Objective: To understand the attitudes and perceptions of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners in Beijing TCM hospitals regarding the use of Ephedra sinica Stapf (E. sinica, Ma Huang). Methods: A two-stage cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire survey of TCM practitioners in Beijing TCM hospitals between April 2023 and March 2024. The questionnaire included demographic information, the clinical background of TCM practitioners, and the clinical application of E. sinica. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relevant influencing factors when using E. sinica. Results: Of the 465 questionnaires collected, 441 were valid. Among these, 84.81% (374/441) reported having used E. sinica in clinical practice at least once. The commonly used doses of E. sinica—excluding the pediatric department—were 10 g for high doses, 6 g for medium, and 3 g for low. The three most frequently used formulas for E. sinica included Maxing Shigan decoction, Mahuang decoction, and Xiao Qing Long decoction. The most common TCM patterns treated with a high dose of E. sinica were wind-cold exterior pattern, wind-cold invading the lung, and wind and water combat with meridians congealed by cold. The top three Western medical diagnoses when using E. sinica for treatment were common cold, pneumonia, and upper respiratory tract infections. Nearly half of the respondents reported experiencing adverse reactions from the oral administration of E. sinica, with the most common being palpitations, insomnia, and restlessness. Starting with a low dose and gradually increasing it as appropriate was identified as an effective approach. Conclusion This study investigated the attitudes and perceptions of TCM practitioners in Beijing TCM hospitals regarding the dose–efficacy–adverse reaction relationship of E. sinica, providing a reference for the safe and effective clinical use of E. sinica.

Objective:To analyze the clinical diagnosis, treatment ，and surgical timing of otogenic intracranial complications. Methods:The clinical data of 11 patients with intracranial complications with ear symptoms as the first manifestation in Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University（Qingdao） from December 2014 to June 2022 were collected, including 8 males and 3 females, aged from 4 to 69 years. All patients had complete otoendoscopy, audiology, imaging and etiology examination, and the diagnosis and treatment plan was jointly developed through multidisciplinary consultation according to the critical degree of clinical symptoms and imaging changes. Among the 11 patients, 5 cases were treated with intracranial lesions first in neurosurgery department and middle ear lesions later in otolaryngology, 3 cases of meningitis, were treated with middle ear surgery after intracranial infection control, 1 case was treated with middle ear lesions and intracranial infection simultaneously, and 2 cases were treated with sigmoid sinus and transverse sinus thrombosis conservatively. They were followed up for 1-6 years. Descriptive statistical methods were used for analysis. Results:All the 11 patients had ear varying symptoms, including ear pain, pus discharge and hearing loss, etc, and then fever appeared, headache, disturbance of consciousness, facial paralysis and other intracranial complication. Otoendoscopy showed perforation of the relaxation of the tympanic membrane in 5 cases, major perforation of the tension in 3 cases, neoplasia in the ear canal in 1 case, bulging of the tympanic membrane in 1 case, and turbidity of the tympanic membrane in 1 case. There were 4 cases of conductive hearing loss, 4 cases of mixed hearing loss and 3 cases of total deafness. Imaging examination showed cholesteatoma of the middle ear complicated with temporal lobe brain abscess in 4 cases, cerebellar abscess in 2 cases, cholesteatoma of the middle ear complicated with intracranial infection in 3 cases, and sigmoid sinus thrombophlebitis in 2 cases. In the etiological examination, 2 cases of Streptococcus pneumoniae were cultured in the pus of brain abscess and cerebrospinal fluid, and 1 case was cultured in streptococcus vestibularis, Bacteroides uniformis and Proteus mirabilis respectively. During the follow-up, 1 patient died of cardiovascular disease 3 years after discharge, and the remaining 10 patients survived. There was no recurrence of intracranial and middle ear lesions. Sigmoid sinus and transverse sinus thrombosis were significantly improved. Conclusion:Brain abscess, intracranial infection and thrombophlebitis are the most common otogenic intracranial complications, and cholesteatoma of middle ear is the most common primary disease. Timely diagnosis, multidisciplinary collaboration, accurate grasp of the timing in the treatment of primary focal and complications have improved the cure rate of the disease.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Brain Abscess/therapy* ; Cholesteatoma ; Deafness/etiology* ; Hearing Loss/etiology* ; Lateral Sinus Thrombosis/therapy* ; Retrospective Studies ; Thrombophlebitis/therapy* ; Child, Preschool ; Child ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Cholesteatoma, Middle Ear/therapy* ; Central Nervous System Infections/therapy* ; Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial/therapy* ; Ear Diseases/therapy*

Objective:To investigate clinical application of aconite root (Aconitum carmichaelii Debx.;hereinafter"aconite") by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physicians in TCM hospitals in Beijing and explore the specific use of aconite and the effect of different doses on decoction time.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study using two-stage sampling.Questionnaires were administered among TCM physicians from TCM hospitals in Beijing between September 2020 and August 2021.The questionnaire mainly included general demographics,clinical backgrounds of TCM physicians,and clinical application of aconite.The data analyses were performed using SPSS 20.0.Results:A total of 387 questionnaires were collected,of which 385 were valid.Of the 385 participating TCM physicians,331 (85.97％) used aconite in clinical practice.The top three medical diagnoses treated with aconite were heart failure,diarrhea without cause,and chronic gastritis.The TCM pattern treated most frequently with a high dose of aconite was spleen-kidney yang deficiency,and the TCM pattern treated most frequently with a low dose was spleen yang deficiency,while spleen-kidney yang deficiency was treated most frequently with a common dose of aconite.The top three common formulas were Sini decoction,Mahuang Xixin Fuzi decoction,and Zhenwu decoction.Hei Shun Pian was the most common herbal pieces of aconite.The highest frequency of the maximum dose of aconite was 15 g,that of the minimum dose was 3 g,and that of the common dose was 10 g.There was a certain correlation between decoction time and the dose of aconite.Most TCM physicians advised their patients to take medicine twice a day.Conclusion:In this study,we refined and quantified the use of aconite and enriched the exploration of the clinical application of aconite besides its provisions in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China.

