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Abstract Background More than 70% of patients with depression who see their doctors experience insomnia. Insomnia treatment is a very important link for depression treatment. Furthermore, antidepression treatment is also important for depression insomnia. In acupuncture, LU-7 (Lie Que) and KID-6 (Zhao Hai), which are two of the eight confluence points in meridian theory, are used as main points. An embedded needle technique is used, alternately, at two groups of points to consolidate the treatment effect. These two groups of points are BL-15 (Xin Shu) with BL-23 (Shen Shu) and BL-19 (Dan Shu) with N-HN-54 (An Mian). The effectiveness of these optimized acupuncture formulas is well proven in the practice by our senior acupuncturists in Guangdong Provincial Hospital of TCM. This study has been designed to examine whether this set of optimized clinical formulas is able to increase the clinical efficacy of depression insomnia treatment. Methods/design In this randomized controlled multicenter trial, all the eligible participants are diagnosed with depression insomnia. All participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups in a ratio of 1:1 and receive either conventional acupuncture treatment or optimized acupuncture treatment. Patients are evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI)and the Hamilton rating scale(HAMD) for depression. The use of antidepression and hypnotics drugs is also considered. Results are obtained at the start of treatment, 1 and 2 months after treatment has begun, and at the end of treatment. The entire duration of the study will be approximately 36 months. Discussion A high quality of trial methodologies is utilized in the study, and the results may provide better evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for depression insomnia. The optimized acupuncture formula has potential benefits in increasing the efficacy of treating depression insomnia. Trial registration The trial was registered in Chinese Clinical Trial Register (ChiCR-TRC-00000481) on 12 August 2009.

Abstract Background Neck pain is one of the chief symptoms of cervical spondylosis (CS). Acupuncture is a well-accepted and widely used complementary therapy for the management of neck pain caused by CS. In this paper, we present a randomized controlled trial protocol evaluating the use of acupuncture for CS neck pain, comparing the effects of the optimized acupuncture therapy in real practice compared with sham and shallow acupuncture. Methods/Design This trial uses a multicentre, parallel-group, randomized, sham acupuncture and shallow acupuncture, controlled single-blind design. Nine hospitals are involved as trial centres. 945 patients who meet inclusion criteria are randomly assigned to receive optimized acupuncture therapy, sham acupuncture or shallow acupuncture by a computerized central randomization system. The interventions past for 4 weeks with eight to ten treatments in total. The group allocations and interventions are concealed to patients and statisticians. The Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) is used as the primary outcome measure, and the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and The Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36) are applied as secondary outcome measures. The evaluation is performed at baseline, at the end of the intervention, and at the end of the first month and the third month during follow-up. The statistical analyses will include baseline data comparison and repeated measures of analysis of variance (ANOVA) for primary and secondary outcomes of group and time differences. Adverse events (AEs) will be reported if they occur. Discussion This trial is a multicentre randomized control trial (RCT) on the efficacy of acupuncture for CS neck pain and has a large sample size and central randomization in China. It will strictly follow the CONSORT statement and STRICTA extension guideline to report high-quality study results. By setting the control groups as sham and shallow acupuncture, this study attempts to reveal the effects of real acupuncture versus placebo or non-classic acupuncture treatment and evaluate whether classic Chinese medical acupuncture is effective on CS neck pain. This study will provide evidence for the effects of acupuncture on CS neck pain. Trial Registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR-TRC-00000184.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition and neurofibrillary tangles formed by high phosphorylation of tau protein. At present, drug therapy is the main strategy of AD treatment, but its effects are limited to delaying or alleviating AD. Recently, non-pharmacologic intervention has attracted more attention, and more studies have confirmed that non-pharmacologic intervention in AD can improve the patient's cognitive function and quality of life. This paper summarizes the current non-pharmacologic intervention in AD, to provide useful supplementary means for AD intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese rural residence in severe cold regions uses local type heating in winter. Heating period is six months and the energy, consumption of heating is huge. In order to raise the controlling index about shape coefficient of energy efficiency in the "design standard for energy efficiency of rural residence", the paper measured 57 rural residences in severe cold regions and got the shape coefficient by mathematical analysis. The control range of different factors on reducing shape coefficient according to Plane form, Profile form, acreage, length of building depth group, and slope of roof, which affect the shape coefficient of rural residence in severe cold regions were presented. The shape coefficient can be got according to the floor quantity. The shape coefficient of one-layer residence should be less than 0.75, and that of two-layer residence should be less than 0.59. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative analysis of closed-loop supply chains is often based on a specified cost function; dynamical performance of the system is rarely considered. This paper adopted a control theory approach to build a simple dynamic model of a hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing system. It highlights the effect of remanufacturing (and return) lead-time and the return rate on the inventory variance and bullwhip produced by the ordering policy. The results show that a larger return rate leads to less bullwhip and less inventory variance. Thus returns can be used to improve dynamic performance by absorbing some of the demand fluctuations. Longer remanufacturing (and return) lead-times have less impact on reducing inventory variance and bullwhip than shorter lead-times. It is concluded that within our specified system the inventory variance and bullwhip is always less in supply chain with returns than that without returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion on chronic neck pain of cervical spondylosis in terms of the heart and kidney theory., Methods: One hundred and eleven cases were randomized into a heart-kidney acupuncture group (55 cases) and a conventional acupuncture group (56 cases). In the heart-kidney acupuncture group, acupuncture was applied to Bailao (EX-HN 15), Shenmen (HT 7) and Wangu (SI 4). Afterwards, the direct moxibustion was applied to Dazhui (GV 14), Xinshu (BL 15) and Shenshu (BL 23). After moxibustion, the intradermal needling therapy was provided at Bailao (EX-HN 15), Xinshu (BL 15) and Shenshu (BL 23). In the conventional acupuncture group, acupuncture was applied to Bailao (EX-HN 15) and Zhongzhu (TE 3) at first. Afterwards, the direct moxibustion was done at Dazhui (GV 14), Bailao (EX-HN 15) and Jianzhongshu (SI 15). After moxibustion, the interdermal needling therapy was provided at Bailao (EX-HN 15) and Jianzhongshu (SI 15). The northwick park pain questionnaire (NPQ) was adopted as the main efficacy index for the evaluation., Results: After the intervention and during the follow-up visit period, NPQ scores were all reduced remarkably as compared with those before the intervention for the patients in two groups (all P < 0.001), but the differences were not statistically significant in groups (all P > 0.05). By the age stratification analysis for the patients in two groups, the program in terms of the heart and kidney theory achieved the superior efficacy for the patients over 45 years old as compared with those in the conventional acupuncture group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). By the stratification analysis of the sick duration, the program in terms of the heart and kidney theory achieved the superior efficacy for the patients with over 7 years sick duration as compared with those in the conventional acupuncture group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01)., Conclusion: The acupuncture and moxibustion therapeutic program in terms of the heart and kidney theory achieves the superior efficacy on chronic pain of cervical spondylosis for the patients over 45 years old and with over 7 years sick duration. It is one of the optimized programs for the treatment of this disease.

