Natural Medicine Free Naturopathic and Homeopathic Resources

Related Articles Effect of Chinese medicine therapy for strengthening-Pi and nourishing-Shen in preventing lamivudine induced YMDD mutation and its immunologic mechanism. Chin J Integr Med. 2010 Feb;16(1):19-22 Authors: Feng H, Zhang YH OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of Chinese medicine therapy for strengthening-Pi and nourishing-Shen (SPNS) in preventing lamivudine induced YMDD mutation and its immunological mechanism. METHODS: One hundred and sixty chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with positive HBeAg were equally assigned to two groups at random: the observation group and the control group. Patients in the observation group were treated with lamivudine combined with SPNS, and those in the control group were treated with lamivudine only, with the treatment lasting for 52 weeks in total. Changes in indexes, including liver function, HbeAg, HBV-DNA, YMDD variation, CD(4), CD(4)/CD(8) ratio, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-4 (IL-4), blood routine, renal function, as well as any adverse reactions that occurred in patients, were observed at different time points. RESULTS: The ALT, AST recovery rate and HBV-DNA negatively inversing rate at the 24th week, the 36th week and the 52nd week were all higher (P<0.05); meanwhile, the YMDD mutation rate at the 36th week and the 52nd week was lower (P<0.05) in the observation group than in the control group. The posttreatment levels of CD(4), CD(4)/CD(8) ratio, IFN-gamma, and IL-4 as well as the pre-post treatment difference of these indexes in the observation group were significantly different from those in the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Chinese medicine SPNS therapy can significantly reduce the YMDD variation of HBV, and the mechanism may be related to its regulation of the CD(4) level, CD(4)/CD(8) ratio and Th1/Th2 balance. PMID: 20131031 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

See more here: 
Effect of Chinese medicine therapy for strengthening-Pi and nourishing-Shen in preventing lamivudine induced YMDD mutation and its immunologic…

No Comments »

Related Articles Single-step real-time PCR to quantify hepatitis B virus and distinguish genotype D from non-D genotypes. J Viral Hepat. 2010 Mar 29; Authors: Amini-Bavil-Olyaee S, Pourkarim MR, Schaefer S, Mahboudi F, Van Ranst M, Adeli A, Trautwein C, Tacke F Summary. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) viral load and its genotype play important roles in clinical outcome, management of disease and response to antiviral therapy. In many parts of the world such as Europe or the Middle East, distinguishing HBV genotype D from non-D is most relevant for treatment decisions, because genotype D-infected patients respond poorly to interferon-based therapeutic regimens. Here, we developed an in-house real-time PCR to concordantly assess HBV genotype (D vs non-D) based on melt curve analysis and quantify the viral load. Genotype distinction was established with control plasmids of all HBV genotypes and validated with 57 clinical samples from patients infected with six different HBV genotypes. Our in-house real-time PCR assay could discriminate HBV genotype D from non-D using single-step melt curve analysis with a 2 degrees C difference in the melt curve temperature in all samples tested. Viral load quantification was calibrated with the WHO HBV international standard, demonstrating an excellent correlation with a commercial kit (r = 0.852; P < 0.0001) in a linear range from 3.2 x 10(2) to 3.2 x 10(10) IU/mL. In conclusion, we developed a rapid, simple and cost-effective method to simultaneously quantify and distinguish HBV genotypes D from non-D with a single-step PCR run and melt curve analysis. This assay should be a useful diagnostic alternative to aid clinical decisions about initiation and choice of antiviral therapy, especially in geographical regions with a high prevalence of HBV genotype D. PMID: 20367802 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Continued here:
Single-step real-time PCR to quantify hepatitis B virus and distinguish genotype D from non-D genotypes.

No Comments »

