Orthosiphon stamineus Benth. ( Orthosiphon Grandiflorus Bold. or Clerodendranthus spicatus Thunb.) is an Indonesian medicinal herb traditionally used for diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and kidney stones. Despite the importance of this last application, there are very few reports on it. Diuretic action is an important factor in kidney stone treatment, as an increase in the volume of fluid flowing through the kidney will help to dissolve the stones, assist their passing to avoid further retention, and flush out the deposits. Among the diverse roles of adenosine A (1) receptor antagonists in renal protection, many studies have shown that they can induce diuresis and sodium excretion. A bioassay-guided fractionation of a methanol-water extract of Orthosiphon stamineus leaves using the adenosine A (1) receptor binding assay resulted in the isolation of seven methoxy flavonoids as active ligands with K(i) values in the micromolar range. The Hill slope values are not significantly different from unity (within 0.9 - 1.4), which indicates the antagonist effect to A (1)-R. The results of this study thus provide a scientific foundation for the traditional use ofOrthosiphon stamineus in kidney stone treatment, as the affinity of the active compounds isolated from it as adenosine A (1) receptor ligands allows them to be associated with diuretic activity, which is one possible treatment for renal lithiasis.

No abstract

There is a considerable discrepancy between the number of identified occupational-related bladder cancer cases and the estimated numbers particularly in emerging nations or less developed countries where suitable approaches are less or even not known. Thus, within a project of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centres in Occupational Health, a questionnaire of the Dortmund group, applied in different studies, was translated into more than 30 languages (Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Korean, Latvian, Malay, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese/Brazilian, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Spanish, Spanish/Mexican, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese). The bipartite questionnaire asks for relevant medical information in the physician's part and for the occupational history since leaving school in the patient's part. Furthermore, this questionnaire is asking for intensity and frequency of certain occupational and non-occupational risk factors. The literature regarding occupations like painter, hairdresser or miner and exposures like carcinogenic aromatic amines, azo dyes, or combustion products is highlighted. The questionnaire is available on www.ifado.de/BladderCancerDoc.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of the leading cause of death in the world that represents an important public health problem. Oxygenated water is water added with high concentration of oxygen such that the oxygen concentration is higher than normal water. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of oxygenated water consumption on the alteration of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL1-β, and IL6) and antioxidant capacity of COPD patients. Sixteen COPD patients were allowed to drink 385 mL oxygenated water two times a day for 21 days. The alteration of proinflammatory cytokines and antioxidant capacity are measured by comparing plasma concentration before and after intervention. The results suggest that oxygenated water consumption significantly reduce proinflammatory cytokines plasma and IL6) at 5% significance level with 81.25% of respondents having lower TNF-α, 75% of respondents with lower IL-1β, and 62.25% of respondents having lower the IL-6 in plasma concentration after 21 days intervention. There were 43.75% of respondents with decreased antioxidant capacity concentration. However, it was not significant at the 5% level significance. Decrease in antioxidant capacity was probably a resulted from poordiet and drugs consumption during the intervention period.

Exercise requires more oxygen input and cannot be fully obtained through breathing. The body has a homeostatic system, when more ATP is needed, the more oxygen is required by the body. Limited supply of oxygen such as those happens in athlete's body automatically switches the respiration from aerobic into anaerobic. This situation results in building up of lactic acid which in turn lowers the energy for cellular metabolism as well asenergy for exercise. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of short-term and long-term drinking of oxygenated water on lactic acid and energy expenditure (EE) in exercise performance; Cluster of Differentiation-4 (CD4), CD8, CD56, Interleukin-6 (IL-6) contents; and level of malonaldehyde. During short-term intervention, 12 male student volunteers drank oxygenated (50, 80 and 130 ppm) water and normal mineral water, 15 minutes before treadmill and after treadmill (10 Kmh). The lactic acid concentration was measured before and after treadmill, and 5 minutes after the reconsumption of the oxygenated water. During long-term intervention, 17 male student volunteers drank oxygenated (100 ppm) water twice a day for 21 days. The blood plasma and lymphocyte sampled before and after intervention were analyzed for the same parameters. The results showed that oxygenated water had no effect on lactic acid accumulations and EE. Similarlyt he long-term study showed that oxygenated water did not affect CD4 and CD8, had no harmful effect on IL-6 and malonaldehyde, yet it significantly increased the CD56 content.