Efficacy of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation for patients with first-episode schizophrenia: An 8-week, preliminary, randomized controlled trial.

Combination therapy with antipsychotics has been investigated for treating schizophrenia, and has shown clear advantages among non-invasive therapies. Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) is a novel non-invasive treatment with definite efficacy in treating mental disorders. The current study aimed to investigate the efficacy of TEAS in further improving the psychotic symptoms in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) being treated with pharmacological drugs. This 8-week, preliminary, sham-controlled, randomized clinical trial was conducted in patients with FES to compare the efficacy of TEAS and sham TEAS in combination with aripiprazole treatment. The primary outcome was a change in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) score after ending the intervention (Week 8). A total of 49 participants completed the whole treatment cycle. The linear mixed-effects regression for PANSS indicated a significant time × group interaction (F(2, 116)=9.79, p <0.001). The PANSS score differed by 8.77 points (95% CI, -2.07 to -15.47 points; p=.01) between the TEAS group and the sham TEAS group after 8 weeks of treatment; this difference was significant. This study indicates that 8 weeks of TEAS combined with aripiprazole treatment can effectively treat FES. Thus, TEAS is an effective combination therapy to improve the psychiatric symptoms of FES.

Changes in fractional exhaled nitric oxide, exhaled carbon monoxide and pulmonary function during the acute attack, treatment and remission phases of pediatric asthma.

BACKGROUND: The current study aimed to explore the value of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), exhaled carbon monoxide (eCO), and pulmonary function in the management of asthmatic children. METHODS: One hundred children diagnosed with asthma were selected as research subjects. Patients were divided into a 3-5-year-old group and a group with children 6 years and older. They were also grouped depending on whether they had asthma alone (A0 group) or whether their asthma was complicated with allergic rhinitis (A+AR group). The FeNO, eCO levels, and pulmonary function in the acute attack period were analyzed 1 month after treatment and clinical remission period. RESULTS: Asthmatic children demonstrated greater pulmonary dysfunction and significantly higher FeNO and eCO during the acute attack phase compared to both one month after treatment and clinical remission. The remission phase was characterized by decreased levels of FeNO and eCO and improvement of pulmonary function. The eCO levels in children aged 3-5 years old, and both FeNO and eCO levels in children 6 years and older were statistically lower during remission regardless of whether the patients had asthma alone or asthma complicated with rhinitis. However, 10% of the 100 children in the clinical remission period still demonstrated mid to high levels of FeNO. The critical value of FeNO levels during the acute period in children 6 years and older with asthma and rhinitis was 34.5 ppb (AUROC 0.814, 95% CI: 0.684-0.944) with a sensitivity of 69.2% and specificity of 93.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Dynamic monitoring of FeNO and eCO is an effective indicator of airway inflammation and thus represents an important clinical tool in assessing the severity of asthma in children.

Heterogeneous catalysis using a nanostructured solid acid resin based on lyotropic liquid crystals.

The catalytic reactivity and selectivity of the first example of a nanostructured solid acid resin (1) are described. This new type of solid acid catalyst is formed by the self-assembly and copolymerization of two acidic lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs), affording a columnar hexagonal polymer network with monodisperse nanochannels lined with sulfonic acid groups. The performance of this material as a heterogeneous catalyst was compared against that of two commercially available, amorphous sulfonic acid resins: Amberlyst-15 and Nafion NR50. Using the acid-catalyzed esterification of benzyl alcohol with 1-hexanoic acid in dry toluene as a test reaction, it was found that resin 1 displayed only slightly lower overall reactivity as compared to Amberlyst-15 and Nafion NR50 but more than an order of magnitude higher selectivity for the desired ester product over dibenzyl ether side-product. Control experiments revealed that the higher product selectivity is not due to differences in relative acidity between the nanostructured acid resin and the two amorphous resins. Instead, it appears that a large component of the enhanced selectivity is due to the regular nanostructure present in the LLC resin, which affords a much more uniform local acid microenvironment for reactions to occur. Resin 1 can also be recycled with almost complete recovery of catalytic activity and selectivity, and with essentially no leaching of reactive groups into the solution phase.

Photo-fries rearrangements of 1-naphthyl esters in the glassy and melted states of poly(vinyl acetate). Comparisons with reactions in less polar polymers and low-viscosity solvents.

The photo-Fries and associated photoreactions of four 1-naphthyl acylates have been examined in two types of poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) films above and below their glass transition temperatures, Tg. Because of the 'templating' effect of the esters on their reaction cavities, especially below Tg, the distributions of photo-Fries products, as mandated by the intermediate acyl/1-naphthyloxyl singlet radical pairs, are determined largely by the initial conformations of the guest molecules. Even above Tg, at 50 degrees C, where segmental chain motions of PVAc are relatively rapid, the influence of the cages in directing product formation is apparent. The radical-pair recombination rates for formation of the keto precursor of 2-(2-phenylpropanoyl)-1-naphthol upon irradiation of 1-naphthyl 2-phenylpropanoate in PVAc are reduced drastically as the temperature is lowered from above to below Tg. Comparison of results in PVAc with those in low-viscosity solvents (ethyl acetate and hexane) and low-polarity polymer films (polyethylene and polypropylene) indicate that interactions between the radicals produced from irradiation of 1 and the acetate pendant groups of PVAc, as well as the nature of its chain motions above and below Tg, influence enormously the course of the photo-Fries rearrangements.