12^th Global Ethnomedicine and Ethnopharmacology Conference August 08-09, 2018 Osaka, Japan

Ye Zhao has completed his PhD at the age of 33 years from Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese medicine and two postdoctoral studies from China Academy of Chinese Medical Science and University of Florida. He is the director of R&D Department of Hangzhou DeBuYou Inc., a premier Integrative Medicine company. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member and peer reviewer of repute.

OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed at evaluating the clinical efficacy and safety of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) to treat muscle spasticity after brain injury (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR-TRC-11001310). METHODS: A total of 60 patients with muscle spasticity after brain injury were randomized to the following 3 groups: 100, 2, and 0 Hz (sham) TEAS. The acupoints Hegu (LI4) --Yuji (LU10) and Zusanli (ST36) --Chengshan (BL57) on the injured side were stimulated at 0, 2, or 100 Hz, 5 times per week for 4 weeks. The patients were followed up for 1 and 2 months after the treatments. The effects of the treatments on muscle spasticity at the wrist, thumb, the other 4 fingers, elbow, shoulder, knee, and ankle were evaluated by the Modified Ashworth Scale, and the effects on disability were assessed by the Disability Assessment Scale. The walking capability was evaluated by the Holden functional ambulation classification score. The overall performance was assessed by the Global Assessment Scale score and the improved Barthel Index. The safety of the treatments administered was also monitored. RESULTS: The wrist spasticity was significantly reduced from baseline at weeks 2, 3, and 4 of treatment and at the 1- and 2-month follow-up visits in the 100 Hz group (P < 0.01). Compared with 2 Hz or sham TEAS, 100 Hz TEAS decreased wrist spasticity at weeks 2, 3, and 4 of treatment and 1 month after treatment (P < 0.001). The other endpoints were not affected by the treatments. No treatment-emergent adverse events were reported during treatments and follow-up visits. CONCLUSIONS: TEAS appears to be a safe and effective therapy to relieve muscle spasticity after brain injury, although large-scale studies are required to further verify the findings.

Ting Han has completed her PhD at the age of 28 years from Second Military Medical University and visiting scholar studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the vice director of Department of Pharmacognosy. She has published more than 48 papers in reputed journals.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory polyarthritis which can result in irreversible damage to the joints. Litsea cubeba has been used as a folk prescription in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat rheumatic diseases. This study was aimed to evaluate the anti-arthritic effect of 9,9'-di-O-(E)-feruloyl-meso-5,5'-dimethoxy secoisolariciresinol (LCA), a dibenzylbutane lignan in the root of Litsea cubeba and its synthetic analogue(LCA1) which has not been published before, and to explore the underlying mechanism. The in vitro anti-arthritic effect was tested in TNF-α-stimulated fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) by measuring the cell proliferation and the expression of inflammatory factors with MTT assay, Flow cytometry and ELISA. Then, western blotting (WB) was used to investigate the mechanism of them. In addition, a carrageenan-induced air pouch model in mice was built to further investigate the anti-arthritic effect of the dibenzylbutane lignans in vivo. The results showed that both LCA and LCA1 efficiently suppressed inflammatory factors and promoted FLSs apoptosis by controlling the activation of the MEK-ERK signalling pathway. The symptoms of inflammation were as well as attenuated in mice treated with LCA and LCA1. In Conclusion, our results suggest that LCA and LCA1 containing a dibenzylbutane skeleton may have therapeutic benefits in RA through regulating the activation of the MEK/ERK pathway.

Qiao-Yan Zhang has completed her PhD from Second Military Medical University. She is the Professor of Second Military Medical University, and worked in the study of traditional Chinese medicine and natural medicine, especially focused on the investigation of effects and action mechanism of traditional medicine and natural product for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. She has published more than 100 papers in Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Phytomedicine and other reputed Journals, obtained the awardeds from Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China.

