Ethnomedicinal plant diversity in Thailand

J Ethnopharmacol. 2017 Dec 11;214:90-98. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2017.12.003. [Epub ahead of print] . Phumthum M1, Srithi K2, Inta A3, Junsongduang A4, Tangjitman K5, Pongamornkul W6, Trisonthi C3, Balslev H7. Author information 1 Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Building 1540, Ny Munkegade 116, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. 2 Program in Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural Production, Maejo University, Sansai, Chiang Mai 50290, Thailand; Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. 3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. 4 Science and Technology Department, Liberal Art and Science Faculty, Roi Et Rajabhat University, Thailand. 5 Faculty of Science and Technology, Muban Chom Bueng Rajabhat University, Chom Bueng, Ratchaburi 70150, Thailand. 6 Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai 50180, Thailand. 7 Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Building 1540, Ny Munkegade 116, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Electronic address: henrik.balslev@bios.au.dk. Abstract ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Plants have provided medicine to humans for thousands of years, and in most parts of the world people still use traditional plant-derived medicine. Knowledge related to traditional use provides an important alternative to unavailable or expensive western medicine in many rural communities. At the same time, ethnomedicinal discoveries are valuable for the development of modern medicine. Unfortunately, globalization and urbanization causes the disappearance of much traditional medicinal plant knowledge. AIM OF THE STUDY: To review available ethnobotanical knowledge about medicinal plants in Thailand and to estimate its diversity. METHODS: Information about ethnomedicinal uses of plants in Thailand was extracted from 64 scientific reports, books, and theses produced between 1990 and 2014. Plant identifications in the primary sources were updated to currently accepted names following The Plant List website and the species were assigned to family following the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Use Values (UV) were calculated to estimate the importance of medicinal plant species (UVs) and families (UVf). Medicinal use categories, plant parts used, preparations of the medicine, and their applications were noted for each use report. RESULTS: We found 16,789 use reports for 2187 plant species in 206 families. These data came from 19 ethnic groups living in 121 villages throughout Thailand. The health conditions most commonly treated with medicinal plants were in the categories digestive system disorders, infections/infestations, nutritional disorders, muscular-skeletal system disorders, and genitourinary system disorders. Plant families with very high use values were Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Acanthaceae, Lamiaceae, and Zingiberaceae and species with very high use values were Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M.King & H.Rob., Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC., and Cheilocostus speciosus (J.Koenig) C.D.Specht. Stems and leaves were the most used plant parts, but also other parts of the plants were used in medicinal recipes. The most common way of using the medicinal plants was as a decoction in water. CONCLUSION: We found 2187 plant species that were used in traditional medicine in Thailand. Of these a few hundred had high use values, suggesting that they may produce bioactive compounds with strong physiological effects. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KEYWORDS: Asia; Ethnic groups; Ethnobotany; Medicinal use category; Thai; Traditional medicine; Use value PMID: 29241674 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2017.12.003

Eagle count - our section - one

Feeding Under Fire: Medicinal Food

https://recipes.hypotheses.org/9991 By Simon Walker When I first began Feeding Under Fire, I was excited for the episode on medicinal food because it offered the chance to combine my public engagement platform and my PhD research into the improvement of soldiers’ bodies in the First World War. Now that the video is up, it is important to consider the role that food played in the improvement and recovery of soldiers’ bodies, while also drawing attention to the peculiarity of medical improvements during the war being supported by traditional recipes. Let’s start with calories. According to the British Royal Army Medical Corps Training Manual soldiers were supposed to receive between 3000 and 5000 calories per day dependant on the strenuousness of their activities.[i] From: Royal Army Medical Corps Training Manual, p. 60. The manual also notes that a varied and healthily diet was important for ‘general health and liability to disease’.[ii] Obviously, food was an important aspect of keeping men healthy, and meal plans were devised to attempt to ensure that soldiers were getting enough to eat. Food also played a regenerative role. Within the 1915 Manual of Military Cooking and Dietary, several recipes are displayed under the heading ‘When soldiers are required to attend their sick and wounded comrades the following simple recipes are useful’.[iii] Manual of Military Cooking and Dietary, p. 48. These recipes include ‘Toast and Water’, essentially burnt bread steeped in water, ‘Calves food Jelly’, a citrus treat with sugar that had to simmer for a full day, and the onion porridge from my episode. This dish of boiled onion, salt, pepper, corn flour and butter would be very much at home on the side of a roast dinner, but instead the instructions read ‘eat the porridge just before retiring for the night. This is an excellent remedy for colds’.[iv] Cook’s Guide And Housekeeper’s & Butler’s Assistant, p. 53. Onions have a long history of being associated with folk medicine. Gabrielle Hatfield, for example, explains that they were already considered a cure for coughs and colds in ancient Egypt.[v] The recipe that is printed in the manual has almost the exact same wording as in Charles Elme Francatell’s 1868 Cook’s Guide and Housekeeper’s & Butler’s Assistant, except Francatell’s claims the recipe ‘…was imparted to me by a jolly, warm-hearted Yorkshire farmer’.[vi] The story for my other recipe, rice water, is similar. This dish, dating back to ancient Chinese medicine, has hundreds of different versions, including additions of milk, sugar, or fruits, and is found in numerous recipe books including John Milner Fothergill, Food for the Invalid: The Convalescent, the Dyspeptic, and the Gouty (1880). Food for the Invalid: The Convalescent, the Dyspeptic, and the Gouty. It is interesting that while improvements such as blood transfusions, plastic surgery and disease prevention through sanitation and inoculation were being employed. The British army were still somewhat reliant on recipes that soldier’s parents may have just as easily made for them as a home remedy. Moving to consider those whose maladies carried them off the line and into medical facilities, although some of these home remedies may have remained part of their diet, overall all, food whilst in a hospital bed could be significantly more substantial. After the war, Private George Elder wrote in his memoirs about how being transferred to the hospital could have meant ‘…comfort, good food, bed and skilled attention.[vii] Towards the end of the RAMC Manual there are several pages of recipes for hospital cooks including, meat dishes, vegetables, breakfast foods, desserts and beverages. Next to Gruel and Stewed Tripe (see Episode 7 of Feeding Under Fire for the “delicious” use of tripe in the trenches), there is also Roast Fowl, Fried Filleted Plaice, Lemon Jelly, and Lemonade.[viii] These recipes were not only far from the ‘trench’ treatments of a nice bowl of onion porridge, but also seemingly beyond the usual fare that men were getting for their regular meals both in and behind the trenches. They may have been sick, wounded, controlled by tyrannical medical staff and wearing a blue pyjama uniform, but at least it seems the food was good. Ultimately, food was an important part of maintaining and improving the health of soldiers, but is it interesting to note that in the face of traditional medical dishes being printed in the official military medical handbook, that its seems old remedies still had a place next to ever improving military medical practice. References [i] Anon, Royal Army Medical Corps Training Manual (London: HMS, 1911), p.60 [ii] Ibid. p.61. [iii] Anon, Manual of Military Cooking and Dietary, (London: HMS, 1915), p.48 [iv] Ibid. p.50. [v] G. Hatfield, Encyclopaedia of Folk Medicine: Old World and New World Traditions (Oxford: Clio, 2004), p.255. [vi] C. E. Francatell, Cook’s Guide and Housekeeper’s & Butler’s Assistant (London: Richard Bentley, 1868), p.53. [vii] G. Elder, From Geordie Land to No Man’s Land, (London: Bloomington, 2011), p.76. [viii] RAMC Manual, pp.415-426. About the author Simon Harold Walker is a Military Medical Historian in the final stages of his PhD at the University of Strathclyde. His PhD Research focuses on how British soldier’s bodies and identities were created, conditioned and controlled over the course of the First World War. He has published on the role of Army Chaplains within the medical services in the First World War and presents a popular YouTube series, Feeding Under Fire, which examines First World War soldier’s food. Simon has also researched inoculation and power and is in the process of researching soldier’s experiences and medicinal food in the First World War.

