L. barbarum (Lycium barbarum L.) supplementation for lipid profiles in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs.

BACKGROUND: Dyslipidemia is a global health concern with an increasing prevalence worldwide. Lycium barbarum (L. barbarum) is widely used as a medicinal and functional food, and evidence suggests that it may be beneficial for lipid management. In this study, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of L. barbarum supplementation on lipid profiles in adults. METHODS: PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Wanfang Database were searched from inception until October 2022. The random-effect model was applied, and the pooled effect sizes were expressed as mean differences (MDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: The meta-analysis of 5 randomized controlled trials involving 259 subjects indicated that L. barbarum supplementation significantly decreased the triglyceride (TG) concentration (MD: 0.14 mmol/L, 95% CI: 0.08-0.20) and increased the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration (HDL-C) (MD: -0.07 mmol/L, 95% CI: -0.13 to -0.01). However, the reductions in total cholesterol (TC) concentration (MD: 0.11 mmol/L, 95% CI: -0.37 to 0.59) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration (MD: 0.21 mmol/L, 95% CI: -0.46 to 0.89) were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that L. barbarum supplementation might have some beneficial effects on TG and HDL-C concentrations in adults, and L. barbarum fruit has an even greater effect on TG and HDL-C concentrations. Considering the sensitivity analyses and limitations of the study included, further large-scale studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Effectiveness and safety analysis of SanHanHuaShi granules for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019: Study protocol and statistical analysis plan for a randomized, parallel-controlled, open-label clinical trial.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). As of July 2, 2022, COVID-19 has caused more than 545 million infections and 6.3 million deaths worldwide, posing a significant threat to human health. Currently, there is still a lack of effective prevention and control strategies for the variation and transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has a unique theoretical system, has treated various conditions for thousands of years. Importantly, recent studies have revealed that TCM contributed significantly to COVID-19. SanHanHuaShi (SHHS) granules, a Chinese herbal medicine, which has been included in Protocol for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (6th to 9th editions) issued by the National Health Commission of China and used to prevent and treat COVID-19 disease. A previous retrospective cohort study showed that SHHS could significantly reduce the severity of mild and moderate COVID-19. However, there is an absence of high-quality randomized controlled clinical studies to confirm the clinical effectiveness of SHHS. Therefore, a clinical study protocol and a statistical analysis plan were designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of SHHS for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. This study will increase the integrity and data transparency of the clinical research process, which is of great significance for improving the practical application of SHHS granules in the future. Methods and analysis: The study was designed as a 7-day, randomized, parallel controlled, open-label, noninferiority clinical trial of positive drugs. A total of 240 patients with mild and moderate COVID-19 will be enrolled and randomly assigned to receive SanHanHuaShi granules or LianHuaQingWen granules treatment in a 1:1 ratio. Disease classification, vital signs, SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing, symptoms, medications, adverse events, and safety evaluations will be recorded at each visit. The primary outcome will be the clinical symptom recovery rate. Secondary outcomes will include the recovery time of clinical symptoms, negative conversion time of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test negative conversion rate, hospitalization time, antipyretic time, rate of conversion to severe patients, and time and rate of single symptom recovery. Adverse incidents and safety assessments will be documented. All data will be analyzed using a predetermined statistical analysis plan, including our method for imputation of missing data, primary and secondary outcome analyses, and safety outcomes. Discussion: The results of this study will provide robust evidence to confirm the effectiveness and safety of SHHS in the treatment of COVID-19. Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn. Trial number: ChiCTR2200058080. Registered on 29 March 2022.

Efficacy of Lycium barbarum L. on plasma lipid concentration in adults: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Dyslipidemia is an important risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Lycium barbarum L. are widely used as medicinal and functional food and may be particularly beneficial for patients with dyslipidemia. This systematic review protocol is designed to be used to evaluate the effects of Lycium barbarum L. on plasma lipid concentration through systematic reviews and meta-analysis. METHODS: The Following electronic databases will be searched from inception to October 2021: the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Wan-fang database. All randomized controlled trial designs evaluated the effects of Lycium barbarum L. on plasma concentrations of lipids will be included. Two researchers will operate literature retrieval, screening, information extraction, quality assessment, and data analysis independently. The analysis will be conducted using Rstudio software (Version 1.4.1717). RESULTS: The findings will be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication. CONCLUSION: This study will provide practical and targeted evidence in investigating the impact of Lycium barbarum L. on plasma lipid concentration in adults. REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY2021110043.

DiDang Tang Inhibits Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Mediated Apoptosis Induced by Oxygen Glucose Deprivation and Intracerebral Hemorrhage Through Blockade of the GRP78-IRE1/PERK Pathways.

DiDang Tang (DDT), a Chinese traditional medicine formula, contains 4 Chinese traditional medicine substances, has been widely used to treat intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients. However, the molecular mechanisms of DDT for protecting neurons from oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis after ICH still remains elusive. In this study, high-performance liquid chromatography fingerprint analysis was performed to learn the features of the chemical compositions of DDT. OGD-induced ER stress, Ca2+ overload, and mitochondrial apoptosis were investigated in nerve growth factor -induced PC12, primary neuronal cells, and ICH rats to evaluate the protective effect of DDT. We found that DDT treatment protected neurons against OGD-induced damage and apoptosis by increasing cell viability and reducing the release of lactate dehydrogenase. DDT decreased OGD-induced Ca2+ overload and ER stress through the blockade of the glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78)- inositol-requiring protein 1α (IRE1)/ protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK) pathways and also inhibited apoptosis by decreasing mitochondrial damage. Moreover, we observed similar findings when we studied DDT for inhibition of ER stress in a rat model of ICH. In addition, our experiments further confirmed the neuroprotective potential of DDT against tunicamycin (TM)-induced neural damage. Our in vitro and in vivo results indicated that the neuroprotective effect of DDT against ER stress damage and apoptosis occurred mainly by blocking the GPR78-IRE1/PERK pathways. Taken together, it provides reliable experimental evidence and explains the molecular mechanism of DDT for the treatment of patients with ICH.

