As the search for effective treatments for COVID-19 continues, the high mortality rate among critically ill patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) presents a profound challenge. This study explores the potential benefits of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as a supplementary treatment for severe COVID-19. A total of 110 critically ill COVID-19 patients at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Vulcan Hill Hospital between Feb., 2020, and April, 2020 (Wuhan, China) participated in this observational study. All patients received standard supportive care protocols, with a subset of 81 also receiving TCM as an adjunct treatment. Clinical characteristics during the treatment period and the clinical outcome of each patient were closely monitored and analysed. Our findings indicated that the TCM group exhibited a significantly lower mortality rate compared with the non-TCM group (16 of 81 vs 24 of 29; 0.3 vs 2.3 person/month). In the adjusted Cox proportional hazards models, TCM treatment was associated with improved survival odds (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the analysis also revealed that TCM treatment could partially mitigate inflammatory responses, as evidenced by the reduced levels of proinflammatory cytokines, and contribute to the recovery of multiple organic functions, thereby potentially increasing the survival rate of critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Humans ; COVID-19 ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Critical Illness ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect mechanism of Gualou guizhi granule on neurological function and synaptic plasticity in rats with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. METHODS The rats were randomly divided into sham operation group， model group and Gualou guizhi granule group （3.6 g/kg）， with 6 rats in each group. The cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury model was established by the suture occlusion method. Two hours after modeling， the model rats were given relevant medicine or normal saline intragastrically， once a day， for 7 consecutive days. After the last medication， the neurological function of rats was evaluated [calculated by modified neurological severity scores （mNSS） and corner turning percentage]； the neuronal apoptosis rate of brain histiocyte in the ischemic side of rats was detected in each group； the positive expressions of growth associated protein 43 （GAP43） and microtubule associated protein 2 （MAP2） were detected； protein expressions of neuron-specific nuclear protein （NeuN）， synaptophysin-1 （Syn-1）， postsynaptic density protein-95 （PSD-95）， peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor γ （PPARγ）， brain-derived neurotrophic factor （BDNF） and tropomyosin receptor kinase B （TrkB）， as well as mRNA expressions of NeuN， Syn-1 and PSD-95 were detected. RESULTS Compared with the model group， mNSS， corner turning percentage and neuronal apoptotic rate were decreased significantly in Gualou guizhi granule group （P＜0.01）； GAP43 represented weak immunoreactivity， and MAP2 represented moderate immunoreactivity； protein expressions of NeuN， Syn-1， PSD-95， PPARγ， BDNF， TrkB and mRNA expressions of Syn-1， NeuN， PSD-95 were all increased significantly （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. CONCLUSIONS Gualou guizhi granule can promote synaptic plasticity by activating BDNF/TrkB signaling pathway， thus playing a protective role in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.

Objective:To summarize the clinical and genetic characteristics of early-onset spinocerebellar ataxia type 5 (SCA5) caused by SPTBN2 gene mutation. Methods:The clinical and genetic data of a child with early-onset SCA5 diagnosed in the Department of Children′s Rehabilitation, Women and Children′s Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University in February 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The literatures related to early-onset SCA5 in major databases at home and abroad were retrieved and summarized.Results:The patient, a 4 years and 1 month old girl, was admitted to hospital because of "unable to stand independently at 2 years and 3 months", primarily presented with developmental delay, ataxia, hypotonia, and tendon hyperreflexia during infancy. Progressive cerebellar atrophy was observed on brain magnetic resonance imaging. A de novo heterozygous mutation of the SPTBN2 c.793G>C(p.Asp265His) was identified in the patient. Following hospitalization, the child received comprehensive rehabilitation therapy encompassing physical, occupational, language, educational interventions as well as bicycle ergometer training and transcranial magnetic stimulation. The patient was followed-up for more than 1 year to 4 years and 1 month old, whose motor function, cognitive abilities, and language skills were improved to some extent. A total of 13 English articles and 1 Chinese article were retrieved from the databases. A total of 20 early-onset SCA5 patients have been reported, with onset ages all within 12 months. Infants exhibited decreased muscle tone and delayed motor milestones, with the main clinical manifestations of ataxia, generalized developmental delay, and cerebellar atrophy. The previously reported cases involved 11 mutation sites in the SPTBN2 gene, and the main types of mutations were de novo missense mutations. The mutation site in this case has not been reported in the previous literature. Conclusions:Early-onset SCA5 is a rare autosomal dominant disorder caused by heterozygous mutations in the SPTBN2 gene. The main clinical manifestations include ataxia from infancy, developmental retardation and cerebellar atrophy. Early rehabilitation intervention can improve the degree of the dysfunction.