Related Articles Measurement of Liver Elasticity with Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) Technology: An Alternative Noninvasive Method for Staging Liver Fibrosis in Viral Hepatitis. Ultraschall Med. 2010 Apr;31(2):151-155 Authors: Goertz RS, Zopf Y, Jugl V, Heide R, Janson C, Strobel D, Bernatik T, Haendl T PURPOSE: The acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) technology is a novel ultrasound method that provides information about the local elasticity of tissue in real-time. ARFI is integrated in a conventional ultrasound system. The aim of this exploratory study was to evaluate this new technique in the assessment of liver fibrosis in a cohort with chronic viral hepatitis B and C and to ascertain the most reliable hepatic segment for measurements. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 57 patients (27 female, 30 male, mean age 54 years) with chronic viral hepatitis B and C underwent ARFI imaging and consecutively liver biopsy. The results were compared to the histological fibrosis degree (F), which served as the reference. 20 healthy volunteers received ARFI quantification of different segments of the liver. RESULTS: The best ARFI assessments with the lowest rate of invalid measurements were carried out by an intercostal approach to segment VII/VIII of the liver. The ARFI velocities of the healthy group had a mean of 1.09 m/s (range 0.79 – 1.32 m/s), the means of the patient group ranged from 0.83 to 4.19 m/s. ARFI quantification correlated significantly with the histological fibrosis stage (p < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the accuracy of ARFI imaging was 85 %, 92 % and 87 % for the diagnosis of moderate fibrosis (>/= F2), severe fibrosis (>/= F3) and cirrhosis ( = F 4), respectively. CONCLUSION: This study underscores the usefulness of ARFI as a quick method for assessing liver fibrosis or cirrhosis in patients with HBV or HCV. ARFI measurements of the liver should be performed via an intercostal access. Increasing ARFI velocities correlate with higher degree of hepatic fibrosis. PMID: 20306380 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

See the original post here:
Measurement of Liver Elasticity with Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) Technology: An Alternative Noninvasive Method for Staging Liver Fibrosis…

No Comments »

Related Articles Clevudine for chronic hepatitis B: antiviral response, predictors of response, and development of myopathy. J Viral Hepat. 2010 Feb 26; Authors: Jang JH, Kim JW, Jeong SH, Myung HJ, Kim HS, Park YS, Lee SH, Hwang JH, Kim N, Lee DH Summary. Clevudine has been approved for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in South Korea. However, its long-term antiviral effect and safety awaits more study. The aim of this study was to evaluate antiviral efficacy, predictors of virologic response, and development of myopathy after clevudine therapy for CHB. The study included 102 nucleoside naïve CHB patients who had received clevudine for more than 6 months with good compliance. The median duration of clevudine treatment was 53 weeks (range, 25-90 weeks). A retrospective analysis of data retrieved from medical records was performed. The cumulative rate of virologic response [hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level <2000 copies/mL] at 48 weeks of clevudine therapy was 81%, and cumulative rate of clevudine resistance was 11% at 60 weeks of treatment. Independent predictors of virologic response to clevudine therapy were hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) negativity and rapid decrease of viral load during the early phase of treatment. The clevudine-related myopathy developed in 3.9% of patients, and was reversible after discontinuation of clevudine. Clevudine showed a potent antiviral response, and its effect was higher in HBeAg-negative patients, with rapid viral load reduction after therapy. However, long-term therapy for more than 1 year resulted in the development of considerable resistance and myopathy. Therefore, we should consider alternative antiviral agents if clevudine resistance or clevudine-induced myopathy is developed in patients on clevudine for the treatment of CHB. PMID: 20196804 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Read the rest here:
Clevudine for chronic hepatitis B: antiviral response, predictors of response, and development of myopathy.

No Comments »

Related Articles [Evaluation on HBeAg conversion time when treating chronic hepatitis B patients with combination of lamivudine and traditional Chinese medicine] Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi. 2008 Dec;29(12):1243-7 Authors: Bai SL, Hu XY, Zhong S OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of the combined use of traditional Chinese medicine and lamivudine (LMD) in treating chronic hepatitis B patients, and to follow the serological response for six months or longer. METHODS: CNKI, Wanfang data, VIP data, CBMdisk, MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials database and literature were searched, to include randomized controlled trails (RCT) that used LMD alone or combined with traditional Chinese medicine. RevMan 4.2 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The Meta analysis of 7 trails demonstrated that the HBeAg conversion rate in treatment group was higher than those from the control group, and the differences were statistically significant at 6, 9, 12 months. CONCLUSION: Data demonstrated that early intervention of traditional Chinese medicine might increase the HBeAg conversion rate but conclusion needs to be more specific to the types of trials. PMID: 19173973 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Read the original post: 
[Evaluation on HBeAg conversion time when treating chronic hepatitis B patients with combination of lamivudine and traditional Chinese medicine]

No Comments »