Oscar Hammerstein had a farm (EIEIO)

1902: The Milch Cow and the Farm at Hammerstein’s on 42nd Street Posted: 23rd May 2014 by The Hatching Cat in Animal Attractions Tags: Animal Tales, Belasco's, New Victory Theater, New York History, Oscar Hammerstein, Paradise Roof Garden, Theatre Republic, Victoria Theatre 5 Oscar Hammerstein I Oscar Hammerstein, the grandfather of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, built several theaters in New York, including the Harlem Opera House on 125th St. and the Olympia on Broadway. The Theatre Republic Oscar Hammerstein built the Theatre Republic on land that he leased from Mrs. Anna F. Davidson of New York City. In 1901 he leased the theater to David Belasco and constructed a roof garden that featured vaudeville acts and a replica of a Dutch farm. Oscar Hammerstein had a farm (EIEIO). And on this farm he had a watermill, a windmill, a pond with a bridge and two boats, a few stone houses, a vegetable garden, a donkey, a turkey, a rooster, four hens, a near-sighted monkey, three peanut monkeys, several sheep, 1 duck and 4 ducklings. The main attraction was a Holstein cow with her very own scantily clad (for the Victorian era) Swiss milkmaid who offered fresh milk in tiny glasses to visitors. The farm was on the roof of Hammerstein’s Theatre Republic on West 42nd Street. Oscar Hammerstein In 1904, the Victoria Theatre was relaunched as Hammerstein’s Victoria “Theatre of Varieties,” with live acts featuring countless celebrities of the stage at the time. Noted performers included Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, and Houdini. That same year, Longacre Square was renamed Times Square. The Venetian Terrace Garden at the Victoria Theatre Before there was air conditioning (and Prohibition), many New York City theaters and hotels featured elaborate roof gardens where Gilded-age guests could dance and dine or enjoy a summer theater performance under strings of electric lights while enjoying the cool river breezes. Oscar Hammerstein’s Paradise Gardens atop the Theatre Republic (aka Belasco’s) and Victoria Theatre was one of the more novel roof gardens of the era, to say the least. New York roof gardens Roof gardens bathed in new electric light were in vogue in the early 1900s before air conditioning and Prohibition. A scene from Hammerstein’s is depicted in the circle. In 1898, Oscar Hammerstein built the Victoria Theatre on the northwest corner of 42nd Street and 7th Avenue, which was then in an area of Manhattan known as Longacre Square. This remote neighborhood — previously occupied by large family farms and manure dumping grounds — was populated by carriage makers and stables, and was named for the famed district of London where royal carriages were designed and constructed. Today, this area is the heart of Times Square and New York’s Theater District. Longacre Square map The site Hammerstein chose for his Victoria Theatre was occupied by Gilley Moore’s Market Stables, seen at bottom left in this 1857 map. To the left is McGory’s Dance Hall, which was replaced by the Theatre Republic. Most of the neighborhood is still undeveloped. New York Public Library Due to budgetary constraints, Hammerstein had to be quite resourceful when constructing the Victoria Theatre. Somehow he convinced the Market Livery Company to lease their land to him for 20 years with no money down. He then used bricks and wood from the demolished stables to construct the theater. The Victoria’s floors were covered with old carpeting from an ocean liner, the seats were purchased second hand, and the hayloft from the stables was used to construct the back stage. Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre Hammerstein’s Victoria Theatre on the corner of 7th Avenue and 42nd Street. The Theatre Republic is next door, to the left in this image. Atop the Victoria was a large roof garden that was initially called the Venetian Terrace Garden. The space featured a three-tiered grand promenade and was decorated with greenery and 2,000 electric lights. There was also a small theater-in-the-round, which was later expanded to seat 1,000 patrons. To comply with the city’s building code, Hammerstein added eight exits and two elevators that took patrons directly from the street to the roof garden. The roof garden also had a glass-enclosed auditorium allowing for an open-air feeling with windows open on nice evenings, and protection from the elements on rainy nights. Paradise Roof Garden theater The seating area of the Paradise Roof Garden theater, on top of Hammerstein’s Victoria Theatre, 1901. Museum of the City of New York The Victoria Theatre opened March 3, 1899, with the Rogers Brothers’ Reign of Error. The Venetian Terrace Garden opened on June 26 of that year. In 1900, Hammerstein built the Theatre Republic adjacent to the Victoria on 42nd Street. He also enlarged the rooftop theater to seat 1,000 patrons and connected it to the roof of the Theatre Republic. The combined roof garden was renamed the Paradise Roof Garden. Paradise Roof Garden Another section of the Paradise Roof Garden theater in 1901, with the Dutch farm in the background. Museum of the City of New York While the main theater remained atop the Victoria, the Theatre Republic’s roof garden featured a much smaller stage that Hammerstein and his son, William, dedicated for Wednesday and Sunday matinees. These afternoon shows featured vaudeville and European novelty acts such as Augusta Rohoff’s Flea Circus from Germany, swimming exhibitions at the pond, jugglers, magicians, and various freak shows. Newspaper ads show that animal acts were also very popular. Riccabona’s horses, Gillette’s trained monkey and dogs, Rosina Caselli’s midget dogs, a boxing kangaroo, Delita Delfora’s six performing cows, Goolman’s cat and dog circus, a talking dog named Don, and Robert’s trained cats and rats all made appearances in the first decade of the twentieth century. Although these acts were no doubt a hit with the public, the main attraction of the Republic’s roof garden was the Dutch farm and its live barnyard animals. Don the talking dog Don the talking dog was just one of many animal acts that performed atop the Theatre Republic in the early 1900s. The Milch Cow and the Milkmaid By 1908, the combined roof gardens were known simply as Hammerstein’s or “The Corner.” That year, a want ad in several New York papers advertised for a milkmaid to milk the cow in the “sylvan glade” at Hammerstein’s. The ad stated “no homely applicants need apply.” (An article in The New York Times regarding the ad noted that “no homely milkmaid was ever in a sylvan glade, so it is desired that the applicants consider themselves honestly in the mirror before spending carfare.”) The ad also said the salary would be $40 a month “with board thrown in” (Where? At the little Dutch house on the roof?). According to the Times, the milkmaid would wear “short skirts and pink” and be required to milk “the thoroughly tame cow” in the presence of spectators. The milkmaid would be able to keep some of the milk, and would not be required to attend to the ducks, goats, or any other animals. A boy in uniform would assist by roping off the crowd. About a week after the ads appeared, “a buxom and rosy-cheeked Harlem milkmaid” was reportedly hired. The cow was milked by hand during intermission. (In 1910, an electric milking machine was acquired.) The Suffragette Farmers The “Suffragette farmers” at Hammerstein’s Dutch farm The “Suffragette farmers” in their overalls at Hammerstein’s Dutch farm. Variety, 1911 In June 1911, several New York newspapers reported on the “Suffragette farmers” at Hammerstein’s Dutch farm. According to the New York Herald, the farm’s milkmaid wore high-heeled slippers and silk stockings and another milkmaid in overalls served tiny cups of milk. Two other suffragette shepherds in overalls were clipping the sheep with an electric clipper at “the baa-baa shop” while other women in overalls encouraged people to try their luck catching a real fish in the trout stream behind the barn. Over the bridge and past the calf pasture near the windmill was the blacksmith shop, where two “matronly smithies toiled at the forge.” In the farmhouse, two women farmers smoked cigarettes and read newspapers while a man washed clothes and rocked a cradle with his foot. And scattered about the rest of the farm were women trimming hedges and painting roofs. Paradise Roof Garden Arabian acrobats pose on the bridge in front of the windmill and blacksmith shop at Hammerstein’s Paradise Roof Garden. Museum of the City of New York The End of Paradise and the Roof Garden Era In the summer of 1908, Mr. Felix Isman, a real estate tycoon from Philadelphia who was slowly but steadily buying theaters in New York, said he had obtained an option on the Victoria and Belasco Theatre sites. According to Isman, the ground leases contained a clause that said Hammerstein could not keep wild animals on the property. In response, Hammerstein admitted he had farm animals on the property, but none of these were considered “wild.” He told the Times, “I have notified Mr. Isman that in deference to his desire for evacuation, I will begin to dispossess the monkeys from their cage and allow him to occupy it at once.” Hammerstein continued to hold onto the property and Isman set his sights on other theaters. The Rialto movie theater S. L. Rothapfel gutted the Victoria in 1915 to make way for the Rialto movie theater. The theater opened in April 16 with “The Good Bad Man” by Douglas Fairbanks. By the early 1920s, advancements in air-conditioning were rendering New York’s roof garden theatres obsolete and silent movies were luring patrons out of vaudeville theatres. Hammerstein jumped on this bandwagon early, selling the Victoria Theatre in May 1915 to S. L. “Roxy” Rothapfel, who eventually gutted the building to make way for 42nd Street’s first movie theater, the Rialto. This theater changed hands a few times over the years, and was torn down in 2000 to make way for an office building. The Republic, which had been taken over by David Belasco in 1902, became home to Billy Minsky’s burlesque shows in 1932. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia banned burlesque in 1942, and the Republic was converted into a movie theater, the Victory. Billy Minsky's burlesque Billy Minsky’s was a very popular burlesque joint, especially with the police, who often raided the place. The Victory was a hot bed, so to speak, for porno movies in the 1970s, but it was restored as a legitimate theater in 1995. Today it is a performing arts center for children and families called the New Victory Theater. ; says:

