RYR study

[Guest guest]

Here is the link that I was looking for that directly compared the first items.

The Mayo clinic did this one. Mind you that as a result of the study the tested

product mfg was forced to then remove the RYR, as the FDA, was claiming that RYR

was being used as a drug. Enjoy. Here is a copy of label showing no more RYR.

http://www.n3inc.com/pdf_labels/Res-Q_LDLx2Niacin.pdf

The RYR study is found here at

 

http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/83/7/758.full.pdf

 

Michael W. Bowser, DC, LAc

 

Chinese Medicine

 

Tue, 12 May 2009 21:47:05 +0100

Herbal Hypocholesterolaemics and Antidepressants v conventional

drugs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi All, & John,

 

 

 

John wrote:> Are there studies done on (1) conventional cholesterol-lowering

meds vs. red yeast rice (naturally occuring statins) or Shanzha? (2) How about

conventional anti-depressants vs. xiao yao san or gan mai da zao tang?

 

 

 

I had not time to check Medline on question (1), but there are some such trials:

 

 

 

Gheith O, Sheashaa H, Abdelsalam M, Shoeir Z, Sobh M. Efficacy and safety of

Monascus purpureus Went rice in children and young adults with secondary

hyperlipidemia: a preliminary report. Eur J Intern Med. 2009 May;20(3):e57-61.

Epub 2008 Nov 25. Nephrology Unit, Urology and Nephrology Center, Mansoura

University, Mansoura, Egypt. Ogheith BACKGROUNDS/AIMS: Nephrotic

dyslipidemia is a risk factor for development of systemic atherosclerosis; also

it may aggravate glomerulosclerosis and enhance progression of glomerular

disease. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of Monascus purpureus Went

rice vs. fluvastatin therapy in the management of nephrotic dyslipidemia.

METHODS: Seventy-two patients with idiopathic persistent nephrotic syndrome with

secondary dyslipidemia were included. They were randomly allocated into 3 - age

and sex - matched groups. The first group comprised of 20 cases and were given

Monascus purpureus Went rice, second group comprised 30 cases were given

fluvastatin. The remaining 22 received no anti-dyslipidemic therapy and

constituted a control group. All of these patients were subjected to thorough

laboratory investigations including renal function tests, lipogram and

neurological assessment. RESULTS: Our results showed that both fluvastatin and

Monascus purpureus Went rice were well-tolerated with no significant side

effects. Both of them significantly reduced cholesterol after 6 months and 1

year. In comparison to baseline values, fluvastatin achieved a significant and

progressive reduction of serum cholesterol by 35%, 38% and 42% at 3 months, 6

months and after 1 year respectively (p<0.001). Similar reductions were observed

in the Monascus purpureus Went rice group. After one year we observed that serum

cholesterol was significantly lower in statin and Monascus purpureus Went rice

groups compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Monascus purpureus Went rice

is safe, effective cholesterol lowering agent for nephrotic dyslipidemia both in

adults and children. PMID: 19393480 [PubMed - in process]

 

 

 

Kumari HP, Naidu KA, Vishwanatha S, Narasimhamurthy K, Vijayalakshmi G. Safety

evaluation of Monascus purpureus red mould rice in albino rats. Food Chem

Toxicol. 2009 Apr 30. [Epub ahead of print]. Dept of Food Microbiology, Central

Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore 570 020, India. Monascus purpureus

MTCC 410-fermented rice (red mould rice) is one of the food supplements to lower

blood-lipid levels and monacolins have been proven to be the main active

constituents in red mould rice (RMR). In this study, we have assessed the safety

of RMR by conducting toxicological studies in albino rats. Acute and sub-chronic

toxicity studies were conducted on both sexes of albino rats. Feeding acute

doses of RMR at 0.5, 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 g/kg body weight to rats did not cause any

symptoms of toxicity or mortality. Similarly, dietary feeding of RMR at 2.0,

4.0, 8.0 and 12.0% level (w/w) for 14 weeks did not produce any significant

changes in food intake or gain in body weight of the experimental rats compared

to control rats. There were no significant differences in the relative weight of

vital organs, hematological parameters, macroscopic and microscopic changes in

vital organs and serum clinical enzyme levels between the experimental and

control groups. Moreover, the rats fed with RMR showed a significant reduction

in cholesterol and triglyceride levels in both serum and liver. The results

showed that toxicity studies with RMR of M. purpureus did not cause any toxic

effects in albino rats. PMID: 19410627 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

 

 

 

Grieco A, Miele L, Pompili M, Biolato M, Vecchio FM, Grattagliano I, Gasbarrini

G. Acute hepatitis caused by a natural lipid-lowering product: when

" alternative " medicine is no " alternative " at all. J Hepatol. 2009

Jun;50(6):1273-7. Epub 2009 Mar 31. Institute of Internal Medicine, Catholic

University of Rome, 8 Largo A. Gemelli, 00168 Rome, Italy. agrieco

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The general public's growing mistrust of the pharmaceutical

industry and its perception of the lack of adverse effects of " natural " therapy

have lead to the increasing use of " alternative drugs " for hypercholesterolemia.

