Serum miR-599 Serves as a Biomarker for Ischemic Stroke Patients.

BACKGROUND: The current study aims to investigate the expression of miR-599 in serum of patients with ischemic stroke and its correlation with high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). METHODS: The expression level of miR-24 in serum was detected by real-time PCR, and the expression levels of hs-CRP and MMP-9 were detected by ELISA. Partial correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation be-tween the expression of miR-24 in serum and hs-CRP and MMP-9. ROC analysis was carried out to evaluate the potential diagnostic value. RESULTS: Our data showed that the expression levels of miR-599, hs-CRP, and MMP-9 in serum of the patients were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). Partial correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between the expression of miR-599 and hs-CRP and MMP-9 (r = 0.718, p = 0.000; r = 0.658, p = 0.000; r = 0.878, p = 0.000). Meanwhile, serum levels of miR-599, hs-CRP, and MMP-9 in patients with severe neurological deficit were significantly higher than those in patients with moderate and mild neurological deficit (p < 0.05). Moreover, the expression levels of miR-599, hs-CRP, and MMP-9 in serum of patients with dif-ferent degrees of neurological impairment have different correlations. More importantly, ROC analysis demon-strated that combined use of miR-599, hs-CRP, and MMP-9 demonstrated higher diagnostic value for stroke pa-tients. CONCLUSIONS: Serum miR-599 may be used as a molecular marker in the diagnosis of ischemic stroke and may play an important role in the pathogenesis and development of ischemic stroke in cooperation with hs-CRP and MMP-9.

[Strategy on the recruitment of free community medical-consultation in acupuncture clinical trials].

The difficulty in the participant recruitment is the common question in acupuncture clinical trial study. The existing recruitment of clinical trial is most applicable for the clinical trial of medicines. Because the intervention of acupuncture clinical trial is different from that of medicines, characterized as the specialties in "theory, principle, acupoints, technique", it is very necessary to develop the strategy on the participant recruitment in acupuncture clinical trial. The free community medical consultation is one of the important means of recruitment. In the paper, by taking the participant recruitment of acupuncture clinical trial on chronic stable angina pectoris as the example, the discussion is given on the strategy on the recruitment of free community medical consultation in the aspects of feasible investigation of recruitment approach, recruitment plan, participant screening, etc. The revisiting after the free community medical consultation is the important approach to the improvement of successful recruitment. This strategy on the recruitment of free community medical consultation is highly practical and improves the successful rate and compliance of the participant recruitment. Hence, this strategy deserves to be promoted.

Acupoint application in patients with chronic stable angina pectoris: study protocol of a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial.

Background. Chronic stable angina pectoris (CSAP) is a major syndrome of ischemic heart disease (IHD). CSAP manifests as chest pain or discomfort and affects patients' quality of life. Acupoint application (AP) has been reported to be effective for managing the symptoms of CSAP, but the evidence is not convincing. Therefore, we designed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of AP in the treatment of CSAP. Methods and Analysis. Two hundred participants with CSAP will be randomly assigned in a 1 : 1 : 1 : 1 ratio into 4 groups. All participants will receive 12 sessions of treatment in 4 weeks and the same basic treatment procedure. The participants will be visited and assessed for 12 weeks, including a 4-week screening, a 4-week treatment phase, and a 4-week follow-up phase. The primary outcome is the change in the total frequency of self-reported angina attack at 4th week compared with the baseline. The secondary outcomes include the intensity of angina pain, consumption of nitroglycerin or Suxiao Jiuxin pills, CCS angina classification, SAQ, SAS and SDS score. Ethics. The study protocol has been reviewed and approved by the Sichuan Regional Ethics Review Committee on TCM (number 2013kl-001). This trial is registered with clinicaltrials.gov NCT02029118.

Acupuncture for chronic, stable angina pectoris and an investigation of the characteristics of acupoint specificity: study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Chronic stable angina pectoris (CSAP) is a common cardiovascular condition that endangers a patient's life quality and longevity. As demonstrated in several clinical trials, acupuncture is attested to be effective for CSAP. Current trials are not adequate enough to provide high-quality evidence for clinical decision making, as a result of inadequate methodology design and small sample size. Notably, stark controversy toward acupoint specificity also exists in the clinical acupuncture trials for CSAP. Therefore, we designed the present study as a randomized controlled trial primarily to investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture in addition to routine care among patients with CSAP. Meanwhile, we examined whether acupoint on the disease-affected meridian (DAM) is superior to either acupoint on the non-affected meridian (NAM) or non-acupoint (NA), to further investigate the meridian-based characteristics of acupoint specificity. METHODS/DESIGN: This study was a multicenter, assessor and statistician blinded, randomized controlled trial in China. In this study, 404 participants in sum will be randomly assigned to four groups through central randomization in a 1:1:1:1 ratio. The whole study period is 20 weeks including a 4-week baseline period, a 4-week treatment period and a 12-week follow-up. Participants in the DAM group receive acupuncture stimulation at acupoints on the disease-affected meridian, and three different control groups will undergo acupuncture stimulation at the NAM, the non-acupoint and no intervention respectively, in addition to basic treatment. Participants in the acupuncture groups will receive 12 sessions of acupuncture treatment over 4 weeks, while the wait-listed (WL) group would receive free acupuncture treatment after the completion of the study. The outcome measures in this trial include the frequency of angina attack during 4 weeks as the primary outcome and eight other secondary outcomes. DISCUSSION: This trial will provide new and relatively high-quality evidence in acupuncture treatment for CSAP. Moreover, this trial may further validate the meridian-based characteristics of acupoint specificity by comparing the strength of acupoints on the disease-affected meridian versus that of the non-affected meridian, to further inspire optimization of acupuncture therapy for CSAP. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials.gov NCT01686230.