OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical efficacy on post-stroke insomnia between the low-frequency electric stimulation at the acupoints and the conventional western medication in the patients so as to explore the effect mechanism.

METHODSOne hundred and twenty patients of post-stroke insomnia were randomized into a low-frequency electric stimulation group, a medication group and a placebo group, 40 cases in each one. In the low-frequency electric stimulation group, the low-frequency pulse electric apparatus was applied to stimulate Dazhui (GV 14) and Shenshu (BL 23), once every day. The treatment for 15 days made one session and 2 sessions were required. In the medication group, estazolam was taken orally, 1 mg each time; and in the placebo group, the starch capsules were taken, one capsule each time; in the two groups the treatment was adopted before sleep every night, continuously for 15 days as one session, and 2 sessions were required. The levels of plasma 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) were compared before and after treatment in the patients of the three groups and: the efficacy was compared.

RESULTSIn the placebo group, 1 case was dropped out. The total effective rate was 95. 0% (38/40), 92. 5% (37/40) and 17. 9% (7/39) in the low-frequency electric stimulation group, the medication group and the placebo group respectively. The effects in the low-frequency electric stimulation group and the medication group were better apparently than that in the placebo group (both P<0. 01). The effect was not different significantly between the low-frequency electric stimulation group and the medication group (P>0. 05). The levels of plasma 5-HT and NE were not different significantly between before and after treatment in the placebo group. The level of plasma 5-HT was increased (both P<0. 05) and thelevel of NE was decreased (both P<0. 05) as compared with that before treatment in the low-frequency electric stimulation group and the medication group. But the differences were not significant between the two groups (P>0. 05).

CONCLUSIONThe low-frequency electric stimlaton a the acupoints is safe and effective in the treatment of post-stroke insomnia, which is similar to oral medication of estazolam. The outcome of the increase of plasma 5-HT level and the decrease of plasma NE level is probably one of the effect mechanisms.

Acupuncture Points ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Electric Stimulation ; Electroacupuncture ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Norepinephrine ; blood ; Serotonin ; blood ; Sleep ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; blood ; etiology ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Stroke ; blood ; complications ; physiopathology ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To understand the genetic characteristics of subgenus C human adenovirus (HAdV-C) strain isolated in Hunan in 2014.Methods:An HAdV-C strain named Hunan2014-s024 was isolated from throat swab collected from a child with severe acute respiratory infection in Changsha city of Hunan province in 2014. The whole genome sequence (WGS) was obtained by segmented amplification and sequence splicing. Database of HAdV-C was constructed with the strain from this study and the HAdV-C representative strains from GenBank. The whole genome characteristics was analyzed by using bioinformatics software.Results:Strain Hunan2014-s024 has the highest homology with the HAdV-C strain (MK041244-CHN-2006) isolated from stool sample of a healthy child in Shanxi province in 2006, and the genome of strain MK041244-CHN-2006 was used as the backbone, and penton based gene was replaced by gene fragment from MK041246-chn-2012 strain isolated from a child with acute lower respiratory tract infection in Hunan province in 2012.Conclusions:Our result indicated that 2014 Hunan strain(Hunan2014-s024)is a recombinant virus of 2006 Shanxi strain(MK041244-CHN-2006)and 2012 Hunan strain(MK041246-CHN-2012). Due to the change of pathogenicity, it is necessary to strengthen the molecular epidemiological surveillance of HAdV-C to understand its potential disease burden and public health significance.