ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Jingshu Keli (or Jingshu granules), a traditional Chinese medicine, are widely used for treating cervical spondylotic radiculopathy in China; however, no randomized, double-blind, controlled study has verified their effectiveness. PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Jingshu Keli for the treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy in a randomized controlled trial. DESIGN: From August 2015 to July 2017, a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted at 13 large- and medium-sized hospitals in China. PATIENT SAMPLE: A total of 360 and 120 patients were initially enrolled in the Jingshu and control groups, respectively; 386 patients completed the study, with 299 in the Jingshu group and 87 in the control group. OUTCOME MEASURES: The main index for evaluating the curative effect was the pain score on a visual analogue scale (VAS; 0-100 points). METHODS: All patients were administered a bag of Jingshu Keli or placebo 3 times a day for 4 weeks, and were interviewed at the second and fourth weeks. The decrease in pain scores and rate of change in pain scores after treatment were calculated, related laboratory indices were reviewed, and adverse reactions were recorded. RESULTS: In the Per Protocol Set (PPS) analysis, the baseline pain VAS scores in the control and Jingshu groups were 49.31 â± â6.97 and 50.06 â± â7.33, respectively, with no significant difference between the groups (P â> â0.05). While there were no differences at 2 weeks between groups, at four weeks the pain VAS scores in the control and Jingshu groups decreased by 12.86 â± â13.45 and 22.72 â± â15.08, respectively relative to the values at baseline, with significant group differences (P â< â0.0001). While there were similar significant differences between the groups (P â< â0.0001) in the Full Analysis Set (FAS) analyses neither group achieved the minimal clinically important difference at any time point. CONCLUSIONS: Jingshu Keli are effective for the treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy. TRANSLATIONAL POTENTIAL STATEMENT: This is the first prospective, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial that confirmed the clinical efficacy and safety of Jingshu Keli for treating cervical spondylotic radiculopathy, which can provide evidence for clinical treatment.
ABSTRACT
Cell division protein, FtsZ, has been identified as a new potential antimicrobial target against multidrug-resistant (MDR) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). By using computer-aided simulation, the phenolic compounds magnolol and honokiol from Magnolia officinalis were shown to have high anchor energies to FtsZ of S. aureus. The calculated binding energies of magnolol and honokiol for this FtsZ (PDB Code: 4DXD) were established to be -7.6 kcal/mol and -8.2 kcal/mol, respectively. Both of them showed polymerization inhibition efficacy for this FtsZ at 100 ppm, which confirmed the simulation results. Their antibacterial activity against S. aureus including multidrug-resistant (MDR) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values in the range of 8-16 ppm. These findings support the use of computer-aided simulation to screen natural compounds for this cell division protein, FtsZ, and this method can be a quick and promising approach for the development of antimicrobial agents against multi-drug resistant S. aureus.