Clinical Efficacy of Modified Sanxiaoyin in Treatment of Mild or Moderate COVID-19 Patients： Based on Retrospective Analysis / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveTo retrospectively analyze the clinical data of 52 patients with coronavirus disease-2019 （COVID-19） and explore the clinical efficacy of modified Sanxiaoyin on mild/moderate COVID-19 patients. MethodThe propensity score matching method was used to collect the clinical data of mild or moderate COVID-19 patients enrolled in the designated hospital of the Second Hospital of Jingzhou from December 2019 to May 2020. A total of 26 eligible patients who were treated with modified Sanxiaoyin were included in the observation group， and the 26 patients treated with conventional method were the regarded as the control. The disappearance of clinical symptoms， disappearance time of main symptoms， efficacy on traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） symptoms， hospitalization duration， laboratory test indicators， and CT imaging changes in the two groups were compared. ResultThe general data in the two groups were insignificantly different and thus they were comparable. After 7 days of treatment， the disappearance rate of fever， cough， fatigue， dry throat， anorexia， poor mental state， and poor sleep quality in the observation group was higher than that in the control group （P<0.05）， and the difference in the disappearance rate of expectoration and chest distress was insignificant. For the cases with the disappearance of symptoms， the main symptoms （fever， cough， fatigue， dry throat， anorexia， chest distress） disappeared earlier in the observation group than in the control group （P<0.01）. After 7 days of treatment， the scores of the TCM symptom scale of both groups decreased （P<0.01）， and the decrease of the observation group was larger that of the control group （P<0.01）. All patients in the two groups were cured and discharged. The average hospitalization duration in the observation group ［（12.79±2.68） d］ was shorter than that in the control group ［（15.27±3.11） d］ （P<0.01）. The effective rate in the observation group （92.31%， 24/26） was higher than that in the control group （76.92%， 20/26） . After 7 days of treatment， the lymphocyte （LYM） count increased （P<0.05）， and white blood cell （WBC） count and neutrophil （NEUT） count decreased insignificantly in the two groups. Moreover， levels of C-reactive protein （CRP）， erythrocyte sedimentation rate （ESR）， and procalcitonin （PCT） reduced in the two groups after treatment （P<0.01） and the reduction in the observation group was larger than that in the control group （P<0.01）. Through 7 days of treatment， the total effective rate on pulmonary shadow in the observation group （90.00%， 18/20） was higher than that in the control group （77.27%， 17/22） （P>0.05） and the improvement of lung shadow in the observation group was better than that in the control group （P<0.01）. ConclusionModified Sanxiaoyin can significantly alleviate fever， cough， fatigue， anorexia， chest distress， poor sleep quality， and other symptoms of patients with mild or moderate COVID-19， improve biochemical indicators， and promote the recovery of lung function. This paper provides clinical evidence for the application of modified Sanxiaoyin in the treatment of mild or moderate COVID-19.

Clinical observation on filiform-fire needling of "Biaoben acupoint combination" for 33 cases of sequelae of coronavirus disease 2019 during recovery period / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of filiform-fire needling of "Biaoben acupoint combination" on the sequelae of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the recovery period.@*METHODS@#A total of 33 patients with COVID-19 during the recovery period were treated with filiform-fire needling at the acupoints of Mingmen (GV 4), Shenzhu (GV 12), Gaohuang (BL 43), Zusanli (ST 36) and Shangjuxu (ST 37), etc., once every other day, 3 times a week, and 3 times was one course of treatment and totally 2 courses of treatment were required. The TCM symptom, Hamilton anxiety scale (HAMA) and Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) scores, pulmonary function indexes (forced vital capacity [FVC], forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV1], peak expiratory flow [PEF]) and chest CT imaging change were observed before and after treatment, and the therapeutic effect was evaluated.@*RESULTS@#After treatment, the scores of TCM symptom, HAMA and HAMD were decreased compared with those before treatment (P<0.05), and the levels of FVC, FEV1 and PEF were increased compared with those before treatment (P<0.05), and the recovery rate of 22 patients with pulmonary ventilation dysfunction was 86.4% (19/22). After treatment, the lung shadow area was smaller than that before treatment (P<0.05). The effective rate of 25 patients with lung CT abnormalities was 84.0% (21/25). After treatment, 23 cases were cured, 5 cases were markedly effective, 4 cases were effective, 1 case was ineffective, the cured and markedly effective rate was 84.8%.@*CONCLUSION@#The filiform-fire needling of "Biaoben acupoint combination" could significantly reduce the sequelae of cough, fatigue, chest tightness, etc. and mental symptoms such as anxiety and depression in patients with COVID-19 during the recovery period, and promote inflammatory exudation absorption of pulmonary lesion and improve lung ventilation function.

