Effect of Infection on Autonomic Nervous Function and Calcitonin Gene-related Peptide in Patients with Functional Dyspepsia / 中国医学科学院学报

To investigate the effects of ()infection on autonomic nervous function and calcitonin gene-related peptide in patients with functional dyspepsia(FD). Thirty-one patients with FD matching Rome Ⅳ criteria were included and divided into -positive group and -negative group.All patients were evaluated by Symptom Index of Dyspepsia(SID),Nepean Dyspepsia Index(NDI),and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale(HADS).Their heart rate variability(HRV)and calcitonin gene-related peptide(CGRP)level were also measured. There were no significant differences in SID(=-0.858, =0.858),NDI(=-1.464, =0.143),and Hospital Depression Scale score(=0.699, =0.485).However,the Hospital Anxiety Scale score was significantly higher in -positive group than the -negative group(=-2.470, =0.014).The level of CGRP in -positive group[(0.999±0.274)ng/ml]was significantly higher than that in the -negative group[(0.812±0.172)ng/ml;=2.238, =0.033].HRV data showed no significant difference between these two groups at very low frequency(=-1.210, =0.236),low frequency(LF)(=0.419, =0.678),high frequency(HF)(=0.612, =0.546),LF/HF(=-0.882, =0.399),and total power(=-0.963, =0.344). In FD patients,patients with -positive FD patients have higher depression and CGRP levels than those without infection,although their dyspepsia symptoms and HRV show no notable changes.

Influential factors and mechanism of non-specific effect in acupuncture / 中国针灸

Even though a large amount of researches showing the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture, there are the researches indicating the absent difference between acupuncture and sham-acupuncture (placebo), which provides the doubts on the specificity of acupuncture. It may be considered that acupuncture intervention is complica-ted and may produce unique non-specific effect, which results in the failure to evaluate effectively the acupuncture efficacy. The influential factors of the non-specific effect of acupuncture include the interaction between physician and patient, expectancy, physician authority, acupuncture treatment experiences, etc. It may be also relevant with the anticipated biological effect, Hawthorne effect, Pavlovian conditioned reflex, etc.

Comparison of the quantitative evaluation in high-resolution CT and pulmonary function tests in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 实用医学杂志

Objective To analyze the correlation between quantitative evaluation of high-resolution CT (HRCT) and pulmonary function tests (PFT) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and evaluate the characteristics of PFT in different CT phenotypes of COPD. Methods 65 patients with COPD underwent CT chest scan and PFT. The dimensions of subsubsegmental apical bronchi of right upper lobes were measured , which included the following parameters:airway wall thickness (T), total airway diameter (D), and pulmonary artery (PA), ratio of airway wall thickness and pulmonary artery (T/PA), thickness diameter ratio (TDR), percentage of wall area (WA%) and percentage of airway luminal area (Ai%). The percentage of total lung area occupied by low attenuation area (LAA%) was measured by lung density software. The relationship between the measurements and PFT parameters were analyzed. Patients were classified into three phenotypes based on the presence of emphysema or bronchial wall thickening evaluated by HRCT. Phenotype A: without or with little emphysema (LAA% < 25%), with or without bronchial wall thickening; Phenotype E: emphysema without bronchial wall thickening (LAA%≥25%, T/PA < 30%); Phenotype M: emphysema with bronchial wall thickening (LAA%≥25%, T/PA≥30%). The characteristics of different CT phenotypes were analyzed. Results LAA% had a good correlation with PFT parameters. PA, T/PA, WA% and Ai% also had correlation with PFT parameters. There was 53 patients of Phenotype A, 12 patients of Phenotype M. PA, T/PA, LAA%and PFT were different in two groups. Conclusions LAA%and airway quantitative measurements in HRCT have certain correlation with PFT parameters. Patients with different CT phenotypes differs in PFT parameters , which can provide reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Correlations between emphysema quantification and severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 实用医学杂志

Objective To analyze the correlation between emphysema extent measured by high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and pulmonary function tests, symptom score in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ) , and to study the value of HRCT in the emphysema quantification in the clinical evaluation of COPD patients. Methods 78 patients with stable COPD were recruited to take the HRCT scan , and emphysema extent was qualified by measuring the proportion of low attenuation area in the whole lung (LAA%). Correlations between LAA% and indices of pulmonary function test, bronchial dilation test, mMRC scale, CAT score and six minutes walking distance (6MWD) were assessed. Results LAA% was negatively correlated with FEV1/FVC and DLCO%pred, and the correlation coefficients were -0.759 and -0.589 (P 0.05). Conclusions The severity of emphysema measured by HRCT is well correlated with the clinical symptoms , pulmonary function tests and exercise capacity in COPD patients. It can be used to diagnose emphysema early and to evaluate the severity of the disease com-prehensively. Thus, the risk factors of COPD can be controlled and the prognosis of the patients can be im-proved.