A systematic review and meta-analysis of moxibustion for chronic prostatitis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic prostatitis (CP) is a common condition that affects many individuals. Previous clinical trials have explored the use of moxibustion as a potential treatment for CP. However, the evidence on the effectiveness of moxibustion for CP remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to comprehensively assess the effects of moxibustion for CP. METHODS: In order to gather relevant and up-to-date information, we conducted a systematic literature search of databases including Cochrane Library, PUBMED, EMBASE, CNKI, and Wangfang from inception until June 30, 2023. Only randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that investigated the use of moxibustion for CP were included in this study. The primary outcomes of interest were the National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) scores and the overall response rate. To evaluate the quality of the included studies, we used the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. RESULTS: After analyzing the data from 8 RCTs involving a total of 664 patients, we found significant differences in NIH-CPSI scores between moxibustion and other treatment modalities. Specifically, when compared with herbal medicine, moxibustion was associated with a mean difference (MD) of -1.78 in NIH-CPSI scores (95% confidence interval [CI] [-2.78, -0.78], P < .001), and when compared with western medicine, moxibustion was associated with a MD of -5.24 in NIH-CPSI scores (95% CI [-7.80, -2.67], P < .08). In terms of the overall response rate, moxibustion was found to be superior to herbal medicine, with a MD of 2.36 (95% [19, 4.67], P = .01). Additionally, when moxibustion was combined with herbal medicine, it yielded a higher overall response rate with a MD of 4.07 (95% CI [1.54, 10.74], P = .005) compared to herbal medicine alone. Moxibustion also outperformed western medicine in terms of the overall response rate, with a MD of 4.56 (95% CI [2.24, 9.26], P < .001). CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, moxibustion appears to be a potentially efficacious treatment for CP. The results suggest that moxibustion can improve NIH-CPSI scores and overall response rate in patients with CP. However, further high-quality studies are needed to validate these results and establish the long-term effects of moxibustion as a treatment for CP.

Performance of commercially available anti-HDV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection is a major global health issue around the world. There are approximately 15-20 million individuals infected with HDV worldwide. HDV infection usually causes increased mortality compared with infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) alone. However, testing for the detection of HDV is not widely available in Taiwan. Therefore, the General Biologicals Corporation (GB) HDV Ab kit was developed for detecting anti-HDV antibodies. METHODS: A total of 913 serum and 462 EDTA-treated plasma samples were obtained from HBsAg-positive individuals in three hospitals in Taiwan from June 2014 to November 2017. We used three commercially available ELISA kits, DiaPro HDV Ab, DiaSorin ETI-AB-DELTAK-2 and GB HDV Ab, which were utilized strictly according to the instructions of the manufacturers. RESULTS: A comparative study of the results from the GB HDV Ab kit and the other commercial ELISA kits (DiaPro and DiaSorin) was performed to determine their efficacy for anti-HDV detection. The results indicated that the sensitivity of the GB HDV Ab kit for serum and EDTA samples was 100% compared to that of the DiaPro and DiaSorin kits, whereas the specificity for serum and EDTA samples was 99.3 and 98.1%, respectively. In addition, the overall agreement of the results of the GB HDV Ab kit for the serum and EDTA samples was 99.3 and 98.3%, respectively. It is worth noting that the performance of the GB HDV Ab kit was not affected by interference from triglyceride, bilirubin, hemoglobin, or human anti-mouse antibody. The limit of detection of the GB HDV Ab kit is approximately 100-fold lower than that of the other two commercial kits. CONCLUSIONS: The GB HDV Ab kit, which presented equivalent sensitivity and specificity compared to both certified anti-HDV kits, would be a suitable kit for HDV diagnosis in Taiwan.