Related Articles Contemporary clinical research of traditional Chinese medicines for chronic hepatitis B in China: an analytical review. Hepatology. 2010 Feb;51(2):690-8 Authors: Zhang L, Wang G, Hou W, Li P, Dulin A, Bonkovsky HL Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is major global health problem. In China, where about 120,000,000 persons are chronically infected, CHB has been treated for centuries with traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). This review summarizes and meta-analyzes the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of TCM formulations reported in China in 1998-2008 for treatment of CHB. RCTs comparing either TCM formulations alone or in combination with interferon (IFN) or lamivudine (LAM) versus IFN or LAM were included. Chinese electronic databases were searched. The methodological quality of RCTs was assessed using the Jadad scale. TCMs had a greater beneficial effect (P = 0.0003) than IFN and a slightly better effect (P = 0.01) than LAM on the normalization of serum alanine aminotransferase. TCMs had a similar beneficial effect when compared with IFN or LAM for CHB on antiviral activity as evidenced by the loss of serum hepatitis B e antigen and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA. TCMs enhanced IFN and LAM antiviral activities and improvements of liver function. The quality of many studies was poor; reports often lacked information regarding methods of randomization or blinding and adverse events. Conclusion: Some TCMs seem effective as alternative remedies for patients with CHB, suggesting that further study of TCMs in the treatment of CHB is warranted, both in preclinical models of HBV infection and in higher quality RCTs worldwide. PMID: 20101751 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Read the original:
Contemporary clinical research of traditional Chinese medicines for chronic hepatitis B in China: an analytical review.

No Comments »

Related Articles [Observation on therapeutic effect of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal decoction on compensated liver cirrhosis] Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2009 Dec;29(12):970-2 Authors: Han J, Gu YJ OBJECTIVE : To compare the clinical effect difference between acupuncture combined with Chinese herb plus western medicine and simple western medicine in the treatment of compensated liver cirrhosis. METHODS: Eighty cases were divided into a high viral load group and a low viral load group according to HBV-DNA test. The patients in two groups were randomly divided into a Chinese medicine plus western medicine treatment group (group A, group C) and a western medicine treatment group (Group B,group D), respectively, 20 cases in each group. The group A was treated with acupuncture at Ganshu (BL 18), Qimen (LR 14), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), etc. and oral administration of Chinese herbal decoction combined with Heptodin tablets; the group B with oral administration of Glucurolactone tablets combined with Heptodin tablets; the group C was treated with acupuncture at Ganshu (BL 18), Qimen (LR 14), Taixi (KI 3), etc. and oral administration of Chinese herbal decoction; the group D with oral administration of Glucurolactone tablets alone. After they were treated for 30 days, their therapeutic effects and the negative conversion rate of HBV-DNA were observed. RESULTS: The total effective rate of 95.0% in the group A was better than 70.0% in the group B, and the total effective rate of 95.0% in the group C was better than 65.0% in the group D (both P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the negative conversion rate of HBV-DNA between group A and group B or between group C and group D (both P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture combined with Chinese herb plus western medicine treatment can more significantly improve clinical symptoms of the patients with compensated liver cirrhosis than simple western medicine therapy. PMID: 20088415 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Read the original here:
[Observation on therapeutic effect of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal decoction on compensated liver cirrhosis]

No Comments »

Related Articles HD-03/ES: a promising herbal drug for HBV antiviral therapy. Antiviral Res. 2009 Dec;84(3):249-53 Authors: Kar P, Asim M, Sarma MP, Patki PS INTRODUCTION: The present study was designed to study the genotypes associated with different groups of chronic liver disease and to see their response to HD-03/ES (an antiviral herbal molecule) on chronic HBV patients. METHODS: A total of 51 patients of chronic liver disease were recruited in the study and were given HD-03/ES, two capsules twice daily for 6 months. Liver function tests were done every month after initiating treatment. Serum was analyzed for HBsAg, HBeAg and HBV DNA and quantitative estimation of HBV at baseline, 4 and 6 months after therapy. The genotype of all the cases was also determined by PCR-RFLP method. RESULTS: After 6 months of therapy with HD-03/ES, a significant reduction of ALT values from 71.2 + or – 16.3 to 36.4 + or – 6.8 and a significant HBeAg loss (27.4%) and HBV DNA loss (27.4%) was observed. Adverse effects were mild. Genotype D was found in 39 (76.5%) while genotype A was found in 12 (33.5%) cases, respectively. The mean reduction in viral load was observed from log(10) 7.1 + or – 1.8 copies/ml to log(10) 4.4 + or – 1.1 copies/ml. However, a sharp decline in viral load was observed in patients infected with genotype A (log(10) 6.8 + or – 2.5 to log(10) 4.9 + or – 1.8; P < 0.01) compared to genotype D (log(10) 7.0 + or – 2.6 to log(10) 5.9 + or – 3.5; P = 0.074). CONCLUSION: The study had shown that majority of the patients of chronic HBV related liver disease had genotype D. In additional, the molecule HD03/ES had a better therapeutic capability of lowering the HBV viral load in patients with genotype A, which needs to be validated in larger studies. PMID: 19800917 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

