Evidence of Antidepressive Effects of a Wakan-yaku

Wakan-yaku is a type of Japanese and Sino traditional, systematized medical care that has been practiced for hundreds of years. This medicinal system includes many antidepressive prescriptions. One of the candidates is Hochuekkito, although experimental evidence has not yet been established clearly. To obtain evidence, a depression model of learned-helplessness (LH) mice was used. Based on the score of escape failure, an index of the depression degree, mice with a depressive condition were selected to assess Hochuekkito’s effects. This selection was significant and effective in the following two points: evaluation of the drug effect under disease conditions and minimization of the number of animals. Treatment with Hochuekkito (1 and 5 g/kg p.o.; estimated galenical amount) for 14 days significantly decreased the depression index, the number of escape failures, and desipramine (10 mg/kg p.o.) suggesting that Hochuekkito has an antidepressive effect

An open label randomized controlled trial of ivermectin plus favipiravir-based standard of care versus favipiravir-based standard of care for treatment of moderate COVID-19 in Thailand

BACKGROUND: The role of ivermectin in the treatment of moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is controversial. We performed an open label randomized controlled trial to evaluate the role of ivermectin plus favipiravir-based standard of care versus favipiravir-based standard of care for the treatment of moderate COVID-19 infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An open-label randomized control trial was performed at Thammasat Field Hospital and Thammasat University Hospital from October 1st, 2021 to May 31st, 2022. Patients with moderate COVID-19 infections were randomized to the intervention (ivermectin plus favipiravir-based standard of care) or control group (favipiravir-based standard of care alone). Patients were followed up to 21 days. The primary outcome was the improvement in World Health Organization (WHO) category ordinal scale by 2 points. Secondary outcomes included duration of illness, development of severe COVID-19, and adverse reactions. RESULTS: There were 157 patients in the intervention and 160 patients in the control group. Characteristics, underlying diseases, and risk factors for severe COVID-19 were comparable in both groups. Improvement in the WHO-category ordinal scale by 2 points was achieved in 98.7% of the intervention group and in 99.4% of the control group (relative risk [RR]: 0.487; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.044-5.430). The median illness duration was 5.0 days (range, 3 - 28 days) in intervention group versus 5.2 days (range, 3 - 28 days) in control group ( CONCLUSION: In this study ivermectin plus standard of care was not associated with improvement in the WHO-category ordinal scale, reduced illness duration, or development of severe COVID-19 in moderately ill COVID-19 patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: TCTR20220427005

High efficiency in vitro wound healing of dictyophora indusiata extracts via anti-inflammatory and collagen stimulating (MMP-2 inhibition) mechanisms

Dictyophora indusiata or Phallus indusiatus is widely used as not only traditional medicine, functional foods, but also, skin care agents. Biological activities of the fruiting body from D. indusiata were widely reported, while the studies on the application of immature bamboo mushroom extracts were limited especially in the wound healing effect. Wound healing process composed of 4 stages including hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodelling. This study divided the egg stage of bamboo mushroom into 3 parts: peel and green mixture (PGW), core (CW), and whole mushroom (WW). Then, aqueous extracts were investigated for their nucleotide sequencing, biological compound contents, and wound healing effect. The anti-inflammatory determination via the levels of cytokine releasing from macrophages, and the collagen stimulation activity on fibroblasts by matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) inhibitory activity were determined to serve for the wound healing process promotion in the stage 2-4 (wound inflammation, proliferation, and remodelling of the skin). All D. indusiata extracts showed good antioxidant potential, significantly anti-inflammatory activity in the decreasing of the nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-1 (IL-6), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) secretion from macrophage cells (p < 0.05), and the effective collagen stimulation via MMP-2 inhibition. In particular, CW extract containing high content of catechin (68.761 ± 0.010 mg/g extract) which could significantly suppress NO secretion (0.06 ± 0.02 µmol/L) better than the standard anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac (0.12 ± 0.02 µmol/L) and their MMP-2 inhibition (41.33 ± 9.44%) was comparable to L-ascorbic acid (50.65 ± 2.53%). These findings support that CW of D. indusiata could be an essential natural active ingredient for skin wound healing pharmaceutical products

Advanced therapeutic dressings for effective wound healing

Advanced therapeutic dressings that take active part in wound healing to achieve rapid and complete healing of chronic wounds is of current research interest. There is a desire for novel strategies to achieve expeditious wound healing due to the enormous financial burden worldwide. This paper reviews the current state of wound healing and wound management products, with emphasis on the demand for more advanced forms of wound therapy and some of the current challenges and driving forces behind this demand. The paper reviews information mainly from peer reviewed literature and other publicly available sources such as the FDA. A major focus is the treatment of chronic wounds including amputations, diabetic and leg ulcers, pressure sores, surgical and traumatic wounds (e.g. accidents and burns) where patient immunity is low and the risk of infections and complications are high. The main dressings include medicated moist dressings, tissue engineered substitutes, biomaterials based biological dressings, biological and naturally derived dressings, medicated sutures and various combinations of the above classes. Finally, the review briefly discusses possible prospects of advanced wound healing including some of the emerging approaches such as hyperbaric oxygen, negative pressure wound therapy and laser wound healing, in routine clinical care

