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Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are susceptible to changes in zinc homeostasis through anorexia and dietary restrictions, as well as hemodialysis (HD). Changes in zinc homeostasis might predispose CKD and HD patients to specific adverse effects, including erythropoietin-resistant anemia, oxidative stress, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease. Because serum zinc levels are rarely measured in CKD and HD patients, zinc supplementations do not represent a routine therapy for CKD and dialysis patients. Therefore, in this meta-analysis, we aimed to assess serum zinc levels in CKD and HD patients compared with healthy controls (HC). In addition, we investigated whether HD affects serum zinc levels by comparing serum zinc levels in HD versus CKD patients and comparing serum zinc pre- versus post-HD.A comprehensive search of databases was conducted to identify either observational studies or randomized trials that assessed serum zinc levels in either CKD and/or HD patients in comparison to HC. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis.Our meta-analysis included 42 studies with a total of 4,161 participants, of whom 460 were CKD patients, 2,047 were HD patients, and 1,654 were HCs. Both CKD and HD patients showed lower serum zinc levels compared with HC (mean difference = -22.86 μg/dL, 95% CI -33.25 to -12.46; mean difference = -13.64 μg/dL, 95% CI -21.47 to -53.80, respectively). CKD and HD patients showed no significant difference in serum zinc levels (mean difference = 15.39, 95% CI -8.91 to 39.68). Pre-HD serum zinc levels were significantly lower than those post-HD (mean difference = -7.51 μg/dL, 95% CI -14.24 to -0.78).In the current study, the serum zinc levels were lower in CKD and HD patients compared to HCs and appears to be more common than reported in daily clinical practice. It may be beneficial to assess serum zinc levels in CKD and HD patients. More research on zinc in kidney disease is encouraged.

Background and objective There is currently no FDA-approved medical therapy for delayed graft function (DGF). Dexmedetomidine (DEX) has multiple reno-protective effects preventing ischemic reperfusion injury, DGF, and acute kidney injury. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the reno-protective effects of perioperative DEX during renal transplantation. Methods A systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from WOS, SCOPUS, EMBASE, PubMed, and CENTRAL until June 8th, 2022. We used the risk ratio (RR) for dichotomous outcomes and the mean difference for continuous outcomes; both presented with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). We registered our protocol in PROSPERO with ID: CRD42022338898. Results We included four RCTs with 339 patients. Pooled risk ratio found no difference between DEX and placebo in reducing DGF (RR: 0.58 with 95% CI [0.34, 1.01], p = 0.05) and acute rejection (RR: 0.88 with 95% CI [0.52, 1.49], p = 0.63). However, DEX improved short-term creatinine on day 1 (MD: − 0.76 with 95% CI [− 1.23, − 0.3], p = 0.001) and day 2 (MD: − 0.28 with 95% CI [− 0.5, − 0.07], p = 0.01); and blood urea nitrogen on day 2 (MD: − 10.16 with 95% CI [− 17.21, − 3.10], p = 0.005) and day 3 (MD: − 6.72 with 95% CI [− 12.85, − 0.58], p = 0.03). Conclusion Although there is no difference between DEX and placebo regarding reducing DGF and acute rejection after kidney transplantation, there may be some evidence that it has reno-protective benefits because we found statistically significant improvement in the short-term serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels. More trials are required to investigate the long-term reno-protective effects of DEX.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a gastrointestinal disorder affecting 7–12% of the population, is characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, and alternating bowel patterns. Data on risk and protective influences have yielded conflicting evidence on the effects of alternative interventions, such as vitamin D. This review focuses on the effects of vitamin D on IBS. A systematic review and meta-analysis considered all articles published until 4 April 2022. The search for randomized controlled trials assessing vitamin D efficacy in IBS with outcomes, primary (Irritable Bowel Severity Scoring System (IBS-SSS)) and secondary (IBS quality of life (IBS-QoL) and serum level of calcifediol (25(OH)D)), was performed on six databases, Google Scholar, Web of Science, SCOPUS, EMBASE, PubMed (MEDLINE), and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. We included six trials with 616 patients. The pooled analysis found no difference between vitamin D and placebo in improving IBS-SSS (MD: −45.82 with 95% CI [−93.62, 1.98], p = 0.06). However, the pooled analysis favored vitamin D over placebo in improving the IBS-Qol (MD: 6.19 with 95% CI [0.35, 12.03], p = 0.04) and serum 25(OH)D (MD: 25.2 with 95% CI [18.41, 31.98], p = 0.00001). Therefore, further clinical trials are required to reach clinically applicable and generalizable findings.

Yoga therapy is being used for vasovagal syncope (VVS). However, there is no sufficient evidence. We aimed to evaluate the effect of yoga as an adjunct to the standard therapy on patients with recurrent VVS.Electronic databases were systematically searched to collect studies assessing the clinical effects of yoga along with guideline-directed treatment in patients with recurrent VVS. The outcomes were the number of VVS attacks and quality of life (QoL) assessment by Syncope Functional Status Questionnaire (SFSQ) scores at 12 months. We used the Mantel- Haenszel random-effects model to calculate the mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). We used The Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for risk of bias assessment.Four studies were included, two RCTs and two observational studies. The total of participants was 309, with a mean age of 36.4 ± 13.5 years. The male participants represented 141 (45.6%) being males. The baseline syncope burden was 3.5 ± 2.38 episodes over 15.6 ± 12.8 months. Yoga therapy significantly reduced the number of episodes of syncope and presyncope compared to the control group (MD -1.86; 95% CI -3.30, -0.43; P = 0.01). Nevertheless, yoga therapy did not show significant improvement in the QoL assessed by SFSQ scores (MD -30.69; 95% CI -62.22,0.83; P = 0.06).Yoga therapy is a useful lifestyle intervention that can reduce the frequency of syncope and presyncope among patients with recurrent VVS. However, higher-quality RCTs are needed to confirm our results.