes encoding CYPs. Collectively, this study suggests that HT048 taken as dietary supplement helps to decrease obesity and insulin resistance in HFD-fed obese rats.

Saururus chinensis is a perennial herb found in the northeastern regions of Asia, including Korea, China, and Japan, and is used in traditional medicine. Studies have identified the fourmajor constituents in Saururus chinensis water extract (LHF618R) as miquelianin (11.75 ± 0.092 mg/g), rutin (1.20 ± 0.008 mg/g), quercitrin (2.38 ± 0.389 mg/g), and quercetin (0.068 ± 0.017 mg/g). Saururus chinensis can improve the symp- toms of ovalbumin- or fine dust-induced allergic pulmonary disease by suppressing the effects of WBCs and neutrophils in BALF and IgE in the serum. Saururus chinensis dose-dependently recovered morphological changes such as mucous hyper secretion (from 2.7 ± 0.46 to 0.6 ± 0.65), pulmonary epithelial cell hyperplasia (from 2.4 ± 0.55 to 0.7 ± 0.67), and inflammatory cell infiltration (from 2.3 ± 0.45 to 0.6 ± 0.43), and effectively controlled cDNA levels and protein levels of IL-13. It inhibited NF-κB translocation and COX-2 protein synthesis and suppressed the expression of PGE2. Our results show that Saururus chinensis controlled allergic pulmonary disease via the anti-inflammatory pathways, NF-κB/COX-2 and PGE2. Saururus chinensis may be a promising drug candidate against fine dust-induced allergic pulmonary disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HT042 is a new herbal prescription consisting of Astragalus membranaceus, Phlomis umbrosa and Eleutherococcus senticosus, which are used in Korean medicine to stimulate growth in children. We investigated the effects of HT042 on the body weight, longitudinal bone growth, and bone length in spontaneous dwarf rats (SDR). Male and female SDRs were divided into three groups: the control group (DW, 10 mL/kg/day), the recombinant human GH group (rhGH; 500 μg/kg/day), and the HT042 (100 mg/kg/day) group. Each group received the respective treatments for 10 days. Body weight was measured on day 10 of treatment. On day 8, tetracycline (20 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally into all individuals to form a fluorescent band on the newly synthesized bone. On day 10, femur and tibia lengths were measured using PIXImus. Body weight, longitudinal bone growth, and bone length were not affected in the HT042 group. In contrast, the rhGH group showed significantly increased body weight, longitudinal bone growth, and bone length. In conclusion, HT042 does not act through a GH-like effect to promote longitudinal bone growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the anti-obesity effects of HT048, a combination of C. pinnatifida fruit and C. unshiu peel extracts, in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats. 4-Week-old male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were divided into normal and high fat diet (HFD) groups. The HFD groups were further divided into five groups treated with distilled water, orlistat (40 mg/kg, twice daily, p.o) and HT048 (30, 100 and 300 mg/kg, twice daily, p.o.) for 12 weeks. Orlistat, an anti-obesity drug, was used as positive control in the HFD-induced obese rats. We measured the food intake, body weight, epididymal adipose tissue and liver weights, and serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), alanine transaminase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels. The body weight and epididymal adipose tissue and liver weights of the HT048 100 and 300 mg/kg treated groups were significantly lower than that of the HFD control group. Also, serum TC, TG, ALT, and AST levels in the HT048 100 and 300 mg/kg treated groups were significantly decreased. Moreover, the orlistat treated group showed significantly reduced body weight and improved serum lipoprotein, compared with the HFD control group. These results show that HT048 supplements improved obesity-related body weight and serum lipoprotein parameters in a HFD-induced obese rat model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]