Effect Of Traditional Treatment Research Articles

Cultural practices of breast care among breastfeeding mothers in the Sumba tribe: A descriptive qualitative study

Introduction: The study aims to explore how the cultural practice of breast care among breastfeeding mothers in the Sumba tribe, specifically in Kiritana Village, might impact the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding in the Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) province, with a potential influence estimated at 62.17%.Methods: This research employs a descriptive qualitative approach, utilizing a purposive sampling method. The participants consist of mothers who are within the first six months postpartum and engage in breast care practices. Following the framework proposed by Miles and Huberman, the data analysis process involves data reduction, data display, and drawing conclusions or verifying the data through researcher involvement in the interpretation process to elucidate the significance of the presented data.Results: There are two themes emerged: (1) Culture-based breast care of the Sumba Tribe in Kiritana Village is still being carried out from generation to generation, and (2) Cultural-based breast care practices in the Sumba Tribe, Kiritana Village which is still carried out by breastfeeding mothers are massaged using breastmilk, massaged using coconut oil, herbs which derived from plants and consuming fried corn and fried peanuts.Conclusions: Sumbanese people in Kiritana Village believe that cultural-based breast care can facilitate breast milk and can cure several diseases of the breast, such as sore nipples and swollen, stiff, and hard breasts. It is recommended that health service workers carry out a culture-based approach strategy to the problem of breastfeeding mothers in the Sumba Tribe. Further research on the effects of traditional treatments during postpartum, especially for breast care, is recommended. Keywords: breast care; cultural practice; exclusive breastfeeding

ROS regulation in gliomas: implications for treatment strategies.

Gliomas are one of the most common primary malignant tumours of the central nervous system (CNS), of which glioblastomas (GBMs) are the most common and destructive type. The glioma tumour microenvironment (TME) has unique characteristics, such as hypoxia, the blood-brain barrier (BBB), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and tumour neovascularization. Therefore, the traditional treatment effect is limited. As cellular oxidative metabolites, ROS not only promote the occurrence and development of gliomas but also affect immune cells in the immune microenvironment. In contrast, either too high or too low ROS levels are detrimental to the survival of glioma cells, which indicates the threshold of ROS. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of ROS production and scavenging, the threshold of ROS, and the role of ROS in the glioma TME can provide new methods and strategies for glioma treatment. Current methods to increase ROS include photodynamic therapy (PDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), and chemodynamic therapy (CDT), etc., and methods to eliminate ROS include the ingestion of antioxidants. Increasing/scavenging ROS is potentially applicable treatment, and further studies will help to provide more effective strategies for glioma treatment.

TTC22 as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer: Insights into immune infiltration and epithelial‑mesenchymal transition.

The mortality rate of pancreatic adenocarcinoma is high, and the effect of traditional treatment is unsatisfactory, thus novel biomarkers are required. Although the important role of tetratricopeptide repeat domain 22 (TTC22) in colon cancer is well established, its precise role in pancreatic cancer remains unclear and requires further investigation. Pan-cancer analysis and single-cell sequencing revealed TTC22 was differentially expressed in various tumors, especially in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Additionally, clinical data for pancreatic cancer showed a negative association between TTC22 expression and clinical parameters, including survival prognosis. The correlation between TTC22 and immune infiltration in pancreatic cancer was validated by functional enrichment analysis. ESTIMATE and single sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis algorithms were used to further analyze immune infiltration of TTC22 in pancreatic cancer, and the results suggested that TTC22 inhibited tumor immunity and was negatively correlated with plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR further confirmed the differential expression of TTC22 in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Wound healing, Transwell and colony formation assays showed that TTC22 affected the migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. These findings demonstrate that TTC22 may serve as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for the management of pancreatic cancer.

CircRNAs: emerging factors for regulating glucose metabolism in colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is a malignant disease with a high incidence and low survival rate, and the effectiveness of traditional treatments, such as surgery and radiotherapy, is very limited. CircRNAs, a kind of stable endogenous circular RNA, generally function by sponging miRNAs and binding or translating proteins. CircRNAs have been identified to play an important role in regulating the proliferation and metabolism of CRC. In recent years, many reports have indicated that by regulating the expression of glycolysis-related proteins, such as GLUT1 and HK2, or directly translating proteins, circRNAs can promote the Warburg effect in cancer cells, thereby driving CRC metabolism. Moreover, the Warburg effect increases lactate production in cancer cells and promotes acidification of the TME, which further drives cancer progression. In this review, we summarized the remarkable role of circRNAs in regulating glucose metabolism in CRC in recent years, which might be useful for finding new targets for the clinical treatment of CRC.

