OBJECTIVETo compare the efficacy on vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) between auricular acupuncture therapy and oral administration of medicine.

METHODSSixty patients of VBI were randomized into an auricular acupuncture therapy group and a medicine group, 30 cases in each one. In the auricular acupuncture group, acupuncture was applied bilaterally to gan (CO12) and jiejie (HX8) on the ears and needles were retained for 15 min. After needle withdrawal, the vaccariae semen were fixed with plaster at naogan (AT3, 4i), zhen (AT3), jing (AH12), shen (CO10) and pi (CO13) on the ears. In the medicine group, flunarizine hydrochloride capsules (Sibelium), 5mg were prescribed for oral administration, once every night. The treatment lasted continuously for 2 weeks (14 days) in the two groups. In 2 weeks, the clinical efficacy was assessed and the transcranial doppler (TCD) examination was performed.

RESULTSAfter treatment, the symptom scores were all apparently reduced in the patients of the two groups (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). Compared with the medicine group, the reduced score was much more obvious in the auricular acupuncture group (P < 0.05), indicating the significant difference. After treatment, with TCD examination, the blood velocity was increased to different degrees in the patients of low velocity type in the auricular acupuncture group and the medicine group; that was reduced to different degrees in the patients of high velocity type in the auricular acupuncture group and the medicine group. All of them were different significantly as compared with those before treatment (all P < 0.05). But the difference was not significant between the two groups (both P > 0.05). In comparison of clinical efficacy between the two groups, the effective rate was 93.3% (28/30) in the acupuncture group and better than 76.7% (23/30) in the medicine group, indicating the significant difference in comparison (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe auricular acupuncture therapy achieves the definite efficacy on VBI and the efficacy is better than flunarizine hydrochloride capsules.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture, Ear ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo ascertain the genetic characterization and genotype of measles viruses isolated in Shanghai region, in 2005.

METHODSMeasles virus was isolated from throat swab specimens collected from suspected measles cases and 450 bp fragment of C terminus of nucleprotein (N) gene was amplified by RT-PCR. Sequence analysis was conducted to ascertain the genotype and to compare the difference of nucleotide with other measles virus strain published in GenBank.

RESULTS4 measles viruses were isolated from 10 throat swab specimens, and the sequence analysis indicated that they belonged to H1 genotype. The homogeneity of 450 nucleotides in the C terminal of the N gene was at 98%-98.2% as compared to H1 genotype (China93-7). They differed from genotype H2 (China94-1) at 6.4%-6.9% and from genotype A (Edmonston) at 6.7%-6.9%, from measles vaccine (Shanghail91) at 7.6%-8.0%. They differed from the other measles viral strain isolated in China in 1993 - 2005 at 0.2%-3.7%. The variation within 4 isolated measles viruses was at 0.7%-1.3%.

CONCLUSIONIt was H1 genotype measles viruses,which are the native viruses in China that led to the outbreak of measles in Shanghai, in 2005.

China ; epidemiology ; Disease Outbreaks ; Genotype ; Humans ; Measles ; epidemiology ; genetics ; Measles virus ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus in China, newly diagnosed cases of type 1 diabetes with an onset age under 15 years were retrospectively registered by 23 local centers in China following a standardized protocal on the basis of the nationwide registry established by the WHO DiaMond Project China Participating Center, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine (CAPM). A population of about 24 million children were covered in the defined areas . A two-sample capture-recapture method was used to estimate case ascertainment. Between 1988 and 1996, 903 diabetic cases were registered in 9 ethnic groups. The overall ascertainment corrected incidence rate (IR) was 0.59 per 100 000 person-year. The IR was 0.52/100,000（95%CI：0.50～0.54）for males and 0.66/100,000（95%CI：0.64～0.68）for females. The standardized ascertainment corrected IR by the national age-specific population in 1990 was 0.57 per 100,000 person-year. The incidence among various ethnic groups ranged from 0.25/100,000 to 3.06/100,000. The IRs increased with northern latitude, and the IR of Han population was significantly higher in North China compared with South China (0.67 versus 0.53 per 100,000 respectively, P<0.01). A correlation model of incidence and calendar time showed that the IR increased significantly between 1988 and 1996 (r=0.86, P=0.0027). The relative risk (RR) of type 1 diabetes mellitus for different age-groups estimated by a Poisson regression model showed that taking RR as 1.00 for age-group from 0 to 4 years, the RR for age-group from 5 to 9 year and from 10 to 14 year was 2.30 and 3.60 respectively. The standardized ascertainment corrected IR of childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus in China is much lower than in other countries. The geographic and ethnic variability of the incidence suggests that both genetic and environmental factors play a role in the development of childhood diabetes in China.