Consensus on diagnostic criteria for deficiency syndrome in hypertension: a modified Delphi study.

OBJECTIVE: To reach consensus on the diagnostic criteria for deficiency syndrome in hypertension (YDSH) patients by a modified Delphi method. METHODS: Our study was consistent with T/CACM 1032-2017. The methodology of RAND/UCLA appr-opriateness was used to develop consensus guidance statements. A nationwide panel of experienced clinical experts from 19 provinces was constructed. These experts were all prominent in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) of cardiovascular diseases. This con-sensus process consisted of two rounds of ques-tionnaires and a final round of consultation to analyze the weight score of each item. Moreover, the data extraction process is carried out independently by third-party researchers (LIANG Junya, SUN Yang, and DU Xiaona). When there is disagreement in all three rounds, the expert panel group (odd number) are invited to vote, and the one with more votes wins. In the questionnaires, participants were asked to rate the appropriateness of each syndrome item using a nine-point Likert scale. The consensus was defined as a panel median rating 1-3 or 7-9 without disagreement. And then the diagnostic criteria of YDSH were formed according to the weight score in the final round. RESULTS: Twenty-eight experts (84.8%) participated in the first round, and thirty-one (93.9%) finished the second round. After two rounds, the consensus of YDSH was reached on 11 items (25.6%), including symptoms, signs, and pulse condition. Twenty-one experts (63.6%) com-pleted the final round in which they used a grading system for each item. Red tongue with scanty fur had the highest weighting (22.8%), followed by heat in the palms and soles (20.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The consensus-based diagnostic criteria for YDSH, formed by a modified Delphi method, can be widely incorporated in TCM. A further clinical study will be conducted to analyze the diagnosis value and cut-off score of our YDSH criteria.

Shugan Jieyu capsule improve sleep and emotional disorder in coronavirus disease 2019 convalescence patients: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of the Shugan Jieyu capsule on improving sleep and emotional disorder during Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) convalescence. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, and recruit 200 COVID-19 convalescence patients and then divide the subjects into two groups respectively: the experimental group ( 100) and the control group ( 100). Patients in the control group were given doses as a placebo, while those in the experimental group were given Shugan Jieyu capsule. The investigators mainly observed the differences between the two groups before and after treatment in terms of the rate of reduction and the rate of efficiency in Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17) total scores from baseline, and recorded the scores of Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale at 2 week, the 4 week and the 6 week respectively after treatment, and compared the differences between the groups. And the occurrence of adverse events was recorded. RESULTS: After 6-week treatment, there were statistically significant differences in the rate of reduction as well as efficiency in HAMD-17 scores, HAMA Total Scores, PHQ-15 Score, ISI Score from baseline in the experimental group and control group (< 0.05). There were 4 adverse events in the experimental group and 1 in the control group. CONCLUSION: Shugan Jieyu capsule could significantly improve sleep and emotional disorder in patients during COVID-19 convalescence.

Single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis to detect the p53 mutation in colon tumor samples by capillary electrophoresis.

The polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) technique is developed for the detection of point mutations in DNA samples, and is very useful in the research of tumors. The traditional SSCP was carried out with slab gel electrophoresis (SGE), but this is time-consuming and labor-intensive, particularly for clinical diagnoses. We have developed a capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for SSCP detection with a linear polyacrylamide gel solution as the sieving matrix. Twenty colon tumor samples were detected with SSCP-CE and the point mutation in exon 7 of the p53 gene was found in six of the samples. Based on the sequencing results, the accuracy of SSCP-CE was better than that of SSCP-SGE. We hope this rapid and convenient method could be applied in the clinical diagnosis of tumors soon.