Behcet's disease is a chronic relapsing multisystemic inflammatory disorder characterized by four major symptoms (oral aphthous ulcers, genital ulcers, skin lesions, and ocular lesions) and occasionally by five minor symptoms (arthritis, gastrointestinal ulcers, epididymitis, vascular lesions, and central nervous system symptoms). Although the etiology of Behcet's disease is still unknown, there have been recent advances in immunopathogenic studies, genome-wide association studies, animal models, diagnostic markers, and new biological agents. These advances have improved the clinical understanding of Behcet's disease and have enabled us to develop new treatment strategies for this intractable disease, which remains one of the leading causes of blindness.
Animals ; *Behcet Syndrome/epidemiology/immunology/therapy ; Biological Therapy/*trends ; Disease Models, Animal ; Humans ; Prevalence ; *World Health

The recent research progress of the utilization of natural drugs for the treatment of liver fibrosis in China and other countries was reviewed. Forty reported remedies were summarized and classified into 3 categories, that is, the single herbal drugs (rhizome, leaf, fruit, bark, peel, flower, whole plants, and oil), traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions and animal drugs. The future directions of the R&D of new natural drugs against liver fibrosis were discussed and some suggestions were provided.
Animals ; Biological Products ; therapeutic use ; Biomedical Research ; methods ; trends ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; drug therapy ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; trends ; Phytotherapy

Cancer is a highly aggressive and devastating disease, and impediments to a cure arise not just from cancer itself. Targeted therapies are difficult to achieve since the majority of cancers are more intricate than ever imagined. Mainstream methodologies including chemotherapy and radiotherapy as routine clinical regimens frequently fail, eventually leading to pathologies that are refractory and incurable. One major cause is the gradual to rapid repopulation of surviving cancer cells during intervals of multiple-dose administration. Novel stress-responsive molecular pathways are increasingly unmasked and show promise as emerging targets for advanced strategies that aim at both de novo and acquired resistance. We highlight recent data reporting that treatments particularly those genotoxic can induce highly conserved damage responses in non-cancerous constituents of the tumor microenvironment (TMEN). Master regulators, including but not limited to NF-kB and C/EBP-β, are implicated and their signal cascades culminate in a robust, chronic and genome-wide secretory program, forming an activated TMEN that releases a myriad of soluble factors. The damage-elicited but essentially off target and cell non-autonomous secretory phenotype of host stroma causes adverse consequences, among which is acquired resistance of cancer cells. Harnessing signals arising from the TMEN, a pathophysiological niche frequently damaged by medical interventions, has the potential to promote overall efficacy and improve clinical outcomes provided that appropriate actions are ingeniously integrated into contemporary therapies. Thereby, anticancer regimens should be well tuned to establish an innovative clinical avenue, and such advancement will allow future oncological treatments to be more specific, accurate, thorough and personalized.
Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Protein-beta ; metabolism ; Humans ; Models, Biological ; Molecular Targeted Therapy ; methods ; trends ; NF-kappa B ; metabolism ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Precision Medicine ; methods ; trends ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; Tumor Microenvironment ; drug effects

Rasayana tantra is one of the eight specialties of Ayurveda. It is a specialized practice in the form of rejuvenative recipes, dietary regimen, special health promoting behaviour and drugs. Properly administered Rasayana can bestow the human being with several benefits like longevity, memory, intelligence, freedom from diseases, youthful age, excellence of luster, complexion and voice, optimum strength of physique and sense organs, respectability and brilliance. Various types of plant based Rasayana recipes are mentioned in Ayurveda. Review of the current literature available on Rasayanas indicates that anti-oxidant and immunomodulation are the most studied activities of the Rasayana drugs. Querying in Pubmed database on Rasayanas reveals that single plants as well as poly herbal formulations have been researched on. This article reviews the basics of Rasayana therapy and the published research on different Rasayana drugs for specific health conditions. It also provides the possible directions for future research.
Animals ; Anti-Ulcer Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Antiparasitic Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Aphrodisiacs ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Free Radical Scavengers ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Giardiasis ; drug therapy ; Herbal Medicine ; classification ; methods ; trends ; Humans ; Immunologic Factors ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Medicine, Ayurvedic ; Models, Biological ; Neuroprotective Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Plant Preparations ; classification ; therapeutic use ; Radiation-Protective Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use