No abstract

This study examines the clinical and immunomodulatory effects of acupuncture in the treatment of patients with allergic asthma. The acupuncture points GV14, BL12, and BL13 were selected based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine in treating asthma. Manual acupuncture was performed once every other day (three times per week) for 5 weeks. The needles were twisted approximately 360° evenly at the rate of 60 times/min for 20 s, manipulated every 10 min and withdrawn after 30 min. Concentrations of sIgA and total IgA in secretions were determined by the combination of sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation and RIA. Levels of cortisol in the plasma were measured by RIA. Total IgE in the sera was examined by ELISA. Flow cytometry was used to detect the numbers of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and IL-2R + T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. The absolute and differential numbers of eosinophils in peripheral blood were counted with eosin staining. The total efficacy of the acupuncture treatment in patients with allergic asthma at the end of one course of treatment was 85 %. After treatment, the concentrations of sIgA and total IgA in the saliva (P<0.01, P<0.02) and nasal secretions (P<0.02, P<0.02) were significantly decreased in patients with allergic asthma. The levels of total IgE in sera (P<0.001), the counts of IL-2R + T lymphocytes (P<0.001), and the absolute and differential numbers of eosinophils (P<0.01, P<0.01) in the peripheral blood were also significantly decreased. The numbers of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood were significantly increased in the allergic asthmatics treated by acupuncture (P<0.001, P<0.01, and P<0.001, respectively). The concentration of cortisol in the plasma of asthmatic patients did not change significantly after the acupuncture treatment (P>0.05). Acupuncture has regulatory effects on mucosal and cellular immunity in patients with allergic asthma and may be an adjunctive therapy for allergic asthma.

Background Primary tracheal adenoid cystic carcinoma (TACC) is rare and originates from the minor salivary gland. Biologically, TACC results in delayed presentation, and the therapeutic effects of multimodal treatment differ across individuals. This study aimed to review cases of TACC to identify clinical features, imaging modalities, treatment, and patient outcomes across follow-ups. Methods The PubMed, Web of Science and MEDLINE databases were searched to identify articles reporting cases of TACC. The study variables included in the analysis were patient demographics, biological characteristics, presenting symptoms, imaging modalities, treatments, follow-up times and survival outcomes. Results A total of 76 articles and 1252 cases were included in this review. The most common presenting symptom was dyspnoea (86.0%), followed by cough (58.0%). Surgery alone (40.9%), surgery with postoperative radiotherapy (36.4%) and radiotherapy alone (19.2%) were used most frequently treatments modalities. Of the 1129 cases with disease control and survival data, there was no evidence of disease in 78.7%, local recurrence was reported in 3.8%. Distant metastasis rate was 24.9% of 418 reported cases, lung (44.2%) was the most commonly involved organ. The 5, 10 years survival rate of patients treated with surgery alone and surgery with postoperative radiotherapy were 86.4%, 55.6% and 97.3%, 44.4%, respectively. Conclusion TACC most common presenting symptoms were dyspnoea, cough and shortness of breath. Surgery alone and surgery with postoperative radiotherapy are predominant treatment modalities. Both seems to provide a good result in term of disease control and long-term survival rate in patients with TACC.

BackgroundEssential hypertension (EH) is a complex disease as a consequence of interaction between environmental factors and genetic background, but the pathogenesis of EH remains elusive. The emerging tools of network medicine offer a platform to explore a complex disease at system level. In this study, we aimed to identify the key proteins and the biological regulatory pathways involving in EH and further to explore the molecular connectivities between these pathways by the topological analysis of the Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network.ResultThe extended network including one giant network consisted of 535 nodes connected via 2572 edges and two separated small networks. 27 proteins with high BC and 28 proteins with large degree have been identified. NOS3 with highest BC and Closeness centrality located in the centre of the network. The backbone network derived from high BC proteins presents a clear and visual overview which shows all important regulatory pathways for blood pressure (BP) and the crosstalk between them. Finally, the robustness of NOS3 as central protein and accuracy of backbone were validated by 287 test networks.ConclusionOur finding suggests that blood pressure variation is orchestrated by an integrated PPI network centered on NOS3.