Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease characterized by localized or wide spread squamous erythema or plaque. The pathogenesis is complicated. According to the TCM theory, psoriasis results from internal heat toxin and the deficiency of blood. And blood stasis exists throughout the disease, the treatment should focus on promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Blood-letting puncture can balance Qi and blood through stimulating the meridians, forcing evil Qi to go out, so as to dispel pathogenic factors and dredge the meridians. This article briefly discusses the basic mechanisms and clinical researches of psoriasis with blood-letting puncture, in order to provide new ideas for the clinical treatment of psoriasis.

Highlights

This paper summarized the common acupuncture methods and explored the effects of the combination of different acupuncture methods and modern rehabilitation in the treatment of post-stroke flaccid paralysis, in order to effectively promote the recovery of motor function and significantly improve their life quality.

Editor’s Summary

With the aging of the social population, the incidence rate of stroke has increased year by year in China. Though with the development of modern disease diagnosis and rescue techniques, the mortality rate of stroke has been effectively controlled, about 80% of the surviving patients have different degrees of limb dysfunction. As one of the most important non-drug therapy, acupuncture could prevent muscle atrophy, improve the relaxed muscle tension and improve the motor functions. This article lists the treatment of different acupuncture methods combined with modern rehabilitation, providing clinical guidance for the involvement of acupuncture treatment in the comprehensive treatment of post-stroke flaccid paralysis.

Abstract

Stroke has been in a high incidence, and stroke sequelae have become the main cause of motor dysfunction. The treatment of flaccid paralysis is critical to stroke recovery. In recent years, traditional treatment, especially acupuncture therapy has achieved certain effects for the treatment of post-stroke flaccid paralysis. Acupuncture treatment can promote the recovery of nerve conduction, increase muscle strength and improve joint flexibility, and correct abnormal movement patterns of limbs. Acupuncture combined with rehabilitation training will be the focus for the treatment of post-stroke flaccid paralysis. In this review, the combination of different acupuncture therapies with modern rehabilitation for the treatment of post-stroke flaccid paralysis has been summarized in order to effectively promote the recovery of motor function and significantly improve their life quality.

Highlights

This research finds that dredging the collaterals, dispelling wind-evil and restoring consciousness are the main principle of acupuncture for the treatment of stroke. Specific acupoints in head, face and climbs maybe the main targeted acupoints. Combination of Yang meridians with other meridians is needed to improve the effects. The acupoints Yangming meridian and Yangming-Shaoyang meridian are most used meridians, Hegu (LI4), Quchi (LI11) and Zusanli (ST36) are the most used acupionts.

Editor’s Summary

With complex network and point mutual information method, the authors explored the characteristics of meridian points in the treatment of stroke. This study found that the most commonly used treatment method is to dredge the meridian through multiple acupoints to improve the therapeutic effects of acupuncture. The traditional meridian treatment for stroke is mainly to dredge meridian Qi and blood to recover the motor function of paralyzed limbs. Researches have shown that the frequency of Yang meridian is much higher than that of Yin meridian. Yang meridian and Shaoyang meridian counts the most meridians. For the treatment of limbs powerless and activity obstacle, it should combine the Yang meridians with other meridians in order to obtain better curative effects. Hegu (LI4), Quchi (LI11) and Zusanli (ST36) are the most used acupionts.

Abstract

Objective: Explore the characteristics of acupoints in the treatment of stroke with complex network and point mutual information method. Methods: The complex network and point wise mutual information system-developed by Chinese academy of Chinese medical sciences wereused to analyze the specific acupoints, compatibility, frequency etc. Results: 174 acumoxibustion prescriptions were collected, including 163 acupoints. among them eighteen acupoints were used more than 30 times such as Hegu (LI4), Zusanli (ST36), Quchi (LI11) and Fengshi (GB31). The combinations of 31 acupoints were used more than 15 times, such as the combination of Quchi (LI11) and Zusanli (ST36), the combination of acupoint Quchi (LI11) and Jianyu(LI15) , Hegu and Quchi (LI11). The most commonly used treatment method for stroke treatment is to dredge the Yangming meridian and Shaoyang meridian through acupuncture the multiple acupoints located on these two meridians.. The commonly used acupoints are mainly distributed in the limbs, head and face. The most commonly used specific acupoint is intersection acupoint. The usage frequency of specific acupoints are higher than that of non-specific acupoints. Conclusion: Dredging the collaterals, dispelling wind-evil and restoring consciousness are the main principle for the treatment of stroke. Specific acupoints in head, face and climbs maybe the main targeted acupoints. Combination of Yang meridians with other meridians is needed to improve the effects. The Yangming meridian and Shaoyang meridian are most used meridians and Hegu (LI4), Quchi (LI11) and Zusanli (ST36) are the most used acupionts.

