Impact of dietary components on enteric infectious disease.

Diets impact host health in multiple ways and an unbalanced diet could contribute to the initiation or progression of a variety of diseases. Although a wealth of information exists on the connections between diet and chronic metabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, etc., how diet influences enteric infectious disease still remain underexplored. The review summarizes the current findings on the link between various dietary components and diverse enteric infectious diseases. Dietary ingredients discussed include macronutrients (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins), micronutrients (vitamins, minerals), and other dietary ingredients (phytonutrients and probiotic supplements). We first describe the importance of enteric infectious diseases and the direct and indirect relationship between diet and enteric infectious diseases. Then we discuss the effects of different dietary components on the susceptibility to or progression of enteric infectious disease. Finally, we delineate current knowledge gap and highlighted future research directions. The literature review revealed that different dietary components affect host resistance to enteric infections through a variety of mechanisms. Dietary components may directly inhibit or bind to enteric pathogens, or indirectly influence enteric infections through modulating immune function and gut microbiota. Elucidating the unique repercussions of different diets on enteric infections in this review may help provide dietary guidelines or design dietary interventions to prevent or alleviate enteric infectious diseases.

Effects of Wenxin Keli on Cardiac Hypertrophy and Arrhythmia via Regulation of the Calcium/Calmodulin Dependent Kinase II Signaling Pathway.

We investigated the effects of Wenxin Keli (WXKL) on the Calcium/Calmodulin dependent kinase II (CaMK II) signal transduction pathway with transverse aortic constriction (TAC) rats. Echocardiographic measurements were obtained 3 and 9 weeks after the surgery. Meanwhile, the action potentials (APDs) were recorded using the whole-cell patch clamp technique, and western blotting was used to assess components of the CaMK II signal transduction pathway. At both 3 and 9 weeks after treatment, the fractional shortening (FS%) increased in the WXKL group compared with the TAC group. The APD90 of the TAC group was longer than that of the Sham group and was markedly shortened by WXKL treatment. Western blotting results showed that the protein expressions of CaMK II, phospholamban (PLB), and ryanodine receptor 2 (RYR2) were not statistically significant among the different groups at both treatment time points. However, WXKL treatment decreased the protein level and phosphorylation of CaMK II (Thr-286) and increased the protein level and phosphorylation of PLB (Thr-17) and the phosphorylation of RYR2 (Ser-2814). WXKL also decreased the accumulation of type III collagen fibers. In conclusion, WXKL may improve cardiac function and inhibit the arrhythmia by regulating the CaMK II signal transduction pathway.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Treatment of Cerebral Hemorrhage with NaoXueShu Oral Liquid.

NaoXueShu oral liquid invigorates Qi and promotes blood circulation, which is mainly used for treating the acute stage of the meridian of hemorrhagic apoplexy and acute blood stasis syndrome during early convalescence. Its main clinical manifestations include hemiplegia, mouth askew, hemianesthesia, and inarticulateness. It is used mainly in patients with lobar hemorrhage, basal ganglia, and thalamus of the small amount of bleeding without disturbing consciousness of hypertensive cerebral. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of NaoXueShu oral liquid on the treatment of cerebral hemorrhage. In this study, literature on randomized controlled trials was collected from seven databases to evaluate the clinical efficiency of the treatment of cerebral hemorrhage alone or combined with Western medicine. The methodologic quality of the included studies was assessed using a standard Cochrane system review and analyzed using RevMan 5.3.0 software. The study included 14 eligible randomized controlled trials. The results showed that the use of NaoXueShu oral liquid alone or combined with other drugs or auxiliary methods can play a significant role in the treatment of cerebral hemorrhage, especially hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage.

Effects of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation in patients after percutaneous coronary intervention: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

In this study, we assessed the effect of rehabilitation exercise after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). We performed a meta-analysis to determine the effects of exercise in patients after PCI. The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, the Embase database, China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI), China Biology Medicine (CBM), and the Wanfang Database were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The key words used for the searches were PCI, exercise, walking, jogging, Tai Chi, and yoga. Six studies with 682 patients met our inclusion criteria; we chose the primary endpoint events of cardiac death, recurrence of myocardial infarction (MI), repeated PCI, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and restenosis, and the secondary endpoint measures included recurrent angina, treadmill exercise (total exercise time, ST-segment decline, angina, and maximum exercise tolerance). The results showed that exercise was not clearly associated with reductions in cardiac death, recurrence of MI, repeated PCI, CABG, or restenosis. However, the exercise group exhibited greater improvements in recurrent angina, total exercise time, ST-segment decline, angina, and maximum exercise tolerance than did the control group. Future studies need to expand the sample size and improve the quality of reporting of RCTs.

The Role of Biologically Active Ingredients from Chinese Herbal Medicines in the Regulation of Autophagy in Treating Cardiovascular Diseases and Other Chronic Diseases.

