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Background: Qihuang needle therapy is a newly developed acupuncture therapy to treat tic disorders in clinical practice. However, the mechanism to reduce tic severity remains unknown. Changes in intestinal flora and circulation metabolites are perhaps the potential pathogenesis of tic disorders. As a result, we present a protocol for a controlled clinical trial using multi-omics analysis to probe the mechanism of the Qihuang needle in managing tic disorders. Methods: This is a matched-pairs design, controlled, clinical trial for patients with tic disorders. Participants will be allocated to either an experimental group or a healthy control group. The main acupoints are Baihui (GV20), Yintang (EX-HN3), and Jueyinshu (BL14). The experimental group will receive Qihuang needle therapy for a month, while the control group will receive no interventions. Expected outcomes: The change in the severity of the tic disorder is set as the main outcome. Secondary outcomes include gastrointestinal severity index and recurrence rate, which will be calculated after a 12-week follow-up. Gut microbiota, measured by 16S rRNA gene sequencing; serum metabolomics, assessed via LC/MS; and serum zonulin, assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), will be used as biological specimen analysis outcomes. The present study will investigate the possible interactions between intestinal flora and serum metabolites and the improvement of clinical profiles, which may elucidate the mechanism of Qihuang needle therapy for tic disorders. Trial registration: This trial is registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (http://www.chictr.org.cn/). Registration number: ChiCTR2200057723, Date: 2022-04-14.
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Introduction: A persistent vegetative state (PVS) can be caused by traumatic or non-traumatic brain injury. PVS is a complex clinical condition with numerous complications. Nursing care, medical treatment, and comprehensive rehabilitation are necessary to improve the outcomes of PVS. However, the prognosis remains unsatisfactory. Acupuncture therapy has been used as a rehabilitation strategy to treat patients with PVS in China, showing better results in the recovery of consciousness, intellectual capability, and motor function. Case description: We present the case of a 4-month-long PVS after herpes simplex virus encephalitis (HSVE) in a 3.5-year-old boy who underwent Tongdu Xingshen acupuncture integrated with Western medicine and rehabilitation. The patient regained consciousness post-treatment. His intelligence and motor function gradually recovered after seven treatment sessions. Conclusion: Tongdu Xingshen acupuncture is a potential complementary therapy to optimize clinical outcomes in PVS.
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Background: Bo's abdominal acupuncture (BAA) is a novel therapy in alternative and complementary medicine and has been frequently used for stroke recovery in recent decades. However, no systematic evidence has been performed to confirm the effect and safety of BAA as an adjunctive therapy for post-stroke motor dysfunction (PSMD). Objectives: This review aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of BAA as an adjunctive therapy for improving allover motor function, upper limb motor function, lower limb motor function, and activities of daily living (ADL) in patients with PSMD. Methods: Seven databases were searched from inception to December 2020: Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Chinese Biological Medicine Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, WAN FANG, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving BAA plus another therapy vs. the same other therapy alone were identified. The methodological quality of the included trials was assessed according to the Cochrane risk of bias criteria. If more than half of the domains in a study are at low risk of bias, the overall quality of the study is low risk. We conducted a meta-analysis for primary outcomes using a random effects model and performed a narrative summary for the secondary outcome. We also conducted subgroup analysis for primary outcomes based on different add-on treatments to BAA. Random effects and fixed effects models were used to test the robustness of the pooled data. We also tested the robustness of the meta-analysis using specific methodological variables that could affect primary outcome measures. Results: Twenty-one trials with 1,473 patients were included in this systematic review. The overall quality of the 14 included trials (66.7%) was low risk. Meta-analyses indicated that the effect of the BAA group was better than that of the non-EA group on the Fugl-Meyer Assessment Scale (FMA) (weight mean difference (WMD) 9.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 7.23 to 11.83, P < 0.00001), FMA for upper extremities (WMD 11.08, 95% CI 5.83 to 16.32, P < 0.0001), FMA for lower extremities (WMD 5.57, 95% CI 2.61 to 8.54, P = 0.0002), and modified Barthel Index (standardized mean difference (SMD) 1.02, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.39, P < 0.00001). Two trials (9.5%) reported BAA-related adverse events, and the most common adverse event was local subcutaneous ecchymosis. Conclusions: BAA as an adjunctive therapy may have clinical benefits for improving allover motor function, upper limb motor function, lower limb motor function, and ADL in patients with PSMD. BAA-related adverse events were rare, tolerable, and recoverable. However, our review findings should be interpreted with caution because of the methodological weaknesses in the included trials. High-quality trials are needed to assess the adjunctive role of BAA in patients with PSMD.
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BACKGROUND: Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), acupuncture has been widely used in the treatment of COVID-19. The research community has responded rapidly and has already published many research articles about this topic. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library as well as CNKI, Wanfang and VIP from January 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021. The dates of publication, language of publication, methodological characteristics and the key findings were analyzed separately. The data are presented as bar graphs, structured tables and figures. RESULTS: In this scoping review, 16 research articles were included: 7 case reports, 6 observational studies, 1 review, 1 RCT and 1 nonrandomized clinical trial. The majority of the articles (81.3%) were published by Chinese scholars, 12.5% articles were by scholars in the United States, and 6.3% articles were by scholars in Iran. The included studies reported that acupuncture could alleviate the symptoms of COVID-19 patients, shorten their hospitalization days, and is effective for the elderly. There were no side effects reported. The most frequent acupoints used were LI4, PC6, ST36 and KI3. They reported many obstacles in implementing acupuncture therapy for treating COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSION: Acupuncture has a good effect for the treatment of COVID-19, but high-quality evidence support is still lacking. Coupled with the difficulties that acupuncturists experienced during the process of treatment, the promotion of acupuncture treatment for COVID-19 faces many obstacles.