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Journal of Immunology Research 2021Scleroderma is a complex disease involving autoimmune, vascular, and connective tissues, with unknown etiology that can progress through any organ systems. (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Scleroderma is a complex disease involving autoimmune, vascular, and connective tissues, with unknown etiology that can progress through any organ systems.
OBJECTIVE
Yet, no cure is available; the thorough treatment of scleroderma and current treatments are based on controlling inflammation. Nowadays, medicinal plants/natural-based formulations are emerging as important regulators of many diseases, including autoimmune diseases. Here, we provided an overview of scleroderma, also focused on recent studies on medicinal plants/natural-based formulations that are beneficial in scleroderma treatment/prevention.
METHODS
This study is the result of a search in PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane Library with "scleroderma", "systemic sclerosis", "plant", "herb", and "phytochemical" keywords. Finally, 22 articles were selected from a total of 1513 results entered in this study.
RESULTS
Natural products can modulate the inflammatory and/or oxidative mediators, regulate the production or function of the immune cells, and control the collagen synthesis, thereby attenuating the experimental and clinical manifestation of the disease.
CONCLUSION
Natural compounds can be considered an adjunct treatment for scleroderma to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from this disease.
Topics: Animals; Autoimmunity; Biological Products; Clinical Trials as Topic; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Oxidative Stress; Phytochemicals; Phytotherapy; Quality of Life; Scleroderma, Systemic; Severity of Illness Index; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 34258301
DOI: 10.1155/2021/9920416 -
The Nursing Clinics of North America Mar 2021Viral infections and their emergence continue to pose a threat to human lives. Up to the present, there are limited numbers of vaccines that effectively work and few... (Review)
Review
Viral infections and their emergence continue to pose a threat to human lives. Up to the present, there are limited numbers of vaccines that effectively work and few antivirals licensed for use in clinical practice. Added to this is the increase in antiviral resistance, meaning that drugs that do work are at risk of reduced efficacy. The recent global pandemic of coronavirus 2019 has provided evidence for the risk of a preventative vaccination and effective treatment of viruses' subsequent consequences. The aim of this article is to review traditional and herbal treatments for infections, specifically addressing gastrointestinal and respiratory viral infections.
Topics: Advanced Practice Nursing; COVID-19; Humans; Nurse's Role; Phytotherapy; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Virus Diseases
PubMed: 33549288
DOI: 10.1016/j.cnur.2020.10.007 -
Journal of Ethnopharmacology Sep 2023Functional dyspepsia (FD), a chronic upper gastrointestinal syndrome, seriously affects the quality of life of patients and poses a significant economic burden. Since... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE
Functional dyspepsia (FD), a chronic upper gastrointestinal syndrome, seriously affects the quality of life of patients and poses a significant economic burden. Since the pathological mechanisms of FD have not been fully elucidated, conventional therapies such as prokinetics, proton pump inhibitors, and antidepressants have some limitations. Siho-sogan-san (SHS) is commonly used as a therapeutic alternative in traditional medicine; however, scientific and clinical evidence supporting its application in FD remains insufficient.
AIM OF THE STUDY
This review aimed to assess the safety and effectiveness of SHS and in combined with Western medicine (WM) for the treatment of FD.
METHODS
Eleven databases, including EMBASE, Medline, and Cochrane Library, were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on FD published before December 31, 2022. After two independent reveiwers sceened and selected studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, clinical data was pooled and synthesized via Review Manager software. The outcome parameters included total clinical effectiveness rate (TCE), time for symptom improvement, levels of motilin and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), and adverse events. Cochrane's risk of bias tool was used for quality assessment.
RESULTS
A total of 12 studies that included 867 participants comparing WM with SHS or combination therapy (SHS plus WM) were identified. Through a meta-analysis of five studies including 363 patients, SHS compared with WM showed a positive result in safely increasing TCE [risk ratio = 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22 to 1.51, P < 0.00001]. The time for symptom improvement, including abdominal pain, belching, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal distension, was significantly more shortened in the combination therapy than WM group. Furthermore, combination therapy resulted in greater secretion of motilin than WM alone [mean difference = 67.95, 95% CI 39.52 to 96.39, P < 0.00001]. No remarkable difference was observed in CRH levels between the combination therapy and WM groups. For a subgroup analysis, the administration of SHS based on the type of pattern identification (PI) showed larger effect size than in the group that do not consider PI.
CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that SHS and combination therapy can be considered effective and safe options for the treatment of FD. However, owing to the low quality of the included studies, more well-designed investigational studies and RCTs with longer treatment and follow-up period are needed.
