632 results about "Chemoradiotherapy" patented technology

A method for treating chemo therapy or radiation therapy side effects in a mammal undergoing chemotherapy and / or radiation therapy, the method comprising a step of administering to the mammal a therapeutically effective amount of a RAR antagonist or RAR inverse agonist which binds to receptors of the RARα, RARβ and RARγ subtypes is disclosed. Such side effects include chemoradiotherapy-induced alopecia, chemoradiotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia, chemoradiotherapy-induced leucopenia and chemoradiotherapy-induced neutropenia.

Camptothecin-based compounds are useful for treating a neoplasm in mammalian subjects by administering such compound to the subjects in combination with radiotherapy, i.e., the treatment of tumors with radioactive substances or radiation from a source external to the subject. Camptothecin-based compounds are modified by positioning at least one electron-affinic group around the camptothecin structure to enhance their value in combination with radiotherapy. New Camptothecin-based compounds are disclosed that are useful for treating cancer by administering the novel compounds alone or in combination with radiotherapy.

The invention discloses application of dihydromyricetin in preparing a medicine for preventing and treating untoward reactions in radiotherapy and chemotherapy of tumor. In particular, the application is to prepare medicines for preventing and treating untoward reactions in radiotherapy and chemotherapy of tumor, preventing and treating arrest of bone marrow and baldness, resisting mutation, preventing and treating the generation of secondary tumors, preventing and treating tumor transfer, and preventing and treating breast cancer, cervical carcinoma, intestinal cancer and the like. The invention creatively finds that the dihydromyricetin has the effects of removing free radicals, inhibiting reaction chains of the free radicals, resisting the mutation, inhibiting the expression of the tumor gene, causing the death of tumor cells, preventing and treating the tumor generation, preventing and treating the secondary tumors and the transfer of the secondary tumors and preventing and treating infection. Therefore, as the medicine for preventing and treating untoward reactions in radiotherapy and chemotherapy of tumor, the dihydromyricetin can inhibit and alleviate chemical damage, prevent and treat damage of a mutagen and further prevent gene mutation or the secondary tumors; and by combination with the radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the effects of preventing untoward reactions in radiotherapy and chemotherapy of tumor and preventing generation of tumors are achieved.

The present invention relates to a Chinese medicine Gongbugao ointment containing no any hormone without toxic side effect. The prescription of said Chinese medicine ointment is formed from 63 Chinese medicinal materials of american ginseng, Chinese angelica root, Chinese yam, salvia root, astragalus root, ganoderma coix seed, pipe-fish, notoginseng root, sea horse and others. Said invented ointment is a pure Chinese medicine preparation, has no any hormones and has no any toxic side effect, and possesses stable and long-period curing and health-care effect, and has internal regulation action, and can quickly relieve, reduce and eliminate toxic side effect due to chemotherapy, so that it is a good oral tonic product for all people.

The invention discloses a CIK cell, as well as a preparation method and a cell preparation thereof. The method for preparing the CIK cell comprises the following steps: placing a separated mononuclear cell in a culture fluid containing phytohemagglutinin; transplanting the mononuclear cell into a culture flask enveloped by antiCD3 monoclonal antibody and antiCD28 monoclonal antibody after the cell is cultured for 24 to 72 hours; and adding a culture fluid containing IL-1alpha and IL-2 into the culture flask to keep on culturing for 5 to 15 days, and separating the cells into different flasks to be cultured every 2 to 3 days. The CIK cell prepared by the method has the characteristics of obvious improved cell proliferation, great increase of CD8 cell proportion, wide antineoplastic spectrum and strengthened antineoplastic activity. The CIK cell and the cell preparation can effectively prevent the metastasis and the recrudescence for of postoperative patients with tumor, can be combined with chemicotherapy to effectively reduce toxic and side effects of the chemicotherapy, strengthens the survivability tolerance of the patients to improve healing efficacy, and can obviously prolong lifecycle to of end-stage patients so as to improve the life living quality.

