Chinese Herbal Medicines for the Treatment of Type A H1N1 Influenza: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Chinese herbs are thought to be effective for type A H1N1 influenza. Series of Chinese herbs have been authorized recommended by the Chinese government, and until now a number of clinical trials of Chinese herbs for H1N1 influenza have been conducted. However, there is no critically appraised evidence such as systematic reviews or metaanalyses on potential benefits and harms of medicinal herbs for H1N1 influenza to justify their clinical use and their recommendation. CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CBM, CNKI, VIP, China Important Conference Papers Database, China Dissertation Database, and online clinical trial registry websites were searched for published and unpublished randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of Chinese herbs for H1N1 influenza till 31 August, 2011. A total of 26 RCTs were identified and reviewed. Most of the RCTs were of high risk of bias with flawed study design and poor methodological quality. The combination of several Chinese herbal medicines with or without oseltamivir demonstrated positive effect on fever resolution, relief of symptoms, and global effectiveness rate compared to oseltamivir alone. However, only one herbal medicine showed positive effect on viral shedding. Most of the trials did not report adverse events, and the safety of herbal medicines is still uncertain. Some Chinese herbal medicines demonstrated potential positive effect for 2009 type A H1N1 influenza; however, due to the lack of placebo controlled trial and lack of repeated test of the intervention, we could not draw confirmative conclusions on the beneficial effect of Chinese herbs for H1N1 influenza. More rigorous trials are warranted to support their clinical use

Origin of Capacity Fading in Nano-Sized Co3O4Electrodes: Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Study

Transition metal oxides have been suggested as innovative, high-energy electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries because their electrochemical conversion reactions can transfer two to six electrons. However, nano-sized transition metal oxides, especially Co3O4, exhibit drastic capacity decay during discharge/charge cycling, which hinders their practical use in lithium-ion batteries. Herein, we prepared nano-sized Co3O4with high crystallinity using a simple citrate-gel method and used electrochemical impedance spectroscopy method to examine the origin for the drastic capacity fading observed in the nano-sized Co3O4anode system. During cycling, AC impedance responses were collected at the first discharged state and at every subsequent tenth discharged state until the 100th cycle. By examining the separable relaxation time of each electrochemical reaction and the goodness-of-fit results, a direct relation between the charge transfer process and cycling performance was clearly observed

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Loss of full length CtBP1 expression enhances the invasive potential of human melanoma

BACKGROUND: The C-terminal binding protein 1 (CtBP1) is a known co-repressor of gene transcription. We recently revealed that CtBP1 expression is lost in melanoma cells and melanoma inhibitory activity (MIA) expression is subsequently increased. The present study was performed to evaluate a more general role of CtBP1 in human melanoma and identify further CtBP1-regulated target genes. METHODS: Sequence analysis and expression profile of CtBP1 in melanoma cell lines were done by PCR. Boyden Chamber assays and co-immunoprecipitation were performed to investigate the functional role of CtBP1. Gene expression analysis and micro array data were used to define target genes. RESULTS: Interestingly, we detected an alternative splice product of CtBP1 with unknown function whose expression is induced at reduction of full length CtBP1. Overexpression of full length CtBP1 in melanoma cells had no effect on cell proliferation but did influence cell migration and invasiveness. To understand the effect of CtBP1 we identified putative LEF/TCF target genes found to be strongly expressed in melanoma using DNA microarray analysis. We focused on fourteen genes not previously associated with melanoma. Detailed analysis revealed that most of these were known to be involved in tumor metastasis. Eleven genes had expression profiles associated with melanoma cell invasiveness. CONCLUSION: In summary, this study revealed that reduction of CtBP1 expression is correlated with migratory, invasive potential of melanoma cells

An essential role for the Id1/PI3K/Akt/NFkB/survivin signalling pathway in promoting the proliferation of endothelial progenitor cells in vitro