Autophagy, a highly conserved starvation response mechanism with both defensive and protective effects in eukaryotic cells, is a lysosome-mediated degradation process for non-essential or damaged cellular constituents. It plays an important role in the cell survival, differentiation and development to maintain homeostasis. Autophagy is involved in cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as tumours. Thus, modulating autophagy may provide potential therapeutic strategies. Recently, many active components of Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) have been found to modulate autophagy in myocardial cells, cerebral vascular cells, endothelial cells and tumour cells. This paper reviews the advances in studies on the active components of CHM that modulating autophagy in treating cardiovascular diseases and other chronic diseases over the past five years.

The Effects of Tai Chi Training in Patients with Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Heart Failure (HF) is associated with significantly high morbidity and mortality. We performed a meta-analysis and updated new evidences from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the effects of Tai Chi (TC) in patients with HF. Electronic literature search of Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI), and Wan Fang Database was conducted from inception of their establishment until 2017. And we also searched Clinical Trials Registries (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ and www.controlled-trials.com) for on-going studies. A total of 11 trials with 656 patients were available for analysis. The results suggested that TC was associated with an obviously improved 6-min walk distance [6MWD, weighted mean difference (WMD) 65.29 m; 95% CI 32.55-98.04] and quality of life (Qol, WMD -11.52 points; 95% CI -16.5 to -6.98) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF, WMD 9.94%; 95% CI 6.95 to 12.93). TC was shown to reduce serum B-type natriuretic peptide [BNP, standard mean difference (SMD) -1.08 pg/mL; 95% CI -1.91 to -0.26] and heart rate (HR, WMD -2.52 bpm; 95% CI -3.49 to -1.55). In summary, our meta-analysis demonstrated the clinical evidence about TC for HF is inconclusive. TC could improve 6MWD, Qol and LVEF in patients with HF and may reduce BNP and HR. However, there is a lack of evidence to support TC altering other important long-term clinical outcomes so far. Further larger and more sustainable RCTs are urgently needed to investigate the effects of TC.

Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Xingnaojing Injection on Consciousness Disturbance.

Xingnaojing (XNJ) is commonly extracted from Angongniuhuang, a classic Chinese emergency prescription, and widely used in the treatment of nervous system disorders including consciousness disturbance in China. To evaluate the beneficial and adverse effects of XNJ injection, on consciousness disturbance. Seven major electronic databases were searched to retrieve randomized controlled trials designed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of XNJ alone or combined with Western medicine in treating consciousness disturbance caused by conditions such as high fever, poisoning, and stroke. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using criteria from the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Review of Interventions, and analyzed using the RevMan 5.3.0 software. Seventeen randomized controlled trials on XNJ were included in this study and the trials generally showed low methodological quality. The results revealed that XNJ alone or in combination with other medicines and adjuvant methods had a positive effect on patients with fever-, poisoning-, and stroke-induced coma. XNJ effectively treated consciousness disturbances that were caused by high fever, poisoning, or stroke.

Controlled methyl-esterification of pectin catalyzed by cation exchange resin.

This study developed a new method to methyl-esterify pectin using a cation exchange resin. Homogalacturonan (HG)-type pectin (WGPA-3-HG) and rhamnogalacturonan (RG)-I-type pectin (AHP-RG) obtained from the roots of Panax ginseng and sunflower heads, respectively, were used as models. Compared to commonly used methyl-esterification methods that use either methyl iodide or acidified methanol, the developed method can methyl-esterify both HG- and RG-I-type pectins without degrading their structures via ß-elimination or acid hydrolysis. In addition, by modifying reaction conditions, including the mass ratio of resin to pectin, reaction time, and temperature, the degree of esterification can be controlled. Moreover, the resin and methanol can be recycled to conserve resources, lower costs, and reduce environmental pollution. This new methodology will be highly useful for industrial esterification of pectin.

Effective association of Kv channel-interacting proteins with Kv4 channel is mediated with their unique core peptide.

Kv channel-interacting proteins (KChIPs) and neuronal calcium sensor-1 (NCS-1) have been shown to interact with Kv4 channel alpha-subunits to regulate the expression and/or gating of these channels. Here we examine the specificity and sites of these proteins for interaction with Kv channel proteins. Immunoprecipitation and green fluorescent protein imaging show that KChIPs (but not NCS-1) effectively bind to Kv4.3 protein and localize at the plasma membrane when channel proteins are coexpressed. Analysis with chimeric proteins between KChIP2 and NCS-1 reveals that the three regions of KChIP2 (the linker between the first and second EF hands, the one between the third and fourth EF hands, and the C-terminal peptide after the fourth EF hand) are necessary and sufficient for its effective binding to Kv4.3 protein. The chimera with these three KChIP2 portions slowed inactivation and facilitated recovery from inactivation of Kv4.3 current. These results indicate that the sequence difference in these three regions between KChIPs and NCS-1 determines the specificity and affinity for interaction with Kv4 protein. Because the three identified regions surround the large hydrophobic crevice based on the NCS-1 crystal structure, this crevice may be the association site of KChIPs for the channel protein.