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Background. Yunnan Baiyao (YNBY) is a traditional Chinese medicine used to treat bleeding. We evaluated the efficacy of YNBY plus conventional pharmaceutical treatment (CPT) versus CPT alone in patients with hemoptysis. Methods. A total of eight electronic databases were searched. The outcomes in the included studies were effective rate, hemoptysis volume, duration of hemoptysis and hospitalization, number of cases requiring endotracheal intubation, and adverse events (AEs). The studies were used to calculate risk ratios (RRs) or mean differences (MDs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Risk of bias for included trials was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results. Thirteen RCTs were analyzed consisting of a total of 1379 patients. Treatment with YNBY + CPT had a greater effective rate than CPT alone (RR: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.13 to 1.23; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 0%), a lower hemoptysis volume (MD: −107.37; 95% CI: −121.69 to −93.06; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 0%), a shorter duration of hemoptysis (MD: −2.70; 95% CI: −2.96 to 2.43; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 0%) and hospitalization (MD: −2.38; 95% CI: −2.93 to −1.83; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 9%), and a reduction in the incidence of AEs (RR: 0.34; 95% CI: 0.23 to 0.51; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 0%). YNBY + CPT treatment provided no significant difference in reducing the number of cases requiring endotracheal intubation compared to CPT alone (RR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.15 to 1.60; P = 0.24 ; I2 = 0%). Conclusion. YNBY plus CPT showed better efficacy than CPT for patients with hemoptysis. Our study provides medical evidence for the efficacy and safety of YNBY for hemoptysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) has gradually been promoted in clinical practice to lower the risk of cardiovascular surgery and postoperative complications. We investigated the role of IPC on vascular endothelial function and the relationship between IPC, flow-mediated dilation (FMD), and brachial artery diameter (BAD). Methods. Systematic searches were conducted in PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Scopus databases from their inception to March 20, 2020. This research included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with adults, and the values of FMD and BAD were considered as the primary outcomes. Ten studies comprising 292 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Results. Regarding FMD, we observed beneficial effects of IPC on endothelial function (standardized mean difference (SMD): 1.82; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64, 3.01; p < 0.001 ; I2 = 89.9%). However, the available evidence did not indicate that IPC affected BAD (SMD: 0.08; 95% CI: −0.03, 0.18; p > 0.05 ; I2 = 76.5%). Conclusions. Our meta-analysis indicated a significant effect of IPC on the endothelial function of the blood vessels, affecting FMD but not BAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]