Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali; TA) is a traditional medicinal herb, commonly known as Malaysian ginseng. The root tea has been traditionally applied to treat fevers, aches, sexual dysfunction and other ailments. We evaluated the effects of TA extract supplementation on diurnal core body temperature (BT) and sleep architecture in model mice. Dietary supplementation with TA extract for 4 wk resulted in significantly and moderately reduced BT during the rest and active phases, respectively. A high dose delayed the onset of BT elevation at the start of the active phase, indicating that the effect was dose-dependent. Electroencephalography findings revealed that dietary supplementation with TA extract changed sleep rhythms and delta power during the inactive phase of NREM sleep, indicating improved sleep quality. Our findings suggested that dietary TA extract could be a promising natural aid that alleviates sleep problems via thermoregulation.

Since the recent coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and the lifestyle changes it necessitated, the demand for mental health treatment has skyrocketed, with long wait lists for both psychological and psychiatric care. Over-the-counter supplements and home remedies are increasingly sought. In this study, we screened natural materials and blended supplements from Asia that may improve the mood and mental health of humans by testing cell viability and expression of the proopiomelanocortin gene as a marker of β-endorphin production in rat hypothalamus neuron cells. Among 23 tested samples, 3 samples produced significantly higher cell viability in R-HTH-507 cells than the control treatment. In a real-time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) experiment, 7 samples showed significant β-endorphin synthesis activity. This is the first report that the Asian natural materials Areca catechu, Moringa oleifera, Lignosis rhinocerus, and Aegle marmelos promote β-endorphin synthesis; further investigation will identify the active ingredients in the blended samples. These results suggested that these Asian natural materials have great potential to expand the range of treatments for mental health.

Massey's method is a rating system that provides individual teams or players ranking. It is known that Massey's rating is related to the Katz centrality measure of the networks. Analyzing the node centrality of networks provides useful information on how important a node is. This study investigates a sampling distribution of Massey's rating and provides the test statistics of the null hypothesis of equal rating against the alternatives. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to compare the power of the proposed test and show that the asymptotic distribution of the ratings is well approximated by the normal distributions. Real dataset applications using men's tennis ATP ratings are illustrated.

β-glucan has been shown to be effective for several diseases such as immune regulation and blood pressure suppression. Seaweed contains a β-1,3/1,6-glucan called laminaran. The present commercial source of β-glucan is black yeast; however, a fermentation process using organic carbon substrates makes production unsustainable, whereas macroalgae provide a sustainable alternative with the use of CO2 and seawater as growth substrates. However, bioactivity studies on laminaran are limited. We aimed to evaluate whether laminaran can scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) and attenuate cytotoxicity caused by clinical drugs such as indomethacin (Ind) and dabigatran (Dab). Electron spin resonance assay revealed that laminaran scavenged singlet oxygen (1O2) and superoxide anions (O2•−) directly but did not scavenge hydroxyl radicals (•OH). Mitochondrial ROS detection dye showed that laminaran scavenged mitochondrial O2•− produced upon administration of Ind or Dab. Moreover, significant reductions in •OH and peroxynitrate (ONOO−) levels were observed. Since •OH and ONOO− are generated from O2•− in the cells, laminaran could indirectly suppress the generation of •OH and ONOO− via the removal of O2•−. Both Ind and Dab induce cell injury via ROS production. Laminaran attenuated the cytotoxicity derived from these drugs and may represent a functional food with anti-aging and disease prevention properties.