Phyllanthus urinaria extract attenuates acetaminophen induced hepatotoxicity: involvement of cytochrome P450 CYP2E1.

Acetaminophen is a commonly used drug for the treatment of patients with common cold and influenza. However, an overdose of acetaminophen may be fatal. In this study we investigated whether mice, administered intraperitoneally with a lethal dose of acetaminophen, when followed by oral administration of Phyllanthus urinaria extract, may be prevented from death.

The preparation of 2,6-disubstituted pyridinyl phosphine oxides as novel anti-cancer agents.

A series of 2,6-dimethoxylpyridinyl phosphine oxides have been synthesized and examined for their antitumor activity. 2,6-Dimethoxy-3-phenyl-4-diphenylphosphinoylpyridine 2 has been employed as the lead compound for this study. We found out that the presence of phosphine oxide on the 2,6-dimethoxylpyridine ring is important for the antitumor activity; the presence of bromine on this core leads to a further enhancement of its antitumor activity.

Non-invasive serological detection of Helicobacter pylori antigens in adult Hong Kong Chinese non-ulcer dyspepsia patients.

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the accuracy of the serology test kit (Signify H. pylori test), an office-based serological test and to compare relative performances with endoscopy, including biopsy urease tests (Clotest), histology, and culture when applied to dyspeptic adult patients in Hong Kong Chinese.

Methods: Prospective clinical trial was conducted at the Alice Ho Miu ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH) outpatient endoscopy center from June to December 2004 and included adult Chinese patients who attended the endoscopy center.

Corticosteroids are not present in a traditional Chinese medicine formulation for atopic dermatitis in children.

Introduction: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used as an alternative in treating children with atopic dermatitis (AD) but its efficacy and potential side effects are debatable. We recently used a TCM capsule (PentaHerbs) on 9 children and observed significant reductions in clinical scores of disease severity. However, there have been concerns that the therapeutic effects of many forms of TCM are due to the presence of corticosteroids.