Preventive chronotherapy of diltiazem in old patients with ischemic heart disease, stable stenocardia II–III functional classes

BACKGROUND: This study developed a new variant of chronotherapy preventive chronotherapy with a calcium antagonist of prolonged action diltiazem, which is provided before the onset of myocardial ischemia (painful and pain-free) in accordance with ECG monitoring data in older patients with stable angina pectoris.
 AIM: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of preventive chronotherapy with diltiazem in older patients with coronary heart disease and stable angina pectoris of IIIII functional classes in comparison with traditional treatment with diltiazem without taking into account the onset of myocardial ischemia during the day.
 MAATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included two randomized groups of patients with coronary heart disease, i.e., stable angina pectoris. Group 1 included patients (n=15) receiving preventive chronotherapy with diltiazem. Group 2 consisted of patients (n=10) with angina pectoris of 23 functional classes treated with diltiazem by the traditional method. EchoСG was used in the work. ECGHolter monitoring and bimanual physical activity were conducted. The course of treatment was 10 days.
 RESULTS: The results indicated the advantage of preventive chronotherapy with diltiazem in comparison with traditional treatment. This is confirmed by a more pronounced therapeutic effect in the form of an improvement in myocardial contractile function, decrease in myocardial energy expenditure, increase in exercise tolerance and antianginal, anti-ischemic, and vasodilating effects of diltiazem used in preventive chronotherapy mode (i.e., with an increase in the occurrence time of myocardial ischemia).
 CONCLUSION: The study data obtained made it possible to establish more pronounced antianginal, anti-ischemic, and hypotensive effects of preventive chronotherapy with diltiazem than these effects of traditional treatment. Moreover, preventive chronotherapy was associated with a greater tolerance to physical activity and a decrease in myocardial energy expenditure.

Advances in Nanotechnology-Based Immunotherapy for Glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive type of brain tumor. Despite the multimodal therapies, the effectiveness of traditional treatments is not much satisfying. In recent years, immunotherapy has become the focus of tumor treatment. Unlike traditional treatments that directly target tumor cells, immunotherapy uses the body’s immune system to kill tumors. However, due to the severe immunosuppressive microenvironment of GBM, it generally has a poor response to immunotherapy. In addition, the existence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) also compromises the immunotherapeutic efficacy. Therefore, effective immunotherapy of GBM requires the therapeutic agents to not only efficiently cross the BBB but also relieve the strong immunosuppression of the tumor microenvironment of GBM. In this review, we will first introduce the CNS immune system, immunosuppressive mechanism of GBM, and current GBM immunotherapy strategies. Then, we will discuss the development of nanomaterials for GBM immunotherapy based on different strategies, roughly divided into four parts: immune checkpoint therapy, targeting tumor-associated immune cells, activating immune cells through immunogenic cell death, and combination therapy, to provide new insights for future GBM immunotherapy.

A Panel of E2F Target Gene Signature Predicting the Prognosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most malignant tumors, and the therapeutic effects of traditional treatments are poor. It is urgent to explore and identify new biomarkers and therapeutic targets to develop novel treatments which are individualized and effective. Three hallmarks, including E2F targets, G2M checkpoint and DNA repair, were collected by GSEA analysis. The panel of E2F-related gene signature consisted of five genes: HN1, KIF4A, CDCA3, CDCA8 and SSRP1. They had various mutation rates ranging from 0.8 to 5% in hepatocellular carcinoma, and patients with gene mutation had poorer prognosis. Among these genes, HN1 has the greatest mutation rate, and SSRP1 has the greatest impact on the model with a B (COX) value of 0.8842. Patients with higher expression of these genes had poorer prognosis. Kaplan-Meier curves in stratified survival analysis confirmed that patients with high risk scores had poor prognosis (p < 0.05). The results of univariate and multivariate COX survival analysis showed that risk score was closely related to the overall survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. For clinical validation, we found that all the genes in the model were upregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues compared to normal liver tissues, which was consistent with the previous results we obtained. Our study demonstrated that a panel of E2F target genes signature including five genes could predict the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. This panel gene signature can facilitate the development of individualized and effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Improving the Effectiveness of Therapeutic Measures for Generalized Periodontitis in Patients with Hypertension

The program of standard therapeutic measures in 45 patients with Generalized Chronic Periodontitis (GCP) and background hypertension, group I(a), included hirudotherapy, for comparison, the effectiveness of traditional treatment was evaluated in 40 patients, group I(b), who refused to use medical leeches. In the second comparison group (35 patients), patients with GCP, but normal blood pressure, also received only a set of traditional methods of treatment. The inclusion of hirudotherapy in the program of therapeutic measures in patients with GCP and hypertension makes it possible to optimize the onset of a persistent therapeutic effect, lengthen the period of remission of the pathological process in periodontal disease and significantly improves the quality of life of patients.

