Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2015 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 6 Articles
As the role of traditional medicine in community health improvement increases, a comprehensive health care programfor infectious\ndiseases management in child-care centers by Korean medicine doctors was developed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate\nthe effects of the program intervention on infection-related medical care utilization among children. The study used a quasiexperimental\ndesign with nonequivalent control group, comparing pre- and post-intervention data of the same children. The\nprogram implemented interventions in terms of management, education, and medical examination for the teachers, parents, and\nchildren in 12-week period. The frequency of utilization, cost, and prescription days of drugs and antibiotics due to infectious\ndiseases prior to the intervention were compared with those during the 3-month intervention, using health insurance claimdata. A\npanel analysis was also conducted to support the findings. A significant reduction (12%) in infection-related visit days of hospitals\nwas observed with the intervention (incident rate ratio = 0.88, P = 0.01). And medical cost, drug prescription days, and antibiotics\nprescription days were decreased, although not statistically significant. A further cost-effectiveness analysis in terms of social\nperspectives, considering the opportunity costs for guardians to take children to medical institutions, would be needed....
Background. Guilu Erxian Jiao (GEJ) is a widely used Chinese herbal remedy for knee osteoarthritis, but its clinical efficacy is\nunknown. Methods.We enrolled 42 elderly male patients with knee OA, including 21 patients who received the herbal drug GEJ as\nthe case group and 21 patients who did not receive GEJ as the control group. The effects of 12 weeks of GEJ treatment on muscle\nstrength of lower limbs were measured by a Biodex dynamometer, with disability evaluated on the Lequesne index and articular\npain measured on the visual analog scale (VAS) between the two groups on the baseline and after treatment. Results.There were\nsignificant increases in the levels of muscle strength of TQ/BW-ext-dominant and TQ/BW-flex-dominant between the two groups\nafter treatment (P < 0.05). There were also significant increases in muscle strength of knee extensor muscles in the GEJ-treated\ngroup (P = 21) self-controlled before and after 12 weeks of treatment (all P < 0.01). There were significant decreases in articular\npain (P < 0.01) and Lequesne index scores (P < 0.01) in the GEJ-treated group when compared to the non-GEJ-treated group.\nConclusions. Our results showed that GEJ is effective and is tolerated well in elderly men with knee OA....
Polyphenols have recently become an important focus of study in obesity research. Oligonol is an oligomerized polyphenol,\ntypically comprised of catechin-type polyphenols froma variety of fruits, which has been found to exhibit better bioavailability and\nbioreactivity than natural polyphenol compounds.Here,we demonstrated that Oligonol inhibits 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation by\nreducing adipogenic gene expression. During adipogenesis, Oligonol downregulated the mRNA levels of peroxisome proliferatoractivated\nreceptor ???? (PPAR????), CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins ???? (C/EBP????), and ???? (C/EBP????) in a dose-dependent manner and\nthe expression of genes involved in lipid biosynthesis. The antiadipogenic effect of Oligonol appears to originate from its ability to\ninhibit the Akt and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway by diminishing the phosphorylation of ribosomal\nprotein S6 kinase (p70S6K), a downstreamtarget ofmTOR and forkhead box protein O1 (Foxo1). These results suggest that Oligonol\nmay be a potent regulator of obesity by repressing major adipogenic genes through inhibition of the Akt signaling pathway, which\ninduces the inhibition of lipid accumulation, ultimately inhibiting adipogenesis....
Background. Functional gastrointestinal disorders are highly prevalent and standard treatments are often unsatisfactory.\nMindfulness-based therapy has shown benefit in conditions including chronic pain, mood, and somatization disorders. Objectives.\nTo assess the quality and effectiveness reported in existing literature, we conducted a meta-analysis of mindfulness-based therapy\nin functional gastrointestinal disorders. Methods. Pubmed, EBSCO, and Cochrane databases were searched from inception toMay\n2014. Study inclusion criteria included randomized, controlled studies of adults using mindfulness-based therapy in the treatment\nof functional gastrointestinal disorders. Study quality was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias. Effect sizes were calculated\nand pooled to achieve a summary effect for the intervention on symptom severity and quality of life. Results. Of 119 records, eight\narticles, describing seven studies, met inclusion criteria. In six studies, significant improvements were achieved or maintained at\nthe end of intervention or follow-up time points. The studies had an unclear or high risk of bias. Pooled effects were statistically\nsignificant for IBS severity (0.59, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.86) and quality of life (0.56, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.79). Conclusion. Studies suggest that\nmindfulness based interventions may provide benefit in functional gastrointestinal disorders; however, substantial improvements\nin methodological quality and reporting are needed...
Cat�s whiskers (Orthosiphon stamineus) leaves extracts were prepared using supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) with full factorial design\nto determine the optimum extraction parameters. Nine extracts were obtained by varying pressure, temperature, and time.\nThe extracts were analysed using FTIR, UV-Vis, and GC-MS. Cytotoxicity of the extracts was evaluated on human (colorectal,\nbreast, and prostate) cancer and normal fibroblast cells. Moderate pressure (31.1MPa) and temperature (60?C) were recorded\nas optimum extraction conditions with high yield (1.74%) of the extract (B2) at 60 min extraction time. The optimized extract\n(B2) displayed selective cytotoxicity against prostate cancer (PC3) cells (IC50 28 ????g/mL) and significant antioxidant activity (IC50\n42.8 ????g/mL). Elevated levels of caspases 3/7 and 9 in B2-treated PC3 cells suggest the induction of apoptosis through nuclear and\nmitochondrial pathways. Hoechst and rhodamine assays confirmed the nuclear condensation and disruption of mitochondrial\nmembrane potential in the cells. B2 also demonstrated inhibitory effects on motility and colonies of PC3 cells at its subcytotoxic\nconcentrations. It is noteworthy that B2 displayed negligible toxicity against the normal cells. Chemometric analysis revealed high\ncontent of essential oils, hydrocarbon, fatty acids, esters, and aromatic sesquiterpenes in B2. This study highlights the therapeutic\npotentials of SC-CO2 extract of cat�s whiskers in targeting prostate carcinoma....
Background. Tianjiu therapy has established efficacy against chronic asthma with related symptoms or the medication need during\nasthma attack. This study aimed to explore the optimal duration of Tianjiu therapy for asthma. Methods. This study was a selfcomparison-\nto-the-baseline study, which comparing treatment with Tianjiu therapy for 1 year and 2 years in the same 102 chronic\nasthma patients. Totally 6 sessions of Tianjiu treatment were provided, 3 sessions in a year as a course of treatment and totally two\nyears treatment.The primary endpoint was the number of asthma related symptoms which frequently appeared in asthma patients\nand the frequency of bronchodilator used during asthma attack. Results.Thefrequency of bronchodilator used during asthma attack\nsignificantly improved (X2 = 46.276, P = 0.000). But the number of asthma related symptoms which frequently appeared in asthma\npatients added by 1.38 points (95% CI, 0.25 to 2.51), 2.93 �± 0.41 in 1-year group and 4.31 �± 0.41 in the 2-years group (P < 0.05).\nConclusions.The effect of 2 yearsTianjiu therapywas not as effective as 1 year such treatment for asthma, but the second yearTianjiu\ntherapy was still needed because it has a role to consolidate the curative effect of Tianjiu therapy for asthma....
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