Effects of mind-regulating acupuncture on pain, negative emotion and sleep quality in patients with postherpetic neuralgia： a randomized controlled pilot trial. / è°ƒç¥žé’ˆæ³•å¯¹å¸¦çŠ¶ç–±ç–¹åŽé—ç¥žç»ç—›æ‚£è€ ç–¼ç—›ç¨‹åº¦ã€è´Ÿæ€§æƒ ç»ªå’Œç¡çœ è´¨é‡çš„å½±å“.

OBJECTIVES: To observe the effect of mind-regulating acupuncture on pain intensity, sleep quality, negative emotion in patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), and evaluate the clinical effect of mind-regulating acupuncture combined with surrounding needling and heavy moxibustion at Ashi points (Extra) in treatment of PHN. METHODS: The patients with PHN were randomly divided into a control group (35 cases, 2 cases dropped out) and a comprehensive therapy group (35 cases). The patients in the control group were treated with surrounding needling and heavy moxibustion at Ashi points. In the comprehensive therapy group, the mind-regulating acupuncture therapy was delivered besides the treatment as the control group. The treatment was given once daily, one course of treatment was composed of 6 days and 2 courses were required in the 2 groups. Before and after treatment, the pain conditions were assessed using pain rating index (PRI), visual analogue scale (VAS) and present pain intensity (PPI), the negative emotions were assessed using Hamilton anxiety scale (HAMA) and Hamilton depression scale (HAMD), and the sleep quality with Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). One week before and one week after treatment, the average sleep time was recorded. The therapeutic effect of 2 groups was evaluated. The effective cases of 2 groups were followed up in 2 months after treatment completion and the recurrence of neuralgia was recorded. RESULTS: There were no statistical differences in the above indicators between the 2 groups before treatment. After 2 courses of treatment, the scores of PRI, VAS, PPI, HAMA, HAMD and PSQI were reduced when compared with those before treatment in the patients of the 2 groups (P<0.05), and the average sleep time was increased (P<0.05). The scores of PRI, VAS, PPI, HAMA, HAMD and PSQI in the comprehensive therapy group, as well as the average sleep time were all improved when compared with those of the control group (P<0.05). The total effective rate in the comprehensive therapy group (34/35, 97.14%) was higher than that of the control group (27/33, 81.82%, P<0.05) and the recurrence rate was lower (ï¼»2/34, 5.88%ï¼½vsï¼»8/27, 29.63%ï¼½, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The combination of mind-regulating acupuncture with surrounding needling and heavy moxibustion at Ashi acupoint can effectively relieve PHN. Compared with the traditional surrounding acupuncture in pain area combined with moxibustion at Ashi points, this comprehensive therapy is more effective for ameliorating pain intensity, improving sleep quality and reducing negative emotions. It is also effective for declining the recurrence.

[Efficacy of Maixuekang capsule on reconvalescents of cerebral infarction and its impact on coagulation function].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy of Maixuekang capsule in reconvalescents of cerebral infarction and its impact on coagulation function. METHOD: One hundred and twenty cases of reconvalescents of cerebral infarction were randomly divided into treatment and control groups. The 50 cases in the control group were provided with conventional therapy, while the 70 cases in the treatment group were provided with the combination of conventional therapy and Maixuekang capsule for 3 months. Their neurological function and prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) clotting enzyme time (TT), fibrinogen (Fib) were measured before and after treatment. RESULT: After the treatment, PT, APTT and TT were prolonged compared with those before the treatment in the treatment group (P<0.05), whereas Fib, neurological deficit scores decreased (P<0.01) and significantly different from the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Maixuekang capsule is among safe and effective drugs in treatment of reconvalescents of cerebral infarction, and can improve the patient's coagulation state.

[Clinical study of combined treatment with compound Reinhartdt and Sea Cumber Capsule and donepezil for vascular dementia].

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy and safety of the combined treatment with compound Reinhartdt and Sea Cumber Capsule (RSC, a Chinese medicinal preparation consisted mainly of Reinhartdt and Sea Cumber) and Donepezil for vascular dementia (VD), and its effect on thyroid function axis. METHODS: Sixty-three patients with VD were treated respectively with RSC, Donepezil and the combined treatment. MMSE, ADAS-Cog and ADL scales were used to evaluate the condition of patients before treatment as well as at 3 months and 6 months after treatment. Meanwhile, levels of thyroid hormones, including (TSH, FT3, FT4, TT3, TT4) were measured with radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: As compared with the baseline, MMSE score increased, ADAS-Cog score and ADL score decreased significantly in all the three groups after 3 months and 6 months of treatment (P <0.05, P<0.01), the improvement in the Donepezil group was more significant than that in the RSC group after 6 months of treatment (P < 0.05), but the combined treatment group showed the best efficacy (P < 0.01). After 3 months of treament, the levels of FT3 and FT4 in the combined treatment group increased, but showed no statistical significance (P >0.05). However, significant changes were found at 6 months after combined treatment (P < 0.01). No significant changes were seen at all in levels of TSH, TT3 and TT4 (P > 0.05). FT3, FT4 increased without statistical significance after 6 months Donepezil treatment, TSH, TT3 and TT4 also showed no significant difference in the Donepezil group and no other significant changes of thyroid hormones was seen in patients treated with RSC (P > 0.05). No obvious adverse reaction occurred in any of the three groups. CONCLUSION: Combined treatment of RSC and Donepezil was effective and safe on VD patient, with the efficacy much better than either of them alone. No significant adverse reaction was observed. The regulation on thyroid hormones may one of the mechanisms of the combined treatment in improving cognitive function.

[Clinical study of Reinhartdt and sea cucumber capsule combined with donepezil in treating Alzheimer's disease].

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy and safety of Reinhartdt and sea cucumber capsule (RSC) combined with donepezil in treating Alzheimer's disease (AD), and its effect on thyroid function axis. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients were randomly assigned to the RSC group, the Donepezil group and the combined treatment group, who were treated for 3 and 6 months with RSC, Donepezil and RSC combined with Donepezil, respectively. The curative effect was evaluated by scoring according to Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), ADAS-Cog and ADL chart, and the level of thyroid hormones, including TSH, FT3, FT4, TT3 and TT4, were measured with radioimmunoassay before treatment, 3 and 6 months after treatment respectively. RESULTS: As compared with the baseline, MMSE score increased, ADAS-Cog score and ADL score decreased significantly in all the three groups after 3 months and 6 months of treatment (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01), but the improvement in the combined treatment group was more significant than that in the other two groups (P < 0.01). After 6 months of treatment, the levels of FT3 and FT4 in the combined treatment group were significantly changed (P < 0.01), but no significant change in all the thyroid hormones was found in the other two groups. No obvious adverse reaction occurred in all the three groups. CONCLUSION: RSC combined with Donepezil in treating AD is effective and safe with no evident adverse reaction, better than single drug treatment, which may be through influencing the metabolism of thyroid hormones to improve the cognition function of AD patients.