Недиференційована дисплазія сполучної тканини й респіраторні захворювання в дітей та підлітків (огляд літератури)

Дисплазія сполучної тканини — дуже поширене генетично детерміноване порушення розвитку цієї тканини в процесі внутрішньоутробного й постнатального онтогенезу, яке характеризується дефектами її волокнистих структур і основної речовини, що призводить до розладів гомеостазу на рівні тканин, органів та організму в цілому. Ці розлади виявляються у вигляді різних зовнішніх, вісцеральних та локомоторних порушень із прогредієнтним перебігом. Наявність сполучнотканинної дисплазії суттєво впливає на особливості перебігу асоційованих з ними захворювань, а також на фармакокінетику та фармакодинаміку лікарських засобів, що використовуються для їх лікування. На сьогодні розрізняють диференційовані (класифіковані, моногенні) і недиференційовані (некласифіковані, мультифакторні) форми дисплазії сполучної тканини. Водночас захворювання органів дихання в дітей та підлітків залишаються актуальною медико-соціальною проблемою, що пов’язано з їх високою частотою, складністю діагностики, ризиком формування хронічної респіраторної патології. Тому цілком обґрунтованими видаються наукові дослідження механізмів та ступеня впливу системної сполучнотканинної дисплазії на розвиток та перебіг респіраторних захворювань. Згідно з літературними джерелами, набуті захворювання дихальної системи в дітей і підлітків на тлі недиференційованої дисплазії сполучної тканини мають суттєво тяжчі й триваліші клінічні ознаки, а ефективністю традиційного лікування в них послаблена. Вони схильні до атипового й рецидивуючого перебігу, а також до більш частого розвитку тяжких ускладнень. Проте спрямованість такого впливу в процесі розвитку дитини залишається значною мірою невизначеною. Слід зазначити, що більшість наукових досліджень, присвячених поєднанню дисплазії сполучної тканини й захворювань респіраторної системи, було проведено серед дітей шкільного віку та підлітків. У зв’язку з цим завчасне прогнозування формування дисплазії сполучної тканини в дітей, ще в період новонародженості та ранньому віці, коли її зовнішні прояви є нечастими й невираженими, видається досить перспективним. Виявлення системної дисплазії сполучної тканини саме на ранніх етапах постнатального онтогенезу може бути підставою для своєчасного й цілеспрямованого проведення певних профілактичних заходів.

Heat-induced manganese-doped magnetic nanocarriers combined with Yap-siRNA for MRI/NIR-guided mild photothermal and gene therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma

Over last decades, the complexity and variability of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has significantly interfered with the effectiveness of traditional treatment, and has gradually become a main obstacle and bottleneck for HCC therapy. In order to explore the innovative therapeutic strategy to further improve the cancer diagnosis and treatment, we herein proposed a thermal-induced magnetic nanosystem with good biocompatibility that therapeutic cargo controllable release relies on 808 nm laser irradiation. This nanosystem was designed by co-loaded the manganese-doped magnetic nanoparticles and photosensitizer indocyanine green into the matrix of temperature sensitive polymer, with further capturing negatively charged YAP1 siRNA on the surface, to finally obtain the heat-induced manganese-doped magnetic nanocarriers (HMM-siRNA NCs). Our study found that the photosensitizer on the exposure of 808 nm laser irradiation could generate continuous heat to rupture the thermal-sensitive polymer matrix, that controllable release the embedded ICG and Mn0.8Fe2.2O4 NPs for NIR/MR imaging, ICG-mediated heat and ROS could induce the thermal expansion and rupture of HMM-siRNA NCs, causing the evident thermal swelling of lysosomes to induce the cell apoptosis. Besides, YAP1 siRNA can decrease the YAP1 expression in HCC down to approximately 35%, reducing the cell proliferation and migration. Such NIR/MRI guided low-temperature PTT and siRNA-mediated gene therapy strategy lead to tumor cell death by using various and complementary approach, thereby achieving controllable and effective comprehensive treatment in the presence of 808 nm laser irradiation. Our designed delivery complex can accomplish the precise cancer treatment on the tumor site by responding to the external 808 nm laser, and its non-toxic metabolites demonstrate the excellent biocompability for extensive use either anti-cancer therapy or various disease from clinical research.

Current applications of platelet gels in wound healing-A review.

