Propolis is a bee wax rich in various phytocomponents and traditionally used to treat various ailments. Propolis is reported to possess an array of biological properties including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-diabetic as well as cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, renoprotective, and derma protective activities. A plethora of studies confirmed that propolis is effective against various types of cancer including head and neck, lung, liver, brain (glioma), pancreas, kidney, prostate, skin (melanoma), breast, oral, esophagus, gastric, colorectal, and bladder cancers. However, many researchers have demonstrated that propolis displays potent chemoprotective/chemopreventive or anti-cancer activity against only a few types of cancers like oral, gastrointestinal, dermal (melanoma), breast, and prostate cancers. Therefore, this mini-review only summarizes the chemopreventive/chemotherapeutic activities of propolis and its updated underlying mechanisms. Taken together, propolis displays potent chemoprotective or anti-cancer effect due to the presence of various phytocomponents which contribute to pro-apoptotic, cytotoxic, anti-proliferative (cell cycle arrest), anti-metastatic, anti-invasive, anti-angiogenic and anti-genotoxic or anti-mutagenic properties along with antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory functions. Hence, propolis could be used as an adjuvant for treating various cancers along with standard chemotherapeutic drugs. However, many large-scale clinical studies are needed to justify such applications.

Background: and Purpose Oral nucleos(t)ide analogs (NAs) are the mainstay treatment for chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Myotoxicity is an important extrahepatic effect related to NA treatment. Telbivudine is the NA for CHB that is frequently associated with muscle-related side effects. The risk factors for telbivudine-induced myopathy (TIM) are not yet clear. Methods: This study characterized the clinical, magnetic resonance images (MRI), and pathological features of 12 TIM cases. A group of telbivudine-tolerant (TT) patients with CHB who received regular telbivudine treatment during the same period without the occurrence of myopathy was collected. Demographic and clinical factors were compared between the patients with TIM and the TT controls. Factors independently associated with TIM were identified using logistic regression analysis. Results: The patients with TIM (males/females: 7/5, mean age: 57 years) developed myopathy after using telbivudine for a median period of 19.5 months. Muscle histopathology revealed abnormal proliferation, subsarcolemmal or sarcoplasmic accumulations, and ultrastructural defects of mitochondria. When compared with TT cases, patients with TIM had a lower estimated glomerular filtration rate and were more frequently positive for hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg). Conclusions Mitochondrial abnormalities are characteristic histopathological features, and impaired renal function and HBeAg positivity are risk factors for TIM. Telbivudine-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and immune activation related to mitochondrial damage and HBeAg serostatus changes may underlie TIM. Constant clinical surveillance of myopathy during telbivudine treatment is needed due to the significant latency of its development. Dose adjustment for impaired renal function does not eliminate the risk of TIM occurrence.

Objective To investigate the effects of low-magnitude high-frequency vibration (LMHFV) on osteoporotic fracture healing and blood supply of distal injured limbs based on osteoporosis fracture model of the ovariectomized (OVX) rats. Methods Ovariectomy was performed in 32 six-month-old female SD rats. 3 months later, closed transverse fractures were created at the right femoral midshafts complicated by femoral artery injuries. The rats were then randomly divided into vibration group and control group. Radiographs were performed in each week to assess the callus size and the status of fracture healing. At 2nd, 4th and 8th week after treatment, pulsed-wave Doppler ultrasonography was utilized to evaluate the blood flow velocity and the resistance index (RI) of the distal femoral artery in injured limbs. The peri-fracture region was reconstructed by Micro-CT for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Results Pulsed-wave Doppler indicated a significantly higher peak systolic velocity of distal femoral artery in vibration group at 2nd and 4th week (P<0.05) and a lower RI as compared with control group.Radiography and Micro-CT analysis demonstrated that vibration group had better callus formation, mineralization, remodeling, and bridging rate during fracture healing as compared with control group. Conclusions LMHFV can effectively improve the blood supply of distal injured limbs and promote the osteoporotic fracture healing.