Management of sagittal craniosynostosis: morphological comparison of eight surgical techniques

The aim of this study was to carry out a retrospective multicentre study comparing the morphological outcome of 8 techniques used for the management of sagittal synostosis versus a large cohort of control patients. Computed tomographic (CT) images were obtained from children CT-scanned for non-craniosynostosis related events (n = 241) and SS patients at preoperative and postoperative follow-up stages (n = 101). No significant difference in morphological outcomes was observed between the techniques considered in this study. However, the majority of techniques showed a tendency for relapse. Further, the more invasive procedures at older ages seem to lead to larger intracranial volume compared to less invasive techniques at younger ages. This study can be a first step towards future multicentre studies, comparing surgical results and offering a possibility for objective benchmarking of outcomes between methods and centres.     

Preferential responses to faces in superior temporal and medial prefrontal cortex in three-year-old children

Perceiving faces and understanding emotions are key components of human social cognition. Prior research with adults and infants suggests that these social cognitive functions are supported by superior temporal cortex (STC) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to characterize functional responses in these cortical regions to faces in early childhood. Three-year-old children (n = 88, M(SD) = 3.15(.16) years) passively viewed faces that varied in emotional content and valence (happy, angry, fearful, neutral) and, for fearful and angry faces, intensity (100%, 40%), while undergoing fNIRS. Bilateral STC and MPFC showed greater oxygenated hemoglobin concentration values to all faces relative to objects. MPFC additionally responded preferentially to happy faces relative to neutral faces. We did not detect preferential responses to angry or fearful faces, or overall differences in response magnitude by emotional valence (100% happy vs. fearful and angry) or intensity (100% vs. 40% fearful and angry). In exploratory analyses, preferential responses to faces in MPFC were not robustly correlated with performance on tasks of early social cognition. These results link and extend adult and infant research on functional responses to faces in STC and MPFC and contribute to the characterization of the neural correlates of early social cognition.     

基于内容分析法的中医类APP现状分析

随着手机APP对人们日常工作和生活方式的改变，中医类APP日益得到关注。文章基于内容分析法对目前中医类APP现状进行梳理，分析存在的问题，对未来中医类APP的设计和开发提出建议。以每一个APP为分析单元，从一般情况、主要功能、用户评价等3个方面进行分析，建立了7个维度22个细目的编码体系，进行频数统计和分析。发现目前中医类APP功能丰富，用户广泛，成为中医药服务及中医科学传播的重要载体，具有良好的用户粘度及巨大市场需求，但存在质量良莠不齐、内容资源不佳等问题。提出中医类APP开发应符合中医药发展战略的方向，应进一步规范中医类APP隐私政策和相关法律法规；并探索中医类APP的评价标准和评价指标体系，促进和规范中医类APP的质量提升和不断发展。     

基于方剂构成信息的知识发现和关联网络构建挖掘海洋中药海马历代用药经验＊

目的 通过对含海马方剂构成信息进行数据挖掘和知识发现，构建关联网络，分析海马的历代应用情况，挖掘海马用药配伍经验，发现海马潜在功效和主治病症，为海马的临床应用和开发提供依据。方法 以《中医方剂大辞典》《中国药典》《中华医典》等多部著作为方源，收集含有海马的相关方剂，并进行频数分析、关联规则挖掘和关联网络的构建。结果 共筛选有文献记载的含海马方剂154首。从剂型看，大多为散剂，从方剂分布年代来看，海马的应用虽然有很长历史，但是古代应用并不广泛，现代应用较多。通过对配伍药物进行分析发现，与海马配伍频率较高的是“鹿茸”、“熟地黄”、“肉苁蓉”等补益药物。从功效主治方面看，大多数方剂具有“补肾”、“温阳”、“益精”等传统功效外，还具有健脑等功效；主治病症中，除“阳痿”、“癥瘕”、“疔疮”等《中国药典》所记载的疾病之外，还可治疗“虚劳”、“健忘”、“瘿病”、“不寐”、“痹证”、“小便淋沥或不通”等。对其进行关联关系分析发现，海马配伍补肾温阳的效果较为明显，多用于治疗阳痿，且腰痛、虚劳、遗精、健忘、不育等疾病的治疗与补肾关系密切；在治疗癥瘕时，多与醋、樗鸡、干漆、硇砂、斑蝥、水蛭、没药、当归配伍。结论 该研究不仅发现了含海马方剂的常用剂型、分布年代和药物配伍规律，发现了历代医家应用海马的临床经验，还探索了海马的潜在应用价值。海马作为一味海洋中药，具有温、补、托、消等特性，除常用于治疗阳痿外，还可用于治疗腰痛、健忘、瘿病、不寐、痹证等病症，这些研究结果可为拓展海马的临床应用提供理论基础及依据。     

《针灸大成》关于气海穴临床应用的文献研究

目的:通过检索《针灸大成》中与气海穴治疗作用相关的文献条文,总结气海穴在治疗各系统疾病中运用频次较高的疾病及其配穴规律,为临床针灸对气海穴的使用提供理论支持。方法:以《中华医典》(第五版)中《针灸大成》作为文献检索来源,将气海穴及气海穴的别称“脖胦”“下肓”“丹田”“肓之原”“肓原”“下言”和“气泽”为检索词,用计算机检索工具及人工检索相结合的方法检索符合要求的文献条文,通过建立本研究的数据库,频次分析、条形统计图比较分析等方法,总结出气海穴在治疗各系统疾病中的运用频次及其配穴规律。结果:在《针灸大成》所涉及的条文中,气海穴尤善治疗内科疾病,在治疗内科疾病中排名前3位的是脾胃系病症、气血津液疾病、肾系病症和妇科疾病,气海穴配穴习惯为上下配穴法,同名经配穴法,以及前后配穴法,其中主要为前后配穴法和同名经配穴法。结论:气海穴《针灸大成》中单穴应用占比最高,而在气海穴众多配穴中,运用了本经配穴法、上下配穴法、前后配穴法,配穴归经主要来自任脉和足太阳膀胱经。同名经配穴法,同气相求,可增加疗效;与气海穴配伍较多的足太阳膀胱经以背腧穴为主,此为前后配穴法,亦称腹背阴阳配穴法,腹部为阴,腰背为阳,前后配穴法可起到“从阳引阴”亦可“从阴引阳”的作用,以达到调节阴阳,调和脏法,调畅经络的目的。     