Human platelets play important roles in several physiologic and pathologic processes. Platelet concentrates are activated with thrombin or calcium, resulting in a viscous coagulum (platelet gel [PG]), composed of 95% platelets at least. PG is increasingly used for the treatment of a variety of soft and hard tissue defects, most notably in the management of chronic non-healing wounds. During wound healing, platelets not only play a critical role in primary hemostasis and thrombosis, but also release growth factors and cytokines to promote tissue regeneration, enhance collagen synthesis, and trigger an immune response. This review addresses a variety of aspects relevant to the functions of well-known platelet growth factors, animal and clinical studies of PG in the last decade, and different sources of platelets for PG. PG is used for non-healing chronic wounds, such as oral ulcerations related to epidermolysis bullosa and chronic graft-versus-host disease, for those, the traditional treatment effect is poor. PG maybe provide a new therapeutic direction for these diseases. Nevertheless, some uncertainty is present, the number of clinical studies is not enough. Hence, randomized controlled trials are still required to study the potential of the use of PG in the near future.

Brazilian strains of Toxoplasma gondii are controlled by azithromycin and modulate cytokine production in human placental explants

BackgroundToxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that causes congenital toxoplasmosis by transplacental transmission. Parasite strains are genetically diverse and disease severity is related to the genotype. In Uberlândia city, Brazil, two virulent strains were isolated: TgChBrUD1 and TgChBrUD2. Congenital toxoplasmosis is more prevalent in South America compared to Europe, and more often associated with severe symptoms, usually as a result of infection with atypical strains.MethodsConsidering that T. gondii has shown high genetic diversity in Brazil, the effectiveness of traditional treatment may not be the same, as more virulent strains of atypical genotypes may predominate. Thus, the aim of this study were to evaluate the Brazilian strain infection rate in human villous explants and the azithromycin efficacy with regard to the control of these strains compared to traditional therapy. Villi were infected with RH, ME49, TgChBrUD1 or TgChBrUD2 strains and treated with azithromycin, spiramycin or a combination of pyrimethamine plus sulfadiazine. The villous viability was analyzed by LDH assay and morphological analysis. Parasite proliferation, as well as production of cytokines was analyzed by qPCR and ELISA, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using the GraphPad Prism 5.0.ResultsThe treatments were not toxic and TgChBrUD1 infected villi showed a higher parasite burden compared with others strains. Treatments significantly reduced the intracellular proliferation of T. gondii, regardless of the strain. TgChBrUD1-infected villi produced a larger amount of MIF, IL-6 and TGF-β1 compared with other infected villi. Azithromycin treatment increased MIF production by RH- or TgChBrUD2-infected villi, but in ME49- or TgChBrUD1-infected villi, the MIF production was not altered by treatment. On the other hand, azithromycin treatment induced lower IL-6 production by ME49- or TgChBrUD1-infected villi.ConclusionsAzithromycin treatment was effective against T. gondii Brazilian strains compared with conventional treatment. Also, the TgChBrUD1 strain replicated more in villi and modulated important cytokines involved in parasite control, showing that different strains use different strategies to evade the host immune response and ensure their survival.

The effect of traditional treatment on visual function in suspected glaucoma and primary open-angle glaucoma patients

The effect of traditional treatment on visual function in suspected glaucoma and primary open-angle glaucoma patients

Patient-centered boundary mechanisms to foster intercultural partnerships in health care: a case study in Guatemala

BackgroundUp to one half of the population in Africa, Asia and Latin America has little access to high-quality biomedical services and relies on traditional health systems. Medical pluralism is thus in many developing countries the rule rather than the exception, which is why the World Health Organization is calling for intercultural partnerships to improve health care in these regions. They are, however, challenging due to disparate knowledge systems and lack of trust that hamper understanding and collaboration. We developed a collaborative, patient-centered boundary mechanism to overcome these challenges and to foster intercultural partnerships in health care. To assess its impact on the quality of intercultural patient care in a medically pluralistic developing country, we conducted and evaluated a case study.MethodsThe case study took place in Guatemala, since previous efforts to initiate intercultural medical partnerships in this country were hampered by intense historical and societal conflicts. It was designed by a team from ETH Zurich’s Transdisciplinarity Lab, the National Cancer Institute of Guatemala, two traditional Councils of Elders and 25 Mayan healers from the Kaqchikel and Q’eqchi’ linguistic groups. It was implemented from January 2014 to July 2015. Scientists and traditional political authorities collaborated to facilitate workshops, comparative diagnoses and patient referrals, which were conducted jointly by biomedical and traditional practitioners. The traditional medical practices were thoroughly documented, as were the health-seeking pathways of patients, and the overall impact was evaluated.ResultsThe boundary mechanism was successful in discerning barriers of access for indigenous patients in the biomedical health system, and in building trust between doctors and healers. Learning outcomes included a reduction of stereotypical attitudes towards traditional healers, improved biomedical procedures due to enhanced self-reflection of doctors, and improved traditional health care due to refined diagnoses and adapted treatment strategies. In individual cases, the beneficial effects of traditional treatments were remarkable, and the doctors continued to collaborate with healers after the study was completed. Comparison of the two linguistic groups illustrated that the outcomes are highly context-dependent.ConclusionsIf well adapted to local context, patient-centered boundary mechanisms can enable intercultural partnerships by creating access, building trust and fostering mutual learning, even in circumstances as complex as those in Guatemala. Creating multilateral patient-centered boundary mechanisms is thus a promising approach to improve health care in medically pluralistic developing countries.