Objective To explore the clinical features of critical cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods The clinical data of nine patients who were diagnosed with critical COVID-19 in Hainan General Hospital from January 21, 2020 to February 6, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. RT-PCR testing for 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was performed with multi-sites synchronize specimens including pharyngeal swab, blood, excrement, and urine. The serum levels of leucocyte, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin and lactic acid between the improved group (five cases) and the deteriorated group (four cases) were compared. The t test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between groups. Results There were eight males (88.9%) and 1 female enrolled. The patients aged 28-77 years old, with an age of (52.9±18.0) years. By March 4, 2020, all five cases in improved group were cured and discharged, three cases in deteriorated group died and 1case remained in critical condition. All multi-sites specimens of patients in improved group turned negative in 2-4 weeks of illness onset, while those of cases in deteriorated group showed sustained viral nucleic acid positive (up to 48th day of illness onset). The white blood cell counts ((13.52±8.24)×10 9 /L vs (10.49±4.46) ×10 9 /L), C-reactive protein ((139.71±87.46) mg/L vs (78.60±55.40) mg/L) and procalcitonin ((2.32±4.03) ng/mL vs (0.28±0.58) ng/mL) , lactic acid ((3.70±4.14) mmol/L vs (2.33±0.53) mmol/L) in deteriorated group were all significantly higher than those in improved group ( t =2.908, 5.009, 4.391 and 2.942, respectively, all P <0.01). A rapid rise of serum IL-6 level up to 8 500 pg/mL was observed in one patient three days prior to death. Conclusion Among the patients with critical COVID-19, serum levels of inflammatory cytokines of the death cases are higher than those of improved and discharged cases.

Objective To explore the safety and reliability of soft tissue high-frequency welding technique for partial hepatectomy in animals and provide evidence for its clinical application.Methods With high-frequency welding technique,partial liver tissues were removed from 10 SD rats.Intraoperative blood loss was recorded.Liver function was detected and wound healing was observed by dissecting the rats one week after operation.Results There was no hemorrhage during the liver resection.The liver function returned to normal after one week and the liver incision recovered well.Conclusion The use of soft tissue high-frequency welding technique for partial partial hepatectomy is basically free of bleeding and is safe and reliable.

Avian influenza virus is a new recombinant virus , which can cause severe respiratory symptoms ,such as short course,acute disease,and a high mortality rate.The purpose of this paper was to summarize the current status of this virus in terms of its epidemiology ,genetic evolution and virulence .By introducing the advancement in the research of this subtype virus, we hope to provide data and evidence ,for effective surveillance and prevention of this virus .

In order to prevent the canceration of gallbladder polyps or avoid the misdiagnosis of gallbladder cancer,the mainstream practice is cholecystectomy for polyps larger than 1 cm,while gallbladder polyps larger than 0.5 cm as an indication of gallbladder preserving surgery.The reasons for this result is that we put the diameter of more than 1 cm of gallbladder polyps as high risk factors for prediction of gallbladder carcinoma,and we ignored the characteristics of gallbladder polyps that most of them are not gallbladder cancer or are not cancerous even larger than 1 cm.We analysed the high risk factors for gallbladder cancer on the basis of variety of clinical data,and we believe that the most valuable indicator of gallbladder cancer are the growth time of gallbladder polyps,the age of the patients,the combination of gallstones,the single polyps,and the sex.Polyps diameter greater than 1 cm are not a high risk factor for gallbladder cancer.We can use these five high risk factors to manage gallbladder polyps and reduce unnecessary cholecystectomy and gallbladder preserving surgery.

Objective To study the effect of microscopic observation drug susceptibility assay (MODS)for testing Mycobacteri-um tuberculosis in sputum ,and to evaluate its clinical value .Methods A total of 150 sputum samples were collected from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis ,and Mycobacterium tuberculosis were detected by Lowenstein-Jensen (L-J) method and MODS ,and compared the results of the two methods .Results The concordance rates of the test results of sputum sample between MODS and L-J was 77 .8% .The sensitivity and specificity of MODS were 93 .3% and 70 .0% ,positive predictive value (PPV ) was 60 .8% , negative predictive value (NPV) was 95 .4% ,as well as accuracy by MODS was 77 .8% .Conclusion MODS assay could be used as a rapid tuberculosis detection method ,with rapid ,sensitive ,simple ,and other advantages .

Ebola virus disease , which can cause ebola hemorrhagic fever , is a potent zoonotic infectious virus disease . In 2014 , Ebola virus spread across West Africa and it has become a new major threat to global public health .This article summarizes the structural features of Ebola virus , transmission characteristics , interactions ,animal models .

Detection of pathogenic microorganisms has been a hot research field of microbiology.Conventional detection methods,such as isolation and culture, PCR technology, ELISA and genomic sequencing,are all time-consuming and com-plex.Because of the advantages of quick-testing, accuracy, safety and efficiency, spectroscopy has become a new non-inva-sive testing technology and has witnessed rapid development in pathogen detection and disease diagnosis.This article intro-duces three types of common spectroscopy technologies ( laser excitation fluorescence spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy) , and also explains how they work in the detection of pathogenic microorganisms.