Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation based on electro-oculogram signal regulation for children with mental retardation: a randomized controlled trial / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the clinical efficacy of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) at Changqiang (GV 1) based on the modulation of electro-oculogram (EOG) signal for children with mental retardation, and explore the evaluation effect of the goal attainment scale (GAS) in children with mental retardation.@*METHODS@#Sixty children with mental retardation were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group, with 30 cases in each one. The children in the control group were treated with conventional rehabilitation, 5 times a week. On the basis of the control group, TEAS at Changqiang (GV 1) under the modulation of EOG signal was adopted in the treatment group. When the similarity between the collected EOG signal and the template was within the range of EOG threshold, one electric stimulation was triggered at Changqiang (GV 1) for 20 s (continuous wave, 70-100 Hz in frequency, 0.1-0.2 ms in pulse width), lasting 30 min in each treatment, the intervention was given twice a week. One course of treatment was composed of 4 weeks, and 3 courses were required in total in the two groups. The infant-junior high school student's social living ability scale (S-M) and GAS were scored and compared before and after treatment in the two groups.@*RESULTS@#After treatment, the scores of self-living ability in the treatment group and communication ability in the control group were higher than those before treatment (P<0.01, P<0.05). The scores of collective activity and motor ability in the treatment group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, GAS scores were higher than before treatment in both groups (P<0.001), and the score in the treatment group was higher than the control group (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#TEAS under the modulation of EOG signal is conductive to improving the collective, motor and self-living abilities of the children with mental retardation and promoting children's individual goals. Compared with the standard score of S-M, the T value of GAS can better reflect the subtle progress of individual.

Metabolomics analysis of Tripterygium wilfordii formulation based on theory of detoxicity compatibility / 中国中药杂志

Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. induced-hepatotoxicity was the main limitation for its usage in clinic. Qingluo Tongbi formulation showed obvious attenuation for hepatotoxicity in clinic and fundamental research in vivo. To explore the potential mechanism of the attenuation, we conducted a study on the plasma metabolomic profiles of T. wilfordii and Qingluo Tongbi formulation in rats by a sensitive gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) method. In plasma samples, a total of 72 compounds were analyzed by EI source MS, and were successfully identified by matching NIST database. The semi-quantification results were then calculated by OPLS-DA model with SIMCA-P 13.0 software. The three groups were clearly distinguished in OPLS-DA score plot. In addition, the observation values of Qingluo Tongbi formulation showed the obvious trend towards the control levels, suggesting the detoxicity effect of the formulation. Variation metabolites were further analyzed by VIP and One Way ANOVAs, and the results showed a significant increase in compounds of glycogenic amino acids, such as alanine, proline, serine and glutamine after the administration of T. wilfordii, indicated that the tissue proteins were decomposed and amino acids were leakage into blood. Qingluo Tongbi formulation could reverse the amino acids into normal level. On the contrary, the levels of glucose, lactic acid and hydroxy butyrate decrease, and the formulation can relieve the disorder in the levels of lactic acid, suggesting the regulation of the energy metabolism. Additionally, the level of branched chain amino acid was decreased, suggested the toxicity was induced, but the formulation cannot increase it into the normal levels. Nevertheless, all the above results suggested that the classical Qingluo Tongbi formulation displayed the liver protection effect by adjusting the amino acid levels and regulating the energy metabolism. Qingluo Tongbi formulation was developed based on traditional Chinese medicine theory "detoxicity compatibility", and contained Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen to nourish blood and absorb clots. Modern pharmacology suggested that its liver protection effect was correlated with the promotion of protein synthesis. Another important herb is Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch., which can regulate the energy metabolism. Both were consistent with the metabolomic results in this study, which explained the potential mechanism of "detoxicity compatibility" theory. Therefore, the currently developed metabolomic approach and the obtained results would be highly useful for the comprehensive toxicity studies for other herbal medicines and various complex deoxicity formulations.

Clinical observation on treatment of primary dysmenorrhea with acupuncture and massage / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of acupuncture massage for primary dysmenorrhea and its influence on prostaglandin F2alpha level in menstrual fluid.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ninety patients with primary dysmenorrhea were assigned equally to the acupuncture group, the massage group and the control group (oral administrated with Somiton tablet). The treatment course was 3 menstrual cycles. The effect in relieving menalgia was evaluated using numerical rating scale (NRS) before and after treatment and change of PGF2alpha content in menstrual fluid was tested as well.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The NRS score was 0.60 +/- 0.67 in the acupuncture group and 0.53 +/- 0.63 in the massage group respectively, significantly lower than that in the control group, which was 2.30 +/- 1.73 (P < 0.01). The PGF2alpha level after treatment was significantly lower in the acupuncture group (176.58 +/- 17.85 ng/L) and the massage group (171.32 +/- 17.15 ng/L) than that in the control group (220.56 +/- 54.47 ng/L), respectively (P <0.01). There showed no difference in the two aspects between the acupuncture group and the massage group (P >0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Acupuncture and massage has a reliable therapeutic effect on primary dysmenorrhea, which is superior to that of Somiton tablet, and its mechanism might be exerted by regulating PGF2alpha level in menstrual fluid.</p>