Trace minerals intake: Risks and benefits for cardiovascular health

Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2017 Dec 13:1-13. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2017.1406332. [Epub ahead of print] . Mohammadifard N1,2, Humphries KH3, Gotay C4, Mena-Sánchez G5, Salas-Salvadó J5, Esmaillzadeh A6,7,8, Ignaszewski A9, Sarrafzadegan N10. Author information 1 a Hypertension Research Center , Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences , Isfahan , Iran. 2 b Interventional Cardiology Research Center , Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences , Isfahan , Iran. 3 c Women's Cardiovascular Health , Department of Medicine, The University of British Columbia , Vancouver , Canada. 4 d Centre of Excellence in Cancer Prevention, Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health, The University of British Columbia , Vancouver , Canada. 5 e Human Nutrition Unit , Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology , IISPV, School of Medicine, Rovira i Virgili University, and CIBER Obesity and Nutrition , Reus , Spain. 6 f Obesity and Eating Habits Research Center , Endocrinology and Metabolism Molecular, Cellular Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran , Iran. 7 g Department of Community Nutrition , School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran , Iran. 8 h Department of Community Nutrition , School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences , Isfahan , Iran. 9 i Division of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia , Vancouver , Canada. 10 j Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center , Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences , Isfahan , Iran. Abstract Minerals play a major role in regulating cardiovascular function. Imbalances in electrolyte minerals are frequent and potentially hazardous occurrences that may lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Transition metals, such as iron, zinc, copper and selenium, play a major role in cell metabolism. However, there is controversy over the effects of dietary and supplemental intake of these metals on cardiovascular risk factors and events. Since their pro-oxidant or antioxidant functions can have different effects on cardiovascular health. While deficiency of these trace elements can cause cardiovascular dysfunction, several studies have also shown a positive association between metal serum levels and cardiovascular risk factors and events. Thus, a J- or U-shaped relationship between the transition minerals and cardiovascular events has been proposed. Given the existing controversies, large, well-designed, long-term, randomized clinical trials are required to better examine the effects of trace mineral intake on cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in the general population. In this review, we discuss the role of dietary and/or supplemental iron, copper, zinc, and selenium on cardiovascular health. We will also clarify their clinical applications, benefits, and harms in CVDs prevention. KEYWORDS: Trace mineral; cardiovascular disease; copper; iron; selenium; zinc PMID: 29236516 DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2017.1406332

Iceland - fines for pay gap

"Iceland began the new year by becoming the first country in the world to mandate that all its companies must pay men and women equally. Following years of passing legislation promoting equal pay, employers that fail to ensure pay parity will now be subject to fines, thanks to a law passed last spring that went into effect Monday. "We have had legislation saying that pay should be equal for men and women for decades now but we still have a pay gap," Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind of the Icelandic Women's Rights Association told *Al Jazeera.* "We have managed to raise awareness, and we have managed to get to the point that people realize that the legislation we have had in place is not working, and we need to do something more." "Under the new law, companies that employ more than 25 people will have to prove to the government that they're paying men and women equally. Officials hope the move will help Iceland to completely close its gender wage gap by 2020...." https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/01/02/iceland-becomes-first-country-punish-companies-paying-women-less-men ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Call for Papers 4S Closed Panel: The Corporatization of Health

Sponsored by the Society for Medical Anthropology’s Special Interest Group on Science, Technology and Medicine David Lowry, Biola University; Kate Tyrol, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute In the current global landscape of health care, corporations play an increasingly significant role in defining, packaging, and selling science, health, wellness, and happiness. This panel asks: How does the therapeutic colonization of the body and the building of medical brands that signify hope define discourses on public health, health/drug policy, or human rights? How do corporate attempts to intervene in science and health function beyond the purported intent (e.g. human “good” or “repair”) of these efforts? These efforts often disguise profit-seeking maneuvers under the guise of the corporation’s “friendly” brand. By promoting new products as “innovation”, it is suggested that we need look no deeper into the new practices formulated by these new technologies. Organized by the Science, Technology, and Medicine (STM) special interest group of the Society for Medical Anthropology, this panel seeks to address these questions through the lenses of STS and medical anthropology. We invite abstracts that explore the corporatization of health in contemporary and historical settings from any region or context. We are soliciting papers that provide ethnographic insight into such case studies as, for example. Nestle’s water imperialism, Nike’s nascent health intervention work in Native America, and Walgreen’s attempted monopolization of global drug distribution. Please submit abstracts of up to 250 words in length. Email your abstract (PDF, Word, or plain text) to tyrolk@rpi.edu and david.lowry@biola.edu by January 14, 2018.