Topics: Humans; Dyspepsia; Motilin; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Phytotherapy; Plants, Medicinal; Medicine, Traditional
PubMed: 37127143
DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2023.116518 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2022As one of the oldest plants cultivated by humans, hemp used to be banned in the United States but returned as a legal crop in 2018. Since then, the United States has... (Review)
Review
As one of the oldest plants cultivated by humans, hemp used to be banned in the United States but returned as a legal crop in 2018. Since then, the United States has become the leading hemp producer in the world. Currently, hemp attracts increasing attention from consumers and scientists as hemp products provide a wide spectrum of potential functions. Particularly, bioactive peptides derived from hemp proteins have been proven to be strong antioxidants, which is an extremely hot research topic in recent years. However, some controversial disputes and unknown issues are still underway to be explored and verified in the aspects of technique, methodology, characteristic, mechanism, application, caution, etc. Therefore, this review focusing on the antioxidant properties of hemp proteins is necessary to discuss the multiple critical issues, including in vitro structure-modifying techniques and antioxidant assays, structure-activity relationships of antioxidant peptides, pre-clinical studies on hemp proteins and pathogenesis-related molecular mechanisms, usage and potential hazard, and novel advanced techniques involving bioinformatics methodology (QSAR, PPI, GO, KEGG), proteomic analysis, and genomics analysis, etc. Taken together, the antioxidant potential of hemp proteins may provide both functional food benefits and phytotherapy efficacy to human health.
Topics: Humans; United States; Cannabis; Antioxidants; Functional Food; Proteomics; Peptides; Phytotherapy
PubMed: 36432024
DOI: 10.3390/molecules27227924 -
Scientific Reports Feb 2023Like China, Mexico has a traditional system of medicine dating back almost 5000 years that incorporates the healing practices of pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
Like China, Mexico has a traditional system of medicine dating back almost 5000 years that incorporates the healing practices of pre-Columbian civilizations, including the Maya and Aztec. Mexican Traditional Medicine (MTM) women depend on MTM practices and herbal medicines for their primary healthcare needs as limited access and high costs of Western medicine is a significant problem. The aims of this work were to determine the medicinal plants more commonly used in MTM for women's reproductive health issues and assess the clinical data supporting their use. Data from multiple sources was compiled and information on plants commonly used by women in Mexico MTM for the treatment of fertility and menstruation issues, pregnancy, and menopause was analyzed. Analysis of the data show that 185 species of plants representing > 60 families were used for a wide range of reproductive health issues. Some of these plants have been used in MTM for fertility regulation in women of which 35 species were used as emmenagogues and abortifacients. Approximate 40 species were used for the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, heavy menstrual bleeding, and dysmenorrhea. In terms of pregnancy, 35 species were used for postpartum care and to facilitate breastfeeding, 16 species were used as oxytocic agents to induce labor and speed birth, and six plant species were used to prevent miscarriage. Fourteen plant species were reported to treat infertility or promote fertility, and seven species were used to treat uterine prolapse. Three plants species were reported to treat menopause and two plants were used for osteoporosis. Analysis of the clinical data for commonly used medicinal plants showed some clinical support for the use of these plants in MTM. In Mexico, women use medicinal plants for almost every aspect of reproductive health. While some plants have clinical data, most medicinal plants used in MTM have no safety or efficacy data available and could serve as the basis of future investigations.
Topics: Pregnancy; Female; Humans; Mexico; Reproductive Health; Medicine, Traditional; Women's Health; Plants, Medicinal; Phytotherapy
PubMed: 36797354
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29921-1 -
Oxidative Medicine and Cellular... 2021Numerous medicinal plants have been utilized for the treatment of different types of diseases and disorders including gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. GI diseases are the... (Review)
Review
Numerous medicinal plants have been utilized for the treatment of different types of diseases and disorders including gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. GI diseases are the most common complaints that normally affects the largest proportion of children and adolescents with overlapping clinical manifestation in diagnosis and medical needs. Drugs with antispasmodic effects are normally applied for the symptomatic treatment of contraction and cramping of smooth muscles in gastrointestinal diseases as well as in other critical clinical situations. In alternative system of medicines, the antispasmodic herbs played a significant role in the cure of GI diseases. These medicinal plants and their herbal products are used from generation to generation because of multiple nutritional and therapeutic benefits. The multiple uses might be attributed to the presence on biologically active chemical constitutes. The main aim of this review is to focus on the medicinal potential of plants possessing antispasmodic activities with their proposed mechanism of action. Several databases such as Google Scholar, Cochrane database, Scopus, and PubMed were used to search the relevant literature regarding "plants with antispasmodic activities." This present study highlights the updated and quantified information on several medicinal plants with antispasmodic activity like , , , , , , , , and . Moreover, recent studies on other medicinal plant species also have been included in this review article. Additionally, the study also revealed that the active compounds of all these plants possess significant spasmolytic effect which is safest, efficacious, and cost effective as compared to the available synthetic drugs.
Topics: Animals; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases; Humans; Parasympatholytics; Phytochemicals; Phytotherapy; Plants, Medicinal
PubMed: 34804367
DOI: 10.1155/2021/4889719 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Mar 2021The fruit of L. (goji berry) is used as traditional Chinese medicine, and has the functions of immune regulation, anti-tumor, neuroprotection, anti-diabetes, and... (Review)
Review
The fruit of L. (goji berry) is used as traditional Chinese medicine, and has the functions of immune regulation, anti-tumor, neuroprotection, anti-diabetes, and anti-fatigue. One of the main bioactive components is polysaccharide (LBP). Nowadays, LBP is widely used in the health market, and it is extracted from the fruit of . The planting of needs large amounts of fields, and it takes one year to harvest the goji berry. The efficiency of natural LBP production is low, and the LBP quality is not the same at different places. Goji berry-derived LBP cannot satisfy the growing market demands. Engineered has been used for the biosynthesis of some plant natural products. Recovery of LBP biosynthetic pathway in and expression of them in engineered might lead to the yeast LBP production. However, information on LBP biosynthetic pathways and the related key enzymes of is still limited. In this review, we summarized current studies about LBP biosynthetic pathway and proposed the strategies to recover key enzymes for LBP biosynthesis. Moreover, the potential application of synthetic biology strategies to produce LBP using engineered was discussed.
