Objective To study the pathogenic bacteria species and drug resistance rate in the intensive care unit(ICU)in county hospital to guide clinical rational use of antibiotics. Methods 263 various specimens were chosen from January 2013 to December 2013 in the ICU of Zigui County People's Hospital in Hubei Province,these were applied to perform the bacterial culture and identification,and disc AGAR diffusion method was used to test the in vitro drug susceptibility and observe the specimens distribution,pathogenic distribution and the rate of drug resistance. Results In the 263 specimens,the top three isolated were 131 sputum(49.8%),49 blood(18.6%) and 38 ascites specimens(14.4%)respectively,and the pleural effusion was the least isolated with 5(1.9%). A total of 125 strains bacteria were isolated with positive detection rate of 47.5%(125/263). In the 125 strains,80(64.0%) were Gram-negative(G-)bacilli at the pioneer position,and the top four were:Klebsiella pneumonia 23(18.4%), Acinetobacter Baumanni 19(15.2%),Escherichia coli 18(14.4%)and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 12 strains(9.6%). There were 33 strains(26.4%)of Gram positive(G+)cocci including mainly Staphylococcus aureus 25 strains(20.0%);fungi strains were 12,the least(9.6%). The drug resistance rates of the top four G- bacillus were as follows:the rate of Klebsiella pneumoniae to ampicillin sodium was the highest(100%),while its rate to imipenem,meropenem and ciprofloxacin was 0;the rates of Acinetobacter baumannii to tobramycin and ceftriaxone were very high(100%, 92.3%),while to imipenem,meropennem were much lower respectively(26.3%,15.4%);the rates of Escherichia coli to ampicillin sodium and piperacillin were relatively high(88.9%,83.3%),while the rates to amikacin,imipenem, meropennem respectively were 0;the rates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to ceftriaxone,cefotaxime sodium were very high(both 100%),while the resistant rate to levofloxacin was 0. The G+ cocci had no drug-resistance to linezolid, teicoplanin and vancomycin;the rates of Staphylococcus aureus to azithromycin,clindamycin,erythromycin and penicillin were higher than 80%,and those of Excrement enterococcus to erythromycin,gentamycin,levofloxacin were also higher than 80%. Conclusions The ICU infection of our hospital is primarily respiratory tract infection, the pathogenic bacteria are mainly G- bacilli and the antibacterial drug resistance is very serious. Therefore it is necessary to monitor the trend of bacterial resistance closely,and according to the results of bacteria identification and drug susceptibility,the antimicrobial agents are reasonably chosen to effectively reduce and control the ICU hospital infection.

Objective:The epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 18 cases of Japanese spotted fever (JSF) in Zigui County were analyzed in order to improve the prevention and treatment of JSF.Methods:This is a case series analysis. The epidemiological and clinical data, laboratory tests and imaging characteristics of 18 JSF cases with median age of 60 years (54, 68) identified by The People′s Hospital of Zigui from April 2021 to August 2022 were collected and analyzed retrospectively.Results:Most (17/18) of the patients were farmers and all had a field exposure history. The patient′s onset was from April to October. Spring and autumn were the seasons with the highest incidence of JSF. The first symptoms of patients were high fever, headache, and fatigue. Of the 18 cases, 15 had a rash and 12 presented an eschar and 3 had neither rash nor eschar. In addition, 10 of 18 cases experienced edema of both lower extremities, and 3 got disturbance of consciousness. Laboratory tests found that 15 patients had abnormal white blood cells and 11 patients had decreased platelets. C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, and alpha-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase were elevated in all patients; 13 patients with elevated alanine aminotransferase, 14 patients with elevated aspartate transamination. Kidney damage caused by Rickettsia japonica infection showed by abnormal proteinuria in 11 of the patients. Conclusions:The most common clinical manifestations of JSF are non-specific indications such as high fever, chills, fatigue, headache. The eschar and rash, which are the main features of Rickettsia infection, are not present in all patients, resulting delay of diagnosis or misdiagnosis. Medical workers should be more alert to rickettsial infections in patients with fever of unknown origin, especially in seasons of high incidence of spotted fever. Early diagnosis and correct antibiotic treatment shall be given according to the patient′s clinical manifestations, laboratory results and imaging test to control disease progression.

