Herbal Medicines for Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

OBJECTIVE: We conducted systematic review to evaluate current evidence of herbal medicines (HMs) for Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: Along with hand searches, relevant literatures were located from the electronic databases including CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PsycInfo, CNKI, 7 Korean Medical Databases and J-East until August, 2010 without language and publication status. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-randomized controlled trials and randomized crossover trials, which evaluate HMs for idiopathic PD were selected for this review. Two independent authors extracted data from the relevant literatures and any disagreement was solved by discussion. RESULTS: From the 3432 of relevant literatures, 64 were included. We failed to suggest overall estimates of treatment effects on PD because of the wide heterogeneity of used herbal recipes and study designs in the included studies. When compared with placebo, specific effects were not observed in favor of HMs definitely. Direct comparison with conventional drugs suggested that there was no evidence of better effect for HMs. Many studies compared combination therapy with single active drugs and combination therapy showed significant improvement in PD related outcomes and decrease in the dose of anti-Parkinson's drugs with low adverse events rate. CONCLUSION: Currently, there is no conclusive evidence about the effectiveness and efficacy of HMs on PD. For establishing clinical evidence of HMs on PD, rigorous RCTs with sufficient statistical power should be promoted in future

Syntheses, characterizations and theoretical calculations of rhodium(III) 1,2-naphthoquinone-1-oxime complexes

Rhodium(III) complexes of 1,2-naphthoquinone-1-oxime (1-nqo) [Rh(1-nqo)L 2Cl 2] 1-3 [1, L = 4-methylpyridine (mpy); 2, L = 4-phenylpyridine (ppy); 3, L = 4-acetylpyridine (apy)] were prepared. The structure of complex 1 is analyzed by single crystal X-ray crystallography. All of the complexes were characterized by mass spectrometry, 1H- 1H COSY NMR and FT-IR. UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry were employed to investigate the electronic transition behaviors of the complexes. The complexes displayed irreversible metal-localized two-electron reductions from Rh III to Rh I on the cyclic voltammogram. While the low-energy absorptions at λ max of 488-490 nm on the UV-Vis spectra of the complexes were related to metal to 1-nqo ligand charge transfer [MLCT, dπ(Rh) → π*(1-nqo)] and chloride to 1-nqo ligand charge transfer [LLCT, pπ(Cl) → π*(1-nqo)] based on the theoretical calculations using time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). © 2009 Elsevier B.V.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Antiferromagnetic coupling and perpendicular anisotropy in TbFeCo/NiO multilayers

For Tb-x(Fe90Co10)(100-x)(40 nm)/NiO(3.3 nm) multilayers with x=17 and 19, antiferromagnetic coupling is revealed by both in-plane and out-of-plane hysteresis loops at low temperatures. Magnetic perpendicular anisotropy and out-of-plane coercivity of multilayers are enhanced, in comparison to those of TbFeCo single layer films. The strength of the antiferromagnetic coupling, the perpendicular anisotropy, and out-of-plane coercivity are all reduced at high temperatures. These results can be ascribed to the weakening of antiferromagnetic ordering of NiO spins. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics

Sustainable synthesis of nitrogen-doped porous carbon with improved electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution

The rational design of a sustainable synthetic pathway to develop carbonaceous materials with efficient electrocatalytic activity for energy conversion is a great challenge. Herein, a one-pot method has been applied to synthesize metal-organic framework and polymer nanocomposites (MOF@polymer) with well controlled features, which can be used as a carbon source to produce metal-entrapped, nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon materials for hydrogen evolution. Specifically, zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67) was firstly crystallized in 2-methylimidazol aqueous solution, and then green phenolic resin (RF) from phloroglucinol-glyoxylic acid and a catalyst/nitrogen source (triethylenediamine) was co-condensed on the surface of the ZIF-67 crystal in the same system. Then, the obtained ZIF-67@RF nanocomposite transformed into cobalt-entrapped nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (Co-NC). Taking the advantages of the cobalt-based electroactive phases, abundant Co-N-C species and the unique porous structure, Co-NCs manifested excellent hydrogen evolution catalytic activity (had an onset overpotential of -45 mV and a small Tafel slope of 65 mV dec(-1), in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution) with good stability