The pattern/symptom differentiation system in acupuncture treatment is lack of the unique characteristics and advantages in theory and clinical practice and it just rigidly adopts the methods of pattern/symptom differentiation of the other disciplines in TCM. In fact, it is necessary to have the unique and more practical theoretic system to guide acupuncture treatment. According to the characteristics of acupuncture in diagnosis and treatment, the acupoints selection based on "disease-symptom-location" combination becomes the law of acupuncture treatment. The acupoints selection based on "disease-symptom-location" combination is the expression to concretize the diagnosis and treatment of disease under the guidance of pattern/syndrome differentiation. Both of them are originated from the general principles of TCM and for the particular disciplines of TCM. The acupoints selection based on "disease-symptom-location" combination benefits the promotion and application of acupuncture.
Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Meridians

Objective:To evaluate the curative effect of electroacupuncture on postapoplectic incontinence of urine.Methods:One Hundred and fifty-five patients were randomly allocated into a treatment group of 102 cases and a control group Of 51 cases.The treatment group was treated with electroacupuncture and the control group with Wlestem medicine.The curative effects were evaluated after 1-2 months.Resuits:The basic cure rate.marked eriective rate,effective rate and inelyective rate were 47.0%,27.5%,1 8.6% and 6.9% respectively,with a total effective rate of 93.1%in the treatment group and 7.9%,1 7.6%,1 7.6% and 56.9% respectively,with a total effective rate of 43.1% in the control group.There was a statistically significant difference in curative effect between the two groups(P＜0.05).The curative effect was significantly beaer in the treatment group than in the control group.Conclusion:Electroacupuncture has a good curative effect on postapoplectic incontinence ofurine.

Tianshu (ST 25) is a frequently-used acupoint in acupuncture practice. It is reported that deep acupuncture has a better therapeutic effect than routine depth acupuncture. On the basis of reviewing the available literature,the present paper gives a definition about "deep acupuncture" of Tianshu (ST 25) from the anatomy angle,and makes a summary about its safety. This paper also puts forward a set of operation standards for needling Tianshu (ST 25). Moreover,the authors of the present paper also make a systematic analysis on the factors affecting the safety from the punctured depth,the diameter of the acupuncture needle and the operation technique. These methods and standards have an important significance in guiding clinical practice of acu-puncture.

Clinical Trials as Topic ; Electroacupuncture ; Facial Paralysis ; therapy ; Humans ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND:Studies have shown that mesenchymsi stem cells (MSCs) participate in tumor stroma remodeling,but the mechanism is not clear.However,myofibroblast is related with tumor strema remodeling.OBJECTIVE:To investigate whether MSCs can differentiate into myofibroblast under the induction of tumor microenvironment.DESIGN,TIME AND SETING:This in vitro observation and in vivo transplantation cytology experiment was performed at institute of Low Temperature Medicine,Qilu Hospital of Shandong University from June 2006 to December 2007.MATERIALS:Twelve male New Zealand white rabbits,with 3-month-old,were purchased from Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences.METHODS:MSCs were obtained through bone marrow aspirates in male New Zealand rabbits and cultured by density gradient method.The 2~(nd) passage of MSCs were labeled with DAPI,and adjusted cell density to 5×10~(10) /L.The cells were assigned into experimental and control groups.For the experimental group,the passage two MSCs were cultured in low-glucose DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum and 30% VX2-cultured supernatant.For the control group,passage two MSCs were cultured in low-glucose DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum.Also,DAPI labeled self passage 2 MSCs of avery animal were delivered uniformly via direct surgical intratumoral injection to observe the differentiation of MSCs in tumor tissue.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Immunofluorescense and RT-PCR were used to test the expression of α-SMA and Vimentin in MSCs of both groups 14 days later.At 3 weeks after VX2.intratumoral injection,Immunofluorescence was used to observe the distribution and differentiation of MSCs in tumor tissue.RESULTS:After stimulated with 30% VX2-cultured supematant for 2 weeks,Cy3 immunofluorescance showed that the expressions of α-SMA and Vimentin were strongly expressed in the experimental group,which was weakly expressed in the control group.Compared to the control group,the levels of α-SMA and Vimentin mRNA were obviously increased in the experimental group (P ＜ 0.01,P ＜ 0.05).At 3 weeks after MSCs intratumoral injection,these MSCs mainly distributed in tumor stroma and the expression of α-SMA and Vimentin in MSCs were also obviously increased,which demonstrated that the MSCs had differentiated into myofibroblasts.CONCLUSIONS:Under the induction of tumor microenivironment,MSCs can differentiate into myofibroblast,accordingly,accelerate the growth of tumor.

