Acupuncture therapy for gastric ulcer: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Gastric ulcer (GU) is a clinically common disease of the digestive system that adversely affects patients' quality of life and work ability. Although some articles have reported that acupuncture can improve the clinical symptoms of GU, the efficacy of acupuncture has not been scientifically or methodically evaluated. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for the treatment of patients with gastric ulcers. METHODS: The following electronic databases will be searched from the respective dates of database inception to March 23, 2021: The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE, MEDLINE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Wanfang database, the Chinese Scientific Journal Database, and other sources. Randomized controlled trials comparing acupuncture with other interventions or sham acupuncture were included. Two independent researchers will perform article retrieval, duplication removal, screening, quality evaluation, and data analyses by Review Manager (V.5.3.5). Meta-analyzes, subgroup analysis, and/or descriptive analyses will be performed based on the included data conditions. RESULTS: The protocol of this study systematically assessed the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for gastric ulcer patients. The primary outcome was the effective rate, and the secondary outcomes included negative conversing rate of Helicobacter pylori infection, untoward effect, recurrence rate, quality of life, and symptom scores. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence of whether acupuncture is an effective and safe intervention for gastric ulcers. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021251067.

The effect of acupoint herbal patching on the quality of life of patients recovering from COVID-19: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis.

BACKGROUND: There is a worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, and as the number of patients increases, an increasing number of patients are recovering. However, no relevant systematic review or meta-analysis has been designed to evaluate the effects of acupoint herbal patching on the life of patients recovering from COVID-19. METHODS: The following electronic databases will be searched from the respective dates of database inception to April 20, 2021: The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE, MEDLINE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Wanfang database, the Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP), and other sources. All published randomized controlled trials in English or Chinese related to acupoint herbal patching for COVID-19 will be included. The primary outcome was the timing of the influence of acupoint herbal patching on the quality of life of convalescent patients. Secondary outcomes were accompanying symptoms (such as myalgia, expectoration, stuffiness, runny nose, pharyngalgia, anhelation, chest distress, dyspnea, crackles, headache, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea) disappearance rate, negative COVID-19 results rate on two consecutive occasions (not on the same day), average hospitalization time, clinical curative effect, and improved quality of life. RESULTS: The main purpose of this systematic review protocol was to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupoint herbal patching therapy for treating patients recovering from COVID-19. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of our study will provide evidence to judge whether acupoint herbal patching is an effective intervention for the quality of life in patients recovering. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021246550.

Tuina plus acupuncture for post-stroke depression: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Post-stroke depression (PSD) is the most common mental health issue, affecting approximately 33% of stroke survivors. Tuina and acupuncture treatments are often combined to treat PSD; however, there has been no meta-analysis on their synergistic effect. Therefore, we aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the effectiveness of Tuina and acupuncture in PSD treatment. METHODS: The following electronic databases will be searched: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, CNKI, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, VIP, and Wan Fang databases. We will consider articles published between database initiation and April 2021. Clinical randomized controlled trials related to Tuina combined with acupuncture for post-stroke depression will be included in the study. Language is limited to Chinese and English. Research selection, data extraction, and research quality assessment were independently completed by 2 researchers. Data were synthesized using a fixed effect model or random effect model, depending on the heterogeneity test. The Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) and effective rate were the primary outcomes. The post-stroke depression rating scale (PSDRS), patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the incidence of adverse events will also be assessed as secondary outcomes. RevMan V.5.4 statistical software will be used for meta-analysis. If it is not appropriate for a meta-analysis, a descriptive analysis will be conducted. Data synthesis uses the risk ratio and the standardized or weighted average difference of continuous data to represent the results. RESULTS: This study provides a high-quality synthesis to assess the effectiveness and safety of Tuina for post-stroke depression. CONCLUSION: This systematic review will provide evidence to determine whether Tuina plus acupuncture is an effective and safe intervention for patients with post-stroke depression. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The protocol of the systematic review does not require ethical approval because it does not involve humans. This article will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant conferences. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: INPLASY202140098.

Acupuncture therapy and cognitive dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes: A protocol for systematic review.

