The effectiveness of Salvianolate injection for in-stent restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:In-stent restenosis (ISR) caused by vascular remodeling after percutaneous coronary intervention limits the long-term efficacy of this method. Salvianolate injection is now widely used in the clinical treatment of ISR. However, there is no systematic review or meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of Salvianolate injection on ISR.Methods:We will search articles in 8 electronic databases, including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, Embase, the Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Wanfang Database, and the Chinese Scientific Journal Database for randomized controlled trials of ISR treated by Salvianolate injection from their inception to February 27, 2022. The primary outcome measure will be the restenosis rate. The data meeting the inclusion criteria were analyzed by RevMan V.5.4 software. Two authors evaluated the study using the Cochrane collaborative risk bias tool. We will use a scoring method to assess the overall evidence supporting the main results.Results:This study will analyze the clinical effectiveness of Salvianolate injection in the treatment of ISR.Conclusion:The findings of this systematic review will provide evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of Salvianolate injection for the treatment of ISR.INPLASY registration number:INPLASY202220117.     

Cerebrovascular responses to somatomotor stimulation in Parkinson’s disease: A multivariate analysis

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder, yet little is known about cerebral haemodynamics in this patient population. Previous studies assessing dynamic cerebral autoregulation (dCA), neurovascular coupling (NVC) and vasomotor reactivity (VMR) have yielded conflicting findings. By using multi-variate modelling, we aimed to determine whether cerebral blood flow (CBF) regulation is impaired in PD patients.55 healthy controls (HC) and 49 PD patients were recruited. PD subjects underwent a second recording following a period of abstinence from their anti-Parkinsonian medication. Continuous bilateral transcranial Doppler in the middle cerebral arteries, beat-to-beat mean arterial blood pressure (MAP; Finapres), heart rate (HR; electrocardiogram), and end-tidal CO₂ (EtCO₂; capnography) were measured. After a 5-min baseline period, a passive motor paradigm comprising 60 s of elbow flexion was performed. Multi-variate modelling quantified the contributions of MAP, ETCO₂ and neural stimulation to changes in CBF velocity (CBFV). dCA, VMR and NVC were quantified to assess the integrity of CBF regulation.Neural stimulation was the dominant input. dCA, NVC and VMR were all found to be impaired in the PD population relative to HC (p < 0.01, p = 0.04, p < 0.01, respectively). Our data suggest PD may be associated with depressed CBF regulation. This warrants further assessment using different neural stimuli.     

慢性阻塞性肺疾病患者生活质量及相关因素研究

目的探讨慢性阻塞性肺疾病(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,COPD)患者的生活质量状况及相关因素。方法以问卷形式对206例COPD患者的生活质量与人口社会学资料、疾病相关的知识、态度及健康行为习惯等进行调查分析。结果患者的生活质量总分为(64.70±14.78)(百分制),经多元逐步回归分析获知其主要相关因素是住院次数、健康行为、婚姻状况、病程、受教育程度。结论COPD患者的总体生活质量较差,尤其是那些病程长、反复住院、文化程度低、健康行为缺乏以及无配偶的患者。     

The Foegen effect: A mechanism by which facemasks contribute to the COVID-19 case fatality rate

Extensive evidence in the literature supports the mandatory use of facemasks to reduce the infection rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, the effect of mask use on the disease course remains controversial. This study aimed to determine whether mandatory mask use influenced the case fatality rate in Kansas, USA between August 1st and October 15th 2020.This study applied secondary data on case updates, mask mandates, and demographic status related to Kansas State, USA. A parallelization analysis based on county-level data was conducted on these data. Results were controlled by performing multiple sensitivity analyses and a negative control.A parallelization analysis based on county-level data showed that in Kansas, counties with mask mandate had significantly higher case fatality rates than counties without mask mandate, with a risk ratio of 1.85 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.51–2.10) for COVID-19-related deaths. Even after adjusting for the number of “protected persons,” that is, the number of persons who were not infected in the mask-mandated group compared to the no-mask group, the risk ratio remained significantly high at 1.52 (95% CI: 1.24–1.72). By analyzing the excess mortality in Kansas, this study determines that over 95% of this effect can solely be attributed to COVID-19.These findings suggest that mask use might pose a yet unknown threat to the user instead of protecting them, making mask mandates a debatable epidemiologic intervention.The cause of this trend is explained herein using the “Foegen effect” theory; that is, deep re-inhalation of hypercondensed droplets or pure virions caught in facemasks as droplets can worsen prognosis and might be linked to long-term effects of COVID-19 infection. While the “Foegen effect” is proven in vivo in an animal model, further research is needed to fully understand it.     

