The Effect of SBIRT on Harmful Alcohol Consumption in the Community Health Centers of Shanghai, China: A Randomized Controlled Study.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was a randomized controlled trial with a longitudinal design aimed at examining the effectiveness of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) on harmful alcohol use in the community health centres in Shanghai, China, and further compared the effects of a multi-session brief intervention (MBI) and a single-session brief intervention (SBI). METHODS: A total of 362 participants were recruited from four districts of Shanghai and randomly assigned to MBI, SBI and routine care (RC) groups. The MBI group received the brief intervention twice. Follow-up assessments were conducted at 1 and 3 months after the intervention. RESULTS: Compared with the SBI and the RC groups, the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) scores (F = 6.422, P = 0.002), SDS scores (F = 5.779, P = 0.003) and SAS scores (F = 4.004, P = 0.019) were significant improved in the MBI group at 1and 3-month follow-up assessment. In the SBI group, the SDS scores decreased significantly compared with the RC group, and there were no significant differences in ASSIST scores, drinking knowledge scores and SAS scores 1-month follow-up assessment. CONCLUSION: The findings suggested that SBIRT with two sessions of BI had considerable effects on individuals with harmful alcohol use. It provided clinical evidence for future use in China and other Asian countries with similar situations.

Paper Electrodes Coated with Partially-Exfoliated Graphite and Polypyrrole for High-Performance Flexible Supercapacitors.

Flexible paper electrodes for supercapacitors were prepared with partially-exfoliated graphite and polypyrrole as the active materials. Graphite was coated on paper with pencil drawing and then electrochemically exfoliated using the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique to obtain the exfoliated graphite (EG)-coated paper (EG-paper). Polypyrrole (PPy) doped with ß-naphthalene sulfonate anions was deposited on EG-paper through in-situ polymerization, leading to the formation of PPy-EG-paper. The as-prepared PPy-EG-paper showed a high electrical conductivity of 10.0 S·cm-1 and could be directly used as supercapacitor electrodes. The PPy-EG-paper electrodes gave a remarkably larger specific capacitance of 2148 F∙g-1 at a current density of 0.8 mA∙cm-2, compared to PPy-graphite-paper (848 F∙g-1). The capacitance value of PPy-EG-paper could be preserved by 80.4% after 1000 charge/discharge cycles. In addition, the PPy-EG-paper electrodes demonstrated a good rate capability and a high energy density of 110.3 Wh∙kg-1 at a power density of 121.9 W∙kg-1. This work will pave the way for the discovery of efficient paper-based electrode materials.

Chondromalacia patellae treated by warming needle and rehabilitation training.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of warming needle combined with rehabilitation training on chondromalacia patellae in a randomized controlled trial. METHODS: The 92 cases were randomly divided into a treatment group treated by warming needle plus rehabilitation training (47 cases) and a control group treated by medication plus rehabilitation training (45 cases), and the therapeutic effect was compared after 20 sessions. RESULTS: The pain was relieved more obviously in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05), and the total effective rate was 91.8% and 71.1% respectively (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Warming needle plus rehabilitation training was superior in the therapeutic effect and duration of producing relief of pain to medication plus rehabilitation training in treating chondromalacia patellae.