BACKGROUND: With the aging of society, the incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is increasing every year, and there is a clear correlation between T2DM and cognitive dysfunction. Acupuncture therapy has been widely used in the treatment of T2DM, but there is no systematic review on the treatment of T2DM associated with cognitive impairment. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis of acupuncture in the treatment of T2DM with cognitive impairment to clarify its efficacy. METHODS: A structured and systematic literature search will be conducted in the following databases up to April 26, 2021: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science (WOS), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese Scientific and Journal Database (VIP), and Wan Fang database (Wanfang). We will use the Review Manager 5.4 software provided by the Cochrane Collaborative Network for statistical analysis. We then assessed the quality and risk of the included studies and observed the outcome measures. RESULTS: This meta-analysis further determined the beneficial effects of acupuncture on T2DM with cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to explore the effect of acupuncture on patients T2DM with and cognitive impairment patients, and provide more options for clinicians and patients to treat T2DM with cognitive impairment. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This systematics review will evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of T2DM with cognitive impairment. Since all the data included were published, the systematic review did not require ethical approval. REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021245681.

Abdominal Massage Alleviates Skeletal Muscle Insulin Resistance by Regulating the AMPK/SIRT1/PGC-1α Signaling Pathway.

Abdominal massage (AM), a traditional Chinese medicine-based treatment method, has received considerable attention in the recent years. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of AM on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced insulin resistance (IR) in comparison with resveratrol (RSV) treatment. Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the following four groups: standard chow diet (control group), high-fat diet (model group), HFD + abdominal massage (AM group), and HFD + resveratrol (RSV group). A rat model of IR was established by feeding HFD to rats for 8 weeks followed by treatment with AM or RSV for 4 weeks. The underlying HFD-induced IR molecular mechanisms were studied in rat serum and skeletal muscles. RSV and AM significantly improved glucose intolerance, hyperglycemia, obesity, and significantly reduced lipid accumulation [triglyceride (TC), total cholesterol (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C)], adipocytokine [free fatty acids (FFA), adiponectin (ADPN)] and serum pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α) secretion. In addition, AM activated the AMPK/SIRT1 signaling pathway in rat skeletal muscle. In conclusion, our results showed that AM could improve IR by regulating the secretion of adipocytokines, pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as related signaling pathways in the skeletal muscle of rats, which might provide insights into development of new treatment methods for the clinical treatment of IR.

Acupuncture combine with Tuina for diabetic peripheral neuropathy: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most common microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus, with an incidence ranging from 60% to 90%. With the change in modern dietary structure, the incidence of diabetes is increasing year by year, and DPN is also on the rise. Acupuncture and Tuina treatments are often combined to treat DPN; however, there has been no meta-analysis on their synergistic effect; therefore, we aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the effectiveness of acupuncture combined with Tuina in DPN treatment. METHODS: Nine electronic databases were retrieved for this study. The English databases mainly retrieved PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, AMED, and the Cochrane Library, while the CNKI, VIP, CBM, and Wanfang databases were used to retrieve the Chinese literature; there was no definite time limit for the retrieval literature, and the languages were limited to Chinese and English. We will consider articles published between database initiation and November 2021. We used Review Manager 5.4 software provided by the Cochrane Collaborative Network for statistical analysis. We then assessed the quality and risk of the included studies and observed the outcome measures. RESULTS: This study provides a high-quality synthesis to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Tuina for treating DPN. CONCLUSION: This systematic review provided evidence to determine whether acupuncture combined with Tuina is an effective and safe intervention for patients with DPN. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The protocol for this systematic review does not require ethical approval because it does not involve humans. This article will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant conferences. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: INPLASY2021110017.

Zinc-finger protein YY1 suppresses tumor growth of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma by inactivating c-Myc-mediated microRNA-141 transcription.

Yin Yang 1 (YY1) is a zinc-finger protein that plays critical roles in various biological processes by interacting with DNA and numerous protein partners. YY1 has been reported to play dual biological functions as either an oncogene or tumor suppressor in the development and progression of multiple cancers, but its role in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has not yet been revealed. In this study, we found that YY1 overexpression significantly inhibits cell proliferation and cell-cycle progression from G1 to S and promotes apoptosis in NPC cells. Moreover, we identified YY1 as a component of the c-Myc complex and observed that ectopic expression of YY1 inhibits c-Myc transcriptional activity, as well as the promoter activity and expression of the c-Myc target gene microRNA-141 (miR-141). Furthermore, restoring miR-141 expression could at least partially reverse the inhibitory effect of YY1 on cell proliferation and tumor growth and on the expression of some critical c-Myc targets, such as PTEN/AKT pathway components both in vitro and in vivo We also found that YY1 expression is reduced in NPC tissues, negatively correlates with miR-141 expression and clinical stages in NPC patients, and positively correlates with survival prognosis. Our results reveal a previously unappreciated mechanism in which the YY1/c-Myc/miR-141 axis plays a critical role in NPC progression and may provide some potential and valuable targets for the diagnosis and treatment of NPC.

