Efficacy of acupuncture on moderate and severe allergic rhinitis / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapy on moderate and severe allergic rhinitis via the comparison evaluation of western medicine.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty cases of moderate and severe allergic rhinitis were divided into an acupuncture group (30 cases) and a western medicine group (30 cases). In the acupuncture group, the main acupoints included Yingxiang (LI 20), Shangxing (GV 23), Fengchi (GB 20), Quchi (LI 11), Xuehai (SP 10), Feishu (BL 13), Geshu (BL 17), Pishu (BL 20), etc. The supplementary points were selected according to syndrome differentiation. In the western medicine group, budesonide nasal spray and cetirizine tablets were prescribed. All the cases were treated for 8 weeks in the two groups. Separately, before treatment, in 4 weeks and 8 weeks of treatment, the scores of clinical symptoms and physical signs were observed and the clinical efficacy and safety were compared between the two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In 4 weeks and 8 weeks of treatment, the scores of symptoms such as sneezing, nasal discharge, nasal obstruction, nasal itching, eye itching and turbinate hypertrophy, the score of physical signs and total score were all reduced apparently as compared with those before treatment (all P<0. 05). The differences were not significant between the acupuncture group and the western medicine group (all P>0. 05). The total effective rates were 90. 0% (27/30) and 93. 4% (28/30) in the acupuncture group after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment, and were 76. 6% (23/30) and 80. 0% (24/30) in the western medicine group separately, without significant difference in comparison (all P>0. 05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Acupuncture achieves the similar efficacy on moderate and severe allergic rhinitis as western medicine. It is the safe therapy and has no apparent adverse reactions.</p>

Significance of changes of plasma levels of homocysteine and adrenomedullin in elderly patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective To explore the relationship between levels of plasma homocysteine (Hcy) and adrenomedullin (ADM) and sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) in elderly patients. Methods The 80 patients with SSHL but without any treatment were selected as SSHL group, while 80 age-and sex-matched subjects without SSHL were collected as the control group. The levels of plasma Hcy and ADM were measured by fluorescence method and radioimmunoassay, respectively. And the levels of plasma Hey, ADM, total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) were compared between the two groups. Results The levels of plasma Hcy, ADM, TC and TG were significantly higher in SSHL group than in control group [(13. 81±2.88) μmol/L vs. (11. 58±2. 80)/xmol/L, (26. 40±3. 20)ng/L vs. (22. 45±2. 80)ng/L, (5.22±0. 87)mmol/L vs. (4. 52±0. 81)mmol/L, (1.80 ±0. 12)mmol/L vs. (1.52±0. 13)mmol/L;t=5. 03, 8. 22, 7.48, 3. 85, all P<0. 01). When the two groups with hypertension were compared, the levels of plasma Hey, ADM, TC and TG were (15.30±2. 77)μmol/L, (29.40±2. 80) ng/L, (5. 48±0. 98) mmol/L and (1.92±0. 18) mmol/L in SSHL group, which were higher than those in control group[(12. 80±2. 62) μmol/L, (25.20± 2. 60) ng/L, (5.01±1.03) retool/L, (1.62±0. 15) mmol/L3 (t=4.03, 7.01, 3.25, 7. 80, all P< 0. 01). There were no differences in systolic and diastolic blood pressure between the two groups(t= 0. 87, 0. 64;P=0. 38, 0. 55).Conclusions The changes of plasma levels of Hey and ADM in the elderly suggest that they could involve in the pathogenic process of SSHL, which may provide referential value for understanding the state of the disease and judging the prognosis