ObjectiveTo assess the clinical effectiveness and safety of modified ‘Huoxue Shugan’ (HXSG) formulas used as Chinese herbal medicine in treating patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and depression.MethodsA systematic literature search of articles up to March 2018 will be performed in the following electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journals Database, Chinese Biomedical Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System and Wanfang Database. Inclusion criteria are as follows: randomised controlled trials of modified HXSG formulas in patients with CHD and depression. The primary outcome measures will be CHD-related clinical evaluation (frequency of acute angina, severity of angina pectoris, ECG changes, dose of nitroglycerin) and the scores or amount of reduction in scales measuring depression (ie, the Hamilton Depression Scale or other widely used depression scales). The safety outcome measures will be adverse events, liver and kidney function. RevMan V.5.3 software will be used for data synthesis, sensitivity analyses, subgroup analyses and risk of bias assessment. A funnel plot will be developed to evaluate reporting bias. Stata V.12.0 will be used for meta-regression and Egger tests. We will use the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system to assess the quality of evidence.Ethics and disseminationThis systematic review does not require ethics approval and will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42018089641.

Background:Stable angina pectoris (SAP) is one of the most common symptoms of coronary heart disease. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been used to treat SAP increasingly due to its less side effects. The subject of this study is to explore the effectiveness and safety of Gualou Xiebai Banxia (GLXBBX) decoction as a kind of CHM for SAP.Methods:A systematic literature search for articles up to June 2018 will be performed in following electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journals Database, Chinese Biomedical Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed), and Wanfang Database. Inclusion criteria are randomized controlled trials of modified GLXBBX decoction applied on patients with SAP. The primary outcome measures will be coronary heart disease-related clinical evaluation (frequency of acute attack angina, severity of angina pectoris, electrocardiographic changes, and amount of nitroglycerin) and adverse events. RevMan 5.3 software will be used for data synthesis, sensitivity analysis, metaregression, subgroup analysis, and risk of bias assessment. A funnel plot will be developed to evaluate reporting bias and Egger tests will be used to assess funnel plot symmetries. We will use the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system to assess the quality of evidence.Results:This systematic review study will provide an evidence of GLXBBX decoction for SAP.Conclusion:The study will give an explicit evidence to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of GLXBBX decoction for SAP.Ethics and dissemination:This systematic review does not require ethics approval and will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.PROSPERO registration number:CRD 42018094538.

In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyse the diversity and composition of fungal and bacterial communities in continuous cropping soil of Chinese chives. The soil nutrient was also measured to explore the rationality of current fertilization management. These results can provide a basis for the prevention and control of the continuous cropping obstacles of Chinese chives and further scientific management. Soil samples from fields continuously cropped with Chinese chives for one year, three years, and five years were collected and analysed. The results showed that the nutrient content of TP, AP, AK and TK increased significantly with increasing continuous cropping years. Short-term continuous cropping soil nutrients have not deteriorated. Alpha-diversity analysis showed that significant differences were not found in the diversity of the fungal and bacterial community among different years. Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Mortierellomycota were the three most dominant fungal phyla. Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria were the dominant bacterial phyla. Continuous cropping makes Fusarium increase, and the beneficial bacteria Pseudomonas decreased significantly. According to the correlation heat map analysis of environmental factors, excessive phosphorus may lead to the increase of Fusarium, potassium may promote the proliferation of beneficial bacteria in the continuous cropping process, and it is necessary to regulate the application of phosphate and potassium fertilizer.

BackgroundCorydalis Rhizoma(CR) showed a high efficacy for coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the interaction between the active ingredients of CR and the targets of CHD has not been unequivocally explained in previous researches. To study the active components and potential targets of Corydalis Rhizoma and to determine the mechanism underlying the exact effect of Corydalis Rhizoma on coronary heart disease, a method of network pharmacology was used.Materials and MethodsThe active components of CR and targets corresponding to each component were scanned out from Traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP), and target genes of CHD were searched on GeneCards database and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man(OMIM) database. The active components and common targets of CR and CHD were used to build the “CR-CHD” network through Cytoscape (version 3.2.1) software as well as protein-protein interaction(PPI) network on String database. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis was executed by clusterProfiler(version 3.8) and DOSE(version 3.6) package on R platform.Results49 active ingredients and 394 relevant targets of CR and the 7173 CHD-related genes were retrieved. 40 common genes were selected for subsequent analysis. Crucial biological processes and pathways were obtained and analyzed, including DNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific, RNA polymerase II transcription factor binding, kinase regulator activity, ubiquitin-like protein ligase binding, fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, TNF signaling pathway, apoptosis, MAPK signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.ConclusionsOverall, CR could alleviate CHD through the mechanisms predicted by network pharmacology, laying the foundation for future development of new drugs from traditional Chinese medicine on CHD.

Background. Corydalis Rhizoma(CR) showed a high efficacy for coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the interaction between the active ingredients of CR and the targets of CHD has not been unequivocally explained in previous researches. To study the active components and potential targets of Corydalis Rhizoma and to determine the mechanism underlying the exact effect of Corydalis Rhizoma on coronary heart disease, a method of network pharmacology was used. Materials and Methods. The active components of CR and targets corresponding to each component were scanned out from Traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP), and target genes of CHD were searched on GeneCards database and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man(OMIM) database. The active components and common targets of CR and CHD were used to build the “CR-CHD” network through Cytoscape (version 3.2.1) software as well as protein-protein interaction(PPI) network on String database. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis was executed by clusterProfiler(version 3.8) and DOSE(version 3.6) package on R platform. Results. 49 active ingredients and 394 relevant targets of CR and the 7173 CHD-related genes were retrieved. 40 common genes were selected for subsequent analysis. Crucial biological processes and pathways were obtained and analyzed, including DNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific, RNA polymerase II transcription factor binding, kinase regulator activity, ubiquitin-like protein ligase binding, fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, TNF signaling pathway, apoptosis, MAPK signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Conclusions. Overall, CR could alleviate CHD through the mechanisms predicted by network pharmacology, laying the foundation for future development of new drugs from traditional Chinese medicine on CHD.