William Street Apothecary

08/07/2025

Rosemary is often an over looked culinary herb

When you inhale rosemary its compounds are absorbed through the lungs and are sent to the brain where they act on your brain chemistry

28/05/2025

A great day for the Physic Garden in St Anne's Gardens Dublin.

18/04/2025

William Street Apothecary will be closed from today until Tuesday 29th April. Have a great Easter

Don't eat all the chocolate eggs in one go!!

24/03/2025

The role of the brain microcirculation in the development of dementia is receiving increasing interest. This is illustrated from different perspectives by two recent studies.

In the first study, UCLA researchers have identified placental growth factor (PlGF) as a potential blood biomarker for early detection of cognitive impairment and dementia. High PlGF levels correlate with increased vascular permeability, suggesting its role in the development of cerebral small vessel disease. This finding could enable earlier identification and intervention for at-risk individuals compared to current MRI-based diagnostics.

Researchers and clinicians typically use MRI scans to track brain blood vessel changes linked to cognitive impairment and dementia, particularly white matter lesions. These scans detect downstream biological markers that appear later in the disease process. However, this blood test could spot earlier changes, potentially identifying at-risk patients sooner and at a lower cost.

“We studied a protein in the blood that is critical in the formation of blood vessels but that also appears to play a role in vascular permeability associated with cognitive decline,” explained researcher Jason Hinman. “Evaluating data from a large group of patients with a range of vascular risk profiles and cognition ranging from unimpaired to mild dementia, we found that plasma levels of this protein, placental growth factor (PlGF), could potentially be used as a biomarker to screen for and monitor cognitive impairment and dementia.”

In the second publication, also from California, a USC-led study has found that mild cognitive impairment is linked to blood vessel dysfunction in the brain’s temporal lobes, regardless of Alzheimer-related changes. This suggests that vascular issues may serve as an early biomarker for dementia and could be a promising target for treatment. The study highlights the importance of focusing on vascular health in diagnosing and potentially treating memory loss.

This vascular issue was observed in individuals both with and without amyloid buildup in the brain, indicating that microvascular dysfunction could serve as an early biomarker for dementia and a potential target for treatment. The study, conducted by researchers from several universities, was published in the journal Neurology.
“We’re studying the ability of these very small vessels to respond to stimuli and to dilate, and they’re showing dysfunction in people who have memory problems,” said senior author Daniel Nation, a professor of gerontology and medicine at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. “It could implicate blood vessel dysfunction in a very early stage of memory loss. It happened whether or not people had Alzheimer’s-related brain changes. They still had this blood vessel problem if they had memory issues.”

For the study, researchers recruited a sample of 144 older, independently living adults from the community. The volunteers took a neuropsychological assessment, gave blood samples and underwent a brain MRI. During the MRI, volunteers held their breath for 15-second intervals, an exercise designed to dilate the brain’s blood vessels, a natural process called “cerebrovascular reactivity” which regulates oxygen levels in the brain.

Researchers paid special attention to blood vessels supplying the temporal lobes, located on the sides of the head, near the ears. Participants whose blood vessels failed to dilate properly showed signs of cognitive impairment.

“With this approach, we can pinpoint the problem to the blood vessels and their ability to dilate. That’s not the way people usually think about memory impairment in older adults,” Nation said. “There’s an increasing realisation that the main cause of dementia is not actually Alzheimer’s disease, it’s mixed pathology. If you just focus on amyloid, you’re certainly not going to get the full picture. Maybe this technique should be incorporated into our diagnostic approaches.”

“Our findings underscore the need to focus on vascular health as a critical factor in memory decline,” said first author Arunima Kapoor, a graduate student at the University of California, Irvine.

And all I can add is Ginkgo, Ginkgo and more Ginkgo, and also green tea (see research posting to follow in a few days).

For more information see: https://scitechdaily.com/simple-blood-test-to-detect-dementia-before-symptoms-appear/
and
https://scitechdaily.com/usc-study-exposes-hidden-culprit-of-dementia-in-brains-blood-vessels/

13/03/2025

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11/02/2025

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03/02/2025

As well as its impact on restoring metabolic balance, the phytochemical berberine exhibits a range of cardiovascular activities. Its potential for safely treating premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) came under recent scrutiny via a systematic review. The literature was searched using PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), Wanfang, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to October 1, 2022.

