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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of montelukast on the expression of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in children with acute bronchial asthma. Fifty-six child patients with acute bronchial asthma treated in the Department of Pneumology at the Shangluo Central Hospital were selected and randomly divided into the control group (n=28) and treatment group (n=28). The control group was treated with the conventional therapy of bronchial asthma, while the treatment group received montelukast on the basis of the control group for 7 days. The clinical symptoms, lung function and proportion of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in peripheral T lymphocyte subsets in patients in the two groups were observed. Moreover, the levels of inflammatory factors and immunoglobulin E (IgE) in peripheral blood in both groups were detected. The effective treatment rate in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), and the forced expiratory volume in 1 sec/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC), peak expiratory flow (PEF) and 25% peak expiratory flow (PEF25) in the treatment group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The proportions of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in the two groups after drug therapy were significantly increased. The proportion and content per unit volume of peripheral CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in the treatment group were obviously higher than those in the control group (P<0.01). After treatment, the levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5 and IL-6 in peripheral blood in the two groups were significantly decreased. However, the levels of transferrin-γ (TFN-γ) and IL-10 were significantly increased (P<0.01). The IgE level in the treatment group was also significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.01). In conclusion, montelukast can regulate the T helper 1 (Th1)/Th2 balance, increase the expression of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells, and improve the airway inflammation caused by acute bronchial asthma and the clinical symptoms and lung function of patients with acute bronchial asthma.

Neurofeedback training (NFT) has shown positive effects on cognition and behavior enhancement as well as clinical treatment. However, little is known about the training effects in brain activity besides training location which is crucial for understanding the mechanism of neurofeedback and enhancing training efficiency. This study aimed to investigate beta/theta ratio (BTR) NFT effects on the spectral topography of electroencephalogram (EEG). Eleven healthy volunteers completed 25 sessions of NFT in consecutive five days with 5 sessions per day. The results showed that BTR NFT in occipital region did have significant effect on parietal, central and frontal regions, and the changes of BTR and theta amplitude detected in these regions were consistent with the changes at the training location. Moreover, the percentage changes of BTR and theta amplitude in parietal region were significantly greater than those in frontal region probably due to the shorter distance to the training location.

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