Pharmacological research : the official journal of the Italian Pharmacological Society
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Review Meta Analysis
Efficacy and safety of HIF prolyl-hydroxylase inhibitor vs epoetin and darbepoetin for anemia in chronic kidney disease patients not undergoing dialysis: A network meta-analysis.
Hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors (HIF-PHIs) are a new class of oral medicines being developed for the treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of HIF-PHI vs epoetin and darbepoetin in CKD patients with anemia not undergoing dialysis. The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and clinicaltrials.gov databases were searched from inception to October 2019 for randomized controlled trials investigating different agents (six HIF-PHIs, epoetin, darbepoetin, and placebo) for treating CKD patients with anemia that did not undergo dialysis. ⋯ No differences were observed in the all-cause mortality among the drugs. In conclusion, these HIF-PHIs are effective and relatively tolerant for treating anemia patients with CKD not undergoing dialysis. Further research should consider the limitations of our study to evaluate the value of these HIF-PHIs in clinical settings.
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Review
Biochemical indicators of coronavirus disease 2019 exacerbation and the clinical implications.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has sparked a global pandemic, affecting more than 4 million people worldwide. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can cause acute lung injury (ALI) and even acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS); with a fatality of 7.0 %. ⋯ We recommend using both IL-10 and IL-6 as the indicators of cytokine storm, and monitoring the elevation of procalcitonin (PCT) as an alert for initiating antibacterial agents. Understanding the dynamic progression of SARS-CoV-2 infection is crucial to determine an effective treatment strategy to reduce the rising mortality of this global pandemic.
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Central post-stroke pain (CPSP) is chronic neuropathic pain due to a lesion or dysfunction of the central nervous system following cerebrovascular insult. This syndrome is characterized by chronic somatosensory abnormalities including spontaneous pain, hyperalgesia and allodynia, which localize to body areas corresponding to the injured brain region. However, despite its potential to impair activities of daily life and cause mood disorders after stroke, it is probably the least recognized complication of stroke. ⋯ Moreover, mounting evidence has revealed that EETs exert anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting the expression of vascular adhesion molecules, activating NFκB, inflammatory cytokines secretion and COX-2 gene induction. The present review focuses on the extensive evidence supporting the potential of EETs to be a multi-functional therapeutic approach for CPSP. Additionally, the role of EETs in the crosstalk between anti-CPSP and the comorbid mood disorder is reviewed herein.