Correlation of acid reflux and esophageal motility in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease

Objective:To explore the relationship between acid reflux and esophageal motility in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease.Methods:From January 2018 to December 2019,80 patients with typical gastroesophageal reflux symptoms such as reflux and heartburn were randomly selected from the Department of Gastroenterology,First Affiliated Hospital of guangxi university of chinese medicine.The patients were divided into pathological group,sensitive group and physiological group based on the percentage of acid exposure time and reflux-symptom correlation.The GerdQ score,quality of life score,esophageal acid test and esophageal manometry related parameters of the three groups of patients were compared.Results:Compared with the sensitive group and the physiological group,the GerdQ score,DeMeester score,orthostatic acid reflux time,orthostatic acid reflux time,longest acid reflux time and acid reflux times in the pathological group were significantly higher.Sf-36 score,lower esophageal sphincter pressure and effective rate of deglutition were all significantly reduced,with statistically significant differences(P<0.05).Compared with the physiological group,the GerdQ score of the sensitive group was higher.The sf-36 score was low,and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).The acid indexes in the sensitive group were higher than those in the physiological group,but the differences were not statistically significant(P>0.05).Compared with the physiological group,the distal contraction integral and the amplitude of the lower esophageal sphincter 3cm above the pathological group and the sensitive group decreased significantly(P<0.05).There were no statistically significant differences in the length of the lower esophageal sphincter,the length of the lower esophageal sphincter in the abdominal segment,the amplitude of the upper esophageal sphincter at 7cm and 11cm and the peristaltic wave velocity of the esophageal body in the three groups(P>0.05).Conclusion:the decrease of lower esophageal sphincter pressure is the key factor leading to pathological acid reflux,and acid reflux is closely related to distal contraction integral and peristaltic amplitude of 3cm on lower esophageal sphincter in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Removal of disinfection by-product formation potentials by biologically assisted GAC treatment

The object of this paper is to evaluate the removal of disinfection by-products formation potential by artificially intensified biological activated carbon（BAC） process which is developed on the basis of traditional ozone granular activated carbon （GAC）. The results show that 23.1% of trihalomethane formation potential （THMFP） and 68% of haloacetic acid formation potential （HAAFP） can be removed by BAC, respectively. Under the same conditions, the removal rates of the same substances were 12.2% and 13-25% respectively only by GAC process. Compared with GAC, the high removal rates of the two formed potential substances were due to the increasing of bioactivity of the media and the synergistic capabilities of biological degradation cooperating with activated carbon adsorption of organic compounds. BAC process has some advantages such as long backwashing cycle time, low backwashing intensity and prolonged activated carbon lifetime, etc.

Early therapeutic interventions of traditional Chinese medicine in COVID-19 patients:A retrospective cohort study

Objective:To observe the early interventions of traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)on the conversion time of nucleic acid in patients with coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19),and find possible underlying mechanisms of action.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 300 confirmed COVID-19 patients who were treated with TCM,at a designated hospital in China.The patients were categorized into three groups:TCM1,TCM2 and TCM3,who respectively received TCM interventions within 7,8–14,and greater than15 days of hospitalization.Different indicators such as the conversion time of pharyngeal swab nucleic acid,the conversion time of fecal nucleic acid,length of hospital stay,and inflammatory markers(leukocyte count,and lymphocyte count and percentage)were analyzed to observe the impact of early TCM interventions on these groups.Results:The median conversion times of pharyngeal swab nucleic acid in the three groups were 5.5,7 and16 d(P<0.001),with TCM1 and TCM2 being statistically different from TCM3(P<0.01).TCM1(P<0.05)and TCM3(P<0.01)were statistically different from TCM2.The median conversion times of fecal nucleic acid in the three groups were 7,9 and 17 d(P<0.001).Conversion times of fecal nucleic acid in TCM1 were statistically different from TCM3 and TCM2(P<0.01).The median lengths of hospital stay in the three groups were 13,16 and 21 d(P<0.001).TCM1 and TCM2 were statistically different from TCM3(P<0.01);TCM1 and TCM3 were statistically different from TCM2(P<0.01).Both leucocyte and lymphocyte counts increased gradually with an increase in the length of hospital stay in TCM1 group patients,with a statistically significant difference observed at each time point in the group(P<0.001).Statistically significant differences in lymphocyte count and percentage in TCM2(P<0.001),and in leucocyte count(P=0.043)and lymphocyte count(P=0.038)in TCM3 were observed.The comparison among the three groups showed a statistically significant difference in lymphocyte percentage on the third day of admission(P=0.044).Conclusion:In this study,it was observed that in COVID-19 patients treated with a combination of Chinese and Western medicines,TCM intervention earlier in the hospital stay correlated with faster conversion time of pharyngeal swab and fecal nucleic acid,as well as shorter length of hospital stay,thus helping promote faster recovery of the patient.The underlying mechanism of action may be related to improving inflammation in patients with COVID-19.