Both estrogen deficiency and inflammation play important roles in bone metabolism and occurrence of osteoporosis. Monotropein, an iridoid glycosides from Morinda officinalis, has been reported to possess the properties of decreasing bone loss induced by estrogen deficiency and inhibiting inflammatory responses in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages. However, the effect of monotropein on bone loss in chronic inflammatory condition remains unclear. In present study, we found that monotropein significantly inhibited the reduction of bone mass, improved the bone micro-architecture through enhancing bone formation and blocking the increase of inflammatory cytokines in osteoporotic mice induced by the combination treatment of ovariectomy and LPS. Further in vitro experiment indicated that monotropein increased the proliferation, activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bone matrix mineralization, and the expression of bone matrix protein osteopontin (OPN) of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells injured by LPS. In addition, monotropein significantly decreased the production of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), inhibited the nuclei translocation of p65 and nuclear factor kappa B p50 (NF-κB P50), and markedly down-regulated the phosphorylation levels of nuclear factor kappa B p65 (NF-κB p65) and IκB kinase (IKK), indicating that monotropein could attenuate the impairments of inflammation on MC3T3-E1 cells through suppressing the activation of NF-κB pathway. Therefore, monotropein might be a promising candidate for prevention and treatment for inflammatory bone loss

Neyla ben gdara is in her final year of her thesis in Biology, at the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Tunisia. his research focuses on the protective effect of phycocyanin, the main pigment extracted from Spirulina "Spirulina platensis" on liver function. she published an article in a reputed journal "Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy".

Phycocyanin (Pc) extracted from Spirulina platensis was used to evaluate its antioxidants effects after ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) using the ex-vivo model of isolated perfused rat liver. The rats were divided into eight groups : Control group, where livers were directly perfused after their removal; Cold Ischemia group (CI), livers were treated in the same way as the control group, except that after their collection, they were stored for 12 hours and 24 hours in the Krebs Henseleit (KH) preservation solution at 4 ° C and Treated group (PHY), livers were preserved in the same way as the preceding group except that the KH solution was enriched with phycocyanin at two different concentrations. Pc, a powerful antioxidant, significantly reduced ischemia / reperfusion injury in the liver. In fact, the addition of phycocyanin to the preservation solution significantly decreased the activity of liver transaminases (AST) and (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), the rate of lipid peroxidation (MDA) and the activity of certain antioxidant enzymes, essentially glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). On the other hand, Pc increases the level of thiol groups in hepatic tissues. In conclusion, the results show the Pc-enriched KH conservation solution is effective in preserving the hepatic graft and protecting it against IRI by acting as a potent antioxidant against the products of oxidative stress.

Wenli Zhao has completed her PhD at the age of 35 years from Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She is the doctor of Neurological Department in Nankai Hospital, Tianjin, China. She has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as a young editorial board member and peer reviewer of repute.

Recent advances in neuroendocrinology and immunology have provided an entry to understand acupuncture. Here, we highlight these progresses and use endometriosis as an example to provide a perspective in how to effectively engage acupuncture into modern biomedicine. Endometriosis is a common chronic inflammatory disease in which endometrial tissue progressively grows outside the uterine cavity and into the pelvic region, including the fallopian tubes and ovaries. Also, estrogen promotes the endometriosis progression through on-site inflammation. Current treatments for endometriosis involve hormonal therapy and surgical procedures, however, they both may induce several side effects. Several studies have shown that the administration of exogenous dopamine agonists can significantly suppress endometriosis progression. Acupuncture is multivalent in which it can simultaneously stimulate the secretion of endogenous dopamine to modulate the GnRH neuroendocrine pathway in CNS and the COX-2 inflammatory pathway in PNS. Hence, acupuncture can smoothly manage endometriosis without the side effects of exogenous dopamine. The endometriosis management by acupuncture provides us an example of how to incorporate acupuncture into current biomedical systems. Acupuncture may provide a convenient, physiological method to regulate the neuroendocrine system in an integrative, systematic means.