Effects and safety of traditional Chinese medicine on the gut microbiota of an adult with chronic kidney disease: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Studies have reported that changes in the abundance of gut microbiota may explain the medically helpful responses towards traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), an essential part of alternative and complementary medicine, in treating chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study aimed to illuminate the changes in the abundance of gut microbiota of TCM with CKD.Methods:The meta-analysis was performed in the PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE CNKI, WanFang, VIP, and CBM databases, from its inception to October 2021 to discriminate randomized controlled trials and examine the effects of TCM on CKD. Two researchers independently performed literature selection, data extraction, and quality assessment. The risk of bias of the included studies was estimated by taking into consideration the characteristics including random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding of patients, blinding of outcome assessment, completeness of outcome data, selective reporting, and other bias using Cochrane Collaboration''s tool for assessing the risk of bias.Results and Conclusions:From the perspective of intestinal flora, this study will provide high-quality evidence for the effectiveness and safety of TCM for CKD. It provides a new therapeutic approach for treating CKD with Chinese herbal medicine combined with Western medicine.Inplasy registration number:INPLASY2021100118.     

Integrative treatment of herbal medicine with western medicine on coronary artery lesions in children with Kawasaki disease

Background:Kawasaki disease (KD) is a major cause of coronary artery lesions (CALs) in children. Approximately 10% to 20% of children treated with intravenous immunoglobulin are intravenous immunoglobulin-resistant. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of adding herbal medicine to conventional western medicines versus conventional western medicines alone for CALs in children with KD.Methods:This study searched 9 electronic databases until August 31, 2021. The inclusion criteria were the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the CALs in children with KD and compared integrative treatment with conventional western treatments. Two authors searched independently for RCTs, including eligible articles that fulfilled the inclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Meta-analysis was conducted using Cochrane Collaboration''s Review Manager 5.4 software. The effect size was presented as the risk ratio (RR), and the fixed-effect models were used to pool the results.Results:The finally selected 12 studies included a total of 1030 KD patients. According to a meta-analysis, the integrative treatment showed better results than the conventional treatment in the CAL prevalence rate (RR = 2.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.49–2.71; P < .00001), CAL recovery rate (RR = 1.27; 95% CI, 1.05–1.54; P = .02), and total effective rate (RR = 1.17; 95% CI, 1.11–1.23; P < .00001). Only 2 studies referred to the safety of the treatment. The asymmetrical funnel plot of the CAL prevalence rate indicated the possibility of potential publication bias.Conclusions:This review found the integrative treatment to be more effective in reducing the CAL prevalence rate and increasing the CAL recovery rate and total effective rate in KD patients than conventional western treatment. However, additional well-designed RCTs will be needed further to compensate restrictions of insufficient trials on safety, methodological quality, and publication bias.     

Bending and Crack Evolution Behaviors of Cemented Soil Reinforced with Surface Modified PVA Fiber

To improve the flexural properties of cemented soils reinforced with fibers and avoid their brittle failure when subjected to complex loading conditions, a simple and cost-effective technique was explored to facilitate their application in retaining walls. In this study, how different fiber surface modifications, i.e., alkali treatment, acid treatment and silane coupling agent treatment, as well as different fiber contents, i.e., 0%, 0.25%, 0.5% and 1%, affect the bending properties of cemented soils was investigated by conducting three-point bending tests on notched beams. The digital image correlation (DIC) technology was used to examine the crack propagation process and the strain field distribution of cracks in specimens in the flexural tests. The results show that all fiber surface modifications increased peak strength and fracture energy, for example, the fracture energy of specimens AN1, AH1 and AK1 was increased by 180.4%, 121.5% and 155.4%, respectively, compared to PVA1. In addition, the crack tip strain, crack propagation rate and the initial crack width of the modified specimens were lower than those before modification. Lastly, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry tests were adopted to reveal the mechanism of bending performance in cemented soils reinforced by fiber surface modifications.     

穴位气压疗法配合康复训练对帕金森病病人运动功能及自理能力的影响

目的:探讨穴位气压疗法配合康复训练对帕金森病病人运动能力及自理能力的影响。方法:选取2020年3月—2021年5月医院收治的64例帕金森病病人为研究对象,采用随机数字表法分为对照组和试验组各32例,两组病人均给予常规治疗和规律的康复训练,试验组在此基础上联合穴位气压治疗仪辅助治疗,比较两组病人运动功能(UPDRS-Ⅲ评分)和生活自理能力(Barthel评分)变化。结果:干预10周后,两组病人的运动功能和生活自理能力均提高,但试验组UPDRS-Ⅲ评分明显低于对照组,Barthel评分明显高于对照组(P<0.001)。结论:穴位气压疗法配合康复训练可以明显改善帕金森病病人的运动功能,提高病人的生活自理能力,从而改善其生活质量。     

间歇性禁食法在糖尿病前期及糖尿病病人中的应用进展

对间歇性禁食法的概念、方法及形式、历史发展以及在糖尿病前期及糖尿病病人中的应用效果等进行介绍,阐述间歇性禁食法研究现状,总结间歇性禁食法对糖尿病前期和糖尿病病人的有益影响。