Objective To investigate the relationship between disease severity and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) index values of anti-desmoglein (Dsg) 1 and-Dsg3 antibodies in 56 patients with pemphigus,and to characterize fluctuations in anti-Dsg1 and-Dsg3 antibodies in different forms of pemphigus.Methods Fifty-six patients with pemphigus (including 36 cases of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and 20 cases of pemphigus foliaceus (PF)) were enrolled in this study.Blood samples were obtained from these patients before treatment and at the following four time points:when the condition was relieved and the taper of glucocorticoids began,the dose of glucocorticoids was tapered to half of their initial dose,the maintenance treatment started,and when the duration of maintenance treatment reached two years.ELISA was performed to determine the levels of anti-Dsg1 and-Dsg3 antibodies in these serum samples.Spearman correlation analysis was carried out to assess the relationship between disease severity and ELISA index values,and independent sample's t test to compare the levels of anti-Dsg antibodies among these time points.Results The severity of pemphigus was correlated with anti-Dsg antibody ELISA index values.Both anti-Dsg1 and anti-Dsg3 ELISA index values were significantly reduced at the remission of pemphigus compared with those before treatment (all P ＜ 0.01).At the end of the two-year maintenance treatment,10 (50％) patients with PF and 7 (19.4％) patients with PV became negative for anti-Dsg1 ELISA,whereas only 1 (2.7％) patient with PV became negative for anti-Dsg3 ELISA.Conclusions Anti-Dsg antibody ELISA index value is correlated with disease severity in patients with pemphigus,which may serve as a useful marker for assessing disease severity and activity as well as evaluating therapeutic efficacy.

(SCI) to find optimal locations for electroacupuncture. Methods 108 incomplete SCI patients were selected following International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ASIA 2006) and randomly assigned to urethral catheterization group, control group, and experiment group with 36 cases in each group. The urethral catheterization group was only given intermittent catheterization, the control group was given electroacupuncture of Baliao (BL31 to BL34) and Huiyang (BL35) as the main points and intermittent catheterization, and the experiment group was treated with transcranial electrical stimulation of foot motor sensory area and Abdominal Area Six as the main points and intermittent catheterization. They were assessed with voiding diary and urodynamic test before and after treatment. Results There were significant differences among the urethral catheterization group, the control group, and the experiment group in automatic micturition volume, urethral catheter output and residual urine volume after treatment (P<0.05). Detrusor pressure and reflection was significantly different in the control group and the experiment group before and after treatment (P<0.05), but not in the urethral catheterization group (P>0.05). There was significant difference in detrusor pressure and reflection in the urethral catheterization group from both the control group and the experiment group after treatment (P<0.05). Conclusion Electroacupuncture can promote automatic micturition in patients with detrusor areflexia neurogenic bladder after incomplete SCI.