To cite this article: Pfab F, Huss-Marp J, Gatti A, Fuqin J, Athanasiadis GI, Irnich D, Raap U, Schober W, Behrendt H, Ring J, Darsow U. Influence of acupuncture on type I hypersensitivity itch and ...the wheal and flare response in adults with atopic eczema - a blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. Allergy 2010; 65: 903-910. Itch is a major symptom of allergic skin disease. Acupuncture has been shown to exhibit a significant effect on histamine-induced itch in healthy volunteers. We investigated the effect of acupuncture on type I hypersensitivity itch and skin reaction in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. An allergen stimulus (house dust mite or grass pollen skin prick) was applied to 30 patients with atopic eczema before (direct effect) and after (preventive effect) two experimental approaches or control observation: acupuncture at points Quchi and Xuehai verum acupuncture (VA), dominant side, 'placebo-point' acupuncture (PA, dominant side), no acupuncture (NA). Itch intensity was recorded on a visual analogue scale. After 10 min, wheal and flare size and skin perfusion (via LASER-Doppler) were measured at the stimulus site, and the validated Eppendorf Itch Questionnaire (EIQ) was answered. Mean itch intensity was significantly lower in VA (35.7 ± 6.4) compared to NA (45.9 ± 7.8) and PA (40.4 ± 5.8) regarding the direct effect; and significantly lower in VA (34.3 ± 7.1) and PA (37.8 ± 5.6) compared to NA (44.6 ± 6.2) regarding the preventive effect. In the preventive approach, mean wheal and flare size were significantly smaller in VA (0.38 ± 0.12 cm²/8.1 ± 2.0 cm²) compared to PA (0.54 ± 0.13 cm²/13.5 ± 2.8 cm²) and NA (0.73 ± 0.28 cm²/15.1 ± 4.1 cm²), and mean perfusion in VA (72.4 ± 10.7) compared to NA (84.1 ± 10.7). Mean EIQ ratings were significantly lower in VA compared to NA and PA in the treatment approach; and significantly lower in VA and PA compared to NA in the preventive approach. Acupuncture at the correct points showed a significant reduction in type I hypersensitivity itch in patients with atopic eczema. With time the preventive point-specific effect diminished with regard to subjective itch sensation, whereas it increased in suppressing skin-prick reactions.
Background
Itch is the major symptom of atopic dermatitis (AD). Acupuncture has been shown to exhibit a significant effect on experimental itch in AD. Our study evaluated acupuncture and ...antihistamine itch therapy (cetirizine) on type I hypersensitivity itch and skin reaction in AD using a patient and examiner‐blinded, randomized, placebo‐controlled, crossover trial.
Methods
Allergen‐induced itch was evaluated in 20 patients with AD after several interventions in separate sessions: preventive (preceding) and abortive (concurrent) verum acupuncture (VAp and VAa), cetirizine (10 mg, VC), corresponding placebo interventions (preventive, PAp, and abortive, PAa, placebo acupuncture; placebo cetirizine pill, PC) and a no‐intervention control (NI). Itch was induced on the forearm and temperature modulated over 20 min, using our validated model. Outcome parameters included itch intensity, wheal and flare size and the D2 attention test.
Results
Mean itch intensity (SE: 0.31 each) was significantly lower following VAa (31.9) compared with all other groups (PAa: 36.5; VC: 36.8; VAp: 37.6; PC: 39.8; PAp: 39.9; NI: 45.7; P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between VAp and VC (P > 0.1), although both therapies were significantly superior to their respective placebo interventions (P < 0.05). Flare size following VAp was significantly smaller (P = 0.034) than that following PAp. D2 attention test score was significantly lower following VC compared with all other groups (P < 0.001).
Conclusions
Both VA and cetirizine significantly reduced type I hypersensitivity itch in patients with AD, compared with both placebo and NI. Timing of acupuncture application was important, as VAa had the most significant effect on itch, potentially because of counter‐irritation and/or distraction. Itch reduction following cetirizine coincided with reduced attention.
Objective and methods:
The crucial symptom of atopic eczema is itch. Acupuncture has been shown to exhibit a significant effect on experimental itch; however, studies focusing on clinical itch in ...atopic eczema and corresponding mechanisms are lacking. The study design was a unicenter, single-blinded (observer), prospective, randomized clinical pilot trial with an additional experimental part. In 10 patients with atopic eczema, we investigated the effect of acupuncture treatment (
n
= 5) compared to no treatment (
n
= 5) on itch intensity and
in vitro
basophil CD63 expression upon allergen stimulation (house dust mite and timothy grass pollen) in a pilot trial.
