The third session of the sixth Executive Committee (EC) of WFAS was held on 24 November 2006 at Sanur Paradise Hotel in Bali, Indonesia. Fourteen members including Deng Liangyue (President of WFAS), David P. J. Hung (Ex-president of WFAS) were present and eight members were absent. From the Department of International Affaires of JSAM, TAKASAWA Naomi and I attended the meeting on behalf of Japanese EC members, KUROSU Yukio (Vice president of WFAS) and TSUTANI Kiichiro (Counselor of JSAM). TOGO Toshihiro, a member of our department also attended the meeting as an observer.
The meeting started with opening remarks from Li DaNing, vice-Director of SATCM (State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine) and the session was chaired by Shen ZhiXiang (Secretary-general of WFAS). In the meeting, the following issues were discussed and approved.
1. A cooperation plan between WHO and WFAS, 2007-2009 was presented.
2. Four proposals from the WFAS secretary-general were presented.
  2-1 Proposal on holding an academic conference
  2-2 Proposal on strengthening work of the World Journal of Acupuncture-Moxibustion.
  2-3 Proposal on the establishment of committee offices
  2-4 Proposal on developing member societies of WFAS.
3. Another four proposals regarding the establishment of four Committees were also presented by the secretary-general; Science and Technology Committee, University Cooperation Committee, International Volunteer Working Committee, and Management Committee of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicinal International Standardization Foundation.
4. Nine new groups were approved for admission to WFAS as member societies.
5. A new working committee nomination list was introduced and executive committee decided to contact committee members in three months for a vote.
6. The secretary-general of WFAS reported on the present state of WFAS website (www.wfas.org.cn) and a plan about the WHO internet tool case program on Traditional Medicine.
7. Li Weiheng, president of the China association of acupuncture-moxibustion, introduced the preparation of the 20th anniversary of WFAS and international acupuncture congress.
Lastly, President Deng made a closing address to conclude all of the issues on the agenda.

20th anniversary congress of the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies (WFAS) was held in Beijing, China on 20-22 October 2007. The congress was characterized by 1) cerebration of 20th anniversary of WFAS, 2) distinguished guests from World Health Organization (WHO) were invited, and they gave us a lecture, 3) WFAS executive committee showed a strategic plan for future 10 years.
Although WFAS strategic plan has not carried out properly in the past 10 years, it could be completed in the next 10 years. WFAS is changing from what it used to be. Therefore, JSAM has to reconsider its strategic plan for WFAS and for the worldwide spread of acupuncture and moxibustion.

WFAS Executive Committee meeting was held on 6 November 2008 in Beijing, China. Firstly, WFAS secretary reported what they have achieved since last meeting in 2007. Then some important issues such as revision of membership certificate and revision of WFAS constitution were proposed and discussed. The 7th WFAS World Congress of Acupuncture had been decided to be held in Korea in 2009, but it was cancelled because of the recent economic crisis. The alternative venue for the next congress was not decided but France and/or Germany could be the candidate. In addition, Dr. Tsutani made a suggestion about the WFAS ethic codes on the WFAS website and it was approved.

An International Symposium for Developing an Acupuncture Standard of WFAS was held at the WFAS Office Building in Beijing on 18 May 2010. The aim of this meeting was to make the WFAS Industry Standard and to further develop the International Standard of Acupuncture and Moxibustion.
JSAM dispatched two representatives to the meeting as informal observers. The reason why JSAM did not send representatives formally is that there was a serious discrepancy regarding the resolution of the EC meeting between WFAS and JSAM. However, after the several discussions with WFAS, JSAM eventually decided to send informal representatives who have a right to speak. JSAM presented the necessary information about Japanese moxibustion as well as its techniques.

