IntroductionCognitive impairment is the main clinical manifestation of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). However, the mechanism and structural damage in different domains of cognitive disorders are poorly understood. There is an urgent need to quantify the relation between diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data and impaired cognitive testing in CSVD, which may help to find biomarkers for early diagnosis or treatment evaluation. We aim to summarise the understanding of association between DTI findings and domain-specific cognitive impairment.Methods and analysisPubMed, EMBASE, Web of science, Cochrane library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Databases, Wanfang, SinoMed and VIP will be searched, from 1 January 1994 to 1 August 2021. The ClinicalTrials.gov and Chictr.org.cn records will also be searched to identify further potential studies. The included studies should report fractional anisotropy and/or and mean diffusivity/apparent diffusion coefficient data for one or more individual regions of interest in DTI analysis. Meanwhile, cognitive testing scores are also needed. This systematic review will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The quality of cohort or case–control studies will be evaluated by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, and the cross-section studies will be evaluated by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality scale. Meta-analysis, subgroup and sensitivity analyses, and publication bias will be all performed with Stata.Ethics and disseminationPatients and the public will not be involved in this study. The existing data from published studies will be used. The findings from this research will be relevant information regarding the association of DTI metrics with cognitive disorder, which will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. If we need to amend this protocol, we will give the date of each amendment, describe the change and give the rationale. Changes will not be incorporated into the protocol.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42021226133.

Objective K + -Cl − cotransporter-2 (KCC2), which primarily extrudes chloride in mature neurons, triggers hemiplegia limb spasticity after ischemic stroke by affecting neuronal excitability. Our previous study revealed that the Chinese herb Baishaoluoshi Decoction decreases hemiplegia limb spasticity in poststroke spasticity (PSS) patients. This study aimed at elucidating on the effects of Baishaoluoshi Decoction on the BDNF/TrKB-KCC2 pathway in PSS rat models.Methods Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was adopted for the establishment of PSS rat models. Muscle tension was evaluated by Modified Ashworth Scale. Nissl staining and transmission electron microscopy were used to measure the protective effects of Baishaoluoshi Decoction on ischemic injury-induced neuronal damage due to MCAO. Expression levels of BDNF, TrKB, and KCC2 in brain tissues around the infarct and brainstem were detected by immunohistochemical staining. ResultsIt was found that Baishaoluoshi Decoction suppressed hemiplegia limb spasticity and alleviated the damage in neurons and synapses in PSS rat models. Importantly, the expression of BDNF, TrKB, and KCC2 in brain tissues around the infarct and brainstem were significantly upregulated after treatment with low-dose and high-dose Baishaoluoshi Decoction. Conclusion Suppression of spasticity by BaishaoluoshiDecoction in PSS rat models may be correlated with upregulated BDNF/TrKB-KCC2 pathway, which may be a complementary therapeutic strategy for PSS. NeuroReport 32: 1183

Background: Chinese medicine Sangbaipi decoction is extensively applied to the therapy of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) in China. However, owing to the low quality, small sample size, and methodological heterogeneity of these studies, this conclusion is not convincing. Consequently, it is necessary to systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Sangbaipi Decoction in the treatment of AECOPD patients, and provide high-quality evidence for its clinical application. Methods: We will follow the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) for reporting the results of the review in this study. We will utilize the Review Manage software V5.3.0 (The Nordic Cochrane Center, The Cochrane Collaboration, 2014, Copenhagen, Denmark) to assess the risk of bias and visualize the results. We will use Stata software (version 15.0, StataCorp, College Station, TX) to perform the meta-analysis. Ethics and dissemination: This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol of Sangbaipi decoction on AECOPD, participants were not recruited and data were not collected from participants, so ethical ratification is not required. Results: This study will provide high-quality synthesis of the effectiveness and safety of Sangbaipi decoction for AECOPD. Upon completion, the results will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Conclusion: The efficacy and safety assessment of Sangbaipi decoction for AECOPD will be supported by this protocol. Registration number: PROSPERO CRD 42019138405.

Background: Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is one of the most common diseases among the elderly. However, few effective drugs have been approved for VCI. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used in dementia for thousands of years. Currently, there is limited high-quality evidence for the efficacy of TCM, and the specific characteristics of its effects and the appropriate patient populations for TCM therapies remain unclear. Herein, we aim to explore the effectiveness and safety of TCM by conducting a longitudinal, patient-centered study. Methods: REgistry for Vascular cognitive Impairment trEatment With Traditional Chinese Medicine (REVIEW-TCM) is a prospective, observational disease registry study. 1000 VCI patients at the Hunan Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine will be recruited based on the following criteria: aged 18 years or older, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score <26, and Hachinski Ischemic Score (HIS)≥7. There is no strict limit on the intervention, and different TCM formulas will be focused. Cognition, activity of daily living, quality of life, mental, psychology, ZHENG of TCM, and burden of caregiver will be evaluated at admission, and 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Meanwhile, biological tests and neuroimaging examination will be applied to further explore the mechanism of TCM. Especially, a mixed-methods embedded design will be applied by adopting quantitative and qualitative studies to explore patients-reported outcomes of TCM. Finally, propensity score matching will be adopted to analyze the effectiveness of TCM. Discussion: To the best of our knowledge, the REVIEW-TCM study is the first comprehensive, prospective, mixed-methods, registry-based study to evaluate TCM treatment in VCI, which will analyze the effectiveness and safety of TCM in the real world and explore population characteristics and subtypes of VCI suitable for TCM. Study registration: This study was registered on www.chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR2200064756).