Oral shea nut oil triterpene concentrate supplement ameliorates pain and histological assessment of articular cartilage deterioration in an ACLT injured rat knee osteoarthritis model.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifactorial joint disease and a common disabling condition in the elderly population. The associated pain and pathohistological changes in cartilage are common features of OA in both humans and animal models. Shea nut oil extract (SheaFlex75) contains a high triterpenoid concentration and has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and antiarthritic effects in both human and animal studies. In this study, we aim to investigate the potential of SheaFlex75 to prevent articular cartilage deterioration in a rat model of chronic OA progression. By employing anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) with medial meniscectomy (MMx)-induced OA, we found attenuation of both early and chronic onset OA pain and cartilage degeneration in ACLT+MMx rats receiving SheaFlex75 dietary supplementation. Under long-term oral administration, the rats with induced OA presented sustained protection of both pain and OA cartilage integrity compared to the OA-control rats. Moreover, rats subjected to long-term SheaFlex75 ingestion showed normal biochemical profiles (AST, BUN and total cholesterol) and presented relatively lower triglycerides (TGs) and body weights than the OA-control rats, which suggested the safety of prolonged use of this oil extract. Based on the present evidence, preventive management is advised to delay/prevent onset and progression in OA patients. Therefore, we suggest that SheaFlex75 may be an effective management strategy for symptom relief and cartilage protection in patients with both acute and chronic OA.

What information and the extent of information research participants need in informed consent forms: a multi-country survey.

BACKGROUND: The use of lengthy, detailed, and complex informed consent forms (ICFs) is of paramount concern in biomedical research as it may not truly promote the rights and interests of research participants. The extent of information in ICFs has been the subject of debates for decades; however, no clear guidance is given. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of research participants about the type and extent of information they need when they are invited to participate in biomedical research. METHODS: This multi-center, cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted at 54 study sites in seven Asia-Pacific countries. A modified Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the importance of each element in the ICF among research participants of a biomedical study, with an anchored rating scale from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). RESULTS: Of the 2484 questionnaires distributed, 2113 (85.1%) were returned. The majority of respondents considered most elements required in the ICF to be 'moderately important' to 'very important' for their decision making (mean score, ranging from 3.58 to 4.47). Major foreseeable risk, direct benefit, and common adverse effects of the intervention were considered to be of most concerned elements in the ICF (mean score = 4.47, 4.47, and 4.45, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Research participants would like to be informed of the ICF elements required by ethical guidelines and regulations; however, the importance of each element varied, e.g., risk and benefit associated with research participants were considered to be more important than the general nature or technical details of research. Using a participant-oriented approach by providing more details of the participant-interested elements while avoiding unnecessarily lengthy details of other less important elements would enhance the quality of the ICF.

Tiny tweaks, big changes: An alternative strategy to empower ethical culture of human research in anesthesia (A Taiwan Acta Anesthesiologica Taiwanica-Ethics Review Task Force Report).

For this guidance article, the Ethics Review Task Force (ERTF) of the Journal reviewed and discussed the ethics issues related to publication of human research in the field of anesthesia. ERTF first introduced international ethics principles and minimal requirements of reporting of ethics practices, followed by discussing the universal problems of publication ethics. ERTF then compared the accountability and methodology of several medical journals in assuring authors' ethics compliance. Using the Taiwan Institutional Review Board system as an example, ERTF expressed the importance of institutional review board registration and accreditation to assure human participant protection. ERTF presented four major human research misconducts in the field of anesthesia in recent years. ERTF finally proposed a flow-chart to guide journal peer reviewers and editors in ethics review during the editorial process in publishing. Examples of template languages applied in the Ethics statement section in the manuscript are expected to strengthen the ethics compliance of the authors and to set an ethical culture for all the stakeholders involved in human research.

Cost analysis of three anesthetic regimens under auditory evoked potentials monitoring in gynecologic laparoscopic surgery.

BACKGROUND: Cost analyses of different anesthetic techniques have not been investigated in Taiwan. We compared propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA), sevoflurane (SEVO) and desflurane (DES) anesthesias for cost and outcome under A-line auditory evoked potentials (AEP) monitoring. METHODS: We studied 90 consecutive female patients (ASAI-II) scheduled to undergo elective gynecologic laparoscopic surgery. The study was prospective, randomized, and single-blind in design. All patients were randomly divided into 3 groups: i.e. groups TIVA, SEVO and DES. The A-line auditory evoked potential index (AAI) was maintained between 15-25. At the start of skin closure, the applied anesthetic was discontinued, and time of recovery from anesthesia was thenceforth reckoned until spontaneous opening of eyes and extubation. The costs of drugs were counted in New Taiwan (NT) dollars. RESULTS: The total cost was significantly higher in the SEVO and DES groups than in the TIVA group (NT 1,243, 1028, and 889, respectively) (P < 0.001). In addition, the cost of the principal anesthetic drug was significantly higher in the SEVO than in the DES and TIVA groups (NT 756, 530, and 468, respectively) (P < 0.01). Faster recovery was seen in the TIVA group than in the DES group and SEVO group (8.2, 13.7, 16.2 min, respectively) (P < 0.001). Incidences of postoperative nausea, vomiting, and pain were not significantly different among 3 groups. CONCLUSIONS: The cost of TIVA with propofol was less than SEVO or DES anesthesia and moreover, propofol TIVA offered benefit of faster recovery in our study.