Objective:To translate and culturally adjust Decisional Fatigue Scale (DFS) , and test its reliability and validity.Methods:The Chinese version of DFS was formed through the method of double translation, back translation and expert consultation. Using the convenient sampling method, 247 medical staffs from 16 departments in 76 wards of Xiangyang No.1 People's Hospital Affiliated to Hubei University of Medicine were selected as the research objects. Content validity, criterion validity and structure validity were used for validity evaluation, and internal consistency reliability, split half reliability and retest reliability were used for reliability evaluation. A total of 247 questionnaires were sent out in this study and 247 were effectively received, with effective recovery of 100.00%.Results:The total Cronbach's α coefficient of Chinese DFS was 0.933, the half-reliability coefficient was 0.849 and the retest reliability coefficient was 0.838 ( P<0.01) . Both the item content validity index and scale content validity index were 1.00, and the correlation coefficient with the total score of SRF-S was 0.729 ( P<0.01) . One common factor was extracted by exploratory factor analysis and 65.64% of the variation was explained cumulatively, which was consistent with the dimensions of the original scale. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that all fitting indexes were up to standard and the fitting degree was good. Conclusions:The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of DFS in medical staffs is good, which can be used to evaluate the degree of decision-making fatigue of Chinese medical staffs.

School-age children are in a specific development stage corresponding to juvenility, when the white matter of the brain experiences ongoing maturation. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI), especially diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), is extensively used to characterize the maturation by assessing white matter properties in vivo. In the analysis of DWI data, spatial normalization is crucial for conducting inter-subject analyses or linking the individual space with the reference space. Using tensor-based registration with an appropriate diffusion tensor template presents high accuracy regarding spatial normalization. However, there is a lack of a standardized diffusion tensor template dedicated to school-age children with ongoing brain development. Here, we established the school-age children diffusion tensor (SACT) template by optimizing tensor reorientation on high-quality DTI data from a large sample of cognitively normal participants aged 6-12 years. With an age-balanced design, the SACT template represented the entire age range well by showing high similarity to the age-specific templates. Compared with the tensor template of adults, the SACT template revealed significantly higher spatial normalization accuracy and inter-subject coherence upon evaluation of subjects in two different datasets of school-age children. A practical application regarding the age associations with the normalized DTI-derived data was conducted to further compare the SACT template and the adult template. Although similar spatial patterns were found, the SACT template showed significant effects on the distributions of the statistical results, which may be related to the performance of spatial normalization. Looking forward, the SACT template could contribute to future studies of white matter development in both healthy and clinical populations. The SACT template is publicly available now ( https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/SACT_template/14071283 ).

Objective To explore the effect of Naikan cognitive-music reminiscence therapy on coping style in female patients with chronic schizophrenia.Methods In May, 2020, 72 female patients with chronic schizophrenia from Beijing Huilongguan Hospital were assigned into control group (n = 48) and music group (n = 24) after trait matching. Both groups accepted routine medicine, while the control group accepted Naikan cognitive therapy, and the music group accepted Naikan cognitive therapy combined music reminiscence, for twelve weeks. They were blind assessed with Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, Self-rating Depression Scale and Self-rating Anxiety Scale before and after intervention.Results There were five cases in the control group removed for erroneous response. The main effects of group were not significant for all the assessments (F < 0.567, P > 0.05). The main effect of time was significant for negative coping style score (F = 6.968, P = 0.01), and the interaction effects were significant for positive coping style score and Self-rating Depression Scale score (F > 4.227, P < 0.05).Conclusion Combining with music reminiscence, Naikan cognitive therapy may be advantageous for the coping style of female patients with chronic schizophrenia.

Objective:To explore the application effect of blended learning on the teaching of nursing research course for undergraduate nursing students.Methods:From March to July 2019, a total of 118 undergraduate nursing students from Batch 2016 of a university in Xinjiang were collected in this study and divided into two groups randomly: the experimental group ( n = 60) and the control group ( n = 58). At the end of the course, the final examination scores of the nursing students were compared, and questionnaires were used to evaluate the critical thinking, self-directed learning ability and satisfaction of nursing students. SPSS 21.0 was used for independent-sample t-test and chi-square test. Results:After the implementation of the course, the scores of nursing research theory and practice of nursing students in the experimental group were (78.97±6.57) points and (83.02±3.50) points respectively, which were better than those of nursing students in the control group (75.48±7.76) points and (81.48±3.86) points. The total scores of critical thinking ability and self-directed learning ability of nursing students in the experimental group (294.67±25.15) and self-directed learning ability (277.67±30.84) were higher than those in the control group (222.03±18.77) and (203.81±33.19). The satisfaction degree of nursing students in the experimental group (93.33%) was better than that in the control group (60.34%), with statistical significance ( P<0.05). Conclusion:The application of blended learning in nursing research teaching can improve the final examination results of nursing students, and contribute to the improvement of nursing students' critical thinking ability, self-directed learning ability and course satisfaction.

