[Objective] The effect of acupuncture on gastric emptying was evaluated with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique. Using MRI, gastric emptying can be quantitatively evaluated without radiation exposure or uncomfortable gastric intubation.
[Method] Either an acupuncture patch or a fake patch was applied to the bilateral ST36 (Zusanri, Ashi no sanri) of eight healthy volunteers (5 males, 3 females, age 24.6 ± 2.5) 2 hours before the MRI measurement in a randomized manner. After taking MRI of the upper abdomen for control, each subject ingested tap water (4 ml/kg BW) in the MRI chamber. The volume of gastric content was calculated as the sum of the gastric area of MRI coronal slices. MRI was done every 10 min up to 1 hour, and the change in gastric volume was plotted.
[Result] Although it is ordinarily recommended to avoid bringing metal apparatus into the MRI chamber, there was no recognized damage to the subject including local burn and inflammation on the skin around the needle.
In our experiment, two hours with an acupuncture patch on ST36 made no significant change on gastric emptying compared to the fake patch application.
[Discussion]
The experiment showed that MRI can be used to evaluate effects of acupuncture on postprandial gastric emptying.

【Purpose】 To investigate effects of physiotherapy on delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), DOMS was induced in the elbow flexors of the non-dominant arm. We selected transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) to examine effects of physiotherapy to the recovery process.【Methods】 Fifteen human volunteers were recruited. DOMS was induced by eccentric exercise. Subjects were assigned randomly to one of three groups (Control, 110 Hz TENS, 4 Hz TENS). TENS was applied for 20 min over the biceps brachii on 1 day only after exercise. Measurements of Mechanical Pain Threshold (MPT) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were performed as evaluation of pain. Measurements were taken before and after exercise.【Results】 There was no significant improvement in MPT and VAS among all three groups.【Conclusion】 It was suggested application of TENS on DOMS at the parameters used here had no beneficial effect.

The purpose of this symposium was to clarify clinical significance of the pulse diagnosis at the wrist used for detecting the function of various organs. Base of the literature survey and his personal experiences, the importance of reliability (reproducibility) test of the pulse diagnosis in blinded manner and necessity of clinical trials with “_??_”-specific intervention was proposed by Ogawa. A unique training program of the pulse diagnosis was introduced by Kido, and he also demonstrated a significant positive result of “_??_”-specific intervention determined by the pulse diagnosis procedure in his program and suggested the clinical significance of the pulse diagnosis. Detection of various changes in pulse waveforms at the wrist using pressure transducer was demonstrated by Maruyama, and he also suggested a possible progress of objectivity in pulse diagnosis by various sensors and biomedical devices in future. From circulatory physiological point of view, factors which may affect the pressure pulse wave at the wrist were explained with several examples of pathologic conditions by Chihara. He also suggested a possibility of reflection of general condition in the pressure pulse at the wrist although it might be partial one, and stressed the necessity of other information for the accurate diagnosis. In general discussion, it was pointed out that evidence of the pulse diagnosis was still limited, and further experimental approaches of the pulse diagnosis will be required.