Results:
Mean itch intensity in a visual analog scale was rated significantly lower in the acupuncture group (−25% ± 26% day 15–day 0; −24% ± 31% day 33–day 0) than in the control group (15% ± 6% day 15–day 0; 29% ± 9% day 33–day 0). From day 0 (before treatment) to day 15 (after 5 acupuncture treatments) as well as day 33 (after 10 acupuncture treatments), the acupuncture group showed less CD63 positive basophils than the control group regarding stimulation with house dust mite and grass pollen allergen at various concentrations (5 ng/mL, 1 ng/mL, 0.5 ng/mL, or 0.25 ng/mL).
Conclusions:
Our results show a reduction of itch intensity and of
in vitro
allergen-induced basophil activation in patients with atopic eczema after acupuncture treatment. Reducing basophil activation can be a further tool in investigating the mechanisms of action of acupuncture in immunoglobulin E-mediated allergy. Due to the limited number of patients included in our pilot trial, further studies are needed to strengthen the hypothesis.
Itch is a complex and unpleasant sensory experience that induces the urge to scratch and is a major symptom of allergic skin disease. Acupuncture has been shown to exhibit a significant positive ...effect on histamine-induced itch in healthy volunteers.
We investigated the effect of acupuncture on allergen-induced itch, and wheal and flare response in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial.
A skin prick test (house dust mite or grass pollen) was applied to 30 patients with atopic eczema before (direct effect) and after (preventive effect) two experimental approaches of conditioning or control observation: acupuncture at points Quchi and Xuehai (A1, dominant side), “placebo point” acupuncture (A2, dominant side), no acupuncture (NA). Itch intensity was recorded on a visual analogue scale. After 10min, wheal and flare size, as well as temperature, were measured at the stimulus site and the validated Eppendorf Itch Questionnaire (EIQ) was completed by the patient.
Mean itch intensity was significantly lower in A1 (35.7±6.4) compared to NA (45.9±7.8) and A2 (40.4±5.8) with regard to the direct effect; and significantly lower in A1 (34.3±7.1) and A2 (37.8±5.6) compared to NA (44.6±6.2) with regard to the preventive effect. Mean wheal and flare size was significantly smaller in A1 (0.38±0.12cm2/8.1±2.0cm2) compared to A2 (0.54±0.13cm2/13.5±2.8cm2) and NA (0.78±0.28cm2/15.1±4.1cm2) in the preventive approach. Skin temperature showed no significant difference between groups.
Mean EIQ ratings were significantly lower in A1 compared to NA and A2 in the treatment approach; and significantly lower in A1 and A2 compared to NA in the preventive approach.
Acupuncture at the correct points reduced allergen-induced itch intensity and prevented wheal and erythema formation compared to placebo procedures in patients with atopic eczema.
Information about vegetation water content (VWC) has widespread utility in agriculture, forestry, and hydrology. It is also useful in retrieving soil moisture from microwave remote sensing ...observations. Providing a VWC estimate allows us to control a degree of freedom in the soil moisture retrieval process. However, these must be available in a timely fashion in order to be of value to routine applications, especially soil moisture retrieval. As part of the Soil Moisture Experiments 2002 (SMEX02), the potential of using satellite spectral reflectance measurements to map and monitor VWC for corn and soybean canopies was evaluated. Landsat Thematic Mapper and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus data and ground-based VWC measurements were used to establish relationships based on remotely sensed indices. The two indices studied were the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI). The NDVI saturated during the study period while the NDWI continued to reflect changes in VWC. NDWI was found to be superior based upon a quantitative analysis of bias and standard error. The method developed was used to map daily VWC for the watershed over the 1-month experiment period. It was also extended to a larger regional domain. In order to develop more robust and operational methods, we need to look at how we can utilize the MODIS instruments on the Terra and Aqua platforms, which can provide daily temporal coverage.
Purpose To use resting-state functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and graph theory approaches to investigate the brain functional connectome and its potential relation to disease severity in ...Parkinson disease (PD). Materials and Methods This case-control study was approved by the local research ethics committee, and all participants provided informed consent. There were 153 right-handed patients with PD and 81 healthy control participants recruited who were matched for age, sex, and handedness to undergo a 3-T resting-state functional MR examination. The whole-brain functional connectome was constructed by thresholding the Pearson correlation matrices of 90 brain regions, and the topologic properties were analyzed by using graph theory approaches. Nonparametric permutation tests were used to compare topologic properties, and their relationship to disease severity was assessed. Results The functional connectome in PD showed abnormalities at the global level (ie, decrease in clustering coefficient, global efficiency, and local efficiency, and increase in characteristic path length) and at the nodal level (decreased nodal centralities in the sensorimotor cortex, default mode, and temporal-occipital regions; P < .001, false discovery rate corrected). Further, the nodal centralities in left postcentral gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus correlated negatively with Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale III score (P = .038, false discovery rate corrected, r = -0.198; and P = .009, false discovery rate corrected, r = -0.270, respectively) and decreased with increasing Hoehn and Yahr stage in patients with PD. Conclusion The configurations of brain functional connectome in patients with PD were perturbed and correlated with disease severity, notably with those responsible for motor functions. These results provide topologic insights into understanding the neural functional changes in relation to disease severity of PD.