The enhancement of re-endothelialisation is a critical therapeutic option for repairing injured blood vessels. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are the major source of cells that participate in endothelium repair and contribute to re-endothelialisation by reducing neointima formation after vascular injury. The over-expression of the inhibitor of differentiation or DNA binding 1 (Id1) significantly improved EPC proliferation. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Id1 on the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB)/survivin signalling pathway and its significance in promoting EPC proliferation in vitro. Spleen-derived EPCs were cultured as previously described. Id1 was presented at low levels in EPCs, and was rapidly up-regulated by stimulation with vascular endothelial growth factor. We demonstrated that transient transfection of Id1 into EPCs activated the PI3K/Akt/NFκB/survivin signalling pathway and promoted EPC proliferation. The proliferation of EPCs was extensively inhibited by silencing of endogenous Id1, and knockdown of Id1 expression led to suppression of PI3K/Akt/NFκB/survivin signalling pathway in EPCs. In addition, blockade by the PI3K-specific inhibitor LY294002, Akt inhibitor, the NFκB inhibitor BAY 11-7082, the survivin inhibitor Curcumin, or the survivin inhibitor YM155 reduced the effects of Id1 transfection. These results suggest that the Id1/PI3K/Akt/NFκB/survivin signalling pathway plays a critical role in EPC proliferation. The Id1/PI3K/Akt/NFκB/survivin signalling pathway may represent a novel therapeutic target in the prevention of restenosis after vascular injury

Different fatty acid metabolism effects of (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate and C75 in adenocarcinoma lung cancer

Background Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is overexpressed and hyperactivated in several human carcinomas, including lung cancer. We characterize and compare the anti-cancer effects of the FASN inhibitors C75 and (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) in a lung cancer model. Methods We evaluated in vitro the effects of C75 and EGCG on fatty acid metabolism (FASN and CPT enzymes), cellular proliferation, apoptosis and cell signaling (EGFR, ERK1/2, AKT and mTOR) in human A549 lung carcinoma cells. In vivo, we evaluated their anti-tumour activity and their effect on body weight in a mice model of human adenocarcinoma xenograft. Results C75 and EGCG had comparable effects in blocking FASN activity (96,9% and 89,3% of inhibition, respectively). In contrast, EGCG had either no significant effect in CPT activity, the rate-limiting enzyme of fatty acid β-oxidation, while C75 stimulated CPT up to 130%. Treating lung cancer cells with EGCG or C75 induced apoptosis and affected EGFR-signaling. While EGCG abolished p-EGFR, p-AKT, p-ERK1/2 and p-mTOR, C75 was less active in decreasing the levels of EGFR and p-AKT. In vivo, EGCG and C75 blocked the growth of lung cancer xenografts but C75 treatment, not EGCG, caused a marked animal weight loss. Conclusions In lung cancer, inhibition of FASN using EGCG can be achieved without parallel stimulation of fatty acid oxidation and this effect is related mainly to EGFR signaling pathway. EGCG reduce the growth of adenocarcinoma human lung cancer xenografts without inducing body weight loss. Taken together, EGCG may be a candidate for future pre-clinical development

Spatiotemporal cluster patterns of hand, foot, and mouth disease at the county level in Mainland China, 2008-2012

Background: Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is known to be a highly contagious childhood illness. In recent years, the number of reported cases of HFMD has significantly increased in mainland China. This study aims at the epidemiological features, spatiotemporal patterns of HMFD at the county/district level in mainland China. Methods: Data on reported HFMD cases for each county from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2012 were obtained from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Cluster analysis, spatial autocorrelation, and retrospective scan methods were used to explore the spatiotemporal patterns of the disease. Results: The annual incidences varied greatly among the counties, ranging from 0 to 74.31‰with the median of 5.42‰ (interquartile range: 1.54‰–13.55‰) during 2008–2012 in mainland China. Counties close to provincial capital cities generally had higher incidences than rural counties. A seasonal distribution was observed between the northern and southern China, of which dual epidemic were shown in southern China and usually only one in northern China. Based on the global and local spatial autocorrelation analysis, we found that the spatial distribution of HFMD was presented a significant clustering pattern for each year (P \u3c 0.001), and hotspots of the disease were mostly distributed in coastal provinces of China. The retrospective scan statistic further identified the dynamics of spatiotemporal clustering areas of the disease, which were mainly distributed in the counties of eastern and southern China, as well as provincial capitals and their surrounding counties. Conclusions: The spatiotemporal clustering areas of the disease identified in this way were relatively stable, and imminent public health planning and resource allocation should be focused within those areas