Curative effect of wrist-ankle acupuncture on postpartum abdominal pain and its influence on serum ß-EP level in puerpera. / è •è¸é’ˆæ²»ç–—äº§åŽè ¹ç—›çš„ä¸´åºŠç–—æ•ˆåŠå¯¹äº§å¦‡è¡€æ¸ ß-EP水平的影响.

OBJECTIVES: To observe the clinical effect of wrist-ankle acupuncture on postpartum abdominal pain and its influence on serum beta-endorphin (ß-EP) level in puerpera. METHODS: Seventy patients with postpartum abdominal pain were randomly divided into an acupuncture + herbal medication group (35 cases, 1 case dropped out) and a herbal medication group (35 cases, 2 cases dropped out). In the herbal medication group, 1 day after delivery, modified shenghua decoction was taken orally, one dose a day. In the acupuncture + herbal medication group, on the basis of herbal medication, wrist-ankle acupuncture was given at the Lower 1 and Lower 2 of the ankles, once daily. The duration of treatment was 3 days in the two groups. Before and after treatment, the score of visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, serum ß-EP level, uterine fundus height, postpartum conditions of lochia and the uterine recovery at 42 days postpartum were compared in the patients of the two groups. RESULTS: At each time point after treatment (24 h, 48 h and 72 h after delivery), VAS scores and the uterine fundus height were reduced as compared with those before treatment (2 h after delivery) in the two groups (P<0.05); these indexes in the acupuncture + herbal medication group were lower than those in the herbal medication group (P<0.05). After treatment (72 h after delivery), ß-EP levels in the serum were increased when compared with those before treatment in the two groups (P<0.05), and the ß-EP level in the acupuncture + herbal medication group was higher than that in the herbal medication group (P<0.05). The volume of postpartum lochia discharge in the acupuncture + herbal medication group was higher than that in the herbal medication group (P<0.05), while the duration of postpartum lochia discharge and the total time of lochia discharge were shorter (P<0.05). Regarding the recovery of the uterus at 42 days postpartum, there was no statistical significance between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Wrist-ankle acupuncture obviously reduces the degree of postpartum abdominal pain and promotes the lochia discharge and the uterine recovery. The effect mechanism may be related to the up-regulation of serum ß-EP level and the increase of pain threshold so that analgesia is obtained.

A Comparison of Novel Entomopathogenic Nematode Application Methods for Control of the Chive Gnat, Bradysia odoriphaga (Diptera: Sciaridae).

Bradysia odoriphaga Yang & Zhang (Diptera: Sciaridae) is the most serious pest of Chinese chive, Allium tuberosum Chemical pesticide application has become a necessary step to control B. odoriphaga after each of the four to six harvests during the growing season. We compared the effects of application type (nematode-infected cadaver, aqueous nematode suspension, and mixture of cadaver and aqueous suspension) and nematode species (Heterorhabditis bacteriophora vs. Steinernema carpocapsae) on B. odoriphaga control. Nematode species combinations and the use of the cadaver method has only been tested in a relatively few studies, and has not been tested for this target pest, B. odoriphaga. Furthermore, this is the first report of combining application methods (aqueous and cadaver). Results indicated that the cadaver treatment produced higher mortality of B. odoriphaga than the aqueous treatment, and H. bacteriophora caused higher mortality of B. odoriphaga than S. carpocapsae. The mortality of B. odoriphaga was 96.7% in H. bacteriophora cadaver treatment and only 27.5% in control treatment without nematode addition. Cadaver treatments caused higher biomass of A. tuberosum than that of aqueous treatment. The plant biomass in H. bacteriophora cadaver treatment was 10 folds as much as that in the control treatment. The mixed aqueous suspension of H. bacteriophora and S. carpocapsae did not increase the mortality in pot trial. Our findings indicate that entomopathogenic nematodes applied as cadavers might be a potential alternative biological agent in the integrated management of B. odoriphaga for Chinese chive production.