Acupuncture for chronic sciatica: protocol for a multicenter randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Chronic Sciatica is a disabling condition causing considerable medical, social and financial implications. Currently, there is no recognised long-term effective treatment to alleviate sciatica. Acupuncture has been widely used for treating chronic pains with persistent analgesic effects. We aim to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for chronic sciatica with follow-up in 52 weeks. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a multicenter randomised sham-controlled trial. A total of 216 patients with chronic sciatica will be enrolled and randomly assigned to the acupuncture or sham acupuncture group. There will be 10 treatment sessions applied in 4 weeks with frequency decreased over time. Patients will complete follow-ups during 52 weeks. The primary outcomes are changes in leg pain intensity and disability from baseline to week 4. Secondary outcomes include back pain intensity, frequency and bothersomeness, quality of life, and global perceived effect. Adverse events will be recorded in detail. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval of this trial was granted from the ethics committee of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and all study centres (No. 2020BZYLL0803). Written informed consent will be obtained from enrolled patients. Trial results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2100044585 (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, http://www.chictr.org.cn, registered on 24 March 2021); preresults.

[Research progress on effective components and mechanisms of anti-depressive Chinese medicine].

Since the pathogenesis of depression is complicated, the therapeutic effects of western medicine are poor accompanied by severe side effects. Chinese medicine has unique advantages in the treatment based on syndrome differentiation and contains many effective components against depression, including flavonoids, terpenes, phenylpropanoids, quinones, and alkaloids. These chemical components can delay the course of the disease, improve the curative effect, and reduce side effects of western medicine by regulating the biochemical abnormalities of monoamine neurotransmitters, brain tissue protein content, and internal environment as well as energy metabolism to make the treatment of Chinese medicine highlighted and recognized. This study systematically reviewed the effective components and mechanisms of anti-depressive Chinese medicine to inspire the rational development and utilization of new Chinese medicines against depression.

Efficacy of acupuncture for sciatica: study protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial.

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture is widely used for pain diseases while evidence of its efficacy for sciatica is insufficient. We aim to explore the feasibility and efficacy of acupuncture with different acupoint selecting strategies for sciatica induced by lumbar disc herniation. METHODS: This is a multicenter, three-arm, patient-assessor-blinded randomized controlled pilot trial. Ninety patients will be assigned randomly into 3 groups including disease-affected meridians (DAM) group, non-affected meridians (NAM) group, and sham acupuncture (SA) group in a 1:1:1 ratio. The trial involves a 4-week treatment along with follow-up for 22 weeks. The primary outcome is the change of leg pain intensity measured by the visual analogue scale (VAS) from baseline to week 4 after randomization. Secondary outcomes include functional status, back pain intensity, and quality of life. Adverse events will also be recorded. DISCUSSION: The results will inspire the optimal acupuncture strategy for sciatica and help establish a better design as well as power calculation for a full-scale study. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR2000030680 (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, http://www.chictr.org.cn , registered on 9 March 2020).

[Discussion on Clinical and Diagnosis Program of Integrative Medicine].

Facing current situation of integrative medicine (IM), authors put forward that clinical and diagnosis program of IM could be carried out from clinical path, pathogenesis, treatment theory and philosophy, and so on, but with different integration degrees. Meanwhile, formulation of concrete program should be disease-targetedly set up, and adjusted from person to person, from place to place, from time to time. As for settled IM program , authors could evaluate it from whether Chinese medicine and Western medicine have formed complementary, synergistic, excitatory actions, and toxicity attenuation; whether more problems could be solved in efficacy, safety, practicability, and economy than previous single mode.

Epigallocatechin­3­gallate inhibits the invasion of salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma cells by reversing the hypermethylation status of the RECK gene.

Epigallocatechin­3­gallate (EGCG) is an active and major constituent of green tea. As a non­nucleoside inhibitor of DNA methylation, EGCG is able to inhibit the hypermethylation of newly synthesised DNA, resulting in the reversal of hypermethylation and recovery in expression of the silenced genes. Reversion­inducing cysteine­rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) is a novel tumour suppressor gene, which negatively regulates matrix metalloproteinases, and inhibits tumour invasion, angiogenesis and metastasis. The present study aimed to examine the effects of EGCG on the methylation status of the RECK gene and tumour invasion in a salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) cell line in vitro. Marked levels of methylated and weak levels of unmethylated RECK promoter were detected in the SACC83 cells, which was determined using methylation­specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In addition, the treatment of SACC83 cells with EGCG partially reversed the hypermethylation status of the RECK gene. Western blot analysis and reverse transcription­PCR demonstrated that EGCG significantly enhanced the protein and mRNA expression levels of RECK, and significantly reduced the invasive ability of the SACC83 cells, as determined using a Transwell assay. These results suggested that EGCG possesses novel anti­metastatic therapeutic potential for the treatment of SACC.

Correlations between Phlegm Syndrome of Chinese Medicine and Coronary Angiography: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Phlegm is one of the most common patterns of coronary artery disease (CAD) in Chinese medicine. Our research was aimed at investigating the association between phlegm syndrome of CAD and coronary angiography (CAG) by meta-analysis. According to inclusion criteria, a total of 30 studies involving 5,055 CAD patients were included. The meta-analysis showed that phlegm syndrome patients were prone to multivessel disease (28 studies, OR = 1.53, 95% CI, 1.24 to 1.88, P < 0.01) and higher Gensini score (2 studies, OR = 5.90, 95% CI, 1.86 to 9.94, P = 0.004), but not obviously relevant to severe stenosis (≥75%) of coronary arteries (13 studies, OR = 1.20, 95% CI, 0.63 to 2.27, P = 0.57). We concluded that the coronary arteries lesions of CAD patients with phlegm syndrome were more severe than those with nonphlegm syndromes. Phlegm syndrome should, therefore, be regarded as a dangerous pattern of CAD with worse prognosis.