Cupping therapy for treating knee osteoarthritis: The evidence from systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Cupping therapy is widely used in East Asia, the Middle East, or Central and North Europe to manage the symptom of knee osteoarthritis (KOA). The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the available evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of cupping therapy for treating patients with KOA. METHODS: The following databases were searched from their inception until January 2017: PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and four Chinese databases [WanFang Med Database, Chinese BioMedical Database, Chinese WeiPu Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI)]. Only the RCTs related to the effects of cupping therapy on KOA were included in this systematic review. A quantitative synthesis of RCTs will be conducted using RevMan 5.3 software. Study selection, data extraction, and validation was performed independently by two reviewers. Cochrane criteria for risk-of-bias were used to assess the methodological quality of the trials. RESULTS: Seven RCTs met the inclusion criteria, and most were of low methodological quality. Study participants in the dry cupping therapy plus the Western medicine therapy group showed significantly greater improvements in the pain [MD = -1.01, 95%CI (-1.61, -0.41), p < 0.01], stiffness [MD = -0.81, 95%CI (-1.14, -0.48), p < 0.01] and physical function [MD = -5.53, 95%CI (-8.58, -2.47), p < 0.01] domains of Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) compared to participants in the Western medicine therapy group, with low heterogeneity (Chi2 = 0.00 p = 1.00, I2 = 0% in pain; Chi2 = 0.45 p = 0.50, I2 = 0% in stiffness; Chi2 = 1.09 p = 0.30, I2 = 9% in physical function). However, it failed to do so on a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) [MD = -0.32, 95%CI (-0.70, 0.05), p = 0.09]. In addition, when compared with Western medicine therapy alone, meta-analysis of four RCTs suggested favorable statistically significant effects of wet cupping therapy plus western medicine on response rate [MD = 1.06, 95%CI (1.01, 1.12), p = 0.03; heterogeneity: Chi2 = 1.13, p = 0.77, I2 = 0%] and Lequesne Algofunctional Index (LAI) [MD = -2.74, 95%CI (-3.41, -2.07), p < 0.01; heterogeneity: Chi2 = 2.03, p = 0.57, I2 = 0% ]. CONCLUSION: Only weak evidence can support the hypothesis that cupping therapy can effectively improve the treatment efficacy and physical function in patients with KOA.

[Probe excavations about using gene chip to identify original plants in Chinese pharmacopoeia based on NCBI sequence database].

OBJECTIVE: Based on the DNA fragments of medicinal plants of NCBJ database, the DNA Probe,which can be used to identify original plants in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 edition), was got. METHODS: First of all, get the Latin name of the original plants by collating the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Next,download the medicinal plants' DNA fragments from the NCBI database, including ITS, matK, rbcL, psbK-psbI and trnH-psbA, then design probe by using Array Designer 4. 2. Finally, analyze each probe's versatility in the same kind of original plant and conservatism in different kinds of original plants by using Matlab, then determine the specificity of the probe. RESULTS: Regarding the Latin name of 586 original plants in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 edition) and the above five gene fragments as retrieval condition, 7 613 sequences were downloaded from NCBI, then 315 436 probes were got in total by analyzing. What's more, after analyzing versatility and conservatism of the probes,13 814 specific probes were got. Furthermore,in theory, 376 kinds of original plants could be detected. Because there existed the lack of related gene fragments in the NCBI database,or the sequences were short of specificity,210 species of original plants which were involved in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia didn't receive the corresponding probe. CONCLUSION: The results of the study can provide the further development of medicinal plants' identification chip with vital information support,and the excavation methods of probe can be widely used. Furthermore,the results of the study indicate the original plants which need sequencing importantly in the future.

[Common and variant peak ratios in IR fingerprint of Cacumen platycladi with dual-index sequence analysis].

To establish a new method to analyze IR fingerprint, which is in line with the characteristic of traditional Chinese medicine, two indexes, common peak ratio and variant peak ratio, were applied and their values were calculated by means of sequential analysis, in which each Cacumen platycladi sample's IR fingerprint spectra were set up and the common peak ratio sequences were arranged in the order of size in comparison with other samples. The analytical results showed that samples G1 and G8 from the same region, and G4, G2 and G6 from the closer regions were the most similar samples with higher common peak ratio (> or = 90.0%) and lower variant peak ratio (< or = 11.1%). However, the samples G10, G3, G4 and G5 from the closer regions collected in different years, and G2 and G7 from the farther regions,were of significant disparity with common peak ratio less than 50% and variant peak ratio larger than 50%. As a result, the method could be used to distinguish Cacumen platycladi of different areas and batches. The dual index sequential analysis enables us to distinguish two or more herb's IR fingerprints, is a new method to analyze IR fingerprint spectra, and can be used in line with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine.