Millennium Nutrient N,N-Dimethylglycine (DMG) and its Effectiveness in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder belonging to the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In ASDs, the individuals show substantial impairments in social communication, repetitive behaviours, and sensory behaviours deficits in the early stages of their life. Globally, the prevalence of autism is estimated to be less than 1%, especially in high- -income countries. In recent decades, there has been a drastic increase in the incidence of ASD, which has put ASD into the category of epidemics. Presently, two US Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs, aripiprazole and risperidone, are used to treat symptoms of agitation and irritability in autistic children. However, to date, no medication has been found to treat the core symptoms of ASD. The adverse side effects of conventional medicine and limited treatment options have led families of autistic children to turn to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments, which are perceived as relatively safe compared to conventional medicine. Recently N, N-dimethylglycine (DMG), a dietary supplement, has emerged as a useful supplement to improve the mental and physical state of children with ASD. The current review discusses ASD, the prevalence of ASD, the CAM approach, and the efficacy of CAM treatment in children with ASD. Moreover, it highlights the chemistry, pharmacological effect, and clinical studies of DMG, highlighting its potential for improving the lifestyle of children with ASD.

Head injury in mixed martial arts: a review of epidemiology, affected brain structures and risks of cognitive decline.

Background: The popularity trend of mixed martial arts (MMA) is steeply increasing, especially in the very young population. Unfortunately, MMA carries an enormous risk of head trauma.Purpose: The aim of this article is to provide review of studies on the association between head injuries and cognitive functions in MMA fighters.Methods: A systematic literature review was performed. Web of Science, PubMed, Springer, and Scopus databases were used. A total of 30 studies were identified. The inclusion criteria were as follows: studies with MMA fighters and head injuries and/or TKO/KO and/or reduction of cognitive functions in these fighters.Results: The results indicate that the incidence of head traumas ranges between 58% and 78% of all injuries. The King-Devick test seems to be a suitable rapid tool used in the studies to assess the extent of cognitive impairment. Among the detected studies, the post-fighting scores were significantly worse for fighters with head trauma during the match. We also found anomalies in MMA fighters in different brain structures, but it seems that the thalamus and caudate are the most affected. The impaired performance in processing speed, verbal memory and psychomotor speed is regularly confirmed in studies with MMA fighters. In addition, head traumatization seems to be a risk factor for the development of neurodegenerative disorders and it may be one of the possible causes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Several global medical societies have identified MMA as a violent and dangerous sport and have called for its ban - but unsuccessfully.Conclusion: Therefore, possible recommendations should include increased medical supervision of the fighter (during his career, but also after it) and the introduction of practical safety instructions for fighters to reduce the risk of developing CTE. With the increasing popularity of MMA, the risk of CTE should not be underestimated.

Comparison of Pulsed Radiofrequency, Oxygen-Ozone Therapy and Epidural Steroid Injections for the Treatment of Chronic Unilateral Radicular Syndrome.