More here: 
HD-03/ES: a promising herbal drug for HBV antiviral therapy.

No Comments »

Related Articles Impact of Donor High-Risk Social Behaviors on Recipient Survival in Cardiac Transplantation. Transplantation. 2010 Jan 19; Authors: Xu DS, Hartman D, Ludrosky K, Campbell J, Starling RC, Taylor DO, Smedira NG, Gonzalez-Stawinski GV OBJECTIVE.: To investigate the impact of cardiac donor participation in high-risk social behaviors (HRSBs) on recipient survival. METHODS.: Retrospective chart review queried cardiac transplantations performed at our institution from August 1994 to November 2007 involving donors known to have engaged in HRSBs. Kaplan-Meier methodology was used to analyze survival rates, and a Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to determine the impact of donor HRSBs on survival. RESULTS.: We identified 143 donors with social histories containing the following HRSBs: incarceration (n=69), unprofessional tattoos or piercings (n=44), alternative lifestyle practice (n=11), cocaine use (n=60), heroin smoking (n=6), marijuana use (n=79), oral narcotic abuse (n=20), and intravenous drug use (n=21). At the time of donation, viral screens detected 10 donors who were hepatitis B virus (HBV) positive, 11 donors who were hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive, and no donors who were positive for the HIV. One-year and 5-year survival were 92.2% and 84.4%, respectively. Cox regression analysis found only donor HCV infection to be associated with poorer recipient survival (P=0.14). CONCLUSION.: Using cardiac allografts from high-risk donors who are serologically negative for viruses does not seem to impact recipient survival. There is a considerable risk for transmission of HBV and HCV when these are detected by pretransplant screens. However, if pretransplant screening does not discover donor HBV, HCV, or HIV infection, it is unlikely that subclinical disease transmission will occur. PMID: 20090571 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Continued here: 
Impact of Donor High-Risk Social Behaviors on Recipient Survival in Cardiac Transplantation.

No Comments »

Medical Care of Hepatitis B among Asian American Populations: Perspectives from Three Provider Groups. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Jan 5; Authors: Hwang JP, Roundtree AK, Engebretson JC, Suarez-Almazor ME BACKGROUND: Physicians can play a significant role in helping to decrease the hepatitis B virus (HBV) burden among Asian Americans. Few studies have described knowledge and practice patterns in the medical community among different provider types regarding HBV and liver cancer. OBJECTIVE: Our study explores the HBV beliefs, attitudes and practice patterns of medical providers serving Asian American communities. DESIGN: We conducted three focus groups with primary care providers, liver specialists, and other providers predominantly serving Asian American community. We asked about practices and barriers to appropriate medical care and outreach. PARTICIPANTS: We moderated three focus groups with 23 participants, 18 of whom completed and returned demographic surveys. Twelve were of Asian ethnicity and 13 spoke English as a second language. Only eight screened at least half of their patients, most (72%) using the hepatitis B surface antigen test. APPROACH: We used grounded theory methods to analyze focus group transcripts. RESULTS: Participants frequently discussed cultural and financial barriers to hepatitis care. They admitted reluctance to screen for HBV because patients might be unwilling or unable to afford treatment. Cultural differences were discussed most by primary care providers; best methods of outreach were discussed most by liver specialists; and alternative medicine was discussed most by acupuncturists and other providers. CONCLUSIONS: More resources are needed to lower financial barriers complicating HBV care and encourage providing guideline-recommended screenings. Other providers can help promote HBV screening and increase community and cultural awareness. PMID: 20049549 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Read the rest here:
Medical Care of Hepatitis B among Asian American Populations: Perspectives from Three Provider Groups.

No Comments »