Many foods and food components boost the immune system, but little data are available regarding the mechanisms by which they do. Bacterial strains have disparate effects in stimulating the immune system. In dendritic cells, the gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli upregulates proinflammatory cytokines, whereas gram-positive Lactobacillus acidophilus induces a robust interferon (IFN)-β respon...

OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of high-dose Astragalus injection and cyclophosphamide (CTX) on infection, urine protein and immune function of the patients with lupus nephritis. METHODS Forty-three patients diagnosed as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) complicated by kidney damage and qi-deficiency syndrome were randomly divided into trial group (n=23) and control group (n=20). Patients in...

PURPOSE Systemic treatments for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer have low efficacy and high toxicity. Some Chinese herbal medicines have been reported to increase chemotherapy efficacy and reduce toxicity. In particular, Astragalus has been shown to have immunologic benefits by stimulating macrophage and natural killer cell activity and inhibiting T-helper cell type 2 cytokines. Many publish...

the taxonomic and phylogenetic status of several taxa previously recognized as subspecies inastragalus sect. anthylloidei is re-assessed based on dna sequences and morphologicalfeatures. we focused on astragalus ebenoides (subsp. ebenoides and subsp. naghadehensis),astragalus murinus (subsp. murins and subsp. bornmuelleri), astragalus remotiflorus (subsp.remotiflorus and subsp. melanogramma), a...

To evaluate the presence of rickettsial agents in hippoboscid flies with molecular methods, 81 sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus) were collected from 23 sheep, 144 deer keds (Lipoptena cervi) were caught in the environment, and a further 463 and 59 individuals of the latter species were obtained from fresh carcasses of 29 red deer and 17 roe deer, respectively. DNA was extracted individually or in ...

During work on the control of human pediculosis Craufurd-Benson & Macleod found that body lice, which normally have a high resistance to derris, were rapidly killed when high-boiling tar acids were added to the insecticide. A similar effect was observed in experiments with the sheep ked, Melophagus ovinus, when mixtures of cresylic acid and diphenylamine were applied either as a dusting powder ...

BACKGROUND Chinese herbal injections (CHIs) have been proven beneficial to patients with gastric cancer for improving clinical efficacy and relieving adverse reactions (ADRs) of chemotherapy. A network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted in this study to assess the comparative efficacy and safety of CHIs combined with FOLFOX regimen for treating gastric cancer. RESULTS A total of 2316 records w...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the antioxidant activities of different chemical constituents from Astragalus mongholicus Bunge and their protection against xanthine (XA)/xanthine oxidase (XO)-induced toxicity in PC12 cells. METHODS The compounds of Astragalus mongholicus Bunge were isolated by chromatography and the structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral data interpretation. Their antioxi...

Astragalus roots from Astragalus membranaceus Bunge or Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus (Bunge) Hsiao are among the most popular traditional medicinal plants due to their diverse therapeutic uses based on their tonic, antinephritic, immunostimulant, hepatoprotectant, diuretic, antidiabetic, analgesic, expectorant and sedative properties. Currently, the herb is produced or cultivated in ...