Disclosed is an anti-cancer composition slow release injection which comprises slow release microspheres and dissolvent, the slow release microspheres comprise slow release auxiliary materials, Epothilone derivatives, glyoxaline piperazidine, Topo enzyme inhibitor combination selected from SN-38, CPT-11, HCPT, Topotecan, Irinotecan, Etoposide, Teniposide, Amrubicin, Valtaxin, XK469, AD312, ICRF-187 or ICRF-193, the dissolvent being specific dissolvent containing suspension adjuvant, the slow release auxiliary materials are selected from polylactic acid and its copolymer, polyethylene / polylactic acid, glycollic acid copolymer, aliphatic acid and sebacylic acid copolymer, the viscosity of the suspension adjuvant is 80-3000cp (at 20-30 deg C), and is selected from carboxymethylcellulose, The slow release microspheres can also be prepared into slow release implanting agent, for injection or placement in or around tumor with a release period of about 40 days. The slow release injection and slow release implanting agent can be used independently for effectively suppressing tumor accretion, or used in combination with non-operative methods such as chemotherapy and / or radiotheraphy with the function of improving their treatment effects.

The invention provides a frozen stock solution for CIK (cytokine-induced killer) cells and a frozen preservation method. According to the frozen stock solution, serum is replaced with autologous plasma of a user, so that the risk of an infectious disease in exogenous serum is avoided. The adopted reagent is suitable for a simple programmed cooling method of a programmed cooling box. The reagent provided by the invention contains dimethyl sulfoxide, autologous plasma and a culture medium at the ratio of 1 to 4 to 5. The frozen stock solution has the characteristics of simple method and high cell resuscitation activity, and is suitable for storage of immune cells by patients at an earlier stage of chemoradiotherapy or healthy people in a manner of the CIK cells for later CIK cell therapy.

The present invention relates to a double-stranded RNA and its application for inhibiting mammalian tumor cell. Said invention adopts the RNA interference technique to introduce the externally-synthetic double-stranded RNA into mammalian tumor cell by means of combination of non-viral carrier and / or viral carrier, and can inhibit the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor so as to change NSCLC cell biological character and raise the sensitivity of mammalian tumor cell to radiation therapy and chemical therapy. Said invented double-strand RNA can be used for preparing antitumor biological preparation and antitumor medicine to make direct injection in tumor body in travenous medication for effectively inhibiting tumor growth.

The present invention provides an anticancer auxiliary medicine using 20(S)-protopanaxadiol as effective component and its application. Said medicine possesses the action of raising therapeutic effect of anticancer medicine, reducing toxicity of anticancer medicine, preventing and curing leukopenia due to radiotherapy and chemotherapy and raising immunity of human body, and can be used for auxiliary therapy of carcinoma.

The invention relates to a glycopeptide mixture product and application thereof in preparing a medicament for improving the nutritional status and immunologic function of tumor patients receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy and health food or food. A glycopeptide mixture is prepared by mixing marine oligopeptide and bioactive polysaccharide according to certain proportion. The marine oligopeptide is a group of oligopeptide mixtures with low molecular weights which are produced by taking fish skin, fish meat or fish bone of marine fishes as main raw materials through enzymatic hydrolysis, can be dissolved by trichloroacetic acid, and have relative molecular mass less than 1,000, and has the characteristics of easy absorption, quick absorption, low viscosity, good water solubility, and the like. The bioactive polysaccharide comprises lentinan, ganoderan, grifola polysaccharide, panaxan, lycium bararum polysaccharide and algal polysaccharide. Animal experiments and clinical observation prove that the glycopeptide mixture prepared by mixing the marine oligopeptide and the bioactive polysaccharide has the effect of improving the immunologic function of tumor-bearing mice and the nutritional status of the tumor patients receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

An antitumor agent for chemoradiotherapy of rectal cancer comprising a combination of TS-1 (a combination drug of tegafur, gimeracil, and oteracil potassium at a 1:0.4:1 molar ratio) and CPT-11 (irinotecan hydrochloride). The antitumor agent of the invention can achieve marked tumor volume reduction without causing major side effects, especially by coadministering it with preoperative radiation therapy. The volume of even large tumors that are refractory to surgical resection can be reduced by coadministering the antitumor agent of the invention with preoperative radiation therapy, making the subsequent surgical resection of the tumor easier.

