Possible Use of Phytochemicals for Recovery from COVID-19-Induced Anosmia and Ageusia.

The year 2020 became the year of the outbreak of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which escalated into a worldwide pandemic and continued into 2021. One of the unique symptoms of the SARS-CoV-2 disease, COVID-19, is the loss of chemical senses, i.e., smell and taste. Smell training is one of the methods used in facilitating recovery of the olfactory sense, and it uses essential oils of lemon, rose, clove, and eucalyptus. These essential oils were not selected based on their chemical constituents. Although scientific studies have shown that they improve recovery, there may be better combinations for facilitating recovery. Many phytochemicals have bioactive properties with anti-inflammatory and anti-viral effects. In this review, we describe the chemical compounds with anti- inflammatory and anti-viral effects, and we list the plants that contain these chemical compounds. We expand the review from terpenes to the less volatile flavonoids in order to propose a combination of essential oils and diets that can be used to develop a new taste training method, as there has been no taste training so far. Finally, we discuss the possible use of these in clinical settings.

Efficacy of Mirror Biofeedback Rehabilitation on Synkinesis in Acute Stage Facial Palsy in Children.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of mirror biofeedback rehabilitation for synkinesis in severe acute facial paralysis in children. METHODS: Eight pediatric patients with facial paralysis with an initial electroneurography (ENoG) value less than 10% who underwent mirror biofeedback rehabilitation (the child-rehabilitation group) were enrolled. Seven infants (under age 2 yr) who were unable to undergo rehabilitation (the infant-and-toddler control group) and adult patients (n = 13, range, 33-56 yr) who underwent rehabilitation (the adult-rehabilitation group) comprised the control groups. All the patients enrolled were baseline House-Brackmann (H-B) grade VI at onset. The patients began daily facial biofeedback rehabilitation using a mirror at the first sign of muscle contraction on the affected side and were instructed to keep their eyes symmetrically open using a mirror during mouth movements. The training was continued for 12 months after the onset of facial paralysis. The degree of oral-ocular synkinesis was evaluated by the degree of asymmetry in eye opening width during mouth movements. The synkinesis index was calculated as a percentage of the interpalpebral space width ([normal side - affected side]/normal side). Statistical analyses used non-parametric tests (the Kruskal-Wallis test and Steel-Dwass posthoc test). RESULTS: The synkinesis index was significantly lower in the child-rehabilitation group than in the infant-and-toddler control group or the adult-rehabilitation group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Children who underwent mirror biofeedback rehabilitation had less synkinesis than the infant-and-toddler control group, suggesting that mirror biofeedback rehabilitation is more effective in preventing the exacerbation of synkinesis in children.

[Correlative analysis of agronomic traits and quality of Panax ginseng saponins cultivation in farmland].

Cultivated ginseng in the farmland would become the mainly planting mode of Panax ginseng. However,there are relatively few cultivation ginseng varieties for farmland in China. Correlative analysis of qualitity and agronomic traits of P. ginseng cultivation in the farmland could provide a reference for the selection of excellent germplasm and new variety breeding of P. ginseng. In this study,the main index of saponin and agronomic traits of 4-6 years' samples were analyzed by UPLC and measured. The results show that there was significant difference in agronomic indexes of Damaya. The coefficient of variation of the root length( CV = 41. 97%) and fresh weight( CV = 31. 81%) were maximum,and the coefficient of variation of the stems thickness( 16. 72%) and root thickness were minimum. There was a significant correlation between yield and root thickness( P<0. 05). There was significant difference in drug yield of different harvest years( P<0. 05),and the yield of 6-years was 31. 52%-39. 69% higher than 4-years. However,there wasn't significant difference in total ginsenosides between 4 and 6 years old P. ginseng,but there was significant difference in ginseng Rg2,Rc and Rb2( P<0. 05),and the ginsenoside contents of different harvesting years were accorded with the criterion standards of 2015 Chinese Pharmacopoeia. There was no significant correlation between the saponin and the agronomic trait,while there was positive correlation with root thickness( P < 0. 05). Therefore,the stem diameter was positive correlation with yield of P. ginseng. Selection of the stem thickness of seedlings is beneficial to the increase of the yield and breeding of P. ginseng.

Intravenous olfactory test latency correlates with improvement in post-infectious olfactory dysfunction.

