Evidence for the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Pelvic Inflammatory Disease: A Literature Review.

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), a common infectious disease of the female reproductive tract, is mainly characterized by abdominal/pelvic pain and tenderness of the uterus, cervix, or adnexa on physical exam. In recent years, its incidence has gradually increased yearly due to numerous factors, including sexually transmitted diseases and intrauterine operations. Based on self-report of PID in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013-2014 survey, PID impacts approximately 2.5 million women in the US during their reproductive age. Although empiric treatments such as antibiotics or surgery could alleviate the related symptoms of PID, its unsatisfactory obstetric outcome and high relapse bring heavy physical and psychological burden to women. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), a complementary therapy other than Western medicine with a complete theoretical and practical system, has been attached to importance in the world due to its remarkable efficacy. More people are accepting and trying to use CAM to treat gynecological diseases, including infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome, and PID, but its efficacy and mechanism are still controversial. This article reviews the previous literature systematically focusing on the effectiveness, safety, and mechanism of CAM in the treatment of PID to provide an evidence-based basis for the clinical application of CAM in patients with PID.

Mechanism of Datura metel on sinus bradycardia based on network pharmacology and molecular docking.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mechanism of action of Datura metel in the treatment of sinus bradycardia based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. METHODS: The active ingredients and targets of Datura metel were collected by TCMSP database, and the Cytoscape software was used to map to show the interrelationship. Use 5 databases: GeneCards, PharmGKB, OMIM, DisGeNET, and Drugbank to obtain targets related to sinus bradycardia; establish a protein-to-protein interaction network with the help of the STRING platform; GO and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis of the selected core targets using the Metascape platform; Finally, the AutoDock platform was used for molecular docking and the results were displayed through Pymol. RESULTS: 27 kinds of active ingredients of the drug were screened, including 10 kinds of main ingredients; 198 drug targets and 1059 disease targets. There are 54 targets of action in the treatment of sinus bradycardia, of which 19 targets such as AKT1, IL6, TNF, and VEGFA are the core targets of Datura metel in the treatment of sinus bradycardia. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes obtained 18 results suggesting that AGE-RAGE, hepatitis C, relaxin, and JAK-STAT may be key signaling pathways. Molecular docking shows that most components of the drug have good docking ability with the core target, indicating that the prediction results have certain reliability. CONCLUSION: This study preliminarily explores the potential active ingredients and possible mechanisms of action of Datura metel in the treatment of sinus bradycardia and provides a basis for in-depth investigation of its medicinal material basis and mechanism of action.