Objective To observe and compare the clinical efficacy of fire needling versus electroacupuncture in treating knee osteoarthritis of kidney and marrow deficiency type.Methods One hundred and ten patients with knee osteoarthritis of kidney and marrow deficiency type were randomly allocated to two groups, a fire needling group of 56 cases and an electroacupuncture group of 54 cases. The fire needling group received filiform needle acupuncture and fire needle pricking and the electroacupuncture group, electroacupuncture. Treatment was given once every other day, for a total of four weeks as one course. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score were recorded in the two groups before and after treatment. The clinical therapeutic effects were compared between the two groups.Results The VAS score and the WOMAC subscores significantly decreased in both groups after treatment compared with those before treatment (P<0.01). There were no statistically significant post-treatment differences in the VAS score and the WOMAC subscores between the two groups (P>0.05). The VAS score and the WOMAC subscores decreased further in both groups at four weeks after treatment compared with those at the end of treatment (P<0.01). In the electroacupuncture group, there were statistically significant differences in the VAS score and the WOMAC pain and stiffness subscores between eight weeks and four weeks after treatment (P<0.01) and in the WOMAC pain, stiffness and joint function subscores between at eight weeks after treatment and at the end of treatment (P<0.01). In the fire needling group, there were statistically significant differences in the VAS score and the WOMAC pain, stiffness and joint function subscores between at eight weeks after treatment and at the end of treatment (P<0.01). At four weeks after treatment, the VAS score and the WOMAC pain, stiffness and joint function subscores were significantly lower in the fire needling group than in the electroacupuncture group (P<0.05,P<0.01). At eight weeks after treatment, the VAS score and the WOMAC pain and stiffness subscores were still significantly lower in the fire needling group than in the electroacupuncture group (P<0.01). The total efficacy rate was 94.6% in the fire needling group and 90.7% in the electroacupuncture group; there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05).Conclusions Both filiform needle acupuncture plus fire needle pricking and electroacupuncture can markedly relieve the pain and stiffness and improve joint function in knee osteoarthritis of kidney and marrow deficiency type. Both have an equivalent short-term therapeutic effect. Filiform needle acupuncture plus fire needle pricking has a better long-term therapeutic effect than electroacupuncture.

This study was aimed to screen main active site to reduce blood lipid from Xin-Mai (XM) capsule and establish HPLC fingerprint of the site, in order to study the correlativity between active site and relevant fractions of its herbs. Solvent extraction was used to separate XM capsule into different polar fractions. Intraperitoneal injection of 75% egg-yolk emulsion was used to establish mice hyperlipidemia models. And the active site was screened. Chromatographic fingerprints of the site and relevant fractions of its herbs were configured by HPLC analysis. The
retention time of peaks was utilized as index to evaluate the correlativity. The results showed that lipid-lowering effect of ethyl acetate extract and garlic essential oil was significant (P<0.01). Fingerprint of the active site in XM capsule was established with 28 fingerprint peaks and the assignment results of 27 peaks were indicated. It was concluded that the active sites to reduce blood lipid of XM capsule were ethyl acetate extract and garlic essential oil. The established fingerprint method can effectively determine the correlativity between the active site and its relevant fractions, which contributed to pharmacodynamic material foundation and quality standard.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical efficacy of fire needling plus filiform needles in treating knee osteoarthritis and its effect on the patients’ quality of life.MethodOne hundred and one patients with knee osteoarthritis were randomly allocated to fire needling, filiform needle and combination groups. They were treated with fire needling, filiform needles and fire needling plus filiform needles, respectively. An assessment was made using the WOMAC Osteoarthritis Index and the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) in the 101 patients with knee osteoarthritis before and after treatment.ResultFire needling, filiform needles and fire needling plus filiform needles all had a marked therapeutic effect on knee osteoarthritis. The effect of fire needling plus filiform needles was better than those of fire needling and filiform needles (P<0.05,P<0.01). After four weeks of treatment, SF-36 quality of life item sub-scores increased in all the three groups of patients compared with before treatment (P<0.01); SF-36 role physical and general health scores were higher in the combination group than in the fire needling group (P<0.05, P<0.01); SF-36 physical functioning, role physical, general health, social functioning and mental health scores were higher in the combination group than in the filiform needle group (P<0.01).ConclusionFire needling plus filiform needles can effectively treat knee osteoarthritis and improve the patients’ quality of life. Its effects are superior to those of fire needling and filiform needles.

