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.

Ecology of testate amoebae in waterbodies of the Central Highlands and South-Central Coast provinces of Vietnam with the description of new species Difflugia quangtrani sp. nov.

This study provides new data on ecology of testate amoebae in the waterbodies of the Central Highlands and South-Central Coast regions of Vietnam. A total of 108 species and subspecies including six new records for Vietnam were identified. One new species Difflugia quangtrani sp. nov. was described. Difflugia, Arcella, and Centropyxis were the most species-rich genera, and Centropyxis aculeata was the most common species. The results of NMDS and ANOSIM analyses for the first time showed significant differences in composition of tropical freshwater testate amoeba communities within both various types of waterbodies (reservoir, river, and wetland) and biotopes (plankton and benthos). Average species richness per sample in different types of waterbodies was similar, while that of plankton was statistically higher than in benthos. The distance decay of similarity in tropical freshwater testate amoeba community of both plankton and benthos was observed for the first time indicating the importance of geographical distance in testacean species composition changes between samples. Redundancy analyses followed by the forward selection have determined elevation, pH, and dissolved oxygen as significant factors that affect tropical freshwater testacean community. More large-scale climatic and small-scale hydrological and hydrochemical variables should be included into further studies to find out most important factors determining structure of freshwater testacean assemblages.