Objective:To compare the efficacy of conventional Western medicine alone and acupuncture combined with acupoint application in treating intestinal dysfunction secondary to mechanical ventilation in elderly patients with emergency sepsis.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on 111 elderly patients with mechanical ventilation for sepsis admitted to the emergency department of Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine from January 2019 to June 2021. They were divided into two groups according to the time of admission: Western medicine treatment group alone (patients from January 2019 to December 2019, n=47) and acupuncture combined with acupoint application group (patients from January 2020 to June 2021, n=64). Acupuncture combined with acupoint application group was treated with acupuncture combined with acupoint application on the basis of conventional Western medicine. The intestinal dysfunction score, abdominal circumference and mortality after 4 weeks were compared between the two groups. Results:The abdominal circumference and intestinal dysfunction score in acupuncture combined with acupoint application group were significantly lower than those before treatment [(100.56±9.34)cm vs (106.25±9.74)cm; (0.92±0.72)point vs (2.31±0.69)point, all P< 0.05], while there was no significant difference in the above indexes before and after treatment in the Western medicine treatment group (all P>0.05). The abdominal circumference, intestinal dysfunction score and mortality after 4 weeks in the acupuncture combined with acupoint application group were significantly lower than those in the Western medicine treatment group [(100.56±9.34)cm vs (108.09±10.52)cm; (0.92±0.72)point vs (2.43±0.62)point; (29.7%, 19/64) vs (48.9%, 23/47), all P<0.05]. Conclusions:The curative effect of acupuncture combined with acupoint application in the treatment of intestinal dysfunction secondary to mechanical ventilation in elderly patients with sepsis in emergency is better than that of routine treatment of Western medicine alone. The gastrointestinal function and prognosis of patients have been significantly improved, which is worthy of clinical promotion.

Objective:To explore the correlation between the ratio of C-reactive protein (CRP) to albumin (CAR) and the syndrome type of Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Methods:A case-control study was conducted to select 63 severe patients with COVID-19 admitted to the Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine from December 2022 to December 2023, including 50 severe cases and 13 critical cases. The clinical data of the patients were collected. According to the syndrome differentiation of Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue, there were 21 cases of Qi syndrome, 20 cases of Ying syndrome and 22 cases of Xue syndrome. The differences of CRP, ALB and CAR levels in patients with different Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue syndromes were compared. Spearman correlation test was used to test the correlation between CRP, ALB, CAR and the Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue syndrome type, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to detect the diagnostic efficacy of CRP, ALB and CAR on the Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue syndrome type.Results:There was a statistically significant difference in the clinical classification of Western medicine among the three groups ( P<0.05). The CAR of the Ying group and the Xue group was higher than that of the Qi group ( P<0.05), while there was no statistically significant difference in age and comorbidities (all P>0.05). The CRP of the Xue group was higher than that of the Qi group ( P<0.05), and the ALB of the Ying group and the Xue group was lower than that of the Qi group (all P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that there was a correlation between the Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue syndrome type and CRP, ALB and CAR ( P<0.05), among which CAR changed most significantly with the change of Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue syndrome type. ROC curve analysis showed that CRP, ALB and CAR had good diagnostic value for Qi syndrome and Xue syndrome ( P<0.05). The critical values of the diagnosis of Qi syndrome were 48.57 mg/L, 34.20 g/L and 2.97. The critical values of the diagnosis of Xue syndrome were 28.30 mg/L, 26.6 g/L and 5.96. Conclusions:CAR ratio is correlated with the Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue syndrome type of severe COVID-19 patients, and its level changes are in line with the evolution law of Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue syndrome. CAR≤2.97 is contributed to the diagnosis of Qi syndrome, and CAR>5.96 is contributed to the diagnosis of Xue syndrome. CAR may be an objective index related to the Wei-Qi-Ying-Xue syndrome type of severe COVID-19 patients.

Alzheimer's disease(AD)is a prevalent neurodegenerative disease characterized by cognitive decline in the early stage.Mild cognitive impairment(MCI)is considered as an intermediate stage between normal aging and AD.In recent years,studies related to resting-state functional MRI(rs-fMRI)indicated that the occurrence and development process of MCI and AD might be closely linked to spontaneous brain activity and alterations in functional connectivity among brain regions,and rs-fMRI could provide important reference for specific diagnosis and early treatment of MCI and AD.The research progresses of rs-fMRI for MCI and AD were reviewed in this article.

Objective:To compare the caries experience and the kinds of dental treatment between children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and children without systemic disease who were all treated under general anesthesia.Methods:Totally 103 children with ASD who received dental treatments under general anesthesia in 13 professional dental hospitals around China from April to November 2016 were included in the present study. A group of 97 children without systemic disease, according to the age, gender and application propensity score matching method, were chosen as controls, who received dental treatments under general anesthesia between January 2015 to November 2018 in the same hospitals as the children with ASD. Decay missing filling tooth (DMFT/dmft, DMFT for permanent teeth and dmft for primary teeth) indices of two groups of children and the contents of the dental treatments under general anesthesia were analyzed.Results:No significant difference of DMFT/dmft index ［ M( Q25, Q75)］ was found between children with ASD group ［0 (0, 3)/11(8, 14)］ and control group ［0 (0, 3)/9(7, 13)］ ( P>0.05). The average number of dental treatments under general anesthesia and the average number of endodontic treatment in children with ASD were 13 (11, 15) and 3 (2, 6) teeth respectively, while those in the control group were 12 (9, 14) and 2 (1, 4) teeth respectively, the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.01, P<0.05). Conclusions:No significant difference was found between children with ASD and the normal controls who receive dental treatments under general anesthesia in DMFT/dmft index, but the treatment needs of children with ASD is relatively higher, and their tooth decay is relatively severer.