Progress of researches on mechanisms of acupuncture for secondary prevention of ischemic stroke. / é’ˆåˆºå‚ä¸Žç¼ºè¡€æ€§è„‘å’ä¸­äºŒçº§é¢„é˜²çš„ç ”ç©¶è¿›å±•.

Ischemic stroke (IS) is one of the main causes inducing death and disability in adults. Because of the high recurrence rate of IS, prevention of recurrence is of great significance to this population, for which the evidence-based and effective secondary prevention strategy is an important means, and acupuncture intervention has a positive effect on its risk factors. In the present article, we reviewed the progress of researches on the mechanisms of acupuncture underlying prevention of IS relapse from the perspective of its main risk factors, namely 1) hypertension (preventing and controlling the adverse effects caused by the imbalance of blood pressure level, vascular and other tissue structures, endocrine factors and central nervous system activities in patients with hypertension after IS), 2) hypercholesterolemia (lowering serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and raising high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), 3) diabetes (regulating the secretion function of adipose tissue, activating the insulin signal transduction pathway, protecting the function of pancreatic ß cells, and regulating the central nervous system functions to participate in the secondary prevention of IS), 4) smoking (relieving the symptoms of smoking cessation and reducing the smoker's dependence on smoking by changing the internal environment, lowering the level of blood endorphin and regulating the excitability of central nervous system), 5) sleep apnea syndrome (regulating local muscle function and the excitability of the nervous system, but also affecting some organic changes as reducing tonsil swelling) and 6) obesity (lowering blood glucose and lipid, increasing the ratio of brown/white fat, reducing leptin resistance, and suppressing appetite to induce body weight loss, or directly regulate the changes of fat tissue, etc). Results shows that the acupuncture's regulatory mechanism for IS risk factors is closely related to the neuroendocrine system, and simultaneously involves multiple targets of multiple risk factors. Due to its good efficacy and safety, acupuncture therapy is of great value for clinical promotion as an important intervention for secondary prevention.

Expression and correlation analysis of silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1), sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1 (SREBP1), and pyroptosis factor in gestational diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Globally, the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is rising each year, yet its pathophysiology is still unclear. To shed new light on the pathogenesis of gestational diabetes mellitus and perhaps uncover new therapeutic targets, this study looked at the expression levels and correlations of SIRT1, SREBP1, and pyroptosis factors like NLRP3, Caspase-1, IL-1, and IL-18 in patients with GDM. METHODS: This study involved a comparative analysis between two groups. The GDM group consisted of 50 GDM patients and the control group included 50 pregnant women with normal pregnancies. Detailed case data were collected for all participants. We utilized real-time quantitative PCR and Western Blot techniques to assess the expression levels of SIRT1 and SREBP1 in placental tissues from both groups. Additionally, we employed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure the serum levels of SIRT1, SREBP1, and pyroptosis factors, namely NLRP3, Caspase-1, IL-1ß, and IL-18, in the patients of both groups. Subsequently, we analyzed the correlations between these factors and clinical. RESULTS: The results showed that there were significantly lower expression levels of SIRT1 in both GDM group placental tissue and serum compared to the control group (p < 0.01). In contrast, the expression of SREBP1 was significantly higher in the GDM group than in the control group (p < 0.05). Additionally, the serum levels of NLRP3, Caspase-1, IL-1ß, and IL-18 were significantly elevated in the GDM group compared to the control group (p < 0.01). The expression of SIRT1 exhibited negative correlations with the expression of FPG, OGTT-1h, FINS, HOMA-IR, SREBP1, IL-1ß, and IL-18. However, there was no significant correlation between SIRT1 expression and OGTT-2h, NLRP3, or Caspase-1. On the other hand, the expression of SREBP1 was positively correlated with the expression of IL-1ß, Caspase-1, and IL-18, but has no apparent correlation with NLRP3. CONCLUSIONS: Low SIRT1 levels and high SREBP1 levels in placental tissue and serum, coupled with elevated levels of pyroptosis factors NLRP3, Caspase-1, IL-1ß, and IL-18 in serum, may be linked to the development of gestational diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, these three factors appear to correlate with each other in the pathogenesis of GDM, offering potential directions for future research and therapeutic strategies.

[Application and thinking of acupuncture therapy in comprehensive management of hypertension].

The theory of disease prevention with traditional Chinese medicine is introduced into the prevention of chronic diseases such as hypertension. In order to fully implement the advantages of acupuncture, the three-level prevention strategy is strengthened on the whole-process intervention with acupuncture for hypertension, including prevention before disease onset, starting intervention at the early phase, and prevention disease from exacerbating. Moreover, the comprehensive management scheme, multidisciplinary coordination and participation mechanism are investigated in the field of traditional Chinese medicine for preventive treatment of hypertension.