Background and objectives: For the treatment of chronic unilateral radicular syndrome, there are various methods including three minimally invasive computed tomography (CT)-guided methods, namely, pulsed radiofrequency (PRF), transforaminal oxygen ozone therapy (TFOOT), and transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI). Despite this, it is still unclear which of these methods is the best in terms of pain reduction and disability improvement. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the short and long-term effectiveness of these methods by measuring pain relief using the visual analogue scale (VAS) and improvement in disability (per the Oswestry disability index (ODI)) in patients with chronic unilateral radicular syndrome at L5 or S1 that do not respond to conservative treatment. Materials and Methods: After screening 692 patients, we enrolled 178 subjects, each of whom underwent one of the above CT-guided procedures. The PRF settings were as follows: pulse width = 20 ms, f = 2 Hz, U = 45 V, Z ˂ 500 Ω, and interval = 2 × 120 s. For TFOOT, an injection of 4-5 mL of an O2-O3 mixture (24 µg/mL) was administered. For the TFESI, 1 mL of a corticosteroid (betamethasone dipropionate), 3 mL of an anaesthetic (bupivacaine hydrochloride), and a 0.5 mL mixture of a non-ionic contrast agent (Iomeron 300) were administered. Pain intensity was assessed with a questionnaire. Results: The data from 178 patients (PRF, n = 57; TFOOT, n = 69; TFESI, n = 52) who submitted correctly completed questionnaires in the third month of the follow-up period were used for statistical analysis. The median pre-treatment visual analogue scale (VAS) score in all groups was six points. Immediately after treatment, the largest decrease in the median VAS score was observed in the TFESI group, with a score of 3.5 points (a decrease of 41.7%). In the PRF and TFOOT groups, the median VAS score decreased to 4 and 5 points (decreases of 33% and 16.7%, respectively). The difference in the early (immediately after) post-treatment VAS score between the TFESI and TFOOT groups was statistically significant (p = 0.0152). At the third and sixth months after treatment, the median VAS score was five points in all groups, without a statistically significant difference (p > 0.05). Additionally, there were no significant differences in the Oswestry disability index (ODI) values among the groups at any of the follow-up visits. Finally, there were no significant effects of age or body mass index (BMI) on both treatment outcomes (maximum absolute value of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient = 0.193). Conclusions: Although the three methods are equally efficient in reducing pain over the entire follow-up, we observed that TFESI (a corticosteroid with a local anaesthetic) proved to be the most effective method for early post-treatment pain relief.

Ethnomedicinal Plants Traditionally Used for the Treatment of Jaundice (Icterus) in Himachal Pradesh in Western Himalaya-A Review.

Ethnomedicinal plants have a significant role in the lives of people of rural and tribal areas. Thousands of medicinal plant species are used to treat various diseases, including jaundice, and are considered an important therapeutic resource to minimize these diseases. Jaundice (icterus) is a chronic disease that occurs when the amount of bilirubin in the blood increases. This review describes different ethnomedicinal plants used for curing jaundice by tribal and rural people of Himachal Pradesh. The study reveals 87 ethnomedicinal plant species belonging to 51 different families, which are used for treating jaundice in Himachal Pradesh. These plants are arranged in a systematic way, which includes a description of their common name, botanical name, along with its family, plant parts used, region, and mode of use in tabulated form. Some of the plant extracts have already been explored for their phytochemical and pharmacological significance and proved their potential in the preparation of new medicines or drugs against the treatment of jaundice. This review is an attempt to highlight the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants, which are specifically used for the treatment of jaundice. The data mentioned in the present review is compiled from various sources like existing literature, books, Google Scholar, and Scopus publications. Among all the observed plant species, most used medicinal plants for the treatment of jaundice include Justicia adhatoda, Emblica officinalis, Ricinus communis, Saccharum officinarum, Terminalia chebula, Berberis aristata, Cuscuta reflexa, and Tinospora cordifolia. Plants that are mostly utilized for the treatment of jaundice need to be scientifically validated by pharmacological analysis and should be subsequently used for the preparation of new drugs, which may prove far more beneficial than the existing one.

A Novel Herbal Hydrogel Formulation of Moringa oleifera for Wound Healing.

Treatment of wounds is essential as the wound can also be lethal at some point in time if not healed properly. Ethnomedicinal plants can treat wounds as they have no side effects, whereas, in the case of chemical drugs, the side effects are on the rise. In this study, seeds of Moringa oleifera which is the essential ethnomedicinal plant, were studied for wound healing efficacy. The study was planned for the assessment of in vitro (antioxidant and antimicrobial activities) and in vivo (excision and incision wound healing models) wound healing efficacy of n-hexane extract and hydrogels of Moringa oleifera seeds. The antioxidant and antimicrobial activities were assessed by DPPH free radical scavenging assay and Agar well diffusion method, respectively. In excision and incision wound models, Swiss albino mice were used for wound healing efficacy of hydrogels, i.e., 5% and 10% hexane extracts of Moringa oleifera seeds. The n-hexane extract showed antioxidant as well as antibacterial activities. Moreover, the hydrogels formulated using n-hexane extract of Moringa oleifera seeds showed significant wound healing activity compared to both control and standard until the end of the protocol in both the models. Furthermore, the histopathological investigation confirmed the findings of accelerated regeneration of tissue accompanied by a decrease in inflammatory cells and increased vascularity of the immediate skin. The results (both in vitro and in vivo) claimed conclusively that our n-hexane hydrogel formulation of Moringa oleifera seeds might serve as an alternative therapy in skin restoration during wound healing.