เกณฑ์การจัดพื้นที่ภายในโรงพยาบาลสนามสำหรับผู้ป่วยติดเชื้อโควิด 19The Spatial Criteria within the Field Hospitel for COVID 19 Patients

การวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อ 1) ศึกษารูปแบบของโรงพยาบาลสนาม 2) ศึกษาองค์ประกอบพื้นที่ภายในโรงพยาบาลสนาม และ 3) วิเคราะห์หาเกณฑ์การออกแบบโรงพยาบาลสนาม โดยการเก็บข้อมูลทุติยภูมิ จากช่องทางการสื่อสารภาครัฐรูปแบบต่างๆ จากการทบทวนเอกสารวรรณกรรมที่เกี่ยวข้อง และการเก็บข้อมูลปฐมภูมิจากโรงพยาบาลสนามธรรมศาสตร์ และศูนย์ห่วงใยคนสาครแห่งที่ 1 (กลุ่มตัวอย่างในช่วงเดือนพฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2563) ด้วยเครื่องมือวิจัย 2 ประเภท คือ 1) แบบสัมภาษณ์ผู้บริหารโรงพยาบาลสนาม/เจ้าของอาคารที่ถูกใช้เป็นโรงพยาบาลสนาม/ชุมชนรอบข้างโรงพยาบาลสนาม และ 2) แบบสำรวจกายภาพพื้นที่ จากการเก็บข้อมูลปฐมภูมิและทุติยภูมิข้างต้นนำสรุปเป็นผลการวิจัยได้ว่า 1) โรงพยาบาลสนาม จำแนกตามลักษณะกลุ่มผู้ป่วยได้เป็น 2 รูปแบบคือ ประเภทหอผู้ป่วยสังเกตอาการ (Cohort Center) และประเภทหอพักผู้ป่วยเฉพาะกิจ (Hospitel) 2) องค์ประกอบพื้นที่ภายในโรงพยาบาลสนามแบ่งออกเป็นสามส่วนคือ ส่วนสะอาด (โถงทางเข้าหลัก สำนักงานแพทย์ เคาน์เตอร์พยาบาล หอพักบุคลากร ห้องเก็บของ) ส่วนกึ่งปนเปื้อน (ล็อกเกอร์ พื้นที่ใส่ชุด PPE. ลิฟท์บริการ พื้นที่ถอดชุด PPE. ห้องน้ำ) ส่วนปนเปื้อน (โถงทางเข้าผู้ป่วย ลิฟท์ผู้ป่วย ที่พักผู้ป่วย) และ 3) เกณฑ์การออกแบบโรงพยาบาลสนาม สรุปนำเสนอรายละเอียดเพื่อการออกแบบ (พื้นที่หลัก พื้นที่ย่อย การใช้สอย ขนาดพื้นที่ความต่อเนื่อง เครื่องเรือน ลักษณะสภาพแวดล้อม การปรับเปลี่ยน-การต่อเติม) ทั้งนี้ผลการวิจัยสามารถใช้เป็นข้อมูลประกอบการเลือกสถานที่จัดตั้ง ตลอดจนเป็นแนวทางในการจัดตั้งโรงพยาบาลของหน่วยงานที่เกี่ยวข้องThe objectives of this research are 1) to study the model of a field hospital; 2) to explore field hospital functional area components, and 3) to analyze the field hospital design criteria. of the. The research method involves secondary data collection from multiple sources including government communication channels, the literature review, along with primary data derived from the patient records at Thamasmatsart Field Hospital and Samutsakorn Field Hospital 1 (COVID-19-related patients admitted in November 2020). Two study tools comprise: 1) an interview form prepared for field hospital administrators, owners of property being used as field hospitals, communities surrounding field hospitals; and 2 ) a site survey form. According to data analysis, it can be concluded that: 1) field hospital sections are classified into 2 types based on a particular group of patients, i.e. observation ward (Cohort Center) and COVID-19 patients convalescent ward; (Hospitel) 2) The spatial area within the field hospital is divided into three parts: clean area (hallway, doctor's office, nurse counters, staff dormitories, storage rooms); semi-contaminated areas (lockers, PPE clothing areas, service elevators, PPE removal areas, toilets); contaminated areas (patient entrance halls, patient elevators, wards) and 3) Field hospital design criteria feature the following information: main area, sub-area, facility usage, facility size and dimension, continuity of operations, equipment, hospital environments and environmental-modification programs). The research outcomes provide useful information associated with field hospital location selection and serve as reference guide for hospitals and health facilities planning