Effect of Auricular Acupoint Bloodletting plus Auricular Acupressure on Sleep Quality and Neuroendocrine Level in College Students with Primary Insomnia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of auricular acupoint bloodletting (AB) and auricular acupressure (AA) on sleep quality and the levels of melatonin (MT), glutamic acid (Glu), and γ -aminobutyric acid (GABA) in college students with primary insomnia, and to explore the possible mechanism. METHODS: Totally 74 college students at Hebei University of Chinese Medicine with primary insomnia were selected from October 2019 to October 2020. All patients were assigned to AB+AA group (37 cases, received combination of AB and AA) and AA group (37 cases, received only AA on the same acupoints) by a random number table. Each group was treated twice a week for 4 weeks. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score, Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome score, total effective rate, serum concentrations of MT, Glu, and GABA, and Glu/GABA ratio were compared between the two groups after treatment and at follow-up. The safety of therapy was also evaluated. RESULTS: After 4-week treatment, the total scores of PSQI, each PSQI component score, and the CM syndrome scores in both groups all decreased (P<0.05); the serum MT concentrations in both groups all increased (P<0.05). The concentrations of Glu and GABA in the AB+AA group were significantly higher than those in the AA group after treatment (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the ratio of Glu/GABA in both groups before and after treatment (P>0.05). At follow-up, the CM syndrome score in the AB+AA group was significantly lower than that in the AA group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in total effective rates and adverse events (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Both AB+AA and AA can relieve insomnia symptoms, but a stronger long-term effect were observed for AB+AA. AB+AA can promote the secretion of MT, increase the levels of Glu and GABA more effective than AA, and regulate their imbalance, and thus it may be benificial for treating insomnia.

Synthesis and Properties of Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Based on Poly(triallyl isocyanurate-silicone)/n-Octadecane Composites.

Triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) was modified by hydrogen silicone oil (SO) via hydrosilylation reaction, generating the original TAIC-SO (TS) intermediate. After the cross-linking polymerization of TS (PTS), the shape-stabilized phase change materials (PCMs) consisting of n-octadecane and silicone-modified supporting matrix were first synthesized by an in situ reaction. Remarkably, the novel three-dimensional PTS network effectively prevents the leakage of n-octadecane during its phase transition, solving the prominent problem of solid-liquid PCMs in practical applications. Moreover, n-octadecane is uniformly dispersed in the continuous and high-strength cross-linked network, contributing to excellent thermal reliability and structural stability of PTS/n-octadecane (TSO) composites. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis of the optimal TSO composite indicates that melting and freezing temperatures are 29.05 and 22.89 °C, and latent heats of melting and freezing are 130.35 and 129.81 J/g, respectively. After comprehensive characterizations, the shape-stabilized TSO composites turn out to be promising in thermal energy storage applications. Meanwhile, the strategy is practical and economical due to its advantages of easy operation, mild conditions, short reaction time, and low energy consumption.

Cortical Surface Area Rather Than Cortical Thickness Potentially Differentiates Radiation Encephalopathy at Early Stage in Patients With Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Radiation encephalopathy (RE) is one of the most severe complications in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients after radiotherapy (RT). However, the morphological alteration of early RE is insufficiently investigated. We aimed to investigate the cortical thickness and surface area alterations in NPC patients with or without RE in the follow-up. A total of 168 NPC patients each underwent a single scan and analysis at various times either Pre-RT (n = 56) or Post-RT (n = 112). We further divided the Post-RT NPC patients into three groups based on the time of the analysis following RT (Post-RTwithin 6 months and Post-RT7-12 months) or whether RE signs were detected in the analysis (Post-RTRE proved in follow-up). We confined the vertex-wise analyses of the cortical thickness and surface area to the bilateral temporal lobes. Interestingly, we revealed a gradual increase in the cortical surface area of the temporal lobe with increasing time after RT within the Post-RTRE proved in follow-up group, consistent with the between-group findings, which showed a significant increase in cortical surface area in the Post-RTRE proved in follow-up group relative to the Pre-RT group and the Post-RTwithin 6 months group. By contrast, such a trend was not observed in the cortical thickness findings. We concluded that the cortical surface area, rather than cortical thickness, may serve as a potential biomarker for early diagnosis of RE.