Objective To assess the effectiveness of dust mite sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for treating allergic rhinitis. Methods The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about SLIT treating allergic rhinitis were collected in MEDLINE, EMbase, The Cochrane library (Issue 10, 2012), CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data and CBM from inception to October, 2012. Two reviewers independently screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted the data, and assessed the quality, and then the meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.1 software. Results A total of 8 RCTs involving 788 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with the control group, SLIT showed no obvious difference in the total effective rate (RR=1.15, 95%CI 0.88 to 1.50, P=0.29), but it was superior in decreasing the scores of both nasal symptom (SMD= −1.13, 95%CI −2.07 to −0.20, P=0.02) and drug intake (SMD= −0.60, 95%CI −1.06 to −0.15, P=0.009). Conclusion SLIT can improve the symptoms of patients with allergic rhinitis, and it can also decrease the using frequency of antihistamine, beta-blocker and nasal spray steroids.
Objective To explore the effect of " closed-loop rehabilitation”-based digital mirror therapy (MT) on the recovery of upper limb function after stroke. Methods Between December 2017 and April 2018, 90 stroke patients were recruited and randomly assigned to digital MT group (MG) or conventional group (CG), with 45 in each group. Patients in MG received digital MT for 60 minutes and subsequent hand function rehabilitation for 30 minutes, which was a " closed-loop rehabilitation”; moreover, patients in CG received therapeutic exercises, occupational therapy, and hand function rehabilitation for 30 minutes separately (totally 90 minutes). Both interventions were daily provided, 5 days per week and lasting for 4 weeks. Clinical assessments were provided before and after the interventions, including the Fugl-Meyer Assessment Upper Limb (FAM_UL) for motor function evaluation, the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) for the activities of daily life (ADL) evaluation, and the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) for the spasticity of wrist extensor/flexor. Results Five patients did not complete the study (3 in MG and 2 in CG), so there were totally 85 subjects analysed in the end. After 4-week interventions, significant improvements of FMA_UL scores (Pre: MG, 25.86±17.41; CG, 21.71±15.60. Post: MG, 33.43±17.08; CG, 26.48±16.47) and MBI scores (Pre: MG, 66.62±21.73; CG, 59.14±21.58. Post: MG, 84.62±15.06; CG, 71.10±19.95) were found in both groups; moreover, higher scores of FMA_UL and MBI were investigated in MG comparing with CG after interventions. However, there were no significantly differences in MAS. Conclusions The " closed-loop rehabilitation”-based digital MT can improve the motor function of upper limb and the ability of ADL in patients with stroke. Moreover, it is more effective than conventional treatments.