Background The occurrence and development of aortic aneurysm (AA) are associated with infection.Some researchers have detected the DNA of periodontal pathogens in AA samples in certain populations.However,it has not been done in Chinese population.The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of periodontal pathogens in oral tissue samples and aneurysm samples of AA patients.Methods Eighty-nine subjects with AA and 59 subjects without AA were examined.Periodontal clinical parameters were evaluated.Unstimulated saliva and subgingival plaque somples were collected from all subjects.Twenty-six dissected AA samples were obtained.Evidence of eight periodontal pathogens including Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg),Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (Aa),Prevotella intermedia (Pi),Tannerella forsythensis (Tf),Treponema denticola (Td),Campylobacter rectus (Cr),Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn),and Prevotella nigrescens (Pn) was ascertained in all samples by 16S rRNA-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay.Results The periodontal indexes including plaque index (PLI),probing depth (PD),bleeding index (BI),and clinical attachment loss (CAL),of the six Ramfjord index teeth were significantly higher in the AA group than those in the control group (P ＜0.01).Eight periodontal pathogens in subgingival plaque samples were more frequently detected in the AA group than in control group.The difference in prevalence between the groups was significant for six (out of eight) periodontal pathogens assayed (Pg,Pi,Fn,Pn,Tf,and Td,P ＜0.01).Additionally,all eight periodontal pathogens were more frequently detected in saliva samples of the AA group than in those of the control group,again with six (out of eight) (Pg,Pi,Fn,Cr,Tf,and Td) displaying significant differences in prevalence between the two groups (P ＜0.01).Out of 26 aneurysm samples examined,Pg,Pi,Fn,Crand Tfwere detected in 6 (23.1％),2 (7.7％),3 (11.5％),1 (3.8％),2 (7.7％),respectively,and Aa,Pn,and Td were not detected in dissected aneurysm samples.Conclusion Results of this study suggested that periodontal infection is associated with the occurrence of AA.

Objective To investigate the effect of a fast-track based clinical nursing pathway of hepatic carcinoma on patient satisfaction and job satisfaction of nurses. Methods A total of 91 primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC) patients undergoing elective hepatectomy were enrolled and were divided into two groups by admission time, namely the control group (48 cases) and the experimental group (43 cases). The patients in the control group received traditional perioperative nursing care of hepatectomy, while the cases in the experimental group participated in fast-track nursing pathway. Patient satisfaction and nurse job satisfaction were measured before and after implementation. Results Final analysis included 45 patients in the control group and 40 patients in the experimental group. In the experimental group, the total score of patient satisfaction and the scores of all dimensions (including services and techniques, concern and care, services and techniques and overall satisfaction) were (132.75 ± 13.71), (48.30 ± 6.53), (42.60 ± 4.62), (35.98 ± 3.85), (5.88 ± 0.94), while they were (122.89 ± 16.62), (44.53 ± 7.74), (39.49 ± 5.67), (33.53±4.40), (5.33±1.13) in the control group. And the scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than that of the control group (t=-2.961, t=-2.409, t=-2.753, t=-2.709, t=-2.389, P<0.05). Furthermore,after implementing the fast-track clinical nursing pathway,the total score of nurse job satisfaction and the scores of six factors were (143.23 ± 9.40), (28.45 ± 2.72), (24.82 ± 2.28), (23.05 ± 1.33), (13.91 ± 1.95), (15.05 ± 1.43), (16.64 ± 1.65) while they were (127.36 ± 13.14), (25.68 ± 4.16), (19.64 ± 2.75), (20.23 ± 2.35), (13.23 ± 2.22), (13.68 ± 2.01), (14.50 ± 1.95) before the implementation. The former was significantly better than the latter (t =-12.462,-7.743,-12.670,-6.560,-2.417,-1.483,-6.587,P<0.05). However, no differences were observed in the other two dimensions of wages and benefits andwork-family balance(t =-1.945,-1.312,P>0.05) since the scores after implementation were (13.86 ± 2.12), (7.45 ± 1.57), while that of (13.18 ± 2.30)、(7.23 ± 1.41) were obtained before performance. Conclusions Application of fast- track nursing pathway in perioperative patients with PHC can contribute to promoting the level of patient satisfaction and job satisfaction of nurses and improving nursing quality. It is suggested that this nursing pathway will have more potential value for PHC patients.