Topics: Animals; Biosynthetic Pathways; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Lycium; Phytotherapy; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Synthetic Biology
PubMed: 33804230
DOI: 10.3390/molecules26061641 -
Neurogastroenterology and Motility Feb 2021Contemporary treatments for functional dyspepsia have limitations. Herbal medicine has been suggested as adjunctive treatment. With growing scientific recognition and... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Contemporary treatments for functional dyspepsia have limitations. Herbal medicine has been suggested as adjunctive treatment. With growing scientific recognition and public interests, an in-depth review of this is timely.
AIMS/PURPOSE
To evaluate the therapeutic potential and problems that may be associated with the adoption of herbal medicines in functional dyspepsia.
METHODS
We reviewed the treatment landscape of functional dyspepsia and assessed the scientific community's interest in herbal medicine. Preclinical pharmacological and clinical trial data were reviewed for several herbal medicines available in the market. Challenges associated with adoption of herbal medicine in mainstream medicine were critically evaluated.
RESULTS
We found that herbal medicines frequently comprise a combination of herbs with multiple reported pharmacological effects on gastrointestinal motility and secretory functions, as well as cytoprotective and psychotropic properties. We identified a number of commercially available herbal products that have undergone rigorous clinical trials, involving large numbers of well-defined subjects, reporting both efficacy and safety for functional dyspepsia. Persisting concerns include lack of rigorous assessments for majority of products, toxicity, consistency of ingredients, dose standardizations, and quality control. We provide a quality framework for its evaluation.
CONCLUSIONS
We commend herbal medicine as a viable future option in managing functional dyspepsia. An attractive appeal of herbal medicine is the prospect to simultaneously target multiple pathophysiological mechanisms. Wider adoption and acceptance of herbal medicines in treatment algorithms of functional dyspepsia will require the application of the scientific rigor expected of chemical therapies, to all stages of their development and evaluation.
Topics: Gastrointestinal Diseases; Herbal Medicine; Humans; Phytotherapy; Plant Preparations
PubMed: 33258198
DOI: 10.1111/nmo.14044 -
Planta Medica Feb 2022The toxicity of plants containing certain pyrrolizidine alkaloids has long been recognized in grazing animals and humans. Genotoxicity and carcinogenicity data from and... (Review)
Review
The toxicity of plants containing certain pyrrolizidine alkaloids has long been recognized in grazing animals and humans. Genotoxicity and carcinogenicity data from and (animal) studies were published over the last few decades for some of the 1,2-unsaturated pyrrolizidine alkaloids, leading to regulatory action on herbal medicinal products with pyrrolizidine alkaloid-containing plants more than 30 years ago. In recent years, it has become evident that in addition to herbal medicinal products containing pyrrolizidine alkaloid-containing plants, these products may also contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids without actually including pyrrolizidine alkaloid-containing plants. This is explained by contamination by accessory herbs (weeds). The national competent authorities of the European member states and the European Medicines Agency, in this case, the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products, reacted to these findings by setting limits for all herbal medicinal products. This review article will briefly discuss the data leading to the establishment of thresholds and the regulatory developments and consequences, as well as the current discussions and research in this area.
Topics: Animals; Drug Contamination; Herbal Medicine; Phytotherapy; Plants, Medicinal; Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids
PubMed: 34169489
DOI: 10.1055/a-1494-1363 -
A Review of The Application of Spectroscopy to Flavonoids from Medicine and Food Homology Materials.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2022Medicinal and food homology materials are a group of drugs in herbal medicine that have nutritional value and can be used as functional food, with great potential for... (Review)
Review
Medicinal and food homology materials are a group of drugs in herbal medicine that have nutritional value and can be used as functional food, with great potential for development and application. Flavonoids are one of the major groups of components in pharmaceutical and food materials that have been found to possess a variety of biological activities and pharmacological effects. More and more analytical techniques are being used in the study of flavonoid components of medicinal and food homology materials. Compared to traditional analytical methods, spectroscopic analysis has the advantages of being rapid, economical and free of chemical waste. It is therefore widely used for the identification and analysis of herbal components. This paper reviews the application of spectroscopic techniques in the study of flavonoid components in medicinal and food homology materials, including structure determination, content determination, quality identification, interaction studies, and the corresponding chemometrics. This review may provide some reference and assistance for future studies on the flavonoid composition of other medicinal and food homology materials.
Topics: Flavonoids; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Phytotherapy; Spectrum Analysis; Functional Food
PubMed: 36431869
DOI: 10.3390/molecules27227766