New advances in the subtyping of systemic amyloidosis / 中国实验血液学杂志

Amyloidosis is a heterogeneous group of diseases caused by deposition of misfolded proteins, which usually leads to organ dysfunction. Accurate typing of amyloid deposits is of paramount importance because organ involvements and disease prognosis differ widely among different subtypes, and its treatments are type specific. Correct identification of amyloidogenic protein is crucial to proper treatment. Traditional antibody-based diagnostic methods such as immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence are helpful in amyloid typing, but limitations of those approaches including antibody availability and serum protein contamination impair sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis. Sometimes misdiagnosis can lead to catastrophic therapeutic outcome. Genetic testing is important to confirm the diagnosis of hereditary amyloidosis. Nowadays proteomic analysis has been used as an advanced strategy for amyloid typing and the gold-standard today is laser microdissection followed by mass spectrometry (LMD/MS), which can identify causal protein without additional clinical information. Furthermore, LMD/MS is performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens, thus large scale retrospective studies based on archival material can be conducted. In recent studies, LMD/MS has been proven superior to traditional methods without the drawbacks mentioned above. This proteomic approach provides guarantee of appropriate clinical management and probability of new insights into the mechanism of amyloidosis.In this article the new advances of studies on subtyping of systemic amyloidosis are reviewed.

Randomized controlled observation on head point-through-point therapy for treatment of insomnia / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the therapeutic effect of head point-through-point therapy on insomnia and to probe the mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-one cases of insomnia were randomly divided into a head penetration needling group (n=36) and a routine acupuncture group (n=35). In the head penetration needling group, Shenting (GV 24)-through-anterior Shencong (EX-HN 1), bilateral Toulinqi (GB 15)-through-bilateral Shencong (EX-HN 1), posterior Shencong-through-Qiangjian (GV 18) were selected; and in the routine acupuncture group, Baihui (CV 20), Yintang (EX-HN 3), Sishencong (EX-HN 1), Neiguan (PC 6), etc. were selected. After treatment of 30 days, their therapeutic effects, cumulative scores of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and plasma serotonin contents before and after treatment were compared. Results The total effective rate of 91.7% in the head penetration needling group was better than 77.1% in the routine acupuncture group (P < 0.05), and the improvement of sleep quality, falling asleep time and the total cumulative score of PSQI in the head penetration needling group was superior to that in the routine acupuncture group (P < 0.05), and plasma serotonin was significantly increased in the head penetration needling group with a significant difference as compared with that in the routine acupuncture group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The therapeutic effect of head penetration needling is better than that of the routine acupuncture, and the mechanism is related with regulation of serotonin metabolism.</p>

Clinical observation on head point-through-point electroacupuncture for treatment of poststroke depression / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe clinical therapeutic effect of head point-through-point electroacupuncture (EA) on poststroke depression (PSD) and to study the mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and eight cases of PSD were randomly divided into a point-through-point EA group (n = 38), a non point-through-point group (n = 36) and a western medicine group (n = 34). After treatment of 28 days, their therapeutic effects, scores of HAMD depression scale and SDS self-rating scale, and plasma 5-HT contents were compared before and after treatment among the 3 groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The effective rate of 86.84% in the point-through-point EA group was better than 63.89% in the non point-through-point group and 67.65% in the western medicine group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Plasma 5-HT content in the point-through-point EA group increased significantly, with a very significant difference as compared with that of the non point-through-point group (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Head point-through-point therapy can obviously increase plasma 5-HT content of the patient with PSD, so as to cure poststroke depression, with a better therapeutic effect than other two groups.</p>