Ten RCTs with 896 participants were found and included in several meta-analyses. The daily dose of berberine was 900 mg or higher. Results showed that, compared to antiarrhythmic drugs (AD) alone, berberine combined with AD had a higher effective rate (RR, relative risk = 1.26; 95% CI, confidence interval: 1.12 to 1.42; p = 0.0001), with no significant increase in adverse reactions (RR = 0.93; 95% CI:0.33 to 2.57; p = 0.88). Moreover, berberine alone was as equally effective as AD (RR = 0.91; 95% CI:0.77 to 1.07; p = 0.23), with a much lower incidence of adverse reactions (RR = 0.38; 95% CI:0.15 to 0.97; p = 0.04) and recurrence rate (RR = 0.40; 95% CI:0.18 to 0.88; p = 0.02).

The authors claimed their results suggest that berberine is an effective and safe adjunctive strategy for PVCs. In addition, berberine alone was recommended for patients with PVCs who experienced severe adverse reactions after taking AD.

For more information see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37855412/

12/12/2024

Very interesting.

28/11/2024

Another great use for this herb

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of legal blindness in older people. Genetic predisposition, oxidative damage and chronic inflammation are implicated in the pathophysiology of both the nonexudative (dry) and exudative (wet) forms of the disease. Given its anti-inflammatory properties, a group of ophthalmologists based in the United States decided to examine the association between the use of curcumin (specifically Curcuma-based nutritional supplements, CBNS) and the risk of development or progression of AMD.

This was a retrospective cohort study, with data collection in June 2024. Data were gathered from the aggregated electronic health records research network, TriNetX (Cambridge, Massachusetts). A total of 66,804 patients (mean [standard deviation, SD] age, 64.9 [10.1] years) taking CBNS and 1,809,440 patients (mean [SD] age, 67.0 [9.5] years) not taking CBNS were included in this study.

In terms of prevention, among patients without a history of AMD aged 50 years or older, CBNS use was associated with substantially lower rates of developing nonexudative AMD (Relative Risk, RR, 0.23; p < 0.001), advanced nonexudative AMD or geographic atrophy (GA) (RR, 0.11; p < 0.001), exudative AMD (RR, 0.28; p < 0.001), blindness (RR, 0.46; p < 0.001), or requiring intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy (RR, 0.15; p < 0.001) when compared with matched patients not taking CBNS. Results were consistent among subsets of patients 60 and 70 years or older, respectively.
Among patients with early nonexudative AMD, subsequent instances of CBNS prescription records were associated with lower rates of developing advanced nonexudative AMD or GA (RR, 0.58; p < 0.001) when compared with matched patients with early nonexudative AMD without a CBNS prescription record.

There is a small body of evidence that supports a beneficial role for curcumin in AMD. A small prospective, single centre, nonblinded, randomised clinical trial (RCT) by Allegrini and coworkers suggested that patients with exudative AMD who started treatment required less intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy (median intravitreal injections, 4 vs 7) and had improved visual acuity. In a separate prospective, single centre, nonblinded, RCT presented as an abstract but not published further, Knepper and coworkers used oral curcumin for 2 years in 18 patients with intermediate AMD and found that the total mean drusen volume reduced from 0.0253 mm3 to 0.0220 mm3 with no cases of choroidal neovascularisation or GA after 2 years.

The authors of the current study noted that, although a significant and large reduction in the risk of AMD and its complications was associated with use of CBNS in this study (compared with smaller effects of other vitamins and supplements previously described), confounding factors could account for the associations observed and future prospective trials are needed to validate the magnitude of the benefit conferred.

For example, taking CBNS may be a marker for a healthy user bias that may result in false association of CBNS use with better outcomes. Also, differences in duration, dose, frequency and bioavailability of CBNS could not be standardised.
Nonetheless, these are exciting results that suggest a regular intake of curcumin might largely prevent this significant eye disease.

For more information see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39446346/