The invention relates to an anti-cancer sustained release injection containing epothilone derivative, consisting of sustained microspheres and menstruum. The sustained microspheres comprise anti-cancer drugs selected from taxane, alkylating agent and / or plant alkaloid and the like, the epothilone derivative and sustained release auxiliary material. The menstruum is a special menstruum containing suspending agent. The epothilone derivative is selected from epothilone B, epothilone D, iso-epothilone D, BMS-247550, azaepothilone B, furan epothilone D or BMS-310705. The sustained release auxiliary material is selected from poly-dl-lactide, the glycolic acid copolymer of the poly-dl-lactide, polyethyleneglycol, the polylactide copolymer of the polyethyleneglycol, carboxyl terminated polylactide copolymer, fatty acid and decanedioic acid copolymer, etc. The suspending agent is selected from carboxymethyl cellulose and the like with the viscosity of 100cp to 3000cp (under the temperature of 25 DEG C to 30 DEG C). The sustained release microsphere can also be made into a sustained release implant. The sustained release injection is injected or arranged in or around the tumour and can release drug at partial position for 40 days approximately, therefore, the sustained release injection improves the local drug concentration selectively and enhances the treatment effect of non-operative treatments, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and the like at the same time.

The invention relates to an anti-cancer sustained release injection containing epothilone derivative, consisting of sustained microspheres and menstruum. The sustained microspheres comprise anti-cancer drugs selected from taxane, alkylating agent and / or plant alkaloid and the like, the epothilone derivative and sustained release auxiliary material. The menstruum is a special menstruum containing suspending agent. The epothilone derivative is selected from epothilone B, epothilone D, iso-epothilone D, BMS-247550, azaepothilone B, furan epothilone D or BMS-310705. The sustained release auxiliary material is selected from poly-dl-lactide, the glycolic acid copolymer of the poly-dl-lactide, polyethyleneglycol, the polylactide copolymer of the polyethyleneglycol, carboxyl terminated polylactide copolymer, fatty acid and decanedioic acid copolymer, etc. The suspending agent is selected from carboxymethyl cellulose and the like with the viscosity of 100cp to 3000cp (under the temperature of 25 DEG C to 30 DEG C). The sustained release microsphere can also be made into a sustained release implant. The sustained release injection is injected or arranged in or around the tumour and can release drug at partial position for 40 days approximately, therefore, the sustained release injection improves the local drug concentration selectively and enhances the treatment effect of non-operative treatments, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and the like at the same time.

The invention relates to a combination made of 20(R)-ginsenoside taken serving as active constitutent and the application of the combination as medicine or health products. The 20(R)-ginsenoside combination mainly comprises the following weight percentage compositions of the components: 30 percent to 60 percent of 20(R)-ginsenoside Rg3, 10 percent to 40 percent of 20(R)-ginsenoside Rh2 and 10 percent to 30 percent of ginsenoside III, wherein the ginsenoside III is 20(R)-protopanoxadiol-3-O-beta-pyrane xylopyranosyl (1-2) beta-D-pyrane glucosyl (1-2) beta -D-pyrane glucoside. The invention relates to application of the drug combination in preparing anticancer aided drug for preventing and curing leucocyte reduction caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy and in medicine or health products improving human body immunity.

The invention provides a composition for relieving xerostomia and a preparation method thereof. Effective constituents in the composition are one or more of a hyaluronic acid, Pulullan and a polyglutamic acid. The composition has the feature of relieving chronic and transient xerostomia caused by diseases, medicine using, radio therapy, chemotherapy and aging. The composition prepared from raw materials with high biosecurity can lubricate oral cavities and keep the oral cavities moist, and can be prepared into toothpaste, mouthrinse, chewing gum and the like. The prepared composition for relieving xerostomia does not have toxic or side effects on human bodies, and allergy or irritation is avoided.

