Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; therapy ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Musculoskeletal Manipulations ; Prolapse

BACKGROUNDCD4 count is used to determine antiretroviral therapy (ART) eligibility. In China, flow cytometers are mostly located in urban areas with limited access by patients residing in remote areas. In an attempt to address this issue, we conducted a study to validate the performance of Alere PIMA point-of-care CD4 analyzer.

METHODSVenous and finger-prick blood specimens were collected from HIV-positive participants from two voluntary counseling and testing sites in Yunnan Province. Both venous and finger-prick blood specimens were tested with the PIMA analyzer. Venous blood specimens tested with the Becton Dickinson FACSCalibur were used as a reference.

RESULTSVenous specimens from 396 and finger-prick specimens from 387 persons were available for analysis. CD4 counts by PIMA correlated well with those from FACSCalibur with an R2 of 0.91 for venous blood and 0.81 for finger-prick blood. Compared to FACSCalibur, the PIMA analyzer yielded lower counts with a mean bias of - 47.0 cells/μl (limit of agreement, [LOA]: -204-110 cells/μl) for venous blood and -71.0 cells/μl (LOA: -295-153 cells/μl) for finger-prick blood. For a CD4 threshold of 350 cells/μl, the positive predictive value (PPV) of PIMA was 84.2% and 75.7% and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 97.6% and 95.8% for venous and finger-prick blood, respectively. For an ART threshold of 500 cells/μl, the corresponding PPV was 90.3% and 84.0% and NPV was 94.3% and 93.4%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSCD4 counting using venous blood with PIMA analyzers is a feasible alternative to a large flow cytometer to determine ART eligibility.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Biological Assay ; methods ; Blood Specimen Collection ; CD4 Lymphocyte Count ; methods ; Child ; China ; Female ; HIV Infections ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Young Adult

In the folk medicine, it was believed that the raw Sanqi could remove blood stasis, swelling and pain, while the cooked Sanqi could replenish blood. This article began with the first record of Sanqi in ancient herbal medicine literature, and the nature, flavor and efficacy of Sanqi, then listed the processing methods and usage of Sanqi recorded in ancient herbal medicine literature, and compared with the modern processing methods. The results showed that the processing methods of raw Sanqi included making powder, chewing, vinegar grinding and wine grinding, in which the method of making powder was still in use, and there were particle size requirements on the Sanqi powder listed in most modern preparation specifications. The processing methods of cooked Sanqi included baking, frying and steaming, in which the method of steaming was still in use, but had some changes. The new processing method was frying with edible oil. The results clarify the history of the processing of Sanqi, and provide a reference for the research and application of the processing methods of raw and cooked Sanqi.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Panax notoginseng