Outcomes in randomized controlled trials of acupuncture for vascular cognitive impairment during recent five years / 中国针灸

The existing problems in the outcomes of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) during recent five years are analyzed and suggestions are proposed. The RCTs of acupuncture for VCI were selected in PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Clinical Trials, CNKI database, Wanfang database, VIP database, SinoMed database and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) from January 1, 2015 to September 14, 2020. The outcomes were extracted and analyzed. As a result, 21 RCTs were included and the outcomes used were divided into 9 categories: clinical symptom/sign indexes, quality of life indexes, neuroimaging indexes, neuroelectrophysiology indexes, blood biochemical indexes, hemorheology indexes, TCM syndrome score indexes, clinical efficacy indexes, and safety indexes. Among them, the top three of the most used outcomes were clinical symptoms/signs indexes (21, 100.0%), clinical efficacy indexes (14, 66.7%) and quality of life indexes (12, 57.1%). In the RCTs of acupuncture for VCI, attention should be paid to distinguish the primary outcomes and secondary outcomes, adopt objective and standardized efficacy evaluation, and give consideration to report the outcomes of safety, health economic and TCM characteristic indexes.

Overview of systematic reviews of acupuncture for vascular cognitive impairment / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To overview the methodological quality, report quality and evidence quality of the systematic review (SR) of acupuncture for vascular cognitive impairment ( VCI ).@*METHODS@#The SRs regarding acupuncture for VCI were searched in PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMbase, CNKI, SinoMed, Wanfang and VIP databases. The retrieval period was from the establishment of the database to September 24, 2020. The report quality, methodological quality and evidence quality of the included SRs were evaluated by PRISMA statement, the AMSTAR 2 tool and the GRADE system.@*RESULTS@#A total of 22 SRs were included, including 102 outcome indexes. The methodological quality was generally low, with low scores on items 2, 5, 7, 10, 14, 15 and 16. The report quality was good, with scores ranging from 19 points to 24.5 points. The problems of report quality were mainly reflected in the aspects of structural abstract, program and registration, other analysis and funding sources. The level of outcome indexes of SRs was mostly low or very low, and the main leading factor was limitation, followed by inconsistency and inaccuracy.@*CONCLUSION@#Acupuncture for VCI is supported by low quality evidence of evidence-based medicine, but the methodological quality and evidence body quality of relevant SRs are poor, and the standardization is needed to be improved.

Regulation of Naoxin'an Capsule on Glial Cell Activation and Inflammatory Response in Rats with Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion-induced Vascular Cognitive Impairment / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To investigate the protective effect of Naoxin'an capsule （NC） against glial cell activation and inflammatory damage in brain of rats with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion-induced vascular cognitive impairment （VCI）. Method:One hundred and fifty rats were randomly divided into a sham operation group （<italic>n</italic>=20） and a modeling group （<italic>n</italic>=130）. Following the modeling with the two vessels occlusion （2-VO） technique， 87 successfully modeled rats were randomly divided into the model group， positive drug group （aricept， 0.5 mg·kg^-1）， and low-， medium-， and high-dose （0.18， 0.36， 0.72 g·kg^-1） NC groups， with 17-18 rats in each group. After intragastric administration of NC for eight weeks， the Morris water maze test and passive avoidance test were conducted to detect the effects of NC on learning and memory ability of VCI rats. Changes in neuronal structure of rat hippocampal CA1 area were observed by hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining， and the neuronal apoptosis in hippocampus by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase （TdT）-mediated dUTP nick end labeling （TUNEL） staining. Western blot assay was used to detect the expression levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein （GFAP）， ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 （Iba-1）， phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase （p38 MAPK）， and phosphorylated nuclear factor <italic>κ</italic>B （NF-<italic>κ</italic>B）， followed by the measurement of interleukin-1<italic>β</italic> （IL-1<italic>β</italic>） and tumor necrosis factor-<italic>α</italic> （TNF-<italic>α</italic>） in the brain by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA）. Result:Compared with the sham operation group， the model group displayed obviously decreased spatial learning and memory ability and memory retention ability （<italic>P</italic><0.05， <italic>P</italic><0.01）， neuronal damage in hippocampal CA1 area， enhanced neuronal apoptosis （<italic>P</italic><0.01）， up-regulated GFAP and Iba-1 （<italic>P</italic><0.01）， elevated phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and NF-<italic>κ</italic>B （<italic>P</italic><0.01）， and increased IL-1<italic>β</italic> and TNF-<italic>α</italic> （<italic>P</italic><0.01）. Compared with the model group， NC at each dose significantly improved the spatial learning and memory ability and memory retention ability of VCI rats （<italic>P</italic><0.05， <italic>P</italic><0.01）， ameliorated the neuronal damage in hippocampus CA1 area， reduced the apoptosis rate of nerve cells （<italic>P</italic><0.05， <italic>P</italic><0.01）， down-regulated the expression of GFAP and Iba-1 （<italic>P</italic><0.01）， decreased the phosphorylation levels of p38 MAPK and NF-<italic>κ</italic>B （<italic>P</italic><0.05， <italic>P</italic><0.01）， and lowered TNF-<italic>α</italic> and IL-1<italic>β</italic> levels （<italic>P</italic><0.01）. Conclusion:NC alleviates the inflammatory damage of the central nervous system caused by activated p38 MAPK and NF-<italic>κ</italic>B and improves chronic cerebral hypoperfusion-induced VCI in rats by inhibiting the activation of microglia and astrocytes.

