Effect of governor vessel moxibustion (GVM) therapy with mild to moderate psoriasis: A randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: It was hypothesized that governor vessel moxibustion (GVM) therapy may improve the course of mild to moderate psoriasis (PS) in patients. METHODS: A randomized, controlled clinical trial lasting 40 days was conducted at the Shaanxi Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine. Investigators were blinded to patient groupings. Individuals with mild to moderate PS ranging in age from 18 to 70 years were enrolled. GVM therapy was administered one every 10 days for 40 days with 1.5 hours on the governor meridian in the GVM therapy group. The PS area and severity index (PASI) and dermatological life quality index (DLQI) scores were monitored before and after treatment. RESULTS: There was a significant reduction in the mean PASI score in the GVM therapy group of 0.76 points (2.37 [2.61]; SE, 0.39) after 40 days of treatment compared with the control group (3.12 [2.12], SE, 0.32) (P < .01). There were also significantly greater changes in the DLQI scores of the GVM therapy group (4.23 [2.25]; SE, 0.34) compared with those in the control group (8.91 [3.85]; SE, 0.59) (P < .001). CONCLUSION: GVM therapy effectively reduced both PASI and DLQI scores in patients with mild to moderate PS.

The diagnostic value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing for identifying Streptococcus pneumoniae in paediatric bacterial meningitis.

BACKGROUND: There is currently no research on the diagnostic value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) for a single pathogens in CSF. The aim of this study was to analyse the value of mNGS for identifying Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) in paediatric bacterial meningitis. METHODS: Bacterial meningitis (BM) cases from October 23, 2014, to December 31, 2016, and December 1, 2017, to July 31, 2018 at Beijing Children's Hospital were reviewed. Clinical features and pathogens were analysed. RESULTS: We diagnosed 135 patients with BM in this study. A total of 43 S. pneumoniae were identified by combination methods. 26/135 (19.3%) patients had positive results in S. pneumoniae by blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture. Alere BinaxNow®Streptococcus pneumoniae Antigen test was positive in 35/135(25.9%) cases. 32/135 (23.7%) S. pneumoniae were identified by mNGS. Six CSF samples were identified as S. pneumoniae only by mNGS technology. Taking culture as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of mNGS for diagnosing S. pneumoniae meningitis were 73.1 and 88.1%, respectively. The positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of diagnosing S. pneumoniae meningitis by mNGS were 59.4 and 93.2%, respectively. When comparison between mNGS and combined tests (culture and Alere BinaxNow®Streptococcus pneumoniae Antigen test), the sensitivity and specificity of mNGS for S. pneumoniae identification were 70.3 and 93.9%, the PPV and NPV in the identification of S. pneumoniae by mNGS were 81.4 and 89.3%, respectively. The difference in number of unique reads of S. pneumoniaein from CSF sample (< 14 days onset) and CSF sample (> 14 days from onset) was statistically significant (170.5 VS. 13, P = 0.019). The difference in the collected time of CSF for culture and mNGS was statistically significant (4 days VS. 14 days, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: mNGS has high sensitivity and specificity for S. pneumoniae identification. The pathogen load (number of unique reads) of S. pneumonia is related to the CSF collection time. mNGS was less affected than culture by the use of antibiotics before CSF collection.

Evaluation of next-generation sequencing for the pathogenic diagnosis of children brain abscesses.

In this study, we applied metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) to detect the causative pathogens in brain abscess samples from 4 pediatric patients. NGS could offer unbiased sequencing and rapid diagnosis of causative pathogens, moreover, it could detect multiple pathogenic microorganisms from abscess samples. In our study, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Streptococcus intermedius or combinations of them were found in 3/4 of polymicrobial brain abscesses. Internal organ abscesses are illustrative of the shortcomings of bacterial culture. NGS has the ability to identify both common and rare pathogens without any prior suspicious needed, and is able to offer a new platform for quantification of all detected microorganisms. Our study displayed the possible potential that NGS is about to provide the diagnostic tools that can characterize even the most complex microbial communities during brain abscesses and is less affected by prior antibiotic exposure.

Clinical characteristics and etiology of bacterial meningitis in Chinese children >28 days of age, January 2014-December 2016: A multicenter retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical characteristics and etiology of bacterial meningitis (BM) in Chinese children. METHOD: BM cases in children 28days to 18 years old were collected from January 2014-December 2016 and screened according to World Health Organization standards. Clinical features, pathogens, and resistance patterns were analyzed. RESULTS: Overall, 837 cases were classified into five age groups: 28 days-2 months (17.0%), 3-11 months (27.8%), 12-35 months (24.0%), 3-6 years (13.9%), and >6years (17.3%). Major pathogens were Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae, n=136, 46.9%), group B Streptococcus (GBS, n=29, 10.0%), and Escherichia coli (E. coli, n=23, 7.9%). In infants <3 months old, GBS (46.5%) and E. coli (23.3%) were most common; in children >3 months old, S. pneumoniae (54.7%), which had a penicillin non-susceptibility rate of 55.4% (36/65), was most frequent. The resistance rates of S. pneumoniae and E. coli to cefotaxime and ceftriaxone were 14.0%/40.0% and 11.3%/68.4%, respectively. All GBS isolates were sensitive to penicillin. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of BM peaked in the first year of life, while S. pneumoniae was the predominant pathogen in children >3months of old. The antibiotic resistance of S. pneumoniae was a concern.