A Survey of Application of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Chinese Patients with Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence and spectrum of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) application and its related-factors in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients in China. METHODS: A structured questionnaire regarding the use of CAMs was administered to PD patients by face-to-face interview. Demographic and social variables, clinical characteristics and treatments, and the related factors of PD were also surveyed. RESULTS: Ninety out of 113 patients (79.6%) reported that they had received CAMs treatment, of which 48.6% (55/113) patients had received CAMs treatment for PD. The top 3 kinds of CAMs for PD were Chinese materia medica, rehabilitation exercise, and acupuncture ordinally. The source of information regarding CAMs treatment mainly came from relatives and friends (51.8%, 73 cases), followed by physicians (31.9%, 45 cases), and medias such as television, newspapers or the internet (16.3%, 28 cases). Fifty percent of CAM users reported a good therapeutic efficacy, whereas 39% patients reported that they felt neither better nor worse after the treatment, while 11% patients claimed worsening of symptoms. Multiple correspondence analyses survey found the main factors affecting the selectivity of CAMs ranked in the following order: income, education, occupation, habitation, age at onset, Hoehn and Yahr staging, PD duration, and gender. CONCLUSION: CAMs, especially Chinese materia medica, rehabilitation exercise, and acupuncture, are widely used for PD patients in China.

Determination of serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin as a prognostic biomarker of acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is currently known as an acute phase protein and implicated in acute brain injury. Herein, we sought to gauge serum NGAL level in patients after acute (<24 h) spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and to investigate its relation to neurological outcome. METHODS: Serum NGAL levels were measured in 106 patients and 106 controls. National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score, ICH score and hematoma volume were recorded for assessing hemorrhagic severity. An unfavorable outcome was defined as modified Rankin Scale >2 at 90 days. RESULTS: As opposed to the controls, the patients had significantly raised serum NGAL levels. Correlations were observed between NGAL levels and serum C-reactive protein levels, blood glucose levels, GCS score, NIHSS score, ICH score and ICH volume. Multivariate analysis identified serum NGAL as a predictor for unfavorable outcome at 90 days. It also showed high prognostic ability under receiver operating characteristic curve. CONCLUSIONS: Enhanced NGAL level is revealed after acute spontaneous ICH, in association with inflammatory degree and hemorrhagic severity, and intimately correlated with a worse prognosis.

Laparoscopic versus open myomectomy--a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

The objective of this study was to determine the better method of myomectomy by comparing laparoscopic and open myomectomy for patients with fibroids with regard to operative parameters and outcomes. A systematic review was performed on published studies identified by the databases PubMed, EMBASE, the China Biological Medicine Datadase (CBMdisc), Ovid and the Cochrane Library, as well as cross-references. Randomized controlled trials on laparoscopic versus open myomectomy were assessed on operative parameters and outcomes. Six studies and 576 patients were studied. Analysis was performed using the statistical software Review Manager Version 4.2. The data available show that laparoscopic myomectomy was associated with less hemoglobin drop, reduced operative blood loss, more patients fully recuperated at day 15, diminished postoperative pain, and fewer overall complications but longer operation time. However, major complications, pregnancy and recurrence were comparable in the two groups. The data show that if performed by suitably specialized surgeons in selected patients, laparoscopic myomectomy is a better choice than open surgery.