Study of intracellular signals impacted by a green tea standardized extract (Polyphenon E) in cancer cells

Purpose - Green tea consumption has been shown to exhibit cancer-preventive activities in preclinical studies. Polyphenon E (Poly E) is a green tea standardized extract. This study was undertaken to examine the effects of Poly E on PC3 prostate cancer cells and identify the potential signals involved in the anti-proliferative effect of Poly E. Experimental design and results - PC3 prostate cancer cells were used as model system. Treatment of PC3 cells with 30 and 100 μg/ml Poly E significantly decreased cell viability and proliferation, while increasing apoptosis. At all the tested concentrations, Poly E did not exert any antioxidant effect, eliciting instead a pro-oxidant effect at concentrations 30 and 100 μg/ml. The pro-oxidant effect of Poly E is consistent with the observed cytotoxicity, thus establishing a correlation between pro-oxidant activity and the anti-proliferative effect of Poly E in PC3 cells. Furthermore, Poly E-induced cell death was associated with mitochondrial dysfunction in PC3 cells. Exposure of PC3 cells to Poly E caused phospho-Akt inhibition while induced phospho-ERK activation, implicating these two signaling pathways in the observed anti-proliferative effect. Conclusion - Our data indicated a correlation between pro-oxidant activity and anti-proliferative effect Poly E in PC3 cells and suggest ERK and AKT pathways as potential molecular machinery involved in observed phenomena

Acetate wheat starch improving blood glucose response and bilan lipid on obesity dyslipidemia mice

Resistant starch is particularly concerned with beneficial effects in regulating blood glucose concentration and lipid metabolism, reducing the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to validate the effects of wheat starch acetate containing 32.1% resistant starch on postprandial blood glucose response and lipid profile on obesity, dyslipidemia Swiss mice induced by a high-fat diet. The result showed that there was a restriction on postprandial hyperglycemia and remained stable for 2 hours after meal efficiently comparing with the control group fed natural wheat starch. Simultaneously, when maintaining the dose of 5g/kg once or twice a day for 8 weeks, wheat starch acetate to be able to reduce body weight and blood glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol levels compared to the control group (p<0.05)

Herbal Medicine for Cardiovascular Diseases: Efficacy, Mechanisms, and Safety

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a significant health burden with an ever-increasing prevalence. They remain the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The use of medicinal herbs continues to be an alternative treatment approach for several diseases including CVDs. Currently, there is an unprecedented drive for the use of herbal preparations in modern medicinal systems. This drive is powered by several aspects, prime among which are their cost-effective therapeutic promise compared to standard modern therapies and the general belief that they are safe. Nonetheless, the claimed safety of herbal preparations yet remains to be properly tested. Consequently, public awareness should be raised regarding medicinal herbs safety, toxicity, potentially lifethreatening adverse effects, and possible herb–drug interactions. Over the years, laboratory data have shown that medicinal herbs may have therapeutic value in CVDs as they can interfere with several CVD risk factors. Accordingly, there have been many attempts to move studies on medicinal herbs from the bench to the bedside, in order to effectively employ herbs in CVD treatments. In this review, we introduce CVDs and their risk factors. Then we overview the use of herbs for disease treatment in general and CVDs in particular. Further, data on the ethnopharmacological therapeutic potentials and medicinal properties against CVDs of four widely used plants, namely Ginseng, Ginkgo biloba, Ganoderma lucidum, and Gynostemma pentaphyllum, are gathered and reviewed. In particular, the employment of these four plants in the context of CVDs, such as myocardial infarction, hypertension, peripheral vascular diseases, coronary heart disease, cardiomyopathies, and dyslipidemias has been reviewed, analyzed, and critically discussed. We also endeavor to document the recent studies aimed to dissect the cellular and molecular cardio-protective mechanisms of the four plants, using recently reported in vitro and in vivo studies. Finally, we reviewed and reported the results of the recent clinical trials that have been conducted using these four medicinal herbs with special emphasis on their efficacy, safety, and toxicity.This work has been made possible thanks to grants (Ager S.O.S.) and (fondo di Ateneo per la ricerca 2019) to GP and Qatar University grant (IRCC-2019-007) to GN and GP

Area yield crop insurance in Vietnam : an analysis from the demand side

When setting prices for each province, crop insurance companies should pay more attention to the relative level of basic risk and the correlation of losses across regions, instead of only focusing on the general level of risk exposure of each region. If farmers receive enough information about the insurance, the demand should be higher than the current rate of uptake. This study analyzes the demand of rice farmers for area yield crop insurance, which was designed and piloted during the period of 2011 - 2013 in Vietnam according to Decision No. 315/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister

Facile Synthesis of Carbon Quantum Dots by Plasma-liquid Interaction Method

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are a novel type of fluorescent nano-materials with various unique properties. They are recently attracting enormous interest due to their superiority in water solubility, chemical inertness, low toxicity, ease of functionalization as well as resistance to photo-bleaching and potential applications in biomedical indication, photo-catalysis, energy conversion, optoelectronics, and sensing. In this work, we present a facile and environmentally friendly synthesis of CQDs based on plasma - liquid interaction method. This is a single-step method and does not use toxic chemicals. The size distribution of obtained CQDs is rather uniform at approximately 3 nm. The emission peak of CQDs shifts from 427 nm to 523 nm as the excitation wavelength is varied from 340 nm to 460 nm. The non-equilibrium reactive chemistry of plasma liquid interaction is responsible for acceleration of the CQDs formation process

SECURE PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF ADAPTIVE ENERGY HARVESTING ENABLED RELAYING NETWORKS

In this paper, the impact of the jamming signal on the secrecy performance of Energy Harvesting (EH) enabled dual-hop amplify-and-forward relaying network is investigated. First, the security outage probability analysis is studied for conventional networks under a single passive eavesdropper attack. Then, the outage performance analysis in two cases regarding energy harvesting is investigated. Moreover, the proposed work enhances Physical Layer (PHY) security performance of two-hop relaying model using Cooperative Jamming Dual-Hop Techniques (CJDH). For this purpose, new closed-form expressions are derived for the outage probability of CJDH model in the presence of interference over Rayleigh fading channels. A power allocation optimization problem for energy harvesting protocol is formulated and solved for enhancing the system security. The derived analytical formulas herein are supported by numerical and simulation results to clarify the main contributions of the paper

Concomitant Bacteremia in Adults With Severe Falciparum Malaria.