基于临床观察文本解析痛经辨治规律研究

目的:研究痛经的中医药辨治规律。方法:检索国家知识基础设施数据库(CNKI)1988—2019年应用中药治疗痛经的相关文献,采用Medcase Ver38诊籍中医师工作室-名老中医经验传承辅助平台,运用文本解析对临床医案进行研究。结果:研究文献131篇,医案104则,涉及病例128次,332诊次,涉及症状92条,病机33条,舌象27条,脉象17条,药物249种。结论:中医药治疗痛经的特异症状为“经行腹痛”,可见症为“夹血块、月经色暗、手足冰冷、经期腰酸”,相关舌脉为“舌质暗红,苔薄白”“脉沉细弦”,核心病机为“瘀血阻滞”,常用治法为“行气化瘀,活血止痛”,常用药物为“当归、白芍、甘草、延胡索、川芎”。     

Safety and immunogenicity of NVX-CoV2373 (TAK-019) vaccine in healthy Japanese adults: Interim report of a phase I/II randomized controlled trial

BackgroundWe evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of NVX-CoV2373, a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 nanoparticle vaccine, in healthy Japanese participants.MethodsThis phase 1/2, randomized, observer-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in Japan (two sites), enrolled healthy Japanese adults aged ≥ 20 years with no history/risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and no prior exposure to other approved/investigational SARS-CoV-2 vaccines or treatments. Participants were stratified by age (< 65 or ≥ 65 years) and randomized to receive two doses of either NVX-CoV2373 (5 μg SARS-CoV-2 rS; 50 μg Matrix-M1) or placebo, 21 days apart. Primary outcomes were safety and immunogenicity assessed by serum IgG antibody levels against SARS-CoV-2 rS protein on day 36. Herein, we report the primary data analysis at 4 weeks after the second dose, ahead of 12-month follow-up completion (data cut-off: 8 May 2021).ResultsBetween 12 February 2021 and 17 March 2021, 326 subjects were screened, and 200 participants enrolled and randomized: NVX-CoV2373, n = 150; placebo, n = 50. Solicited adverse events (AEs) through 7 days after each injection occurred in 121/150 (80.7%) and 11/50 (22.0%) participants in the NVX-CoV2373 and placebo arms, respectively. In the NVX-CoV2373 arm, tenderness and injection site pain were the most frequently reported solicited AEs after each vaccination, irrespective of age. Robust immune responses occurred with NVX-CoV2373 (n = 150) by day 36: IgG geometric mean fold rise (95% confidence interval) 259 (219, 306); seroconversion rate 100% (97.6, 100). No such response occurred with placebo (n = 49).ConclusionTwo doses of NVX-CoV2373 given with a 21-day interval demonstrated acceptable safety and induced robust anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in healthy Japanese adults. Funding: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04712110.     

Expectation affects neural repetition suppression in infancy

Recent work provides evidence that the infant brain is able to make top-down predictions, but this has been explored only in limited contexts and domains. We build upon this evidence of predictive processing in infants using a new paradigm to examine auditory repetition suppression (RS). RS is a well-documented neural phenomenon in which repeated presentations of the same stimulus result in reduced neural activation compared to non-repeating stimuli. Many theories explain RS using bottom-up mechanisms, but recent work has posited that top-down expectation and predictive coding may bias, or even explain, RS. Here, we investigate whether RS in the infant brain is similarly sensitive to top-down mechanisms. We use fNIRS to measure infants’ neural response in two experimental conditions, one in which variability in stimulus presentation is expected (occurs 75% of the time) and a control condition where variability and repetition are equally likely (50% of the time). We show that 6-month-old infants exhibit attenuated frontal lobe response to blocks of variable auditory stimuli during contexts when variability is expected as compared to the control condition. These findings suggest that young infants’ neural responses are modulated by predictions gained from experience and not simply by bottom-up mechanisms.     

Pharmacological control of inflammation in wound healing

Wound inflammation is a rapid and highly orchestrated process that significantly impacts the wound healing cascade. Consequent to injury, a series of events set off that include inflammatory, proliferation and maturation phases leading to wound closure and restoration of normal skin integrity. Stimuli causing stress to host immune system or induce inflammatory response include tissue damage and pathogenic microbial infection.Several evidences points towards the positive role of inflammation as it essential to fight against the attack of invading pathogens and to remove dead tissues from the site of injury. Besides its positive role, prolonged inflammation is injurious and may result in deregulated stages of the wound healing which may lead to excessive scarring. Achieving balance in inflammatory cascade is one of the challenging tasks for development of a wound healing drug.This review mainly focuses on the pharmacological control of inflammation by agents which critically balance the inflammatory cascade. However, none of the agent is available in the healthcare market which exclusively plays a role in wound repair. In this review we shall explore different factors or agents affecting inflammation in wound healing. This information might be helpful in designing and development new process, technologies or drugs for better management of wound care. In addition, understanding the effect of inflammation on the outcome of the healing process will serve as a significant milestone in the area of pathological tissue repair.