Efficacy and safety of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation combined with conventional rehabilitation training in acute stroke patients: a randomized controlled trial conducted for 1 year involving 60 patients.

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (ta-VNS) is a novel noninvasive treat-ment for stroke that directly stimulates the peripheral auricular branch of the vagus nerve. There have been recent reports that ta-VNS combined with conventional rehabilitation training promotes the recovery of neurological function of patients with acute stroke. However, these were small-sample-sized studies on the recovery of neurological function in patients after percutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in the subacute and chronic phases after stroke. This double-blinded randomized controlled trial involved 60 acute ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke patients aged 18-80 years who received treatment in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. The subjects were randomly assigned to receive ta-VNS or sham ta-VNS combined with conventional rehabilitation training. The follow-up results over 1 year revealed that ta-VNS combined with conventional rehabilitation training greatly improved the recovery of motor and sensory functions and emotional responses compared with sham ta-VNS combined with conventional rehabilitation training. There were no obvious side effects. These findings suggest that ta-VNS combined with conventional rehabilitation training for the treatment of acute ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke patients is safe and effective.

[Effect of auricular point pressing combined with electroacupuncture on postoperative pain and inflammatory cytokines in children with hernia].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical efficacy and action mechanism of auricular point pressing combined with electroacupuncture (EA) on postoperative pain in children with hernia. METHODS: A total of 93 children with inguinal hernia were randomly divided into an auricular point group, an EA group and a combination group, 31 cases in each group. All the three groups were treated with routine postoperative treatment and nursing, and analgesic and sedative drugs were used when necessary. After awaking, the children in the auricular point group were treated with auricular point pressing at Shenmen (TF4), Jiaogan (AH6a) and Pizhixia (AT4); the seeds of cowherb were placed at the auricular points and the same nurse used index finger and thumbs to press the points for 2 min, and repeated after 30 min. The pressing time was 8-11 AM and 14-17 PM for 3 days. The children in the EA group were treated with EA at Sanyinjiao (SP 6) and Zusanli (ST 36); the needles were perpendicularly inserted with mild reinforcing-reducing method; EA instrument was connected with needles and the current intensity was under the maximal tolerance of children; the needles were retained for 20 min, three times a day for continuous 3 days. The children in the combination group were treated with auricular point pressing and EA for 3 days. The Wong-Baker facial expression evaluation method was used to observe the pain scores 1-3 h, 4-24 h, 25-48 h and 49-72 h after operation; the contents of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8 were compared 1 day, 2 days and 3 days after operation; the number of cases using sedative drugs and average hospitalization days were compared among the three groups. RESULTS: ①Among the children aged 8-15 years old, the pain scores 4-24 h and 25-48 h after operation in the combination group were lower than those in the auricular point group and the EA group (all P<0.05); among the children aged 4-7 years old, differences of the pain scores in each time after operation were not significant statistically among the three groups (all P>0.05). ②The contents of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8 in serum 1 day, 2 days and 3 days after operation in the combination group were lower than those in the auricular point group and the EA group (all P<0.05). ③The number of cases using analgesic and sedative drugs after operation in the combination group was fewer than that in the auricular point group and the EA group (all P<0.05). ④The average hospitalization days in the combination group were shorter than those in the auricular point group and the EA group (all P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with auricular point pressing or EA alone, the combination of auricular point pressing and EA could not only effectively relieve the postoperative pain, but also reduce the expression of inflammatory cytokines in children with hernia, improving the clinical efficacy.