Malus domestica: A Review on Nutritional Features, Chemical Composition, Traditional and Medicinal Value.

Fruit-derived bioactive substances have been spotlighted as a regulator against various diseases due to their fewer side effects compared to chemical drugs. Among the most frequently consumed fruits, apple is a rich source of nutritional molecules and contains high levels of bioactive compounds. The main structural classes of apple constituents include polyphenols, polysaccharides (pectin), phytosterols, and pentacyclic triterpenes. Also, vitamins and trace elements complete the nutritional features of apple fruit. There is now considerable scientific evidence that these bioactive substances present in apple and peel have the potential to improve human health, for example contributing to preventing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammation, and cancer. This review will focus on the current knowledge of bioactive substances in apple and their medicinal value for human health.

The Impact of Nutrition and Intestinal Microbiome on Elderly Depression-A Systematic Review.

The aim of this review is to systematically review the evidence whether proper nutrition has a positive impact on the prevention or decline of depressive symptoms among elderly people. In addition, possible connections between nutrition, microbiome, and serotonin molecules and its tryptophan precursor are discussed. The methodology follows the PRISMA guidelines, including the PRISMA flow chart. The authors systematically reviewed peer-review, English-written articles published in Web of Science and PubMed between 2013 and 2018. The findings of six original articles, detected on the set inclusion and exclusion criteria, indicate that there is an association between nutrition and depressive symptoms in the target group, i.e., that proper nutrition has a positive impact on the prevention or reduction of depressive symptoms among elderly people. The findings also reveal that there is a considerable correlation between the intakes of vitamin B and a decrease in the prevalence of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, sufficient nutrient intake of tryptophan appears to be an important factor in terms of nutrition and serotonin levels in the body. The authors consider it important to explore associations between the overall dietary intake and depression since diets are not consumed as individual nutrients. Returning to preventive approaches seems to be a rational way to promote the mental health of seniors. Future studies thus need to include interdisciplinary collaboration: from a good diagnosis of the disease by a psychiatrist, through an analysis of the need for nutrient metabolism by a biochemist to the development of a nutritional plan by a nutritional therapist. The limitations of this review consist in a relatively small number of the studies on this topic, including just few randomized controlled trials, which are a guarantee of efficacy and objectivity in comparison with cross-sectional studies.

Traditional Chinese Medicine as an Effective Complementary Non-Pharmacological Approach to Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Call for Collaboration.

Currently, there is an increase in the number of older people worldwide. Unfortunately, this demographic trend causes a rise in aging diseases, one of which is dementia. Recent research studies have indicated that mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may serve as a predictor of dementia in many patients. At present, there is no pharmacological treatment against MCI. Therefore, there is constant search for novel alternative non-pharmacological approaches to improve MCI. One of the effective complementary emerging approaches seems to be Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which is nowadays becoming quite popular in the treatment of different disorders. The purpose of this study is to explore the efficacy of TCM as an effective complementary non-pharmacological tool for the improvement and treatment of MCI in older adults. The methods used for this review study included a literature search in the world's databases: Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Springer. Afterwards, methods of comparison and evaluation of the findings from the selected studies were applied. The results of this review study indicate that TCM might be a beneficial complementary non-pharmacological approach to the improvement and treatment of MCI in older individuals. Nevertheless, more rigorously designed quality randomized clinical trials should be conducted in order to conclusively prove efficacy of TCM on the improvement of MCI among older population groups. In addition, there is an urgent call for a functional collaboration between western and eastern medicinal approaches, which could contribute to the enhancement of the overall quality of life of these aging population groups.

