ObjectiveTo observe the clinical effect of garlic moxibustion with herbal medicinals in treating allergic rhinitis （AR） with latent heat in lung meridian and explore the potential mechanisms. MethodsA total of 70 AR patients with the latent heat in lung meridian were randomly divided into loratadine group （35 cases） and moxibustion group （35 cases）. The loratadine group was treated with loratadine tablets orally， 10mg each time， once a day， one week as a course for 4 courses. The moxibustion group received garlic moxibustion with herbal medicinals once a day， 7 times as one course， for a total of 4 courses. The primary outcome was total nasal symptom score （TNSS）， measured before and after treatment， and at the 1-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes included traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） syndrome score， immunoglobulin E （IgE） level and eosinophils （EOS） level before and after 4 weeks of treatment. Efficacy was evaluated based on the changes in TNSS after treatment. Adverse reactions and events during treatment were observed， and safety evaluation was performed. ResultsA total of 33 patients from each group were included in the final analysis. The moxibustion group had a total effective rate of 93.94% （31/33）， significantly higher than the 75.76% （25/33） of the loratadine group （P＜0.05）. After treatment， both groups showed a significant reduction in TNSS， TCM syndrome score， IgE and EOS levels （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）， and more reductions were seen in the moxibustion group （P＜0.05）. During follow-up， the moxibustion group also had a lower TNSS than the loratadine group （P＜0.05）. During treatment， one patient in the moxibustion group experienced shortness of breath， and one patient in the loratadine group experienced headache. Both symptoms were mild and improved after symptomatic treatment， allowing them to continue the treatment. ConclusionGarlic moxibustion with herbal medicinals can alleviate nasal inflammatory symptoms， reduce allergic reactions in AR patients， and effectively control AR flare-ups and related inflammatory responses， superior to oral loratadine alone and of good safety.

Objective To assay the salivary ANG-2 level of oral lichen planus(OLP)patients,and analyze its correlation with in-flammatory activity of OLP.Methods Eighty-nine OLP patients were included,and divided into four subgroups as non-erosive asymp-tomatic(NEA),non-erosive symptomatic(NES),minor-erosive(MIE)and major-erosive(MAE)groups.Fifteen healthy adults were recruited as controls.Whole unstimulated saliva was collected from each participant,and the salivary ANG-2 level was measured by chemiluminescence immunoassays(CLIA)for analysis.Normal oral mucosal tissue,non-erosive and erosive OLP tissues were collected to detect and analyze the expression of ANG-2 positive blood vessels by immunohistochemistry(IHC).Results The base-lines of age and gender between OLP and control groups showed no significant difference.Compared to controls,the salivary ANG-2 levels of OLP group,non-erosive and erosive OLP subgroups were significantly higher(P＜0.05),in which erosive OLP group was higher than non-erosive OLP group(P=0.022);NES subgroup was slightly higher than NEA(P=0.048),and there was no statistical significance between MIA and MEA subgroups(P=0.067).Spearman correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between sali-vary ANG-2 level and inflammation activity in OLP patients(r=0.314,P=0.003).The expression of ANG-2 in non-erosive OLP mu-cosal tissues slightly increased than normal oral mucosal tissue(P＞0.05),but there was no significant difference.The expression of ANG-2 in erosive OLP mucosal tissues significantly increased than normal oral mucosal tissue(P＜0.001)and non-erosive OLP group(P＜0.001).Conclusion There is a certain correlation between sali-vary ANG-2 level and inflammatory activity of OLP,indicating that salivary ANG-2 level is probable to be one of the inflammatory activity indicators to monitor the state-variation of OLP as a clinical non-inva-sive method.

Objective To study the relationship between Alzheimer's disease(AD)and nonverbal listening comprehension obstacle,and to observe the different specific performance of AD patients in the non-verbal listening comprehension tests involving music and non-verbal semantics,in order to identify the yalue of these tests in the differential diagnosis of AD.Methods The internalized 104 subjects meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria were divided into 4 groups of normal group(n =24),a-MCI group(amnesia-mild cognitive impairment,n =30),mild-AD group (n =27) and moderate AD group (n =23).All subjects received a series of central non-verbal listening comprehension tests which were scored and evaluated,including categorizing and naming according to the sound which involved the non-verbal semantic aspect,judging the emotion and rhythm according to the melody which involved the music aspect.Then the scores were analyzed.Mini-mental state examination(MMSE)and Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA) were used for assessing the degrees of cognitive impairment.Results All test scores had a positive moderate to high correlations with MMSE and MoCA(all r＞0.4,P＜0.01),in which sound classification and nomination had better positive correlations than other tests.The statistically significant differences were found in all tests among the four groups(all P＜0.05).There was a significant difference in sound nomination between a-MCI group and normal group(P＜ 0.05).There were significant differences in sound classification,nomination and judging melody rhythm between mild AD group and normal group or a-MCI group (both P ＜0.05).There were significant differences in all tests between moderate AD group and normal group or a-MCI group (both P ＜ 0.05).The sound classification tests,especially sound nomination tests,had better diagnostic value than the rhythm and emotion judgment tests for identifying AD.Conclusions Patients with AD,even with a-MCI,can develop the non-verbal listening comprehension obstacle,which is aggravated along with the exacerbation of cognitive impairment.AD patient's semantic aspect-involving non-verbal listening ability degeneration is faster than involving the music aspect.Non-verbal listening comprehension tests involving non-verbal semantic aspect,especially sound nomination tests,have better diagnostic values.