Tea has anecdotally been associated with stress relief, but this has seldom been tested scientifically. To investigate the effects of 6 weeks of black tea consumption, compared with matched placebo, on subjective, cardiovascular, cortisol and platelet responses to acute stress, in a parallel group double-blind randomised design. Seventy-five healthy nonsmoking men were withdrawn from tea, coffee and caffeinated beverages for a 4-week wash-out phase during which they drank four cups per day of a caffeinated placebo. A pretreatment laboratory test session was carried out, followed by either placebo (n = 38) or active tea treatment (n = 37) for 6 weeks, then, a final test session. Cardiovascular measures were obtained before, during and after two challenging behavioural tasks, while cortisol, platelet and subjective measures were assessed before and after tasks. The tasks induced substantial increases in blood pressure, heart rate and subjective stress ratings, but responses did not differ between tea and placebo treatments. Platelet activation (assessed using flow cytometry) was lower following tea than placebo treatment in both baseline and post-stress samples (P < 0.005). The active tea group also showed lower post-task cortisol levels compared with placebo (P = 0.032), and a relative increase in subjective relaxation during the post-task recovery period (P = 0.036). Compared with placebo, 6 weeks of tea consumption leads to lower post-stress cortisol and greater subjective relaxation, together with reduced platelet activation. Black tea may have health benefits in part by aiding stress recovery.
Stimulation of the peristaltic activity of the ureter is a pathogenetically substantiated component of the lithokinetic effect. The aim of the work was to study the effects of electrical impulse stimulation on ureteral motility in patients with urolithiasis. 47 patients with urolithiasis, aged 27-59 years, with unilateral ureteral stones, up to 5 mm in size, were studied. The patients underwent translumbar electrical impulse stimulation according to the original method. The results were assessed by the change in the frequency of ureteral emissions and the duration of the interval between two consecutive ureteral emissions. As a result of the method used, there is an increase in the average frequency of ureteral ejections from 1.38±0.49 to 2.20±0.84 minutes (p<0.05), a decrease in the average duration of the interval between two consecutive ureteral ejections from 44.48 ±7 .89 to 27.96±3.89 seconds (p<0.05). The impact was well tolerated by patients. There were no changes in hemodynamic parameters. Transdermal exposure to single electric stimuli of a rectangular shape has significant effect in patients with urolithiasis as electric pulse stimulation helps to increase the peristaltic activity of the ureter by initiating additional peristaltic waves. To achieve this effect, it is advisable to apply range of 15-30 mA at a time moment corresponding to the last third of the interval between ureteral emissions, when applying stimulating electrodes in the lumbar region, in the area of the projection of the renal pelvis and the proximal ureter.
Gastrointestinal tumors are common tumors in the digestive system. Early diagnosis of gastrointestinal tumors is the key to improve prognosis and curative effect of patients with tumors. Compared with other methods of examination and diagnosis, ultrasound examination has the advantages of simple operation, non-invasive, economical, and repeatable operation. With the advancement of ultrasound technology and the development of ultrasound contrast agents, ultrasound examination is more and more applied to gastrointestinal examination. Ultrasound cannot only observe the gastrointestinal wall, but also evaluate the surrounding lesions and metastases, as well as preoperative analysis and postoperative follow-up of gastrointestinal tumors. We reviewed the diagnostic applications of ultrasound in gastrointestinal tumors.