Call for Proposals / Call for Abstracts The 8th Annual Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology Conference

at The Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, Texas, USA May 17-20, 2018 Conference Website: http://www.utdallas.edu/c4v/2018-conference/ ## Keynote Speakers * Alison Wylie (University of British Columbia) ## Conference Description This interdisciplinary conference seeks to explore the interplay between human, ethical, cultural, and political values, on the one hand, and science, technology, engineering, and medical research and practice, on the other hand. We invite presentations that seek not only to understand how values and science have and do influence one another, but also how they must and should influence one another (as well as types of influence that should be avoided). Finally, we are ultimately interested in promoting ethically responsible and socially beneficial scientific research and technological innovation, and critical reflection about the influence of science, technology, and medicine on our values, culture, practices, and worldview. Potential topics for presentation include, but are not limited to: * Social Science and Social Justice * Values in Climate Science and Policy * The Role of Uncertainty and Contingency in Science and Values * Values, Machine Bias, and Computer Simulation * Embedded Ethics in Science, Engineering, and Medicine * The Value of Imagination and Creativity in Science and Engineering * Science and Moral Imagination Any proposals that address the general relations of values to science, technology, and medicine are welcome. We seek proposals from any disciplinary or theoretical approach that addresses these themes and are especially interested in interdisciplinary work. We invite submission of abstracts for traditional individual presentations (20 minutes), short-form presentations (such as open roundtables or lightning talks), panel proposals in a variety of formats including workshops and praxis-oriented sessions, and our dissertations-in-progress and books-in-progress feedback sessions. Individual presentations should submit a 250-300 word abstract. Panels should submit a 250-300 word abstract, and should attach a 1-2 page document with abstracts for individual presentations or description of panel format and the contributions of each presenter. Books- and dissertations-in-progress submissions should submit a 250-300 word abstract of the research, and attach a 1-2 page document with additional information such as state of completion, timeline, outline, etc. **Submission Deadline:** January 15, 2018 Submit your proposals at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=vmst2018 Multiple submissions will be considered, but multiple appearances on the program will be limited. You will not be able to make multiple presentations of the same general kind, but you may be able to, e.g., present original research and in a more informal or praxis-focused session. Two pre-conference workshops will take place prior to the Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology Conference: * Feyerabend 2018: Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of *Science in a Free Society* * Racism and the Disciplinary Differentiation of Science and Philosophy Conference attendees are encouraged to attend and participate in these workshops. Submissions to the workshops and the conference will be considered separately. The Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology works to foster diversity and inclusiveness in our programming, events, and outreach efforts. Proposal authors and panel organizers will be asked to submit an optional 50-100 word diversity statement with their submission. We will also publish a statement of Conference Aims, Values, and Norms and designate an ombuds for the conference, who can receive confidential reports of inappropriate behavior and work with the organizers to determine appropriate responses. If you are interested in volunteering in some capacity rather than submitting a proposal, please email . The Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology is part of the School of Arts & Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. The Center’s mission is to understand, evaluate, and improve the ethical and cultural influences on and implications of science and technology. The VMST Conference is allied with the Consortium on Socially Relevant Philosophy of/in Science and Engineering (SRPoiSE). ## Accessibility All conference locations will be wheelchair accessible. Further accessibility information is TBD, depending on available campus facilities. More information will be available on the conference website once the venue has been selected. Feedback is welcome at .

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS: 24th INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON THE ENVIRONMENT

June 22-24, 2018 Delta Hotel and Resort 475 President Kennedy Avenue Montreal QC H3A 1J7 Canada The Interdisciplinary Environmental Association (IEA) invites you to participate in the 23rd International Interdisciplinary Conference on the Environment (IICE)! The conference is motivated by the increasing need to combine ideas and research findings from different disciplines to enhance our understanding of the interactions between the natural environment and human institutions. Conference presentations focus on: What all disciplines have to offer with respect to understanding environmental and resource problems; Possible solutions that are available; The implications of the globalization of environmental concerns. The conference welcomes environmental academics, practitioners, and interested colleagues regardless of discipline or country. Participants may organize sessions (please ask for “Panel Organizer Guidelines”), present papers, participate in poster sessions, chair sessions, discuss papers, participate in roundtable discussions, or simply observe. The conference also welcomes papers and posters submitted by both graduate and undergraduate students, as well as papers and posters submitted in association with chapters of Kappa Alpha Omicron (advisors, please contact kalshah@iun.edu for details). To facilitate communication, authors should make an effort to write papers and design posters that can be understood by an audience outside their disciplines. All papers submitted for publication consideration in Interdisciplinary Environmental Review must pass peer review from both within and outside the primary discipline of the author(s). The program consists of: Small concurrent seminar-type sessions with chairperson, presenters, and a discussant assigned to comment on and integrate the ideas of the presentations A poster session with time for discussion with the authors Round-table thematic discussions with moderator Workshops and panels Invited keynote speakers Welcome reception Conference banquet luncheon There will be an opening reception for all on Thursday evening, June 21. Registration and conference materials will be available at the Reception and starting at 8:00 AM throughout the conference. Students are welcome at all events. We welcome research that crosses the boundaries of traditional disciplines to frame environmental problems, propose working models, or address field, community, or academic issues in any area of environmental and sustainability research. ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: May 15, 2018 Please, submit your abstract (of no more than 300 words) by May 15, 2018. All submitted abstracts will be evaluated for presentation and publication in the Book of Abstracts which will be available at the Conference. You may submit abstracts for no more than 2 presentations (paper or poster); For co-authorships please include names, affiliations, and addresses of all authors and indicate who will serve as presenter Abstracts are required for all Posters Abstracts accepted only on a space available basis after May 15, 2018 Publication Opportunity To have your papers considered for publication in the sponsored the IEA journal titled Interdisciplinary Environmental Review (IER), please submit your paper, at any time, as prescribed by the publisher here or at this URL: < www.inderscience.com/ier >. Papers submitted for review by the IER must not have been published, accepted, or submitted for publication elsewhere. All papers will be evaluated using an interdisciplinary double-blind peer and review process. Paper submission is optional. More Information: http://ieaonline.org/?page_id=68

