Effectiveness of acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure in the treatment of postoperative ileus: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: About one-third of patients experience postoperative ileus (POI) after abdominal surgery, which can cause various complications and has not been treated well in clinical practice. The comprehensive treatment offered by traditional Chinese medicine may be a good choice for promoting intestinal mobility. Therefore, the aim of this study protocol is to observe the effectiveness of acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure in decreasing the incidence and related symptoms of POI. Methods: This is a single-center, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled trial. A total of 160 participants are supposed to recruit at Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital and randomly divided into two parallel groups in a 1:1 ratio. The intervention group are planned to receive manual acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure, while the control group are planned to receive regular enhanced recovery after surgery treatment. The primary outcome is the time to first defecation and first flatus after surgery. The secondary outcomes include the length of postoperative hospital stay, intensity of postoperative abdominal pain and distension, severity of postoperative nausea and vomiting, time to tolerate diet, inflammatory index, and incidence of prolonged postoperative ileus. Discussion: The results of this research will provide substantial evidence regarding the efficacy of comprehensive traditional Chinese treatment, specifically auricular acupressure and manual acupuncture, in treating and preventing POI. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: ChiCTR2300075983, registered on September 21, 2023.

The effect of Tuina based on the concept of hip-knee-ankle conjugation in patients with chronic ankle instability: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is a common sports injury disease and characterized by limited mobility, perceived instability and muscle weakness, combined treatment of hip-knee-ankle is a common rehabilitation method. Tuina, as a traditional Chinese manual therapy, is usually used for CAI, but many of them only focus on the local ankle joint rather than the combination of hip and knee joint. Therefore, we have designed a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to investigate the effects of Tuina base on the concept of hip-knee-ankle conjugation on the stability and balance of lower limbs and ankle function in patients with CAI. Methods: We have designed a randomized controlled trial. A total of 72 participants with CAI will be randomly divided into functional training groups and hip-knee-ankle Tuina combined with functional training group in a 1:1 ratio. Participants in control group will receive 8 sessions of functional training (30 min per session, twice a week for 4 weeks). Participants in intervention group will receive 8 sessions of Tuina combined with functional training (twice a week for 4 weeks). The primary outcomes include the Y-Balance Test (YBT) and Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT). The Secondary outcomes include the Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM) and ankle range of motion (ROM). The outcome assessments will be conducted before the first intervention and after the last intervention. Discussion: The aim of this study is to explore a safe and effective manipulation program and serve as reference for clinical treatment of CAI and expect to provide the necessary theoretical and practical support to our future research. Clinical Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trail Registry ChiCTR2300068274.

Data mining-based detection of the clinical effect on motion style acupuncture therapy combined with conventional acupuncture therapy in chronic neck pain.

BACKGROUND: Neck pain is the most common symptom of cervical spondylosis. OBJECTIVE: To discuss the indications for conventional acupuncture therapy (CAT) and motion style acupuncture therapy (MSAT) combined with CAT in neck pain patients using data mining. METHOD: Seventy-six participants with neck pain were recruited and randomly divided into two paralleled groups. Participants in intervention group received two-course MSAT at Houxi (SI3) and CAT at local neck region, while the control group received CAT at neck only. Take the SF-36 score scale and pain pressure threshold (PPT) values as the raw data and use data-mining to evaluate the clinical effect of two treatments. RESULT: Both groups have the best effect after one-time and one-course treatment. The main factors influencing effect most are Role-Emotional (RE), Physical Functioning (PF) and Social Functioning (SF) in intervention group, while it transfers to General Health (GH), RE and SF in control group. To patients in intervention group who scores 41.70 to 68.70 in PF before treatment, MSAT can effectively improve the restriction of activities and play an analgesic effect; to patients in control group who score 56.09 to 66.09 in GH before treatment, CAT may have curative effect. CONCLUSION: Both MSAT and CAT can improve the life-quality of neck pain patients. Patients with high general health status before treatment can choose CAT, while patients who score mild to moderate decline in physiological function can choose MSAT combined with CAT.

Stimulation Parameters of Manual Acupuncture and Their Measurement.

The therapeutic effect of manual acupuncture (MA) is closely related to the stimulation amount. In the clinical studies, the stimulation amount is often difficult to be determined. The reason is that there are many parameters affecting the stimulation amount, including manipulation selection, treatment time, needling velocity, and force, and no complete and reasonable scheme is available for the measurement of stimulation parameters. This paper reviewed the theoretical and laboratory measurement studies on MA stimulation, summarized 4 types of available parameters according to the theory of physics, and compared the advantages and disadvantages of the existing methods of parameter measurement. Such efforts are hoped for providing reference for the establishment of the stimulation parameter system of MA and possible technical solutions for future measurement experiments.

The Cell Research Trends of Asthma: A Stem Frequency Analysis of the Literature.

Objective: This study summarized asthma literature indexed in the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE) and explored the history and present trends of asthma cell research by stem frequency ranking to forecast the prospect of future work. Methods: Literature was obtained from MEDLINE for the past 30 years and divided into three groups by decade as the retrieval time. The frequency of stemmed words in each group was calculated using Python with Apache Spark and the Natural Language Tool Kit for ranking. The unique stems or shared stems of 3 decades were summarized. Results: A total of 1331, 4393, and 7215 records were retrieved from 3 decades chronologically, and the stem ranking of the top 50 were listed by frequency. The number of stems shared with 3 decades was 26 and with the first and last 2 decades was 5 and 13. Conclusions: The number of cell research studies of asthma has increased rapidly, and scholars have paid more attentions on experimental research, especially on mechanistic research. Eosinophils, mast cells, and T cells are the hot spots of immunocyte research, while epithelia and smooth muscle cells are the hot spots of structural cell research. The research trend is closely linked with the development of experimental technology, including animal models. Early studies featured basic research, but immunity research has dominated in recent decades. The distinct definition of asthma phenotypes associated with genetic characteristics, immunity research, and the introduction of new cells will be the hot spots in future work.