Treatment Progress in Diminished Ovarian Reserve: Western and Chinese Medicine.

Diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), generally defined as a decreased number or quality of oocytes, has a significant impact on quality of life and fertility in women. In recent years, the incidence of DOR has been increasing and the ages of patients are younger. The search for an effective DOR treatment has emerged as one of the preeminent research topics in reproductive health. An effective DOR therapy would improve ovarian function, fertility, and quality of life in patients. In this review we evaluated DOR treatment progress both in Western medicine and Chinese medicine, and elucidated the characteristics of each treatment.

Low-Frequency Magnetic Stimulation of Shenmen Acupoint Reduces Blood Oxygen Levels in the Prefrontal Cortex of Healthy Subjects: A Near-Infrared Brain Functional Imaging Study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of low-frequency magnetic stimulation at Shenmen (HT 7) acupoint on blood oxygen levels in the prefrontal cortex of healthy subjects. METHODS: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technology was used to collect real-time data of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) in the prefrontal cortex of 16 healthy subjects at resting state and low-frequency magnetic stimulation of Shenmen. The mean and integral values of blood oxygen concentration were analyzed. RESULTS: Compared with the resting state, the mean and integral values of blood oxygen concentration were decreased during the task period, recovery period, and the whole process in the magnetic stimulation of Shenmen acupoint (P<0.05). In particular, the difference was statistically significant in the recovery period (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The prefrontal cortex was widely activated and produced an immediate effect by reducing the local blood oxygen concentration at low-frequency magnetic stimulation of Shenmen acupoint, which verifies the sedative effect of Shenmen acupoint.

[Clinical thinking about treating acute ischemic stroke by targeting the neurovascular unit of Chinese medicine].

Neurovascular unit (NVU) concept proposed for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) provides a new target, i.e., we should target as an integrity including neurons, glia, and microcirculation, thus supplementing limitations of previous treatment targeting neurons or blood vessels alone. Meanwhile, many clinical trials have failed after NVU protection against AIS drug research has developed at home and abroad. Chinese medicine has multi-component, multi-target, and overall regulation advantages, and is in line with clinical requirement for overall treatment targeting multiple targets of NVU. Currently clinical studies of Chinese medicine treatment of AIS targeting NVU are few. Standardized and systematic clinical efficacy evaluation is lack. Clinical studies for improving AIS-NVU injured blood markers by Chinese medicine are rarer. We hope to pave the way for performing clinical studies on Chinese medicine treatment of AIS targeting NVU.