Acupuncture is a traditional empirical medicine, and evidence-based medicine(EBM) is a new medical method and development of the empirical medicine. Since 1990s, Chinese acupuncture workers began to absorb and use the methods and principles of EBM to guide acupuncture clinical research and practice. Now more and more domestic acupuncture clinicians use and follow the methods and principles of EBM. On the systemic review of acupuncture-associated articles in Cochrane library, previously effective acupuncture therapy lacks adequate evidences, which may be related to the low quality of randomized controlled trials(RCTs). In the future, only developing specialized team of acupuncture clinical research and clinical research center can radically elevate the levels of acupuncture clinical research and evaluation. Meanwhile, developing China's evidence-based acupuncture should base itself on the characteristics of acupuncture, such as emphasis on original research in ancient books,high-quality single RCTs and systemic review of non-randomized researches.

OBJECTIVE:To find out the general rule in ware-house-in inspection for Chinese medicinal crop.METHO_ DS:135reports of consigned inspection for Chinese medicinal material were quantitatively analysed in linking with the pre?served specimens.RESULTS:Main specimens inspected included Radix Morindae Officinalis,Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae,Herba Cistarchis and Semen Cuscutae.The main cause of those unqualified Chinese medicine was due to fake and impure ma?terials adulterated.The target items of adulteration were herbal pieces and other small size Chinese medicinal materi?als.CONCLUSION:Chinese medicine should be purchased from the source of original unprocessed materials.During taking delivery of goods,formal differentiation and scientific inspection process should be performed to prevent fake and unqualified medicine being stored and used,to ensure the product quality up-to-standard.

Objective To study the expression and significance of acid-sensing ion channels(ASICs)in rat articular cartilage with adjuvant arthritis. Methods Complete Freund's adjuvant(CFA) was prepared by suspending heat-killed Bacillus Calmette Guerin(BCG) in liquid paraffin at 10 mg/ml. CFA-induced arthritis was developed by injection of 100 μl CFA emulsion intradermally into the right hind paw. The morphological changes of articular tissues was observed by light microscope; RT-PCR and immunoblotting analyses were used to detect ASICs in rat articular cartilage with adjuvant arthritis. Results RT-PCR and western blot showed that ASIC1a, ASIC2a and ASIC3 were present in the articular cartilage of normal and model group, the ASICs mRNA levels in the model group were higher than in the normal group detected by semiquantitative analysis (P＜0.01), ASICs protein levels in model group were higher than those in the normal group (P＜0.01) when examined by immunoblotting. Conclusion The results show that the expression of ASICs in AA articular cartilage is enhanced and it may be related with articular cartilage breakdown.

Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of acupuncture combined with rehabilitation on dysphagia after stroke at differentstage. Methods According to the randomized trial principle, 155 cases were divided into two groups: control group (n=80) and observationgroup (n=75). The control group was treated with rehabilitation training, and the observation group was treated with acupuncture and rehabilitationtraining, 5 times every week for 4 weeks. The two groups were assessed by TCM swallowing assessment scores and Kubota testbefore and after treatment. Results According to Kubota test, the total rate was 66.67% in the control group and 89.33% in the observationgroup with a significant difference between the groups (P<0.001). In the observation group, the total rate was 90.48% at acute stage and88.89% at the convalescence stage with a significant difference (P<0.01). According to TCM swallowing assessment, the total rate was64.00% in the control group and 74.67% in the observation group with no significant difference between the groups (P<0.05). In the observationgroup, the total rate was 90.48% at acute stage and 68.52% at the convalescence stage with a significant difference (P<0.001). ConclusionAcupuncture combined with rehabilitation facilitates to improve the swallowing function in stroke patients following dysphagia especiallyat acute stage.

Primary hypertension is one of the common chronic diseases, as well as the key disease for prevention and treatment by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The authors searched and analyzed RCTs studies on primary hyper-tension treatment with acupuncture in the PubMed. It showed that primary hypertension treatment with acupuncture abroad had high quality methodologies. However, the deficiencies of TCM theories in the treatment plan in these studies were the same as RCTs of acupuncture treatment design of other diseases. It may due to the insufficiency of TCM knowledge and culture differences of researchers aboard. Besides, the small sample amount, various interven-tions, no blank control, and the using of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure most of the time, may difficult to objec-tively evaluate the clinical effect of acupuncture. Therefore, our research team will carry out high quality RCT stud-ies under the guidance of TCM theories of meridians and syndrome differentiation to further discuss the specificity of acupoints.

