Buccal acupuncture combined with ultrasound-guided dry needle-evoked inactivation of trigger points to treat cervical and shoulder girdle myofascial pain syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a common disease with easy persistence and recurrence. In clinical practice, although many methods have been adopted to prevent and treat MPS, the control of MPS is still not satisfactory. OBJECTIVE: To compare the safety and effectiveness of buccal acupuncture, inactivation of trigger points (MTrPs), and their combination in the treatment of MPS. METHODS: Two hundred MPS patients in the pain clinic were randomly divided into four groups (n= 50) to receive oral drugs (Group A), oral drugs + buccal needle (Group B), oral drugs + MTrP inactivation (Group C), or oral drugs + buccal needle + MTrP inactivation (Group D). RESULTS: The visual analogue scale (VAS) and cervical range of motion (ROM) of Group D were significantly lower than those of the other three groups, and the pressure pain threshold (PPT) value of labelled MTrPs was significantly higher than those of the other three groups (P< 0.05). The excellent rate and total effective rate of Group D were significantly higher than those of the other three groups. Group C had the highest pain score and the lowest acceptance score. The results showed that buccal acupuncture combined with ultrasound-guided dry needle-evoked inactivation of MTrPs can significantly reduce the VAS score of MPS patients, improve the range of motion of the cervical spine, and improve patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a highly accepted and satisfactory treatment for MPS, which is worthy of clinical promotion.

Co-Delivery of Curcumin and Paclitaxel by "Core-Shell" Targeting Amphiphilic Copolymer to Reverse Resistance in the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is a common malignancy in the female reproductive system with a high mortality rate. The most important reason is multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancer chemotherapy. To reduce side effects, reverse resistance and improve efficacy for the treatment of ovarian cancer, a "core-shell" polymeric nanoparticle-mediated curcumin and paclitaxel co-delivery platform was designed. METHODS: Nuclear magnetic resonance confirmed the successful grafting of polyethylenimine (PEI) and stearic acid (SA) (PEI-SA), which is designed as a mother core for transport carrier. Then, PEI-SA was modified with hyaluronic acid (HA) and physicochemical properties were examined. To understand the regulatory mechanism of resistance and measure the anti-tumor efficacy of the treatments, cytotoxicity assay, cellular uptake, P-glycoprotein (P-gp) expression and migration experiment of ovarian cancer cells were performed. In addition, adverse reactions of nanoformulation to the reproductive system were examined. RESULTS: HA-modified drug-loaded PEI-SA had a narrow size of about 189 nm in diameters, and the particle size was suitable for endocytosis. The nanocarrier could target specifically to CD44 receptor on the ovarian cancer cell membrane. Co-delivery of curcumin and paclitaxel by the nanocarriers exerts synergistic anti-ovarian cancer effects on chemosensitive human ovarian cancer cells (SKOV3) and multi-drug resistant variant (SKOV3-TR30) in vitro, and it also shows a good anti-tumor effect in ovarian tumor-bearing nude mice. The mechanism of reversing drug resistance may be that the nanoparticles inhibit the efflux of P-gp, inhibit the migration of tumor cells, and curcumin synergistically reverses the resistance of PTX to increase antitumor activity. It is worth noting that the treatment did not cause significant toxicity to the uterus and ovaries with the observation of macroscopic and microscopic. CONCLUSION: This special structure of targeting nanoparticles co-delivery with the curcumin and paclitaxel can increase the anti-tumor efficacy without increasing the adverse reactions as a promising strategy for therapy ovarian cancer.

Clinical Research on Prevention and Treatment of Respiratory Tract Complications With Acupoint Application After Operation Under General Anesthesia.

There are various respiratory tract complications in patients undergoing general anesthesia, with postoperative sore throat (POST) being the most commonly seen. Although measures have been taken to prevent and treat POST in clinical practice, the control of POST is still not satisfactory. In this study, 880 ASA patients with grade I to II general anesthesia were randomly assigned into control group and experimental group. After patients entered into the operating room, the plasters were applied to the designated points (Tianzhu, Lianquan, Dazhui, etc), and the clinical efficacy of acupoint application in prevention and treatment of respiratory tract complications after general anesthesia was observed. The results showed that patients starting using acupoint application before operation could significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative respiratory tract complications, and the effects lasted for up to 24 hours. In this study, acupoint application was used, providing a simple, safe, efficient, and durable approach to prevent and treat respiratory tract complications after operation under general anesthesia.

[Associations of metabolism of lipid, calcium and phosphate in endometriosis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the metabolism of lipid, calcium and phosphorus in women with endometriosis. METHODS: Clinical data of 223 patients with endometriosis and 200 patients without endometriosis were retrospectively analyzed. Electrochemiluminoimmunoassay was used to detect the levels of serum luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone (T), estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P), and photoelectric colorimetry was used to determine the concentrations of serum triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), calcium and phosphorus in the patients with and without endometriosis. RESULTS: The levels of serum P were 2.0 nmol/L and 1.8 nmol/L in endometriosis patients with age < or = 35 years old (case group A) and > 35 years old (case group B), and 1.6 nmol/L and 1.2 nmol/L in patients without endometriosis at age < or = 35 years old (control group A) and > 35 years old (control group B), respectively. A significant difference was found between case group A and control group A, and between case group B and control group B. The levels of serum LH was significantly higher in case group B (7.2 U/L) than that in control group B (6.1 U/L), however, there was no significant difference between case group A (7.0 U/L) and control group A (6.5 U/L). Also no significant difference in serum FSH, T and E2 levels was found between case group A (respectively, 6.2 U/L, 1.1 nmol/L and 269 pmol/L) and control group A (respectively, 6.3 U/L, 1.1 nmol/L and 264 pmol/L), also between case group B (respectively, 6.6 U/L, 1.0 nmol/L and 345 pmol/L) and control group B (6.6 IU/L, 0.9 nmol/L and 279 pmol/L). The concentrations of serum TG in case group A and B (0.71 mmol/L and 0.72 mmol/L) were significantly lower than in control group A and B (0.92 mmol/L and 1.08 mmol/L), respectively. The concentrations of serum LDL in case group A and B [(2.2 +/- 0.5) mmol/L and (2.4 +/- 0.6) mmol/L]were also significantly lower than in control group A and B [(2.4 +/- 0.7) mmol/L and (2.62 +/- 0.63) mmol/L], respectively. However, the concentrations of serum HDL in case group A and B [(1.62 +/- 0.31) mmol/L and (1.53 +/- 0.32) mmol/L] were significantly higher than in control group A and B [(1.48 +/- 0.21) mmol/L and (1.37 +/- 0.22) mmol/L] , respectively. In addition, the concentrations of serum TC were not significantly different between case group A and control group A [(4.2 +/- 0.7) mmol/L and (4.29 +/- 0.71) mmol/L], and between case group B and control group B [(4.4 +/- 0.8) mmol/L and (4.5 +/- 0.7) mmol/L]. The levels of serum phosphorus in case group A and B [(1.01 +/- 0.22) mmol/L and (0.89 +/- 0.18 mmol/L] were significantly lower than in control group A and B [1.23 +/- 0.24 mmol/L and (1.10 +/- 0.13) mmol/L], respectively. But the levels of serum calcium had no significant difference between case group A and control group A [(2.33 +/- 0.23) mmol/L and (2.41 +/- 0.12) mmol/L], and between case group B and control group B [(2.40 +/- 0.28) mmol/L and (2.42 +/- 0.20) mmol/L]. CONCLUSION: The abnormal metabolism of lipid and phosphorus, and the higher levels of serum P may playing a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.