Literature review and analysis of the application of health outcome assessment instruments in Chinese medicine

OBJECTIVE： To evaluate the application of health assessment instruments in Chinese medicine. METHODS： According to a pre-defined search strategy, a comprehensive literature search for all articles published in China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases was conducted. The resulting articles that met the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria were used for analysis. RESULTS： A total of 97 instruments for health outcome assessment in Chinese medicine have been used in fundamental and theoretical research, and 14 of these were also used in 29 clinical trials that were randomized controlled trials, or descriptive or cross-sectional studies. In 2 152 Chinese medicine-based studies that used instruments in their methodology, more than 150 questionnaires were identified. Among the identified questionnaires, 51 were used in more than 10 articles （0.5%）. Most of these instruments were developed in Western countries and few studies （4%） used the instrument as the primary evidence for their conclusions. CONCLUSION： Usage of instruments for health outcome assessment in Chinese medicine is increasing rapidly; however, current limitations include selection rationale, result interpretation and standardization, which must be addressed accordingly.

Literature review and analysis of the development of health outcomes assessment instruments in Chinese medicine

OBJECTIVE： To evaluate the development of health outcomes assessment instruments in Chinese medicine. METHODS： A comprehensive literature search for all published articles in China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Chongqing VIP Database and WANFANG Data was conducted. The studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to extract information according to a predesigned assessment instrument. RESULTS： A total of 97 instruments for health outcome assessment in Chinese medicine were identified. Of these questionnaires, 7 were generic, 12 were condition-specific and 78 were disease-specific. All instruments were suitable for adults, children, and both men and women. These instruments aimed to evaluate the health-related quality of life, signs and symptoms as well as patient satisfaction and doctor-reported outcome. However, the descriptions were poorly constructed for some of the most basic parameters, such as the domains and items, administrative mode, response options, memory recall periods, burden evaluation, format, copyright, content validity, and other properties. CONCLUSION： The instrument development for health outcomes assessment in Chinese medicine is increasing rapidly; however, there are many limitations in current methodologies and standards, and further studies are needed.

Surface Carbon Chemical States of Ion Implanted AISI 440C Martensitic Stainless Steel

Carbon atoms segregate in the surface region for polished AISI 440C stainless steel After ion implanta tion, the surface carbon atoms exist in different forms. To elucidate their existence, surface structures and carbon chemical states o[ unimplanted, N~ implanted, Ti＋ implanted and N＋/Ti＋ co-implanted samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM） and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）. The results indicated that various phases form in the surface or subsurface region after ion implantation, while the surface topography of the samples remains intact. For polished unimplanted sample, besides some Fe3 C phase and C- C phase, Cr, Cs phase dominates its surface region. Little change of carbon chemical states occurs after N＋ ion im- plantation. For Ti＋ implanted sample, besides some metal oxycarbide phases, most carbon amorphous phases form in surface region. Concerning N＋/Ti＋ co-implantation, CrrCs compound as well as Fe^C phase dominates the sur face region while no C-C phase is found. In addition, compared with single ion implantation, N＋/Ti＋ co-implanta tion would increase the ion implantation depth significantly. The formed phases of the carbon atoms play an impor- tant role in affecting the surface properties of AISI 440C stainless steel.

Chinese Herbal Medicine for Ulcerative Colitis:A Systematic Review Protocol

Introduction: This manuscript aims to provide a protocol of systematic review to assess the safety and effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine(CHM) for the treatment of ulcerative colitis(UC). Although CHM has been widely used for UC, its effectiveness and safety has not yet been well defined and analyzed.Methods and analysis: Seven electronic databases were searched, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI), Chinese Biomedical literature(CBL), VIP database, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, PubMed and China Journals Full-text Database. Related Chinese literature will be searched in other Chinese databases. All relevant randomized controlled literature of publication type will be included.Assessment of risk of bias, data synthesis and subgroup analysis will be carried out using Review Manager 5.2.Ethics and dissemination: The results of the systematic review will be disseminated via publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at a relevant conference.