Objective: To study the technique and experience of selective radiofrequency thermocoagulation (SRFTC) for trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and the application of neuronavigation in SRFTC for TN., Methods: SRFTC was performed in 3269 TN patients and neuronavigation-assisted SRFTC in 36 of them. Follow-up was carried out for over 2 years in 1722 cases., Results: An excellent efficacy was achieved in 2590 cases, a fair outcome in 548 cases and no response in 131 cases. The recurrence rates at one and two years were 10.5% and 25.0% respectively. The efficacy was excellent in all cases treated by neuronavigation-assisted SRFTC. The effective rate was 96%. Neither serious complication nor death occurred in this series., Conclusion: SRFTC for TN is both safe and effective. And the neuronavigation technique can not only increase the surgical efficacy of SRFTCP for TN but also decrease the surgical risks.

In central nervous system only a limited number of vesicles exist in the presynaptic terminals. The size and fusion modes of the vesicles were particularly important because of their potential impact on neuronal communications. Efficient methods were needed to analyze the recycling kinetics of synaptic vesicle and the size of readily releasable pool (RRP). In this study, fluorescent dyes with different affinity for membranes (FM1-43 with high affinity and FM2-10 with low affinity) were used to stain the functional synaptic vesicles of cultured hippocampal neurons and the kinetics of vesicle recycling was measured. The results showed that the destaining proportion was larger for FM2-10 than that for FM1-43 during the first trial, while it was greater for FM1-43 than FM2-10 during the second and third trials (first round, 93.0%+/-5.9% versus 57.9%+/-3.5% for FM2-10 and FM1-43, respectively, P<0.0001; second round, 1.4%+/-3.8% versus 24.0%+/-2.3%, P<0.0001; third round, 2.3%+/-1.6% versus 8.6%+/-1.5%, P=0.005). The results indicated that rapid endocytosis existed not only in the first round but also occurred when the vesicles were reused. Moreover, Both high-frequency stimuli and hypertonic sucrose stimuli were used to estimate the RRP sizes in the mix cultured hippocampal inhibitory neurons at 13-14 days in vitro (DIV). We found that the RRP size estimated by hypertonic sucrose stimuli [(200+/-23.0) pC] was much larger than that estimated by high-frequency stimuli [(51.1+/-10.5) pC]. One possible reason for the discrepancies in RRP estimates is that in mix cultured conditions, one neuron may receive inputs from several neurons and hypertonic sucrose stimuli will cause RRP of all those neurons release, while using dual patch recording, only the connection between two neurons was analyzed. Thus, to exclude out the impacts of inputs numbers on RRP sizes, it is more reasonable to use high-frequency stimuli to estimate the RRP size in mix cultured neurons.