BACKGROUNDVulvodynia, or vulvar pain, is a common condition in women; however, there are few evidence-based clinical trials evaluating nonpharmacological therapies for this condition. Acupuncture is one complementary and integrative medicine therapy used by some patients with vulvodynia. This study evaluates two different acupuncture strategies for the treatment of vulvodynia and aims to evaluate whether either of the acupuncture protocols reduces vulvar pain, pain duration or pain with intercourse. The study also examines how long the effect of acupuncture lasts in women with vulvodynia.

METHODS/DESIGNThe study is designed as a randomized controlled trial, focused on two acupuncture protocols. Fifty-one patients who have had vulvodynia for more than 3 months will be recruited. Among them, 34 patients will be randomized into Groups 1a and 1b; those who are unwilling to receive acupuncture will be recruited into the standard care group (Group 2). Patients in Group 1a will have acupuncture focused on the points in the pudendal nerve distribution area, while patients in Group 1b will receive acupuncture focused on traditional (distal) meridian points. Patients in Group 2 will receive routine conventional treatments, such as using pain medications, local injections and physical therapies or other nonsurgical procedures. Acupuncture will last 45 min per session, once or twice a week for 6 weeks. The primary outcome measurement will be objective pain intensity, using the cotton swab test. The secondary outcome measurement will be subjective patient self-reported pain intensity, which will be conducted before cotton swab test. Pain intensities will be measured by an 11-point Numeric Pain Rating Scale. Pain duration and pain score during intercourse are recorded. Local muscle tension, tenderness and trigger points (Ashi points) are also recorded. All measurements will be recorded at baseline (before the treatment), at the end of each week during treatment and at the end of the 6 weeks. Follow-up will be done 6 weeks following the last treatment.

DISCUSSIONResults of this trial will provide preliminary data on whether acupuncture provides better outcomes than nonacupuncture treatments, i.e., standard care, and whether acupuncture focused on the points in pudendal nerve distribution, near the pain area, has better results than traditional acupuncture focused on distal meridian points for vulvodynia.

TRIAL REGISTRATIONClinicaltrials.gov: NCT03481621. Register: March 29, 2018.

Chronic low-back pain (CLBP) is one of the most common pain conditions. Current clinical guidelines for low-back pain recommend acupuncture for CLBP. However, there are very few high-quality acupuncture studies on CLBP in older adults. Clinical acupuncture experts in the American Traditional Chinese Medicine Association (ATCMA) were interested in the recent grant on CLBP research announced by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. The ATCMA experts held an online discussion on the subject of real-world acupuncture treatments for CLBP in older adults. Seven participants, each with more than 20 years of acupuncture practice, discussed their own unique clinical experience while another participant talked about the potential mechanism of acupuncture in pain management. As a result of the discussion, a picture of a similar treatment strategy emerged across the participants for CLBP in older adults. This discussion shows that acupuncture may have complicated mechanisms in pain management, yet it is effective for the treatment of chronic pain involving maladaptive neuroplasticity; therefore, it should be effective for CLBP in older adults.

Few studies have focused on the cost of acupuncture treatments although acupuncture has become popular in the United States (U.S.). The purpose of the current study was to examine the out-of-pocket costs incurred from acupuncture services based on an online website, OkCopay.com. We examined descriptive statistics (range, median and 20% intervals) for the cost of acupuncture "first-time visits" and "follow-up visits" in 41 metropolitan regions in the U.S. The acupuncture prices of 723 clinics throughout 39 metropolitan regions were included, except for Birmingham, Alabama and Detroit, Michigan as there was no online data available at the time of the study for these two regions. The cost range for a first-time acupuncture visit was $15-400; the highest median was $150 in Charleston, South Carolina, while the lowest was $45 in St. Louis, Missouri. The top 10 cities for the highest median were: Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland and Indianapolis, with the median $120, while the median for all 723 clinics was $112. For the follow-up visits, the cost range was $15-300; the highest median was $108 in Charleston, South Carolina, and the lowest $40 in Miami, Florida. The 10 cities with highest median follow-up acupuncture visit costs were: New York, Baltimore, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Boston and Atlanta, with the median $85, while for all 723 clinics the median price was $80. The estimation of the average gross annual income of each acupuncturist from the regions studied was $95,760, while the total annual cost of patients seeking acupuncture services in the U.S. was about $3.5 billion in 2018.