Influence of diluent on antimicrobial activity of cinnamon bark essential oil vapor against Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella enterica on a laboratory medium and beef jerky.

The influence of chemical diluents on the antimicrobial activity of plant essential oil (EO) vapors was evaluated. We first determined if vapors generated from 22 chemical diluents not containing EO had antimicrobial activities. Ethyl ether vapor retarded the growth of S. aureus. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and the minimal lethal concentrations (MLCs) of cinnamon bark EO vapor, which was diluted in and generated from 21 diluents, against S. aureus and S. enterica were determined. Cinnamon bark EO vapor showed significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lower MICs against S. aureus when diluted in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethanol, ethyl acetate, or jojoba oil, and against S. enterica when diluted in DMSO, ethanol, or jojoba oil, compared to those in other diluents. We compared antimicrobial activities of cinnamon bark EO vapor diluted in DMSO, ethanol, ethyl acetate, or jojoba oil against S. aureus and S. enterica on beef jerky as a food model. Antimicrobial activity was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher when vaporized from DMSO. These results indicate that antimicrobial activity of cinnamon bark EO vapor may vary significantly (P ≤ 0.05) depending on the type of diluent from which it is vaporized. These observations provide basic information when developing food and food-contact surface decontamination strategies using EO vapors.

Understanding Mind-Body Interaction from the Perspective of East Asian Medicine.

OBJECTIVE: Attempts to understand the emotion have evolved from the perspective of an independent cognitive system of the mind to that of an interactive response involving the body. This study aimed to quantify and visualize relationships between different emotions and bodily organ systems from the perspective of East Asian medicine. METHODS: Term frequency-inverse document frequency (tf-idf) method was used to quantify the significance of Five Viscera and the gallbladder relative to seven different emotions through the classical medical text of DongUiBoGam. Bodily organs that corresponded to different emotions were visualized using a body template. RESULTS: The emotions had superior tf-idf values with the following bodily organs: anger with the liver, happiness with the heart, thoughtfulness with the heart and spleen, sadness with the heart and lungs, fear with the kidneys and the heart, surprise with the heart and the gallbladder, and anxiety with the heart and the lungs. Specific patterns between the emotions and corresponding bodily organ systems were identified. CONCLUSION: The present findings will further the current understanding of the relationship between the mind and body from the perspective of East Asian medicine. Western medicine characterizes emotional disorders using "neural" language while East Asian medicine uses "somatic" language.

More than DeQi: Spatial Patterns of Acupuncture-Induced Bodily Sensations.

Acupuncture uses needles to stimulate certain parts of the body, inducing a specific sensation, termed DeQi, which regard as essential for acupuncture's therapeutic effect. Here, we used the newly developed tool, bodily sensation mapping, to investigate the spatial configuration of acupuncture-induced sensations throughout the body. Twenty-five participants randomly received acupuncture stimulation or tactile stimulation using a von Frey filament at four different acupoints (HT7, PC6, ST36, and SP10) on the left side of the body. Subjects evaluated the characteristics of DeQi sensations and marked the areas of induced sensations on a body outline. We compared the psychophysical responses of DeQi sensations and visualized the spatial patterns of these sensations using statistical parametric mapping. We found greater intensity of DeQi sensations following acupuncture stimulation compared with tactile stimulation, with relatively small differences among the four acupoints. The sensation maps exhibited similar spatial patterns for acupuncture and tactile stimulation in the areas close to the stimulated sites. However, acupuncture was associated with additional sensations in areas remote from the stimulated sites. This study demonstrates that acupuncture stimulation produces greater DeQi sensations than tactile stimulation and results in the spreading of sensations to areas remote from the stimulus sites. Investigating the spatial patterns of acupuncture-induced sensations may be crucial for understanding the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture.

Spatial Patterns of the Indications of Acupoints Using Data Mining in Classic Medical Text: A Possible Visualization of the Meridian System.

The indications of acupoints are thought to be highly associated with the lines of the meridian systems. The present study used data mining methods to analyze the characteristics of the indications of each acupoint and to visualize the relationships between the acupoints and disease sites in the classic Korean medical text Chimgoogyeongheombang. Using a term frequency-inverse document frequency (tf-idf) scheme, the present study extracted valuable data regarding the indications of each acupoint according to the frequency of the cooccurrences of eight Source points and eighteen disease sites. Furthermore, the spatial patterns of the indications of each acupoint on a body map were visualized according to the tf-idf values. Each acupoint along the different meridians exhibited different constellation patterns at various disease sites. Additionally, the spatial patterns of the indications of each acupoint were highly associated with the route of the corresponding meridian. The present findings demonstrate that the indications of each acupoint were primarily associated with the corresponding meridian system. Furthermore, these findings suggest that the routes of the meridians may have clinical implications in terms of identifying the constellations of the indications of acupoints.

Haptic simulation for acupuncture needle manipulation.