The invention provides a dendrobium polysaccharide extraction technology and product thereof and application. The production technology includes the following technological steps: smashing dendrobium (dry product) plant; adding water and mixing; adding cellulose enzyme; regulating pH value and enzymolysis; water extraction; concentration; alcohol precipitation stoving. Thus high purity dendrobium polysaccharide extract with the content reaching 21.7%. The dendrobium polysaccharide extract product contains dendrobium polysaccharide and additive. The dendrobium polysaccharide is made by the method; the additive is one of immune globulin, amino acid, traditional Chinese medicine, biology preparation, growth factor and various dairy (including infant formula milk powder) or combination thereof; and the product can be tablet, capsule and oral liquid. The mass percentage thereof is 15-85% for dendrobium polysaccharide and 15-85% for additive respectively. The effect includes that the invention can be applicable to: 1, people who frequently stay up late, cerebrate, use eyes, are irregular in work and rest, excessive in drink and tobacco and lack of energy; 2, people who are in life tension and under too much tension, take part in dinner party frequently and feel down in the doldrums frequently; 3, people who smoke, drink and take part in dinner party frequently; 4, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases patients who are not balanced in diet, like to eat meat or sweetmeats; 5, people who have low immunity, valetudinarianism, throat diseases, gastrointestinal disorders and cataract; 6, patients who have aeipathia and serious diseases and are subject to operation and cancer chemoradiotherapy. The additive of the final product of the invention is scientific and reasonable and has strong pertinence.

This invention involved oncolytic adenovirus mutant with the multiple antitumoral Mec. It belongs to the BME field. The adenovirus mutant Elb-55kDa and Elb-19kDa has missing gene, inserts chimeric promoter composed by the human telomerase reverse transcriptase core sequence and human tumor epidermal growth factor receptor enhancer before the replication required gene Ela codons mEla289R and mEla243R. So the virus can specific proliferate in cancer cell. Oncolytic viruses and mEla protein can exert thire influence. It can also increase the sensitivity of cancer cell to chemoradiation and have no influence to normal cell. It inserts the human h-endostatin gene expression cassette in adenovirus mutant gene group; along the replication of virus in cancer cell to amplificate h-endostatin gene and effective expression in tumor so to restrain neovascularization of tumor so to realize the result of restrain the increase and transformation of cancer cell and apoptotic cell. This new oncolytic adenovirus mutant has good clinical prospect in gene curing so to used in curing many kinds of human tumors.

The present invention concerns prognosis for glioblastoma and / or assessment of the response of an individual to therapy for glioblastoma treatment. In particular, expression analysis of two or more specific genes provided in the invention is determined to predict outcome for the individual and / or to predict if the individual will respond to therapy, such as chemoradiation, for example. In specific embodiments, a multigene set from a sample from the individual is compared to a reference set of housekeeping genes.

The invention discloses a Chinese medicine for remedying lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and brain tumor, and relates to the Chinese medicine field. The prior cancer remedying method of western medicine mainly adopts surgical operation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy methods, the curative effect of which is not ideal. The cancer remedying method of western medicine damages the healthy organisms to a certain extent. Chinese medicine cures the cancers dialectically, invigorates yang and restrains yin, and achieves the purpose of exterminating cancer cells. The Chinese medicine is made from a plurality of raw materials of field pennycress, sargentgloryvine stem, motherwort, flagleaf and so on. The raw materials are crushed and sieved by a 360 sieve. The ferruginous contents are removed by magnetization. After being sterilized, the crushed raw materials are filled in small bags. The Chinese medicine can be taken by decocting into decoction which can be taken separately or taken together with residues. The clinical trial proves that the invention has the beneficial effect that the Chinese medicine is quick to take effect, has high curative effect and simple preparation technology, is convenient to be popularized, has low cost, not only is favorable to the treatment of patients, but also is suitable for the illness prevention for healthy people.

The invention discloses full nutrition formulation food for tumors and belongs to the field of special medical-purpose food.The full nutrition formulation food for tumors is in the form of powder or particles or bulk, the water content is not greater than 5%, and the food comprises, by weight, 1-20 parts of compound polysaccharide extract, 10-30 parts of compound protein peptide, 1-20 parts of carbohydrate, 20-80 parts of fat, 1-10 parts of amino acid, 0.1-5 parts of compound vitamins, 0.1-5 parts of compound mineral matter and 1-10 parts of curcumin extract.The full nutrition formulation food for tumors not only can meet the nutritional requirements of a tumor patient but also can conduct immunoregulation on the tumor patient, inhibit growth, recurrence and metastasis of tumors, decrease postoperative complications of tumor surgery, improve tolerance of tumor chemoradiotherapy improve living quality of the tumor patient and prolong lifetime of the patient.

