Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease, mainly causing respiratory symptoms. However, a few patients may also have neurological symptoms. Herein, we report a case of COVID-19 infection complicated with Bell’s palsy.Case presentation: A 65-year-old woman was admitted due to left facial drooping. Physical examination showed left peripheral facial paralysis. Brain MRI showed no abnormality. However, the chest CT revealed the ground-glass shadows in the right lower lung. The real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA were positive through throat swabs, while the common influenza virus antigens were tested negative. The symptoms of left facial paralysis relieved after antiviral treatment. She patient was discharged in the context of 3 consecutively negative RT-PCR test results for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and complete absorption of the right lung lesions. Conclusion: This case suggests that COVID-19 may be presented with Bell’s palsy and may be a potential cause of facial paralysis.

An HPLC method was developed and validated to compare the chemical profiles and tyrosinase inhibitors in the woods, twigs, roots, and leaves of Artocarpus heterophyllus . Five active tyrosinase inhibitors including dihydromorin, steppogenin, norartocarpetin, artocarpanone, and artocarpesin were used as marker compounds in this HPLC method. It was discovered that the chemical profiles of A. heterophyllus twigs and woods are quite different. Systematic chromatographic methods were further applied to purify the chemicals in the twigs of A. heterophyllus. Four new phenolic compounds, including one isoprenylated 2-arylbenzofuran derivative, artoheterophyllin A (1), and three isoprenylated flavonoids, artoheterophyllin B (2), artoheterophyllin C (3), and artoheterophyllin D (4), together with 16 known compounds, were isolated from the ethanol extract of the twigs of A. heterophyllus. The structures of compounds 1-4 were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis. However, the four new compounds did not show significant inhibitory activities against mushroom tyrosinase compared to kojic acid. It was found that similar compounds, such as norartocarpetin and artocarpesin in the twigs and woods of A. heterophyllus, contributed to their tyrosinase inhibitory activity.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of Toona sinensis Roemor extracts on antioxidative activities, brain morphological changes and cognitive ability. In an in vitro study, the antioxidant capacities of water extracts from Toona sinensis Roemor leaf (TSL), root (TSR) and bark (TSB) were evaluated by an a,a-diphenyl-b-pricryl-hydrazyl radical-scavenging test. The results showed that the scavenging activities of all Toona sinensis Roemor extracts were over 80 % at a concentration of 0·625 mg/ml. In an in vivo study, 3-month-old male senescence-accelerated-prone 8 mice were used as the tested subjects and fed four different diets: casein diet or casein diet supplemented with 1 % TSL, TSR or TSB extract for 12 weeks. The results showed that the mice supplemented with Toona sinensis Roemor extracts demonstrated significantly less amyloid b-protein deposition and lower levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances than the control group. All Toona sinensis Roemor diet groups also showed better active shuttle avoidance responses, and higher superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities, than the control group. It can thus be concluded that supplementation with either TSL, TSR or TSB extract could not only reduce the incidence of ß-amyloid plaques, but also improve learning and memory ability in senescence-accelerated-prone 8 mice. This might be due to the beneficial effects of Toona sinensis Roemor extracts on promoting the antioxidative defence system. Free radical-mediated reactions and reactive oxygen species have been proposed to be the major contributors to the pathological processes of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Alzheimer's disease is accompanied by cognitive impairment as well as involving the pathological build-up of extracellular, vascular and parenchymal deposits of a 40 -42-amino peptide, amyloid b-protein. It has been demonstrated that oxidative damage increased both in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (Friedlich & Butcher, 1994;Smith et al. 1997;Montine et al. 1999) and in b-amyloid plaque-forming transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease Pappolla et al. 1998;Smith et al. 1998), suggesting that an elevated level of amyloid b-protein is sufficient to stimulate oxidative damage. In an in vitro study, a direct application amyloid b-protein to neuronal cells increased the production of H 2 O 2 (Behl et al. 1994), leading to amyloid b-protein neurotoxicity, which could be prevented by the use of antioxidants (Behl et al. 1992;Goodman et al. 1994).The development of rodent models of Alzheimer's disease will elucidate some important aspects of the aetiology of the disease and the development of therapeutic methods. In a murine model of accelerated senescence (senescence-accelerated mouse), severe senile amyloidosis is one of the most characteristic age-associated disorders (Higuchi et al. 2004). Ohta et al. (1989) and Flood & Morley (1993) have reported that the senescence-accelerated-prone 8 (SAM...

SummaryThe significant antihypercholesterolemic effect of the un digested high molecular fraction (HMF) of soybean protein is known in rats, but such an effect has not been shown in humans. The present two experiments were designed to elucidate it in humans. Subjects were female university students who had relatively high serum cholesterol levels for their age. In Experiment 1, subjects took 8% of their total energy from casein, soybean protein isolate (SPI), or HMF daily for 14 days. Five basic menus and snacks were cycled. Energy intakes and daily activities were kept constant and body weight was maintained. The HMF group showed decreased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) as compared to other groups. In Experiment 2, subjects took 4% of total energy from casein or HMF daily for a menstruation period . Five basic menus and snacks which contained two egg yolks (about 500 mg choles terol) were cycled. Energy intakes and daily activities were kept constant and body weight was maintained. A decrease in LDL-C and an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were observed in the HMF group as compared to the casein group. Fecal acidic steroid excretion was greater in the HMF group than in the casein group (p< 0.05). The results confirmed that HMF increases fecal steroid excretion and reduces serum cholesterol levels in humans.