Scientific basis of acupuncture on mesenchymal stem cells for treating ischemic stroke / 中国针灸

The scientific basis of acupuncture on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for treating ischemic stroke (IS) is discussed. MSCs transplantation has great potential for the treatment of tissue damage caused by early stage inflammatory cascade reactions of IS, but its actual transformation is limited by various factors. How to improve the homing efficiency of MSCs is the primary issue to enhance its efficacy. As such, the possible mechanisms of acupuncture and MSCs transplantation in inhibiting inflammatory cascade reactions induced by IS are explored by reviewing literature, and a hypothesis that acupuncture could promote the secretion of stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) from ischemic foci to regulate SDF-1α/CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) axis, thereby improving the homing efficiency of MSCs transplantation, exerting its neuroprotective function, and improving the bed transformation ability, is proposed.

Review of the mechanism of essential hypertension treated by acupuncture / 中国针灸

The relevant literature of pathogenesis of essential hypertension (EH) and the clinical efficacy of acupuncture treatment of EH was retrieved from January 1, 1999 to February 28, 2018 in the CNKI and PubMed databases, and aimed to summarize and explore the mechanism of antihypertensive by acupuncture.It has been found that acupuncture exerts antihypertensive effect by coordinating multi-system, multi-target, multi-layer adjustment mechanism, such as acupuncture inhibiting of central and peripheral sympathetic nerve activity, rejusting immune system and expression of inflammatory response factors, regulating the balance of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), improving vascular structure and function, the anti-oxidative stress and promoting autophagy.

The correlation study on syndrome differentiation of rheumatoid arthritis and joint high frequency ultrasound performance / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the differential effect of joint ultrasound on the syndrome differentiation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by observing the high frequency ultrasound performances among inactive stage and different syndromes in active stage.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 83 RA patients in the active stage were assigned to the dampness heat syndrome group (DHS, 59 cases)and the cold dampness syndrome group (CDS, 24 cases) according to Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome typing. Besides, 20 RA patients in the remission stage were recruited as the control group (abbreviated as the remission group). By using high frequency ultrasound and power Doppler ultrasound technology, a comparative observation of synovitis, tenosynovitis, synovial blood flow, and bone erosion in the 2nd-5th metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints, proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints, wrist joints, knee joints, the second and the fifth metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints (a total of 24 joints) was performed in all patients. Correlation analyses were performed between the ultrasound performance, laboratory indices, and the disease activity. Ultrasound data of each RA patient were analyzed by their total scores. Χ2 test was used for enumeration data. The measurement data was expressed as x ± s. One-way ANOVA was used for data of normal distribution, while non- parametric test was used for data of non-normal distribution. Correlation analysis of two variables was performed for clinical indicators and ultrasound indicators. Its significance was detected using Pearson correlation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the remission group, the severity degree of synovitis, tenosynovitis, synovial blood flow, and bone erosion significantly increased in the DHS group (P < 0.01). There was statistical difference in ESR, CRP, anti-CCP, DAS28 score, and the positive rate of RF (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). There was statistical difference in the severity degree of synovitis and synovial blood flow, and DAS28 score in the CDS group (P < 0.05). Compared with the CDS group, there was statistical difference in the four ultrasound indices (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), ESR, CRP, anti-CCP, DAS28 score, and the positive rate of RF in the DHS group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). There was no statistical difference in G, IgG, IgA, or IgM among the three groups (P > 0.05). There existed positive correlation between ESR and the synovitis degree, synovial blood flow, and bone erosion in the DHS group (r = 0.444, 0.397, 0.486, P < 0.05).There existed positive correlation between ESR and the synovitis degree, bone erosion, and synovial blood flow in the DHS group (r = 0.378, 0.270, P < 0.05). There existed positive correlation between the DAS28 score and the synovitis degree and synovial blood flow in the DHS group (r = 0.304, 0.351, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The inflammation degree was the most severe in RA patients of DHS. High frequency ultrasound could provide better evidence for Chinese medical syndrome differentiation of RA patients.</p>

A secondary discussion on acupoint characteristic / 中国针灸

With references of historical materials and modern literature regarding acupoint characteristic, a secondary analysis on the concept, origin, related factors and research methods in present research of acupoint characteristic is performed. The acupoint characteristic should be considered as an acupoint inherent attribute that could explain physiological and pathological manifestations at the same time, including location attribute and function attribute, which is related with time and treatment method. Some re-thinking on acupoint characteristic is proposed as well as advice on further research method and direction, hoping to promote the research development of acupoint characteristic.

Clinical study on curing the cervical spondylotic radiculopathy with the methods of Blade needle closed loosing and reduction with traction at the same time / 中国骨伤

