Efficacy of Jiao's scalp acupuncture in combination with Xiangshao granules on chronic tension-type headache with concomitant nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in climacteric women.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the efficacy of Jiao's scalp acupuncture in combination with Xiangshao granules on chronic tension-type headache (CTTH) with concomitant nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in climacteric women. METHODS: In this study, we enrolled 150 climacteric women with CTTH and concomitant NAFLD. The participants were divided into three groups based on the random number table: medication group, acupuncture group, and acupuncture-medication group. Treatment continued for 2 months. The efficacy of CTTH was assessed based on the visual analog scale/score (VAS). The influence on NAFLD was assessed based on body mass index (BMI), controlled attenuation parameter (CAP), and the ratio of hepatic-splenic computed tomography (CT) value. The Participant Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score was compared among the three groups. RESULTS: A total of 123 participants completed the trial, including 37 participants in the medication group, 41 participants in the acupuncture group, and 45 participants in the acupuncture-medication group. Results are summarized hereinafter. (1) The total clinical efficiency rates of the medication group, acupuncture group, and acupuncture-medication group were 89.19% (33 of 37), 90.24% (37 of 41), and 95.65% (44 of 46), respectively. (2) Except for the BMI of the medication group ( P = 0.063), a significant difference in VAS, BMI, CAP, the ratio of hepatic-splenic CT value, and PHQ-9 score was found in the three groups ( P < 0.01). (3) There was a significant difference in VAS, BMI, CAP, and PHQ-9 among the three groups ( P < 0.01), with those in the acupuncture-medication group being superior. No difference in the ratio of hepatic-splenic CT value was found ( P = 0.440). (4) The efficacy differed significantly among the three groups ( χ2 = 8.130, P = 0.017), and it was significantly superior in the acupuncture-medication group ( P = 0.008, P = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: Jiao's scalp acupuncture, in combination with Xiangshao granules, was superior in treating CTTH in climacteric women compared with either acupuncture or medication. Jiao's scalp acupuncture, in combination with Xiangshao granules, was superior in subsiding the negative moods in participants with CTTH and concomitant NAFLD.

The efficacy of acupuncture combined with Bailemian capsule in the treatment of cervical spondylosis accompanied by headache, anxiety, and depression.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of using acupuncture combined with Bailemian capsule to treat cervical spondylosis by observing the improvement in the degree of headache, anxiety, and depression suffered by patients. METHODS: A total of 100 patients with cervical spondylosis of the cervical type were equally divided into a combination group and a control group using the random number table method. The patients in the combination group were treated with acupuncture combined with the oral administration of Bailemian capsule, while those in the control group were only treated with acupuncture. Patient self-assessment was conducted, comprising the visual analogue scale, the self-assessment scale for anxiety, and the self-assessment scale for depression. Before treatment and on the14th and 28th days of treatment, the therapeutic effects of the two treatment modalities on the cervical spondylosis and accompanying headache, anxiety, and depression were analyzed using the Hamilton anxiety scale, the Hamilton depression scale, the Pittsburgh sleep quality inventory, and the Neck Disability Index (%). RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences between the two groups in all seven indicators at the different treatment time points (p < 0.01). The seven indicators were significantly reduced in both groups on the 14th and 28th days of treatment compared with before the treatment. Moreover, except for the Neck Disability Index results at 14 days, which did not differ between the groups (p = 0.37), all the other indicators were significantly lower in the combination group than in the control group on the 14th and 28th days of treatment (p < 0.01), and at the end of the treatment, the therapeutic effect was significantly better in the combination group than in the control group (p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Both acupuncture combined with Bailemian Capsule and acupuncture alone were effective in the treatment of cervical spondylosis, but the combination therapy was better than the acupuncture alone in improving the accompanying negative symptoms of headache, anxiety, and depression.

Computational analysis of mesoscale thermomechanical ignition behavior of impacted LLM-105 based explosives.

LLM-105 (2,6-diamino-3,5-dinitropyrazine-1-oxide) is an insensitive high explosive crystal which has performance between that of HMX and TATB. An elastoviscoplastic dislocation model is developed for LLM-105 crystal, which accounts for the dislocation evolutions at the crystal interior and crystal wall and strain-rate dependent work hardening. Three different crystal morphology (cubic, icosahedral, rodlike) of LLM-105 based explosive computational models were constructed and subjected to an impact velocity of 200 m s-1 and 500 m s-1. Effects of crystal morphology and initial dislocation density on thermomechanical ignition behavior of LLM-105 based explosives were analyzed. Dislocation density of both crystal interiors and crystal walls in the rodlike LLM-105 based explosive increases slower than that in the cubic and icosahedral explosives. Both the volume averaged and localized stress and dislocation density are the lowest for the rodlike explosive. At the impact velocity of 500 m s-1, a temperature rise due to volumetric work, plasticity work and chemical reaction is sufficiently high to lead to the ignition of the cubic explosive, which shows that the rodlike explosive is the least sensitive among the three explosives. Moreover, with the increase of initial dislocation density, the corresponding volume averaged and localized stress and temperature increase as well. Results presented bridge the macroscale thermomechanical ignition response with the mesoscale deformation mechanisms, which is essential for better understanding the ignition mechanisms and guiding the design of LLM-105 based formulations.

Numerical simulation analyses of ß â†” δ phase transition for a finite-sized HMX single crystal subjected to thermal loading.

Phase transition of HMX single crystals is the very first process prior to chemical reaction and ignition of polymer-bonded explosives (PBX). A mesoscale ß â†” δ phase transition model is developed to investigate the role of solid phase transformation on the thermo-mechanical behavior of HMX single crystals. The model captures nonlinear elasticity, dislocation-based crystalline plasticity and temperature-dependent phase transition. Phase transition evolutions of HMX subjected to different heating rates with a certain hydrostatic pressure were investigated based on the finite element software ABAQUS. The simulated results showed that with the thermal heating and cooling boundary conditions, the ß â†” δ phase transition state is reversible, but its path is irreversible. The path-dependence of the ß â†” δ phase transition is reflected by the residual strain and stress that comes into being in the absence of mechanical constraints for 1 mm size HMX single crystals during a temperature cycle. Moreover, the ß â†’ δ phase transition is inhibited by higher temperature gradients and hydrostatic pressure. As the ß-phase of HMX crystal converts to the δ-phase, the crystal volume expands due to the larger expansion coefficients of δ-HMX so that the stress concentration can be found at the sample center.