Objective:To compare the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of influenza A (IVA) and influenza B (IVB) in children of different ages, genders and seasons from 2016 to 2019.Methods:Retrospective analysis was performed on the children who were diagnosed as infected with influenza A and B virus in the outpatient and emergency department of Shanghai Eighth People′s Hospital from 2016 to 2019, including 2388 cases of influenza A virus infection and 1 575 cases of influenza B virus infection. The age, gender, time, characteristics of onset, and common indicators of blood routine tests were compared.Results:influenza virus infection is mostly prevalent from December to March of the next year, mainly influenza A virus, with minor epidemics from August to October of the next year, and influenza B virus from April to June of the next year. Compared with influenza B virus, children with respiratory tract infection caused by influenza A virus had higher WBC count, neutrophil, lymphocyte and monocyte abnormal proportions. The incidence rate of respiratory tract infection in the group infected with IVA was significantly higher ( P<0.05), and the incidence of infection in children among different age groups was significantly different ( P<0.05). Conclusions:The proportion of leukocyte and neutrophil increased, the lymphocyte was normal or decreased, and monocyte percentage increased in influenza A patients, which are more common than in influenza B patients, but the rate of abnormal increase of WBC was more common in influenza B cases. Children infected with influenza A are more likely to have anemia and platelet abnormality, and children with respiratory tract infection caused by the two viruses have different age groups. However, there was no significant difference between male and female.

This study aimed to observe the protective effect of momordicine I, a triterpenoid compound extracted from momordica charantia L., on isoproterenol (ISO)-induced hypertrophy in rat H9c2 cardiomyocytes and investigate its potential mechanism. Treatment with 10 μM ISO induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy as evidenced by increased cell surface area and protein content as well as pronounced upregulation of fetal genes including atrial natriuretic peptide, β-myosin heavy chain, and α-skeletal actin; however, those responses were markedly attenuated by treatment with 12.5 μg/ml momordicine I. Transcriptome experiment results showed that there were 381 and 447 differentially expressed genes expressed in comparisons of model/control and momordicine I intervention/model, respectively. GO enrichment analysis suggested that the anti-cardiomyocyte hypertrophic effect of momordicine I may be mainly associated with the regulation of metabolic processes. Based on our transcriptome experiment results as well as literature reports, we selected glycerophospholipid metabolizing enzymes group VI phospholipase A 2 (PLA2G6) and diacylglycerol kinase ζ (DGK-ζ) as targets to further explore the potential mechanism through which momordicine I inhibited ISO-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.Our results demonstrated that momordicine I inhibited ISO-induced upregulations of mRNA levels and protein expressions of PLA2G6 and DGK-ζ. Collectively, momordicine I alleviated ISO-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, which may be related to its inhibition of the expression of glycerophospholipid metabolizing enzymes PLA2G6 and DGK-ζ.

OBJECTIVETo observe the differences in the clinical therapeutic effects on insomnia of spleen and stomach disharmony pattern in comparison of the combination of acupoint catgut-embedding therapy and auricular point pressure with the simple application of auricular point pressure.

METHODSOne hundred and eighty patients of insomnia of spleen and stomach disharmony pattern were randomized into an observation group (93 cases) and a control group (87 cases). In the observation group, the combination of acupoint catgut-embedding therapy and auricular point pressure was adopted. The acupoint catgut-embedding therapy was applied at Zhongwan (CV 12), Anmian (Extra), Xinshu (BL 15), Pishu (BL 20), Weishu (BL 21), Zusanli (ST 36), Yinlingquan (SP 9) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6), once every two weeks. The auricular point pressure was applied to Shenmen (TF), Pizhixia (AT), Xin (CO), Pi (CO), Wei (CO) on both sides alternatively, twice a week. The duration of treatment was 2 months for the two groups. In the control group, the auricular point pressure was simply used with the same points, manipulation and treatment duration as the observation group. After treatment, the clinical therapeutic effects were observed in the patients of the two groups. The Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) score was compared before and after treatment in the two groups. The recurrence was followed up in 3 months after the end of treatment.

RESULTSIt was observed that 2 cases were dropped out in the observation group, 4 cases in the control group. The dropped out cases were considered to be ineffective. After treatment, the total effective rate was 92.5% (86/93) in the observation group and was 80.5% (70/87) in the control group. The result in the observation group was better than that in the control group (<0.05). After treatment, PSQI scores were all reduced apparently in the two groups as compared with those before treatment (both<0.05). The score after treatment and the different value before and after treatment in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (both<0.05). In 3-month follow-up after treatment, the recurrence rate was 3.2% (3/93) in the observation group, which was lower than 13.8% (12/87) in the control group (<0.05).