[Acupuncture as adjuvant therapy for 32 cases of coronavirus disease 2019].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of acupuncture on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) based on the conventional treatment. METHODS: A total of 35 patients with COVID-19 of mild or ordinary type were involved (3 cases dropped off). Acupuncture was applied on the basis of western medicine and Chinese materia medica treatment. Dazhui (GV 14), Fengchi (GB 20), Kongzui (LU 6), Hegu (LI 4), etc. were selected as the main acupoints, the supplementary acupoints and the reinforcing and reducing manipulations were selected according to syndrome differentiation. Acupuncture treatment was given once a day, 5 times a week. On day 3 and day 7 of acupuncture, relief condition of the main symptoms was observed. Before acupuncture and on day 3 and day 7 of acupuncture, efficacy evaluation scale of TCM on COVID-19 (efficacy evaluation scale) score was recorded. The effects of different intervention time of acupuncture on patients' hospitalization time were compared, the understanding of acupuncture treatment of patients discharged from hospital was recorded, the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment were evaluated. RESULTS: On day 3 and day 7 of acupuncture, the symptoms of lung system and non lung system were both relieved; the scores of efficacy evaluation scale were both decreased compared before acupuncture (P<0.05), and the efficacy evaluation scale score of day 7 of acupuncture were lower than day 3 of acupuncture (P<0.05). The average hospitalization time of patients received early acupuncture was shorter than late acupuncture (P<0.05). The total effective rate was 84.4% (27/32) on day 7 of acupuncture, which was higher than 34.4% (11/32) on day 3 of acupuncture (P<0.05). During the acupuncture treatment, there were neither adverse reactions in patients nor occupational exposures in doctors. The patients generally believed that acupuncture could promote the recovery of COVID-19 and recommended acupuncture treatment. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the conventional treatment, acupuncture can effectively relieve the clinical symptoms in patients with COVID-19, early intervention of acupuncture can accelerate the recovery process. Acupuncture has good safety, clinical compliance and recognition of patients.

[Effect of fire-needle intervention on joint function, cartilage impairment and inflammatory response in knee osteoarthritis rats].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of fire-needle stimulation of "Neixiyan"(EX-LE4) and "Dubi"(ST35) on changes of motor function, structure of cartilage degradation and inflammatory factors in knee osteoarthritis (KOA) rats, so as to explore its underlying mechanisms in improving KOA. METHODS: Thirty-nine male SD rats were randomly divided into normal, model and fire-needle groups (n＝13 in each group). The KOA model was established by injection of Monoiodoacetate (MIA, 1 mg) into the lumen of the right knee joint. On the 7th day after successful modeling, fire-needle was applied to EX-LE4 and ST35, twice a week for 3 weeks. The rats' behavioral reactions of gait (0 to 3 points) and claw pressure (0 to 3 points) were scored, and histopathological changes scored by assessing the impairment grade (0 to 6) and stage (0 to 4) of the articular cartilage after safranin O-fast green staining. The contents of serum Interleukin (IL)-1α， Tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α), IL-10, IL-37 and transforming growth factor ß(TGF-ß) were assayed by ELISA, and ultrastructural changes were observed under transmission electron microscope(TEM). RESULTS: After modeling, the gait and claw-pressure scores were significantly increased in the model group in comparison with the normal group (P<0.05), and the OA score and contents of serum IL-1α and TNF-α were also appa-rently increased in the model group relevant to the normal group (P<0.05，P<0.01), while the levels of serum IL-10, IL-37 and TGF-ß remarkably decreased in the model group in contrast to the normal group (P<0.01). After the intervention, the increase of gait and claw-pressure and OA scores, as well as serum IL-1α and TNF-α contents, and the decrease of serum IL-10, IL-37 and TGF-ß levels were all reversed in the fire needle group (P<0.05, P<0.01). Outcomes of TEM showed more and larger lipid droplets, swollen mitochondria with some vacuoles, and expanded, broken or dissolved rough endoplasmic reticulum in the model group, which was milder in the fire-needle group. CONCLUSION: Fire-needle can improve motor function and relieve impairment of articular cartilage of KOA rats, which may be related to its effects in reducing inflammatory factors and in increasing anti-inflammatory factor levels.

Recent advances in the annulation of Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts.

In this review, we summarize some of the most recent advances in the construction of cyclic compounds from the annulation of Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) adducts, which have demonstrated their importance by possessing diverse functional groups. Significant examples including [3 + 2], [3 + 3], [3 + 4] and other cyclizations described herein with MBH adducts were proven to be efficient approaches for the preparation of diverse cyclic structure motifs. However, most of the reported strategies are based on the use of non-chiral catalysts/ligands, whilst stereoselective reactions remain largely unexplored. This area is still in its infancy and future research on MBH adducts will definitely benefit the organic chemistry community, especially for the synthesis of drug candidates and other molecules that might draw attention to materials sciences.