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE 2018 ISE CONGRESS

to ISE-L The organizers of the XVI Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology invite you to submit proposals for organized sessions for the event to be held in the city of Belém do Pará, Brazil, August 7-10, 2018. Session proposals will remain open through January 31, 2018. Individually volunteered paper and poster proposals will open February 20and close April 1. The full guidelines for session proposal submissions are attached in both English and Portuguese. The event will be organized around the core congress theme, “Belém+30: The rights of indigenous and traditional peoples and the sustainable uses of biodiversity three decades after the Declaration of Belém”, and six associated sub-themes: 1 – Traditional knowledge associated with biodiversity: legal, ethical and economic considerations; 2 – Global changes: local perceptions and actions; 3 – Food: diversity, sovereignty, innovation and gender; 4 – History ecology and landscape ontologies; 5 – Traditional medicine, medical cosmologies and biodiversity; 6 – Biodiversity management and conservation: dialog across forms of practical experience and ways of knowledge. For more information, please visit the conference website: https://www.ise2018belem.com The first International Congress of Biology was held in Belém, Brazil in 1988, organized by Darrell Posey and sponsored by the Goeldi Museum. The event led to the creation of the International Society of Ethnobiology (ISE) and the drafting of the “Declaration of Belém,” a pioneering document that asserted the inextricable connection between traditional populations and biodiversity and contributed to the formulation of article 8j of the Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992. Considering the 30th anniversary of this landmark event, Belém was chosen to host the XVI Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology, providing a forum for celebrating three decades of ethnobiological science and reflecting on advances in and new challenges to biodiversity and traditional peoples’ rights. The Goeldi Museum and the Federal University of Pará are organizing the event, which will be held in conjunction with the 12th annual symposium of the Brazilian Society for Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology (SBEE). The event program will include conferences by international scientific experts, social activists, and indigenous leaders as well as scientific sessions, round table discussions, an indigenous forum, a pre-congress field school for students, workshops, mini-courses, a “sociobiodiversity fair,” food court with traditional Amazonian foods and an exhibit about the legacy of the anthropologist Darrell Posey. We look forward to your submissions, and please share this information with colleagues, associations, list serves and social media groups you think might be interested in attending. We hope to see you in Belem in August! [the organizing committee] "Belém+30: The rights of indigenous and traditional peoples and the sustainable uses of biodiversity three decades after the Declaration of Belém” XVI Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology / XII Simpósio Brasleiro de Etnobiologia e Etnoecologia https://www.ise2018belem.com ise2018belem@gmail.com -- Juarez Carlos Brito Pezzuti Universidade Federal do Pará - UFPA University of Para Núcleo de Altos Estudos Amazônicos - NAEA Centre for Advanced Amazon Studies R. Augusto Correa 01, CEP 66075-110 Belém, Pará, Brasil +55 91 32018524 +55 91 32017677 (fax) juca@ufpa.br juarez.pezzuti@gmail.com

Fashioned from Nature Victoria and Albert Museum, London 21 April 2018 – 27 January 2019

https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/fashioned-from-nature https://www.vam.ac.uk/whatson/2018/06/20/day ‘Fashion victim’ will gain a whole new meaning at this show. For centuries, nature has fallen prey to fashion frenzies. In the Victorian era, for example, birds’ body parts were used to make jewellery and trim hats; an 1875 pair of earrings made from the taxidermied heads of honeycreepers (pictured) will be on display. The exhibition will chart the use of natural materials over 400 years, from silk, wool and cotton to whalebone and turtle shell. More environmentally friendly modern materials will feature, too: clothes crafted from recycled plastic bottles or the fibrous remains of juiced oranges; a dress grown from plant roots by artist Diana Scherer; and a leather substitute created from wine-industry grape waste. If that doesn’t wow you, there’s a gown of bioluminescent, genetically engineered silk.

Germany vs Elsevier: universities win temporary journal access after refusing to pay fees

NEWS 04 January 2018 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00093-7 Scientists in Germany can still read journals even though institutions there have not renewed their subscriptions. Quirin Schiermeier Central Library of Humboldt University, Berlin. The Central Library of the Humboldt University in Berlin, which is one of around 200 institutions to have let its subscription to Elsevier journals expire.Credit: Gonzales Photo/Alamy The Dutch publishing giant Elsevier has granted uninterrupted access to its paywalled journals for researchers at around 200 German universities and research institutes that had refused to renew their individual subscriptions at the end of 2017. The institutions had formed a consortium to negotiate a nationwide licence with the publisher. They sought a collective deal that would give most scientists in Germany full online access to about 2,500 journals at about half the price that individual libraries have paid in the past. But talks broke down and, by the end of 2017, no deal had been agreed . Elsevier now says that it will allow the country’s scientists to access its paywalled journals without a contract until a national agreement is hammered out. The two sides had “constructive conversations well into December”, says Harald Boersma, a spokesman for Elsevier. “We will continue our conversations in the first quarter of 2018 to find an access solution for German researchers in 2018 and a longer-term national agreement,” he says. “Where access agreements ended, we have informed these institutions that we would maintain access to our content while we continue to work with the German Rectors’ Conference [which leads negotiations for the consortium] on a solution and specifically a 1-year extension to existing contracts, covering 2018.” Günter Ziegler, a mathematician at the Free University of Berlin and a member of the consortium's negotiating team, says that German researchers have the upper hand in the negotiations. “Most papers are now freely available somewhere on the Internet, or else you might choose to work with preprint versions,” he says. “Clearly our negotiating position is strong. It is not clear that we want or need a paid extension of the old contracts.” Academic-publishing experts around the world are keenly observing the situation in Germany. The nationwide deal sought by scientists includes a open-access option, under which all corresponding authors affiliated with German institutions would be allowed to make their papers free to read and share by anyone in the world. This would be a milestone for global efforts to make the results of publicly funded research immediately and freely available to scientists and the wider public in all countries, they say.