Study on the decision tree model for risk factors of vascular cognitive impairment / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To collect the demographic,lifestyle and clinical factors of patients with cerebrovascular disease,and analyze the vascular cognitive impairment(VCI) factors and set up high-risk factors model.methods 505 patients with cerebrovascular disease hospitalization in department of geriatrics and neurology in hospital from October 2014 to October 2016 were enrolled.According to the questionaire survey data of demographics,lifestyle and clinical factors,the patients were divided into training set (421 cases) and test set (84 cases),and training set were divided into the non-VCI set (225 cases) and VCI set (196 cases).Analyzed the influence factors of VCI in patients with cerebrovascular disease by decision tree algorithm,and compared it with the Logistic regression analysis and chi-square and established the decision tree model for risk factors of VCI.Result sAccording to the VCI decision tree model,cross validation model recognition accuracy was 73.63%,while test set prediction accuracy was 73.81%.Alcoholism,hobbies,education level,tea drinking,diabetes,hypertension,diet,age,sleep and physical exercise were classification of node variables,while drinking was the root.The probability of VCI had significant difference (P<0.05) in the crowds with different risk factors.According to Result s of Logistic regression analysis,education level,drinking,exercise and diabetes were independent risk factors for VCI,while the model prediction accuracy was 66.98%,and test set prediction accuracy was 53.57%.According to the ROC curve of the decision tree model and the Logistic regression model,the decision tree model AUC was 0.737 (95%CI 0.688 to 0.786),and the Logistic regression model AUC was 0.664 (95%CI 0.612 to 0.717).Conclusion It is suggested that the decision tree model might be superior to logistic regression model in the prediction accuracy for VCI of patients with cerebrovascular disease.The alcoholism,diabetes,high blood pressure,high fat diet and insomnia are risk factors of VCI,while hobbies,high level of education,physical exercise and drinking tea can be the protective factors of the VCI.

The study of sustain attention of CNV in patients with subcortical ischemic vascular cognitive impairment / 中国神经精神疾病杂志

Objective To investigate the characteristics of contingent negative variation(CNV) in patients with subcortical ischemic vascular cognitive impairment (SIVCI) and their relationship with continuous performance task (CPT) to establish a neuroelectrophysiological index of attention impairment in earlier period of Vascular Cognitive Impair-ment. Methods CNV was assessed in 45 SIVCI patients [30 patients with subcortical ischemic vascular cognitive impair-ment no dementia (SIVCIND ) and 15 patients with subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD )] and 15 normal con-trol (NC) by using a EB-Neuro ERP Instrument. Results ①CNV in SIVCI group were less regular compared with nor-mal control;CNV in SIVCIND group had decreased Expectancy Wave (EW) amplitudes (9.98± 4.10μV vs. 16.13±2.75μV) and EW areas (14848.10 ± 3199.16 μV · ms vs 20058.87 ± 1025.95 μV · ms) compared with normal control (P0.05);②Pearson correlation\Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed that there were significant, positive correlations between EW latency and CPT Reacting time(R=0.748, P0.05)、EW amplitude(R=-0.191,P>0.05)and there were significant, negative correlations between EW area and CPT Reacting time(R=-0.718,P<0.01)、CPT missing rate(R=-0.829 ,P<0.01), EW amplitude and CPT Reacting time(R=-0.616, P<0.01). Conclusion SIVCI patients in early stage have attention deficits in sustained attention and CNV EW ar-ea may be a good neuroelectrophysiological index for sustained attention impairment .