[Discussion on "sugar needle - comfortable acupuncture and moxibustion"].

The cases of feeling comfort during acupuncture and moxibustion treatment in literature were summarized and its biological basis was explored. A simple classification of comfort was made, and the importance of obtaining comfort in acupuncture treatment was pointed out. Considering the pursuit of less pain and harmlessness in modern clinical treatment, sugar needle should be advocated and popularized in current clinical practice of acupuncture and moxibustion.

[Challenges and choices: translational acupuncture research spectrum-a proposal].

For more than half a century，the modern bioresearch in acupuncture has made remarkable advancements, proving scientific basis underlying the traditional, intuitive treatment, as well as leading to some new discoveries with the potential to enhance the effectiveness of acupuncture as we know it. Meanwhile, the clinical researches have started to shift its paradigm from traditional individual observation to modern evidence-based medicine. However, there is little interaction between basic and clinic researches, which are like two separate worlds, not benefiting each other. Also the education and training of acupuncture are still traditional style, little combining with modern studies. To bridging the large gap, we need translational science involving in. In this article, with a critical reviews of the limitations of the traditional methods of acupuncture, the challenges faced by clinic practices and placebo-control studies, and the advantages and disadvantages of basic research, we propose a methodological paradigm of the translational research, Translational Acupuncture Research Spectrum, that meets the current situation of acupuncture researches, hoping to give insights into this field and to promote modern acupuncture to move towards a new stage.

[The path of translational medicine for neuroimmunological anti-inflammation and its enlightenment to acupuncture].

Neuroimmunological anti-inflammation is one of the most successful areas of translational medicine in the past 50 years, leading directly to the success of anti-TNF biologics and vagal nerve stimulation therapy for anti-inflammation. The latter has many similarities with traditional acupuncture therapy and further research may reveal more intertwining and enlightenment to acupuncture. This paper briefly reviews the discovery and translational process of Cachectin/TNF, anti-TNF therapy, neural inflammatory reflex arc, vagus nerve stimulation therapy, and Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Condition (SPARC) project, and also summarizes the experience and lessons learned from the path of translational medicine in this field. The two key steps in the translational process are discussed in details. The purpose is to provide reference for the development of translational medicine in acupuncture. "Minimal injury with significant healing" should be considered as the principal hypothesis to further study the biological mechanism of acupuncture and it may result in more clinical translation in the future.

Song's Mast Cell Theory of Acupuncture.

Professor. Jimei Song (1924-1987), from the Liaoning College of Traditional Medicine, first proposed the hypothesis that cutaneous mast cells (MCs) may be responsible for some of the phenomena associated with activation of meridians, acupoints, and De Qi in acupuncture. This was in 1977 and she subsequently published the first investigative report on human subjects. Supported by hundreds of extensive research reports later on, now Song's Mast Cell Theory of Acupuncture is one of the leading theories in acupuncture research. As a scientist and mother, Professor Song belonged to a special generation of female professionals in China. These women were living in a very unique and challenging era. Called "half of the sky" or "bourgeoisie intellectuals," they faced unbearable difficulties in their lives and their work. The contribution of Professor Song to acupuncture is as significant as the contribution of Ms. Youyou Tu to Chinese herbal medicine. The difference is that Professor Song did not receive any award or significant recognition before she died in 1987. This review provides some background about her life, her contributions, and related publications, as well as a brief review of recent advances on MC mapping and acupuncture based on her MC theory.

Effects of unilateral vs. bilateral resistance training interventions on measures of strength, jump, linear and change of direction speed: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Exercises can be categorized into either unilateral or bilateral movements. Despite the topic popularity, the answer to the question as to which (unilateral or bilateral) is superior for a certain athletic performance enhancement remains unclear. To compare the effect of unilateral and bilateral resistance training interventions on measures of athletic performance. Keywords related with unilateral, bilateral and performance were used to search in the Web of Science, PubMed databases, and Google Scholar and ResearchGate™ websites. 6365 articles were initially identified, 14 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis, with overall article quality being deemed moderate. The quantitative analysis comprised 392 subjects (aged: 16 to 26 years). Sub-group analysis showed that unilateral exercise resistance training resulted in a large effect in improving unilateral jump performance compared to bilateral training (ES = 0.89 [0.52, 1.26]). In contrast, bilateral exercise resistance training showed a small effect in improving bilateral strength compared to unilateral (ES = -0.43 [-0.71, -0.14]). Non-significant differences were found in improving unilateral strength (ES = 0.26 [-0.03, 0.55]), bilateral jump performance (ES = -0.04 [-0.31, 0.23]), change of direction (COD) (ES = 0.31 [-0.01, 0.63]) and speed (ES = -0.12 [-0.46, 0.21]) performance. Unilateral resistance training exercises should be chosen for improving unilateral jumping performance, and bilateral resistance training exercises should be chosen for improving bilateral strength performance.

