Rats sniff out pulmonary tuberculosis from sputum: a diagnostic accuracy meta-analysis.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) are trained to identify TB patients by smelling sputum. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the data to see if this novel method is comparable to traditional laboratory screening and detection methods like Ziehl-Neelsen stain-based assays (ZN) and bacterial culture. The search and data processing strategy is registered at PROSPERO (CRD42019123629).

Ultrafiltration is better than diuretic therapy for volume-overloaded acute heart failure patients: a meta-analysis.

Studies on the effectiveness of ultrafiltration (UF) in patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) have led to heterogeneous study outcomes. This meta-analysis aimed to assess the impact of UF therapy in ADHF patients. We searched the medical literature to identify well-designed studies comparing UF with the usual diuretic therapy in this setting.

The quadrivalent HPV vaccine is protective against genital warts: a meta-analysis.

Background: The quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been assumed to give protection against genital warts (GW) as well as cervical cancer. Our main question was whether HPV vaccine has any effects on the prevention of GW reported in randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) and time-trend analyses.

Methods: This meta-analysis was performed according to the PRISMA guidelines using the PICO format.

The combination of hawthorn extract and camphor significantly increases blood pressure: A meta-analysis and systematic review.

Background: A fixed combination of hawthorn and camphor (Korodin Herz-Kreislauf-Tropfen) has been used in the therapy of hypotension for decades. Although its efficacy was evaluated in clinical trials, these studies have not been critically assessed in meta-analyses.

Purpose: To systematically evaluate the efficacy of a fix combination of camphor and hawthorn extract (Korodin) on blood pressure and cognition compared to placebo, in a meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Lactose intolerance but not lactose maldigestion is more frequent in patients with irritable bowel syndrome than in healthy controls: A meta-analysis.

Background And Purpose: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects 10%-20% of the adult population and is characterized by abdominal symptoms without relevant organic disease. There are numerous clinical trials available investigating the relationship between IBS, lactose maldigestion (LM), and lactose intolerance (LI), but there have been no meta-analyses on this topic yet. We aimed to assess the prevalence of LM, objective and subjective (self-reported) LI in IBS patients compared to healthy controls (HC) without IBS.

Short-Course Antibiotic Treatment Is Not Inferior to a Long-Course One in Acute Cholangitis: A Systematic Review.

Aims: Our aim was to summarize the available literature on the effect of short- versus long-course antibiotic therapy on acute cholangitis.

Methods: A systematic review was performed according to the PRISMA Statement. We searched three databases for papers discussing the length of ABT in acute cholangitis.

The Efficacy of Saffron in the Treatment of Mild to Moderate Depression: A Meta-analysis.

Herbal products, especially extracts, have been widely used as first-line treatments for mild to moderate depression. Recently, several randomized, controlled clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of another plant, saffron (), in mild to moderate depression. We have carried out a literature review of currently available published randomized, controlled clinical trials to give an up-to-date evaluation of the efficacy of saffron in mild to moderate depression, compared to placebo or routinely used antidepressants.

Perceived stress correlates with visceral obesity and lipid parameters of the metabolic syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Perceived stress has been proposed as a risk factor of metabolic syndrome. However, correlations between perceived stress and parameters of the metabolic syndrome have not been properly analyzed despite extensive research data on the topic. Our current meta-analysis aimed to examine the mutual association between perceived stress of patients and parameters of metabolic syndrome.

Gender difference in the effects of interleukin-6 on grip strength - a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Aging sarcopenia characterized by low muscle mass with low muscle strength affects men and women differently. The contribution of interleukin-6 (IL-6) to sarcopenia has been suggested based on a negative correlation between plasma IL-6 and muscle function described by some studies. However, no consensus regarding clinically relevant cut-off criteria has been reached.

Therapeutic Whole-Body Hypothermia Reduces Death in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury if the Cooling Index Is Sufficiently High: Meta-Analyses of the Effect of Single Cooling Parameters and Their Integrated Measure.

Therapeutic hypothermia was investigated repeatedly as a tool to improve the outcome of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), but previous clinical trials and meta-analyses found contradictory results. We aimed to determine the effectiveness of therapeutic whole-body hypothermia on the deaths of adult patients with severe TBI by using a novel approach of meta-analysis. We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases from inception to February 2017.

Activity of the Hypothalamic Melanocortin System Decreases in Middle-Aged and Increases in Old Rats.

Appearance of middle-aged obesity and aging anorexia both in humans and rodents suggests a role for regulatory alterations. Hypothalamic melanocortin agonist, α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) produced in the arcuate nucleus (ARC), reduces body weight via inducing hypermetabolism and anorexia mainly through melanocortin 4 receptors (MC4Rs) in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Orexigenic ARC-derived agouti-related protein (AgRP) is an inverse agonist on MC4R in the PVN.