The skull of the master of M392 tomb 5000 years ago unearthed in Guangrao County, Shandong province from 1995 to 1996 had a round and smooth-edged bone defect at its left parietal part. By using the methods of morphological observation and medical imaging, a contrastive research was made between the characteristics of unearthed skull specimens and that of the healing edge of fenestrate bone of the skull after craniotomy and that caused by all sorts of diseases. It is thus proved that the skull defect of M392 tomb master was caused by craniotomy.

Objective: To explore the diagnosis, therapeutic strategy, and pathogenetic mechanism of chronic expanding intracerebral hematoma (CEICH)., Methods: The clinical presentation, radiological characteristics, d pathology, and treatment of 22 cases of CEICH, 15 males and 7 females, aged 29. 3, all treated with craniotomy and removal of the wall of the capsule and hematoma, were analyzed retrospectively., Results: The clinical presentation and radiological characteristics of CEICH were atypical. After surgery, 18 patients recovered quite well, 3 patients suffered from hemiplegia, and 1 patient died from rebleeding. The diagnosis of CEICH of all the cases was confirmed by intraoperative finding and pathological results., Conclusion: CEICH can be found in any part of the brain that has 2 major characteristics: its clinical symptoms always develop slowly, and the typical radiological characteristic is intracerebral hematoma-form image. Surgery to evacuate the hematoma and remove the capsule is necessary and can be with good outcome.

A technique based on Fourier transform infrared microscope (FT-IRM) was developed to detect the corresponding changes in chemical composition associated with thermostress among aging tissues of the desert moss Tortula desertorum. The results indicated that wild leaves could accelerate the rate of carbohydrate synthesis and decrease the permeability of plasma membrane during heating at 45 degrees C for 1 h. Those biological responses can alleviate the damage of heat stress, so called thermotolerance. And the ability has a positive relation to the leaf age among various wild leaves. However, the secondary protonema and leaves, cultivated in artificial incubator, were unable to adapt the change of temperature immediately and the permeability of cellular membranes was increased.

Objective: To measure mobility of dendritic filopodia, complexity of dendritic arborization using method of live imaging in cultured rat hippocampal neurons and to analyze their morphological characters quantitatively., Methods: Vectors expressing Green Fluorescent Protein- Fibrous Actin (GFP-F-Actin) and F-GFP were co-transfected into cultured rat hippocampal neurons at 5 d in vitro (DIV 5). Neurons expressing GFP were photographed and analyzed with Metamorph software., Result: Dendritic filopodia was observed to move actively from DIV 7 to DIV 9. The mean density of filopodia was (10.78 +/-3.78)/100 microm, (10.68 +/-2.96)/100 microm and (9.99 +/-3.67)/100 microm (P >0.05), and there were (30.18 +/-14.03)% to (87.36 +/-20.88)% filopodia were mobile (P <0.001). During DIV 7-DIV 14, the total length of dendritic branches grew from (410.74 +/-185.98) microm to (1238.21 +/-418.32)microm (P <0.001) and the number of dendritic branches increased from 18.93 +/-7.23 to 33.60 +/-10.46 (P<0.001). The density of spine was (37.17 +/-6.46)/100 microm at DIV 14., Conclusion: The combination of live imaging with quantitative analysis is a useful method to study dendritic morphological development in vitro, including indicators of dendritic filopodia, dendritic arborization and spines.

Objective: To investigate the effect of microsurgical treatment of trigeminal neurinomas with middle fossa extradural approach., Methods: Between January 1996 and December 2005, 27 patients with trigeminal schwannomas were treated by middle fossa extradural approach. The clinical data were retrospectively analyzed., Results: Total resection was achieved in 25 patients and subtotal resection in the other 2 patients. The cranial nerve deficits were improved in 18 patients, unchanged in 4 patients and worsened in 5 patients postoperatively. New Incomplete paralysis of cranial nerve were observed in 4 patients. Cerebrospinal fluid leakages and bacterial meningitis occurred in 2 cases, which were cured by lumber draining and antibiotic therapy. There was not operative mortality. Twenty six patients were followed up for 6 - 48 months. Tumor recurrence was found in 1 case after 40 months and was excised again., Conclusion: This approach can provide better exposure of these tumors and multiple working angles with minimal brain retraction and can improve the surgical results in terms of increased complete tumor resection rate and reduced complications rate.