Spontaneous ultra-weak photon emission in correlation to inflammatory metabolism and oxidative stress in a mouse model of collagen-induced arthritis

The increasing prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis has driven the development of new approaches and technologies for investigating the pathophysiology of this devastating, chronic disease. From the perspective of systems biology, combining comprehensive personal data such as metabolomics profiling with ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) data may...

Systems biology of resilience and optimal health Integrating Chinese and Western medicine perspectives

Western science has been strong in measuring details of biological systems such as gene expression levels and metabolite concentrations, and has generally followed a bottom up approach with regard to explaining biological phenomena. Chinese medicine in contrast has evolved as a top down approach in which body and mind is seen as a whole, a...

Delayed luminescence: An experimental protocol for Chinese herbal medicines

In Chinese medicine, raw herbal materials are used in processed and unprocessed forms aiming to meet the different requirements of clinical practice. To assure the chemical quality and therapeutic properties of the herbs, fast and integrated systematic assays are required. So far, such assays have not been established. Delayed luminescence (DL)...

Relationships between cortisol, optimism, and perseverance measured in two military settings

Optimism and perseverance are 2 important assets for soldiers to be able to perform competently in high-risk environments and to complete complex and stressful tasks. Traditionally, optimism is measured using questionnaires and most frequently in a retrospective manner, for example, after a mission is completed. As such, ability to persevere in...

A Chinese literature overview on ultra-weak photon emission as promising technology for studying system-based diagnostics

To present the possibilities pertaining to linking ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) with Chinese medicine-based diagnostics principles, we conducted a review of Chinese literature regarding UPE with respect to a systems view of diagnostics. Data were summarized from human clinical studies and animal models published from 1979 through 1998. The...

Predictors of diet-induced weight loss in overweight adults with type 2 diabetes

Aims A very low calorie diet improves the metabolic regulation of obesity related type 2 diabetes, but not for all patients, which leads to frustration in patients and professionals alike. The aim of this study was to develop a prediction model of diet-induced weight loss in type 2 diabetes. Methods 192 patients with type 2 diabetes and BMI>27...

Differences between serum polar lipid profiles of male and female rheumatoid arthritis patients in response to glucocorticoid treatment

Objective As there are pharmacological differences between males and females, and glucocorticoid (GC) treatment is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality rate in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, it is important to study serum polar lipid profiles of male and female patients in response to GC therapy. Gender differences may require...

Optimizing growth conditions for digoxin production in Digitalis lanata Ehrh

Objective: Digoxin is a therapeutic cardenolide widely used to treat various heart conditions such as atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation and heart failure in both Western as well as Chinese medicine. Digoxin is extracted from cultivated Digitalis lanata Ehrh. plants, known as Mao Hua Yang Di Huang in Chinese medicine. This manuscript presents...

Relationships between Cortisol, Optimism and Perseverance

Collagen Induced Arthritis in DBA/1J Mice Associates with Oxylipin Changes in Plasma

Oxylipins play important roles in various biological processes and are considered as mediators of inflammation for a wide range of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The purpose of this research was to study differences in oxylipin levels between a widely used collagen induced arthritis (CIA) mice model and healthy control (Ctrl) mice....

Phenotypic flexibility as a measure of health the optimal nutritional stress response test

Nutrition research is struggling to demonstrate beneficial health effects, since nutritional effects are often subtle and long term. Health has been redefined as the ability of our body to cope with daily-life challenges. Physiology acts as a well-orchestrated machinery to adapt to the continuously changing environment. We term this adaptive...

The hypothalamic- pituitary -adrenal -leptin axis and metabolic health: A systems approach to resilience, robustness and control

Glucocorticoids contribute to obesity and metabolic syndrome; however, the mechanisms are unclear, and prognostic measures are unavailable. A systems level understanding of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) -leptin axis may reveal novel insights. Eighteen obese premenopausal women provided blood samples every 10 min over 24 h, which were...

Cortisol as a possible predictor for optimism and persistence in military training settings (abstract)

Looking back into the future: 30 years of metabolomics at TNO

Metabolites have played an essential role in our understanding of life, health, and disease for thousands of years. This domain became much more important after the concept of metabolism was discovered. In the 1950s, mass spectrometry was coupled to chromatography and made the technique more application-oriented and allowed the development of...

Systems biology-based diagnostic principles as pillars of the bridge between Chinese and Western medicine

Innovative systems approaches to develop medicine and health care are emerging from the integration of Chinese and Western medicine strategies, philosophies and practices. The two medical systems are highly complementary as the reductionist aspects of Western medicine are favourable in acute disease situations and the holistic aspects of Chinese...

Systems biology guided by Chinese medicine reveals new markers for sub-typing rheumatoid arthritis patients

BACKGROUND: Complex chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis have become a major challenge in medicine and for the pharmaceutical industry. New impulses for drug development are needed. OBJECTIVE: A systems biology approach is explored to find subtypes of rheumatoid arthritis patients enabling a development towards more personalized...