INTRODUCTION : It has been suspected that the BL40 (Weizhong, Ichu) point could be used as a remote acupuncture stimulation point for the effective treatment of lumbago, because traditional remote acupuncture stimulation has shown, on occasion, dramatic effects for relieving chronic pain, especially lumbago, headaches and shoulder pain. We have reported that remote acupuncture point stimulation, such as “BL40-to-BL23 (Shenshu, Jinyu)” might be useful in the treatment of lumbago. An experiment was designed to identify the most effective points on the Bladder Meridian.
METHODS : We tested the electrical stimulation of BL57 (Chengshan, Shozan), BL58 (Feiyang, Hiyo) and BL60 (Kunlun, Konron) as far-points on the BL23 (Shenshu, Jinyu) in patients with slight to mild cases of lumago (24 adults, average age 31.2 y-o), who had given their informed consent beforehand. RESULTS : It was found that the respondent value (96.4 ± 4.8V, n=12) of BL40 on pre- stimulation in the male group was lower than that in the female group (86.1± 4.7V, n=12; p=0.07). When BL57 of lumbago patients was stimulated, the responsiveness of BL23 increased significantly in the male group (y=-0.04x+94.99; r=0.35, p<0.05), but declined in the female group (y=0.07x+102.55; r=0.44, p<0.01). When BL58 was stimulated, it had no apparent effect on the responsiveness of the male group, but that of the female group was reduced (y=-0.13x+99.00; r=0.85, p<0.001). In contrast, the responsiveness of BL23 to BL60 stimulation did not change in the male group but increased in the female group (y=0.12x+100.24; r=0.71, p<0.001). These results indicate that the stimulation on BL57, BL58 and BL60, which are far-points from BL23, had widely different effects on the responding pattern of BL23 in patients with lumbago.
CONCLUSION : The results confirm that remote acupuncture point stimulation might be valuable in the treatment of lumbago.

　　The platelet counts documented in most of the studies using the fully automated hematology analyzer XE-5000 are values measured by impedance technology (PLT-I). If blood specimens showing an anomalous particle-size distribution curve in the area where platelet counts are low are used (exceptionally low platelet count samples), the counting method is automatically switched over to an optical method (PLT-O). In the present study, we examined the usefulness of the XE-5000 by comparing PLT-I with PLT-O, using blood samples with low platelet counts collected from patients who visited our hospital between January 1 and March 31, 2012. Dilution linearity left nothing to be desired in either of the two, but simultaneous reproducibility was higher in PLT-O than in PLT-I. The correlations of PLT-I and PLT-O with visual counts were high, working out at r＝0.889～0.984. In the exceptionally low platelet count samples, the correlation coefficient was high in PLT-O than in PLT-I. The cases showing low platelet counts frequently presented giant platelets and/or red cell fragments. Therefore, measuring the samples with low platelet counts requires a high degree of precision. In the samples with exceptionally low platelet counts, PLT-O exceeded PLT-I in simultaneous reproducibility and correlation with visual counts. Thus, our study demonstrated the usefulness of the XE-5000 that could enumerate PLT-O automatically and speedily.

There are few reports describing stroke due to the acute occlusion of the vertebral artery (VA) origin successfully treated by endovascularily. The authors report a case of 78-year-old man suffering from stroke owing to acute VA origin occlusion associated with contralateral hypoplastic VA leading to basilar artery (BA) thrombosis. Cerebral angiography demonstrated that the right VA was occluded at its origin, the left VA was hypoplastic, and BA was filled with thrombus. The occlusion of VA origin was initially passed through with a microcatheter and microwire. Hereafter, angioplasty was performed followed by stenting with a coronary stent. The VA origin was successfully recanalized. Next, a microcatheter was navigated intracranially through the stent and fibrinolysis was performed for BA thrombus. The patient's symptoms gradually improved postoperatively. Stroke due to acute VA origin occlusion leading to BA thrombosis was successfully treated by angioplasty and stenting followed by intracranial fibrinolysis.
Angioplasty ; Basilar Artery ; Cerebral Angiography ; Fibrinolysis ; Stents ; Stress, Psychological ; Stroke ; Thrombosis ; Vertebral Artery