Effect of auricular point pressing combined with electroacupuncture on postoperative pain and inflammatory cytokines in children with hernia / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the clinical efficacy and action mechanism of auricular point pressing combined with electroacupuncture (EA) on postoperative pain in children with hernia.@*METHODS@#A total of 93 children with inguinal hernia were randomly divided into an auricular point group, an EA group and a combination group, 31 cases in each group. All the three groups were treated with routine postoperative treatment and nursing, and analgesic and sedative drugs were used when necessary. After awaking, the children in the auricular point group were treated with auricular point pressing at Shenmen (TF), Jiaogan (AH) and Pizhixia (AT); the seeds of cowherb were placed at the auricular points and the same nurse used index finger and thumbs to press the points for 2 min, and repeated after 30 min. The pressing time was 8-11 AM and 14-17 PM for 3 days. The children in the EA group were treated with EA at Sanyinjiao (SP 6) and Zusanli (ST 36); the needles were perpendicularly inserted with mild reinforcing-reducing method; EA instrument was connected with needles and the current intensity was under the maximal tolerance of children; the needles were retained for 20 min, three times a day for continuous 3 days. The children in the combination group were treated with auricular point pressing and EA for 3 days. The Wong-Baker facial expression evaluation method was used to observe the pain scores 1-3 h, 4-24 h, 25-48 h and 49-72 h after operation; the contents of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8 were compared 1 day, 2 days and 3 days after operation; the number of cases using sedative drugs and average hospitalization days were compared among the three groups.@*RESULTS@#①Among the children aged 8-15 years old, the pain scores 4-24 h and 25-48 h after operation in the combination group were lower than those in the auricular point group and the EA group (all 0.05). ②The contents of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8 in serum 1 day, 2 days and 3 days after operation in the combination group were lower than those in the auricular point group and the EA group (all <0.05). ③The number of cases using analgesic and sedative drugs after operation in the combination group was fewer than that in the auricular point group and the EA group (all <0.05). ④The average hospitalization days in the combination group were shorter than those in the auricular point group and the EA group (all <0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Compared with auricular point pressing or EA alone, the combination of auricular point pressing and EA could not only effectively relieve the postoperative pain, but also reduce the expression of inflammatory cytokines in children with hernia, improving the clinical efficacy.

Immuno-capture and in situ detection of Salmonella typhimurium on a novel microfluidic chip.

The new method presented in this article achieved the goal of capturing Salmonella typhimurium via immunoreaction and rapid in situ detection of the CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) labeled S. typhimurium by self-assembly light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence detection (LIF) microsystem on a specially designed multichannel microfluidic chip. CdSe/ZnS QDs were used as fluorescent markers improving detection sensitivity. The microfluidic chip developed in this study was composed of 12 sample channels, 3 mixing zones, and 6 immune reaction zones, which also acted as fluorescence detection zones. QDs-IgG-primary antibody complexes were generated by mixing CdSe/ZnS QDs conjugated secondary antibody (QDs-IgG) and S. typhimurium antibody (primary antibody) in mixing zones. Then, the complexes went into immune reaction zones to label previously captured S. typhimurium in the sandwich mode. The capture rate of S. typhimurium in each detection zone was up to 70%. The enriched QDs-labeled S. typhimurium was detected using a self-assembly LIF microsystem. A good linear relationship was obtained in the range from 3.7×10 to 3.7×10(5) cfu mL(-1) using the equation I=0.1739 log (C)-0.1889 with R(2)=0.9907, and the detection limit was down to 37 cfu mL(-1). The proposed method of online immunolabeling with QDs for in situ fluorescence detection on the designed multichannel microfluidic chip had been successfully used to detect S. typhimurium in pork sample, and it has shown potential advantages in practice.

[Detection of sorbic acid in food by homemade micro-spectrometer analytical system].

A homemade micro-spectrometer analytical system was developed for the quantitative determination of the sorbic acid in the food based on the photometric principle. And with the standard addition method it was applied to eliminate the interference coming from the food substrate. The detecting result illustrated a good relativity in the range of 0-10.0 mg x L(-1) with the linear correlation coefficient of 0.9989, and the sample recovery was 99.2%-99.5% with RSD of 0.58%. The micro-spectrometer analysis system has shown potential prospective application in the fields of rapid and high performance detection for food additives.

Crystal structures of aprataxin ortholog Hnt3 reveal the mechanism for reversal of 5'-adenylated DNA.

Aprataxin is a DNA deadenylase that resolves DNA 5'-AMP termini and reverses abortive DNA ligation. The crystal structures of Schizosaccharomyces pombe aprataxin Hnt3 in its apo form and in complex to dsDNA and dsDNA-AMP reveal how Hnt3 recognizes and processes 5'-adenylated DNA in a structure-specific manner. The bound DNA adopts a 5'-flap conformation that facilitates 5'-AMP access to the active site, where AMP cleavage occurs by a canonical catalytic mechanism.