Safety and effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicinal herbs for diabetic foot:a systematic review and Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs(TCMHs) as an adjunctive treatment for diabetic foot(DF).METHODS: The sources used were Pub Med(1966 to August 2015), the Cochrane Library(1988 to August 2015), the Excerpta Medica Database(1974 to August 2015), Wiley(1807 to August 2015), Ovid(1988 to August 2015), Clinical Trials.gov(1993 to August 2015), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials(1966 to August 2015), China Science and Technology Journal Database(1994 to August2015), Chi CTR(2007 to August 2015), Sino Med(1978 to August 2015), the China National Knowledge Infrastructure(1984 to August 2015), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform(1998 to August 2015), and the Traditional Chinese Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System(TCMLARS)(1984 to August 2015). Studies were identified and selected, and the data were extracted by two independent reviewers. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used to assess the quality of studies. Revman 5.2 software was used for data synthesis and analysis.RESULTS: Sixteen studies were included based on the selection criteria. Of these, seven studies had low bias risk and one had high bias risk. In the overall analysis, TCMHs resulted in a significantly higher total effective rate(OR 5.08; 95% CI 3.50 to7.36; P < 0.000 01), cure rate(OR 2.12; 95% CI1.63 to 2.77; P < 0.000 01), and shorter time to ulcer healing(SMD-0.64; 95% CI-0.89 to-0.40;P < 0.000 01) when compared with non-TCMHs treated DF. The analysis also revealed that significantly fewer amputations occurred in TCMHs patients(OR 0.36; 95% CI 0.20 to 0.65; P = 0.0007).Sensitivity analysis indicated that the findings of the Meta-analysis were robust to study quality,and the funnel plot of the Egger test showed no publication bias.CONCLUSION: TCMHs intervention appears to be more effective for DF, with a similar safety profile,when compared with non-TCMHs treatments, although this result requires further verification with more well-designed studies.

Association between dietary habits and recurrent respiratory infection in children: A case-control study

Objective:To explore the association between dietary habits and recurrent respiratory infection(RRI)in children aged 0e14 years.Methods:This caseecontrol study compared dietary data of children with(cases)and without RRI(controls)collected via structured questionnaire.Participants were recruited from Chinese medicine clinics,hospitals,and children’s learning institutions in Beijing.A logistic regression analysis and odds ratio(OR)calculations were conducted using SPSS 17.0 software.Results:A total of 241 questionnaires were collected(case:control ratio:approximately 2:1).Frequent consumption of processed foods(OR Z 2.988,95%confidence intervals 1.375e6.491)and high-sugar foods(OR Z 2.268,95%confidence intervals 1.163e4.424),frequent picky eating(OR Z 2.614,95%confidence intervals 1.363e5.014),and a meat-heavy diet with fewer vegetables(OR Z 1.830,95%confidence intervals 1.358e2.467)correlated positively correlated with RRI.Additionally,57.80%of the children with RRI were addicted to high-sugar foods,compared with 41.57%of the children without RRI(P Z.015).Furthermore,63.16%of the children with RRI were picky eaters,compared with 48.31%of the children without RRI(P Z.024).Finally,30.92%of the children with RRI frequently consumed processed foods,compared with only 17.98%of the children without RRI(P Z.027Conclusion:Although RRI correlates positively with several dietary habits,in the future,prospective cohort studies with larger samples are needed to generalize these findings.

Autophagosome activity in macrophage for atherosclerotic plaques in ApoE^-/-mice enhanced by Tiaozhi Tongmai Granules

Objective:Atherosclerosis is the fundamental pathophysiologic component of cardiovascular disease,and Tiaozhi Tongmai Granules show great efficiency in the treatment of the disease.However,the mechanism of Tiaozhi Tongmai Granules is still unclear.In this study,we have combined experiments with network pharmacology to explore the antiatherosclerosis mechanism of Tiaozhi Tongmai Granules.Method:120 male ApoE
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mice were randomly divided into three groups:the model group,Chinese herb group and Atorvastatin group.The model group,Atorvastatin group and Chinese herb group were fed with a high-fat diet,a high-fat diet plus atorvastatin(5.1 mg/kg/d)and a high-fat diet plus Tiaozhi Tongmai Granules(16.5 g/kg/d)for 16 weeks,respectively.Atherogenesis was identified by H&E staining.The colocalization of neutral lipid stain BODIPY and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3(LC3)and the colocalization of BODIPY and lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1(LAMP1)within ApoE
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mice aortic plaques were tested using fluorescence confocal microscopy and the Pearson’s coefficients were calculated.To further explore the anti-atherosclerosis mechanism of Tiaozhi Tongmai Granules,the network pharmacology was used to construct the herb-compound-target network.Results:The size of the aortic lipid plaque in the Chinese herb group and Atorvastatin group were smaller compared with the model group on the 16th week.Compared with the model group on the 16th week,the BODIPY and LC3 colocalization rate,the BODIPY and LAMP1 colocalization rate of the Chinese herb group and Atorvastatin group all presented significant increase in the aortic plaque(P<.001),showing that Tiaozhi Tongmai Granules could enhance autophagosome activity in the macrophage.In the herb-compound-target network,17 active compounds and 27 targets were obtained through literature searching and using LHRI&DAVID Bioinformatics.It was found that 23 targets were correlated with the macrophage.Some of them participated in macrophage inflammatory response,and the other targets could promote/inhibit phagocytosis of the macrophage.It was hypothesized that the active compounds of Tiaozhi Tongmai Granules were acting on these targets and having y the biological effects.Conclusions:In the progression stage of atherosclerosis,Tiaozhi Tongmai Granules can still make the macrophage have higher autophagosome activity,and play a role of anti-atherogenesis.