BACKGROUND: Stimulation degree, biomechanical force, and de qi sensation are the three major components of needle manipulation. To date, it has been difficult to measure all three components quantitatively. OBJECTIVES: To (1) measure and compare biomechanical forces of six human acupoints in vivo during haptic manipulation, (2) develop phantom acupoints with biomechanical forces similar to those of human acupoints, and (3) validate the newly developed phantom acupoints based on assessment by doctors of Korean medicine. METHODS: The biomechanical force and needle grasp sensation (i.e., the practitioner's de qi sensation) of six human acupoints (LI4, LI11, LR3, ST36, ST25, and BL25) were assessed in 16 participants upon stimulation with the twisting manipulation technique. On the basis of biomechanical data from these human acupoints, phantom acupoints that generated similar biomechanical forces were developed by using 1%-7% agarose gel. RESULTS: In humans, the mean torque amplitudes of the six acupoints differed significantly. In the phantom, the biomechanical force was dose-dependently greater in higher-concentration agarose gel phantom acupoints. Biomechanical force and the needle grasp sensation were significantly correlated in both human and phantom acupoints. Importantly, practitioners could not discriminate between human and phantom acupoints, suggesting that the validity and credibility of the phantom acupoints are sufficient for applications in education and research. CONCLUSIONS: Application of force-validated phantom acupoints based on human data will be a helpful tool for training and will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of acupuncture manipulation.

Data Mining of Acupoint Characteristics from the Classical Medical Text: DongUiBoGam of Korean Medicine.

Throughout the history of East Asian medicine, different kinds of acupuncture treatment experiences have been accumulated in classical medical texts. Reexamining knowledge from classical medical texts is expected to provide meaningful information that could be utilized in current medical practices. In this study, we used data mining methods to analyze the association between acupoints and patterns of disorder with the classical medical book DongUiBoGam of Korean medicine. Using the term frequency-inverse document frequency (tf-idf) method, we quantified the significance of acupoints to its targeting patterns and, conversely, the significance of patterns to acupoints. Through these processes, we extracted characteristics of each acupoint based on its treating patterns. We also drew practical information for selecting acupoints on certain patterns according to their association. Data analysis on DongUiBoGam's acupuncture treatment gave us an insight into the main idea of DongUiBoGam. We strongly believe that our approach can provide a novel understanding of unknown characteristics of acupoint and pattern identification from the classical medical text using data mining methods.

MsrB1 (methionine-R-sulfoxide reductase 1) knock-out mice: roles of MsrB1 in redox regulation and identification of a novel selenoprotein form.

Protein oxidation has been linked to accelerated aging and is a contributing factor to many diseases. Methionine residues are particularly susceptible to oxidation, but the resulting mixture of methionine R-sulfoxide (Met-RO) and methionine S-sulfoxide (Met-SO) can be repaired by thioredoxin-dependent enzymes MsrB and MsrA, respectively. Here, we describe a knock-out mouse deficient in selenoprotein MsrB1, the main mammalian MsrB located in the cytosol and nucleus. In these mice, in addition to the deletion of 14-kDa MsrB1, a 5-kDa selenoprotein form was specifically removed. Further studies revealed that the 5-kDa protein occurred in both mouse tissues and human HEK 293 cells; was down-regulated by MsrB1 small interfering RNA, selenium deficiency, and selenocysteine tRNA mutations; and was immunoprecipitated and recognized by MsrB1 antibodies. Specific labeling with (75)Se and mass spectrometry analyses revealed that the 5-kDa selenoprotein corresponded to the C-terminal sequence of MsrB1. The MsrB1 knock-out mice lacked both 5- and 14-kDa MsrB1 forms and showed reduced MsrB activity, with the strongest effect seen in liver and kidney. In addition, MsrA activity was decreased by MsrB1 deficiency. Liver and kidney of the MsrB1 knock-out mice also showed increased levels of malondialdehyde, protein carbonyls, protein methionine sulfoxide, and oxidized glutathione as well as reduced levels of free and protein thiols, whereas these parameters were little changed in other organs examined. Overall, this study established an important contribution of MsrB1 to the redox control in mouse liver and kidney and identified a novel form of this protein.

Shiquandabutangjiaweibang inhibits tumor metastasis and angiogenesis via regulation of topoisomerase-1.

Shiquandabutangjiaweibang (SDJ) is a traditional medicine prescription used for increasing body resistance against cancer. In the present study, the effect of SDJ extract on tumor metastasis and angiogenesis was evaluated. SDJ showed cytotoxicity against P388 (leukemia cells) and B16-F10 (murine melanoma cells) to 60% of control at 1 mg. SDJ significantly inhibited lung metastasis and also restored the number of platelets in C57BL/6 mice with thrombocytopenia induced by intravenous injection of B16-F10 cells. SDJ significantly disrupted chick embryonic angiogenesis in the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). Interestingly, SDJ suppressed DNA topoisomerase I in a concentration-dependent manner. These results suggest that SDJ can be a potent inhibitor of metastasis and angiogenesis, at least in part, via regulation of topoisomerase I.