METHODS: A sixty-three year old woman presented with severe hypertransaminasemia

that had developed progressively over a few weeks. For six months she had been

taking Equisterol, an over-the-counter lipid-lowering product containing

guggulsterol and red yeast rice extract. The product had been prescribed for

hypercholesterolemia because the patient had developed hepatotoxicity while on

lovastatin. RESULTS: Liver biopsy revealed severe lobular necroinflammatory

changes with an eosinophilic infiltrate. The episode was regarded as an adverse

drug reaction after exclusion of other possible causes of acute liver disease

and the prompt normalization of liver function tests after Equisterol had been

discontinued. Red yeast rice extract's cholesterol-lowering properties are

largely due to fungal metabolites known as monacolins, one of which--monacolin

K--is identical to lovastatin. CONCLUSIONS: The choice of an alternative

medicine approach in this case subjected the patient to " re-challenge " with the

official medicine agent that had previously caused mild hepatotoxicity.

Physicians should keep in mind that " alternative " medicine is not always the

safest alternative and sometimes it is not even " alternative. " PMID: 19398239

[PubMed - in process]

 

 

 

Re Question (2), several studies have compared herbal antidepressants v

conventional antidepressants, like SSRIs. Here are some:

 

 

 

Anghelescu IG, Kohnen R, Szegedi A, Klement S, Kieser M. Comparison of Hypericum

extract WS 5570 and paroxetine in ongoing treatment after recovery from an

episode of moderate to severe depression: results from a randomized multicenter

study. Pharmacopsychiatry. 2006 Nov;39(6):213-9. Dept of Psychiatry and

Psychotherapy, Charité- Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin,

Berlin, Germany. OBJECTIVE: To test and compare the efficacy and safety of

Hypericum extract WS 5570 to paroxetine, a potent SSRI, in patients suffering

from moderate or severe depression according to DSM-IV criteria. METHODS: In a

multicenter, randomized, double-blind phase III study, the changes in moderate

to severe major depression DSM-IV; 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale

(HAM-D total>or=22) after an acute treatment with Hypericum extract WS 5570 or

paroxetine were analyzed in a 16-week continuation phase for relapse prevention.

Patients with a HAM-D total score decrease of>or=50% during the 6 weeks of acute

treatment were asked to continue the treatment for another 4 months. One-hundred

and thirty-three adult out-patients who received maintenance doses of 900 (n=33)

or 1800 mg/d (n=38) of WS 5570 and 20 (n=28) or 40 mg/d (n=34) of paroxetine,

respectively, were included. The relevant dosage was already fixed during the

acute treatment. RESULTS: Between baseline of the acute phase and end of

continuation treatment the HAM-D total score decreased from 25.3+/-2.5

(mean+/-SD) to 4.3+/-6.2 points for WS 5570 and from 25.3+/-2.6 to 5.2+/-5.5

points for paroxetine (p=0.49, two-sided t-test; median relative decrease: 92.0

and 85.5%, respectively). During maintenance treatment alone (day 154-day 42),

61.6% of the patients randomized to WS 5570 and 54.6% treated with paroxetine

showed an additional reduction (p=0.59) with respect to the HAM-D total score.

Remission (HAM-D endpoint total score below 8) occurred in 81.6% (31 patients)

of the patients for WS 5570 and in 71.4% (30 patients) for paroxetine (p=0.29).

Three patients in the WS 5570 group and 2 patients in the paroxetine group

showed a HAM-D increase>5 points during continuation treatment. In the

continuation phase there were 0.006 adverse events per day of exposure for WS

5570 and 0.007 events for paroxetine. CONCLUSION: This study showed that WS 5570

and paroxetine were similarly effective in preventing relapse in a continuation

treatment after recovery from an episode of moderate to severe depression and

point therefore to an important alternative treatment option for long-term

relapse-prevention. PMID: 17124643 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

 

 