Songling Xuemaikang Capsule () for primary hypertension: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Songling Xuemaikang Capsule (, SXC) for the treatment of primary hypertension. METHODS: An extensive search including Cochrane Library, PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP), KoreaMed, Japanese database, and online clinical trial registry websites was performed up to February 2013. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding SXC for the treatment of primary hypertension were searched without no language restrictions. The quality of each trial was assessed according to the Cochrane Reviewers' Handbook 5.0, and RevMan 5.0 provided by the Cochrane Collaboration. RESULT: A total of 17 RCTs involving 1,778 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference between SXC and antihypertensive agents on systolic blood pressure [mean difference (MD): -0.10 [-4.83, 4.63]; P=0.97] and diastolic blood pressure (MD: 1.00 [-1.16, 3.16]; P=0.36), but SXC combined with antihypertensive drugs was more effective in lowering systolic blood pressure (MD: -6.17 [-7.86, -4.49]; P<0.00001) and diastolic blood pressure (MD: -7.24 [-8.62, -5.85]; P<0.00001) compared with the antihypertensive drugs alone. CONCLUSIONS: SXC used alone or combined with antihypertensive drugs appear to be an effective treatment for lowering elevated blood pressure and improving symptoms in patients with primary hypertension. However, the conclusion cannot be drawn definitely due to the poor quality of the included studies. There is still an urgent need for well-designed, long-term studies to address the benefits of SXC for treating primary hypertension.

Protective effects of panax notoginseng saponins on cardiovascular diseases: a comprehensive overview of experimental studies.

Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) are one of the most important compounds derived from roots of the herb Panax notoginseng which are traditionally used as a hemostatic medicine to control internal and external bleeding in China for thousands of years. To date, at least twenty saponins were identified and some of them including notoginsenoside R1, ginsenoside Rb1, and ginsenoside Rg1 were researched frequently in the area of cardiovascular protection. However, the protective effects of PNS on cardiovascular diseases based on experimental studies and its underlying mechanisms have not been reviewed systematically. This paper reviewed the pharmacology of PNS and its monomers Rb1, Rg1, and R1 in the treatment for cardiovascular diseases.

Gold nanorod-embedded electrospun fibrous membrane as a photothermal therapy platform.

A strategy of using a gold nanorod (GNR)-loaded electrospun membrane as a photothermal therapy platform of cancer is reported. The strategy takes both the advantages of the excellent photothermal properties of GNRs to selectively kill the cancerous cells, and the widely used biodegradable electrospun membrane to serve as GNR-carrier and surgical recovery material. PEG modified GNRs were embedded into the electrospun fibrous membrane which was composed of PLGA and PLA-b-PEG with an 85:15 ratio. After incubation with the cells in the cell culture medium, the PEG-GNRs were released from the membrane and taken up by cancer cells, allowing the generation of heat upon NIR irradiation to induce cancer cell death. We have demonstrated that the use of PEG-GNR-embedded membrane selectively killed the cancerous cells and effectively inhibited cancer cell proliferation though in vitro experiments. The PEG-GNRs-loaded membrane is a promising material for postsurgical recovery of cancer.

Xuesaitong soft capsule (chinese patent medicine) for the treatment of unstable angina pectoris: a meta-analysis and systematic review.

Objective. To provide a systematic review to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Xuesaitong soft capsule (XST) in treating unstable angina (UA). Methods. An extensive search of 6 medical databases was performed up to August 2013. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving XST alone or combined with conventional drugs versus conventional drugs were included. A meta-analysis of reduction of angina symptoms and electrocardiogram (ECG) improvement was performed to evaluate the effects of XST on UA. Results. After researching, a total of 6 RCTs with 716 participants were included. Our review showed that XST combined with conventional drugs had significant effect on relieving angina symptoms (RR: 1.14 [1.07, 1.22]; P = 0.0001) and improving ECG (RR: 1.26 [1.12, 1.42]; P = 0.0001) compared with conventional drugs alone. Conclusions. XST appears to have beneficial effects on improvement of ECG, reduction of angina symptoms, and decreasing the frequency and duration of angina attack in participants with UA. However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the poor methodological quality of the included trials.