Medicine
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person. The virus that causes COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus that was first identified during an investigation into an outbreak in Wuhan, China. The clinical spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 infection appears to be wide, encompassing asymptomatic infection, mild upper respiratory tract illness, and severe viral pneumonia with respiratory failure and even death, with many patients being hospitalised with pneumonia. In China and East Asia, Chinese medicine has been widely used to treat diverse diseases for thousands of years. As an important means of treatment now, Chinese medicine plays a significant role in the treatment of respiratory diseases in China. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of Chinese medicine for COVID-19. ⋯ The available evidence of the treatment of COVID-19 with traditional Chinese medicine will be summarized, and evaluation of the efficacy and the adverse effects of these treatments will be made. This review will be disseminated in print by peer-review.
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Case Reports
Using SEMAC at 3 T MR to evaluate spinal metallic implants and peripheral soft tissue lesions.
We aimed to assess the usefulness of slice-encoding metal artifact correction (SEMAC) for the evaluation of spinal metallic implants and peripheral soft tissue lesions at 3T magnetic resonance. Twenty-seven patients with spinal metal implants underwent both SEMAC and high bandwidth (HiBW) based sequences scanning for reduction artifacts. The area size and maximum longitude of artifacts, the peri-prosthetic soft tissue, and metal visualization were assessed by 2 independent doctors, as well as the lesions signs were reviewed by 2 senior readers. ⋯ The size of artifacts on SEMAC images decreased by 37% and 24%, and the scores are higher than that on HiBW images. T1 weighted (T1W)-SEMAC acquired the highest score in metal prosthesis visualization, while short tau inversion recovery SEMAC showed more signs of lesions than clinical HiBW group. SEMAC effectively reduces the metal artifacts and is useful for assessing soft tissue lesions.
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To determine cost-effectiveness and the diagnostic accuracy of teleophthalmology (TO) in the detection of macular edema (ME) and various grades of diabetic retinopathy (DR). ⋯ Telescreening is moderately sensitive but very specific for the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy. Non-mydriatic Teleretinal screening services are cost-effective, decrease clinics workload, and increase patient compliance if provided free of cost in remote low socioeconomic regions.
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Traditional Chinese medicines are used in promotion of fractured bone healing and bone diseases. Some studies reported total flavonoids from plant can be used as an auxiliary source of exogenous. Use different methods to identify and verify effects of total flavonoids from Arachniodes exilis (TFAE) on human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUCMSCs) in vitro. ⋯ The results indicated that osteogenic markers (Col1a1, OPN, Runx2 and Osx) were significantly downregulated in the TFAE + S1191 group in comparison to the control group. The expressions of Col1a and OPN in the TFAE + S1191 group decreased significantly (P < .01) by Western blotting. TFAE promotes the odonto/osteogenic differentiation of human UCMSCs via activation of ER.
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Previous studies have reported the association of the S1 RNA binding domain 1 (SRBD1) gene with open-angle glaucoma in various ethnic populations. However, in those studies, the definition of the patients differed, as did the results. Therefore, the relevance of the SRBD1 gene to normal tension glaucoma (NTG) appears uncertain at present. ⋯ The minor allele frequency of rs11884064 was found to be 0.24 and 0.25 in NTG cases and controls, respectively. For rs11884064, no significant difference in genotype distribution was observed between NTG cases and controls in allelic (OR = 0.938, P = .755), dominant (OR = 0.927, P = .798) or recessive models (OR = 0.920, P = 1.000). The current study suggested that SRBD1 gene polymorphisms (rs3213787 and rs11884064) may not be associated with genetic susceptibility to NTG in a Korean cohort.