Pathogens boosted by food additive

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-017-08775-4 NEWS AND VIEWS 03 January 2018 Epidemic strains of the bacterium Clostridium difficile have now been found to grow on unusually low levels of the food additive trehalose, providing a possible explanation for C. difficile outbreaks since 2001. Jimmy D. Ballard PDF version Between 2001 and 2006, epidemic strains of the bacterium Clostridium difficile, which can inhabit the bowel and cause dangerous diarrhoea, unexpectedly emerged in the United States, Canada and several European countries1,2. Most of these strains originated from a single lineage of C. difficile known as ribotype 027 (RT0272), which has now spread around the world3. Of particular concern has been the correlation between RT027 and a dramatic increase in deaths related to C. difficile4. The mystery of why this ribotype and a second one, RT078, became so prevalent apparently out of thin air has remained largely unsolved5. In a paper online in Nature, Collins et al.6 raise the possibility that the seemingly harmless addition of a sugar called trehalose to the food supply contributed to this disease epidemic. Read the paper: Dietary trehalose enhances virulence of epidemic Clostridium difficile Collins and colleagues first explored how RT027 and RT078 grow, by comparing carbon-source preferences between strains of C. difficile. They noted a peculiar property of these two lineages — they can use low concentrations of trehalose as a sole source of carbon. Next, the authors analysed the genomes of RT027 and RT078, and discovered that each encodes unusual sequences that might explain their ability to grow in low levels of trehalose. The researchers showed that RT027 carries a single-nucleotide genetic variant that changes an amino-acid residue in the protein TreR from leucine to isoleucine. TreR is a transcriptional repressor that is inhibited by trehalose. When active, TreR prevents expression of the gene treA, which encodes a phosphotrehalase enzyme involved in metabolizing trehalose into glucose and glucose derivatives. Thus, trehalose is metabolized only when its levels are high enough to inhibit TreR. Collins et al. propose that the mutation in RT027 changes TreR’s affinity for trehalose and allows it to be repressed by substantially lower levels of the sugar than normal. This frees the TreA protein to metabolize trehalose and allows RT027 to grow on low levels of the sugar (Fig. 1). Figure 1 | Increased virulence of the bacterium Clostridium difficile. Two lineages of C. difficile, RT027 and RT078, have become widespread since the early 2000s. Collins et al.6 have demonstrated that different mutations have arisen in each strain to improve the microbes’ ability to grow on low concentrations of the sugar trehalose, which has been added to foods since 2001. RT078 has acquired four genes, including one that encodes the protein PtsT, which transports trehalose into C. difficile cells. In RT027, mutation of the protein TreR increases the protein’s affinity for trehalose, which in turn inhibits TreR’s ability to bind to DNA and repress transcription of the gene treA. TreA protein, expressed when TreR is repressed, metabolizes trehalose to glucose and derivatives, enabling cell growth at low trehalose concentrations. By contrast, RT078 has adapted to grow on low amounts of trehalose by acquiring four genes involved in trehalose uptake and metabolism. The genes encode second copies of TreR and TreA, a trehalose transporter protein dubbed PtsT that helps cells take up the sugar, and another enzyme, TreX, involved in trehalose metabolism. Unexpectedly, RT078 does not share the genetic alteration in TreR that is found in RT027. As Collins and colleagues point out, it therefore seems that two epidemic strains of C. difficile have optimized trehalose metabolism in unrelated ways. The investigators next provided evidence that trehalose metabolism directly relates to enhanced virulence of RT027 in vivo. First, they showed that deleting treA in RT027 and thereby preventing trehalose metabolism markedly reduced the virulence of this strain in mice. Second, adding trehalose to the diet of mice infected with RT027 increased the animals’ risk of death. However, the bacterial load of RT027 was not higher in mice fed trehalose than in those on a trehalose-free diet, indicating that increased risk of death is not simply due to the presence of more bacteria. Rather, the authors found that improved trehalose metabolism enables RT027 to produce higher levels of a C. difficile toxin. Turning to RT078, Collins et al. demonstrated that just one of the four acquired proteins, the trehalose transporter PtsT, was responsible for the strain’s increased ability to grow on low levels of trehalose (Fig. 1). The authors showed that PtsT confers a competitive growth advantage over other lineages in the presence of trehalose. Finally, Collins and colleagues investigated the relevance of their observations in humans. Experimental infection would be difficult in people, so the researchers instead collected fluid from the small intestine of three participants on a normal diet. The fluid contained levels of trehalose sufficient to promote expression of treA in RT027 but not in other strains, supporting the potential for human relevance. RT027 was first isolated in 1985, from a person infected with C. difficile. But this ribotype was not associated with hospital outbreaks, increased death rates or epidemics until the early 2000s. Similarly, RT078 lineages isolated before the C. difficile epidemics carry the genetic information for enhanced trehalose metabolism, but were of little consequence to the epidemiology of this disease. Why did these ribotypes suddenly emerge at epidemic levels only 15 years ago? Collins and colleagues propose a surprising answer. Before 1995, high production costs made trehalose untenable as a food additive. But manufacturing innovations7 reduced the cost of trehalose production more than 100-fold8, and the US Food and Drug Administration and European agencies approved the sugar as a safe food additive in 2000 and 2001, respectively (see go.nature.com/2yewlwk; go.nature.com/2jyltr3). Trehalose is now added to a variety of food products, including pasta, ice cream and minced beef. The authors provide a timeline (see Fig. 6 of the paper) to illustrate how supplementing the food supply with trehalose preceded the C. difficile outbreaks caused by RT027 and RT078. They therefore suggest that the addition of trehalose to the food supply might have increased the sugar in the human bowel to levels high enough to enable growth of these ribotypes. The study’s findings raise several avenues for future research. For instance, the connection between trehalose metabolism and toxin production, and how this is linked to increased death rates in people infected with RT027, will require further analysis. Whether trehalose in the human colon, where disease occurs, reaches high enough levels to affect RT027 and RT078 virulence is also unknown. The authors tested fluid from the small intestine, thus bypassing the colon, where the complex complement of gut microbes might break down trehalose. Despite these concerns, the correlative findings of Collins and colleagues’ study are compelling. It is impossible to know all the details of events surrounding the recent C. difficile epidemics, but the circumstantial and experimental evidence points to trehalose as an unexpected culprit. Nature Briefing Sign up for the daily Nature Briefing email newsletter Stay up to date with what matters in science and why, handpicked from Nature and other publications worldwide. Sign Up References 1. Bartlett, J. G. Ann. Intern. Med. 145, 758–764 (2006). PubMed Article 2. McDonald, L. C. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 353, 2433–2441 (2005). PubMed Article CAS 3. He, M. et al. Nature Genet. 45, 109–113 (2013). PubMed Article CAS 4. Hunt, J. J. & Ballard, J. D. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 77, 567–581 (2013). PubMed Article CAS 5. Kuijper, E. J., van Dissel, J. T. & Wilcox, M. H. Curr. Opin. Infect. Dis. 20, 376–383 (2007). PubMed 6. Collins, J. et al. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature25178 (2018). Article 7. Maruta, K. et al. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 59, 1829–1834 (1995). PubMed Article CAS 8. Higashiyama, T. Pure Appl. Chem. 74, 1263–1269 (2002).

To Sate China’s Demand, African Donkeys Are Stolen and Skinned

https://nyti.ms/2EA7WSa

Ginkgolide K attenuates neuronal injury after ischemic stroke by inhibiting mitochondrial fission and GSK-3β-dependent increases in mitochondrial membrane permeability.

Oncotarget. 2017 Jul 4;8(27):44682-44693. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.17967. Zhou X1, Wang HY1, Wu B1, Cheng CY1, Xiao W2, Wang ZZ2, Yang YY1, Li P1, Yang H1. Author information 1 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China. 2 State Key Laboratory of New-tech for Chinese Medicine Pharmaceutical Process, Jiangsu Kanion Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Lianyungang, China. Abstract Ginkgolide K (GK) belongs to the ginkgolide family of natural compounds found in Ginkgo biloba leaves, which have been used for centuries to treat cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. We evaluated the protective effects of GK against neuronal apoptosis by assessing its ability to sustain mitochondrial integrity and function. Co-immunoprecipitation showed that Drp1 binding to GSK-3β was increased after an oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) insult in cultured neuroblastoma cells. This induced Drp1 and GSK-3β translocation to mitochondria and mitochondrial dysfunction, which was attenuated by GK. GK also reduced mitochondrial fission by increasing Drp1 phosphorylation at Ser637 and inhibiting mitochondrial Drp1 recruitment. In addition, GK exposure induced GSK-3β phosphorylation at Ser9 and enhanced the interaction between adenine nucleotide translocator (ANT) and p-GSK-3β. This interaction suppressed the interaction between ANT and cyclophilin D (CypD), which inhibited mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening. Similarly, suppression of mitochondrial fission by Mdivi-1 also inhibited GSK-3β-induced mPTP opening. Treating mice with GK prevented GSK-3β and Drp1 translocation to mitochondria and attenuated mitochondrial dysfunction after middle cerebral artery occlusion. We therefore propose that by inhibiting mitochondrial fission and attenuating mPTP opening, GK exerts neuroprotective effects that mitigate or prevent neuronal damage secondary to ischemic stroke. KEYWORDS: ginkgolide K; ischemic stroke; mitochondrial fission; mitochondrial permeability transition pore; neuron apoptosis PMID: 28591721 PMCID: PMC5546510 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.17967 Free PMC Article Images from this publication.See all images (7)Free text

Nutrients and bioactives in green leafy vegetables and cognitive decline: Prospective study.