[Objective]To investigate if "Japanese acupuncture treatment"is effective for "Japanese patients with lower back pain"by reviewing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture conducted in Japan.
[Methods]Using several databases in Japan, such as Igaku Chuo Zasshi (Japana Centra Revuo Medicina) and PubMed, we searched for RCTs conducted in Japan. In addition, we collected RCTs by a manual search of 5 journals published in Japan. These included the Journal of the JSAM, Kampo Medicine, etc. Then, we examined the abstracts of all RCTs and sorted them according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. After that, we evaluated the quality of extracted RCTs by calculating Modified Jadad Quality Scores and Modified Charmers Scores. Lastly, we performed meta-analysis (MA) using Cochrane Review Manager 5.
[Results]We extracted 19 RCTs. For the Modified Jadad Quality Score 2012, the highest score was 5, the lowest was 1, and the average was 3.5. For the Modified Charmers Score, RCTs with scores over 50 numbered only two, and the average score was 34. In addition, we performed three subgroup meta-analyses:(1) MA of five RCTs, to compare the effect of a retained needle technique with that of sham acupuncture evaluated by a visual analogue scale;VAS (standardized mean difference:SMD -1.79 [95%CI -2.89, -0.69];P = 0.001), (2) MA of three RCTs to compare the effect of retained needle with that of sham acupuncture, evaluated with the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire;RMDQ (SMD -1.23[95%CI -2.07, -0.38];P = 0.004), and (3) MA of three RCTs to compare the effect of a sparrow-pecking technique with that of sham acupuncture, evaluated by VAS (SMD -0.49 [95%CI -0.98, -0.00];P = 0.05). The results revealed the superiority of real over sham acupuncture for all three subgroup MA.
[Conclusion]Our results demonstrated that evaluations with Modified Jadad Scores were relatively high, but those with an advanced method using Modified Charmers Scores were not satisfactory, indicating a need for further improvement regarding the quality of clinical trials. Although MA revealed that real acupuncture was more effective than sham acupuncture, the RCTs that we extracted in this study were conducted by very few researchers, suggesting the possibility of bias. Therefore, more clinical trials by a variety of researchers are needed to confirm the effectiveness of acupuncture for LBP in Japan.

Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common complaints of Japanese citizens, and is a symptom for which acupuncture has been applied since ancient times. We empirically recognize that acupuncture is effective for LBP, but in recent years, it became necessary to show evidence regarding its efficacy and effectiveness.Currently, to elucidate the effect of a medical intervention, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are considered the gold standard and outcomes of RCTs are integrated as a systematic review (SR), and these are used to establish the degree of recommendation in the clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Eventually, practitioners make their clinical decisions according to the recommendations in CPGs.In this report, the author compared CPGs of acupuncture for LBP between those of the United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA). The NICE guideline development group of the UK did not fully understand Japanese-style acupuncture, and they considered clinical trials with placebo/sham as a control to be the most important, leading to underestimating the effect of acupuncture. On the other hand, the ACP guideline of the USA considers clinical trials with conventional treatment as a control to be more important, and accordingly the effect of acupuncture was evaluated realistically.

To investigate the effects of Kampo and a rehabilitation approach on patients with spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD), a 65-year-old female patient with SCD was treated with Ogi-kenchu-to and therapeutic exercise based on the Bobath concept.
She had a gait disturbance (unable to walk) with slightly increased muscle tonus and deep sensory disturbance in the left leg before therapy. In Kampo confirmations, there was a generalized cold feeling and fatigue due to decreased physical fitness. In the electrophysiological study, the amplitude of Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABR) and Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SEP) in the left side showed a greater decrease than those in the right side. The amplitude of the F-wave in the left side showed a greater increase than that of the right side.
After two months of this therapy, the patient was able to walk unassisted. Improvement in the neurological and general findings, along with normalization of the ABR, SEP and F-wave were also observed.
It was suggested that Kampo therapy using Ogi-kenchu-to and therapeutic exercise based on the Bobath concept were effective in the treatment of this patient with SCD.

We have detected Hepatitis B viral DNA on the surface of needles after removing acupuncture needles. Using a polymerase chain reaction we confirmed a band specific for Hepatitis B virus in one out of two patients who are known carriers. Our study indicates that acupuncture needles represent one possible sources of viral infection.

In the present study, acupuncture treatment has performed in a patient with spondylosis deformans combined piriformis syndrome, and applied to relief the hypertonus of the piriformis in the right buttock. As a result, the mitigation of right buttock pain and subsequent improvement in the range of the hip joint motion were observed from the early stage of treatment. These acupuncture effects are probably due to pain relief that resulted from increased local muscle blood flow following acupuncture stimulation. In addition, the present patient was suspected of double lesion neuropathy consisting of spondylosis deformans complicated by piriformis syndrome. From the present study, acupuncture therapy is thought to be useful method of enhancing the decompression of an entrapped nerve and vessels by increasing blood flow in the affected muscle in entrapment neuropathy such as thoracic outlet syndrome or piriformis syndrome.