Highlights

The goal of the meta-analysis in this paper is to compare the effects of moxibustion and lipid-lowering drugs on the patients with hyperlipidemia. The results showed that the moxibustion had a more significantly effect compared with statins and fibrates on Total cholesterol (TC) and Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), but the results didn't show statistically significant difference on Triglycerides and High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). In the comparison of adverse reactions, moxibustion had advantages. In terms of the comparison between moxibustion and proprietary Chinese medicine, it was impossible to show therapeutic differences between moxibustion and proprietary Chinese medicine in various indicators.

Editor’s Summary

By systematically comparing the effects of moxibustion and lipid-lowering drugs on hyperlipemia, the authors found that moxibustion had a better effect to reduce the TC and LDL-C compared with statins and fibrates, but no advantages in lowing triglyceride level and HDL-C. While, there was no robust evidence that moxibustion was superior to Chinese patent medicine in improving the blood lipid indexes of patients with hyperlipidemia.

Abstract

Objective: Systematically compared the effects of moxibustion and lipid-lowering drugs on hyperlipemia. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published before December 2018 were all aggregated, focusing on evaluation of moxibustion and lipid-lowering drugs for hyperlipemia from PubMed, EMbase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM, WANFANG database and VIP databases. The quality of the included studies was assessed basing on Cochrane handbook 5.1.0, and the available data were analyzed with RevMan software (version 5.3). Results: Totally 8 RCTs were included with 561 patients. Compared with statins, moxibustion had a better effect to reduce the total cholesterol (TC) (MD = -0.19, 95% CI: -0.24, 0.13, P < 0. 001). Moxibustion also had a better effect to reduce low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in compared with statins and fibrates (MD = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.15, -0.25, P < 0. 001), but there were no significant differences between statins, fibrates and moxibustion in lowering triglyceride (TG) (MD = -0.02, 95% CI: -0.09, 0.05, P = 0.61) and High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (MD = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.13, P = 0.51). While, compared with the Chinese patent medicine, there was no significant difference in the efficacy of lowering TC (MD = 0.05, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.27, P = 0.67), TG (MD = -0.08, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.24, P = 0.61), LDL-C (MD = -0.14, 95% CI: 0.38, 0.11, P = 0.28) and HDL-C (MD = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.22, P = 0.06). Conclusion: Compared with statins and fibrates, moxibustion had advantages in lowering TC and LDL-C, but there was no robust evidence that moxibustion was superior to Chinese patent medicine in improving the blood lipid indexes of patients with hyperlipidemia.

肩手综合征是脑中风患者常见的并发症，目前无特异性治疗方法。针灸、康复训练在治疗肩手综合征方面各有所长，研究表明二者结合治疗优势明显，疗效优于单一疗法。本文通过对近五年针灸结合康复训练治疗中风后肩手综合征的临床研究进行综述，佐证综合治疗的临床效果，最大限度地为患者提供最优诊疗服务。

Highlights

This review provides evidences for the recommendation of acupuncture preconditioning at Neiguan (PC6) point in coronary heart disease patients as a non-pharmacological therapeutic method to activate the miR-214/NCX1 pathway.

Traditionality

The concept of acupuncture preconditioning is described in the ancient book of Fan Wang Fang (Eastern Jin Dynasty of China). It refers to the application of acupuncture before the occurrence of disease or when the disease is relatively mild. According to the record of the ancient book of Huang Di Nei Jing (Qin Han Period of China, 475 B.C.-221 B.C.), acupuncture at Neiguan (PC6) point can prevent and treat angina pectoris in coronary heart disease (CHD). The WHO also recommends acupuncture as one of the alternative and complementary therapies for the prevention and treatment of angina pectoris in CHD.

Abstract

Early reperfusion of ischemic cardiac tissue is usually the best option to improve clinical outcome of angina pectoris, especially of acute myocardial infarction. However, myocardial reperfusion may cause an abnormal increase of intracellular Ca²⁺-mediated cardiomyocyte death and consequent loss of cardiac function, which is referred to myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Recently, the microRNA-214 (miR-214)/Na⁺/Ca²⁺ exchanger (NCX) 1 co-expression is a key factor in cellular protection against myocardial apoptosis for myocardial I/R injury. Once activated, miR-214/NCX1 axis can inhibit several Ca²⁺ downstream signaling effectors that mediate cell death simultaneously. Studies have shown that acupuncture preconditioning has a protective effect on myocardial I/R injury, but its mechanism deserves further research. It has been proved that acupuncture preconditioning for ischemic myocardium successfully inhibit multiple Ca²⁺ handling related microRNAs that mediate cell death pathways, and miR-214 is one of its targets. In terms of clinical practice, coronary heart disease (CHD) patients benefit a lot from this intervention. However, there is barely no study correlating acupuncture preconditioning to the miR-214/NCX1 co-expression in patients with CHD. This review aims to discuss whether there is some evidence to justify a recommendation of acupuncture preconditioning in CHD patients as a non-pharmacological therapeutic method to activate the miR-214/NCX1 co-expression network model.