[The significance of "A neuroanatomical basis for electroacupuncture to drive the vagal-adrenal axis" published in Nature for acupuncture research].

October 2021, Nature published an original research article entitled A neuroanatomical basis for electroacupuncture to drive the vagal-adrenal axis, which draws great attention and arouses extensive discussion in the acupuncture field. Based on previous findings, this study demonstrates that the abundant innervation of PROKR2-Cre neurons in deep fascia tissues mediates the anti-inflammatory effect induced by low-intensity electroacupuncture stimulation at "Zusanli"（ST36） or "Shousanli"(LI10) via the "vagal-adrenal axis". This study is one of milestones in the field of acupuncture basic research and represents a great achievement generated by multi-discipline integration of acupuncture and neuro-immunology. It reveals partial contributing factors involved in acupuncture's effect and the relative specificity of the neuroanatomical basis of acupoints in the context of immune modulation. This study is both very informative and instructive for the innovation and clinical translation of future acupuncture research. Acupuncture researchers are recommended to attach great importance to this study in terms of its research strategy,methods and findings.

Effects of velocity based training vs. traditional 1RM percentage-based training on improving strength, jump, linear sprint and change of direction speed performance: A Systematic review with meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: There has been a surge of interest on velocity-based training (VBT) in recent years. However, it remains unclear whether VBT is more effective in improving strength, jump, linear sprint and change of direction speed (CODs) than the traditional 1RM percentage-based training (PBT). OBJECTIVES: To compare the training effects in VBT vs. PBT upon strength, jump, linear sprint and CODs performance. DATA SOURCES: Web of science, PubMed and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: The qualified studies for inclusion in the meta-analysis must have included a resistance training intervention that compared the effects of VBT and PBT on at least one measure of strength, jump, linear sprint and CODs with participants aged ≥16 yrs. and be written in English or Chinese. METHODS: The modified Pedro Scale was used to assess the risk of bias. Random-effects model was used to calculate the effects via the mean change and pre-SD (standard deviation). Mean difference (MD) or Standardized mean difference (SMD) was presented correspondently with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: Six studies met the inclusion criteria including a total of 124 participants aged 16 to 30 yrs. The differences of training effects between VBT and PBT were not significant in back squat 1RM (MD = 3.03kg; 95%CI: -3.55, 9.61; I2 = 0%) and load velocity 60%1RM (MD = 0.02m/s; 95%CI: -0.01,0.06; I2 = 0%), jump (SMD = 0.27; 95%CI: -0.15,0.7; I2 = 0%), linear sprint (MD = 0.01s; 95%CI: -0.06, 0.07; I2 = 0%), and CODs (SMD = 0.49; 95%CI: -0.14, 1.07; I2 = 0%). CONCLUSION: Both VBT and PBT can enhance strength, jump, linear sprint and CODs performance effectively without significant group difference.

[Anatomical basis of transition from eleven to twelve meridians in Han dynasty].

The discovery of modern evolutionary anatomy shows that the persistent median artery in the upper arm is a common variant with an increasing trend. This phenomenon can explain well the transition from the eleven meridians described in the Han silk and bamboo slips to the twelve meridians finalized in Neijing and the addition of the hand- jueyin meridian in Han dynasty. After systematic analysis and comparison, the author proposes the hypothesis that "yin meridians are arteries, and yang meridians are nerve-like structures" to explain the meridian theory prior to acupuncture and acupoints in the Qin and Han dynasties. It is clear that over two thousand years ago, Chinese physicians already described the distribution, physiology, and pathology of the six main arteries and six important nerves in the human extremities. The finding suggests that it was the addition of acupuncture and acupoints that had changed the direction of TCM development in Neijing or later and promoted the maturation of qi and blood, meridians, and zangfu theories.

[In the search of mobile target for acupuncture: why is mast cell?]

Both clinical practice and basic research of acupuncture have pointed out that acupuncture treatment has specific tissue and cellular targets. In addition to the known fixed tissue targets such as nerves and blood vessels, the author analyzes the biological characteristics of other skin resident cells in the skin and concludes that cutaneous mast cells are the most suitable candidate for the cellular target of acupuncture. A hypothesis of the bionic acupuncture is proposed to explain the biological principles by which the innate immunity and healing system respond to acupuncture. The distribution of mast cells in the human skin is characterized by "approaching to the terminals and gathering at the orifices", and the cell density is highly correlated with the density of acupoints and the micro-acupuncture systems. These evidences all support that mast cells are the mobile target cells for acupuncture, which can explain some clinical phenomena and principles of acupuncture, and suggest mast cells as one of the tissue markers for acupoints.