Combining the functional metabolic imaging and anatomical imaging,PET-CT stands for the highest level of current nuclear medical imaging techniques,and has been applying increasingly in acupuncture studies.However,owning to complexity of the brain function and sensitivity of brain metabolism,the lower reproducibility of cerebral function imaging even may reverse many results.This has been provoked more and more attention by researchers.Its main cause is intimately related to poor experimental methodology.For this reason,the present paper raises the quality control of the research on mechanisms of acupuncture in the process of application of PET-CT techniques from 1) the included standards of participants,2) the preparation of participants during the scanning process of PET-CT,3) the setting of the scanning parameters,4) the used machine and the imaging reagent,5) the analysis of dada,6) the standardization of acupuncture manipulation,and 7) the designs of the acupuncture operation,needling opportunity and scanning opportunity,hoping to offer some beneficial information for the coming researches.

Aim To observe the anti-fibros is effect and mechanism of total flavones of Bidens bipinnata L(TFB) on immunological liver fibrosis in rats.Methods The pig serum was injected into abdominal cavity(0.5 ml,twice a week) for 12 weeks so as to induce hepatic fibrosis,and then the rats were treated with TFB daily for 10 weeks and killed at the 22 nd week.The HA,LN,PCⅢ and CⅣ in serum were assessed by ELISA.Liver samples collected after experiment were stained with hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining,Masson staining and scored.The expression of ?-smooth muscle actin(?-SMA) in liver was analyzed by immunohistochemistry.The gene expression of TGF-?1 was detected by RT-PCR.Results Compared with model group,TFB treatment significantly reduced HA,LN,PCⅢ,CⅣ content in serum.Liver histology in the TFB treated rats was also improved.Moreover TFB could decrease the expression of protein ?-SMA and TGF-?1 mRNA.Conclusions TFB significantly reduced pig serum-induced liver fibrosis in rats,probably by decreasing the expression of TGF-?1 mRNA and then inhibiting the proliferation of HSC.

Aim To explore the therapeutic effect of total flavones of Bidens Bipinnata L (TFB) on liver fibrosis in rats and its mechanism. Methods The model of rat liver fibrosis was adopted which was induced by CCl4 injection. The effects of TFB were observed on the levels of serum HA,PCⅢ,CIV and Hyp in rats liver fibrosis,and on liver histopathological changes as well as collagen hyperplasia formation in liver tissue. The apoptosis of HSC were detected by double-staining of ?-smooth muscle actin (?-SMA) and TUNEL. The study in vitro was carried out on the culture of isolated hepatic stellate cells. Cell proliferation was detected with MTT assay. Cell apoptosis was detected by electron microscopy and flow cytometry. Results TFB can significantly reduce serum HA,PCⅢ,CⅣ and Hyp contents in liver fibrosis of rats,improve the liver pathologic injury,reduce collagen hyperplasia in liver of liver fibrosis rats,inhibit the activation and proliferation of HSC,and promote the apoptosis of HSC. In addition TFB could significantly inhibit the proliferation and increased the apoptosis of isolated and cultured HSC compared with the control group. Conclusions TFB has a significant therapeutic effect on the liver fibrosis rats,probably its inhibition of proliferation and stimulation of activated HSC apoptosis may be an important mechanism of its therapeutical effect against liver fibrosis.

The rising of evidence-based medicine requires high quality for clinical research and randomized controlled trial is considered as clinical research of the most level of evidence degree and contidence activity.This article illustrates several important and instructive designs of randomized controlled trials,which can give some reference for clinical research on acupuncture.And the developing direction of future clinical research on acupuncture is discussed.

Acid-sensing ion channels(ASICs) are a novel class of ligand-gated cation channels activated by extracellular acidification and belong to the epithelial sodium channels(DEG/ENaC) superfamily.Their biological functions have recently been found not only in the central nervous system but also relevant to the physiology and pathology of non-neuronal tissues such as taste buds, cardiovascular system and bones.This review concerns the latest research on the expression and functions of ASICs in non-neuronal tissues so as to promote the understanding of their physiological and pathological functions.