Neurology. 2017 Dec 20. pii: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000004815. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000004815. [Epub ahead of print] Morris MC1, Wang Y2, Barnes LL2, Bennett DA2, Dawson-Hughes B2, Booth SL2. Author information 1 From the Departments of Internal Medicine (M.C.M., Y.W.), Preventive Medicine (Y.W.), Behavioral Sciences (L.L.B.), and Neurological Sciences (L.L.B., D.A.B.), and Rush Alzheimer Disease Center (L.L.B., D.A.B.), Rush University, Chicago, IL; and Tufts Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (B.D.-H., S.L.B.), Tufts University, Boston, MA. Martha_C_Morris@rush.edu. 2 From the Departments of Internal Medicine (M.C.M., Y.W.), Preventive Medicine (Y.W.), Behavioral Sciences (L.L.B.), and Neurological Sciences (L.L.B., D.A.B.), and Rush Alzheimer Disease Center (L.L.B., D.A.B.), Rush University, Chicago, IL; and Tufts Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (B.D.-H., S.L.B.), Tufts University, Boston, MA. Abstract OBJECTIVE: To increase understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying the association, we investigated the individual relations to cognitive decline of the primary nutrients and bioactives in green leafy vegetables, including vitamin K (phylloquinone), lutein, β-carotene, nitrate, folate, kaempferol, and α-tocopherol. METHODS: This was a prospective study of 960 participants of the Memory and Aging Project, ages 58-99 years, who completed a food frequency questionnaire and had ≥2 cognitive assessments over a mean 4.7 years. RESULTS: In a linear mixed model adjusted for age, sex, education, participation in cognitive activities, physical activities, smoking, and seafood and alcohol consumption, consumption of green leafy vegetables was associated with slower cognitive decline; the decline rate for those in the highest quintile of intake (median 1.3 servings/d) was slower by β = 0.05 standardized units (p = 0.0001) or the equivalent of being 11 years younger in age. Higher intakes of each of the nutrients and bioactives except β-carotene were individually associated with slower cognitive decline. In the adjusted models, the rates for the highest vs the lowest quintiles of intake were β = 0.02, p = 0.002 for phylloquinone; β = 0.04, p = 0.002 for lutein; β = 0.05, p < 0.001 for folate; β = 0.03, p = 0.02 for α-tocopherol; β = 0.04, p = 0.002 for nitrate; β = 0.04, p = 0.003 for kaempferol; and β = 0.02, p = 0.08 for β-carotene. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of approximately 1 serving per day of green leafy vegetables and foods rich in phylloquinone, lutein, nitrate, folate, α-tocopherol, and kaempferol may help to slow cognitive decline with aging. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Neurology

A Review of the Antioxidant Activity of Celery ( Apium graveolens L).

J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2017 Oct;22(4):1029-1034. doi: 10.1177/2156587217717415. Epub 2017 Jul 13. Kooti W1, Daraei N2. Author information 1 1 Student Research Committee, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran. 2 2 Student Research Committe, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Abstract Plants are an important source of natural active products that are different, based on mechanism and biological properties. Celery ( Apium graveolens L) is a plant from the apiaceae family and phenolic and antioxidant compounds of this plant have been studied by several scientists. The aim of this study was to review systematically the antioxidant activity of celery. Required articles were searched from databases such as Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, and Springer. Keywords used in this study were Apium graveolens L, celery, antioxidant, free radical, leaf, and seed. Out of 980 collected articles (published in the period 1997-2015), 9 studies finally met the inclusion criteria and were considered. Celery, because of compounds such as caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, apigenin, luteolin, tannin, saponin, and kaempferol, has powerful antioxidant characteristics, to remove free radicals. It is clear that celery, with different compounds and diverse concentration can have varied healing effects. It is suggested that the next studies concentrate on other therapeutic and industrial attributes of celery. KEYWORDS: Apium graveolens L; antioxidant; celery; free radical; leaf

Emily Carr slept here

In the daytime I do not see what Emily Carr saw. But in the moonlight I do see it.

Re: Meta-analysis Confirms Correlation of Coffee Consumption with Reduced Liver Cancer Risk; No Significant Effect on Biliary Tract Cancers

PDF (Download) Coffee (Coffea arabica, Rubiaceae) Biliary Tract Cancers Liver Cancer Meta-Analysis Date: 12-15-2017 HC# 111741-582 Godos J, Micek A, Marranzano M, Salomone F, Del Rio D, Ray S. Coffee consumption and risk of biliary tract cancers and liver cancer: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Nutrients. August 28, 2017;9(9):950. doi: 10.3390/nu9090950. Coffee beverages from coffee (Coffea arabica, Rubiaceae) beans can offer many health benefits to the liver, with anti-cancer effects exerted by caffeine, and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects by phenolic components. Coffee diterpenes may have anti-cancer effects. The liver benefits from coffee's contributions to lipid metabolism regulation. Systematic reviews have found coffee consumption associated with lower rates of steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis. Chronic viral hepatitis may progress more slowly in coffee users. Both caffeinated and decaffeinated (decaf) coffee affect the biliary tract (BT), inhibiting gallstone formation and increasing gallbladder contraction; in patients with gallstones, coffee may cause pain. Previous meta-analyses of the correlation between coffee drinking and liver cancer (LC) risk lack data on BT cancer (BTC)* risk, dose response, or potential confounding factors. The authors performed a meta-analysis including these parameters, following Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) protocols. A search of electronic databases from inception to March 2017 yielded 9248 English-language references. Of these, 7953 were excluded based on title. Of 1295 screened, 1260 were excluded based on the abstract. Of 35 evaluated in full, 17 did not meet inclusion criteria, leaving 18 (five on BTC and 13 on LC) for analysis. They were all prospective or case-control studies reporting hazard ratios (HRs), risk ratios (RRs), or odds ratios (ORs), with a minimum of three levels of coffee consumption. Study quality was assessed via the Newcastle-Ottawa scale; heterogeneity by the Q test and I2 statistic; sensitivity by the leave-one-out method; and publication bias by funnel plot examination. HRs/ORs/RRs for each type of cancer were pooled to calculate summary RRs with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for highest vs. lowest coffee intake. Median or mean intake in each category was assigned to the corresponding OR/HR/RR for each study. A two-stage random effects dose-response analysis was performed to calculate study-specific linear and non-linear trends across categories of coffee intake. Of the five studies reporting on BTC, one pooled nine cohort studies; two studies included a total of three prospective cohorts; and two were case-control studies. They represented 1,375,626 subjects and 726 cases. Most studies reported sex-specific data and adjusted for cigarette smoking; other factors, e.g., type of coffee used and hepatitis status, were sometimes reported. Three were conducted in the United States; one in Europe; and one, with two large long-term cohorts, in Japan. Pooled RR for highest vs. lowest intake was 0.83 (95% CI, 0.64-1.08; P=0.58), with no evidence of heterogeneity (I2=0%) and no publication bias found. For cohort studies only, pooled RR=0.84 (95% CI, 0.61-1.15; P=0.27; I2=22%); for case-control studies, RR=0.74 (95% CI, 0.34-1.63; P=0.82; I2=0%). No subgroup analyses were undertaken due to the small number of BTC studies. Of LC reports, seven used six prospective cohorts and one multicenter study; one, a pooling study of nine prospective cohorts; and five, case-control studies. They included 2,105,104 subjects and 4227 cases. Two were conducted in the United States; six in Europe; and five in Asia. Pooled RR of LC for highest vs. lowest category of coffee intake was 0.52 (95% CI, 0.42-0.63; P=0.02), with moderate heterogeneity (I2=44%) and no publication bias observed. For prospective cohort studies, pooled RR=0.53 (95% CI, 0.41-0.69; P=0.03; I2=46%); for case-control studies, RR=0.48 (95% CI, 0.33-0.70; P=0.08; I2=47%). Subgroup analyses were performed to account for effects of study design, geographic location, gender, smoking status, coffee type (caffeinated vs. decaf), and hepatitis status. From a table, it appears that 12 studies reported on men and women separately; 11, tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum, Solanaceae) use status; and four, hepatitis status—none of these significantly affected results. Another table shows that three datasets covered caffeinated coffee and four, decaf. It is not possible to tell how many studies yielded these data. A significant decrease in LC risk is noted for caffeinated coffee (RR=0.65; 95% CI, 0.49-0.86) vs. decaf (RR=0.85; 95% CI, 0.63-1.14). Less risk of LC was seen in studies conducted in Europe and Asia compared to those in the United States. Dose-response analysis showed no significant association between BTC (three studies included) and coffee intake. A non-significant lower risk was found at low levels of intake (≤2 cups/d), but no further benefit or increased risk with higher intake. Seven LC studies yielded evidence of a linear association between coffee consumption and risk (Pfor nonlinearity=0.954). Compared to no coffee, 1 cup/d resulted in pooled RR=0.82 (95% CI, 0.70-0.98). The highest intake charted, 7 cups/d, showed pooled RR=0.27 (95% CI, 0.17-0.43). Associations were similar for men and women, but data for women had more heterogeneity (Pheterogeneity=0.692). Coffee may be a valuable functional food for liver health. In vitro and in vivo studies report evidence regarding molecular targets of coffee compounds and biological rationales for its effects, backing up epidemiological studies. —Mariann Garner-Wizard * Gallbladder and extrahepatic/intrahepatic bile duct cancers, with similar etiology, are grouped as BTC.

