Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Humans ; Koro ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome

Qijie theory is one of the important components of TCM meridian and collateral system. It is the shortcut for the communication from the exterior to the interior and for the transverse connection, strengthens the therapeutic effects of acupuncture and moxibustion on the disorders of internal organs and enlarges the indications of acupoints. Professor LAI Xinsheng originally creats Tongyuan acupuncture technique. It is a kind of acupuncture therapeutic methods, including promoting the circulation of the governor vessel, regulating the mind and conducting qi to the origin. In order to analyze the connection between Tongyuan acupuncture technique and traditional meridian and collateral theory, the connotations of Tongyuan acupuncture technique and qijie, as well as the in-terrelationship between them are taken as the basis in the paper. By tracing the literature records, the original concept of qijie is detected. Through proving clinically Tongyuan acupuncture technique, it is revealed that qijie is the arrowhead on the main road of meridian qi circulation and is the essential connotation of the direct path of the body surface connecting with the deep layers of the body as well as the zangfu organs and tissues. It is summarized that the traditional qijie theory provides the powerful theoretic evidence for the treatment with Tongyuan acupuncture technique.
Acupuncture ; education ; history ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; history ; methods ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Qi ; history

Aim To study effects of grape seed proanthocyanidin (GSP) on learning and memory in mice. Methods After po GSP 10,20,40 mg?kg -1 respectively and contemporaneously sc D-galactose 1.25 g?kg -1 for 6 weeks, step down test and Y-type electric maze were used to examine the efficacy of GSE on learning and memory of mice first. Then lipoperoxide(LPO) level in blood and brain of these mice was measured. After po GSP 10,20,40 mg?kg -1 respectively for 2 weeks, the ability of learning and memory was measured by Morris Water Maze task. Results GSP significantly prolonged step-down latency in the mice and decreased number of errors in 5 minutes in step down test; and significantly decreased number of errors of these mice in Y-type electric maze test. LPO level in blood and brain of these mice was lower than that of model group. GSP also increased crossing platform times(CPT) and crossing platform percentages(CPP) in normal mice rested for 30 days in morris water maze test. Conclusion GSP can elevate the ability of learning and memory in mice treated with D-galactose, also improve memory retrieval at the spatial probe trials in normal mice. Mechanisms of these actions may probably be attributable antioxidative activity of GSP.

Objective To compare diagnostic values of the 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) Management Guidelines for Adult Patients with Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer with the thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) for sonographic malignancy risk stratification of thyroid nodules.Methods From November 2011 to December 2015,485 thyroid nodules in 331 patients (mean age,42.9 years± 10.4)were included in this study.Characteristics includingsize,composition,shape(nonparallel or parallel),margin,echogenicity,calcifications and extrathyroidal extension of thyroid nodules were evaluated.Every nodule was stratificated by criteria set by TI-RADS and ATA guidelines,and malignant rate of each risk stratification were calculated and analysed.With pathology as the gold standard,different cutoff were taken to diagnose malignant nodules,and the sensitivity,specifity,positive predictive value,negativepredictive value and accuracy of the two methodologies were calculated at each cutoff.And the two methodologies were evaluated and measured by ROC curve.Finally their Kappa value were calculated at the best cutoff.Results Of the 485 thyroid nodules,96 were benign and 389 were malignant.The malignancy rates under TI-RADS category 2,3,4a,4b,4c,and 5 nodules were 0,12.0％ (3/25),22.2％ (10/45),29.8％ (14/47),99.2％ (261/363) and 100％ (101/101).Malignancy rates under ATA guidelines of benign,very low,low,intermediate,and high suspicion for malignancy were 0,12.5％ (1/8),16.1％ (10/62),27.7％ (13/47),and 99.2％ (365/368).There were significant differences inside each patterns (P ＜ 0.01) respectively and high correlation between risk stratification with TI-RADS (r=0.70) and ATA guidelines (r=0.83).Areas under the ROC curve of the TI-RADS and ATA guidelines classifications were 0.966 and 0.959.Best cut-off point for diagnosing malignant by TI-RADS and ATA guideline classifications were ≥ 4c and ≥ high suspicion,and at that point,diagnostic value of TI-RADS and ATA guidelines were nearly the same(sensitivity,93.1％vs 93.8％;specificity,97.9％ vs 96.9％;PPV,99.5％ vs 99.2％;NPV,75.7％vs 79.5％;and accuracy,94.0％vs94.4％),and there was no significant differences (P=0.50,P=0.50,P=0.50,P=0.53,P=0.55),Kappa=0.97.Conclusions Both TI-RADS and the ATA guidelinesprovide effective malignancy risk stratification for thyroid nodules.The diagnosticvalue of TI-RADS when considering ≥ 4c and ATA guidelines when considering ≥ high-suspicion nodules as malignant were nearly the same and both high.