Herbal medicines for suppressing appetite: A systematic review of randomized clinical trials

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 242-252
Author(s):  
Monirsadat Sahebkar- Khorasani ◽  
Lida Jarahi ◽  
Holger Cramer ◽  
Mohammad Safarian ◽  
Hamideh Naghedi-Baghdar ◽  
...  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jing Guo ◽  
Bin Li ◽  
Wenbin Wu ◽  
Zhichao Wang ◽  
Fei Wang ◽  
...  

Background. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a major global health problem. The prevalence of the disease appears to be increasing. There is no curative therapy for IPF except lung transplantation. Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) are showing promise for treatment of IPF. However, their effectiveness and safety are still unclear and deserve further investigation. The aim of this systematic review is to access the efficacy and safety of CHMs in treating IPF. Methods. The protocol of this review is registered at PROSPERO. We searched seven main databases for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on CHMs for IPF from their inception to June 4, 2018. The methodological quality of RCTs was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. All trials included were analyzed according to the criteria of the Cochrane Handbook. Review Manager 5.3, R-3.5.2 software, and Grade pro GDT web solution were used for data synthesis and analysis. Results. Thirteen randomized clinical trials enrolling 733 patients were included. All trials included had clear outcome indicators. The methodological quality of included trials was generally “poor.” Few trials reported methods of randomization. One trial on Xuefu-zhuyu capsule assessed rate of acute exacerbation and mortality after treatment for 72 weeks and found no statistically significant difference between two groups. This meta-analysis demonstrated a significant improvement in QOL of IPF patients when CHMs was applied or combined with conventional medicine treatment. 6MWT was significantly improved in IPF patients after using CHMs or combined with conventional medicine treatment. CHMs treatment also had a certain improvement in TLC and DLCO, but the effect on FVC was not significant. Besides, CHMs failed to provide benefits in terms of PaO2. The reported adverse events were not obvious and severe. Conclusions. Some CHMs seem effective and safe as alternative remedies for patients with IPF, suggesting that further study of CHMs in the treatment of IPF is warranted. Although this systematic review suggests that CHMs may have positive effect on quality of life, 6-minute walk test distance, and lung function (TLC, DLOC%) and seem to be relatively safe during the course of treatment, the results must be treated with great caution because of the methodological flaws of the included trials. Long-term and high-quality trials are needed in the future to provide clear evidence for the use of CHMs.


2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 589-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung-Hyun Park ◽  
Myeong-Jong Lee ◽  
Mi-Young Song ◽  
Shambhunath Bose ◽  
Byung-Cheul Shin ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Seyed Reza Mirhafez ◽  
Mitra Hariri

Abstract. L-arginine is an important factor in several physiological and biochemical processes. Recently, scientists studied L-arginine effect on inflammatory mediators such as C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). We conducted a systematic review on randomized controlled trials assessing L-arginine effect on inflammatory mediators. We searched data bases including Google scholar, ISI web of science, SCOPUS, and PubMed/Medline up to April 2019. Randomized clinical trials assessing the effect of L-arginine on inflammatory mediators in human adults were included. Our search retrieved eleven articles with 387 participants. Five articles were on patients with cancer and 6 articles were on adults without cancer. L-arginine was applied in enteral form in 5 articles and in oral form in 6 articles. Eight articles were on both genders, two articles were on women, and one article was on men. L-arginine could not reduce inflammatory mediators among patients with and without cancer except one article which indicated that taking L-arginine for 6 months decreased IL-6 among cardiopathic nondiabetic patients. Our results indicated that L-arginine might not be able to reduce selected inflammatory mediators, but for making a firm decision more studies are needed to be conducted with longer intervention duration, separately on male and female and with different doses of L-arginine.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 232-237
Author(s):  
Mir Hadi Musavi ◽  
Behzad Jodeiri ◽  
Keyvan Mirnia ◽  
Morteza Ghojazadeh ◽  
Zeinab Nikniaz

Background: Although, some clinical trials investigated the maternal and neonatal effect of fentanyl as a premedication before induction of general anesthesia in cesarean section, to the best of our knowledge, there is no systematic review to summarize these results. Objectives: The present systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the maternal and neonatal effect of intravenous fentanyl as a premedication before induction of general anesthesia in cesarean section. Methods: The databases of Pubmed, Embase, Scopus and Cochrane library were searched till July 2017 to identify randomized clinical trials which evaluated the effects of intravenous fentanyl as a premedication before induction of general anesthesia compared with placebo on neonate first and fifth minute Apgar score and maternal heart rate and mean arterial pressure (MAP) in cesarean section. Standard Mean difference (SMD) was calculated and I-square statistic test was used for heterogeneity analysis. Results: The present systematic review and meta-analysis consisted of three clinical trials including 180 women in labor. Considering the results of meta-analysis, there is no significant differences between fentanyl and placebo in the case of Apgar score at 1 minute; however, the Apgar score of 5 minutes was significantly lower in fentanyl group compared with placebo (SMD -0.68, 95%CI: - 0.98, -0.38, p<0.001). In the term of maternal hemodynamics, the heart rate (SMD -0.43, 95%CI: - 0.72, -0.13, p=0.004) and MAP (SMD -0.78, 95% CI: -1.09, -0.48, p<0.001) in fentanyl group were significantly lower compared with placebo group. Conclusion: The present meta-analysis showed that using intravenous fentanyl as a premedication before induction of general anesthesia had adverse effects on neonate Apgar score. However, it had positive effects on preventing adverse consequences of intubation on maternal hemodynamics.


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