Purpose: Recent studies have reported that nasal nitric oxide (NO) increases in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and bronchial asthma (BA), and can be used as a noninvasive test to determine treatment efficacy. We aimed to investigate the changes in fractional exhaled NO (FeNO) and nasal NO levels before and after treatment in patients with AR and asthma. Methods: Children aged 6–18 years who visited Dong-A University Hospital from August 2013 to July 2014 were treated for mildpersistent or severe-intermittent AR according to Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma guidelines. FeNO and nasal NO were measured using NObreath. Among all patients, rhinitis was treated for 1 month, and the results were evaluated in patients with improved AR (n = 31), improved AR+BA (n = 23), and control (n = 19) groups. Results: Sex, age, body mass index, allergy, serum total eosinophil count and immunoglobulin E, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein showed no intergroup differences before or after treatment. Nasal NO before treatment was higher in the BA+AR and AR groups than controls (P = 0.005), but there was no difference between disease groups after treatment. Both groups showed a significant decrease in nasal NO after treatment compared with measurements before treatment (AR, P = 0.044; AR+BA, P = 0.004). Conclusion Nasal NO can be effectively used as a noninvasive test for clinical efficacy because it was significantly reduced by improving symptoms in AR patients with and without asthma.

Objective To investigate the effect of Gymnema sylvestre extract (GS) on initial anti-obesity, liver injury, and glucose homeostasis induced by a high-fat diet (HFD). Methods The dry powder of GS was extracted with methanol, and gymnemic acid was identified by high performance liquid chromatography as deacyl gymnemic acid. Male C57BL/6J mice that fed on either a normal diet, normal diet containing 1 g/kg GS (CON+GS), HFD, or HFD containing 1.0 g/kg GS (HFD + GS) for 4 weeks were used to test the initial anti-obesity effect of GS. Body weight gain and food intake, and serum levels about lipid and liver injury markers were measured. Histopathology of adipose tissue and liver stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and oil-red O were analyzed. After 4 weeks of GS extract feeding, intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT) was performed. Results The methanol extracts of GS exerted significant anti-obesity effects in HFD + GS group. They decreased body weight gain, a lower food and energy efficiency ratio, and showed lower serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, very-low density lipoprotein (VLDL)-cholesterol and leptin compared with the HFD group. The decreases of abdominal as well as epididymal fat weight and adipocyte hypertrophy, lipid droplets in liver, and serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) were also observed. The CON + GS group showed an effect of glucose homeostasis compared to the CON group. Conclusions This study shows that GS provide the possibility as a key role in an initial anti-obesity effects feeding with a HFD.