Mengyi Zha, Jude Alsarraj, Rene Caro

In submission

Fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome is characterized by an idiopathic, chronic, widespread pain, thought to be due to painful, hypersensitive taut bands of muscle called trigger points. Dry needling (DN) is an effective treatment technique that involves the insertion of a needle into trigger points, and is commonly used for pain syndromes such as FM. Wet needling (WN) is a similar technique to DN but utilizes lidocaine injections into the trigger points. In this retrospective cohort study, 104 adult patients who completed 266 needling sessions were included. The treatments were either WN or DN, and patients were grouped into FM or non-fibromyalgia (nFM) categories. A 0-10 Lickert pain scale was used to measure pain immediately before and after each treatment. Pain score reductions were measured and analyzed for all groups. The mean reduction of pain scores were 3.18 (95 CI 2.35 to 4.01, p <0.0001) in WN for FM, 4.31 (95 CI 3.61 to 5.02, p <0.0001) in DN for FM, 3.60 (95 CI 3.27 to 3.94, p <0.0001) in WN for nFM, and 2.38 (95 CI 1.51 to 3.24, p <0.0001) in DN for nFM. In conclusion, both DN and WD are minimally invasive, safe, and effective treatment options for FM and nFM pain. To achieve superior therapeutic results, it’s beneficial to favor DN for FM pain and WN for nFM pain.

Mengyi Zha, Richard P Usatine

The Journal of Family Practice

A 62-YEAR-OLD HISPANIC WOMAN with a history of well-controlled diabetes and hypertension presented with an intensely pruritic rash of 3 months duration. A physical exam revealed brown and purple scaly papules and many excoriation marks. UV light dermoscopy illuminated the patient's diagnosis.

Mengyi Zha, Jude Alsarraj, Brandon Bunch, David Venzon

Journal of Investigative Medicine

Substandard use of N95 masks, sometimes combined with dry heat decontamination, lacks safety data. We evaluated the impact of these practices on the fitness of N95 masks. 155 masks were used by 12 healthcare workers during 10-hour shifts. Common substandard use preserves fitness of N95 masks up to 85%. One cycle of dry heat decontamination preserves fitness of N95 masks up to 93% when donned/doffed less than five times and fitness is ensured before decontamination. If a fit test is not performed beforehand, dry heat decontamination cannot preserve the fitness of used N95 masks above 80%.

Mengyi Zha, Kristina Chaffee, Jude Alsarraj

Journal of Medical Case Reports

The treatment for long COVID syndrome-related myalgia lacks research. Dry needling is a technique that involves the insertion of a needle into the tissue of, or overlaying, a pain point. Wet needling is the addition of an injection of an analgesic substance such as lidocaine while needling. Our case report indicates that long COVID syndrome-related myalgia is likely a form of new-onset myofascial pain. Additionally, wet and dry needling can be utilized as an effective treatment modality for this pain syndrome, with short- and long-term benefits.

Mengyi Zha, Cheri L Olson, Carol Goulet

Journal of Primary Care & Community Health

Family medicine providers are at the forefront of serving homeless persons. It is important to prepare family medicine residents for this responsibility during residency. Our rural family medicine residency program implemented a 6-month enrichment activities series that provided various educational experiences and aimed to improve the participants’ knowledge of and attitudes toward homeless persons. This was effective in improving attitudes supporting social advocacy among participants.

Dennis T Costakos, Mengyi Zha, Lynn R Dahlen

Neonatology Today

The present study evaluated end-user experience for effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of a mobile application (app) to estimate the risk of rebound hyperbilirubinemia within 72 hours after initial phototherapy ends for infants at 35 weeks’ gestation or longer and age younger than 14 days. Participants in Group 1 (no app) were compared with Group 2 (with app). Satisfaction measured from 1 (0%) to 7 (100%). Group 1 had fewer correct answers than Group 2 (38.5% vs. 84.6%; P=. 04). The mean satisfaction score for Group 1 was 2, lower than the score for Group 2, 6.6 (P<. 001). This provider-developed app is effective and receives high end-user satisfaction.

Mengyi Zha, Yunyi Huang, Xueying Ren, Dan Chen

Journal of Student-Run Clinics

The Sunshine and Love Free Clinic is China’s first and only student-run free clinic. Two successful outreach projects to a rural ethnic village, Dimen, by the volunteers of the clinic took place in 2015. While the indigenous healing is a great recourse, four major health-related issues were identified through these projects: women’s health and reproductive health; chronic illness care; a lack of formal medical training among the village clinic staff; and a lack of patient record system. This article proposes that a summer service trip model can be utilized by student-run free clinics in China to tackle these issues, and provide sustainable intermittent long term health care for the rural ethnic China in a culturally sensitive manner.

Mengyi Zha, Andrew Zhao, Rui Zhang

Research Collective

The Sunshine and Love Free Clinic (SLFC) was founded in 2010, and is currently only student-run free clinic (SRFC) in China. It also is one of the only exposures to primary care for its medical student volunteers. Our study explores the influence of volunteering at SLFC on student volunteers’ interest in primary care among Chinese medical students. Our surveys show that volunteering at SLFC has a positively influence students to consider primary care as their future career paths. Promoting SRFCs nationally can be a good thing for the future of primary care in China.

Haizhen A Zhong, Victoria Mashinson, Theodor A Woolman, Mengyi Zha

Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry

Molecular properties such as the molecular weight, hydrophobicity parameter logP, and the total polar surface area (TPSA) have been used extensively in modern drug discovery. We investigated these properties and ADMET scores of the top 200 therapeutic drugs by the U.S. retail sales (2010) and classified them according to the clinical indications and/or routes of administration. Our data show that addition of hydrochloride is the most common method to increase solubility of drug ingredients. Cytochrome P450 isozymes 3A4, 2D6, 2C9, 2C8 and 3C5 are the top five proteins that metabolize the 200 most prescribed drugs. Drugs metabolized by 3A4 appear to have larger molecular weights and those metabolized by 2D6 have lower molecular weights. CYP2C8-metabolized drugs appear to be most hydrophilic, with the smallest logP and the largest polar surface areas.

Cherie P Erkmen, and Mengyi Zha

Insights in Chest Diseases

Surgical rib fixation in the setting of flail chest has proven benefits, while surgical fixation of non-flail fractures is controversial. Chest wall reconstruction with rib fixation techniques can improve pain, preserve breathing mechanics and prevent complications from lung herniation. However, there are limitations to this technique. With this case report, we describe plate fracture and screw migration after attempting to reconstruct a chronic chest wall defect.