Efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine combined with routine western medicine for the asymptomatic novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19): A Bayesian network meta-analysis protocol

Integrated Bayesian and association-rules methods for autonomously orienting COVID-19 patients

The coronavirus infection continues to spread rapidly worldwide, having a devastating impact on the health of the global population. To fight against COVID-19, we propose a novel autonomous decision-making process which combines two modules in order to support the decision-maker: (1) Bayesian Networks method-based data-analysis module, which is used to specify the severity of coronavirus symptoms and classify cases as mild, moderate, and severe, and (2) autonomous decision-making module-based association rules mining method. This method allows the autonomous generation of the adequate decision based on the FP-growth algorithm and the distance between objects. To build the Bayesian Network model, we propose a novel data-based method that enables to effectively learn the network's structure, namely, MIGT-SL algorithm. The experimentations are performed over pre-processed discrete dataset. The proposed algorithm allows to correctly generate 74%, 87.5%, and 100% of the original structure of ALARM, ASIA, and CANCER networks. The proposed Bayesian model performs well in terms of accuracy with 96.15% and 94.77%, respectively, for binary and multi-class classification. The developed decision-making model is evaluated according to its utility in solving the decisional problem, and its accuracy of proposing the adequate decision is about 97.80%.

Traditional herbs against COVID-19: back to old weapons to combat the new pandemic

BACKGROUND

Recently, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a chief public health disaster caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There are no established effective preventive or therapeutic anti-COVID-19 drugs available except for some recently approved vaccines. Still, countless recent studies recommend various alternative and complementary approaches against COVID-19, which are medicinal herbs employed as traditional remedies to enhance immunity to struggle with viral infections. In addition, physicians worldwide are highly interested in vitamin and mineral supplements to help them combat COVID-19 either through protection or treatment. Dietary supplements specifically vitamin D, vitamin C, and zinc provide good prophylactic and therapeutic support to the presently available treatment regimens. In the present work, we have focused on plant-based remedies with promising anti-COVID-19 activities.

AIM

To enable investigators and researchers to identify potential herbal compounds with anti-COVID activity to be used as promising therapies to combat this pandemic.

MAIN BODY

This review highlights the recently published studies concerning natural traditional herbs, herbal bioactive metabolites, dietary supplements, and functional foods that could help prevent and/or treat COVID-19. Herein, we explored medicinal herbs as potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 and discussed how these studies help form larger discussions of diet and disease. Moreover, by investigating the herbal bioactive components, we have outlined several medicinal herbs that can fight against COVID-19 by hindering SARS-CoV-2 replication and entry to its host cells, deterring the cytokine storm, and several other means. Finally, we have summarized various herbal products, functional foods, and dietary supplements with potent bioactive compounds which can inhibit and/or prevent COVID-19 disease progression.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the studies reviewed in this work, it was concluded with no doubt that phytochemical components present in various herbs could have a starring role in the deterrence and cure of coronavirus contagion.

Efficacy and safety of yinqiao powder combined with western medicine in the treatment of pneumonia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

This review aimed at systematically evaluating the efficacy and safety of Yinqiao powder combined with western medicine in the treatment of pneumonia.

METHODS

A systematic search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) focusing on pneumonia treatment using a combination of Yinqiao powder and western medicine was performed in PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang, Weipu (VIP) and CBM. The retrieval time limit was from the establishment of the database to June 2020. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted the data and evaluated the bias risk of the included studies. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan5.3 software. Quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

RESULT

Fifteen RCTs involving 1705 patients were included in the analysis. The meta-analysis results revealed the total effective rate of the treatment group [RR = 1.21, 95% CI (1.15, 1.27), P < 0.00001], bacterial clearance rate [RR = 1.13, 95% CI (1.05, 1.22), P = 0.001], adverse reactions [RR = 0.54, 95% CI (0.38, 0.76), P = 0.0005]. There were statistically significant differences in the cooling time, T cell number, procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) value decline rate (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the decline rate of neutrophils and leukocytes (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The current evidence indicated that the Yinqiao powder combined with western medicine can improve total efficiency in the treatment of pneumonia patients. The combination therapy performed better when compared to western medicine alone in the cooling time, bacterial clearance rate, T cell count, decline rates of CRP and PCT as well as in the incidences of adverse reactions. However, there was no significant difference in the decline rates of neutrophils and leucocytes between the two groups. The funnel plot, Egger's test and Begg's test indicated publication bias, which may be associated with unpublished negative study results. Due to the limitation of the quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies should be performed to verify our conclusions.

Insights from the Perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine to Elucidate Association of Lily Disease and Yin Deficiency and Internal Heat of Depression

Lily disease was first recorded in Synopsis of the Golden Chamber by Zhang Zhongjing. It is a disease of heart and lung internal heat by Yin deficiency, which belongs to the category of emotion disease in Chinese medicine. In recent years, researchers believe that lily disease and depression syndrome of Yin deficiency and internal heat have many similarities in etiology, pathogenesis, and clinical manifestations. This review summarizes the clinical symptoms, etiology, pathogenesis, and therapeutic medication of lily disease and modern Yin-deficient internal heat depression and discusses the relationship between them. Furthermore, the relationship between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and lily disease was discussed from the etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment. It provides new ideas for the treatment of COVID-19 and the treatment of psychological problems after recovery.