Re: Meta-analysis Shows Turmeric Effective in Lowering Low-density Lipoproteins and Triglycerides

Turmeric (Curcuma longa, Zingiberaceae) Cardiovascular Disease Meta-analysis Date: 12-15-2017 HC# 111761-582 Qin S, Huang L, Gong J, et al. Efficacy and safety of turmeric and curcumin in lowering blood lipid levels in patients with cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nutr J. 2017;16(1):68. doi: 10.1186/s12937-017-0293-y. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the leading causes of mortality in the world, and increased risk is characterized by age, sex, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Treatment of dyslipidemia is important for the prevention of CVD. Statins have shown promise in the treatment of dyslipidemia, but they have a potential for serious adverse effects, including hepatotoxicity. Therefore, there is a need for safe and effective alternatives. Turmeric (Curcuma longa, Zingiberaceae) rhizome and curcumin, an active constituent of turmeric, have been found to be effective in treating many of the risk factors for CVD, including dyslipidemia. However, there have been conflicting studies, and a previous meta-analysis failed to demonstrate a significant lipid-lowering effect of curcumin.1 This previous meta-analysis had many limitations, according to the authors. The goal of the present meta-analysis was to address these limitations and to assess the efficacy and safety of turmeric and curcumin in lowering lipid levels in patients with risk factors for CVD. Online databases PubMed, Embase, Ovid, Medline, and Cochrane Library were searched for clinical studies published in English as of November 2016. Search terms included curcuminoid or curcumin or curcuma or turmeric or curcuminoids and hyperlipidemia or hyperlipidemic or hypolipidemic or dyslipidemia or dyslipidemic or hypercholesterolemia or hypercholesterolemic or hypocholesterolemic or low-density lipoprotein or high-density lipoprotein or cholesterol or triglycerides or hypertriglyceridemia or hypotriglyceridemic. Inclusion criteria included drug/placebo-controlled parallel randomized trials; subjects with risk factors for CVD; use of purified curcumin or a curcuminoid mixture, standardized extracts with noted content of curcumin, or turmeric powder, regardless of dosage and frequency; a study duration ≥ 4 weeks; and reported mean ± standard deviation, mean ± standard error, or median (range) of between-group differences at the beginning and end of the trial. Studies were excluded if they were a crossover randomized design, included non-comparative data, had a duration of treatment less than four weeks, or lacked outcome measures. Outcome measures included serum levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), and total cholesterol (TC). A secondary outcome was any adverse effects due to curcumin or turmeric products. Of 1566 relevant articles, seven randomized controlled trials with a total of 649 patients met all inclusion criteria and were selected for analysis. All studies were double blind, except for two, and had a duration from four weeks to six months. The studies took place in Iran (n = 2), India (n = 2), Thailand, Taiwan, and Pakistan. Six of the seven studies used placebo as control; one used metformin in both treatment (amount unspecified) and control (1 g/day). Pooled data from six studies (n = 218 both cases and controls) showed that all herb forms significantly reduced serum LDL-C (P < 0.0001). Meta-analysis of data from seven studies showed a benefit of experimental treatment (n = 325) compared to controls (n = 324) in significantly reducing TG (P = 0.007). To assess potential bias, subgroup analysis was done in patients with MetS and hyperglycemia. There was a significant effect on serum TC levels in two studies including patients with MetS (P < 0.0001), with respect to serum TC levels between the experimental (n = 67) and placebo (n = 69) groups. Pooled data from four studies showed no significant difference between placebo (n = 149) and treatment (n = 151) groups for those with hyperglycemia (P = 0.612). "Serum HDL-C levels were not obviously improved." Turmeric and curcumin appear to be well tolerated with no serious adverse events reported in any of the studies, though minor adverse reactions were reported ranging from dyspepsia to hot flashes. The authors conclude that turmeric and curcumin have a cardioprotective effect, lowering serum LDL-C and TG levels. While turmeric and curcumin also lowered serum TC levels in patients with MetS, they did not show the same effect in other groups, leaving the efficacy for TC levels inconclusive. Admitted limitations include interpretability of outcomes, lack of unpublished studies or studies published in grey literature, lack of diversity in study patients (all were Asian), and that some data were obtained indirectly, which may affect the results of the subgroup analysis. The authors state, "Due to uncertainties related to dosage form, dose and medication frequency, it is premature to recommend the use of turmeric or curcumin in clinical settings." The study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China, the "Par-Eu Scholars Program" of Chongqing City, and the National Science and Technology Major Project of China. —Erin Smith, MSc, CCH Reference 1Sahebkar A. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of curcumin on blood lipid levels. Clin Nutr. 2014;33(3):406-414.