In middle-aged and old obese patients, training intervention reduces leptin level: A meta-analysis.

Background: Leptin is one of the major adipokines in obesity that indicates the severity of fat accumulation. It is also an important etiological factor of consequent cardiometabolic and autoimmune disorders. Aging has been demonstrated to aggravate obesity and to induce leptin resistance and hyperleptinemia.

Body fat of rats of different age groups and nutritional states: assessment by micro-CT and skinfold thickness.

Obesity presents a growing public health problem. Therefore the analysis of body composition is important in clinical practice as well as in animal research models of obesity; hence precise methods for the assessment of body fat would be essential. We aimed to evaluate in vivo abdominal microcomputed tomography scan restricted to the L1-L3 region [micro-CT], a skinfold thickness-based method (STM), and postmortem body composition analysis (PMA) with regard to whole body micro-CT scan in rats.

Age-related changes in central effects of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) suggest a role for this mediator in aging anorexia and cachexia.

Hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) lays downstream to catabolic melanocortins and at least partly mediates their catabolic effects. Age-related changes in the melanocortin system (weak responsiveness in middle-aged and a strong one in old rats) have been shown to contribute to middle-aged obesity and later to aging anorexia and cachexia of old age groups. We hypothesized that catabolic (anorexigenic and hypermetabolic) CRF effects vary with aging similarly to those of melanocortins.

Fever Is Associated with Reduced, Hypothermia with Increased Mortality in Septic Patients: A Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials.

Background: Sepsis is usually accompanied by changes of body temperature (Tb), but whether fever and hypothermia predict mortality equally or differently is not fully clarified. We aimed to find an association between Tb and mortality in septic patients with meta-analysis of clinical trials.

Methods: We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry databases (from inception to February 2016).

Capsaicin and capsiate could be appropriate agents for treatment of obesity: A meta-analysis of human studies.

Consumption of capsaicin or its nonpungent analogues, capsinoids has been reported to affect energy expenditure and fat oxidation, although available data are still controversial. The aim of the present study was to conduct a meta-analysis regarding the effects of these substances on energy expenditure and respiratory quotient, with special emphasis on the role of body mass index (BMI) of the participants. Medical databases were systematically searched for papers.

In Obesity, HPA Axis Activity Does Not Increase with BMI, but Declines with Aging: A Meta-Analysis of Clinical Studies.

Background: Obesity is one of the major public health challenges worldwide. It involves numerous endocrine disorders as etiological factors or as complications. Previous studies strongly suggested the involvement of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity in obesity, however, to date, no consistent trend in obesity-associated alterations of the HPA axis has been identified.

Acute central effects of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) on energy balance: Effects of age and gender.

Previously demonstrated age-related changes in the catabolic melanocortin system that may contribute to middle-aged obesity and aging anorexia, raise the question of the potential involvement of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in these phenomena, as this catabolic hypothalamic mediator acts downstream to melanocortins. Catabolic effects of CRF were shown to be mediated by both CRF1 (hypermetabolism) and CRF2 (anorexia) receptors. To test the potential role of CRF in age-related obesity and aging anorexia, we investigated acute central effects of the peptide on energy balance in male and female rats during the course of aging.

Acute central effects of alarin on the regulation on energy homeostasis.

Hypothalamic neuropeptides influence the main components of energy balance: metabolic rate, food intake, body weight as well as body temperature, by exerting either an overall anabolic or catabolic effect. The contribution of alarin, the most recently discovered member of the galanin peptide family to the regulation of energy metabolism has been suggested. Our aim was to analyze the complex thermoregulatory and food intake-related effects of alarin in rats.

Regulatory Alterations of Energy Homeostasis in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR).

Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) have high sympathetic tone and progressive hypertension. Chronic calorie-restriction prevents hypertension. Their food intake (FI) and body weight are lower than in normotensive (NT) controls, even on a high-fat diet, suggesting a dysregulation of energy homeostasis.

Thermoregulatory effect of alarin, a new member of the galanin peptide family.

In the background of obesity, among other factors, regulatory alterations in energy balance affecting peptide systems may also be assumed. Regulation of energy balance does not only involve maintenance of body weight but also that of metabolic rate and core temperature. The contribution of alarin, a new member of the potentially orexigenic galanin peptide family, to the regulation of energy metabolism has been recently suggested.

Age versus nutritional state in the development of central leptin resistance.

Leptin, a catabolic adiposity signal acts in the hypothalamus via suppressing food intake and inducing hypermetabolism. Age and obesity are accompanied by leptin resistance. The present study aimed to clarify which components of the catabolic leptin effects are influenced most strongly by aging and which ones by nutritional state-induced alterations in body composition.