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.

Patent analysis of new target oral drugs for type 2 diabetes mellitus / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To analyze the patents of new target oral drugs for type 2 diabetes mellitus （T2DM）， and to provide references for the research and development direction and patent layout of new domestic diabetes drugs. METHODS Based on global patent data in the HimmPat database， from multiple perspectives such as the number of patent applications and authorization， development trend， regional distribution and main applicants， statistics and analysis were performed for the patents related to 3 types of new target oral drugs for T2DM， such as glucokinase activator （GKA）， protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibitor （PTP-1B-IN）， and 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 inhibitor （11β-HSD1-IN）. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS A total of 1 649 patents of GKA， 709 patents of PTP-1B-IN， 592 patents of 11β-HSD1-IN were obtained， the main applicants were well-known pharmaceutical companies， which possessed the core patents of pharmaceutical compounds. The research on GKA drugs was more mature， with a larger number of patent applications and a more comprehensive enterprise layout. Domestic enterprises， universities and research institutions had advantages in the field of PTP-1B-IN. Domestic enterprises and research institutions can leverage the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine and resources to enhance their research capabilities and improve technological competitiveness through core technology exploration， the exploration of process route， patent layout， industry- university-research cooperation and the establishment of patent pool.

The Bioavailability of Glycyrrhizinic Acid Was Enhanced by Probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus R0011 Supplementation in Liver Fibrosis Rats.

Glycyrrhizinic acid (GL) is clinically applied to treat liver injury, and the bioavailability of orally administered GL is closely related to the gut microbiota. Therefore, the dysbiosis of gut flora in liver injury could significantly influence GL bioavailability. Still, less is known about the impact of probiotic supplementation on the bio-absorption process of oral medication, especially under a pathological state. Herein, probiotic L. rhamnosus R0011 (R0011) with a high viability in the harsh gastrointestinal environment was selected, and the effect of R0011 on the GL bioavailability in rats was investigated. Four groups of rats (n = 6 per group) were included: the normal group (N group), the normal group supplemented with R0011 (NLGG group), CCl4-induced chronic liver injury model (M group), and the model group supplemented with R0011 (MLGG group). Our results showed that liver injury was successfully induced in the M and MLGG groups via an intraperitoneal injection of 50% (v/v) CCl4 solution. Healthy rats supplemented with R0011 could increase the bioavailability of GL by 1.4-fold compared with the normal group by plasma pharmacokinetic analysis. Moreover, the GL bioavailability of MLGG group was significantly increased by 4.5-fold compared with the model group. R0011 directly improved gut microbial glucuronidase and downregulated the host intestinal drug transporter gene expression of multidrug resistance protein 2 (MRP2). More critically, R0011 restored the gut microbiota composition and regulated the metabolic function, significantly enhancing the microbial tryptophan metabolic pathway compared with the pathological state, which may indirectly promote the bioavailability of GL. Overall, these data may provide possible strategies by which to address the low bioavailability of traditional medicine through probiotic intervention.

Pharmaceutical assistance programs for cancer patients in the era of orally administered chemotherapeutics.

Introduction The rising cost of cancer drugs may make treatment unaffordable for some patients. Patients often rely on drug manufacturer-administered Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs (PAPs) to obtain drugs and reduced or no cost. The overall usage of PAPs within cancer care delivery is unknown. Methods We included all cancer patients across an academically affiliated, integrated health system in North Carolina during 2014 ( N = 8591). We identified the subset of patients receiving PAP assistance to afford one or more cancer drugs, in order to calculate the proportion of patients receiving PAP assistance, and the retail value of the assistance. Results Among 8591 cancer patients, 215 unique patients submitted a total of 478 successful PAP requests for cancer drugs. 40% of PAP-utilizing patients were uninsured, 23% had Medicaid coverage, 20% had Medicare coverage, 2% were dual Medicare/Medicaid eligible, and 14% were commercially insured. Among all cancer patients who received medical treatment, 6.0% required PAP assistance, whereas 10.6% receiving an oral agent required PAP assistance. The proportion receiving PAP assistance varied substantially by drug, ranging from <1% of patients (e.g. carboplatin, methotrexate) to 50% of patients (e.g. ponatinib, temsirolimus). The majority of the retail value obtained was for oral agents, including $1,556,575 of imatinib and $1,449,633 of dasatinib, which were the two drugs with the highest aggregate retail value. Conclusions A substantial proportion of cancer patients receive private charitable assistance to obtain standard-of-care treatments. This includes patients with federal and private insurance, suggesting an inability of patients to meet cost-sharing requirements.

The impact of therapeutic regimen on the depression in type 2 diabetes mellitus: A cross-sectional study / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

To explore the depression in type 2 diabetic patients treated with insulin and compared to those treated with oral anti-diabetic drugs.283 type 2 diabetics were seclected randomly from outpatient and inpatient departments of endocrionology in Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine,with the self-designed questionnaire and Zung self-rating depression scale to conduct the survey.Comparisons between the two groups were carried out with t-test or x2 test for quantitative and qualitative data,respectively.Logistic regression were used for the analysis of the relationship between the therapeutic regimen and depression.Overall,43.1％ of the type 2 diabetic subjects showed depressive symptoms in different degrees.Compared to the oral drug group,the insulin group showed a significantly higher prevalence of depressive symptoms (insulin group,53.5％,oral drug group,30.5％;P＜0.01)and higher self-rating depression scale scores (insulin group,51.7 ± 12.4,oral drug group,44.8 ± 10.6;P＜0.01).Moreover,after an adjustment for age,sex,body mass index,diabetic duration,complications,HbA1Cand so on,the insulin group showed a significantly higher frequency of depression (OR=4.218,95％ CI 1.764-13.285,P=0.004),compared to the oral drug group.The data showed that insulin treatment is an independent risk factor to the presence of depressive symptoms in type 2 diabetics,and it is necessary to pay more attention to their psychological support.