Objective To evaluate advantages and disadvantages of three procedures-percutaneous ethanol injection,small incision unroofing,and laparoscopic unroofing-in the treatment of renal cysts.Methods Clinical data of 106 cases of renal cysts from January 2001 to November 2004,treated either by percutaneous ethanol injection(Percutaneous Group),or small incision unroofing(Small Incision Group),or laparoscopic unroofing (Laparoscopic Group),were reviewed.The operation time,intraoperative blood loss,hospitalization costs,and cure rate were compared among the three procedures.Results The Percutaneous Group presented the least hospitalization costs(3 261.8?779.2 yuan),the lowest cure rate(78.6%,22/28),and the highest recurrence rate(21.4%,6/28).The Small Incision Group had the shortest operation time(44.1?5.7 min),and the Laparoscopic Group had the highest hospitalization costs(9 050.9?1 116.2 yuan).There were significant differences in these parameters among the three groups(P0.05).Conclusions The three procedures,with each having its own advantages,should be selected depending on individual conditions.For patients with a simple renal cyst

Based on entire literature retrieval about low back pain treated with acupuncture and moxibustion, Clinical Practice Guideline for Low Back Pain Treated with Acupuncture and Moxibustion was drafted according to method of evidence quality and recommended intensity grading system(GRADE). This article specificly introduces the aim and available diseases of the guideline. The principle and recommended plans are also detailedly explained.
Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; standards ; China ; Humans ; Low Back Pain ; therapy ; Moxibustion ; methods ; standards ; Practice Guidelines as Topic

Purpose: To explore the therapeutic method for lameness caused by lumbar spinal stenosis. Methods: 28 cases of the patients with lameness were treated by puncturing Dachangshu (BL 25), Weizhong (BL 40), Chengshan (BL 57) and Kunlun (BL 60) and simultaneously another 26 cases were treated with routine method for control study. Results:After the treatments for four weeks, the scores of the symptoms in the two groups were remarkably elevated. In the acupuncture treatment, the results showed remarkable effect in 4 cases, effect in 21 cases. In the routine treatment, the results showed remarkable effect in 4 cases and effect in 8 cases. Conclusion: acupuncture treatment is better than the routine conventional treatment for lameness caused by lumbar spinal stenosis.

The literature was analyzed on the improvement of motor sensory function, urination and defecation in myelitis treated with acupuncture and moxibustion and focused on the characteristics of the diagnosis and treatment. The literature on acupuncture and moxibustion treatment for myelitis was collected from CNKI, Wanfang, VIP and PubMed. The analysis included the characteristics of acupoint selection, methods of acupuncture and moxibustion, time of treatment, total treatment period, efficacy, follow-up, safety, etc. Totally, 26 articles were collected. The combined therapy of acupuncture and moxibustion was predominated (12/26, 46. 15%). For the motor and sensory impairment, the acupoints were mainly selected from the four limbs, the yangming meridians of hand and foot and those adjacent to the affected spinal segments and on the governor vessel as well as Jiaji (EX-B 2) points. For urinary impairment, the acupoints were selected mainly from the lower abdominal region on the conception vessel and the lumbosacral region on the bladder meridian. For the intestinal impairment, the acupoints were from the lower limb on the stomach meridian, the lower abdominal region on the conception vessel and the back points on the bladder meridian. The intervention started commonly in the first 3 months after onset. The total treatment period was in the range from 1 to 3 months. The efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion was 69.19% to 82.56% for the improvement of motor sensory and urination, defecation function. The efficacy in follow-up was stable and the adverse reactions were not reported. It is viewed that on the basis of early diagnosis and active medication, acupuncture and moxibution achieve a certain of efficacy on the impairment of motor sensory function, urination and defecation. A clinical research is expected to further verify the efficacy.
Acupuncture Therapy ; Databases, Bibliographic ; Defecation ; Humans ; Motor Activity ; Moxibustion ; Myelitis ; diagnosis ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Sensation ; Urinary Bladder ; physiopathology ; Urination

Objectives To assess if visual analogue scale(VAS) or Likert scale was relatively more suitable when measuring self-reported clinical outcomes for apoplexy spastic-paralysis patients.Methods Nineteen questions were made from the serf-evaluating instrument based on patient reported outcomes for apoplexy spasticparalysis patients developed previously in cross-sectional study.104 patients answered the questions by both continuous and discrete visual analogue scale(VAS),while other 110 patients by both five-point Likert scales and Likert-typo scales.Cronbach'sαfor internal consistency reliability,spearman for correlation,and exploratory factor analysis for construct validity were applied.Results Except for emotional domain,the α coefficients of physical domain,social domain and overall score with continuous and discrete VAS are higher than that with five-point Likert scales and Likert-type scales.Internal consistency reliability was stronger for VAS.lntraclass correlation coefficients were above 0.4 mostly for each item with its domain,and VAS may produce the higher correlation.For VAS,there were three factors in the exploratory factor analysis,which confirmed the domain hypotheses of physical,mental and social functions,but for the Likert scales,the result was undesiable.Conclusion The more accurate for the response options,the better for the performance.When the patient can complete the measurement without the help of others,VAS seems better suited.