Effectiveness of Bach Nien Kien Health Supplement in the Treatment of Patients With Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is the most common disease in adults. We conducted a clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Bach Nien Kien (BNK) in supportive therapy for patients with symptomatic KOA. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An open interventional study was performed on 60 patients aged 38 to 70 with the diagnosis of symptomatic KOA. The patients were assigned to a study group (SG) with 30 subjects and a control group (CG) with 30 subjects using a matching method. The patients in SG were treated with electroacupuncture, glucosamine supplement, and BNK, while the patients in CG received the same treatment without BNK. RESULTS: At the end of the 30-day treatment (d30), the SG had a reduction in VAS score compared to a pre-treatment level of 3.03±0.96 points, which was more than the CG of 2.5±0.90 points. The excellent result in the SG was 10%, and the CG had no excellent result. The good result in the SG was 56.7%, and the CG group was only 26.7%. The moderate and poor results in the CG were high, 63.3%, and 10%, respectively; in the SG, only 26.7% and 6.7%. The difference in overall treatment results between the SG and CG was statistically significant (p<0.05). During the 30-day treatment period in both groups, no patient reported any undesirable effects. CONCLUSION: Bach Nien Kien health supplement is effective and safe for controlling KOA symptoms and improving joint motion and quality of life for patients with symptomatic KOA.

Efficacy and Tolerability of Ich Nieu Khang Dietary Supplement for Overactive Bladder.

This study aims to assess the effectiveness and safety of plant-derived food supplement Ich Nieu Khang (INK) as a dietary supplement for overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms. A total of 50 patients 18-80 years of age with the diagnosis and symptoms of the OAB were enrolled in the study and followed up for 30 days. The INK treatment efficacy, in terms of changes in nocturnal and day-time urination frequency, urination incontinence episodes, level of OAB symptoms according to Homma's OABSS scale, sleep quality according to Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and possible side effects of the INK phytotherapy, was evaluated. INK significantly improved all OAB symptoms scores with a reduction of average nocturia from 4.06 ± 1.53 to 1.14 ± 0.94, the daily average urination urgency from 7.67 ± 5.00 to 5. 82 ± 3.70, the daily average frequency of urination from 9.96 ± 4.04 to 8.00 ± 3.70, weekly average incontinence of urination from 0.92 ± 1.56 to 0.60 ± 1.02, and OABSS Homma's score decreased from 9.31 ± 1.44 to 6.8 ± 2.21. INK phytotherapy also resulted in sleep quality improvement by PSQI score decreasing from 13.11 ± 1.33 to 10.54 ± 2.21. There were no adverse effects and abnormalities in paraclinical parameters with INK therapy. The results of our study suggest that INK dietary supplement is effective and safe phytotherapy for patients with primary OAB symptoms within 30 days of treatment. Larger control clinical trials are warranted to confirm our findings and promote wider use of INK for OAB and possible other age-related urination disorders.

Fragment-Based Screening of a Natural Product Library against 62 Potential Malaria Drug Targets Employing Native Mass Spectrometry.

Natural products are well known for their biological relevance, high degree of three-dimensionality, and access to areas of largely unexplored chemical space. To shape our understanding of the interaction between natural products and protein targets in the postgenomic era, we have used native mass spectrometry to investigate 62 potential protein targets for malaria using a natural-product-based fragment library. We reveal here 96 low-molecular-weight natural products identified as binding partners of 32 of the putative malarial targets. Seventy-nine (79) fragments have direct growth inhibition on Plasmodium falciparum at concentrations that are promising for the development of fragment hits against these protein targets. This adds a fragment library to the published HTS active libraries in the public domain.

Bioaffinity Mass Spectrometry Screening.

Electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR-MS or ESI-FTMS) was used to screen 192 natural product extracts and a 659-member natural product-based fragment library for bindings to a potential malaria drug target, Plasmodium falciparum Rab11a (PfRab11a, PF13_0119). One natural product extract and 11 fragments showed binding activity. A new natural product, arborside E, was identified from the active extract of Psydrax montigena as a weak binder. Its binding activity and inhibitory activity against PfRab11a were confirmed by ESI-FTMS titration experiments and an orthogonal enzyme assay.

Cytotoxic evaluation of alkaloids and isoflavonoids from the Australian tree Erythrina vespertilio.

A new glucoalkaloid, vespertilioside, together with three known alkaloids, including 11- ß-methoxyglucoerysovine, erysotrine, and hypaphorine, were isolated from the fruits of E. vespertilio Benth. In addition, three known isoflavonoids, including phaseollin, alpiniumisoflavone, and phaseollidin, were identified from the plant stems. The structures of compounds were determined by 1D/2D NMR and mass experiments. The cytotoxic activity of all compounds was evaluated against a metastatic prostate cancer cell line (PC3) and neonatal foreskin fibroblast (NFF) using a real-time label-free cell analyser. Among the tested compounds, phaseollidin showed cytotoxic activities against PC3 (IC (50) = 8.83 ± 1.87 µM) and NFF (0.64 ± 0.37 µM) cell lines.

Direct screening of natural product extracts using mass spectrometry.

The authors describe first a proof-of-concept experiment to show direct affinity screening using electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR-MS) is a rapid and informative approach for natural product extract screening. The study used 10 alkaloid-enriched plant extracts and 8 desalted marine extracts spiked with specific inhibitors of bovine carbonic anhydrase II (bCAII; EC4.2.1.1) as a model set. The spiked extracts were incubated with bCAII and then analyzed by ESI-FTICR-MS. The noncovalent complexes were detected, and the specific inhibitors were reidentified in the spiked natural product extracts. There was no interference from the desalted/alkaloid-enriched extracts to the formation of the noncovalent complexes. The method allowed quick identification of the molecular mass of the bound ligand. The authors then applied the screening to identify active compounds in natural product extracts. They employed direct infusion and online size exclusion chromatography (SEC) ESI-FTICR-MS to detect intact target-ligand complex. Eighty-five methanolic plant extracts were screened against bCAII by direct infusion ESI-FTICR-MS and by online SEC-ESI-FTICR-MS. One noncovalent complex was identified from the same plant extract by both methods. The molecular weight of the bound ligand from this extract was determined. Mass-directed purification gave 6-(1S-hydroxy-3-methylbutyl)-7-methoxy-2H-chromen-2-one (1) as the active compound. Subsequently, the binding to bCAII was confirmed by ESI-FTICR-MS. The binding specificity was determined by competition experiments between 1 and furosemide, a specific ligand of bCAII.