Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to examine the safety, pharmacokinetics and effects of Epimedium prenylflavonoids, on bone specific alkaline phosphatase and the osteoclast adaptor protein TRAF6 in post-menopausal women.

Background: Fragility fractures due to menopausal osteoporosis are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Osteoporotic medications have substantial side effects that limit long term use.

Hypotheses: Ingestion of a purified extract of Epimedium spp.

Computer modelling of heat strain responses of exercising personnel in tropical climate.

Physiologically based thermoregulatory models are useful for deriving predictions of heat strain for pragmatic applications such as planning of continuous exercise/work-rest protocols. The SCENARIO model is an example of a thermoregulatory model that predicts heat strain including body core temperature (Tc) from individual characteristics, physical activity, clothing properties and environmental conditions. This paper presents work to optimize and enhance the SCENARIO model for prediction of Tc during high intensity load carriage tasks under predominantly tropical climate conditions.

COVID-19, aftermath, impacts, and hospitality firms: An international perspective.

Drawing on the theory of resilience, and on an international sample of 45 predominantly small hospitality businesses, this exploratory study extends knowledge about the key concerns, ways of coping, and the changes and adjustments undertaken by these firms' owners and managers during the COVID-19 outbreak. The various emergent relationships between the findings and the considered conceptual underpinnings of the literature on resilience, revealed nine theoretical dimensions. These dimensions critically illuminate and extend understanding concerning the actions and alternatives owners-managers resorted to when confronted with an extreme context.

Pharmacokinetics of Prenylflavonoids following Oral Ingestion of Standardized Epimedium Extract in Humans.

Leaves of the plant are traditionally consumed for bone health and other indications. The aim of this study was to establish the safety and pharmacokinetics of the metabolites of prenylflavonoids (icariin, icariside I, icariside II, icaritin, and desmethylicaritin) following single doses of a defined prenylflavonoid extract in humans. A single oral dose of 370, 740, or 1110 mg of a standardized prenylflavonoid extract was administered to 30 healthy male subjects in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Family Businesses and Adaptation: A Dynamic Capabilities Approach.

The main objective of this research was to propose a framework centred on the dynamic capabilities approach, and to be applied in the context of family businesses' adaption to their changing business environment. Data were gathered through interviews with ten FBs operating in Western Australia. Based on the findings, the clusters of activities, sensing, seizing, and transforming emerged as key factors for firms' adaptation, and were reinforced by firms' open culture, signature processes, idiosyncratic knowledge, and valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable attributes.

Adjunctive use of celecoxib with anti-tuberculosis drugs: evaluation in a whole-blood bactericidal activity model.

COX-2 inhibition may be of benefit in the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) through a number of pathways including efflux pump inhibition (increasing intracellular TB drug levels) and diverse effects on inflammation and the immune response. We investigated celecoxib (a COX-2 inhibitor) alone and with standard anti-tuberculosis drugs in the whole-blood bactericidal activity (WBA) model. Healthy volunteers took a single dose of celecoxib (400 mg), followed (after 1 week) by a single dose of either rifampicin (10 mg/kg) or pyrazinamide (25 mg/kg), followed (after 2 or 7 days respectively) by the same anti-tuberculosis drug with celecoxib.

Vitamin E Isoform γ-Tocotrienol Downregulates House Dust Mite-Induced Asthma.

Inflammation and oxidative damage contribute to the pathogenesis of asthma. Although corticosteroid is the first-line treatment for asthma, a subset of patients is steroid resistant, and chronic steroid use causes side effects. Because vitamin E isoform γ-tocotrienol possesses both antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, we sought to determine protective effects of γ-tocotrienol in a house dust mite (HDM) experimental asthma model.

A prospective study on the use of teledermatology in psychiatric patients with chronic skin diseases.

Background: To compare the use of live interactive teledermatology versus conventional face-to-face consultation in long-term, institutionalised psychiatric patients with chronic skin diseases.

Methods: All institutionalised psychiatric patients at the Institute of Mental Health with follow-up appointments at the National Skin Centre were assessed for eligibility and invited to participate. Recruited patients were first seen by a dermatologist via videoconferencing, and then by another dermatologist in person, within 1 week.

Prevalence of Dementia in People Aged 60 Years and Above: Results from the WiSE Study.

Background: The challenge of an aging population with its expected attendant problem of an increase in the number of people with dementia is a growing concern across the world.

Objective: The aims of this study were to establish the prevalence and risk factors of dementia in Singapore among the elderly resident population (aged 60 years and above).

Methods: The WiSE study was a comprehensive single phase, cross-sectional, epidemiological survey that adapted the 10/66 protocol to establish the 10/66 and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders -fourth edition (DSM-IV) diagnosis of dementia.

First presentation psychosis among the elderly in Singapore.

Introduction: In tandem with our ageing population, it is observed there is a growing trend of elderly patients presenting for the first time with psychotic symptoms. Clinical experience suggests differences in the phenomenology of late-onset psychosis in our Asian context compared to studies done in the West. This study aimed to analyse the characteristics and psychopathology of first presentation psychosis in our local elderly and to determine the treatment outcome over a 12-month period.

Reducing antipsychotic polypharmacy among psychogeriatric and adult patients with chronic schizophrenia.

Introduction: At the Institute of Mental Health/Woodbridge Hospital, 55% of the long-stay patients are on more than two antipsychotics for treatment of chronic schizophrenia. Our aim was to reduce antipsychotic polypharmacy (APP) among chronic schizophrenia inpatients at the long-term wards at the Institute of Mental Health, Singapore from 2006 to 2008.

Methodology: Using Clinical Practice Improvement Program (CPIP) methodology and using a Plan, Do, Study, Act approach, we surveyed patients, physicians, and nurses for responses regarding reducing the amount of APP for psychiatric patients.