Objective To fit and predict the monthly discharge number of a specialist hospital using Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model (ARIMA) and Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network model (LSTM), and compare the prediction effects of the two models. Methods ARIMA and LSTM models were constructed based on the monthly discharge number of a specialist hospital from 2013 to 2018. The resulting models were then used to predict the monthly discharge numbers in 2019, which were compared with actual data. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was used to evaluate the prediction effect of these two models. Results The MAPE values of ARIMA and LSTM compared to actual data in 2019 were 7.90% and 14.26%, respectively. Conclusion The prediction effect of ARIMA was better than that of LSTM. The prediction results of ARIMA showed that the number of patients discharged from the specialist hospital in 2019 was increasing, which fit well with the actual data.

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) combined with hyponatremia in Southern China and its risk factors for prognosis.Methods:The retrospective cohort study involved patients who met the diagnostic criteria of GBS from 18 upper first-class hospitals of 6 provinces/cities in southern China (south of Huaihe River) from January 1, 2013 to September 30, 2016. The clinical data of these patients were collected. According to serum sodium levels, they were divided into hyponatremia group (serum sodium concentration<135 mmol/L) and normal serum sodium group (serum sodium concentrations≥135 mmol/L). Based on Medical Research Coucil sum scores at nadir, these patients were divided into mild GBS group (>40), moderate GBS group (30-40), and severe GBS group (<30). Furthermore, according to the Hughes GBS disability scale (H-GBS-DS) scores at discharge, these GBS patients with hyponatremia were divided into favorable prognosis group (H-GBS-DS<3) and poor prognosis group (H-GBS-DS≥3). The incidence of hyponatremia in patients from the mild GBS group, moderate GBS group, and severe GBS group were compared. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the clinical risk factors for hyponatremia in GBS patients. The clinical data of hyponatremia patients from favorable prognosis group and poor prognosis group were compared; multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the risk factors for poor prognosis in GBS patients with hyponatremia.Results:(1) Among the 570 patients, 354 had mild GBS, 94 had moderate GBS, and 122 had severe GBS; 134 GBS patients were combined with hyponatremia, 436 GBS patients had normal serum sodium. The hyponatremia incidence in mild, moderate and severe GBS groups increased successively, ( P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that facial paralysis ( OR=1.979, 95%CI: 1.172-3.342, P=0.011), respiratory muscle paralysis ( OR=3.218, 95%CI: 1.611-6.428, P=0.001), secondary pulmonary infection ( OR=4.822, 95%CI: 2.835-8.201, P=0.000), severe GBS ( OR=2.611, 95%CI: 1.444-4.721, P=0.001) and length of hospital stay ( OR=1.029, 95%CI: 1.009-1.050, P=0.004) were risk factors for hyponatremia in GBS patients. (2) Among 134 GBS patients with hyponatremia, 80 had poor prognosis and 54 had favorable prognosis. As compared with the favorable group, the poor prognosis group had significantly lower proportion of patients with extraocular muscle paralysis, statistically higher proportions of patients with respiratory muscle paralysis and secondary pulmonary infection, significantly different severities of GBS, signficantly higher proportion of patients accepted intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and hormone treatments, statistically longer length of hospital stay ( P<0.05). Respiratory muscle paralysis ( OR=25.590, 95%CI: 9.433-69.423, P=0.000), moderate GBS ( OR=17.030, 95%CI: 8.441-34.361, P=0.000), and severe GBS ( OR=51.042, 95%CI: 24.596-105.926, P=0.000) were independent risk factors for poor short-term prognosis of GBS patients with hyponatremia. Conclusions:Severe GBS patients with facial paralysis, respiratory muscle palsy, secondary pulmonary infection, and long hospital stay trend to have hyponatremia. Hyponatremia patients with respiratory muscle paralysis and moderate/severe GBS have poor short-term prognosis.

Objective:To explore the short-term prognostic factors for Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in children.Methods:The clinical data of children with GBS from 24 hospitals in 10 provinces/municipalities/autonomous regions in southern China (south of Huaihe River) from January 1, 2013 to September 30, 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. The factors affecting the short-term prognoses of children were explored.Results:In these 78 children (50 males and 28 females), the average age was 9.53±5.44 years, and 19 were under 5 years old. Fifty children had history of prodromal events; 28 children had cranial nerve involvement, and 22 had autonomic nerve involvement. Five children needed assisted respiration, and one died during hospitalization. There was no statistically significant difference in percentage of children having poor short-term prognosis (scores of Hughes GBS disability scale≥3 at discharge) between children with different ages, children having different days from onset to admission, children with different clinical classifications or electrophysiological classifications, children with different treatment plans, children having presence or absence of prodromal events, children having presence or absence of cranial nerve involvement ( P>0.05). The proportion of children having poor short-term prognosis in children with autonomic nerve involvement was significantly higher than that of children without autonomic nerve involvement (31.8% vs. 10.7%, P<0.05). Conclusion:The short-term prognosis of children with autonomic nerve involvement is poor.