A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial of Electroacupuncture for Perimenopause Women with Mild-Moderate Depression.

OBJECTIVE: Up to 62% of perimenopausal women have depression symptoms. However, there is no efficacy treatment. The aim of this study is to compare the clinical efficacy and safety of EA therapy and escitalopram on perimenopause women with mild-moderate depressive symptom. METHOD: A multicenter, randomized, positive-controlled clinical trial was conducted at 6 hospitals in China. 242 perimenopause women with mild-moderate depressive symptom were recruited and randomly assigned to receive 36 sessions of EA treatment or escitalopram treatment. The primary outcome measure was the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17). The secondary outcome measures include menopause-specific quality of life (MENQOL) and serum sexual hormones which include estrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone. RESULTS: 221 (91.3%) completed the study, including 116 in the EA group and 105 in the escitalopram group. The baseline levels of demographic and outcome measurements were similar in the two groups. In the intervention period, there was no difference between two groups. However, in the follow-up, both HAMD-17 and MENQOL were significantly decreased, and at week 24 the mean differences were -2.23 and -8.97, respectively. There were no significant differences in the change of serum sexual hormones between the two groups. No serious adverse events occurred. CONCLUSION: EA treatment is effective and safe in relieving depression symptom and improving the quality of life in the perimenopausal depression. Further research is needed to understand long-term efficacy and explore the mechanism of this intervention. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02423694.

Treatment of Parkinson disease with C17.2 neural stem cells overexpressing NURR1 with a recombined republic-deficit adenovirus containing the NURR1 gene.

To study the potential benefit of the NURR1 gene in Parkinson's disease (PD), we constructed a recombinant republic-deficit adenovirus containing the NURR1 gene (Ad-NURR1) and expressed it in transplanted neural stem cells (NSC). Ad-NURR1 was constructed, and NURR1 mRNA and protein expression were identified by in situ hybridization and western blot analysis, respectively. The identified NURR1 protein could directly or indirectly induce NSC differentiation into neurons. To identify a potential therapeutic use for the transfected NSCs, cells were transplanted into 6-hydroxydopamine lesioned rats. Histopathological and behavioral alterations were evaluated via immunohistochemistry and the ration test, respectively, in rats transplanted with NSCs with or without the Ad-NURR1 adenovirus. The Ad-NURR1 construct effectively expressed the NURR1 protein, which could directly or indirectly induce NSC differentiation into neurons. Both histopathological and behavioral alterations were seen in rats treated with NSCs with or without the Ad-NURR1 construct, although in the case of the latter, the benefits were more robust. These results suggest a potential therapeutic benefit for Ad-NURR1-expressing cells in the treatment of PD. The Ad-NURR1 modification induced NSC differentiation and therefore represents a potential therapy for PD.

Considerations on intervention goal and efficacy evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of neurological diseases.

In the last several years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has made much progress in the treatment of neurological diseases. The living space of TCM in neurological diseases lies in refractory diseases, aging and chronic diseases caused by multiple factors as well as sub-health state and chronic fatigue state. The effect model of TCM mainly consists of whole effect, self-organization, self-stable model, holographic effect and butterfly effect. The effective point of TCM in neurological diseases lies mainly in end-points and health-related events. Moreover, TCM has advantages in the evaluation of symptoms, syndrome and quality of life (QOL). Some key indexes should be included when evaluating the efficacy of TCM in neurological diseases. Meanwhile, the advantages of TCM such as end-points, health-related events and QOL should be highlighted. Multi-subject researching methods could be adopted to make a comprehensive evaluation of subjective and objective indexes. The clinical evidence on the TCM efficacy evaluation may come from RCTs, and other types of designs can also be considered.