Effects of adjuvant Chinese patent medicine therapy on major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with coronary heart disease angina pectoris:a population-based retrospective cohort study

Objective: This study aimed to explore the effects of Chinese patent medicine(CPM) in reducing the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events(MACE) in patients with coronary heart disease(CHD) angina pectoris and improving clinical effectiveness and provide evidence for its use as clinical adjuvant therapy.Methods: Twenty-eight thousand five hundred and seventeen patients hospitalized with CHD angina pectoris from 6 hospitals were divided into CPM group(n = 11,374) and non-CPM group(n = 17,143) to evaluate the incidence of MACE, including myocardial infarction, percutaneous coronary intervention, and coronary artery bypass grafting.Results: The incidence of MACE in the CPM group was lower than that in the non-CPM group. CPM therapy was an independent protective factor that reduced the overall risk of MACE [adjusted hazard ratio = 0.40, 95% confidence interval(0.33;0.49)]. Patients in the CPM group who received one, two, or three types of CPM could benefit from adjuvant treatment with CPM, and taking more types of CPM was associated with a lower risk of MACE. In addition, the male population was better than the female population at taking CPM, and middle-aged people aged 55 to 64 were more suited to take CPM based on Western medicine.Conclusions: The use of CPM as adjuvant therapy can decrease the occurrence of MACE in patients with CHD angina pectoris,especially in men and middle-aged people, and the drug treatment plan should be optimized accordingly. However, this conclusion needs further verification by prospective cohort studies in the future.

Regulation of innate and adaptive immunity using herbal medicine:benefits for the COVID-19 vaccination

Vaccination is a major achievement that has become an effective prevention strategy against infectious diseases and active control of emerging pathogens worldwide.In response to the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic,several diverse vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 have been developed and deployed for use in a large number of individuals,and have been reported to protect against symptomatic COVID-19 cases and deaths.However,the application of vaccines has a series of limitations,including protective failure for variants of concern,unavailability of individuals due to immune deficiency,and the disappearance of immune protection for increasing infections in vaccinated individuals.These aspects raise the question of how to modulate the immune system that contributes to the COVID-19 vaccine protective effects.Herbal medicines are widely used for their immune regulatory abilities in clinics.More attractively,herbal medicines have been well accepted for their positive role in the COVID-19 prevention and suppression through regulation of the immune system.This review presents a brief overview of the strategy of COVID-19 vaccination and the response of the immune system to vaccines,the regulatory effects and mechanisms of herbal medicine in immune-related macrophages,natural killer cells,dendritic cells,and lymphocytes T and B cells,and how they help vaccines work.Later in the article,the potential role and application of herbal medicines in the most recent COVID-19 vaccination are discussed.This article provides new insights into herbal medicines as promising alternative supplements that may benefit from COVID-19 vaccination.

Symptoms associated with nucleic acid turning-negative-time in COVID-19 patients?

Objective:To explore on the association between nucleic acid turning-negative-time and traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)symptoms in coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)patients with the Omicron variant.Method:For this retrospective cross-sectional study,we enrolled 189 patients with COVID-19(age 20-90 years)were included.multiple linear regression models were used to investigate the TCM symptoms affecting the nucleic acid turning-negative-time of COVID-19 patients,during the process of data analysis,taking with nucleic acid turning-negative-time as the dependent variable,and TCM symptoms as independent variables,and at the same time,sex,age,hypertension,diabetes,and coronary heart disease were as confounding variables.Results:The study found that the most common TCM symptoms of COVID-19 patients with Omicron were cough,dry throat,expectoration,fever,sore throat,pharyngeal itching,running nose,and nasal congestion.Regression analysis showed that the fit regressive equation showed a significant difference(F=4.286,P<0.001),R=0.400,the adjusted R^(2)=0.123,and three variables in the regression equation showed significant difference(P<0.05).The results showed that nucleic acid turningnegative-time was mostly related to constipation,fever,and expectoration.If the patients had the symptoms of constipation,fever,and expectoration;that is,if patients showed these symptoms,the turning-negative-time of nucleic acid in patients with Omicron will be prolonged.Conclusions:Treatment based on symptoms for patients with constipation,fever,and expectoration may have important clinical significance for the COVID-19 patients with Omicron.