The invention relates to Chinese medicine tablet with immunoregulation and hypoglycemic effects,. The Chinese medicine tablet is prepared by rhizoma polygonati and and fruit of barbary wolf berry which are takend as raw materials. The Chinese medicine tablet has the effects of nourishing the kidney and strengthening the essence, nourishing yin to moisten dryness, supporting the healthy energy and prolonging life, and is used for curing and improving chronic fatigue syndrome, such as fatigue, soreness of the waist and knees, feeling dizzy, always cold and the like, caused by the deficiency of liver and kidney and hypoimmunity, and the adjuvant therapy of diabetic, hyperlipidemia patients, chronic hepatitis patients, tumour chemoradiotherapy patients and old, weak and sickly people. The Chinese medicine tablet has the immunoregulation and hypoglycemic effects, is safe and free of side effects, and can be taken for a long time. The invention furhter provides a preparation method of the Chinese medicine tablet.

The invention discloses the human body immunocompetent cell (DCCIK) anti-tumor cell agent and preparation methods. The method induces patients peripheral blood to DC and CIK using relevant cytokine, mixes the DC and CIK cells according proportion and cultures together after using alpha-Galcer or CI repeatedly impact DC, then gets DCCIK cells. Compared with homologous CIK, its proliferative activity and cytotoxicity are improved. The DCCIK has specific targeting and highly effective wide spectrum kill tumor effect without relevant tumor antigen impact. It can prevent tumour transition and recurrence after tumour surgery, radiotheraphy and chemotherapy. It can extend patient survival time and improve life quality with the assistance of other therapies.

The invention discloses a preparation method for the dendritic cell (DC) of an umbilical cord blood source and a dendritic cell (DC) vaccine, which relates to a preparation method for the dendritic cell. According to the method, various cell factors are adopted to induce DC obtained by umbilical cord blood separation, and then the DC is stimulated by a tumor specific antigen so as to improve the specific antigen presentation capability of the DC; and a stem cell growth factor and Flt3-L are added into a cell culture medium so as to effectively accelerate a hematopoietic cell in the umbilical cord blood to induce and proliferate to an immune cell. The DC vaccine prepared with the method has the specific antigen presentation capability, can be combined with a CIK (cytokine induced killer) cell to mutually treat the malignant tumor when being used as a tumor immunotherapy product, and is used as an important adjuvant therapy after operations and chemoradiotherapy. Recurrence and metastasis after the operations can be effectively prevented, and toxic and side effects caused by the chemoradiotherapy on patients are lowered so as to improve the treatment effect.

The invention provides a traditional Chinese medicine composition for treating the pancreatic cancer and a preparation method of the traditional Chinese medicine composition. The medicinal raw materials of the traditional Chinese medicine composition are as follows: herba sarcandrae, zaocys dhumnade, scutellariae barbatae, Chinese lobelia, oldenlandia diffusa, taraxacum mongolicum, herba violae, herba patriniae, flos lonicerae, fructus forsythiae, radix glycyrrhiza, herba lophatheri, herba artemisiae scopariae, codonopsis pilosula, fructus gardeniae, rheum officinale, semen coicis, caulis sargentodoxae, fructus mume, borneol, christina loosestrife herb, polyporus umbellatus, fructus galangae, radix curcumae longae, rhizoma acori graminei, fructus lycii, rhizoma belamcandae, radix paeoniae rubra and radix trichosanthis. The traditional Chinese medicine composition provided by the invention can be separately utilized or matched up with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and have the effects of reducing the lumps in a short period and effectively controlling the metastatic spread of cancer cells; and moreover, the traditional Chinese medicine composition is capable of strengthening the immunologic function of the organisms so as to achieve the aims of inhibiting the growth of the cancer cells, being free of side effects simultaneously, enhancing the immunity of the organisms while treating and resisting the cancers, alleviating the pain of the patients, stabilizing the state of the illness, prolonging the life cycle and increasing the proportion of clinically treating the patients.

