Huatan Dingji Decoction intervening in atrial fibrillation: protocol for a randomized double-blind single-simulated placebo-controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias and can lead to heart failure (HF), stroke, pulmonary embolism (PE), and other complications, seriously affecting people's quality of life and health. Western medicine is limited in the treatment of AF, while Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has unique advantages, such as less side effects, low toxicity, long effect duration, and high compliance. The prescription of HTDJ is a common prescription for the treatment of atrial fibrillation in Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It has been used for many years and has a large number of clinically effective cases. It has a good clinical application prospect, but there is a lack of effective evaluation of its clinical efficacy. METHOD: This study adopts a randomized double-blind, single-simulated, placebo-controlled research method. Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio through a centrally controlled, computer-generated, simple randomization schedule. Participants would take the medicine for 1 month, and the curative effect would be evaluated. Subsequently, the participants would not take TCM and only receive western medicine treatment. They would be followed up for another 8 weeks, and a clinical evaluation would be conducted. The secondary outcomes include echocardiography, Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Hamilton Depression Scale, rate of increase and decrease of anti-arrhythmia western medicine, the MOS 36-item short-form health survey, N-terminal-pro hormone B-type natriuretic peptide level, and integral TCM syndrome score. Adverse events will be monitored throughout the trial. Cases are from outpatient and inpatient with atrial fibrillation in the Cardiology Department of Longhua Hospital. Evaluations will be conducted at baseline and at weeks 4 and 12 after randomization. DISCUSSION: In this study, the efficacy and safety of HTDJ plus western medicine in the treatment of atrial fibrillation (qi deficiency and phlegm opacities) will be evaluated, so as to provide medical evidence of short-term and medium-term clinical efficacy for the treatment of atrial fibrillation with integrated traditional and western medicine and lay a foundation for further clinical development and application. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ChiCTR2000030517 . Registered on March 5, 2020, with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry.

The potential of Zishen Yutai pills to facilitate endometrial recovery and restore fertility after induced abortion in rats.

CONTEXT: Abortions damage the endometrium in women. Currently, therapeutic options for endometrial recovery are limited. Zishen Yutai Pill (ZYP) was found to promote endometrial blood supply as a traditional Chinese medicine. However, whether ZYP promotes endometrial recovery post-abortion has not yet been explored. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the role of ZYP in rat endometrial recovery after induced abortion and explored its mechanism of action. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups: no-operation group, control group, and ZYP group. The rats in the control and ZYP group were induced abortion, and then treated with normal saline or ZYPs, respectively, for 1-3 oestrous cycles. Morphological changes in the endometrium were examined. Expression levels of the factors related to endometrial recovery were analyzed. The duration of this study was almost seven months. RESULTS: The endometrial thickness (7.3 ± 0.17 mm) and number of glands (5.5 ± 0.20) increased significantly in the ZYP group compared with those in the control group (5.5 ± 0.15 mm and 3.5 ± 0.18; p < 0.05). Fibrosis of the endometrium was ameliorated by ZYP administration (45 ± 6% vs. 58 ± 7%; p < 0.05). ZYPs treatment increased the expression of VEGF, ER, MMP-9, LIF, and HB-EGF, but decreased TGF-ß expression. Moreover, the average number of pups in the ZYP group (9.0 ± 1.5) was greater than that in the control (4 ± 1.3). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: ZYPs accelerate endometrial recovery and restored fertility in rats, suggesting its potential to promote human endometrial repair.

Diagnosis of severe community-acquired pneumonia caused by Acinetobacter baumannii through next-generation sequencing: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram-negative aerobic bacillus that is commonly causes of hospital-acquired infections. Community-acquired pneumonia caused by Acinetobacter baumannii (CAP-Ab) is rare but fatal if diagnosis and treatment are delayed. Conventional culture of clinical specimens is the main method for clinical diagnosis of A. baumannii infections which may suffer from limited positive rate and is time consuming. Timely and precise diagnosis of CAP-Ab remains challenging. CASE PRESENTATION: A 66-year-old man with 24 h history of acute fever and dyspnea was admitted to our hospital. He was diagnosed as severe community acquired pneumonia (CAP), septic shock, respiratory failure and acute kidney injury. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was performed on the patient's sputum and blood, which identified numerous A. baumannii nucleotide sequences in the sample of sputum and led to the rapid diagnosis and treatment of community acquired pneumonia caused by A. baumannii. This result was confirmed by subsequent sputum culture. CONCLUSIONS: This case described that the successful application of the next generation sequencing assisting the speedy diagnosis of A. baumannii infection provides a new idea for the timely diagnosis of CAP-Ab and highlights that NGS is a promising tool in rapid etiological diagnosis of acute and severe infectious diseases.