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Objective: To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture plus Dang Gui Bu Xue Qu Feng Tang for benign essential blepharospasm (BEB). Methods: A prospective randomized controlled trial was performed. A total of 105 participants were randomized 1:1:1 into an acupuncture group, a herbal medicine group and an acupuncture plus herbal medicine group. Participants in the acupuncture group received manual acupuncture treatment, twice a week. Participants in the herbal medicine group received Dang Gui Bu Xue Qu Feng Tang, oral administration, once a day. Participants in the acupuncture plus herbal medicine group received both treatments. The therapeutic effects of the three groups were evaluated after four weeks of treatment. The primary outcome was the Jankovic rating scale (JRS) score, and the secondary outcome was the blepharospasm disability index (BSDI) score. Results: After four weeks of treatment, the JRS total scores significantly decreased in all three groups versus baseline (P<0.05). A greater reduction in the JRS total score was reported in participants in the acupuncture plus herbal medicine group (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the acupuncture group and the herbal medicine group (P>0.05). The acupuncture plus herbal medicine group had a greater decrease in the JRS severity score than the herbal medicine group (P<0.05). The reduction in the JRS frequency score was not significantly different among the three groups (P>0.05). The BSDI scores significantly decreased in all three groups versus baseline (P<0.05), but the reduction in the BSDI score was insignificantly different among the three groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: It is effective in the treatment of BEB either to use acupuncture and Dang Gui Bu Xue Qu Feng Tang alone or in combination. The combination therapy shows a more significant effect than either of the treatment alone.
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Objective: To observe the efficacy of electroacupuncture (EA) in treating dry eye syndromes (DES) and its regulatory effects on patient's quality of life (QOL), anxiety, and depression.Methods: By following a randomized controlled study design, eligible DES patients were allocated to an EA group (EAG) or an acupuncture group (AG). Patients in the AG were intervened by acupuncture alone, while in the EAG, electrical stimulation was applied to Cuanzhu (BL2) and Taiyang (EX-HN5) in addition to the same treatment in the AG. Changes in clinical manifestations, ocular surface disease index (OSDI), Schirmer tear test-1 (STT-1), tear-film break-up time (TF-BUT), cornea fluorescein staining (CFS), and corneal sensitivity (CS) were observed, as well as changes in the short-form 36-item health survey (SF-36) and hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) scores. Results: The scores of clinical symptoms, OSDI, and CFS decreased significantly in both EAG and AG when compared with the baseline values (P<0.05), respectively, while the TF-BUT and CS increased significantly (P<0.05), and the tear secretion of patients in the EAG increased (P<0.05). Compared with those before treatment, the scores of physical role functioning, general health perception, emotional role functioning, and mental health of patients in both EAG and AG showed significant increases after treatment (P<0.05), together with a marked decrease in the score of anxiety (P<0.05). Compared with the AG, the EAG obtained a more significant increase in STT-1 (P<0.05).Conclusion: DES patients respond well to both EA and acupuncture treatments, manifested by prolonged TF-BUT and improvement of CS. Meanwhile, the two approaches can improve QOL and reduce anxiety. Furthermore, EA appears more effective in increasing tear secretion than acupuncture alone.
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Objective: To explore the anti-inflammatory immune mechanism in moxibustion treatment of Crohn.s disease (CD) from the perspective of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway, through observing the regulatory effect ofmoxibustion on colonic JNK, c-Jun, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) in CDmodel rats. Method: Male Sprague-Dawley rats of clean grade were randomized into a normal group, a model group, amoxibustion group and a sham moxibustion group. CD model was developed by the mixture of 2, 4, 6 Trinitro-benzene-sulfonic acid (TNBS) and ethanol via enema. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the morphologicalchanges in rat.s colon tissues for pathological scoring; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detectthe contents of MCP-1, COX2, JNK, and c-Jun in colon tissues; real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was adopted toexamine the mRNA expressions of JNK and c-Jun in rat.s colon. Result: Compared with the normal group, the modelgroup showed more significant colonic damage and thus had a higher colonic damage score (P < 0.01), manifested astopical inflammation which involved the submucosa, fissuring ulcers and granuloma; the model group also showedincreased contents of protein MCP-1 and COX2, and elevated contents of JNK protein and mRNA in colon (all P < 0.05), while the change in the content of c-Jun was insignificant (all P> 0.05) . Compared with the model group and shammoxibustion group, the colonic damage score was lower in the moxibustion group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05), with improvementin colonic structure and inflammation; the contents of MCP-1 and COX2 in colon tissues declined, so did the proteincontent and mRNA expression of JNK (all P < 0.05), while the change in the content of c-Jun was insignificant (all P>0.05) . There were no significant differences between the model group and sham moxibustion group comparing all theindexes (all P> 0.05) . Conclusion: Moxibustion down-regulates the expressions of JNK protein and mRNA in CD rat.scolon, as well as the contents of MCP-1 and COX2 in colon tissues, which is possibly one significant mechanism formoxibustion to ease intestinal inflammation and promote the repair of colon tissues in CD.