Examination and effectiveness of traditional treatments used in neurological disorders in the inner part of Aegean region

Examination and effectiveness of traditional treatments used in neurological disorders in the inner part of Aegean region

A Semi-Parametric Two-Stage Projection Type Estimator of Multi-Valued Treatment Effects

One of the most well documented regularities in evaluation literature like returns to schooling(or funding for programs) is that several factors come together to confound the measurement of its effect. First, in observational studies the true return is often individual specific, and so it is almost impossible to use a traditional treatment effect models with randomly assigned treatment and control groups. This endogeneity in the model further exacerbates our inability to conduct such trials. Second, the problem is not a classical treatment effect measurement problem where we have discrete or more often binary treatments. Hence, techniques like measuring the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) cannot be implemented as it is not very well defined for the continuous treatment case. Third, a traditional 2SLS approach might be misleading because of the non-Gaussian nature of response distribution, in particular, if different quantiles of response have differential effects. However, their technique is also not defined for continuous treatments, and cannot measure if different distributions of the treatment might have different effects on the response variable. In this paper, we propose the effects of different multi-valued treatment variable after conditioning for other covariates.

Effects of Traditional Treatment and Partial Body Weight Treadmill Training on the Motor Skills of Children With Spastic Cerebral Palsy

This study was designed to examine the effects of intensive traditional physical therapy treatment methods combined with partial body weight treadmill training (PBWTT) on motor and ambulatory skills of children with cerebral palsy. Five children (2.3 to 9.7 years) with cerebral palsy participated in a therapy program for four weeks, three to four sessions per week, for two hours per session. Outcomes were measured using the Gross Motor Function Measure, Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory, pedographs, and the Timed 10-Meter Walk Test. Wilcoxon paired-sample tests and percent changes showed a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in mean step length differences. Results indicate improvements in motor and ambulatory skills of individual children indicating positive measurable outcomes of intensive physical therapy with partial body weight treadmill training. An intensive episode of physical therapy of reasonable frequency and duration that includes partial body weight treadmill training may be effective in improving motor skills of children with spastic CP.

Safety Profile of Sublingual Immunotherapy

Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) was proposed for clinical practice about 20 years ago with the main aim of improving the safety and avoiding the adverse effects of traditional treatment for allergic airways disease. To date, 32 randomized controlled trials and 6 postmarketing surveys have been published that provide a robust documentation of the safety profile of the treatment.Looking at the randomized trials it emerges that the more frequent adverse event of SLIT is oral itching or swelling, followed by gastrointestinal complaints. These adverse events are invariably described as mild and easily managed by adjusting the dose. Relevant systemic adverse events (asthma, urticaria, angioedema) occur sporadically and, with the exception of oral/gastrointestinal adverse events, the incidence of adverse events seems not to differ between the placebo and active groups. The safety profile of SLIT does not differ between adults and children.The postmarketing surveys consistently show that the incidence of adverse events associated with SLIT is less than 10%, corresponding to less than 1 adverse event per 1000 doses, and is thus quite superior to the safety profile of subcutaneous immunotherapy. Of note, the most recent data show that the rate of adverse events with SLIT is not increased in children below the age of 5 years.

Diagnosis and therapy of hypovitaminosis A and E in chronic cholecystocholangitis in children

The aim of this study was to study the content of retinol and a-tocopherol in the blood serum of children with chronic cholecystocholangitis, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional treatment and therapy with the use of the drug tykveola. The latter is a lipid complex of Cucurbita pepo pumpkin seeds, which contains phospholipids, bioflavinoids, carotenoids, tocopherols, some amino acids, iron, manganese, zinc and calcium.