Chinese herbal medicine therapy for coronary heart disease complicated with anxiety: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluated the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) for coronary heart disease (CHD) complicated with anxiety. METHODS: Randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) with parallel-groups were included after searching through electric-databases from inception to May, 2017. Meta-analysis was undertaken with RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS: Twenty-three RCTs enrolling 1654 patients were included in this systematic review. The combination therapy (CHMs combined with anxiolytic) appeared to be superior to anxiolytic in terms of reducing the score of Zung Self-rating Anxiety scale (SAS) (mean Difference (MD), －12.25; 95% confidence interval (CI), －14.01 to －10.48, eliminating method; MD, －3.92; 95% CI, －5.48 to －2.35, tranquilizing method), improving the total effect rate (relative risk (RR), 1.26; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.46, eliminating method) and reducing the TCM symptoms scores (MD, －2.24; 95% CI, －4.25 to －0.23, tranquilizing method) with a lower incidence of adverse events (RR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.25 to 0.85, tonifying method). CHMs demonstrated benefits in lowering the score of Hamilton Anxiety Rating scale (MD, －6.77; 95% CI, －8.16 to －5.37, tonifying method),lowering the score of SAS (MD, －10.1; 95% CI, －13.73 to －6.30, tonifying method) and reducing the TCM symptoms scores (MD, －2.18; 95% CI, －3.12 to －1.24, tranquilizing method). CONCLUSION: We got a low evidence that CHMs,which had less side effects, showed potentially benefits to patients with CHD complicated with anxiety. While the results should be interpreted with caution. Trails with higher quality are required to verify the effectiveness and safety of CHMs for CHD complicated with anxiety.

[Effects of biotin on blood glucose regulation in type 2 diabetes rat model].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of biotin on blood glucose regulation in rats and its possible mechanism. METHODS: According to initial body weight and blood glucose, we randomly divided the 90 Wistar rats into 5 groups: the normal control group, model group, biotin low-dose group (0. 6mg/kg BW), biotin medium-dose group (3. 0 mg/kg BW) and biotin high-dose group (6. 0 mg/kg BW). After 2 months, the rats with HFS feed were injected with STZ (25 mg/kg BW) to manufacture diabetic rat model. After the OGTT experiment at 10th week, the blood glucose, insulin, liver/muscle glycogen and other biochemical indexes were detected. The GCK, PCK1 mRNA expression were measured with RT-PCR method. RESULTS: Biotin has a certain improvement on postprandial glucose in diabetic rats. Compared with the model group, the AUC and the 30min postprandial blood glucose of biotin high-dose group were significantly decreased (P <0. 05). Biotin can affect some key enzyme gene in glucose metabolism, such as GCK, PCK1. CONCLUSION: The possible mechanism of the decreasing biotin blood sugar in diabetic rats may by promoting the synthesis of glycogenand reducing gluconeogenesis.

A hybrid proteolytic and antibacterial bifunctional film based on amphiphilic carbonaceous conjugates of trypsin and vancomycin.

In this study, we firstly describe the synthesis and characterization of amphiphilic carbonaceous particles (ACPs) derived from Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells. These ACPs possess a versatile functional surface and are highly dispersible in solvents of different polarities, which enable them to serve as a motif for functional groups. Secondly, we describe the construction of a multifunctional antifouling polymer surface based on amphiphilic carbonaceous conjugates of Trypsin (Tryp) and vancomycin hydrochloride (Van). The use of ACPs not only achieves the uniform incorporation of Tryp and Van into a hydrophobic polymer matrix, but also retains their activity and stability. The resultant hybrid film possesses strong proteolytic and bactericidal activities and displays a strong ability in preventing the attachment of human serum albumin/human fibrinogen and S. aureus by the contact-mediated protein-degrading and bacteria-killing mechanism. Further investigations of stability and reusability indicate that the hybrid film is highly active and stable under physiological conditions. The strategy described herein for the construction of multifunctional antifouling surfaces is simple and thus can be extended to other functional molecules and matrices for broader antifouling applications.