TNF and systemic inflammatory response syndrome: Indeed, various other studies have demonstrated that HF has beneficial effects that are presumably mediated by modulation of plasma/serum concentrations of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in animal models of endotoxin-induced lung injury [15], severe acute pancreatitis [16], and septic shock [17], and in clinical studies of patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome/multiple organ dysfunction syndrome [18].