Acupuncture in migraine prophylaxis in Czech patients: an open-label randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Adjuvant acupuncture for the symptomatic treatment of migraine reduces the frequency of headaches and may be at least similarly effective to treatment with prophylactic drugs. METHODS: This article describes an open-label randomized controlled clinical trial with two groups: the intervention group (n=42) and the waiting-list control group (n=44). This study occurred at the Czech-Chinese Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Hospital Hradec Kralove between October 2015 and April 2017. RESULTS: After 12 weeks of acupuncture, the number of migraine days was reduced by 5.5 and 2.0 days in the acupuncture and the waiting-list control groups, respectively, with a statistically significant inter-group difference of 2.0 migraine days (95% CI: -4 to -1). A significantly greater reduction in the number of migraine days per 4 weeks was reached at the end of the 6-month follow-up period in the acupuncture vs. control groups (Δ -4.0; 95% CI: -6 to -2). A statistically significant difference was observed in the number of responders to treatment (response defined as at least a 50% reduction in average monthly migraine day frequency) in the acupuncture vs waiting-list control groups (50% vs 27%; p<0.05) at the end of the intervention. A significantly greater percentage of responders to treatment was noted in the intervention vs control groups at the 6-month follow-up (81% vs 36%; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture can reduce symptoms and medication use, both short term and long term, as an adjuvant treatment in migraine prophylaxis in Czech patients.

Dancing as an Intervention Tool for People with Dementia: A Mini-Review Dancing and Dementia.

BACKGROUND: Research studies show a positive impact of physical activities such as dancing on the improvement of cognitive reserves of people with dementia. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to explore dancing efficacy on people with dementia and list the key benefits and limitations of dancing therapy for these people. METHODS: The methods used in this study include a method of literature review of available Englishwritten sources with respect to the dancing therapy and dementia in the acknowledged databases Pub- Med, Web of Science, Springer, and Scopus, and a method of comparison and evaluation of their findings. RESULTS: The findings of this mini review confirm positive efficacy of dancing therapy on cognitive, physical, emotional and social performance of people with dementia. CONCLUSION: More randomized controlled clinical trials should be conducted in this field, as well as other non-pharmacological therapies should be employed in order to holistically contribute to the prevention and treatment of dementia.

Selected Risk Nutritional Factors for Chemotherapy-Induced Polyneuropathy.

The present study seeks to identify the nutritional risk factors involved in the development of neuropathies induced by chemotherapeutic treatments. Unlike the gastrointestinal or hematological adverse effects of chemotherapy there is no protective treatment strategy for polyneuropathy. The aim of this study was to find possible deficiencies in nutritional factors, which can be used for supplementation in the future for prevention of chemotherapy-induced neuropathy development. We analyzed 70 patients undergoing paclitaxel chemotherapy and evaluated the risk factors involved in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Several risk factors were considered in the development of CIPN, including deficiency of vitamin B1, B6, and D and fatty acids. The occurrence of CIPN complication in 60% cases was observed. We found significant differences in vitamin D and saturated fatty acid concentration. Vitamin D levels in the group without CIPN were estimated to be 38.2 (24.95, 47.63) nmol/L, whereas in the group with CIPN it was determined to be 25.6 (19.7, 32.55) nmol/L, p = 0.008. The level of total saturated fatty acids in the group without CIPN was of 32.613 Area % (31.322; 36.262), whereas in the group with CIPN it was of 34.209 Area % (32.86; 39.386), p = 0.01. The obtained results suggest a diet lower in saturated fatty acid content during chemotherapy. The most significant finding was that supplementation of vitamin D before chemotherapy could be an efficient neuroprotective in CIPN prophylaxis, as significantly lower levels 25OH derivative of vitamin D were observed in the CIPN group throughout the study period.

Complex continuous wavelet coherence for EEG microstates detection in insight and calm meditation.

Complex continuous wavelet coherence (WTC) can be used for non-stationary signals, such as electroencephalograms. Areas of the WTC with a coherence higher than the calculated optimal threshold were obtained, and the sum of their areas was used as a criterion to differentiate between groups of experienced insight-focused meditators, calm-focused meditators and a control group. This method demonstrated the highest accuracy for the real WTC parts in the frontal region, while for the imaginary parts, the highest accuracy was shown for the frontal occipital pairs of electrodes. In the frontal area, in the broadband frequency, both types of experienced meditators demonstrated an enlargement of the increased coherence areas for the real WTC parts. For the imaginary parts unaffected by the volume conduction and global artefacts, the most significant increase occurred for the frontal occipital pair of electrodes.