Efficacy and safety of Lianhuaqingwen capsules, a repurposed Chinese herb, in patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has resulted in a global outbreak. Few existing targeted medications are available. Lianhuaqingwen (LH) capsule, a repurposed marketed Chinese herb product, has been proven effective for influenza. PURPOSE: To determine the safety and efficacy of LH capsule in patients with Covid-19. METHODS: We did a prospective multicenter open-label randomized controlled trial on LH capsule in confirmed cases with Covid-19. Patients were randomized to receive usual treatment alone or in combination with LH capsules (4 capsules, thrice daily) for 14 days. The primary endpoint was the rate of symptom (fever, fatigue, coughing) recovery. RESULTS: We included 284 patients (142 each in treatment and control group) in the full-analysis set. The recovery rate was significantly higher in treatment group as compared with control group (91.5% vs. 82.4%, p = 0.022). The median time to symptom recovery was markedly shorter in treatment group (median: 7 vs. 10 days, p < 0.001). Time to recovery of fever (2 vs. 3 days), fatigue (3 vs. 6 days) and coughing (7 vs. 10 days) was also significantly shorter in treatment group (all p < 0.001). The rate of improvement in chest computed tomographic manifestations (83.8% vs. 64.1%, p < 0.001) and clinical cure (78.9% vs. 66.2%, p = 0.017) was also higher in treatment group. However, both groups did not differ in the rate of conversion to severe cases or viral assay findings (both p > 0.05). No serious adverse events were reported. CONCLUSION: In light of the safety and effectiveness profiles, LH capsules could be considered to ameliorate clinical symptoms of Covid-19.

Safety Assessment of the Auto Manipulation Device for Acupuncture in Sprague-Dawley Rats: Preclinical Evaluation of the Prototype.

BACKGROUND: The Auto Manipulation Device for Acupuncture (AMDA) is designed for providing stable, quantified effects and higher frequency when doing lifting and thrusting manipulation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the safety of manipulation by AMDA in different frequency and duration in healthy rats. METHODS: The study was divided into two parts: single intervention and once a day for a week. 12 rats and 15 rats were randomly allocated to different groups: Control (needle insertion only), AMDA (2Hz/10Mins), AMDA (2Hz/20Mins), AMDA (20Hz/10Mins), and AMDA (20Hz/20Mins) for single and repeated interventions. Real-time physiological functions, laboratory data, and the bilateral muscle tissue of acupoint (ST 36) were obtained after the intervention. RESULTS: We found neither real-time physiological functions nor laboratory data differences between control group and AMDA groups in both parts. In the muscle tissue samples, the slight damage had been observed in the AMDA group with a frequency of 2 Hz for 20 minutes after once intervention, and the repeated session groups noted more obvious tissue damage with fibrotic change. Although the period was shorter, higher frequency manipulation caused more damage that fibroblast nuclei became more slender and obvious. However, no significant adverse effect was noted such as crippled and molting in the whole process. CONCLUSION: Our study suggested that the safety issue of AMDA operation in rats is feasible because there was no difference between control group and AMDA groups among real-time physiological functions and laboratory data. However, manipulation with higher frequency should be more preserved.

Lipopolysaccharide-induced endotoxemia in corn oil-preloaded mice causes an extended course of lung injury and repair and pulmonary fibrosis: A translational mouse model of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by acute hypoxemia respiratory failure, bilateral pulmonary infiltrates, and pulmonary edema of non-cardiac origin. Effective treatments for ARDS patients may arise from experimental studies with translational mouse models of this disease that aim to delineate the mechanisms underlying the disease pathogenesis. Mouse models of ARDS, however, can be limited by their rapid progression from injured to recovery state, which is in contrast to the course of ARDS in humans. Furthermore, current mouse models of ARDS do not recapitulate certain prominent aspects of the pathogenesis of ARDS in humans. In this study, we developed an improved endotoxemic mouse model of ARDS resembling many features of clinical ARDS including extended courses of injury and recovery as well as development of fibrosis following i.p. injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to corn oil-preloaded mice. Compared with mice receiving LPS alone, those receiving corn oil and LPS exhibited extended course of lung injury and repair that occurred over a period of >2 weeks instead of 3-5days. Importantly, LPS challenge of corn oil-preloaded mice resulted in pulmonary fibrosis during the repair phase as often seen in ARDS patients. In summary, this simple novel mouse model of ARDS could represent a valuable experimental tool to elucidate mechanisms that regulate lung injury and repair in ARDS patients.

Development of Automatic Manipulation Device for Acupuncture (AMDA).

Needle lifting and thrusting manipulation is one of common skills in acupuncture. However, there exists artificial error in frequency and amplitude due to individual difference when performing lifting and thrusting during acupuncture. For providing stable and quantified effects and higher frequency when doing lifting and thrusting manipulation, a well controlled device is needed. The aim of this article is to report the preliminary results of the development of Auto Manipulation Device for Acupuncture (AMDA) and characterization of its functional parameters. A tissue-simulating Agar gel phantom with 4.8%, 5.2%, and 5.4% concentrations was prepared and used for characterization of the AMDA. Tests of the linearity, reliability and safety of the AMDA were implemented with conditions of different drive voltages, frequencies, and simulated tissues. Our preliminary results have demonstrated the developed AMDA its plausibility in the clinical application of acupuncture.