Objective: To introduce electroacupuncture (EA) treatment on cervical spondylosis radiculopathy (CSR) at home and abroad in the prior ten years. Methods: EA, combined EA and other treatments for NCS are classified and analyzed. Results: The most commonly used acupoints are JiaJi (Ex-B2), Fengchi (GB 20), Waiguan (TE 5), Quchi (LI 11). EA is widely applied to treat CSR because of its definite therapeutic effects and safety. Conclusion: The validity of other evaluation indexes needs to be proved by more rigorously designed randomized controlled trials (RCT) with scientific methods.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the value of serum IgA/C3 ratio in the diagnosis of IgA nephropathy and explore its relationship with the clinicopathological features of the patients.

METHODSSixty-six patients with IgA nephropathy, 111 with other glomerular diseases, and 40 healthy control subjects without kidney disease were tested for serum IgA and C3 levels using CRM470 adjusted standardized immune turbidimetric method, and the IgA/C3 ratio was calculated. According to Oxford and Lee's classification criteria, we analyzed the pathological grades of the renal biopsy samples from patients with IgA nephropathy. The ROC curve was used to assess the value of serum IgA and IgA/C3 ratio in predicting IgA nephropathy.

RESULTSPatients with IgA nephropathy had an elevated serum IgA/C3 ratio than those with other glomerular diseases and the control subjects, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.776. An elevated serum IgA/C3 ratio was not found to significantly correlate with the pathological grade of renal biopsy samples in patients with IgA nephropathy.

CONCLUSIONIn the absence of renal biopsy findings, serum IgA/C3 ratio can help in the diagnosis of IgA nephropathy.

Biopsy ; Case-Control Studies ; Complement C3 ; analysis ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; blood ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; blood ; Kidney ; pathology