Professor LU Fan's clinical experience in shallow needling technique of acupuncture / 中国针灸

Professor LU Fan adheres to the principle in clinical practice, "the needling principle concentrated on regulating qi ". She takes the advantages of shallow needling technique of acupuncture in treatment of various diseases, e.g. exogenous disease, initial onset of disorder, chronic bi disorder, intractable diseases, disorder of yang nature, disorder of heat nature, thin body, pediatric diseases, disorders on the unilateral side of the body and acute diseases. Besides in compliance with classics, she has broadened the application scope of shallow needling technique of acupuncture and improved the clinical therapeutic effect.

Pharmacological effects of volatileoil from Alpinia officinaruim in treating cardiovascular diseases / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

Galangal (Alpinia officinaruim Hance) is the rhizome of the perennial herb belonging to Zingiberaceae family. There are many active components in galangal, such as volatile oil, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenylpropanoids and glycosides, among which the content of volatile oil is higher. The bioactivities of galangal volatile oil on health effect includesanti-inflammatory, anti-hypertension, anti-oxidation and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a kind of diseases related to circulatory system, which is also called circulatory system diseases. Over the past decade, the number of people dying from CVD has increased by 12.5％ worldwide, and it is now the leading cause of human death worldwide. Studies have shown that galangal volatile oil has good pharmacological effects in treating CVD. ① Regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism: studies have found that abnormal lipid metabolism can lead to obesity, diabetes, CVD and other diseases. The serum total triglyceride (TG) content in liver and serum will increase in patients with abnormal fat metabolism. The results showed that the volatile oil of galangal could increase the excretion of neutral cholesterol, significantly reduce liver TG and serum TG, and thus regulate glucose and lipid metabo?lism, prevent lipid deposition and prevent CVD. ② Improving insulin resistance (IR): inhibition of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6 activation and expression of TNF-α, improves IR, thereby protecting myocardium from IR-mediated damage. Through the establishment of endothelial cell injury model induced by high glucose in vitro, it was found that the volatile oil of galangal can significantly reduce the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-αand IL-8, and inhib?it the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 induced by high glucose, suggesting that it has protective effect on endothelial dysfunction and inflammation induced by high glucose.③Regulate blood oxygenation:during acute myocardial hypoxia, the activity of free radical scavenging system is decreased, and oxygen free radicals are produced in large quantity, which reacts with unsaturated fatty acids on the cell membrane and forms lipid peroxidation, resulting in myocardial structural damage. The results showed that the water extract of Galangal could reduce the content of MDA in blood and protect the SOD activity of ischemic and hypoxic myocardium.④ Protective effect of vascular endothelial cells (ES):ES injury is the pathological basis of some cardiovascular diseases. The results showed that the volatile oil of galangal had a protective effect on ES apoptosis. Compared with the morphology and activity of ES treated with oxidized LDL, galan?gal volatile oil could ameliorate these morphological changes and improve cell viability. ⑤ Antiplatelet agglutination:inhibit platelet aggregation and thromboxane release, improve blood circulation, and have obvious anti-thrombotic effect, which has a good effect on the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The results showed that the volatile oil of galangal had inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation and anticoagulant effect. In conclusion, the volatile oil of galangal can be used to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases. Based on the mechanism of CVD, this study summa?rized the role of the essential oil of Alpinia officinaruim in CVD, providing basis for the clinical application of alpiniaoffici?nalis essential oil in the prevention and treatment of CVD and the development of new drugs.