BackgroundApproximately 6% of children hospitalized with severe falciparum malaria in Africa are also bacteremic. It is therefore recommended that all children with severe malaria should receive broad-spectrum antibiotics in addition to parenteral artesunate. Empirical antibiotics are not recommended currently for adults with severe malaria.MethodsBlood cultures were performed on sequential prospectively studied adult patients with strictly defined severe falciparum malaria admitted to a single referral center in Vietnam between 1991 and 2003.ResultsIn 845 Vietnamese adults with severe falciparum malaria admission blood cultures were positive in 9 (1.07%: 95% confidence interval [CI], .37-1.76%); Staphylococcus aureus in 2, Streptococcus pyogenes in 1, Salmonella Typhi in 3, Non-typhoid Salmonella in 1, Klebsiella pneumoniae in 1, and Haemophilus influenzae type b in 1. Bacteremic patients presented usually with a combination of jaundice, acute renal failure, and high malaria parasitemia. Four bacteremic patients died compared with 108 (12.9%) of 836 nonbacteremic severe malaria patients (risk ratio, 3.44; 95% CI, 1.62-7.29). In patients with >20% parasitemia the prevalence of concomitant bacteremia was 5.2% (4/76; 95% CI, .2-10.3%) compared with 0.65% (5/769; 0.08-1.2%) in patients with ConclusionsIn contrast to children, the prevalence of concomitant bacteremia in adults with severe malaria is low. Administration of empirical antibiotics, in addition to artesunate, is warranted in the small subgroup of patients with very high parasitemias, emphasizing the importance of quantitative blood smear microscopy assessment, but it is not indicated in most adults with severe falciparum malaria

Rifampicin resistant 'Mycobacterium tuberculosis' in Vietnam, 2020–2022

Objective: We conducted a descriptive analysis of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Vietnam’s two largest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. Methods: All patients with rifampicin resistant tuberculosis were recruited from Hanoi and surrounding provinces between 2020 and 2022. Additional patients were recruited from Ho Chi Minh city over the same time period. Demographic data were recorded from all patients, and samples collected, cultured, whole genome sequenced and analysed for drug resistance mutations. Genomic susceptibility predictions were made on the basis of the World Health Organization’s catalogue of mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis associated with drug resistance, version 2. Comparisons were made against phenotypic drug susceptibility test results where these were available. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess risk factors for previous episodes of tuberculosis. Results: 233/265 sequenced isolates were of sufficient quality for analysis, 146 (63 %) from Ho Chi Minh City and 87 (37 %) from Hanoi. 198 (85 %) were lineage 2, 20 (9 %) were lineage 4, and 15 (6 %) were lineage 1. 17/211 (8 %) for whom HIV status was known were infected, and 109/214 (51 %) patients had had a previous episode of tuberculosis. The main risk factor for a previous episode was HIV infection (odds ratio 5.1 (95 % confidence interval 1.3–20.0); p = 0.021). Sensitivity for predicting first-line drug resistance from whole genome sequencing data was over 90 %, with the exception of pyrazinamide (85 %). For moxifloxacin and amikacin it was 50 % or less. Among rifampicin-resistant isolates, prevalence of resistance to each non-first-line drug was < 20 %. Conclusions: Drug resistance among most MDR-TB strains in Vietnam’s two largest cities is confined largely to first-line drugs. Living with HIV is the main risk factor among patients with MDR-TB for having had a previous episode of tuberculosis

A Clinical and Epidemiological Investigation of the First Reported Human Infection With the Zoonotic Parasite Trypanosoma evansi in Southeast Asia.

BACKGROUND: Trypanosomais a genus of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa.Trypanosoma bruceispecies and Trypanosoma cruziare the major agents of human trypanosomiasis; other Trypanosomaspecies can cause human disease, but are rare. In March 2015, a 38-year-old woman presented to a healthcare facility in southern Vietnam with fever, headache, and arthralgia. Microscopic examination of blood revealed infection with Trypanosoma METHODS: Microscopic observation, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of blood samples, and serological testing were performed to identify the infecting species. The patient's blood was screened for the trypanocidal protein apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1), and a field investigation was performed to identify the zoonotic source. RESULTS: PCR amplification and serological testing identified the infecting species as Trypanosoma evansi.Despite relapsing 6 weeks after completing amphotericin B therapy, the patient made a complete recovery after 5 weeks of suramin. The patient was found to have 2 wild-type APOL1 alleles and a normal serum APOL1 concentration. After responsive animal sampling in the presumed location of exposure, cattle and/or buffalo were determined to be the most likely source of the infection, with 14 of 30 (47%) animal blood samples testing PCR positive forT. evansi. CONCLUSIONS: We report the first laboratory-confirmed case ofT. evansiin a previously healthy individual without APOL1 deficiency, potentially contracted via a wound while butchering raw beef, and successfully treated with suramin. A linked epidemiological investigation revealed widespread and previously unidentified burden ofT. evansiin local cattle, highlighting the need for surveillance of this infection in animals and the possibility of further human cases