The Problems with Online Health Product Sales: How can Regulations be Improved?

With the rapid proliferation of online businesses, national authorities are facing challenges managing the online supply of illegal health products due to the anonymity of the internet, increasing number of global syndicates, new technologies, and inability to enforce against overseas sellers. This paper describes these challenges and the Health Sciences Authority's regulatory approaches to tackle the online sales of illegal health products. These include partnering with platform administrators to remove illegal online postings, leveraging technological tools and relevant legislation, empowering consumers to make informed decisions, and fostering closer collaborations across different jurisdictions to combat online pharmaceutical crimes.

Inflammasome Activation Mediates Apoptotic and Pyroptotic Death in Astrocytes Under Ischemic Conditions.

Inflammation is a hallmark mechanism of ischemic stroke-induced brain injury. Recent studies have shown that an intracellular multimeric protein complex known as an inflammasome is a key factor for inducing an inflammatory response, and apoptotic and pyroptotic cell death in ischemic stroke. Inflammasome assembly leads to the activation of pro-inflammatory caspases, and the maturation and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1ß and IL-18. While the role of inflammasomes in ischemic stroke-induced neuronal death, and microglial activation and cell death have been established, little is known about the role of inflammasomes in astrocytes under ischemic conditions. In this study, we investigated the expression and activation of inflammasome components in protoplasmic and fibrous astrocytes under ischemic conditions. We found that both protoplasmic and fibrous astrocytes expressed a differential increase in inflammasome protein components, and that their activation promoted maturation of IL-1ß and IL-18, and secretion of IL-1ß, as well as initiating apoptotic and pyroptotic cell death. Pharmacological inhibition of caspase-1 decreased expression of cleaved caspase-1 and production of mature IL-1ß, and protected against inflammasome-mediated apoptotic and pyroptotic cell death. Overall, this study provides novel insights into the role of inflammasome signaling in astrocytes under ischemic conditions.