[Discussion on Acupuncture as adjunctive therapy for chronic stable angina: a randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Internal Medicine].

Professor LIANG Fan-rong's team from Chengdu University of TCM published Acupuncture as adjunctive therapy for chronic stable angina: a randomized clinical trial in JAMA Internal Medicine on July 29, 2019, which demonstrates that acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy is safety and effective for mild and moderate chronic stable angina. Sixteen experts at home and abroad conducted serious discussions on the research design, evaluation methods, principles and mechanisms, clinical significance and enlightenment of future acupuncture research, and provided practical suggestions for acupuncture and moxibustion to go global and gain international recognition.

Persistent median artery may explain the transition from 11 to 12 meridians in ancient Chinese medicine.

Persistent median artery (PMA) has been recognized as a major arterial variant of the forearm in about 30% adults and it also shows a continuously increasing trend in the last two hundred years. This may explain well the mystery why a "new meridian" was added to the older 11-meridian system over two thousand years ago in Chinese medicine. The 12th meridian, Hand Jue Yin Meridian, happens to run along the same pathway as PMA.

Automatic identification of compressions and ventilations during CPR based on the fuzzy c-means clustering and deep belief network.

BACKGROUND: A transthoracic impedance (TTI) signal is an important indicator of the quality of chest compressions (CCs) during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). We proposed an automatic detection algorithm including the wavelet decomposition, fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering, and deep belief network (DBN) to identify the compression and ventilation waveforms for evaluating the quality of CPR. METHODS: TTI signals were collected from a cardiac arrest model that electrically induced cardiac arrest in pigs. All signals were denoised using the wavelet and morphology method. The potential compression and ventilation waveforms were marked using an algorithm with a multi-resolution window. The compressions and ventilations in these waveforms were identified and classified using the FCM clustering and DBN methods. RESULTS: Using the FCM clustering method, the positive predictive values (PPVs) for compressions and ventilations were 99.7% and 95.7%, respectively. The sensitivities of recognition were 99.8% for compressions and 95.1% for ventilations. The DBN approach exhibited similar PPV and sensitivity results to the FCM clustering method. The time cost was satisfactory using either of these techniques. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that FCM clustering and DBN can be utilized to effectively and accurately evaluate CPR quality, and provide information for improving the success rate of CPR. Our real-time algorithms using FCM clustering and DBN eliminated most distortions and noises effectively, and correctly identified the compression and ventilation waveforms with a low time cost.

[The influence of two calculation methods on relative energy contribution of men's wheelchair racing T54 events].

OBJECTIVE: To study whether the two methods of energy calculation affects the value of relative energy contribution in men's T54 wheelchair racing events. METHODS: Ten men's T54 wheelchair racers (age (22.9±5.2) yrs、sitting height (90.9±3.2) cm、body mass (59.3±8.3) kg) participate in 1 incremental test and 4 time trials (400 m、800 m、1 500 m、5 000 m). A portable gas analyzer, polar heart rate belt and a blood lactate analyzer were used to measure VO2 at every breath, HR and blood lactate changes. The energetic contribution was measured with phosphocreatine-lactate-oxygen(PCr-La-O2) and maximal accumulated oxygen deficit(MAOD) methods. RESULTS: The anaerobic and total energy portions from MAOD were lower than those from PCr-La-O2 ( especially in 400 m: WTOT (50.8 ±12.7) KJ vs (65.2±13.5) KJ、WANA (31.0±9.0) KJ vs (45.4±11.4) KJ, P＜0.05), resulting in WAER% calculated by MAOD was generally higher than PCr-La-O2 method (especially in 400 m : WAER% 39.0% ±1.2% vs 30.4%±8.4 %,P＜0.05). CONCLUSION: The study proves that the two-calculation method causes WAER% difference. MAOD method does lead to an overestimate of WAER%. Recommend to use the same calculation method for diagnosis and monitoring in the longitudinal study of long-term scientific research (such as the 4-year Olympic Games),to avoiding the difference in results caused by different calculation methods, which will further influence the development of coaches' training plans and training implementation effect.

Dry Needling: Is It Derived From Acupuncture? How Did Nonacupuncturists Start Using It?

