The additive effect of herbal medicines on lifestyle modification in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is difficult to manage because of its complex pathophysiological mechanism. There is still no effective treatment other than lifestyle modification (LM) such as dietary modifications, regular physical activity, and gradual weight loss. Herbal medicines from traditional Chinese Medicine and Korean Medicine have been shown to be effective in the treatment of NAFLD based on many randomized controlled trials. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate the additive effects of herbal medicines on LM in the treatment of NAFLD.Methods: Two databases (PubMed and Cochrane library) were searched using keywords related to NAFLD and herbal medicines. Then the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the therapeutic effects of herbal medicines combined with LM were selected. The pooled results were analyzed as mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for continuous data, and risk ratio (RR) with 95% CI for dichotomous data.Results and Discussion: Eight RCTs with a total of 603 participants were included for this review study. Participants were administered with multi-herbal formulas (Yiqi Sanju Formula, Tiaogan Lipi Recipe, and Lingguizhugan Decoction) or single-herbal extracts (Glycyrrhiza glabra L., Magnoliae offcinalis, Trigonella Foenum-graecum L. semen, Portulaca oleracea L., and Rhus Coriaria L. fructus) along with LM for 12 weeks. The meta-analysis showed a significant improvement in ultrasoundbased liver steatosis measured by odds ratio (OR) in the herbal medicine group than those with LM alone (OR = 7.9, 95% CI 0.7 to 95.2, p < 0.1). In addition, herbal medicines decreased the levels of aspartate transferase (MD -7.5, 95% CI -13.4 to −1.7, p = 0.01) and total cholesterol (MD -16.0, 95% CI -32.7 to 0.7, p = 0.06) more than LM alone. The meta-analysis partially showed clinical evidence supporting the additive benefits of herbal medicines for NAFLD in combination with LM. Whereas, it is necessary to provide a solid basis through higher-quality studies using a specific herbal medicine

Dual-function transaminases with hybrid nanoflower for the production of value-added chemicals from biobased levulinic acid

The U.S. Department of Energy has listed levulinic acid (LA) as one of the top 12 compounds derived from biomass. LA has gained much attention owing to its conversion into enantiopure 4-aminopentanoic acid through an amination reaction. Herein, we developed a coupled-enzyme recyclable cascade employing two transaminases (TAs) for the synthesis of (S)-4-aminopentanoic acid. TAs were first utilized to convert LA into (S)-4-aminopentanoic acid using (S)-α-Methylbenzylamine [(S)-α-MBA] as an amino donor. The deaminated (S)-α-MBA i.e., acetophenone was recycled back using a second TAs while using isopropyl amine (IPA) amino donor to generate easily removable acetone. Enzymatic reactions were carried out using different systems, with conversions ranging from 30% to 80%. Furthermore, the hybrid nanoflowers (HNF) of the fusion protein were constructed which afforded complete biocatalytic conversion of LA to the desired (S)-4-aminopentanoic acid. The created HNF demonstrated storage stability for over a month and can be reused for up to 7 sequential cycles. A preparative scale reaction (100 mL) achieved the complete conversion with an isolated yield of 62%. Furthermore, the applicability of this recycling system was tested with different β-keto ester substrates, wherein 18%–48% of corresponding β-amino acids were synthesized. Finally, this recycling system was applied for the biosynthesis of pharmaceutical important drug sitagliptin intermediate ((R)-3-amino-4-(2,4,5-triflurophenyl) butanoic acid) with an excellent conversion 82%

The age of trauma: the prevalence and psychological impact of potentially traumatic exposures in South Korea

