Chinese Medicinal Herbs for Childhood Pneumonia: A Systematic Review of Effectiveness and Safety

Objective. To assess the efficacy and safety of Chinese medicinal herbs for Childhood Pneumonia. Methods. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The searched electronic databases included PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, CBM, CNKI, and VIP. All studies included were assessed for quality and risk bias. Review Manager 5.1.6 software was used for data analyses, and the GRADEprofiler software was applied to classify the systematic review results. Results. Fourteen studies were identified (n=1.824). Chinese herbs may increase total effective rate (risk ratio (RR) 1.18; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11–1.26) and improve cough (total mean difference (MD), −2.18; 95% CI, (−2.66)–(−1.71)), fever (total MD, −1.85; 95% CI, (−2.29)–(−1.40)), rales (total MD, −1.53; 95% CI, (−1.84)–(−1.23)), and chest films (total MD, −3.10; 95% CI, (−4.11)–(−2.08)) in Childhood Pneumonia. Chinese herbs may shorten the length of hospital stay (total MD, −3.00; 95% CI, (−3.52)–(−2.48)), but no significant difference for adverse effects (RR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.09–1.72) was identified. Conclusion. Chinese herbs may increase total effective rate and improve symptoms and signs. However, large, properly randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind studies are required

Identification of the genetic determinants of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium that may regulate the expression of the type 1 fimbriae in response to solid agar and static broth culture conditions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Type 1 fimbriae are the most commonly found fimbrial appendages on the outer membrane of <it>Salmonella enterica </it>serotype Typhimurium. Previous investigations indicate that static broth culture favours <it>S</it>. Typhimurium to produce type 1 fimbriae, while non-fimbriate bacteria are obtained by growth on solid agar media. The phenotypic expression of type 1 fimbriae in <it>S</it>. Typhimurium is the result of the interaction and cooperation of several genes in the <it>fim </it>gene cluster. Other gene products that may also participate in the regulation of type 1 fimbrial expression remain uncharacterized.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the present study, transposon insertion mutagenesis was performed on <it>S</it>. Typhimurium to generate a library to screen for those mutants that would exhibit different type 1 fimbrial phenotypes than the parental strain. Eight-two mutants were obtained from 7,239 clones screened using the yeast agglutination test. Forty-four mutants produced type 1 fimbriae on both solid agar and static broth media, while none of the other 38 mutants formed type 1 fimbriae in either culture condition. The flanking sequences of the transposons from 54 mutants were cloned and sequenced. These mutants can be classified according to the functions or putative functions of the open reading frames disrupted by the transposon. Our current results indicate that the genetic determinants such as those involved in the fimbrial biogenesis and regulation, global regulators, transporter proteins, prophage-derived proteins, and enzymes of different functions, to name a few, may play a role in the regulation of type 1 fimbrial expression in response to solid agar and static broth culture conditions. A complementation test revealed that transforming a recombinant plasmid possessing the coding sequence of a NAD(P)H-flavin reductase gene <it>ubiB </it>restored an <it>ubiB </it>mutant to exhibit the type 1 fimbrial phenotype as its parental strain.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Genetic determinants other than the <it>fim </it>genes may involve in the regulation of type 1 fimbrial expression in <it>S</it>. Typhimurium. How each gene product may influence type 1 fimbrial expression is an interesting research topic which warrants further investigation.</p

Apoptotic Cell Death and Inhibition of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway in Human Colon Cancer Cells by an Active Fraction (HS7) from Taiwanofungus camphoratus

Aberrant activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays an important role in the development of colon cancer. HS7 is an active fraction extracted from Taiwanofungus camphoratus, which had been widely used as complementary medicine for Taiwan cancer patients in the past decades. In this study, we demonstrated the effects of HS7 on the growth inhibition, apoptosis induction, and Wnt/β-catenin signaling suppression in human colon cancer cells. HS7 significantly inhibited proliferation of HT29, HCT116, and SW480 colon cancer cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The apoptosis induction was evidenced by DNA fragmentation and subG1 accumulation, which was associated with increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, activation of caspase-3 and cleavage of PARP. By using Tcf-dependent luciferase activity assay, HS7 was found to inhibit the β-catenin/Tcf transcriptional activities. In addition, HS7 strongly suppressed the binding of Tcf complexes to its DNA-binding site shown in electrophoretic mobility shift assay. This inhibition was further confirmed by the decreased protein levels of Tcf-4 and β-catenin. The β-catenin/Tcf downstream target genes, such as survivin, c-myc, cyclin D1, MMP7, and MT1-MMP involved in apoptosis, invasion, and angiogenesis were also diminished as well. These results indicate that Taiwanofungus camphoratus may provide a benefit as integrative medicine for the treatment of colon cancer

