[Professor HUANG Lin-na's experience in treatment of Tourette syndrome with Fang's scalp acupuncture].

Professor HUANG Lin-na's experience in treatment of Tourette syndrome with Fang's scalp acupuncture were introduced. Professor HUANG believes that this disease is in category of tremor in TCM. Pathogenic wind is the key in its pathogenesis and liver, spleen and kidney are closely related. Hence, the treatment focuses on eliminating pathogenic wind and regulating the function of liver, spleen and kidney. The cerebrum is the regulation center in human body. The abnormal somatic function can be adjusted by acupuncture at the scalp area where the cerebral cortical function is projected. Fang's scalp acupuncture is suitable in treatment of Tourette syndrome. Such scalp acupuncture was introduced in this paper with the typical case reported so as to provide a new approach to clinical treatment.

Acupuncture for patients with vascular dementia: a systematic review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: This systematic review protocol aims to provide the methods used to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture therapy for treating vascular dementia. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The following eight databases will be searched from inception to July 2017: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, VIP Database and Wanfang Database. All randomised controlled trials in English or Chinese related to acupuncture for vascular dementia will be included. Outcomes will include change in cognitive function and activities of daily living. The incidence of adverse events will be assessed for safety evaluation. Study inclusion, data extraction and quality assessment will be performed independently by two reviewers. Assessment of risk of bias and data synthesis will be performed using Review Manager software. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval is not required because individual patient data are not included. The findings of this systematic review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication or conference presentations. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42017071820.

Effects of a traditional Chinese medicine formula and its extraction on muscle fiber characteristics in finishing pigs, porcine cell proliferation and isoforms of myosin heavy chain gene expression in myocytes.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effects of a traditional Chinese medicine formula (TCMF) on muscle fiber characteristics in finishing pigs and the effects of the formula's extract (distilled water, ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extraction) on porcine cell proliferation and isoforms of myosin heavy chain (MyHC) gene expression in myocytes. METHODS: In a completely randomized design, ninety pigs were assigned to three diets with five replications per treatment and six pigs per pen. The diets included the basal diet (control group), TCMF1 (basal diet+2.5 g/kg TCMF) and TCMF2 (basal diet+5 g/kg TCMF). The psoas major muscle was obtained from pigs at the end of the experiment. Muscle fiber characteristics in the psoas major muscle were analyzed using myosin ATPase staining. Cell proliferation was measured using 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) dye and cytometry. Isoforms of MyHC gene expression were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: The final body weight and carcass weight of finishing pigs were increased by TCMF1 (p<0.05), while the psoas major muscle cross-sectional area was increased by TCMF (p<0.05). The cross-sectional area and diameter of psoas major muscle fiber I, IIA, and IIB were increased by TCMF2 (p<0.05). The cross-sectional area and fiber diameter of psoas major muscle fiber IIA and IIB were increased by diet supplementation with TCMF1 (p<0.05). Psoas major muscle fiber IIA and IIB fiber density from the pigs fed the TCMF1 diet and the type IIB fiber density from the pigs fed the TCMF2 diet were lower compared to pigs fed the control diet (p<0.05). Pigs fed TCMF2 had a higher composition of type I fiber and a lower percentage of type IIB fiber in the psoas major muscle (p<0.05). The expression levels of MyHC I, MyHC IIa, and MyHC IIx mRNA increased and the amount of MyHC IIb mRNA decreased in the psoas major muscle from TCMF2, whereas MyHC I and MyHC IIx mRNA increased in the psoas major muscle from TCMF1 (p<0.05). Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α and CaN mRNA expression in the psoas major muscle were up-regulated by TCMF (p<0.05). Porcine skeletal muscle satellite cell proliferation was promoted by 4 µg/mL and 20 µg/mL TCMF water extraction (p<0.05). Both 1 µg/mL and 5 µg/mL of TCMF water extraction increased MyHC IIa, MyHC IIb, and MyHC IIx mRNA expression in porcine myocytes (p<0.05), while MyHC I mRNA expression in porcine myocytes was decreased by 5 µg/mL TCMF water extraction (p<0.05). Porcine myocyte MyHC I and MyHC IIx mRNA expression were increased, and MyHC IIa and MyHC IIb mRNA expression were down-regulated by 5 µg/mL TCMF ethyl acetate extraction (p<0.05). MyHC I and MyHC IIa mRNA expression in porcine myocytes were increased, and the MyHC IIb mRNA expression was decreased by 1 µg/mL TCMF ethyl acetate extraction (p<0.05). Four isoforms of MyHC mRNA expression in porcine myocytes were reduced by 5 µg/mL TCMF petroleum ether extraction (p<0.05). MyHC IIa mRNA expression in porcine myocytes increased and MyHC IIb mRNA expression decreased by 1 µg/mL in a TCMF petroleum ether extraction (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results indicated that TCMF amplified the psoas major muscle cross-sectional area through changing muscle fiber characteristics in finishing pigs. This effect was confirmed as TCMF extraction promoted porcine cell proliferation and affected isoforms of MyHC gene expression in myocytes.

