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Database, China Dissertation Database, and online clinical trial registry websites were searched for published and unpublished randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of Chinese herbs for H1N1 influenza till 31 August, 2011.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

The interstitium in cardiac repair: role of the immune-stromal cell interplay

Cardiac regeneration, that is, restoration of the original structure and function in a damaged heart, differs from tissue repair, in which collagen deposition and scar formation often lead to functional impairment. In both scenarios, the early-onset inflammatory response is essential to clear damaged cardiac cells and initiate organ repair, but the quality and extent of the immune response vary. Immune cells embedded in the damaged heart tissue sense and modulate inflammation through a dynamic interplay with stromal cells in the cardiac interstitium, which either leads to recapitulation of cardiac morphology by rebuilding functional scaffolds to support muscle regrowth in regenerative organisms or fails to resolve the inflammatory response and produces fibrotic scar tissue in adult mammals. Current investigation into the mechanistic basis of homeostasis and restoration of cardiac function has increasingly shifted focus away from stem cell-mediated cardiac repair towards a dynamic interplay of cells composing the less-studied interstitial compartment of the heart, offering unexpected insights into the immunoregulatory functions of cardiac interstitial components and the complex network of cell interactions that must be considered for clinical intervention in heart diseases

Influence of family processes on internet addiction among late adolescents in Hong Kong

201905 bcrcVersion of RecordPublishe

Positive youth development and adolescent depression : a longitudinal study based on mainland Chinese high school students

202009 bcrcVersion of RecordPublishe

Influence of family factors on substance use in early adolescents : a longitudinal study in Hong Kong

202006 bcrcVersion of RecordPublishe

Aptamer–drug conjugate: targeted delivery of doxorubicin in a HER3 aptamer-functionalized liposomal delivery system reduces cardiotoxicity

Xiao-qian Dou,1 Hua Wang,2 Jing Zhang,3 Fang Wang,3 Gui-li Xu,1 Cheng-cheng Xu,1 Huan-hua Xu,1 Shen-si Xiang,1 Jie Fu,1 Hai-feng Song1  1Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, China; 2Ophthalmology Department, Eye Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China; 3Bioanalysis Department, United-Power Pharma Tech Co., Ltd., Beijing, China Introduction: The toxic side effects of doxorubicin (DOX) have limited its use in chemotherapy. Neither liposomal DOX nor pegylated liposomal DOX are able to completely resolve this issue. This is a proof-of-concept study testing aptamer-drug conjugate (ApDC) targeted delivery systems for chemotherapeutic drugs.Methods: Aptamer library targeting human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3) was screened and affinity was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Specificity was tested in MCF-7HER3-high, BT474HER3-high, and 293THER3-negative cells using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. We further developed a HER3 aptamer-functionalized liposome encapsulating DOX and the efficiency of this ApDC was detected by cellular uptake analysis and cell viability assay. In MCF-7 tumor-bearing mice, tumor targeting evaluation, efficacy, toxicity and preliminary pharmocokinetic study was performed.Results: The candidate #13 aptamer had highest affinity (Kd =98±9.7 nM) and specificity. ApDC effectively reduces the half maximal inhibitory concentration of DOX compared with lipsome-DOX and free DOX. In vivo imaging and preliminary distribution studies showed that actively targeted nanoparticles, such as Apt-Lip-DOX molecules, could facilitate the delivery of DOX into tumors in MCF-7–bearing mice. This targeted chemotherapy caused greater tumor suppression than other groups and alleviated side effects such as weight loss, low survival rate, and organ (heart and liver) injury demonstrated by H&E staining.Conclusion: The results indicate that targeted chemotherapy using the aptamer–drug conjugate format could provide better tolerability and efficacy compared with non-targeted delivery in relatively low-dose toxic drugs. Keywords: breast cancer, human epidermal growth factor receptor 3, aptamer–drug conjugate, doxorubicin, cardiac toxicity, targeted therap