Botanicals in Postmenopausal Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a systemic bone disease characterized by reduced bone mass and the deterioration of bone microarchitecture leading to bone fragility and an increased risk of fractures. Conventional anti-osteoporotic pharmaceutics are effective in the treatment and prophylaxis of osteoporosis, however they are associated with various side effects that push many women into seeking botanicals as an alternative therapy. Traditional folk medicine is a rich source of bioactive compounds waiting for discovery and investigation that might be used in those patients, and therefore botanicals have recently received increasing attention. The aim of this review of literature is to present the comprehensive information about plant-derived compounds that might be used to maintain bone health in perimenopausal and postmenopausal females.     

Dietary Supplements in the Management of Hypertension and Diabetes - A Review

Background

The use of alternative therapies like herbs and dietary supplements is very common among hypertensive and diabetic patients all over the globe. Hypertension is a silent disease that causes increase in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, renal morbidity and mortality whereas diabetic complications cause heart attack, stroke, blindness and kidney disease. These are serious and chronic metabolic disorders that have a significant impact on the health, quality of life, and life expectancy of patients, as well as on the health care systems. Orthodox drugs used for the treatment of hypertension and diabetes produce side effects such as headache, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, weakness, fatigue and erectile dysfunction. The need for considering alternate therapies in the form of dietary supplements known to promote good health, having little or no side effects therefore arises.

Materials and methods

This review was carried out using comprehensive and systematic literature reports on the concurrent use of dietary supplements in the management of diabetes and hypertension. Empirical searches were conducted using Google scholar (http://scholar.google.com), and Science Direct (http://www.sciencedirect.com). In addition to these databases, the University database was also used. Searches were also undertaken using keyword combinations such as dietary supplements and the names of the diseases in question.

Result and Discussion

This review chronicled the therapeutic values of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fruits, vegetables, herbs and other botanicals used as dietary supplements. Results show that these supplements provided better and safe substitutes to toxic and expensive conventional drugs. Generally dietary supplements are free from major side effects, readily available and affordable. It is envisaged that the use of dietary supplement will promote good health and improve the status of hypertensive and diabetic patients.

Conclusion

Medical doctors are therefore encouraged to incorporate dietary supplements into the regimen employed for hypertension and diabetes management.     

Phytoestrogens: a review of the present state of research

Phytoestrogens are a diverse group of plant-derived compounds that structurally or functionally mimic mammalian estrogens and show potential benefits for human health. The number of articles published on phytoestrogens has risen dramatically in the past couple decades. Further research continues to demonstrate the biological complexity of phytoestrogens, which belong to several different chemical classes and act through diverse mechanisms. This paper discusses the classification of phytoestrogens, methods of identification, their proposed mechanisms of action and botanical sources for phytoestrogens. The effects of phytoestrogens on breast and prostate cancers, cardiovascular disease, menopausal symptoms and osteoporosis will also be examined including research on benefits and risks.     

抗肿瘤药物的临床应用进展

本文综述和分析近年来抗肿瘤药物的临床应用现状和研究新进展,传统的细胞毒类药物包括烷化剂类药物、抗代谢类药物、金属铂类药物、抗肿瘤激素类药物和抗肿瘤抗生素等由于其使用价值在临床上仍享有一定的地位,不过因为其治疗的局限性以及不良反应的危害,新开发的药物、分子靶向药物和抗肿瘤植物药在某些领域正逐步取代其位置,成为治疗的首选。随着临床应用的不断发展,新的肿瘤治疗药物如海洋来源药物、抗肿瘤中草药等将在未来一段时间内得到进一步开发。     

The science behind skin care: Moisturizers

Moisturizers provide functional skin benefits, such as making the skin smooth and soft, increasing skin hydration, and improving skin optical characteristics; however, moisturizers also function as vehicles to deliver ingredients to the skin. These ingredients may be vitamins, botanical antioxidants, peptides, skin‐lightening agents, botanical anti‐inflammatories, or exfoliants. This discussion covers the science of moisturizers.     

Functional Alternatives to Alcohol

The consumption of alcohol is associated with well-known health harms and many governments worldwide are actively engaged in devising approaches to reduce them. To this end, a common proposed strategy aims at reducing alcohol consumption. This approach has led to the development of non-alcoholic drinks, which have been especially welcome by younger, wealthier, health-conscious consumers, who have been turning away from alcohol to look toward alternatives. However, a drawback of non-alcoholic drinks is that they do not facilitate social interaction in the way alcohol does, which is the main reason behind social drinking. Therefore, an alternative approach is to develop functional drinks that do not use alcohol yet mimic the positive, pro-social effects of alcohol without the associated harms. This article will discuss (1) current knowledge of how alcohol mediates its effects in the brain, both the desirable, e.g., antistress to facilitate social interactions, and the harmful ones, with a specific focus on the pivotal role played by the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter system and (2) how this knowledge can be exploited to develop functional safe alternatives to alcohol using either molecules already existing in nature or synthetic ones. This discussion will be complemented by an analysis of the regulatory challenges associated with the novel endeavour of bringing safe, functional alternatives to alcohol from the bench to bars.     

Alternative therapies for musculoskeletal conditions

The use of complementary and alternative medicine is complex and nuanced. Patterns of use of complementary and alternative medicine differ among racially and ethnically different groups. Multivariate models of utilization indicate that ethnicity plays an independent role in the implementation of these modalities, in seeking practitioners and in health problems for which assistance is required. Moreover, there are many reasons why people use complementary and alternative medicine: conventional treatment may not be working as well as they would like; they want greater relief of symptoms and/or disability; they have issues with side-effects of pharmaceutical treatment; they wish to reduce some of the stress that comes from living with a chronic illness and want to cope better; they believe that complementary and alternative therapies are safer and 'natural'; and they are influenced by the widespread advertising and attractive claims that are made for many natural products. Although there are more than 150 different kinds of syndromes and conditions associated with arthritis, this review will focus on currently available evidence-based medicine for the two most common conditions diagnosed in Western countries - osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis - for which people seek and then implement complementary and alternative medicine modalitites.     

楝科植物Melia volkensii生物活性馏分对致倦库蚊Culex quinquefesicatus的影响研究

<正> 作为一种替代选择,植物源化合物用于防治蚊虫,尤其是防治蚊幼虫,乃是一种比人工合成杀虫剂对环境更为友好的害虫防治方法。对此,Sukumar等(1991)已有详尽述评(见本刊1995年11(1):77—80,译者注),并列举出了具有潜在的蚊虫防治能力的344种植物。楝科植物Melia volkensii便是其中之     

The effect of Echinacea purpurea, Astragalus membranaceus and Glycyrrhiza glabra on CD69 expression and immune cell activation in humans

The increasing use of medicinal herbs among the general public has piqued the need for scientific-based research to determine the mechanism of action of herbs administered orally in human subjects. The ability of three herbs, Echinacea purpurea, Astragalus membranaceus and Glycyrrhiza glabra, to activate immune cells in human subjects was assessed in this pilot study. The effect of these herbs when ingested for 7 days was measured both when administered singly, and in combination, using flow cytometry. The primary cell activation marker measured was CD69. The results demonstrate that Echinacea, Astragalus and Glycyrrhiza herbal tinctures stimulated immune cells as quantified by CD69 expression on CD4 and CD8 T cells. This activation took place within 24 h of ingestion, and continued for at least 7 days. In addition, these three herbs had an additive effect on CD69 expression when used in combination.