Background: Screening for post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is necessary because stroke increases the incidence of and accelerates premorbid cognitive decline. The Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment (Qmci) screen is a short, reliable and accurate cognitive screening instrument but is not yet validated in PSCI. We compared the diagnostic accuracy of a Chinese version of the Qmci screen (Qmci-CN) compared with the widely-used Chinese versions of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-CN) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-CN).Methods: We recruited 34 patients who had recovered from a stroke in rehabilitation unit clinics in 2 university hospitals in China: 11 with post-stroke dementia (PSD), 15 with post-stroke cognitive impairment no dementia (PSCIND), and 8 with normal cognition (NC). Classification was made based on clinician assessment supported by a neuropsychological battery, independent of the screening test scores. The Qmci-CN, MoCA-CN, and MMSE-CN screens were administered randomly by a trained rater, blind to the diagnosis.Results: The mean age of the sample was 63 ± 13 years and 61.8% were male. The Qmci-CN had statistically similar diagnostic accuracy in differentiating PSD from NC, an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.94 compared to 0.99 for the MoCA-CN (p = 0.237) and 0.99 for the MMSE-CN (p = 0.293). The Qmci-CN (AUC 0.91), MoCA-CN (AUC 0.94), and MMSE-CN (AUC 0.79) also had statistically similar accuracy in separating PSD from PSCIND. The MoCA-CN more accurately distinguished between PSCIND and normal cognition than the Qmci-CN (p = 0.015). Compared to the MoCA-CN, the administration times of the Qmci-CN (329s vs. 611s, respectively, p < 0.0001) and MMSE-CN (280 vs. 611s, respectively, p < 0.0001) were significantly shorter.Conclusion: The Qmci-CN is accurate in identifying PSD and separating PSD from PSCIND in patients post-stroke following rehabilitation and is comparable to the widely-used MoCA-CN, albeit with a significantly shorter administration time. The Qmci-CN had relatively poor accuracy in identifying PSCIND from NC and hence may lack accuracy for certain subgroups. However, given the small sample size, the study is under-powered to show superiority of one instrument over another. Further study is needed to confirm these findings in a larger sample size and in other settings (countries and languages).
Bacterial inoculation containing 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase activity can induce stress tolerance in maize. Vermicompost is a rich source of growth promoting microbes, probably with a unique source for bacteria having ACC deaminase activity. The present investigation aimed to isolate strains with ACC deaminase activity from vermicompost and quantify their effects on seed germination and seedling growth of maize under salt stress. The ACC deaminase-producing strains were isolated from the vermicompost by the directional enrichment screening method. The 16S rDNA gene sequence homology analysis combined with physio-biochemical characteristics were used to identify the taxonomic status of. SB was identified as Stenotropho monas sp., RC and RF were Raoultella sp., and KE was Klebsiellas sp. Maize seeds were germinated under varying level of salinity stress (level of salt stress in 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM NaCl solution). Salinity stress reduced seed germination rate, embryo length and root lengths of seedlings of maize. The results showed that inoculation with four isolated bacterial strains improved seed germination and the growth of maize seedlings under the level of salinity stress in 150 mM NaCl solution. Growth improvement in maize seedlings was associated with increase in proline, chlorophyll content. Therefore, strains with ACC deaminase activity can effectively alleviate the damage to corn seeds and seedlings under salt stress.
Background:
Plaque psoriasis (PSO) is a common clinical chronic inflammatory skin disease. The incidence rate is increasing year by year due to the fast pace of work and unhealthy diet. Fire needle has been widely used in the treatment of PSO. However, the efficacy of fire needle for PSO is uncertain. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of fire needle for PSO (blood stasis syndrome).
Methods:
The following electronic databases will be searched from inception to October 2020:PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WangFang Database, Chinese Science Journal Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. In addition, other documents that meet the requirements will be manually searched, including conference papers, dissertations, etc. All randomized controlled trials using fire needle to treat PSO (blood stasis syndrome) that meet the criteria for inclusion will be included. The primary outcomes are clinical efficacy, Psoriasis area and severity index. Secondary outcomes include Itchy, TCM evaluation standard syndrome score, Dermatological quality of life index, and adverse events. To complete data synthesis and assess the risk of bias, we will use the RevMan V.5.3 software.
Results:
The review results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Conclusion:
This study will provide high-quality evidence based medicine to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of fire needle for PSO (blood stasis syndrome), and further seek its scientific and effective chinese medicine treatment methods.
INPLASY registration number:
INPLASY202120007.
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