Some herbs as Adenosma caeruleum (I) and Spirulina (II) are used for treatment of hepatic diseases in Vietnam. The substances collected from aqueous extracts of these herbs were used in our experiments. Their hepato-protective effects were estimated by criteria such as: Their antioxidative activity in vitro, The content of malonyl dialdehyd (MDA) glutathion (GSH) in livers and activities of enzymes SGOT, SGPT in serum of mice administered substances of (I) or (II) or mixture of (I) and (II), comparison with controls. Results show that extracted substances of these herbs possesses strong hepato-protective effects. It is necessary to elucidate further their hepato-protective effect
Plants, Medicinal ; spirulina ; Medicine, Traditional

From total dried extract extracted by methanol from roots of Nho dong (Morinda longisima Y.Z.Ruan, Rubiaceae) that was gathered in Chieng An commune, Son La town in Apr 2002, a compound called CP2 was isolated through chromatography. Spectral analyses showed CP2 was a coumarin named as Scopoletin. This was the first time Scopoletin found in root of Nho dong
Scopoletin ; Plants, medicinal ; Medicine, Traditional

Choleretic and inflammatory effect of dried extract of Morinda longissima roots were tested in primari pig and rats. Dried extract of ML 0,67g/kg/daily exerts choleretic effect in rat, enhanced the bile flow after the 1st, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th 30 minutes by 34,88%; 30,77%; 27,03% and 43,75% respectively in comparing with the control in guinea-pig, dried extract of ML 1g/kg/daily exerts anti inflamatory effect, minimizing the swelling mass by 26,16% in comparison with the control
Cholagogues and Choleretics ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; Morinda

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary hepatic tumor and one of the most common cancers worldwide. HCC is a primary malignancy of hepatocellular origin. Objectives:The aim of study is to combinate therapy of transarterial chemoembolization and percutaneousethanol injection afterward emerging metatasis caused by fine needle aspiration cytology. Subjects and method: A 50 years old male patient with hepatocellular carcinoma having a diameter of tumor more than 5 cm was treated by combination of transarterial chemoembolization and percutaneous ethanol injection from December 2000. Results & Conclusion: Results of study showed that: Transarterial chemoembolization and percutaneous ethanol injection are the two of non-surgical methods for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma which are most commonly available in applied clinical activities at present. Up to now, the patient's life expectancy after therapy is more than 6 years that means the result of treatment is very good. However, the emerging metatasis into the anterior-right-Iower chest wall that was caused by fine needle aspiration cytology should be reviewed for further evaluating clinical experience, especially in cases with quite clear imaging features of untrasonography and significantly elevated AFP level higher than 200 ng/rnl.
Carcinoma ; Hepatocellular/ pathology ; therapy

Background: Recently, microplate almar blue assay has been used commonly in detecting gen related to tuberculosis drug resistance, which provides results after 5-7 days with lower cost compared to traditional methods. Objective: To evaluate the application of microplate almar blue assay for rapid detection of drug resistance of M. tuberculosis strains. Subject and Method: A microplate-based assay which uses Alamar blue reagent - an oxidation reduction dye (MABA), was used for the determination of the anti-tuberculosis drug (isoniazid-INH, rifampicine-RIF, streptomycine-STR and ethabuton=EMB) resistance of 96 M. tuberculosis strains isolated from Vietnamese patients in comparison to those obtained by conversional method. Result: MABA showed to have high sensitivity and specificity in testing the sensitivity to individual anti-tuberculosis drugs (from 82.4% for STR to 93.3% for - INH and from 82.5% for EMB to 98.4% for STR; respectively), as well as for the multi-drug resistant M.tuberculosis (86.4% of sensitivity), highly correlated with the result determined by proportion method. Conclusion: MABA reveals the advantage in shortening test time, in simple performance and lower cost compared with the conversional culture based methods.
Microplate almar blue assay ; M. tuberculosis ; drug resistance

Artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) is a perennial plant belonging to the Asteraceae family originating from the Mediterranean region. In Vietnam, there are some varieties of artichoke which are extensively cultivated and propagated in highland areas, however, there have been limited detailed scientific publications on the chemical composition and biological activity of artichoke grown in Vietnam. Therefore, this study provides a detailed description of the extraction, isolation, and structural determination of 20 natural secondary metabolites present in harvested artichoke. The antioxidant activity of the extract and the 9 isolated compounds are tested in 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging and ex vivo malondialdehyde model. Among the selected compounds, 1-caffeoylquinic acid, 3-caffeoylquinic acid, chlorogenic acid, 4-caffeoylquinic acid, cynarin, 1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 4,5-di-caffeoylquinic acid, cynaroside, and scolymoside exhibited strong radical scavenging activity with IC50 values ranging from 5.7 to 61.6 µM. In the malondialdehyde assay, 1,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid (or cynarin) showed the strongest activity with an IC50 value of 24.7 µM, followed by 1,5-di-caffeoylquinic acid (66.8 µM), and 4,5-di-caffeoylquinic acid (127.3 µM). This outcome contributes to establishing a database on the phytochemical and antioxidant activity of the Vietnamese artichoke.