A randomized, parallel control and multicenter clinical trial of evidence-based traditional Chinese medicine massage treatment VS External Diclofenac Diethylamine Emulgel for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: Both massage and topically administered NSAIDs are safe and effective treatments for knee osteoarthritis (KOA); however, different massage technique sects in China caused assessment difficulties for the treatment of KOA. In order to standardize the massage techniques and procedures, we organized multi-disciplinary experts in China to acquire an evidence-based traditional Chinese medicine massage treatment of knee osteoarthritis. The purposes of this study will be to provide clinicians a complementary and alternative therapy for patients and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of evidence-based traditional Chinese medicine massage treatment of KOA compared to External Diclofenac Diethylamine Emulgel. METHODS AND DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial in which 300 participants diagnosed with KOA will be recruited and randomly allocated to either the experimental group or the control group in a ratio of 2:1. Two hundred participants will receive evidence-based traditional Chinese medicine massage 2 sessions per week for 10 weeks as the experimental group, and 100 participants will receive External Diclofenac Diethylamine Emulgel 3-4 times per day for 10 weeks as the control group. The patients in the two groups will receive follow-up at two time points at 5 weeks and 10 weeks from the beginning of treatment, respectively. The MRI scans and X-ray will be performed at baseline and at the end of the intervention. The primary outcome will be the changes in the Western Ontario and McMaster Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Secondary outcomes will be measured by the PRO scale for knee osteoarthritis based on the concept of traditional Chinese medicine (Chinese scale for knee osteoarthritis (CSKO)), X-ray evaluation, and MRI scan evaluation. The data of WOMAC and CSKO will be analyzed at the baseline, 5 weeks, and 10 weeks from the beginning of treatment. The data from MRI scans and X-rays will be analyzed at baseline and at the end of the intervention. The significance level sets as 5%. The safety of interventions will be evaluated after each treatment session. DISCUSSION: This study will provide clinicians with much-needed knowledge for the treatment of KOA through a controlled trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1800014400 . Registered on 10 January 2018.

Immunomagnetic Nanosphere-based Strategy for Rapid, Efficient and Accurate Detection of Lymphnode Metastatic Carcinoma Cells / 分析化学

A strategy based on immunomagnetic nanospheres ( IMNs ) for rapid, efficient and accurate detection of lymphnode metastasis carcinoma cells ( LNMCCs ) was developed in this study. First, IMNs processing magnetism and biological targeting were fabricated by the approach developed by our group previously. Then, LNMCCs in lymph node fine needle aspiration ( LNFNA) specimens were separated and enriched by the immunomagnetic isolation using IMNs. At last, the captured cells were identified with Wright's staining and immunocytochemistry ( ICC) . The separation and enrichment of LNMCCs with immunomagnetic isolation could reduce the background interference of LNFNA specimens effectively; the identification with Wright ' s staining and ICC offered more reliable information for accurate diagnosis, so the sensitivity, specificity and overall diagnostic accuracy had an obvious improvement compared with the conventional cytologic diagnosis. Besides, the simple and rapid incubation of LNFNA specimens with IMNs needed just 5 min, so the cytomorphology of captured LNMCCs could be intactly retained, which enabled to provide important basis for classifying lymphnode metastasis carcinoma ( LNMC ) and the subsequent pathological study. Moreover, the specific capture of epithelial carcinoma cells in LNFNA specimens with IMNs could make a definite diagnosis of the captured cells as LNMCCs, thus realizing the differentiated diagnosis of LNMC and malignant lymphoma. Additionally, this strategy exhibited successful LNMCCs detection in LNFNA specimens from 110 patients and had higher sensitivity ( 98 . 0%) , specificity ( 100 . 0%) , and overall diagnostic accuracy (98. 2%) than the conventional cytologic diagnosis. Therefore, it was a new attempt to use IMNs for detection of LNMCCs in LNFNA specimens from LNMC patients, and offered new ideas for LNMC diagnosis and study.