Production of St. John's wort plants under controlled environment for maximizing biomass and secondary metabolites

Summary St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) is a medicinal plant used in the treatment of neurological disorders and has been recently shown to have anticancer potential. The principle medicinal components of St. John's wort are hypericin. pseudohypericin, and hyperforin. One of the problems associated with medicinal plant preparations including St. John's wort is the extreme variability in the phytochemical content, mostly due to environmental variability, and biotic and abiotic contamination during cropping. The current study was undertaken to transplant St. John's wort plants from in vitro bioreactors in a closed controlled environment system (CCES) with CO₂ enrichment for the optimized production of biomas and phytochemicals. The growth and levels of hypericin, pseudohypericin, and hyperforin in plants grown in CCES were compared with those of the greenhouse and in vitro-grown plants. The environmental parameters in the greenhouse were found to be variable whereas in the CCES these parameters were controlled. Generally, all the growth parameters and hypericin and psendohypericin levels were significantly higher in the plants grown in the CCES. These results provide the first indication that growing St. John's wort plants, under CO₂ enrichment in a closed environment system can enhance the biomass and medicinal contents. The adaptation of this growing system may be useful for the production of optimized products of St. John's wort and other medicinal species.     

Brief communication: the Galler Collection: a little-known historic Swiss bone pathology reference series

The aim of this article is to briefly present the Galler Collection, a little-known historic Swiss bone reference series of high value for paleopathological research. The Galler Collection consists of approximately 600 mostly dry-bone specimens of many major bone diseases dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Clinical information and autopsy reports are available for the majority of specimens. Rarely documented conditions represented in the collection include: severe forms of myositis ossificans progressiva, kyphoscoliosis, endemic cretinism, hypo- and hyperparathyroidism, and phosphorus-induced bone necrosis. At present, the Galler Collection is located at the National History Museum in Basel (Augustinergasse 2, 4001 Basel, Switzerland, Telephone: +41612665500, Fax: +41612665546).     

The circle of the soul: the role of spirituality in health care

This paper examines the critical attitude of behavioral professionals toward spiritual phenomena, and the current growing openness toward a scientific study of spirituality and its effects on health. Health care professionals work amidst sickness and suffering, and become immersed in the struggles of suffering persons for meaning and spiritual direction. Biofeedback and neurofeedback training can facilitate relaxation, mental stillness, and the emergence of spiritual experiences. A growing body of empirical studies documents largely positive effects of religious involvement on health. The effects of religion and spirituality on health are diverse, ranging from such tangible and easily understood phenomena as a reduction of health-risk behaviors in church-goers, to more elusive phenomena such as the distant effects of prayer on health and physiology. Psychophysiological methods may prove useful in identifying specific physiological mechanisms mediating such effects. Spirituality is also a dimension in much of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and the CAM arena may offer a window of opportunity for biofeedback practice.     

L-Lysine alpha-oxidase: physicochemical and biological properties

This review summarizes data on the properties of L-lysine -oxidase, an enzyme that belongs to the group of oxidases of L-amino acids. This enzyme acts virtually only on L-lysine with a rather low K _m yielding -keto--aminocaproic acid. The decrease in the level of the essential amino acid L-lysine and the formation of hydrogen peroxide during the reaction possibly provide the basis for the unique properties of L-lysine -oxidase: cytotoxic, antitumor, antimetastatic, antiinvasive, antibacterial, and antiviral activities, as well as an immunomodulating effect. Native L-lysine -oxidase and its immobilized forms are promising tools for determination of concentration of L-lysine in various biological materials.     

Health in exchange: teachers,doctors, and the strength of informal practices in Russia

This article explores teachers' and doctors' informal medical exchange practices in the context of the transforming health care system in post-Soviet Russia. Despite the advent of a medical marketplace, most Russians have low incomes and cannot buy the goods and services the market offers. Instead, they bypass the formal market mechanisms (such as obtaining cheaper medicine through personal connections) and official procedures (such as obtaining free or cheaper health care services despite the emergence of paid services) by using their social networks. This paper uses a network perspective to investigate how doctors' and teachers' mutual relations are formed and what resources form the basis of these informal exchange practices. Drawing on structured diary data and qualitative interviews with 20 teachers, in addition to interviews with eight doctors in St. Petersburg, the study goes beyond mere statistics on health care and attempts to depict from below the implications health and illness have for survival in contemporary Russia.     

