Evaluating the Quality of Reports About Randomized Controlled Trials of Acupuncture for Low Back Pain.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to improve the reporting quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) by evaluating RCTs of acupuncture for low back pain (LBP) based on the CONSORT and STRICTA statements. METHODS: Literature from the Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, Ovid, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang database, and Chongqing Weipu (VIP) was systematically searched from 2010 to 2020. The general characteristics and the overall quality score (OQS) of the literature were evaluated by two investigators. The agreement between investigators was calculated using Cohen's kappa statistics. RESULTS: A total of 31 RCTs were extracted in the final analysis. Based on the CONSORT statement, the items "title and abstract", "background and objectives", "intervention", "outcomes", "statistical methods", "baseline data", "outcomes and estimation" and "interpretation" have a positive rate of greater than 80%. The items "implementation", "generalizability" and "protocol" have a positive rate of less than 30%. Based on the STRICTA statement, the items "style of acupuncture", "needle retention time", "number of treatment sessions", "frequency and duration of treatment" and "precise description of the control or comparator" have a positive rate of greater than 80%. The item "extent to which the treatment was varied" has a positive rate of less than 30%. The agreements among most items are determined to be moderate or good. CONCLUSION: The reporting quality of RCTs of acupuncture for LBP is moderate. Researchers should rigidly follow the CONSORT and STRICTA statements to enhance the quality of their studies.

Clinical Potential of an Enzyme-based Novel Therapy for Cocaine Overdose.

It is a grand challenge to develop a truly effective medication for treatment of cocaine overdose. The current available, practical emergence treatment for cocaine overdose includes administration of a benzodiazepine anticonvulsant agent (e.g. diazepam) and/or physical cooling with an aim to relieve the symptoms. The inherent difficulties of antagonizing physiological effects of drugs in the central nervous system have led to exploring protein-based pharmacokinetic approaches using biologics like vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and enzymes. However, none of the pharmacokinetic agents has demonstrated convincing preclinical evidence of clinical potential for drug overdose treatment without a question mark on the timing used in the animal models. Here we report the use of animal models, including locomotor activity, protection, and rescue experiments in rats, of drug toxicity treatment with clinically relevant timing for the first time. It has been demonstrated that an efficient cocaine-metabolizing enzyme developed in our previous studies can rapidly reverse the cocaine toxicity whenever the enzyme is given to a living rat, demonstrating promising clinical potential of an enzyme-based novel therapy for cocaine overdose as a successful example in comparison with the commonly used diazepam.