Understanding cancer and its treatment in Thai traditional medicine: An ethnopharmacological-anthropological investigation.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Thai traditional medicine (TTM) is widely practiced in Thailand and continues to gain importance in cancer management, but little is known about the TTM practitioners' emic concepts and practice.

Aim Of The Study: With this study we firstly aim to document the practice of cancer treatment and prevention by TTM practitioners and, secondly, to evaluate how such traditional concepts and practices are correlated with biomedical ones. This in turn can form the basis for developing novel strategies for designing pharmacological experiments and longer term strategies to develop TTM practice.

The Effects of Thai Herbal Ha-Rak Formula on COX Isoform Expression in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells Induced by IL-1.

Objective: To investigate the modulated effects of HRF on cyclooxygenase isoform expression and its activity, using the human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) model induced by interleukin-1 beta (IL-1).

Methods: Cells were treated with indomethacin (positive control), HRF, and its components at various concentrations prior to treatment with IL-1 at 24 h. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay.

Metabolomics and Integrative Omics for the Development of Thai Traditional Medicine.

In recent years, interest in studies of traditional medicine in Asian and African countries has gradually increased due to its potential to complement modern medicine. In this review, we provide an overview of Thai traditional medicine (TTM) current development, and ongoing research activities of TTM related to metabolomics. This review will also focus on three important elements of systems biology analysis of TTM including analytical techniques, statistical approaches and bioinformatics tools for handling and analyzing untargeted metabolomics data.

The anatomical study of the major signal points of the court-type Thai traditional massage on legs and their effects on blood flow and skin temperature.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between major signal points (MaSPs) of the lower extremities used in court-type Thai traditional massage (CTTM) and the corresponding underlying anatomical structures, as well as to determine the short-term changes in blood flow and skin temperature of volunteers experiencing CTTM.

Methods: MaSPs were identified and marked on cadavers before acrylic color was injected. The underlying structures marked with acrylic colors were observed and the anatomical structures were determined.

Vasculoprotective and vasodilatation effects of herbal formula (Sahatsatara) and piperine in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Background: The herbal formula (Sahatsatara, STF), the Thai traditional poly-herbal recipe, has been used for treatment of muscle pain, anti-flatulence and numbness on hands and feet, with the caution when used in hypertensive patients. However, there is no scientific evidence to prove its effects on cardiovascular system. Piperine is the proposed major active compound in STF.