Characteristics of electroencephalogram changes and correlation with seizures in hospitalised patients.

INTRODUCTION: Electroencephalogram (EEG) is an important investigational tool that is widely used in the hospital settings for numerous indications. The aim was to determine factors associated with abnormal EEG and its clinical correlations in hospitalised patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with at least one EEG recording were recruited. The EEG and clinical data were collated. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty patients underwent EEG and 154 (61.6%) were found to have abnormal EEG. The abnormal changes consist of theta activity (79,31.6%), delta activity (20, 8%), focal discharges (41,16.4%) and generalised discharges (14, 5.6%). Older patients had 3.481 higher risk for EEG abnormalities, p=0.001. Patients who had focal seizures had 2.240 higher risk of having EEG abnormalities, p<0.001. Low protein level was a risk for EEG abnormalities, p=0.003. CONCLUSION: This study emphasised that an abnormal EEG remains a useful tool in determining the likelihood for seizures in a hospital setting. The risk factors for EEG abnormality in hospitalised patients were age, focal seizures and low protein level. The EEG may have an important role as part of the workup in hospitalised patients to aid the clinician to tailor their management in a holistic manner.

Tumor inhibitory effects of intravesical Ganoderma lucidum instillation in the syngeneic orthotopic MB49/C57 bladder cancer mice model.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ganoderma lucidum (GL) has been traditionally used in oriental medicine as superior health tonic, and there are numerous scientific evidences of its antitumorigenic activities. AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the intravesical chemopreventive effects of ethanol extract of GL (GLe) on bladder cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Intravesical therapy is defined as the direct instillation of a liquid drug into bladder through a catheter. Bacille Calmette-Guerin(BCG) solution is applied intravesically as a conventional immunotherapy for preventing recurrence of bladder cancer. By adopting the MB49/C57 bladder cancer mice model, an overall 60 MB49-implanted mice were randomized into 3 groups and treated according to 3 treatment arms, including GLe, BCG and PBS. Additionally, wild-type mice without MB49 cell inoculation and treated with PBS were used as the negative control group. Testing agents were instilled intravesically for 2 h and repeated after one week for evaluating the effects on preventing the tumor formation and growth. The treated-mice were closely monitored for major adverse effects. RESULTS: GLe demonstrated more potent cytotoxic effects than BCG on MB49 cells, although both in dose-dependent manner. In the MB49-implanted mice, 80 µg/ml GLe was shown to delay the tumor formation by one week, whereas the averaged tumor volume measured at endpoint was 3.6-fold and 4.6-fold smaller than that of the BCG or PBS, respectively. However, no significant effects were observed on body weight and hematuria. CONCLUSION: Current findings in mice suggested intravesical GLe therapy as an effective and safe chemopreventive strategy for inhibiting bladder tumor formation.

Reduced prostate cancer risk with green tea and epigallocatechin 3-gallate intake among Hong Kong Chinese men.

BACKGROUND: In vitro and in vivo studies suggested that polyphenol epigallocatechin 3-gallate (EGCG) in tea may have anti-carcinogenic effect on prostate cells, but this protective effect has less been examined in epidemiology studies. We aimed to investigate the association between prostate cancer (PCA) risk and habitual green tea intake among Chinese men in Hong Kong; meanwhile, the relationship with EGCG was also explored. METHODS: We consecutively recruited 404 PCA cases and 395 controls from the same hospital who had complete data on habitual tea consumption, including green, oolong, black and pu'er tea. We reconstructed the level of EGCG intake according to a standard questionnaire and the analytic values for EGCG extracted from the literature published by Lin et al. in 2003. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) for tea consumption and EGCG intake using unconditional multiple logistic regression, and examined their exposure--response relationships with PCA risk. RESULTS: A total of 32 cases and 50 controls reported habitual green tea drinking, showing an adjusted OR of 0.60 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.37, 0.98). A moderate excess risk was observed among the habitual pu'er tea drinkers (OR=1.44, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.91). A significantly lower intake of EGCG was observed among cases (54.4 mg) than the controls (72.5 mg), which resulted in an inverse gradient of PCA risk with the increasing intake of EGCG (test for trend, P=0.015). CONCLUSION: PCA risk among Chinese men in Hong Kong was inversely associated with green tea consumption and EGCG intake, but these results need to be replicated in larger studies.