Decision Theory-Based COI-SNP Tagging Approach for 126 Scombriformes Species Tagging

The mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) is commonly used for DNA barcoding in animals. However, most of the COI barcode nucleotides are conserved and sequences longer than about 650 base pairs increase the computational burden for species identification. To solve this problem, we propose a decision theory-based COI SNP tagging (DCST) approach that focuses on the discrimination of species using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as the variable nucleotides of the sequences of a group of species. Using the example of 126 teleost mackerel fish species (order: Scombriformes), we identified 281 SNPs by alignment and trimming of their COI sequences. After decision rule making, 49 SNPs in 126 fish species were determined using the scoring system of the DCST approach. These COI-SNP barcodes were finally transformed into one-dimensional barcode images. Our proposed DCST approach simplifies the computational complexity and identifies the most effective and fewest SNPs to resolve or discriminate species for species tagging

Orofacial myofunctional rehabilitation and multidisciplinary management of obstructive sleep-disordered breathing

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effects of and satisfaction with short message service reminders for patient medication adherence: a randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND: Medication adherence is critical for patient treatment. This study involved evaluating how implementing Short Message Service (SMS) reminders affected patient medication adherence and related factors. METHODS: We used a structured questionnaire to survey outpatients at three medical centers. Patients aged 20 years and older who were prescribed more than 7 days of a prescription medication were randomized into SMS intervention or control groups. The intervention group received daily messages reminding them of aspects regarding taking their medication; the control group received no messages. A phone follow-up was performed to assess outcomes after 8 days. Data were collected from 763 participants in the intervention group and 435 participants in the control group. RESULTS: After participants in the intervention group received SMS reminders to take medication or those in the control group received no messages, incidences of delayed doses were decreased by 46.4 and 78.8% for those in the control and intervention groups, respectively. The rate of missed doses was decreased by 90.1% for participants in the intervention group and 61.1% for those in the control group. We applied logistic regression analysis and determined that participants in the intervention group had a 3.2-fold higher probability of having a decrease in delayed doses compared with participants in the control group. Participants in the intervention group also showed a 2.2-fold higher probability of having a decrease in missed doses compared with participants in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Use of SMS significantly affected the rates of taking medicine on schedule. Therefore, daily SMS could be useful for reminding patients to take their medicine on schedule

Probabilistic quantum cloning via Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states

We propose a probabilistic quantum cloning scheme using Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, Bell basis measurements, single-qubit unitary operations and generalized measurements, all of which are within the reach of current technology. Compared to another possible scheme via Tele-CNOT gate [D. Gottesman and I. L. Chuang, Nature 402, 390 (1999)], the present scheme may be used in experiment to clone the states of one particle to those of two different particles with higher probability and less GHZ resources.Comment: 8 Pages, 4 Figures, final version to appear in PR

Emerged HA and NA Mutants of the Pandemic Influenza H1N1 Viruses with Increasing Epidemiological Significance in Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2009–10

The 2009 influenza pandemic provided an opportunity to observe dynamic changes of the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) of pH1N1 strains that spread in two metropolitan areas -Taipei and Kaohsiung. We observed cumulative increases of amino acid substitutions of both HA and NA that were higher in the post–peak than in the pre-peak period of the epidemic. About 14.94% and 3.44% of 174 isolates had one and two amino acids changes, respective, in the four antigenic sites. One unique adaptive mutation of HA2 (E374K) was first detected three weeks before the epidemic peak. This mutation evolved through the epidemic, and finally emerged as the major circulated strain, with significantly higher frequency in the post-peak period than in the pre-peak (64.65% vs 9.28%, p<0.0001). E374K persisted until ten months post-nationwide vaccination without further antigenic changes (e.g. prior to the highest selective pressure). In public health measures, the epidemic peaked at seven weeks after oseltamivir treatment was initiated. The emerging E374K mutants spread before the first peak of school class suspension, extended their survival in high-density population areas before vaccination, dominated in the second wave of class suspension, and were fixed as herd immunity developed. The tempo-spatial spreading of E374K mutants was more concentrated during the post–peak (p = 0.000004) in seven districts with higher spatial clusters (p<0.001). This is the first study examining viral changes during the naïve phase of a pandemic of influenza through integrated virological/serological/clinical surveillance, tempo-spatial analysis, and intervention policies. The vaccination increased the percentage of E374K mutants (22.86% vs 72.34%, p<0.001) and significantly elevated the frequency of mutations in Sa antigenic site (2.36% vs 23.40%, p<0.001). Future pre-vaccination public health efforts should monitor amino acids of HA and NA of pandemic influenza viruses isolated at exponential and peak phases in areas with high cluster cases