The importance of pressing hand in clinical practice of acupuncture was explored in this paper. Through literature review and clinical experience, the role of pressing hand before, during and after acupuncture was summarized and analyzed. Before acupuncture, the pressing hand helped to diagnose diseases, examine pulse and locate acupoints; during acupuncture, it participated in needle insertion and reinforcing-reducing manipulation; after acupuncture, it played a role in needle withdrawal and regulate human body. It is indicated the pressing hand is a key role not only during acupuncture or reinforcing-reducing manipulation, but also participates in the overall process of acupuncture, which has great significance in guiding clinical treatment and enhancing practice level.

Blistering cupping is special as eliminating wind and dampness as well as removing phlegm and blood stasis, and it achieves effects through suction. In this paper we reviewed relevant literature combined with clinical experience so as to summarize its operation attention through exploring the origin, mechanism and application. We divide the progress into the blistering period, the phlegm-stasis-eliminating period, and the escharosis period according to the changes of bubble and the things pulled out. Blistering cupping creates ways to eliminate concrete unhealthy influences through smoothing meridians and collaterals, such as phlegm and retained fluid, dampness and blood stasis. Thus chronic diseases are relieved. Also,we propose the rules of "blistering acupoints being related to disease location as well as the nature of acupoints and diseases". The therapy has been used to treat diseases of respiratory system, osteoarticular, skin and subcutaneous tissue, mental and behavioral disorders, and tumor, among which the effects of intractable diseases of respiratory and osteoarticular systems are definite. It deserves to be further explored and promoted.

Tree shrew is a novel and high-quality experimental animal model. In this study, the real-time polymerase chain reaction methods were established to detect infection-related cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, IL-10, IL-17A, interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and housekeeping gene glyceraldehyde-phosphate dehydrogenase ( ) of tree shrew. The results indicated that the establised methods had good specificity. The high point of the linear range of these reagents reached 1 × 10 copies, and the low points ranged from 10 copies (IL-6, IL-17A), 100 copies (IL-10, ) to 1 000 copies (IL-8, IFN-γ). In this interval, the linear correlation coefficient of each reagent was greater than 0.99. The lowest detectable values of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17A, IFN-γ and were 8, 8, 4, 8, 128 and 4 copies, respectively. The results showed that the established detection methods had good specificity, sensitivity and wide linear range. The methods were suitable for detection of multiple concentration range samples, and could be used for the subsequent studies of tree shrew cytokines.
Animals ; Cytokines ; analysis ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Shrews