CONTEXT: In the United States. and other Western countries, dry needling (DN) has been a disputed topic in both the academic and legal fields. OBJECTIVE: The research team intended to examine whether DN is a technique independent from acupuncture and also how nonacupuncturists, such as physical therapists (PTs), started practicing DN. DESIGN: The research team completed research, examined critical issues related to DN, and published a white paper in 2017 that discussed evidence and expert opinions from academic scholars, for health care professionals, administrators, policy makers, and the general public that demonstrate that DN is acupuncture. This article continues that endeavor. RESULTS: DN is not merely a technique but a medical therapy that is a simplified form of acupuncture practice. To promote DN theory and business, some commercial DN educators have recruited a large number of nonacupuncturists, including PTs, athletic trainers, and nurse practitioners, in recent years. PTs did not initiate the practice of DN and DN does not fit into the practice scope for PTs because it is an invasive practice. The national organizations of the PT profession, such as the American Physical Therapy Association and the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy, began to support the practice of DN by PTs in approximately 2010. Currently, more PTs are involved in DN practice and are teaching than any other specialty. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncturists and physicians must complete extensive acupuncture training in accredited programs and pass national examinations to become licensed or certified to practice acupuncture. However, a typical DN course runs only 20-30 h, often in the course of 1 weekend, and the participants may receive a DN certificate without any national examination being required. For the safety of patients and professional integrity, the research team strongly suggests that all DN practitioners and educators should have to meet the same basic standards as those required for licensed acupuncturists or physicians.

The Neuroimmune Basis of Acupuncture: Correlation of Cutaneous Mast Cell Distribution with Acupuncture Systems in Human.

The hypothesis that cutaneous mast cells (MCs) are responsible for skin phenomena in acupuncture was proposed 40 years ago, but very little is known about the correlation of MC distribution with acupuncture systems in human. The aim of this study is to quantify cutaneous mast cells at different body sites and compare them with the distributions of classical acupuncture points and micro-acupuncture systems. Skin biopsies from dermatological practice were evaluated under microscope with H&E or CD117 stains. Dermal MCs were counted and expressed as MCs per high power field. Densities of classical acupuncture points at different body sites were also calculated and expressed as points per dm2. MC densities at special sites of the body were compared with micro-acupuncture systems. After examining 285 skin biopsies, MC enriched special sites (MESS) were found at peripheral parts of the body and around orifices of body surfaces. Comparative mapping showed that patterns of MC distribution are highly correlated with the distributions of classic acupuncture points in 14 classic acupuncture meridians, with the exception of the trunk areas. Mapping also revealed that all micro-acupuncture systems were established at MESS, including ear, scalp, hand, foot, eye, face, and umbilicus. The conclusion is that the densities of cutaneous MCs are highly correlated with classical acupuncture points and micro-acupuncture systems. These findings provide tissue evidence of neuroimmune basis of acupuncture and suggest that MC is a tissue target for acupuncture stimulation and may serve as a tissue marker for acupuncture points.

[Application of energy cost in evaluating energy expenditure in multi-ball practice with table tennis players].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility of applying the measure of energy cost, utilized widely in cyclic sports, in table tennis multi-ball practice. METHODS: Eleven collegiate table tennis players volunteered (18±1 yrs, 177±2 cm, 71±3 kg, approximately 10 yrs' training experience) to participate in one graded exercise test on treadmill, and two step tests (forehand and backhand, 3 min × 6, 35～85 stroke/min). A portable spirometric system and heart rate monitor were utilized for the three trials. Earlobe blood samples were collected and analyzed prior to and post the test. Energy cost was calculated for one stroke at each stroke frequency. RESULTS: The energy cost of loop drive multi-ball practice was decreased with increased stroke frequency (P＜0.05). The energy cost of forehand loop drive was higher than backhand, with the difference significant at 35, 45, 55, 65, and 85 stroke·min-1 (P＜0.05). The function between energy cost and frequency were y=166.4x-0.731 (R2=0.9731), and y=33.21x-0.392 (R2=0.8423), respectively, where y was energy cost, and x was stroke frequency. CONCLUSION: The measure of energy cost utilized in cyclic sports could be applied to evaluate the energy expenditure in table tennis multi-ball practice of single technique, and indicate the stroke efficiency of table tennis muti-ball practice with different stroke frequencies.

Interdisciplinarity research based on NSFC-sponsored projects: A case study of mathematics in Chinese universities.

We investigate the interdisciplinarity of mathematics based on an analysis of projects sponsored by the NSFC (National Natural Science Foundation of China). The motivation of this study lies in obtaining an efficient method to quantify the research interdisciplinarities, revealing the research interdisciplinarity patterns of mathematics discipline, giving insights for mathematics scholars to improve their research, and providing empirical supports for policy making. Our data set includes 6147 NSFC-sponsored projects implemented by 3225 mathematics professors in 177 Chinese universities with established mathematics departments. We propose the weighted-mean DIRD (diversity of individual research disciplines) to quantify interdisciplinarity. In addition, we introduce the matrix computation method, discover several properties of such a matrix, and make the computation cost significantly lower than the bitwise computation method. Finally, we develop an automatic DIRD computing system. The results indicate that mathematics professors at top normal universities in China exhibit strong interdisciplinarity; mathematics professors are most likely to conduct interdisciplinary research involving information science (research department), computer science (research area), computer application technology (research field), and power system bifurcation and chaos (research direction).