Use of traditional Chinese medicine as an adjunctive treatment for COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: This review aims to evaluate the supportive effects of frequently used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: Five databases were searched through July 7, 2020. Randomized controlled trials investigating the efficacy of TCM for use in the treatment of COVID-19 were included. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and modified Jadad score were used for the evaluation of the methodological quality of the included studies. Weighted mean difference, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated for pooling out results. Data were extracted for conducting a meta-analysis using STATA version 12.0. RESULTS: Eight studies with a total of 750 patients were included in this meta-analysis. All included trial groups involved treatment with TCM and Western medicine, while the control groups were treated only with Western medicine. The intervention therapy significantly improved the overall effective rate (n = 346, OR = 2.5, 95% CIs = 1.46-4.29), fever symptom disappearance rate (n = 436; OR = 3.6; 95% CIs = 2.13-6.08), fatigue symptom disappearance rate (n = 436; OR = 3.04; 95% CIs = 1.76-5.26), cough symptom disappearance rate (n = 436; OR = 2.91; 95% CIs = 1.36-6.19), and sputum production reduction (n = 436; OR = 5.51; 95% CIs = 1.94-15.64). Based on the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale assessment, 6 studies received a score of 4, and 1 study achieved a score of 5. One study was assessed using the modified Jadad score, achieving a score of 6. CONCLUSIONS: The integration of TCM with Western medicine has significantly improved the treatment for COVID-19 patients compared to Western medicine treatment alone. Combined therapy using TCM and Western medicine revealed the potential adjunctive role of TCM in treating COVID-19. However, high-quality clinical studies are still required to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of TCM in the treatment of COVID-19.

Analysis of Antineutrophil Cytoplasm Antibody from 118 730 Patients in Tertiary Hospitals in Jiangxi Province, China.

BACKGROUND The discovery of antineutrophil cytoplasm antibody (ANCA) makes the early diagnosis of primary vasculitis possible, and also has important guiding significance for the diagnosis and treatment of secondary vasculitis. This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of ANCA. MATERIAL AND METHODS ANCA was detected by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IIF), and anti-myeloperoxidase (MPO) antibody, and anti-proteinase 3 (PR3) antibody were detected by ELISA. The results were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS Among 118 730 patients, a total of 5853 (4.93%) were positive for ANCA. In the positive cases, 3.98% were male and 6.33% were female, with significant differences (χ²=123.38, P<0.01). For ANCA, the department with the highest positive rate (15.06%) was the Department of Rheumatology, followed by 7.78% in the Department of Dermatology, 6.79% in the Department of Nephrology, and 5.72% in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Anti-PR3 and cANCA were highly specific in primary vasculitis (P<0.01). Anti-MPO and pANCA had high specificity for other autoimmune diseases (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS ANCA has important guiding significance for vasculitis-related diseases. Therefore, it is important in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease and has value in clinical practice.

Type-dependent differential expression of neuropeptide Y in chicken hypothalamus (Gallus domesticus).

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is one of the most important orexigenic agents in central regulation of feeding behavior, body weight and energy homeostasis in domestic chickens. To examine differences in the hypothalamic NPY between layer-type and meat-type of chickens, which are two divergent kinds of the domestic chickens in feeding behavior and body weight, we detected mRNA levels of NPY in hypothalamic infundibular nucleus (IN), paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) of these two types of chickens using one-step real time RT-PCR. The meat-type chicken had more food daily (about 1.7 folds) and greater body weights (about 1.5 folds) and brain weights than the layer-type chicken at the age of 14 d. In the meat-type of chicken, NPY mRNA levels of the IN and PVN were significantly greater than those of the LHA, and were not significantly different between the IN and PVN. However, in the layer-type of chicken, NPY mRNA levels were significantly greater in the IN than those in the LHA and PVN, and were not significantly different between the PVN and LHA. In all these hypothalamic regions, the layer-type of chicken had significantly higher NPY mRNA levels than the meat-type chicken did. These results suggest the expression of NPY in the hypothalamus has a type-dependent pattern in domestic chickens.