The invention discloses a compound plant enzyme stoste which comprises dozens of fruits / vegetables, 29 traditional Chinese medicines and the like. The compound plant enzyme stoste disclosed by the invention has the following advantages: the formula is precise and rational; first, the fruits / vegetables and traditional Chinese medicines are circularly fermented by composite zymocyte and stored for several years for ripening; then, thousands of enzymes are obtained through chelation and ripening, synergistic interaction is promoted by over 5 times, and overall curative effect is good; and the compound plant enzyme stoste has the functions of promoting production of body fluid and quenching thirst, replenishing qi and invigorating spleen, nourishing yin and strengthening yarn, improving body immunity, strengthening healthy qi, removing toxin and losing weight, reducing blood pressure and blood fat, activating blood and beatifying face, preventing and resisting cancer, resisting aging and the like, improving appetite and recovering constitution. The invention also discloses a functional composite plant enzyme stoste as well as a preparation method and functional food thereof, wherein the functional composite plant enzyme stoste is particularly suitable for losing weight, reducing blood pressure and blood fat, preventing cancer, resisting aging and improving body immunity and physical strength of sub-healthy people and is particularly adapted to the toxicity reducing and effect increasing for physical weakness, low appetite, postoperative rehabilitation and tumor chemoradiotherapy of a patient so as to improve the life quality of the patient.

An anti-cancer composition comprises anti-cancer effective component selected from tyrosine kinase inhibitor and / or bendamustine and slow releasing adjuvant, and can be prepared into slow releasing injection and slow releasing implantable agent. The slow releasing injection also comprises special dissolvant containing suspending agent. The Suspending agent has a viscocity of 100cp-3000cp (at 20deg.C-30deg.C) and is selected from sodium carboxymethylcellulose, and so on. the slow releasing adjuvant is selected from p(LAEG-EOP), p(DAPG-EOP), p(BHET-EOP / TC), p(BHET-EOP / TC), p(BHDPT-EOP / TC), p( BHDPT-EOP / TC), p(CHDM-HOP) or p(CHDM-EOP.Slow releasing injection and implantable agent can keep high medicinal concentration in tumour part through slow releasing for over 60 days after being injected or implanted in or around tumour. The anticancer composition may also be prepared into sustained-release implant. It can reduce systemic toxic reaction of anticancer drugs, and also selectively improve the therapeutic effect of non-operative therapy such as chemotherapy.

The present invention provides a short-peptide containing compound special nutritional food recipe. The food recipe uses foodborne short peptides as main raw materials and water-soluble dietary fibers and sugar alcohol sweeteners are added, and the materials are combined into the compound recipe according to a specific ratio. The food prepared by the recipe can effectively complement human body protein nutrition, regulate intestinal health, enhance immunity, stabilize blood sugar, and reduce cholesterol, and is suitable for the consumptions of the elderly, patients with diabetes, patients treated with chemoradiotherapy, etc.

The invention discloses a composition of ginsenoside Rg3 and ginsenoside Rg5, a preparation method of the composition, and application of the composition to medicines, foods and health-care products for improving immunity, resisting tumors, resisting medicine resistance of tumor targeted medicines, relieving chemoradiotherapy toxic and side effects, resisting fatigue and resisting depression. Thecomposition can quickly take effect, has small toxic and side effects, can be taken for a long time, belongs to a safe, efficient and stable medicine and health care food with a simple preparation process, is suitable for industrial production, and can be easily popularized. The invention provides a novel raw material and production process for medicines and foods for improving immunity, resistingtumors, resisting medicine resistance of tumor targeted medicines, relieving chemoradiotherapy toxic and side effects, resisting fatigue and resisting depression.

Disclosed is a herbal composition comprising a first hot-water extract from a mixture of the plants Angelicae gigantis Radix, Cnidium officinale Makino and Paeonia japonica Miyabe et Takeda at an equal weight ratio, and a polysaccharide fraction as a precipitate formed by adding ethanol to a second hot-water extract from a mixture of the plants Angelicae gigantis Radix, Cnidium officinale Makino and Paeonia japonica Miyabe et Takeda at an equal weight ratio. The herbal composition of the present invention is effective in improving the anticancer activity, immune response and hematopoiesis of the body, and protecting the body from oxidative damage. Therefore, by stimulating the recovery from the damage to the immune function and hematopoietic function, often occurring during chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and inhibiting oxidative damage, the herbal composition can be applied for the prevention of the side effects of cancer therapy, as well as for the prevention of various degenerative chronic diseases and the improvement of the health of the weak and the elderly.