Production of nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-alpha by Smilacis rhizoma in mouse peritoneal macrophages

Using mouse peritoneal macrophages, we have examined the mechanism by which, Smilacis rhizoma (SR) regulates nitric oxide (NO) production. When SR was used in combination with recombinant interferon-gamma (rIFN-gamma), there was a marked cooperative induction of NO production. However, SR had no effect on NO production by itself. The increased production of NO from rIFN-gamma plus SR-stimulated cells was almost completely inhibited by pre-treatment with pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), an inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB). Furthermore, treatment of peritoneal macrophages with rIFN-gamma plus SR caused a significant increase in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) production. PDTC also decreased the effect of SR on TNF-alpha production significantly. These findings demonstrate that SR increases the production of NO and TNF-alpha by rIFN-gamma-primed macrophages and suggest that NF-kappaB plays a critical role in mediating these effects of SR.     

Curcumin inhibits ultraviolet light induced human immunodeficiency virus gene expression

Recently, we reported that the herbal drug St. John's Wort is a potent inhibitor of UV-induced HIV-LTR activation in stably transfected HIVcat/HeLa cells [35]. Our previous studies have demonstrated that the activation of p38 MAP kinase (stress-activated protein kinase-2) and NF-B are both required for a full UV-induced HIV gene expression response. In this study we have investigated the mechanism by which curcumin inhibits UV-activated HIV-LTR gene expression. We found that treatment of HIVcat/HeLa cells with micromolar concentrations of curcumin completely abolished UV activation of HIV gene expression. Curcumin treatment at similar doses as those used to inhibit HIV gene expression also effectively blocked UV activation of NF-B, as demonstrated by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. In contrast, curcumin did not inhibit UV-induced phosphorylation of p38 MAP kinase. This observation was also supported by findings that curcumin did not inhibit UV-induced phosphorylation of CREB/ATF-1 and ATF-2. Although curcumin was ineffective in preventing UV-induced p44/42 MAP kinase phosphorylation, the JNK (1 and 2) and AP-1 activation were efficiently blocked by curcumin in HeLa cells. We conclude that the mechanism by which curcumin modulates UV activation of HIV-LTR gene expression mainly involves the inhibition of NF-B activation.     

Metabolomic Profile of the Genus Inula

Plants have a long history as therapeutics in the treatment of human diseases and have been used as source of medicines for ages. Searching for new biologically active natural products, many plants and herbs are screened for natural products with pharmacological activities. In this field, the genus Inula, which comprises more than 100 species, several of them being used in traditional medicine, is very important, especially due to the finding that several of the isolated pure secondary metabolites proved to possess important biological activities. Inula species have been reported as rich sources of sesquiterpene lactones, including eudesmanes, germacranes, guaianes, and dimeric structures, and since 2006 ca. 400 secondary metabolites, including more than 100 new natural products, some of them with relevant pharmacological activities, have been identified. Herein, we critically compile and update the information regarding the types of secondary metabolites found in the genus Inula and the progress in their isolation.     

崔尚志中西医结合生平及思想

崔尚志（1924—1989）,辽宁名医,中西医结合的开拓者,活血化瘀研究的先驱者,毕生从事中西医结合防治冠心病的临床与研究。他参与研制了“冠心1号”等制剂,通过临床系列研究,总结其疗效规律,并率先开展动物实验研究,探讨中药制剂防治冠心病的作用机制。他主张中医“辨病”“辨证”与西医“辨病”相结合的方法辨证论治,以《内经》理论指导冠心病治疗,将冠心病辨为“心痹”病,分别气滞血瘀、气虚血瘀两大主证,并根据冠心病临床合并症不同,再分为阴虚阳亢等八个兼证。