CONCLUSION: This cohort study showed that onset latency in the intravenous olfactory test (IVO) may help predict when olfaction in patients with post-infectious olfactory dysfunction (PIOD) improves. OBJECTIVES: To identify factors that predict the olfactory improvement period in patients with PIOD. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL: All consecutive patients presenting with PIOD in 1994-2014 who were followed up for 2 years were identified retrospectively. The ability of demographic/clinical factors (age, sex, body mass index, presence/absence of allergic rhinitis, treatment/non-treatment with herbal medicines, patient dependence on herbal medicine treatment, presence/absence of diabetes mellitus, and smoking status) and olfactory test factors (response/no response and onset latency and duration in the IVO test, and detection and recognition scores on the T&T olfactory test) to predict the olfactory improvement period (defined respectively as the time from PIOD onset or olfactory testing to the first self-report of olfaction improvement) was analyzed by univariate and multivariate regression. RESULTS: Of the 187 PIOD patients, the prognostic ability of demographic/clinical factors was analyzed in 65. None predicted the olfactory improvement period. Of the 65 patients, 20 did not respond in the IVO test. In the remaining 45 patients, onset latency (but not the other olfactory test factors) was a significant prognosticator of olfactory improvement period (R2=0.24, p = 0.003).

State of the art: Transforaminal approach for percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy under local anesthesia.

Minimally invasive percutaneous endoscopic discectomy (PED) with a transforaminal approach under local anesthesia was started in the late 20th century. As the procedure requires a skin incision of only 8 mm, it is the least invasive disc surgery procedure at present, and owing to advances in instruments and optics, the use of this technique has gradually spread. In Japan, Dr. Dezawa from Teikyo University Mizonokuchi Hospital introduced this technique in 2003. Thanks to his efforts, the number of surgeons who can perform PED has increased, although the number of active PED surgeons is still only around 20. The first author (K.S.) started PED in 2010. In this review article, we explain the state-of-the-art PED transforaminal technique for minimally invasive disc surgery and present three successful cases.

Ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMPs) require extraocular muscles but not facial or cochlear nerve activity.

OBJECTIVES: Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs) have been found to be useful for clinical testing of vestibular function. Recently, investigators showed that short-latency, initially negative surface EMG potentials can be recorded around the extraocular muscles (oVEMPs) in response to air-conducted sound (ACS), bone-conducted vibration (BCV), and head taps. Although these evoked potentials, which are located around the eyes, most likely originate primarily from the otolith-ocular pathway, the possibility of contamination by other nerve activities cannot be completely eliminated. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the origin of oVEMPs by examining these possibilities using clinical findings. METHODS: Twelve healthy subjects and 15 patients were enrolled. Of the 15 patients, 3 patients had undergone exenteration of the unilateral intraorbital contents, one had undergone exenteration of the right eyeball with preservation of extraocular muscles, 5 had facial palsy, and 6 had profound hearing loss. ACS and/or BCV were used in these subjects. RESULTS: Exenteration of the unilateral intraorbital contents resulted in absence of myogenic potentials on the affected side. On the other hand, exenteration of the eyeball with preservation of extraocular muscles did not have a major impact on the responses. There were no significant differences in the waveforms between healthy subjects and patients with facial palsy or profound hearing loss. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that short-latency, initially negative evoked potentials recorded below the eyes are not affected by cochlear or facial nerve activities and are dependent on the presence of extraocular muscles. SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides the evidence that oVEMPs originate from exraocular muscles activated through the vestibulo-ocular pathway.

Identification of medicinal Atractylodes based on ITS sequences of nrDNA.

Dried rhizomes of five species of Atractylodes (A. japonica, A. macrocephala, A. lancea, A. chinensis, and A. koreana), Compositae, have been used as crude drugs mainly for the treatment of stomach disorders and for their diuretic properties in Chinese and Japanese traditional medicines. The identification of the botanical origins of these crude drugs is generally difficult from their morphological and chemical features only. In this study, for identification with more reliable, nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA), internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of five species of medicinal Atractylodes were sequenced. As a result, specific ITS genotypes were recognized by each species. The four species (A. japonica, A. macrocephala, A. lancea, and A. chinensis) prescribed in Chinese and Japanese Pharmacopoeias as botanical origins of crude Atractylodes drugs could be distinguished by their ITS sequences because they had difference genotypes on the ITS sequences. However, the genotype of A. koreana was the same as that of A. chinensis. Additionally, hybrids between A. lancea and A. chinensis were also recognized as nucleotide additives on their ITS sequences. In this study, several morphological characteristics were researched by their genotype, too. As this result, the hybrids recognized from the genetic analysis had intermediate morphological characteristics between A. lancea and A. chinensis. It was also recognized that A. lancea and A. chinensis except for their hybrids were significant differences. It is therefore suggested that ITS sequences of nrDNA would be useful for the identification of the crude drugs derived from Atractylodes species and their interspecific hybridizations.