Wei XH, Cheng XM, Shen JS, Wang ZT. Antidepressant effect of Yueju-Wan ethanol

extract and its fractions in mice models of despair. J Ethnopharmacol. 2008 May

8;117(2):339-44. Epub 2008 Feb 12. Shanghai R & D Center for Standardization of

Traditional , Shanghai 201203, China. xhweixh AIM OF

THE STUDY: Yueju-Wan (YJ), a traditional Chinese medicinal formula, is commonly

used for the treatment of depression-related syndromes in China. This study was

conducted to evaluate the antidepressant activity of YJ ethanol extract (YJ-E)

and its four different fractions, the petroleum ether fraction (YJ-EA), ethyl

acetate fraction (YJ-EB), n-butanol fraction (YJ-EC) and final aqueous fraction

(YJ-ED). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two experimental despair animal models: the mice

tail suspension test (TST) and the mice forced swimming test (FST) were used to

evaluate the antidepressant activity of YJ-E and its fractions. These extracts

or fractions were administered orally for 7 days, while the parallel positive

control was given at the same time using fluoxetine hydrochloride (FLU) in TST

and imipramine hydrochloride (IMI) in FST respectively. RESULTS: YJ-E high dose

(YJ-E2), YJ-EA, YJ-EC and the positive control groups could decrease the

duration of immobility in the TST and FST and have no significant changes in

locomotor activity. YJ-E low dose (YJ-E1), YJ-EB, YJ-ED and the vehicle solvent

(VEH) control group have no obvious effect on these same tests. CONCLUSIONS: In

these despair animal models, YJ ethanol extract, the petroleum ether fraction

and n-butanol fraction show potent antidepressant effects. The petroleum ether

fraction and n-butanol fraction appear to be the active fractions of YJ-E. PMID:

18343064 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

 

 

Li LT, Wang SH, Ge HY, Chen J, Yue SW, Yu M. The beneficial effects of the

herbal medicine Free and Easy Wanderer Plus (FEWP) and fluoxetine on post-stroke

depression. J Altern Complement Med. 2008 Sep;14(7):841-6. Comment in: J Altern

Complement Med. 2008 Sep;14(7):795-6. Dept of Rehabilitation, Qilu Hospital of

Shandong Univ, Jinan, China. OBJECTIVES: Depression occurs frequently in

post-stroke patients and appears to be associated with impairment of their

rehabilitation and functional recovery. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy

and tolerability of the herbal drug, Free and Easy Wanderer Plus (FEWP), in

patients affected by post-stroke depression (PSD). METHODS: One hundred fifty

(150) moderately to severely depressed patients as determined by a score>20 on

the Hamilton Depression Scale (HDS) after a single ischemic or hemorrhagic

stroke were randomly divided into the FEWP group (n = 60), the fluoxetine group

(n = 60), and the placebo group (n = 30). The FEWP, fluoxetine, and placebo were

administered to the patients over a period of 8 weeks. Depression was evaluated

by HDS and the Barthel Index (BI) before, during, and after the treatment.

RESULTS: Significantly higher clinical response rates were observed in both the

FEWP and fluoxetine groups compared to the placebo group (60% and 65.5% versus

21.4%, chi(2) = 15.9, p < 0.01) and there was no difference in the response

rates between the FEWP group and the fluoxetine group at the end of this study

(60% versus 65.5%, chi(2) = 0.38, p> 0.05). Compared to fluoxetine, FEWP

produced significantly greater improvement in depression at week 2 (15% versus

3.3%, chi(2) = 4.9, p < 0.05). Furthermore, FEWP produced significantly greater

improvement in the activities of daily living (ADL) than fluoxetine at the end

of this trial (BI: 43.8 +/- 5.6 versus 40.7 +/- 3.7, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS:

FEWP showed good efficacy, safety, and tolerability in PSD patients. We conclude

that FEWP is well tolerated and may be a useful therapeutic option in patients

with PSD. PMID: 18721085 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

 

 

Increasing clinical evidence for the effectiveness of herbal antidepressants has

led to investigations at the molecular level. Using two-dimensional gel

electrophoresis, this study investigated similarities in protein expression

between clomipramine, St John’s wort and a Chinese herbal formula, xiao-yao-san,

often used in mood disorder treatment. HT22 cells, derived from a mouse

hippocampal cell line, were treated for 24 h, and protein expression was

compared with that of the untreated cells (n = 4/group). 43 protein spots were

found to be significantly differentially expressed (p<.05) in more than one of

the treatment groups. 29 of these were identified using mass spectrometry. The

most affected proteins were those involved in the cytoskeleton and energy

metabolism, and an up-regulation of vimentin by all 3 treatments was confirmed

by Western blotting. This study provides preliminary evidence for multiple

common molecular targets between conventional and alternative antidepressants

that appear to affect neuronal plasticity collectively. For details, see:

http://www.icmart.org/index.php?id=42,0,0,1,0,0

 

 

 

Subhuti Dharmananda’s SSRI WITHDRAWAL PROCEDURE - Getting Off Antidepressants

May Be Made Easier, see: http://www.itmonline.org/arts/ssri.htm

 

 

 

Also see: Blue Poppy Articles on Psychiatry - Jing Shen Ke - at:

http://tinyurl.com/pqdyno

 

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_______________

Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don’t worry about storage limits.

http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/Storage?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_St\

orage1_052009