Therapeutic effect of Chinese herbal medicines for post-stroke depression: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background:Whether the addition of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in routine western medicines for post-stroke depression yields additional therapeutic effects still remains to be controversial. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of combination of CHM with routine western medicines versus routine western medicines alone in patients with post-stroke depression (PSD).Methods:Electronic databases such as PubMed, EmBase, Cochrane library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure were systematically searched from inception till October 2019. Studies designed as randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and that investigated the therapeutic effects of CHM plus routine western medicines (CHM group) versus routine western medicines alone (control group) in PSD patients were eligible. The relative risk (RR) and weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to assess the categories and continuous data using random-effects model. Software STATA was applied to perform statistical analysis (Version 10.0; StataCorp, TX,).Results:A total of 18 RCTs involving a total of 1,367 PSD patients were selected for final analysis. The effective rate in CHM group was significantly higher than that in control group (RR: 1.18; 95%CI: 1.12–1.24; P < .001). Moreover, patients in CHM group showed association with lower Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (WMD: -3.17; 95%CI: -4.12 to -2.22; P < .001) and Scandinavian Stroke Scale (WMD: -3.84; 95%CI: -5.73 to -1.96; P < .001) than those in control group. Furthermore, patients in CHM were associated with high level of Barthel Index than those in control group (WMD: 11.06; 95%CI: 4.01 to 18.10; P = .002). Finally, patients in CHM group had lower risk of gastrointestinal (RR: 0.49; 95%CI: 0.31–0.77; P = .002) and neurological (RR: 0.50; 95%CI: 0.33–0.75; P = .001) adverse events than those in control group.Conclusions:The study findings revealed that addition of CHM to routine therapies could improve the therapeutic effects and reduce gastrointestinal or neurological adverse events.     

老年卒中后抑郁与血清同型半胱氨酸水平的相关性研究

目的 研究老年急性期脑梗死患者发生卒中后抑郁(post-stroke depression, PSD)与其血清同型半胱氨酸(serum homocysteine, Hcy)水平的相关性。方法 选177例住院的急性期缺血性卒中的老年患者,并根据中国精神障碍分类与诊断标准第3版(CCMD-3)[1]中抑郁发作的诊断标准将病例分成PSD组96例和非PSD组(对照组)81例。对所有入选患者在入院的次日进行血清同型半胱氨酸水平测定,比较两组患者血清Hcy的水平,并与PSD进行相关分析。结果 卒中抑郁组与卒中后非抑郁组血清同型半胱氨酸水平分别(21.44±7.35)μmol/L、(10.69±3.32)μmol/L,两组比较差异有统计学意义(P<0.01)。在卒中后抑郁组,血清同型半胱氨酸水平与抑郁程度(r=0.428,P<0.01)相关。结论 卒中急性期血清Hcy水平与卒中急性期抑郁有相关性。     

“I’ve got somebody there,someone cares”: what support is most valued following a stroke?

Purpose: There is often a need for increased support following a stroke. This study explored what types of support are provided by different network members and what support functions are most valued.

Methods: Adults with first stroke were recruited from a stroke unit and participated in in-depth interviews 8–15 months poststroke. Framework Analysis was used to build thematic and explanatory accounts of the data.

Results: Twenty-nine participants took part. Main themes to emerge were as follows: the spouse was the most important provider of support; children were a relatively stable source of support, although many participants expressed reservations about worrying a child; relatives and friends typically provided social companionship and emotional support rather than on-going practical support. The only universally valued support function was the sense that someone was concerned and cared. Other valued functions were as follows: social companionship including everyday social “chit chat”; practical support provided sensitively; and, for many, sharing worries and sensitive encouragement. The manner and context in which support was provided was important: support was easiest to receive when it communicated concern, and was part of a reciprocal, caring relationship.

Conclusions: As well as measuring supportive acts, researchers and clinicians should consider the manner and context of support.

• Implications for rehabilitation

• The manner in which support was provided mattered: support was easier to receive when it communicated concern.

• The spouse was the most important source of all support functions; children, relatives and friends were important providers of emotional and social companionship support.

• Researchers and clinicians should not only focus on what support is received, but also the context (e.g., contribution, reciprocity, quality of relationship) and manner (e.g., responsiveness, sensitivity) of the support.

     

基底节性失语

基底节病变常导致语言功能障碍,其表现彤式复杂,既可出现口语语言障碍,也可出现书面语语言障碍,几乎包括所有失语类型.文章就基底节解剖、基底节失语的定义、特点、机制以及病变部位对语言的影响做了综述.     

White matter tract signatures of the progressive aphasias

The primary progressive aphasias (PPA) are a heterogeneous group of language-led neurodegenerative diseases resulting from large-scale brain network degeneration. White matter (WM) pathways bind networks together, and might therefore hold information about PPA pathogenesis. Here we used diffusion tensor imaging and tract-based spatial statistics to compare WM tract changes between PPA syndromes and with respect to Alzheimer's disease and healthy controls in 33 patients with PPA (13 nonfluent/agrammatic PPA); 10 logopenic variant PPA; and 10 semantic variant PPA. Nonfluent/agrammatic PPA was associated with predominantly left-sided and anterior tract alterations including uncinate fasciculus (UF) and subcortical projections; semantic variant PPA with bilateral alterations in inferior longitudinal fasciculus and UF; and logopenic variant PPA with bilateral but predominantly left-sided alterations in inferior longitudinal fasciculus, UF, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and subcortical projections. Tract alterations were more extensive than gray matter alterations, and the extent of alteration across tracts and PPA syndromes varied between diffusivity metrics. These WM signatures of PPA syndromes illustrate the selective vulnerability of brain language networks in these diseases and might have some pathologic specificity.     

The differential dependence of abstract and concrete words upon associative and similarity-based information: Complementary semantic interference and facilitation effects

We report mirror-image effects of interference and facilitation in the semantic processing of identical sets of abstract and concrete words in a patient F.B.I. with global aphasia following a large left middle cerebral artery stroke. Interference was elicited when the tasks involved comprehending the spoken form of each word, but facilitation was found when the patient read aloud the written forms of the same words. More importantly, irrespective of whether the dynamic effect was one of facilitation or interference, effects of semantic association were observed for abstract words, whilst effects primarily of semantic similarity were observed for concrete words. These results offer further neuropsychological evidence that the more abstract a word, the greater its dependence upon associative information and the smaller its dependence upon similarity-based information. The investigations also contribute to a converging body of evidence that suggests that this theory generalizes across different experimental paradigms, stimuli, and participants and also across different cognitive processes within individual patients. The data support a graded rather than binary or ungraded model of the relationships between concreteness, association, and similarity, and the basis for concrete words’ greater dependence upon similarity-based information is discussed in terms of the development of taxonomic structures and categorical thought in young children.     

皮质下失语症的临床表现及机制

近年来,随着影像学技术的不断发展,由皮质下结构损害所致的失语症越来越常见。本文综述近年有关皮质下失语的文献,重点讨论皮质下结构的解剖特点、皮质下失语的临床特点及发病机制。