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effects of curing the cervical spondylotic radiculopathy with the methods of Blade needle closed loosing and reduction with traction at the same time.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From May 2006 to May 2009, 65 patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy were divided into treatment group and control group according the random number table produced by SAS Software. There were 18 males and 17 females in the treatment group,age in range from 42 to 73 years old with an average of (61.3 +/- 6.4) years, course of disease was from 8 to 42 months with an average of (23.8 +/- 13.8) months, preoperatively cervical functional score was from 4 to 17 scores with the mean of (11.45 +/- 3.31) scores. And in the control group, including 14 males and 16 females, aged from 44 to 76 years old with an average of (62.4 +/- 8.8) years, course of disease was from 7 to 43 months with an average of (24.4 +/- 16.8) months, preoperatively cervical functional score was from 4 to 18 scores with the mean of (11.40 +/- 3.24) scores. The patients of treatment group were treated with Blade needle closed loosing the specific pain point on the neck and shoulder, then immediately underwent traction and reduction after operation. And the patients of control group were treated with traditional traction. The cervical functional score were compared between the two groups at 10, 20, 180 d after treatment, including pain of neck and shoulder, limitation of motion of neck, tenderness of neck, numbness and muscle weakness of upper limb.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) At the 10th day after treatment, the total score of treatment group was (15.43 +/- 3.46) scores, which was obviously higher than that of control group's (13.17 +/- 3.18) scores (P < 0.01). In different symptoms, treatment group also was better than that of control group (P < 0.05), so as in the tenderness of neck, and especially in the limitation of motion of neck and muscle weakness of upper limb decreased obviously (P < 0.01). (2) At the 20th day after treatment, the total score of treatment group was (18.00 +/- 2.94) scores, which was obviously better than that of control group's (15.90 +/- 2.89) scores (P < 0.01). In different symptoms, treatment group also was better than that of control group (P < 0.05), so as in the pain of neck and shoulder, numbness and muscle weakness of upper limb (P < 0.05), and especially in the limitation of motion of neck, tenderness of neck decreased obviously (P < 0.01). (3) At the 180th day after treatment, the total score of treatment group was (16.63 +/- 3.32) scores, which was obviously better than that of control group's (12.67 +/- 3.42) scores (P < 0.01); In different symptoms, treatment group also was better than that of control group (P < 0.05), so as in the numbness of upper limb (P < 0.05), and especially in the pain of neck and shoulder, muscle weakness of upper limb, limitation of motion of neck, tenderness of neck decreased obviously (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Compared with method of traditional traction, Blade needle closed loosing and traction in treating cervical spondylotic radiculopathy can significantly obtain clinical effects,which can quickly improve symptoms, relieve pain of neck and shoulder, limitation of motion of neck, tenderness of neck, numbness and muscle weakness of upper limb.</p>

Discussion on clinical trial design of treatment of hypertension with acupuncture and moxibustion / 中国针灸

Differences in design and implementation of clinical research on hypertension treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion were analyzed in this article so as to provide experiences to the design of clinical research on its treatment. Through document retrieval, it can be acquired that results of high quality clinical researches on treatment of hypertension with acupuncture and moxibustion have already been published. However, limitations in terms of sample size calculation, stochastic method, implementation of the blind method, selection of the control group and report on implementation process still existed in domestic documents. Therefore, high quality design proposals which not only in compliance with the features of acupuncture-moxibustion, but also accepted by modern medicine should be established with the combination of the advantages of acupuncture-moxibustion and clinical features of the disease. Moreover, standardizations on measuring the blood pressure, sample size calculation, selection of the control measurements, stochastic method and implementation of the blind methods should be established as well.

Application of cerebral function imaging in research on the acupoints specificity / 中国针灸

To explore the effect of cerebral function imaging in research on the acupoints specificity. Relevant literatures are retrieved and their results are compared. The results reveals as the follows: (1) Acupuncture can ameliorate cerebral blood flow hypoperfusion in patients with cerebrovascular disease, which maybe one of the mechanisms of acupuncture effect; (2) Acupuncture treatment has selectivity regulation role, which is related to the state of body and brain; (3) Cerebral function imaging can draw a clear distinction between therapeutic effect and placebo effect of acupuncture; (4) The points have specificity on the brain activation, but the outcomes are not exactly the same under different experimental conditions. Cerebral function imaging can be used to exploring acupoints specificity. Due to many interference factors which influence the accuracy of experiment, the subsequent experimental design have to be improved in the days ahead so as to make the results more cogent and rigorous.

Application of expertise-based randomized controlled trials in acupuncture studies / 中国针灸

Conventional randomized controlled trial is considered as the gold standard of clinical trials in evalua ting pharmacologic effectiveness. Whereas, it still has some faults in the non-pharmacy interventions, such as surgery, acupuncture, massage, etc. Expertise-based randomized controlled trial makes up for some deficiencies of conventional randomized controlled trial, which has made better developments in the field of surgery, however, there is no any relevant retrieval literature found in the acupuncture field. It is feasible and practical of the expertise-based randomized controlled trial to be applied and promoted in the acupuncture-moxibustion clinical research for a further degree. Expertise-based randomized controlled trials might become the trend of acupuncture-moxibustion clinical stu dies in the future.

Application and development of cohort study in Chinese medicine / 中国针灸

To evaluate the cohort study in Chinese medicine research, especially in acupuncture study field. This paper introduced the concepts, methods and applications of cohort study; furthermore, it introduced the applications and progress of cohort study in clinical Chinese medicine research at present. In China, cohort study has been mainly used in Chinese medicine research focusing on tumors, any researches using cohort study in acupuncture were not retrieved. Contrarily, the cohort study has been used earlier and advocated to apply in abroad acupuncture research. As one of methods in classic epidemiological observational studies, cohort study is fit to evaluate clinical researches of Chinese medicine and acu-moxibustion, so it is worthy of being promoted in applications.

Approach to clinical trial design for acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of stroke / 中国针灸

To understand the differences of the clinical research of acupuncture at home and abroad in methodological design and implementation, so as to provide reference for exploring acupuncture clinical study design program suitable to China. Reading clinical research literature of acupuncture and moxibustion for treatment of stroke at home and abroad and analyze and probe the methodological design and implementation. The results indicate that clinical research of acupuncture and moxibustion abroad has advantages in the randomized, controlled and double blind, etc. We should adopt the advantages of Chinese medicine, enrich and perfect research design program which can be approved by modern medicine and properly reflect the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and moxibustion on stroke.