Pollinosis and all-cause mortality among middle-aged and elderly Japanese: a population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Having an allergic disease may have health implications beyond those more commonly associated with allergy given that previous epidemiological studies have suggested that both atopy and allergy are linked to mortality. More viable immune functioning among the elderly, as indicated by the presence of an allergic disease, might therefore be associated with differences in all-cause mortality. OBJECTIVE: Using data from a Japanese cohort, this study examined whether having pollinosis (a form of allergic rhinitis) in a follow-up survey could predict all-cause and cause-specific mortality. METHODS: Data came from the Komo-Ise cohort, which at its 1993 baseline recruited residents aged 40-69 years from two areas in Gunma prefecture, Japan. The current study used information on pollinosis that was obtained from the follow-up survey in 2000. Mortality and migration data were obtained throughout the follow-up period up to December 2008. Proportional hazard models were used to examine the relation between pollinosis and mortality. RESULTS: At the 2000 follow-up survey, 12% (1088 of 8796) of respondents reported that they had pollinosis symptoms in the past 12 months. During the 76 186 person-years of follow-up, 748 died from all causes. Among these, there were 37 external, 208 cardiovascular, 74 respiratory, and 329 neoplasm deaths. After adjusting for potential confounders, pollinosis was associated with significantly lower all-cause [hazard ratio 0.57 (95% confidence interval = 0.38-0.87)] and neoplasms mortality [hazard ratio 0.48 (95% confidence interval = 0.26-0.92)]. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Having an allergic disease (pollinosis) at an older age may be indicative of more viable immune functioning and be protective against certain causes of death. Further research is needed to determine the possible mechanisms underlying the association between pollinosis and mortality.

The anti-hypertensive effect of Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) and Gegen (Pueraria lobata) formula in rats and its underlying mechanisms of vasorelaxation.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Radix Salviae miltiorrhizae (Danshen) and Radix Puerariae lobatae (Gegen) have long been used in traditional Chinese Medicine and serve as the principal herbs in treating cardiovascular disease. AIMS OF THE STUDY: In the present study, an aqueous extract comprising Danshen and Gegen in the ratio of 7:3 (DG) was investigated for its anti-hypertension in vivo and vasodilative activities ex vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The anti-hypertensive effect of DG extract was investigated in spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) by measuring systolic blood pressure (SBP). Oral administration of DG extract was started at age of 6 weeks and 14 weeks for the preventive and therapeutic studies, respectively. Blood pressure was measured by tail-cuff method biweekly for 12 weeks. The ex vivo vasodilative activities of DG extract, its dependency on endothelium and the involvement of nitric oxide, prostacyclin and potassium channels were investigated using isolated rat aorta ring in organ bath. RESULTS: For in vivo study, systolic blood pressure was significantly reduced in DG extract-treated groups (90.2 and 300 mg/kg) as compared with the SHR control in both preventive and therapeutic studies. However, DG extract was unable to suppress or delay the onset of hypertension in the preventive study. For ex vivo study, the results showed that DG extract induced a concentration-dependent relaxation in aorta and persisted response was observed with the removal of endothelium. Besides, pretreatment with a non-selective potassium channel inhibitor tetraethylammonium (TEA) also significantly inhibited DG extract-induced vasodilation. Further investigations on specific potassium channel blockers revealed that ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channel inhibitor glibenclamide, inward rectifier potassium (Kir) inhibitor barium chloride and voltage-dependent potassium (K(v)) channel inhibitor 4-aminopyridine, but not BK(Ca) channel inhibitor iberiotoxin, exerted significant inhibition on DG extract-induced vasodilation. CONCLUSIONS: The results of in vivo SHR animal model suggested that DG aqueous extract possessed blood pressure lowering effect on both pre- and post-hypertensive rats, which could be explained by its endothelium-independent vasodilation via the opening of K(ATP), Kir and K(v) channels.

The differential immunological activities of Ganoderma lucidum on human pre-cancerous uroepithelial cells.

AIMS OF THE STUDY: Ganoderma lucidum is active to stimulate immunological effector cells, but the effects on uroepithelial cells have never been explored. The present study compared the expression of major cytokines induced by the water (GLw) and ethanol (GLe) extracts of G. lucidum. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The pre-cancerous human uroepithelial cell (HUC-PC) line was employed. A total of 15 cytokines, including major Th1/Th2 cytokines and chemokines, were measured in the complete media after 24h incubation with GLw and GLe. Additionally, the following assays were performed: cytotoxicity, apoptosis, migration of neutrophils, and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) DNA binding activity. RESULTS: GLe inhibited the growth of HUC-PC cells through apoptosis. Interleukins IL-2, IL-6, and IL-8 were significantly up-regulated by GLe in dose-dependent manners, but not by GLw. However, MCP-1 level was significantly increased by GLw but was oppositely reduced by GLe. Furthermore, the elevation of cytokine expression was correlated with the enhancement of p50/p65 NF-κB activity induced by GLe. The elevated IL-8 levels in GLe-treated cells were also correlated with the migration of neutrophils. CONCLUSIONS: GLe and GLw exhibited different immunological activities on the HUC-PC cells. In particular, the activities of GLe may favor the clearance of high risk urothelial cells, suggesting potent chemopreventive ingredients are extractable by ethanol from G. lucidum.