Schizophrenia trials in China: a survey.

OBJECTIVE: China's biomedical research activity is increasing and this literature is becoming more accessible online. Our aim was to survey all randomized control schizophrenia trials (RCTs) in one Chinese bibliographic database. METHOD: Chinese Academic Journals was electronically searched for RCTs and all relevant citations were also sought on PubMed to ascertain global accessibility. RESULTS: The search identified 3275 records, of which 982 were RCTs relevant to schizophrenia. A total of 71% (699) could be found by using English phrases. All the main body of text of the 982 papers was in Mandarin. On average, these trials involved about 100 people, with interventions and outcome measures familiar to schizophrenia trialists worldwide. Four of the 982 records (<1%) were identified on PubMed. CONCLUSION: Those undertaking systematic reviews should search the Chinese literature for relevant material. Failing to do this will leave the results of systematic reviews prone to random error or bias, or both.

Nutritional supplementation of the leucine metabolite beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (hmb) during resistance training.

The effects of supplementation of the leucine metabolite beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) were examined in a resistance training study. Thirty-nine men and 36 women between the ages of 20-40 y were randomized to either a placebo (P) supplemented or HMB supplemented (3.0 g HMB/d) group in two gender cohorts. All subjects trained three times per week for 4 wk. In the HMB group, plasma creatine phosphokinase levels tended to be suppressed compared to the placebo group following the 4 wk of resistance training (HMB:174. 4 +/- 26.8 to 173.5 +/- 17.0 U/L; P:155.0 +/- 20.8 to 195.2 +/- 23.5 U/L). There were no significant differences in strength gains based on prior training status or gender with HMB supplementation. The HMB group had a greater increase in upper body strength than the placebo group (HMB:7.5 +/- 0.6 kg; P:5.2 +/- 0.6 kg; P = 0.008). The HMB groups increased fat-free weight by 1.4 +/- 0.2 kg and decreased percent fat by 1.1% +/- 0.2% while the placebo groups increased fat-free weight by 0.9 +/- 0.2 kg and decreased percent fat by 0.5% +/- 0.2% (fat-free weight P = 0.08, percent fat P = 0.08, HMB compared to placebo). In summary, this is the first short-term study to investigate the roles of gender and training status on the effects of HMB supplementation on strength and body composition. This study showed, regardless of gender or training status, HMB may increase upper body strength and minimize muscle damage when combined with an exercise program.