Obese and overweight people have a higher risk of both chronic physical illness and mental illness. Obesity is reported to be positively associated with psychiatric disorders, especially in people who seek obesity treatment. At the same time, obesity treatment may be influenced by psychological factors or personality characteristics. This study aimed to understand the prevalence of mental disorders among ethnic Chinese who sought obesity treatment. Subjects were retrospectively recruited from an obesity treatment center in Taiwan. The obesity treatments included bariatric surgery and non-surgery treatment. All subjects underwent a standardized clinical evaluation with two questionnaires and a psychiatric referral when needed. The psychiatric diagnosis was made thorough psychiatric clinic interviews using the SCID. A total of 841 patients were recruited. We compared the difference in psychiatric disorder prevalence between patients with surgical and non-surgical treatment. Of the 841 patients, 42% had at least one psychiatric disorder. Mood disorders, anxiety disorders and eating disorders were the most prevalent categories of psychiatric disorders. Females had more mood disorders and eating disorders than males. The surgical group had more binge-eating disorder, adjustment disorder, and sleep disorders than the non-surgical group. A high prevalence of psychiatric disorders was found among ethnic Chinese seeking obesity treatment. This is consistent with study results in the US and Europe.

Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) is defined as a chronic bladder disorder with suprapubic pain (pelvic pain) and pressure and/or discomfort related to bladder filling accompanied by lower urinary tract symptoms, such as urinary frequency and urgency without urinary tract infection (UTI) lasting for at least 6 weeks. IC/BPS presents significant bladder pain and frequency urgency symptoms with unknown etiology, and it is without a widely accepted standard in diagnosis. Patients’ pathological features through cystoscopy and histologic features of bladder biopsy determine the presence or absence of Hunner lesions. IC/PBS is categorized into Hunner (ulcerative) type IC/BPS (HIC/BPS) or non-Hunner (nonulcerative) type IC/BPS (NHIC/BPS). The pathophysiology of IC/BPS is composed of multiple possible factors, such as chronic inflammation, autoimmune disorders, neurogenic hyperactivity, urothelial defects, abnormal angiogenesis, oxidative stress, and exogenous urine substances, which play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of IC/BPS. Abnormal expressions of several urine and serum specimens, including growth factor, methylhistamine, glycoprotein, chemokine and cytokines, might be useful as biomarkers for IC/BPS diagnosis. Further studies to identify the key molecules in IC/BPS will help to improve the efficacy of treatment and identify biomarkers of the disease. In this review, we discuss the potential medical therapy and assessment of therapeutic outcome with urinary biomarkers for IC/BPS.

13-Acetoxysarcocrassolide (13-AC), a marine cytotoxic product isolated from the alcyonacean coral Lobophytum crassum, exhibited potent antitumor and immunostimulant effects as reported in previous studies. However, the 13-AC antitumor mechanism of action against oral cancer cells remains unclear. The activity of 13-AC against Ca9-22 cancer cells was determined using MTT assay, flow cytometric analysis, immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, and siRNA. 13-AC induced apoptosis in oral cancer cells Ca9-22 through the disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and the stimulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. It increased the expression of apoptosis- and DNA damage-related proteins in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. It exerted potent antitumor effect against oral cancer cells, as demonstrated by the in vivo xenograft animal model. It significantly reduced the tumor volume (55.29%) and tumor weight (90.33%). The pretreatment of Ca9-22 cells with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) inhibited ROS production resulting in the attenuation of the cytotoxic activity of 13-AC. The induction of the Keap1-Nrf2 pathway and the promotion of p62/SQSTM1 were observed in Ca9-22 cells treated with 13-AC. The knockdown of p62 expression by siRNA transfection significantly attenuated the effect of 13-AC on the inhibition of cell viability. Our results indicate that 13-AC exerted its cytotoxic activity through the promotion of ROS generation and the suppression of the antioxidant enzyme activity. The apoptotic effect of 13-AC was found to be mediated through the interruption of the Keap1/Nrf2/p62/SQSTM1 pathway, suggesting its potential future application as an anticancer agent.

Rosa cymosa Tratt is a Chinese herbal remedy that is used in the treatment of diarrhea, burns, rheumatoid arthritis, and hemorrhage. Despite its use in Asian folk medicine, there are limited reports on the biological activity of R. cymosa fruits. This study focused on the investigation of the antitumor effect of the antioxidative ethanolic extract of R. cymosa fruits (RCE) along with its underlying mechanism of action. RCE showed a potent cytotoxic effect against Sup-T1 and Molt-4 lymphoblastic leukemia cells. In the xenograft animal model, the tumor size was significantly reduced to about 59.42% in the RCE-treated group in comparison with the control group. The use of RCE (37.5, 75, or 150 μg/mL) triggered apoptosis by 26.52–83.49%, disrupted mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) by 10.44–58.60%, and promoted calcium release by 1.29-, 1.44-, and 1.71-fold compared with the control group. The extract induced redox oxygen species (ROS) generation through the elimination of Nrf2/Keap1/P62-mediated oxidative stress response. The loss of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) activation by RCE impaired PI3K/Akt/Foxo and Jak/Stat activation pathways, which contributed to tumorigenesis. These multiple targets of R. cymosa against hematologic cancer cells suggested its potential application as an antileukemic dietary supplement.

Many active substances from marine organisms are produced by symbiotic microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and algae. Secondary metabolites from marine actinomycetes exhibited several biological activities and provided interesting drug leads. This study reported the isolation of Lu01-M, a secondary metabolite from the marine actinomycetes Streptomyces sp., with potent anti-proliferative activity against prostate cancers. Lu01-M blocked cell proliferation with IC₅₀ values of 1.03 ± 0.31, 2.12 ± 0.38, 1.27 ± 0.25 μg/mL in human prostate cancer PC3, DU145, and LNCaP cells, respectively. Lu01-M induced cytotoxic activity through multiple mechanisms including cell apoptosis, necroptosis, autophagy, ER stress, and inhibiting colony formation and cell migration. Lu01-M induced cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and DNA damage. However, the activity of autophagy induced survival response in cancer cells. Our findings suggested that Lu01-M holds the potential to be developed as an anti-cancer agent against prostate cancers.