Efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture for urinary retention: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Electroacupuncture (EA) is considered as an effective treatment for urinary retention (UR). METHODS: Up to April 7, 2023, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of EA for UR were extensively searched in 8 databases, including Pubmed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese Journal Full-text Database, Wanfang Data, and VIP Full-text e-Journals Database. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) were utilized to evaluate the quality of all included RCTs. Meta-analysis was conducted using Stata 15.0 software. RESULTS: A total of 23 trials were included, and the meta-analysis results suggested that compared with the control group, EA can effectively treat various types of UR (risk ratio [RR] = 1.22, 95CI%: 1.14, 1.31) and promote bladder function recovery, with a significant reduce in residual urine volume (weighted mean differences [WMD] = -49.60, 95CI%: -64.10, -35.11), an increase in maximum bladder capacity (WMD = 47.00, 95CI%: 12.76, 81.24), a shorten in the first urination time (standardized mean difference [SMD] = -1.42, 95CI%: -2.08, -0.76), and less adverse reactions (RR = 0.21, 95CI%: 0.07, 0.65). CONCLUSION: EA has significant advantages in treating UR, but the efficacy and safety are still needed to be further verified through large-sample and high-quality RCTs.

Efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture for insomnia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Electroacupuncture is often used to treat insomnia. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture for insomnia. SEARCH STRATEGY: Databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data and VIP Full-text e-Journals Database were searched up to January 15, 2023. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Randomized clinical trials were included if they compared the clinical efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture with sham acupuncture, no treatment or usual care (UC) and general acupuncture. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: The full texts of the studies were reviewed to remove ineligible literature. The extracted data included authors, publication year, diagnostic criteria, sample size, population characteristics, interventions and outcomes. The above steps were performed independently by two reviewers and the data were cross-checked. Stata15.0 software was used to analyze the extracted outcome data. For continuous data (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI] score and Insomnia Severity Index score), weighted mean difference (WMD) was calculated and 95% confidence interval (CI) was reported when the same scale was applied. For dichotomous variables (clinical response rate and adverse events), a meta-analysis was performed using risk ratio (RR) as the effect indicator. RESULTS: Thirty-one trials with 2226 subjects were included. The meta-analysis suggested that electroacupuncture was more effective in improving insomnia compared with the control group (sham acupuncture, no treatment, UC and general acupuncture) (RR = 1.21; 95% CI: [1.16, 1.27]), significantly reducing the PSQI score in insomnia patients after treatment and at follow-up (WMD = -3.23; 95% CI: [-4.29, -2.17]; P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between the EA and control groups (sham acupuncture and no treatment or UC. RR = 1.48; 95% CI: [0.91, 2.40]; P = 0.117). In addition, the regression results revealed that receiving electroacupuncture for seven to nine weeks provided the best efficacy (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Electroacupuncture can significantly promote better sleep quality in insomnia patients and is suitable for the treatment of various types of insomnia. However, the articles included were single-center trials with small sample sizes, and some articles were of poor quality. Therefore, further research is still needed to confirm these findings. Please cite this article as: Xu HY, Wu LN, Zhang Y, Ba T, Zhao XF. Efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture for insomnia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Integr Med. 2024; 22(4): 460-473.

Dysregulation of arginine methylation in tumorigenesis.

Protein methylation, similar to DNA methylation, primarily involves post-translational modification (PTM) targeting residues of nitrogen-containing side-chains and other residues. Protein arginine methylation, occurred on arginine residue, is mainly mediated by protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs), which are ubiquitously present in a multitude of organisms and are intricately involved in the regulation of numerous biological processes. Specifically, PRMTs are pivotal in the process of gene transcription regulation, and protein function modulation. Abnormal arginine methylation, particularly in histones, can induce dysregulation of gene expression, thereby leading to the development of cancer. The recent advancements in modification mediated by PRMTs and cancer research have had a profound impact on our understanding of the abnormal modification involved in carcinogenesis and progression. This review will provide a defined overview of these recent progression, with the aim of augmenting our knowledge on the role of PRMTs in progression and their potential application in cancer therapy.

Dual Redox Reaction Sites for Pseudocapacitance Based on Ti and -P Functional Groups of Ti3C2PBrx MXene.

MXenes have extensive applications due to their different properties determined by intrinsic structures and various functional groups. Exploring different functional groups of MXenes leads to improved performance or potential applications. In this work, we prepared new Ti3C2PBrx (x=0.4-0.6) MXene with phosphorus functional groups (-P) through a two-step gas-phase reaction. The acquisition of -P is achieved by replacing bromine functional groups (-Br) of Ti3C2Br2 in the phosphorus vapor. After -Br is replaced with -P, Ti3C2PBrx MXene shows an improved areal capacitance (360 mF cm-2) at 20 mV s-1 compared with Ti3C2Br2 MXene (102 mF cm-2). At a current density of 5 mA cm-2 after 10000 cycles, the capacitance retention of Ti3C2PBrx MXene has not decreased. The pseudocapacitive enhancement mechanism has been discovered based on the dual redox sites of the functional groups -P and Ti.

Systematic training of LI-RADS CT v2018 improves interobserver agreements and performances in LR categorization for focal liver lesions.

AIM: To retrospectively explored whether systematic training in the use of Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) v2018 on computed tomography (CT) can improve the interobserver agreements and performances in LR categorization for focal liver lesions (FLLs) among different radiologists. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 18 visiting radiologists and the liver multiphase CT images of 70 hepatic observations in 63 patients at high risk of HCC were included in this study. The LI-RADS v2018 training procedure included three thematic lectures, with an interval of 1 month. After each seminar, the radiologists had 1 month to adopt the algorithm into their daily work. The interobserver agreements and performances in LR categorization for FLLs among the radiologists before and after training were compared. RESULTS: After training, the interobserver agreements in classifying the LR categories for all radiologists were significantly increased for most LR categories (P < 0.001), except for LR-1 (P = 0.053). After systematic training, the areas under the curve (AUCs) for LR categorization performance for all participants were significantly increased for most LR categories (P < 0.001), except for LR-1 (P = 0.062). CONCLUSION: Systematic training in the use of the LI-RADS can improve the interobserver agreements and performances in LR categorization for FLLs among radiologists with different levels of experience.