BackgroundExposure to potentially traumatic events (PTE) is associated with a range of negative mental health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (cPTSD). Although exposure to PTEs is highly prevalent, and their impact on mental health is pervasive, research is mostly limited to diagnosed populations or specific trauma cohorts in the post-pandemic era.MethodsWe conducted an online survey of 1,000 Seoul residents from October 6-12, 2023, using a stratified sampling method. Participants were asked about their traumatic experiences, mental health outcomes, and experiences with mental health services.ResultsMost participants (98.8%) reported that they had experienced at least one PTE. The average number of PTEs reported was 9.19 (SD=7.908). Ninety participants (9%) were categorized as having probable PTSD (2.8% with PTSD only, and 6.2% with cPTSD). The sum of direct and indirect exposures to PTEs of individuals was associated with mental health outcomes, including PTSD symptom severity. Only 34.4% of patients with probable PTSD reported that they had received appropriate mental health services.ConclusionOur results suggest that PTE exposures are highly prevalent, and self-awareness of mental health conditions and utilization of mental health services are low in South Korea. Given the lasting effects of traumatic events and the large number of untreated cases, this study highlights the need for proactive responses to traumatic events and better access to short- and long-term services for traumatized individuals

Smart sensor systems for wearable electronic devices

Wearable human interaction devices are technologies with various applications for improving human comfort, convenience and security and for monitoring health conditions. Healthcare monitoring includes caring for the welfare of every person, which includes early diagnosis of diseases, real-time monitoring of the effects of treatment, therapy, and the general monitoring of the conditions of people's health. As a result, wearable electronic devices are receiving greater attention because of their facile interaction with the human body, such as monitoring heart rate, wrist pulse, motion, blood pressure, intraocular pressure, and other health-related conditions. In this paper, various smart sensors and wireless systems are reviewed, the current state of research related to such systems is reported, and their detection mechanisms are compared. Our focus was limited to wearable and attachable sensors. Section 1 presents the various smart sensors. In Section 2, we describe multiplexed sensors that can monitor several physiological signals simultaneously. Section 3 provides a discussion about short-range wireless systems including bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), and resonance antenna systems for wearable electronic devices

Atypical pulmonary manifestations suggestive of lung cancer in behçet’s disease with spontaneously regressing lymphadenopathy and a lung mass: a case report

Abstract Background Behçet’s disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disorder that can affect various organs, including the lungs. Pulmonary manifestations are rare and typically present as pulmonary artery aneurysms. Case presentation We report the case of a 56-year-old East Asian male with a 27-year history of BD, who had no respiratory symptoms, such as hemoptysis, cough, or fever. Chest imaging revealed lymph node enlargement and a lung mass, initially raising concerns of malignancy. Despite the suspicious radiological findings, three biopsies, including a surgical biopsy, were all negative for malignancy. Remarkably, over the course of 2 years, these pulmonary manifestations spontaneously regressed without any specific treatment for lung involvement, and the patient remained in a stable BD state. Conclusions BD patients are at an increased risk for malignancy compared to healthy controls, making it crucial to differentiate between malignancy and BD-related pulmonary abnormalities. This case highlights that, in the absence of active BD symptoms, lymphadenopathy and lung masses can occur and may resolve spontaneously. Accurate diagnosis and vigilant monitoring are essential in BD patients but BD-related lung involvement should be considered in similar cases

Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) with Hyper-Spectral Image (HSI) in the EFDC Water Quality Modelling

Recently, with the rapid advances in computing power and water quality data collection, the development of sophisticated and complex water quality models has been accelerated, so that the number of parameters to be considered in the models also substantially increased. However, it is also challenging to calibrate all parameters of the model, thereby it is necessary to reduce the number of parameters to be an effective calibration. Sensitivity analysis (SA) would be an effective way to identify the most influential parameters for reducing errors between observations and model results. The main purpose of SA is to identify the most sensitive parameters on two different objectives (i.e., the output of model or errors between the model output and observation) by quantifying their influences on the two different objectives. However, there is a significant scaling-issue when output of water quality models directly compares with observations from waterbodies; a grid size of the water quality model ranges from 10m to 100m and observations usually are obtained from a tiny spot (i.e., point) from waterbodies.. Therefore, it is necessary to suggest a new approach to resolve the limitation of previous study above. In this study, we introduce a new approach on the SA of water quality model using airborne hyperspectral images (HSI) on waterbodies