Incense burning is a very popular activity in daily life among many parts all over the world. A growing body of both epidemiological and experimental evidences has reported the negative effects of incense use on human well-being, posing a potential threat at public significance. This work is a comprehensive review that covers the latest findings regarding the adverse impact of incense smoke on our health, providing a panoramic visualization ranging from mechanisms to implications. The toxicities of incense smoke come directly from its harmful constituents and deposition capacity in the body. Besides, reactive oxygen species-driven oxidative stress and associated inflammation seem to be plausible underlying mechanisms, eliciting various unfavorable responses. Although our current knowledge remains many gaps, this issue still has some important implications.

In this study, the potential of Carissa carandas Linn. as a natural anti-aging, antioxidant, and skin whitening agent was studied. Various parts of C. carandas, including fruit, leaf, seed, and pulp were sequentially extracted by maceration using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol, respectively. High-performance liquid chromatography, Folin–Ciocalteu, and Dowd method were used to investigate their chemical compositions. The inhibitory activities of oxidation process, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), elastase, hyaluronidase, and tyrosinase were analyzed. Cytotoxicity was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay in a human epidermal keratinocyte line (HaCaT). The results exhibited that ethyl acetate could extract the most ursolic acid from C. carandas, while ethanol could extract the most phenolics and flavonoids. The leaf extract had the highest content of ursolic acid, phenolics, and flavonoids. The leaf extracted with ethyl acetate (AL) had the highest ursolic acid content (411.8 mg/g extract) and inhibited MMP-1, NF-kappa B, and tyrosinase activity the most. Ursolic acid has been proposed as a key component in these biological activities. Although several C. carandas extracts are beneficial to human skin, AL has been proposed for use in cosmetics and cosmeceuticals due to its superior anti-wrinkle, anti-inflammation, and whitening properties.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is still a recalcitrant musculoskeletal disease on account of its complex biochemistry and mechanical stimulations. Apart from stimulation by external mechanical forces, the regulation of intracellular mechanics in chondrocytes has also been linked to OA development. Recently, visfatin has received significant attention because of the clinical finding of the positive correlation between its serum/synovial level and OA progression. However, the precise mechanism involved is still unclear. This study determined the effect of visfatin on intracellular mechanics and catabolism in human primary chondrocytes isolated from patients. The intracellular stiffness of chondrocytes was analyzed by the particle-tracking microrheology method. It was shown that visfatin damages the microtubule and microfilament networks to influence intracellular mechanics to decrease the intracellular elasticity and viscosity via glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) inactivation induced by p38 signaling. Further, microtubule network destruction in human primary chondrocytes is predominantly responsible for the catabolic effect of visfatin on the cyclooxygenase 2 upregulation. The present study shows a more comprehensive interpretation of OA development induced by visfatin through biochemical and biophysical perspectives. Finally, the role of GSK3β inactivation, and subsequent regulation of intracellular mechanics, might be considered as theranostic targets for future drug development for OA.

Taiwan is expected to become a superaged society by 2026. Community pharmacies have recently joined Taiwan’s primary care system; they have great potential to provide professional healthcare services. This study examined whether the services provided by community pharmacists enhance medication adherence, enable the identification and solution of drug therapy problems, and are accepted by community residents. The Department of Public Health, Taoyuan City, collaborated with the Taoyuan Pharmacist Association over 11 months in 2018 in enabling pharmacists to dispense prescriptions and provide medication adherence consultations, cognitive services, and home and institutional medical care services. This study designed four satisfaction questionnaires to assess the feasibility and performance of these services. Regarding the services related to medication knowledge and adherence, 92.10% of the patients reported overall satisfaction, and all understanding and ability scores were improved in more than 95% of patients. The number of patients highly cooperative regarding their medication had risen from 14 to 234 after the intervention, and the number with low medication adherence had dropped from 533 to 33. More than 90% of respondents indicated that the institutional medical care services had significantly improved their medication knowledge and behaviors. The feasibility of the incorporation of integrated the public health services model into age-friendly pharmacies was confirmed by this study.

Oroxylin-A (OroA), a flavonoid isolated from Scutellariae baicalensis, alleviates cardiovascular dysfunction. Several procedures for synthesizing OroA have been developed but show low production yield and regioselectivity. We synthesized OroA from baicalin using a one-pot reaction to increase its overall yield. We also determined the chemical properties and mechanism of action of the synthesized OroA and OroA phosphate diethyl ester (OroA-OET) in vascular function. The induction of vascular reactivity by OroA and OroA-OET was evaluated using blood vessel myography and biochemical analysis to assess nitric oxide synthase-mediated nitric oxide production in mouse aortic arteries. OroA and OroA-OET (0.1-30 μM) induced sustained vasorelaxation, which was partly mediated by the endothelium in isolated normal arteries pre-contracted with phenylephrine. OroA and OroA-OET significantly attenuated vasoconstrictors-induced contractile responses. Dilation effects were blocked by the non-selective nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N (omega)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester but not by tetraethylammonium or 1H-(1,2,4)oxadiazolo [4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one. Notably, preincubation with OroA and OroA-OET potentiated acetylcholine-induced relaxation and endothelial nitric oxide production in the arteries with the endothelium. OroA and OroA-OET protected against cardiovascular dysfunction. The synthesis and lead compounds used not only improved the yield of OroA from natural sources but also potentially regulated vascular tone.

Recently, due to the advancement of network technology, big data and artificial intelligence, the healthcare industry has undergone many sector-wide changes. Medical care has not only changed from passive and hospital-centric to preventative and personalized, but also from disease-centric to health-centric. Healthcare systems and basic medical research are becoming more intelligent and being implemented in biomedical engineering. This Special Issue on “Clinical Medicine for Healthcare and Sustainability” selected 30 excellent papers from 160 papers presented in IEEE ECBIOS 2019 on the topic of clinical medicine for healthcare and sustainability. Our purpose is to encourage scientists to propose their experiments and theoretical researches to facilitate the scientific prediction and influential assessment of global change and development.