ABSTRACT
Acupuncture can improve the motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, and the effect of acupuncture combined with drug therapy is better than that of drug therapy alone. The possible mechanism includes inhibiting α-synuclein aggregation, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation, inhibiting the apoptosis of dopaminergic neurons, and achieving a neuroprotective effect. The points mainly selected for Acupuncture treatment for this disease are Zusanli (ST 36), Yanglingquan (GB 34), Taichong (LR 3), Xuehai (SP 10), and other points. Early use of acupuncture and acupuncture combined with medical treatment strategy is worthy of clinical application.
ABSTRACT
Orally administered drug entities have to survive the harsh gastrointestinal environment, penetrate the enteric epithelia and circumvent hepatic metabolism before reaching the systemic circulation. Whereas the gastrointestinal stability can be well maintained by taking proper measures, hepatic metabolism presents as a formidable barrier to drugs suffering from first-pass metabolism. The pharmaceutical academia and industries are seeking alternative pathways for drug transport to circumvent problems associated with the portal pathway. Intestinal lymphatic transport is emerging as a promising pathway to this end. In this review, we intend to provide an updated overview on the rationale, strategies, factors and applications involved in intestinal lymphatic transport. There are mainly two pathways for peroral lymphatic transport-the chylomicron and the microfold cell pathways. The underlying mechanisms are being unraveled gradually and nowadays witness increasing research input and applications.
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Objective:To explore the operability of the Chinese version of the All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale (C-AAHLS) and the Brief Health Literacy Screening (BHLS) for assessing the health literacy level of surgical patients.Methods:A total of 202 surgical patients were recruited in an acute care hospital. C-AAHLS and BHLS were used simultaneously to measure the health literacy of patients, and the consistency of their measurement results was compared.Results:The total health literacy scores of 202 surgical patients measured by C-AAHLS and BHLS were respectively (23.16±2.94) and (7.50±3.58), both were at a medium level, and they are consistent in differences in the health literacy levels of different ages, occupations, and educational levels, with statistical significance; the Bland-Altman graph shows that the maximum difference between the measurement results of the two tools is 1.68 <1.824 (average value), the average value of the difference is close to 0, and the results are highly consistent (P < 0.0001).Conclusions:The results of C-AAHLS and BHLS in measuring health literacy are consistent, and clinical medical staff can choose the suitable measurement tool according to the appropriate situation.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is one of the most important factors of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) endemic areas. Transcription of EBV-encoded non-polyadenylated RNAs (EBERs) are presented in most of NPC tumors. Exploring EBERs as a prognostic marker for NPC might further be informative about the biology and the progression of the disease. The aim of this study was to analyze the role of EBV latency in the clinical management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), by detecting EBERs.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>RNA in situ hybridization (ISH) for detecting EBERs was carried out on 908 NPC tumor tissues. Overall survival (OS) curves were analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional-hazards regression models.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The median follow-up time was 70 months (1-120 months). Eight hundred and sixteen (89.9%) from a total of 908 consecutive NPC cases were found to be EBV-EBER positive. EBER-ISH staining revealed nuclear localization in NPC cells. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis for OS, high EBER expression levels in NPC patients were statistically significant positive prognostic factors for survival (log-rank, P = 0.022), especially in adults aged 17-40 years (P = 0.023) and in those with advanced stage disease (log-rank, P = 0.002). Cox proportional-hazards regression model analysis showed that the EBER expression level was an independent risk factor for OS (hazard ratio 0.724, P = 0.005).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>EBERs were frequently detected in NPC tumor tissues, and high-level EBER expression correlated with good prognosis in NPC patients, especially in adult patients and in those with advanced stage disease. EBER may serve as a potential prognostic predictor in NPC.</p>