Objective: In order to explore the development trend and research hotspots of clinical researches of acupuncture and moxibustion and provide some insight into the key research direction for researchers. Methods: The clinical studies of acupuncture and moxibustion were searched in PubMed. Using the method of bibliometry, the year, country, journals, authors were analyzed. The cluster analysis was used to analyze subject terms by the social network analysis. Results: A total of 4237 literature were retrieved, published in 617 journals. The number of clinical studies on acupuncture and moxibustion has been increased substantially since 2006. The clinical researches on acupuncture and moxibustion have been conducted worldwide, specifically in China, the United States, Britain, Sweden, etc. Three major author cooperation networks (China, South Korea and European and North American countries) has been formed. The cluster analysis based on 53 high-frequency theme words indicates that
the clinical researches on acupuncture and moxibustion are mainly concerned about acupoint selection associated with pain, stroke, knee osteoarthritis and other diseases in different age groups, blind, treatment outcomes, time factor of acupuncture, etc. Conclusion: Clinical researches on acupuncture and moxibustion have been widely concerned by international medicine. The research direction is clear, Thematic is concentrate, and research paradigm has been formed. However, international influence is still limited academically. The cooperation between different authors or teams is insufficient. The core research hotspots include the selection of acupoint, acupuncture and moxibustion tools, research design, treatment outcome, blind, time factor, follow-up, placebo, clinical protocol, quality of life, patient satisfaction and so on. 

Cerebral palsy is one of the important factors in children's disability. Patients’ seat dysfunction has a serious impact on their daily life and their family. However, there is currently no effective treatment for the cerebral palsy seat dysfunction. So, it is of importance to search a new way to make a breakthrough. Acupuncture has significant advantages in the treatment of functional disorders. In this paper, the literature about clinical research of acupuncture treatment of cerebral palsy seat dysfunction are summarized. We have carried on the mechanism analysis of sports medicine respectively from three angles, including traditional Chinese medicine, western medicine and traditional Chinese and western medicine combined with sports medicine. We conclude that acupuncturing acupoints on Du meridian, Beishu points and Jiaji points has significant effect on the function of sitting unable children with cerebral palsy, such as strengthening the spleen, tonifying the kidney and promoting Yangqi and stimulating the sensory nerve and so on. Acupuncturing points for the treatment of cerebral palsy provides a lot of inspiration for human physiology research in the future and clinical treatment of neurological diseases.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for the treatment of mammary gland hyperplasia. Methods: Randomized controlled trials before December 2017 in CNKI, China Biology Medicine disc, Chinese sci-tech periodical full-text database, Wanfang database, Cochrane Library, Pubmed, Embase and Web of Science were searched. The risks were evaluated by two investigators according to the Cochrane Handbook 5.1.0 criteria. Evaluation GeMTC was used for network-meta analysis. Results: A total of 43 articles were included, involving 5531 patients. Network meta-analysis results showed that there were differences in the comparison before and after treatment: acupuncture + Chinese herbal medicine vs acupuncture, acupuncture + Chinese herbal medicine vs Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture + Chinese herbal medicine v s acupoint embedding, acupuncture + western medicine vs acupuncture, acupuncture + western medicine vs western medicine, acupuncture + western medicine vs Chinese herbal medicine, fire needle vs acupuncture, fire needle vs Chinese herbal medicine, moxibustion vs acupuncture, moxibustion vs Chinese herbal medicine, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs Chinese herbal medicine, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs western medicine, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs acupuncture, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs acupuncture + Chinese herbal medicine, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs acupuncture + western medicine, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs fire needle, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs fire needle + Chinese herbal medicine, acupoint embedding line Chinese herbal medicine vs electroacupuncture, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs acupoint embedding line, Acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs ear acupuncture, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs moxibustion, acupoint embedding line + Chinese herbal medicine vs moxibustion + Chinese herbal medicine. Conclusion:Acupoint embedding + traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture + western medicine is the best treatment for mammary gland hyperplasia, but the exact conclusion still needs high-quality clinical research to further verify.

带状疱疹是免疫力低下人群常见的皮肤感染性疾病，患者痛苦大，现代医学没有针对此 病毒的特异性药，多对症治疗。此例是在中医温病理论指导下，并结合现代中药药理研究成果 选方用药，使针对此病的用药更加精准，同时结合局部刺络拔罐放血疗法，效果显著，现对其 做一总结。