The treatment of tinnitus is difficult with modern medicine. We encountered three cases of tinnitus for which press tack needle was effective.
The first case was a 65-year-old woman. She suffered from sudden deafness, and bilateral tinnitus continued for 5 years, at which point she consulted us. Her Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) score was 66 points. We administered press tack needle on the bilateral Yifeng (TE 17) points. Her THI score fell to 14 points after 1 month and zero points after 2 months, at which time treatment was completed. The second case was a 69-year-old man. Forty years before his initial visit, a gun was fired near his left ear, and tinnitus developed. The tinnitus repeatedly improved and aggravated. The tinnitus continued for 8 years before his initial visit. His THI score was 18. Press tack needle was administered to his Yifeng points. The THI score lowered to 2 points after 3 months. The third case was a 31-year-old woman. Her bilateral tinnitus started 15 days before her initial visit. Her THI score was 34 points. Press tack needle was administered to the bilateral Yifeng points. Her THI score dropped to 8 points after 4 months.
Press tack needle to the Yifeng points is simple and straightforward. This suggested that it is a valuable method to consider.

About half of Japanese women have feelings of coldness, but there is no drug for their treatment in modern medicine. Here, we report 3 cases of dizziness with feelings of coldness effectively treated with tokishigyakukagoshuyushokyoto. The first case was a 35-year-old female with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo,the second case was a 29-year-old female with dizziness of unknown cause, and the third case was an 80-year-old female with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. All cases were physically thin and had feelings of coldness. On Kampo medical examination, their diagnosis was Rikan-kyosho and Kekkyo. To improve feelings of coldness, we administered tokishigyakukagoshuyushokyoto to all three cases, and it was very effective. Thus, being aware of patients' coldness and using tokoshigyakukagoshuyushokyoto may be advisable when doing Kampo examinations.

As interesting results were obtained upon testing the responses in healthy adult males (age 20-54) of cutaneous touch, pain and heat sensitive points due to pressure stimulation and acupuncture stimulation at LI-4, and cutaneous touch and pain point reactions to acupumcure stimulation at St-36, we present the following report.
Previously it was discovered that pressure at LI-4 results in 1 decrease in the touch and pain point populations on the upper extremities on the stimulated side with the numbers returning to normal when stimulation ceased. With acupuncture stimulation, during stimulation the numbert of sensory points on the arm, thoracic and shoulder of stimulated side showed a remarkable decrease in the number of pain points. Very little change occured in thenumber of touch points however. Similar results were also reported on the abdominal area of the stimulated side with stimulation at ST-36. As for acupuncture stimulation and the cutaneous sensory point populations on the opposite side, cases of demhease in the number of sensory points and cases of no change were reported. Also it was reported that during acupuncture stimulation at LI-4 the number of heat points decreased and in 1 case returned to former levels when stimulation ceased.
For this study we increased the number of subjects and studied changes in the touch and pain sensitive point populations on the opposite side using acupuncture stimulation. We also examined changes in the number of heat sensitive points during acukuncture stimulation.
Stimulation on the opposite side produced nearly the same decrease in pain point population as did stimulation on the same side, with little change observed in the touch sensitive point numbers. The change in the number of heat sensitive points during acupuncture stimulation indicated a remakable tendency for decrease, similar to results observed with pain sensitive points. These results were obtained by studests during lab sessions.
We would like to find some clinical meaning in the administration of treatment on the opposite side.

The IPCD (Immersing Powdered Crude Drugs) method, inspired by the “zhu san fa” which was widely used in the Song period of China, has been developed to prepare Kampo decoctions quickly and easily, with highyield extract from crude drugs. One trouble with the IPCD method occurs when separating the decoction from the muddy residue of the crude drug powder. When powdered ephedra herb is packed in a nonwoven fabric bag and immersed in hot water, yield of the marker compounds is much lower than that obtained when ephedra herb powder is dispersed freely in hot water without a nonwoven fabric bag. Thus the use of a nonwoven fabric bag was shown to be unsuitable with the IPCD method. In investigating an easy and more efficient separation method, we tried decanting with a commercially available wine carafe to separate the decoction and residue. With IPCD followed by decantation using the wine carafe, yields of about 80% decoction volume were obtained as compared with those when cut crude drugs are decocted and filtered using a tea strainer, in 6 of the 7 formulas tried. We find that decantation using a wine carafe is a more practical way of separation in the IPCD method.

For the purpose of investigating weights in the era when the Shan Han Lun was set forth, the weight and measures described in the Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu, written in the period slightly after the Shan Han Lun, were studied. Some descriptions of the metrological standards are confusing in the Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu. We focused on the measuring container, whose volume is equal to that of the one cun square spoon (fang cun bi), shown in the dun huang version of the Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu. The volume of this measuring container was calculated on the assumption that the measures in this text follow those of the Han Shu Li Li Shi, and a result of 5.07 cm³ was obtained. The result was confirmed by using the actual measured values of the crude drugs. The result was also considered to support measurements of the volume in the Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu as following the Han Shu Li Li Shi. With those results, descriptions of the density of honey and lard were examined, and the weight in the Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu was clarified to follow that in the Han Shu Li Li Shi.