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Based on the data from the -, the bibliometric analysis was applied to analyze and evaluate the literature regarding clinical research of acupuncture for ophthalmopathy published between 1954 to 2016, hoping to objectively reflect the disease spectrum and indication of acupuncture for ophthalmopathy. The results showed that the disease spectrum of acupuncture for ophthalmopathy involved 47 specific diseases in 13 types of diseases. The total number of cases was 176 469, and the number of effective cases was 160 662, and the effective rate was 91.0%. The indication of acupuncture for ophthalmopathy included myopia, blepharoptosis and conjunctivitis. The commonly used indications were strabismus, dry eye and ophthalmoplegia, and the secondary indications were optic atrophy, blepharoptosis, oculomotor paralysis, blepharospasm, amblyopia. The most commonly used acupuncture points for ophthalmopathy were Cuanzhu (BL 2), Jingming (BL 1), Taiyang (EX-HN 5), and the most commonly used auricular points were yan (LO), gan (CO) and shen (CO). As for the methods of acupoint combination, local acupoints were mainly selected, combined with distal acupoint to assist treatment.
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Objective:To observethe influence of electroacupuncture (EA) on histomorphologies of lacrimal glands, cornea and conjunctiva in experimental dry eye syndrome, and to explore the repair effects of EA on lacrimal glands and ocular surface damage. Methods:Twenty-four healthy male New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group, an EA group and a medication group, 6 rabbits in each group. Experimental dry eye syndrome models were prepared in rabbits by using 0.1% benzalkonium chloride for eye drops. Tear secretion volume, break-up time of tear film (BUT) and corneal fluorescein staining score were observed before and after the treatment. Periodic acid Schiff (PAS) staining method was used to observe the changes of conjunctival goblet cells in rabbits. After hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining, morphological changes of rabbit cornea, conjunctiva and lacrimal gland tissues were observed under light microscope. Results: Compared with the normal group, tear secretion volume and BUT were significantly reduced (bothP<0.01), while the corneal fluorescein staining score was significantly increased (P<0.01) in the model group. Compared with the model group, tear secretion volume and BUT were significantly increased, while the corneal fluorescein staining score was significantly decreased in the EA group and the medication group (allP<0.01). Compared with the normal group, the number of conjunctival goblet cells in the model group was significantly reduced; compared with the model group, the numbers of conjunctival goblet cells were all relatively higher in the EA group and the medication group. Pathological lesions of cornea, conjunctiva and lacrimal glands all showed improvement by HE staining in the EA group and the medication group after the intervention. Conclusion:EA can improve tear secretion and tear film stability of rabbit dry eye syndrome, and repair the pathologic lesions of conjunctival goblet cells, corneal epithelia, cornea, conjunctiva and lacrimal glands.
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Objective: By the bibliometrical analysis and evaluation of acupuncture theses on auricular acupoint sticking from 2005 to 2014, the analysis was processed from multiple aspects including the types and numbers of diseases and effective rates of various diseases, in order to objectively reflect the general situation of clinical application of ear point embedding method in the recent years. Methods: By the bibliometrical analysis, the literature on auricular acupoint sticking in the recent ten years was counted up, analyzed and categorized. Results and Conclusion: Auricular acupoint sticking is used clinically for diseases of 16 systems, including 130 diseases. 74 diseases were singularly treated with auricular acupoint sticking, including the advantageous disease category like insomnia, constipation and obesity, and secondary advantageous disease category like dysmenorrhea, myopia, allergic rhinitis, post-operative pain and acne vulgaris.
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Objective:To observe the effect of herbal-partitioned moxibustion (HPM) on pain-related behavior and emotion in a rat model of chronic inflammatory visceral pain, and to investigate the mechanism. Methods:Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups:a normal group, a model group and an HPM group. Except for the normal group, rats in the other two groups were clystered with mixed liquor of Trinitrobenzene Sulfonic Acid (TNBS) and 50%ethanol to induce the chronic inflammatory visceral pain model. After the models were established successfully, rats in the HPM group were treated with HPM at bilateral Tianshu (ST 25) and Qihai (CV 6). Rats in the normal group and the model group were only fixed as those in the HPM group without treatment. Abdominal withdrawal reflex (AWR) score, mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) were adopted to detect the visceral and somatic pain;meanwhile, open field test (OFT) and elevated plus maze test (EPMT) were employed to evaluate pain emotions such as depression and anxiety. Results:Compared with the normal group, AWR scores of the model group were significantly increased under different stimulus expansion pressure level (P Conclusion:HPM has analgesic effect on chronic inflammatory visceral pain. It can reduce the visceral and somatic pain in rats and markedly improve the emotions such as anxiety and depression induced by chronic visceral pain.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the relationship between TCM's characteristics and treatment of cardiovascular diseases on the basis of the modem medical research literatures about treatment of cardiovascular diseases and establish a mathematic model in order to give reference for clinical study and clinical prescription for treatment of cardiovascular diseases with TCMs.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Articles on treatment of cardiovascular diseases with TCMs published at home in the past 20 years were collected and screened to summarize the number of TCMs with different function, property, flavor, channel tropism and the number of them with the therapeutically effect on cardiovascular diseases. And a mathematic model was established on the multivariate discriminatory analysis.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Medicines for activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis (21.21%), those restoring deficiency (17.65%), those attributive to heart channel (21.82%) and those attributive to spleen channel (16. 11%) were relatively active in study for treatment of cardiovascular diseases and showed great difference (P < 0.05). According to findings of the logistic regression screen, TCMs attribute to heart, spleen, gallbladder, pericardium channel and those restoring deficiency were important impact factors with therapeutically effect on cardiovascular diseases (regression coefficient > 0 and P < 0.05). The coincidence was 91.6% between mathematical computing and original classification, indicating the coincidence with relevant theories of the traditional Chinese medical science.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A more objective Logistic regression equation with a higher accuracy rate of retrospective inspection is established to detect the effect of TCMs with different characteristics on cardiovascular diseases. It is suggested that more experiments and clinical comparative studies on treatment of cardiovascular diseases with TMCs shall be included in pharmacopeia.</p>