The combination effects of chloroquine with Cepharanthin^® or minocycline hydrochloride were evaluated against a blood-induced infection with chloroquine-resistant P. berghei NK 65 in ICR mice. The infected mice in an untreated control group showed a progressively increasing parasitemia leading to mouse death. A two-day dosage of 20 mg base/kg of chloroquine alone produced little effect against P. berghei NK 65 infection, and all mice died from day 13 to 15 with an increasing parasitemia. A four-day dosage of 4 mg/kg of Cepharanthin^® alone produced no antimalarial activity, and all mice died by day 10. A four-day dosage of 50 mg/kg of minocycline hydrochloride alone produced a slight effect, but all mice died by day 18. Furthermore, mice given chloroquine in combination with Cepharanthin^® died from day 14 to 15. Mice given Cepharanthin^® plus minocycline hydrochloride also died from day 15 to 17. On the other hand, infected mice treated with chloroquine plus minocycline hydrochloride survived during the experiment. All mice treated with chloroquine alone, minocycline hydrochloride alone, chloroquine plus Cepharanthin^® or Cepharanthin^® plus minocycline hydrochloride showed low parasitemia levels during drug administration and a few subsequent days, but then malaria parasites re-increased in the bloodstream of the treated mice until death. On the other hand, malaria parasites in the mice given chloroquine plus minocycline hydrochloride decreased on day 6 and then could not be detected by microscopic examination during the observation period. This finding strongly suggests that the combination effects of chloroquine and minocycline hydrochloride are worthy of evaluation in human malaria. The results also clearly demonstrate the necessity and importance of in vivo experiments in estimating the activities of drugs.

Combinations of DNA and recombinant-viral-vector based vaccines are promising AIDS vaccine methods because of their potential for inducing cellular immune responses. It was found that Gag-specific cytotoxic lymphocyte (CTL) responses were associated with lowering viremia in an untreated HIV-1 infected cohort. The main objectives of our studies were the construction of DNA and recombinant Sendal virus vector (rSeV) vaccines containing a gag gene from the prevalent Thailand subtype B strain in China and trying to use these vaccines for therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines. The candidate plasmid DNA vaccine pcDNA3.1(+)-gag and recombinant Sendai virus vaccine (rSeV-gag) were constructed separately. It was verified by Western blotting analysis that both DNA and rSeV-gag vaccines expressed the HIV-1 Gag protein correctly and efficiently. Balb/c mice were immunized with these two vaccines in different administration schemes. HIV-1 Gag-specific CTL responses and antibody levels were detected by intracellular cytokine staining assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) respectively. Combined vaccines in a DNA prime/rSeV-gag boost vaccination regimen induced the strongest and most long-lasting Gag-specific CTL and antibody responses. It maintained relatively high levels even 9 weeks post immunization. This data indicated that the prime-boost regimen with DNA and rSeV-gag vaccines may offer promising HIV vaccine regimens.

Although cardiac rehabilitation (CR) has been shown to improve exercise tolerance and prognosis in patients with cardiovascular diseases, there remains low participation in outpatient CR. This may be attributed to the patients’ busy schedules and difficulty in visiting the hospital due to distance, cost, avoidance of exercise, and severity of coronary disease. To overcome these challenges, many countries are exploring the possibility of remote CR. Specifically, there is increasing attention on the development of remote CR devices, which allow transmission of vital information to the hospital via a remote CR application linked to a wearable device for telemonitoring by dedicated hospital staff. In addition, remote CR programs can support return to work after hospitalization. Previous studies have demonstrated the effects of remote CR on exercise tolerance. However, the preventive effects of remote CR on cardiac events and mortality remain controversial. Thus, safe and effective remote CR requires exercise risk stratification for each patient, telenursing by skilled staff, and multidisciplinary interventions. Therefore, quality assurance of telenursing and multi-disciplinary interventions will be essential for remote CR. Remote CR may become an important part of cardiac management in the future. However, issues such as costeffectiveness and insurance coverage still persist.