RSNA, 2017 Online supplemental material is available for this article. An earlier incorrect version of this article appeared online. This article was corrected on September 11, 2017.
In recent years, Geoscience Australia has undertaken a successful continental-scale validation program, targeting Landsat and Sentinel analysis-ready data surface reflectance products. The field ...validation model used for this program was successfully built upon earlier studies, and the measurement uncertainties associated with these protocols have been quantified and published. As a consequence, the Australian earth observation community was well-prepared to respond to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) call for collaborators with the 2021 Landsat 8 (L8) and Landsat 9 (L9) underfly. Despite a number of challenges, seven validation datasets were captured across five sites. As there was only a single 100% overlap transit across Australia, and the country was amidst a strong La Niña climate cycle, it was decided to deploy teams to the two available overpasses with only 15% side lap. The validation sites encompassed rangelands, chenopod shrublands, and a large inland lake. Apart from instrument problems at one site, good weather enabled the capture of high-quality field data allowing for meaningful comparisons between the radiometric performance of L8 and L9, as well as the USGS and Australian Landsat analysis-ready data processing models. Duplicate (cross-calibration) spectral sampling at different sites provides evidence of the field protocol reliability, while the off-nadir view of L9 over the water site has been used to better compare the performance of different water and atmospheric correction processing models.
Reliable estimation of the surface energy balance from local to regional scales is crucial for many applications including weather forecasting, hydrologic modeling, irrigation scheduling, water ...resource management, and climate change research. Numerous models have been developed using remote sensing, which permits spatially distributed mapping of the surface energy balance over large areas. This study compares flux maps over a relatively simple agricultural landscape in central Iowa, comprised of soybean and corn fields, generated with three different remote sensing-based surface energy balance models: the Two-Source Energy Balance (TSEB) model, Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution using Internalized Calibration (METRIC), and the Trapezoid Interpolation Model (TIM). The three models have different levels of complexity and input requirements, but all have operational capabilities. METRIC and TIM make use of the remotely sensed surface temperature–vegetation cover relation to define key model variables linked to wet and dry hydrologic extremes, while TSEB uses these remotely sensed inputs to define component soil and canopy temperatures, aerodynamic resistances, and fluxes. The models were run using Landsat imagery collected during the Soil Moisture Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (SMACEX) in 2002 and model results were compared with observations from a network of flux towers deployed within the study area. While TSEB and METRIC yielded similar and reasonable agreement with measured heat fluxes, with root-mean-square errors (RMSE) of ∼50–75
W/m
2, errors for TIM exceeded 100
W/m
2. Despite the good agreement between TSEB and METRIC at discrete locations sampled by the flux towers, a spatial intercomparison of gridded model output (i.e., comparing output on a pixel-by-pixel basis) revealed significant discrepancies in modeled turbulent heat flux patterns that were largely correlated with vegetation density. Generally, the largest discrepancies, primarily a bias in
H, between these two models occurred in areas with partial vegetation cover and a leaf area index (LAI)
<
2.0. Adjustment of the minimum
LE assumed for the hot/dry hydrologic extreme condition in METRIC reduced the bias in
H between METRIC and TSEB, but caused a significant increase in bias in
LE between the models. Spatial intercomparison of modeled flux patterns over a variety of landscapes will be required to better assess uncertainties in remote sensing surface energy balance models, and to work toward an improved hybrid modeling system.
miR-200b plays a role in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cancer. We recently reported abnormal expression of miR-200b in the context of human pulmonary hypoplasia in congenital ...diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). Smaller lung size, a lower number of airway generations, and a thicker mesenchyme characterize pulmonary hypoplasia in CDH. The aim of this study was to define the role of miR-200b during lung development. Here we show that miR-200b
mice have abnormal lung function due to dysfunctional surfactant, increased fibroblast-like cells and thicker mesenchyme in between the alveolar walls. We profiled the lung transcriptome in miR-200b
mice, and, using Gene Ontology analysis, we determined that the most affected biological processes include cell cycle, apoptosis and protein transport. Our results demonstrate that miR-200b regulates distal airway development through maintaining an epithelial cell phenotype. The lung abnormalities observed in miR-200b
mice recapitulate lung hypoplasia in CDH.
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