Chinese herbal medicine Ginkgo biloba L. preparations for ischemic stroke: An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

BACKGROUND: Ginkgo biloba L. preparations (GBLPs) are a class of Chinese herbal medicine used in the adjuvant treatment of ischemic stroke (IS). Recently, several systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) of GBLPs for IS have been published. OBJECTIVE: This overview aims to assess the quality of related SRs and MAs. SEARCH STRATEGY: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese Biological Medicine, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and Chinese Science and Technology Journals databases were searched from their inception to December 31, 2022. INCLUSION CRITERIA: SRs and MAs of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that explored the efficacy of GBLPs for patients with IS were included. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed the methodological quality, risk of bias (ROB), reporting quality, and credibility of evidence of the included SRs and MAs using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR 2), Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews (ROBIS), the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA), and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE), respectively. Additionally, descriptive analysis and data synthesis were conducted. RESULTS: Twenty-nine SRs/MAs involving 119 outcomes were included in this review. The overall methodological quality of all SRs/MAs was critically low based on AMSTAR 2, and 28 had a high ROB based on the ROBIS. According to the PRISMA statement, the reporting items of the included SRs/MAs are relatively complete. The results based on GRADE showed that of the 119 outcomes, 8 were rated as moderate quality, 24 as low quality, and 87 as very low quality. Based on the data synthesis, GBLPs used in conjunction with conventional treatment were superior to conventional treatment alone for decreasing neurological function scores. CONCLUSION: GBLPs can be considered a beneficial supplemental therapy for IS. However, because of the low quality of the existing evidence, high-quality RCTs and SRs/MAs are warranted to further evaluate the benefits of GBLPs for treating IS. Please cite this article as: Meng TT, You YP, Li M, Guo JB, Song XB, Ding JY, Xie XL, Li AQ, Li SJ, Yin XJ, Wang P, Wang Z, Wang BL, He QY. Chinese herbal medicine Ginkgo biloba L. preparations for ischemic stroke: An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. J Integr Med. 2024;22(2): 163-179.

[Natural inducing factors of peach bud dormancy and roles of Ca2+ in the dormancy induction].

Taking two-year-old peach tree of cv 'Chunjie' as test material, the natural inducing factors of peach bud dormancy and the roles of Ca2+ in the dormancy induction were studied. The results revealed that peach plant was very sensitive to short sunlight and/or natural low temperature. These two factors could induce growth cessation, dormancy, and freezing-resistance development, but their action mechanisms differed with each other. Short sunlight induced the dormancy first and the freezing-resistance then, whereas natural low temperature was in adverse. In case of the cofunction of short sunlight and low temperature, i.e., under the natural condition, short sunlight was the main factor inducing growth cessation, dormancy, and freezing-resistance development, while natural low temperature was the secondary one. The inducement effect of short sunlight was closely related to the actions of Ca2+, because Ca2+ played a messenger role in the signal transduction of short sunlight. In the experiment of supplemental light, it was found that with the decrease of temperature, the Ca2+ had an increasing influx from the vacuole, intercellular space, and cell wall to the cytosol and nuclei. At the same time, plant growth slowed down and finally ceased, dormancy started then, and freezing-resistance developed, which indicated that as a messenger in the signal transduction of natural low temperature, Ca2+ played an important role in the inducement of growth cessation, dormancy, and freezing-resistance development by natural low temperature.