Thumb-tack needles based on "Biaoben acupoint compatibility" for sequela of COVID-19 during recovery period / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effect of thumb-tack needles based on "Biaoben acupoint compatibility" on sequela symptoms, mental state and pulmonary ventilation function in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during recovery period.@*METHODS@#Fifty cases of COVID-19 during recovery period were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 25 cases in each group. The patients in the observation group were treated with thumb-tack needles at Guanyuan (CV 4), Zusanli (ST 36) and Taiyuan (LU 9). The patients in the control group were treated with sham thumb-tack needles at identical acupoints as the observation group. The treatment in the two groups was given once a day, 7-day treatment was taken as a course of treatment, and totally two courses of treatment were given. The TCM symptom score, Hamilton anxiety scale (HAMA) score, Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) score, pulmonary function (forced vital capacity [FVC], forced expiratory volume in the first second [FEV1], peak expiratory flow [PEF]), the severity of pulmonary ventilation dysfunction and pulmonary imaging changes in the two groups were compared before and after treatment.@*RESULTS@#Compared before treatment, the total scores and each item scores of TCM symptom scale, HAMA scores and HAMD scores in the two groups were reduced after treatment (P<0.05). Except for the symptom scores of dry throat and dry stool, the total score and each item score of TCM symptom scale, HAMA score and HAMD score in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). Compared before treatment, FVC, FEV1 and PEF in the two groups were increased after treatment (P<0.05), and those in the observation group were higher than the control group (P<0.05). The severity of pulmonary ventilation dysfunction in the two groups was reduced after treatment (P<0.05), and the severity in the observation group was better than that in the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, the lung shadow area in the two groups was decreased (P<0.05), and that in the observation group was smaller than the control group (P<0.05). The improvement of imaging change in the observation group was better than that in the control group (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#The thumb-tack needles based on "Biaoben acupoint compatibility" could significantly reduce the sequela symptoms, anxiety and depression in patients with COVID-19 during recovery stage, and improve the pulmonary ventilation function.

Clinical efficacy observation of 'Tong Du Yun Pi' manipulation for infantile diarrhea in autumn / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of 'Tong Du Yun Pi' (Governor Vessel-unblocking and spleen-promoting) manipulation in treating infantile diarrhea in autumn. Methods: Eighty-four kids were divided into a control group and an observation group using the random number table method, with 42 cases in each group. The control group was intervened by oral administration of montmorillonite powder, and the observation group was given additional 'Tong Du Yun Pi' pediatric massage (tuina) treatment. After treatment, the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) symptoms scores, symptom improvement time, clinical efficacy and immune function indicators were compared between the two groups. Results: After treatment, the total effective rate was 95.2％ in the observation group versus 76.2％ in the control group, and the between-group difference was statistically significant (P<0.05); each item score in TCM symptoms was notably lower in the observation group than in the control group (all P<0.05); among the effective cases, the times to restore normal defecation, relieve abdominal bloating, arrest vomiting, and bring down the fever were markedly shorter in the observation group than in the control group, and the between-group differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05); the levels of immunoglobulin (Ig) G, IgM, CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ were significantly higher and CD8+ was significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group (all P<0.05). Conclusion: In the treatment of infantile diarrhea in autumn, based on oral administration of montmorillonite powder, 'Tong Du Yun Pi' manipulation can notably improve diarrheal symptoms, shorten disease duration, and strengthen the immunity of kids, producing more significant efficacy than oral administration of montmorillonite powder.

Three-dimensional low-dose CT volume reconstruction based on non-local weights optimization and GPU acceleration / 南方医科大学学报

Concerns have been raised over x-ray radiation dose associated with repeated computed tomography (CT) scans for tumor surveillance and radiotherapy planning. In this paper, we present a low-dose CT image reconstruction method for improving low-dose CT image quality. The method proposed exploited rich redundancy information from previous normal-dose scan image for optimizing the non-local weights construction in the original non-local means (NLM)-based low-dose image reconstruction. The objective 3D low-dose volume and the previous 3D normal-dose volume were first registered to reduce the anatomic structural dissimilarity between the two datasets, and the optimized non-local weights were constructed based on the registered normal-dose volume. To increase the efficiency of this method, GPU was utilized to accelerate the implementation. The experimental results showed that this method obviously improved the image quality, as compared with the original NLM method, by suppressing the noise-induced artifacts and preserving the edge information.

Preparation and in vitro and in vivo evaluation of etoposide submicro-emulsion for intravenous injection / 药学学报

The aim of this thesis is to prepare etoposide submicro-emulsion (ESE) for intravenous injection and investigate its characteristics in vitro and in vivo. High-pressure homogenization was used to prepare ESE, using 10% (w/w) soybean oil and 10% (w/w) medium-chain triglyceride as mixed oil phase, and 1.8% (w/w) fabaceous lecithin as emulsifier. The pH was adjusted to 5.5 with 0.1 mol x L(-1) NaOH to keep the most stability of ESE. The particle size distribution and zeta potential were measured using photon correlation spectroscopy. Ultrafiltration was used to estimate the relative percentages of etoposide in each phase. Long-term storage test and accelerated isothermal test-Weibull distribution method were used to estimate the physical and chemical stability of ESE. Plasma pharmacokinetics in rats was monitored by high performance liquid chromatography by comparison with etoposide nonaqueous solution at the same time. The mean particle size, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency of ESE were (189.9 +/- 54.6) nm, - 32.6 mV and 91.7%, respectively. The emulsion was stable during 9 month storage at 4 degrees C. The shelf life (T0.9) of etoposide in lipid emulsion was estimated to be about 665 days at 4 degrees C. The drug concentration-time curves of ESE and solution were similar and could be described by two compartment model. The area under the curve of concentration versus time from zero to the last time point and the mean residence time of ESE and solution were (18.30 +/- 8.74) and (19.32 +/- 6.45) microg x h x mL(-1), and (1.46 +/- 0.32) and (1.71 +/- 0.52) h, respectively. Etoposide was incorporated in submicro-emulsion to improve its physical and chemical stability without addition of organic solvents with insignificant different characteristics in vivo when compared with solution.