Clinical complementary medicine and pharmacology最新文献

Background

In the last decade, a varied prevalence of lifestyle-mediated health ailments ranging from infectious disorders to non-curable diseases has been observed. Globally the stone formation (lithiasis) in human kidneys has increased the trauma and economic burden. Furthermore, affordable rapid diagnosis, clinical trials, and therapeutics have to be addressed with newer holistic approaches.

Objective

The current comprehensive review attempts to study kidney stones using emerging translational, conventional, and non-conventional research models, which include prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems (in vitro, semi-in vivo, and in vivo).

Methods

The study eligibility criteria included systematic reviews and meta-analyses to explore various lithiatic models. Further, PubMed, PubMed Central, CINAHL Plus, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE were used as data sources for the current study. A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) was used.

Results

All curated literature from past 55 years (1967–2022) were considered for this review with keywords as "Experimental models for human kidney stones" AND "Nephrolithasis" AND "Urolithasis". A total of 765 abstracts were reviewed for inclusion with 414 selected for full-text review. A total of 47 studies were analyzed. Mean AMSTAR score of 6.96/11 (± 1.84) suggests moderate quality of the systematic reviews.

Conclusion

This review will empower clinicians, veterinarians, and researchers for a better understanding of the pathogenesis, causative factors, and prevalence of nephrolithiasis and urolithiasis and their associated mechanisms with rapid, reliable, and reproducible models. The findings of the study will aid in designing global healthcare policy and regional insurance for lithiatic disorders with effective therapeutics which will result in an increased quality of life, leading to better health and hygiene.

Background

Electroacupuncture (EA) therapy, as a combination of electric stimulation and traditional acupuncture technology, is currently an important mean for treatment of ischemic stroke and post-stroke rehabilitation in China. Because of its remarkable therapeutic effect, it has been widely used in hospitals and clinic, however, the detailed mechanism remains unclear.

Objective

This research aims to comprehensively and systematically elucidate the mechanisms of EA treatment at the acupoints of Zusanli (ST36) and Baihui (GV20) on ischemic stroke.

Methods

In this study, EA was performed twice at onset of reperfusion and 20 h after reperfusion following cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rats, and transcriptomic changes of various molecules in ischemic hippocampal neurons of rats in Sham, I/R and EA groups were detected by RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq).

Results

Thus, we detected 18 significantly different genes related to atherosclerosis (AS), with their functions associated with lipid metabolism, thrombosis, monocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells. And, we detected 10 significantly different genes related to oxidative stress and apoptosis and 10 significantly different genes related to calcium overload and excitatory amino acids release. Also, we detected 19 significantly different genes related to blood-brain barrier (BBB) and 22 significantly different genes related to inflammatory response.

Conclusion

In conclusion, EA can play a role in treating ischemic stroke through a variety of mechanisms, affecting atherosclerosis, oxidative stress, apoptosis, calcium overload, excitatory amino acids release, blood-brain barrier (BBB) and inflammatory response.

Africa is blessed with several plants and marine organisms used to treat various diseases including diabetes. The folkloric use of some of these plants in treating diabetes has been documented in various databases and publications, and validated using various diabetes models. However, most of the investigations on African medicinal plants as antidiabetic agents are not taken beyond proof-of-concept stage. Besides, limited number of clinical trials were conducted to validate the efficacy in humans and the few available clinical studies have not been critically reviewed. Therefore, this review is intended to document the antidiabetic potential of African medicinal plants investigated in human subjects as well their safety implications. Relevant articles were harvested from the major scientific databases (Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar). According to the present search, eighteen (18) African medicinal plants and one herbal formulation were the only plants investigated for antidiabetic activity in humans. The plants showed no noticeable toxicity throughout the study period. Interestingly, all the 18 plant species were traditionally used to treat diabetes in various parts of Africa. Despite variations in the study period and dosages used, Laportea ovalifolia (Schumach. & Thonn.) Chew. (Urticaceae) and Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae) were the most effective as they reduced fasting blood glucose by >50% after 10 days and 4 weeks treatment periods, respectively. The available information revealed that African medicinal plants especially L. ovalifolia and M. charantia should be subjected to phase III clinical trial, aimed at getting the natural product-based antidiabetic drugs from Africa.

Background

Heatwave events occur more frequently, accompanied by a significant increase in the ambient concentration of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). Epidemiological and experimental studies have suggested that heat stress or PM_2.5 exposure would impair glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity.

Objective

To explore the joint effects of heat stress and PM_2.5 exposure on glucose metabolism and hepatic insulin pathway.

Methods

C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into filtered air (FA) group, fine particulate matter (PM) group, filtered air combined with heat stress (FH) group, and PM combined with heat stress (PH) group. Mice were exposed to PM for a total of 6 weeks, and heat stress combined with PM exposure was applied at the 5th and 6th weeks via a whole-body exposure system. Systemic glucose homeostasis, insulin sensitivity, and circulating inflammatory cytokines were examined. HSP72 expression and insulin signaling in the liver were measured.

Results

Glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity were impaired in response to heat stress, accompanied by lessened hepatic GLUT2 expression and inhibited insulin signaling pathway. No synergistic effects of heat stress and PM_2.5 exposure on glucose homeostasis were observed, while heat-upregulated HSP72 expression was attenuated with accumulated TNFα induced by further PM_2.5 exposure.

Conclusion

Heat stress combined with PM_2.5 exposure induced TNFα, which could inhibit heat-elevated hepatic HSP72 expression. Elevated circulating TNFα impaired hepatic insulin signaling and GLUT2 expression. Then, glucose homeostasis was perturbed, and insulin action was impaired.

Background

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is a major virus that causes hand-foot-mouth disease. In cases of infants and young children, EV71 infection has been associated with severe neurological disease and potentially fatal systemic complications. The sporadic outbreak worldwide is increasingly prevalent in the Asia-Pacific region, where it has become a major public health concern.

Objective

No specific antiviral drugs are currently approved for the treatment of EV71 infection. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively review the research progress of anti-EV71 drugs (synthetic small molecule inhibitors and nature drugs) in the past twenty years, and further to promote the research and development of antiviral drugs against enterovirus infection.

Methods

This study reviewed the drugs on anti EV71 in the past decades. The literature search in PubMed database was conducted for original studies and review articles on drugs against enterovirus 71. Related articles published in English were selected for study and discussion.

Results

As reviewed in this paper, bioactive molecules include receptor analogues, protease inhibitors, natural drugs derived from traditional chinese medicine or natural medicine. These bioactive molecules have shown significant effectiveness in inhibiting the entry and replication of EV71 in vitro and in vivo experiments.

Conclusion

This review demonstrated that the entry receptor of EV71 into host cells has been studied, and receptor drugs against enterovirus have been made some progress, but most receptor analogues have not been reported. Further research is needed in this area in the future. On the other hand, the protease inhibitors have always been a major aspect of anti-enterovirus research and can be developed as antiviral agents for clinical application. In terms of natural drugs, many monomers derived from traditional chinese medicine or natural medicine have good antiviral activity and little toxic and side effects on host cells, but in view of their multi-target properties, the mechanism of drug action needs to be further studied.