Effects of traditional Chinese culture-based bibliotherapy on the spiritual health of patients with liver cancer.

BACKGROUND: Liver cancer is a serious global health problem and is associated with poor spiritual health. Bibliotherapy is beneficial in improving health outcomes in cancer patients, yet there is a lack of empirical evidence of its effect on the spiritual health of liver cancer patients in China. The study aimed to investigate the effects of bibliotherapy based on Chinese traditional culture on the spiritual health of patients with liver cancer in China. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hunan Normal University School of Medicine and registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry with the registration (No: 2021260), which registration in June 30th 2021. METHODS: A total of 60 patients with liver cancer were divided into the intervention group (n = 30) and the control group (n = 30) through WeChat. The intervention group received bibliotherapy therapy based on traditional Chinese culture, while the control group received routine care. Spiritual health was assessed using the Spiritual Attitude and Involvement List (SAIL) and compared before and after the intervention between the two groups. The chi-square test and t-test were used to analyze the intervention effects. RESULTS: The two groups were comparable in all baseline characteristics including the SAIL score. After 5 weeks of intervention, the score of SAIL increased significantly from 96.76 ± 15.08 to 106.93 ± 13.82 in the intervention group (t = - 29.380, p < 0.001), while no significant difference in SAIL score was observed in the control group (from 95.27 ± 16.40 to 95.31 ± 16.24, t = - 0.189, p = 0.852). Similar patterns were also observed in its three dimensions of connecting with oneself, connecting with the environment, and connecting with transcendence. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that bibliotherapy based on traditional Chinese culture using the WeChat platform can greatly improve the spiritual health of patients with liver cancer and has the potential to be widely applied to cancer patients to improve their well-being.

Dynamic Transitions of Epilepsy Waveforms Induced by Astrocyte Dysfunction and Electrical Stimulation.

Experimental studies have shown that astrocytes participate in epilepsy through inducing the release of glutamate. Meanwhile, considering the disinhibition circuit among inhibitory neuronal populations with different time scales and the feedforward inhibition connection from thalamic relay nucleus to cortical inhibitory neuronal population, here, we propose a modified thalamocortical field model to systematically investigate the mechanism of epilepsy. Firstly, our results show that rich firing activities can be induced by astrocyte dysfunction, including high or low saturated state, high- or low-frequency clonic, spike-wave discharge (SWD), and tonic. More importantly, with the enhancement of feedforward inhibition connection, SWD and tonic oscillations will disappear. In other words, all these pathological waveforms can be suppressed or eliminated. Then, we explore the control effects after different external stimulations applying to thalamic neuronal population. We find that single-pulse stimulation can not only suppress but also induce pathological firing patterns, such as SWD, tonic, and clonic oscillations. And we further verify that deep brain stimulation can control absence epilepsy by regulating the amplitude and pulse width of stimulation. In addition, based on our modified model, 3 : 2 coordinated reset stimulation strategies with different intensities are compared and a more effective and safer stimulation mode is proposed. Our conclusions are expected to give more theoretical insights into the treatment of epilepsy.

Control analysis of electrical stimulation for epilepsy waveforms in a thalamocortical network.

Physiological experiments and computational models both show that the thalamic reticular nucleus (RE) participates in inducing various firing patterns of cortex. Absence seizure, featured by 2-4 Hz spike-wave discharges (SWD) oscillation, is a high incidence of disease in children. Lots of electrophysiological experiments have verified the correlation between absence seizures and RE, however, the dynamical mechanisms are not well understood. Based on previous Taylor model, we firstly study the effects of external input and self-inhibition of RE on epilepsy transition. We show that increasing external input and self-inhibition of RE can lead the system from epileptic state to normal state, and vice versa. Next, we explore two stimulus strategies added in RE and various transition behaviors can be induced, such as high saturated state to clonic. Meanwhile, as the intensity of stimulation increasing, they can not only suppress the SWD, but also produce tonic-clonic oscillation. Finally, the control of DBS on single neuron cluster and two neuron clusters are compared and we find stimulating RE and TC simultaneously is a superior mode to stimulate anyone of RE or TC. It is hoped that the results we obtained will have an enlightenment on clinical treatment.

Sanao decoction for asthma: Protocol of a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing, which often worsen at night or in the early morning and vary from person to person in severity and frequency. Sanao decoction (SAD), as a traditional Chinese medicine compound, has a long history of clinical application in the treatment of respiratory diseases. Whereas neither systematic nor meta-analysis of randomized controlled articles explain the efficacy of SAD in treating asthma. Therefore, we provide a protocol to evaluate the efficacy and safety of SAD for asthma. METHODS: From the beginning to December 2018, the following electronic databases will be searched for studies in English or Chinese: the Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, the Chinese Scientific Journal Database, and the Wanfang Database. Total effective rate, peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and FEV1/FVC will be measured as primary outcomes. Meta-analysis will be performed using the Stata 15. RESULTS: This study will provide the current evidence of asthma treated with SAD from the several points including PEF, FEV1, FVC, and FEV1/FVC. CONCLUSION: The consequence of this summary will furnish proof to evaluate if SAD is effective in the treatment of asthma. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42018117923.

Levels and patterns of DDTs in maternal colostrum from an island population and exposure of neonates.

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was heavily used in the past in many regions of the world. The occurrence of DDTs in island populations may be elevated if the island is adjacent to major DDT consumption estuaries, such as the Yangtze River Delta. In this study, colostrum samples were collected from maternal-neonate pairs (n = 106) from the Shengsi Island, located directly downstream from the Yangtze River outlet. DDT isomers and enantiomer compositions were analyzed by gas chromatography equipped with mass spectrometer (GC/MS) and GC/MS-MS. The average levels of p,p'-DDE, o,p'-DDD, p,p'-DDD, o,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDT and total DDTs were 1.32, 0.03, 0.09, 0.08, 0.48, and 1.93 µg g(-1) lipid weight, respectively. Maternal age and pregnancy body mass index (BMI) were positively associated with levels of DDTs (p < 0.05). High (DDE+DDD)/DDT and p,p'-DDE/p,p'-DDT ratios suggested that current DDT residues originated primarily from historical use of DDT products, but new sources may also contribute partially to some high o,p'-DDT/p,p'-DDT ratios. Enantiomeric enrichment was found for the (-)-enantiomer of o,p'-DDD and the (+)-enantiomer of o,p'-DDT, suggesting stereoselective attenuation. Based on breast milk consumption, the average daily intake of DDTs by neonates was 8.33 ± 7.34 µg kg(-1)bw per day, which exceeded the WHO's tolerable daily intake guideline of 0.01 mg kg(-1) bw per day by 25%, implying some neonates in the Yangtze River region are potentially at high risk from exposure to DDTs.