Chinese Medicinal Leech: Ethnopharmacology, Phytochemistry, and Pharmacological Activities.

Hirudo (Shuizhi in Chinese) is an important Chinese medicine, which possesses many therapeutic properties for the treatment of the cerebral hemorrhage and other thrombosis-related diseases. The phytochemical investigation gave more than 51 compounds including pteridines, phosphatidylcholines, glycosphingolipids, and sterols, as well as some bioactive peptides from the Shuizhi derived from three animal species recorded in the current Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The pharmacological studies on the Shuizhi have revealed various activities such as anticoagulation, antithrombosis, antiatherosclerosis, antiplatelet aggregation, antitumor and anti-inflammatory as well as hemorheology improvement, and protective effects against cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, some important issues based on the traditional uses of Shuizhi are still not clear. The aim of the present review is to provide comprehensive knowledge on the ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, and pharmacological activities of Shuizhi. It will provide a potential guidance in exploring main active compounds of Shuizhi and interpreting the action mechanism for the further research.

Identification of antibacterial and antioxidant constituents of the essential oils of Cynanchum chinense and Ligustrum compactum.

The aim of this research was to determine the chemical composition, antioxidant and antibacterial properties of the essential oils from Cynanchum chinense and Ligustrum compactum and isolation of antioxidant and antibacterial constituents from the essential oils. Thirty-eight components were identified in essential oils. Based on bioactivity-guided fractionation, guaiacol, linalool and 2-phenylethanol were isolated and identified as active constituents. Both L. compactum flower oil and 2-phenylethanol showed high antibacterial performance, with inhibition zone from 22.8 ± 0.8 to 11.9 ± 2.0 mm at highest concentration, and minimum inhibitory concentration values ranging from 0.25% to 1%. In both DPPH and ABTS assay, the active constituent guaiacol (IC50 = 4.15 ± 0.72 and 9.12 ± 0.98 µg mL(-1), respectively) exhibited high antioxidant activity, and the oils showed moderate antioxidant activity. These results indicate potential efficacy of active constituents and essential oils of L. compactum and C. chinense to control food-borne pathogenic and spoilage bacteria.

Poxue Huayu and Tianjing Busui Decoction for cerebral hemorrhage (Upregulation of neurotrophic factor expression): Upregulation of neurotrophic factor expression.

This study established a rat model of cerebral hemorrhage by injecting autologous anticoagulated blood. Rat models were intragastrically administered 5, 10, 20 g/kg Poxue Huayu and Tianjing Busui Decoction, supplemented with Hirudo, raw rhubarb, raw Pollen Typhae, gadfly, Fructrs Trichosanthis, Radix Notoginseng, Rhizoma Acori Talarinowii, and glue of tortoise plastron, once a day, for 14 consecutive days. Results demonstrated that brain water content significantly reduced in rats with cerebral hemorrhage, and intracerebral hematoma volume markedly reduced after treatment. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that brain-derived neurotrophic factor, tyrosine kinase B and vascular endothelial growth factor expression noticeably increased around the surrounding hematoma. Reverse transcription-PCR revealed that brain-derived neurotrophic factor and tyrosine kinase B mRNA expression significantly increased around the surrounding hematoma. Neurologic impairment obviously reduced. These results indicated that Poxue Huayu and Tianjing Busui Decoction exert therapeutic effects on cerebral hemorrhage by upregulating the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

[Systematic review of xiyanping injection for hand foot mouth disease].

To assess the efficacy and safety of Xiyanping injection for hand foot mouth disease. All Clinical studies of Xiyanping injection for hand foot mouth disease were searched from Cochrane library, Medline, EMbase, CBM, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP. Selection of trials for inclusion, data extraction, assessment of methodological quality were completed by two independent screening. The quality of the included documents was evaluated by the Cochrane collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias and allocation concealment. Revman 5. 1 software was used for data analysis. Twenty-four randomized controlled trials were included (involving 2 974 patients), in which, only one study was true RCT and two studies used incorrect methodology. The remaining studies did not provide allocation concealment, blind or loss-up information. The results of Meta-analysis were presented below. Compared with conventional treatment measures, the efficiency of Xinyanping injection group was better (OR = 4.26, 95% Cl [3.19, 5.69]). Both fever clearance time (WMD = - 1.48, 95% Cl [- 1.85, - 1.11]) and skin eruption eliminating time (WMD = - 1.78, 95% Cl [- 2.84, - 0.72]) of Xinyanping injection group were shorter than the control group. Researches with ADR/AE information of Xinyanping injection showed that the symptoms of ADR/AE were slight. The systematic review suggests that Xiyanping injection in the combination with conventional treatment may improve the efficacy of the treatment of hand foot mouth disease. However, as all of the included trials were published in Chinese and of poor quality, we cannot draw a sure conclusion. More rigorous trials with high quality are required.