CONCLUSIONIn the treatment of insomnia of spleen and stomach disharmony pattern, the acupoint catgut-embedding therapy combined with auricular point pressure are superior to the simple application of auricular point pressure in the clinical therapeutic effects, improving sleep quality and reducing the recurrence rate.

BACKGROUNDThe occurrence and development of aortic aneurysm (AA) are associated with infection. Some researchers have detected the DNA of periodontal pathogens in AA samples in certain populations. However, it has not been done in Chinese population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of periodontal pathogens in oral tissue samples and aneurysm samples of AA patients.

METHODSEighty-nine subjects with AA and 59 subjects without AA were examined. Periodontal clinical parameters were evaluated. Unstimulated saliva and subgingival plaque samples were collected from all subjects. Twenty-six dissected AA samples were obtained. Evidence of eight periodontal pathogens including Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (Aa), Prevotella intermedia (Pi), Tannerella forsythensis (Tf), Treponema denticola (Td), Campylobacter rectus (Cr), Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn), and Prevotella nigrescens (Pn) was ascertained in all samples by 16S rRNA-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay.

RESULTSThe periodontal indexes including plaque index (PLI), probing depth (PD), bleeding index (BI), and clinical attachment loss (CAL), of the six Ramfjord index teeth were significantly higher in the AA group than those in the control group (P < 0.01). Eight periodontal pathogens in subgingival plaque samples were more frequently detected in the AA group than in control group. The difference in prevalence between the groups was significant for six (out of eight) periodontal pathogens assayed (Pg, Pi, Fn, Pn, Tf, and Td, P < 0.01). Additionally, all eight periodontal pathogens were more frequently detected in saliva samples of the AA group than in those of the control group, again with six (out of eight) (Pg, Pi, Fn, Cr, Tf, and Td) displaying significant differences in prevalence between the two groups (P < 0.01). Out of 26 aneurysm samples examined, Pg, Pi, Fn, Cr and Tf were detected in 6 (23.1%), 2 (7.7%), 3 (11.5%), 1 (3.8%), 2 (7.7%), respectively, and Aa, Pn, and Td were not detected in dissected aneurysm samples.

CONCLUSIONResults of this study suggested that periodontal infection is associated with the occurrence of AA.

Aged ; Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans ; genetics ; pathogenicity ; Aortic Aneurysm ; microbiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Periodontitis ; microbiology ; Porphyromonas gingivalis ; genetics ; pathogenicity ; Prevotella intermedia ; genetics ; pathogenicity ; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S ; genetics ; Treponema denticola ; genetics ; pathogenicity

Objective: To investigate the use of conventional MR imaging to guide treatment in patients with cholecystolithiasis and diffuse inflammatory thickening of gallbladder wall. Methods: The clinical data of patients who were treated in the Ningbo Huamei Hospital, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences between January 2017 and January 2018 were analyzed. These patients were divided into two groups: patients with acute cholecystitis (n=139) and patients with viral hepatitis combined with cholecystolithiasis (n=67). Differences in the imaging signs in standardized upper abdominal contrast enhanced MRI examinations were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The imaging signs, including stone location, continuity of gallbladder mucosa, exudation in peri-gallbladder space, edema of intrahepatic portal area showed significant differences between the two groups (all P<0.05). On stratification analysis, the type of thickened gallbladder wall, background of liver parenchyma and extent of edema in intrahepatic catchment area also showed significant differences (all P<0.05). The imaging signs, including non-gallbladder neck ductal stones, concentric thickening of gallbladder wall, continuous mucous membrane in gallbladder and no peri-gallbladder space exudation but diffuse edema of intrahepatic catchment area supported the diagnosis of viral hepatitis combined with gallstones. The imaging signs, including discontinuity of gallbladder mucosa, exudation of peri-gallbladder space, diffuse edema of gallbladder wall without a cirrhotic background and edema in intrahepatic portal area supported the diagnosis of acute calculous cholecystitis of gallbladder. Conclusions Routine upper abdominal contrast enhanced MRI plays an important role in demonstrating the underlying cause of gallbladder wall diffuse edema thickening in patients with gallstones. It provides an important reference for the choice of clinical treatment pathway.