Acupuncture for enhancing early recovery of bowel function in cancer: Protocol for a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Cancer patients undergoing surgical procedure often suffer from bowel dysfunction and postoperative ileus (POI). Cancer management for early recovery of bowel function is still a challenging topic. Acupuncture has been commonly used in a variety of gastrointestinal diseases. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of acupuncture therapy to reduce the duration of POI and enhance bowel function in cancer patients. METHODS: We will systematically screen all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published through electronically and hand searching. The following search engines including Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP Information, Wanfang Data, one Japanese database (Japan Science and Technology Information Aggregator, Electronic) and 2 Korean Medical Databases (Korean Studies Information, and Data Base Periodical Information Academic) will be retrieved. Supplementary sources will be searched including gray literature, conference proceedings, and potential identified publications. Two reviewers will independently conduct the trial inclusion, data extraction and assess the quality of studies. The time to first passing flatus and time to first bowel motion will be assessed as the primary outcomes. Adverse effects, time to first bowel sound, visual analog scale (VAS) pain score, hospital stay, and postoperative analgesic requirement will be measured as secondary outcomes. Methodological quality will be evaluated according to the Cochrane risk of bias. Details of interventions will be assessed by the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA) checklist. All analyses will be applied by RevMan (version 5.3) and StataSE (version 12). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This systematic review will provide up-to-date information on acupuncture therapy for early recovery of bowel function in cancer patients. This review does not require ethical approval and will be reported in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at a relevant conference. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42016049633.

Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Early Recovery of Bowel Function in Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of acupuncture therapy to reduce the duration of postoperative ileus (POI) and to enhance bowel function in cancer patients. METHODS: A systematic search of electronic databases for studies published from inception until January 2017 was carried out from six databases. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving the use of acupuncture and acupressure for POI and bowel function in cancer patients were identified. Outcomes were extracted from each study and pooled to determine the risk ratio and standardized mean difference. RESULTS: 10 RCTs involving 776 cancer patients were included. Compared with control groups (no acupuncture, sham acupuncture, and other active therapies), acupuncture was associated with shorter time to first flatus and time to first defecation. A subgroup analysis revealed that manual acupuncture was more effective on the time to first flatus and the time to first defecation; electroacupuncture was better in reducing the length of hospital stay. Compared with control groups (sham or no acupressure), acupressure was associated with shorter time to first flatus. However, GRADE approach indicated a low quality of evidence. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture and acupressure showed large effect size with significantly poor or inferior quality of included trials for enhancing bowel function in cancer patients after surgery. Further well-powered evidence is needed.

Study on effects of zhi zi (fructus gardeniae) on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the rat.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Zhi Zi (Fructus Gardeniae) on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) induced by a high-fat diet in the rat. METHODS: A rat model of NAFLD was established using a high-fat diet. Twenty one rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group and a Zhi Zi treatment group, 7 rats per group. Drinking water and the drug were intragastrically administrated for 5 weeks. Samples were then taken to observe pathological changes of the liver tissue (HE staining); changes in the fat metabolism pathway e. g. triglyceride (TG) and free fatty acid (FFA) content; alterations in liver function, i.e. serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity; and differences in tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and P-IkB protein expression in the liver tissue. RESULTS: Fatty degeneration and vacuole-like changes of different degrees occurred in hepatic cells of the model group. Markers for fat metabolism, serum ALT and AST activities, and expression of TNF-alpha and P-IkB proteins in liver tissue significantly increased. Fat metabolism in the Zhi Zi group significantly reduced, as shown by a drop in marker levels. Serum ALT and AST activities, and expression of TNF-alpha, P-IkB proteins in liver tissue were also significantly decreased in this group. CONCLUSION: Zhi Zi has a very strong inhibitory action on lipidosis and inflammatory injury in the rat model of NAFLD. This mechanism may possibly be related to the inhibition of the free fatty acid metabolism pathway.