In the past, education of acupuncture/ moxibustion in Taiwan depended on the masters-disciples relation. The knowledge of acupuncture/ moxibustion was transmitted to disciples individually.
Since its establishment in 1955, The Taipei Society Acupuncture and Moxibustion improved educational pro- gram to more systematic one. In the following 20 years varieties of studies in this field were conducted, people also turned their eyes to these traditional remedies
Though acupuncture and moxibustion had begun to be accepted by people, the new medical law was en- forced in 1975, which disqualified the acupuncturists for medcial practice. As a result, many of the acupuncturists and moxibustionists left Taiwan for overseas. Unlike many other nations, Taiwan has no system for certification of acupuncturists/ moxibustionists. The traditional Chinese doctor in Taiwan, after passing the examination for Chinese Medicinal exam can practice the Chinese herbal medicine and the acupuncture/ moxibustion. It seems an inconceivable system.
It is only after 1989 that the subjects on acupuncture/ moxibustion medicine were included in the exams for the traditional Chinese doctor in Taiwan. But it still doesn't include tests of practical skills. This is more of a hindrance than a contribution to acupuncture and moxibustion in Taiwan.
Though there has been the legalization movement for acupuncturists/ moxibustionists during the past 30 years, it met opposition from both of the health bureau and the traditional Chinese doctor trade union. The license system for acupunturist is still left uncertain.
Now in Japan, the high tech device like electronic microscope, micro inductor and micro-electric are introduced in the studies of acupuncture/ moxibustion medicine. And in the field of scientific research of the acupuncture and moxibustion, Japanese seem to have more grant view than other country. The health government of Taiwan should turn their eyes to the reality and change its policies towards this effective medicine.
Now acupuncture and moxibustion medicine has become one of the international research topics. In recent years WFAS academic congresses are held every year in the different nations. Here I would like to suggest that in advanced country like Japan, a new university specializing in acupuncture/moxibustion medicine should be established and it should accept and educate foreign student from overseas with international curriculum. Only the continuous and faithful exchange of the young scholars would recover the true friendship between Taiwan and Japan.

OBJECTIVE: To develop software for individualized dosage regimen of valproic acid and carbamazepine according to population pharmacokinetics and Bayesian estimation method. METHODS: Based on the prior population pharmacokinetic (PPK) information, Microsoft Excel 2010 was employed as the input-output interface to run the PPK program, Nonlinear Mixed Effect Modeling (NONMEM), to estimate the PK parameters and design the regimen. RESULTS: The software fulfills the functions of patient information management, initial dosage design, dosage calculation by maximum a posterior Bayesian estimation (MAPB) and compliance assessment. CONCLUSION: The established software provides a powerful tool in the clinical settings to facilitate the individualized therapy for the epilepsy patients.

Objective To study the relationship between helicobacter pylori(Hp) infection and iron deficiency anemia(IDA) in children. Methods The observation group contained 26 cases and control group 22 cases.Seroferroprotein(SF) and blood routine were detected.Results There was statistically significant difference in both groups on the SF,hemoglobin,red blood cellcount,mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (P0.05). Conclusion Hp infection may be related to IDA in children.

OBJECTIVETo study the expression difference in MicroRNA-21 (miRNA-21) levels of the plasma between the patients with coronary heart disease and the subjects without coronary artery lesions, and its clinical significance.

METHODSPlasma was obtained from the patients with coronary heart disease(trial group,56 cases) and the subjects without coronary artery lesions(control group, 10 cases), patients with coronary disease were divided into angina(AP, 39 cases) and acute myocardial infarction(AMI, 17 cases)subgroup, the contents of miRNA-21 were detected using qRT-PCR method, and the differential expression of miRNA-21 in each group was analyzed. The levels of creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), high sensitive troponin I(cTnI), B type natriuretic peptide urea (BNP), Gensini, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), integral value of coronary left ventricular end diastole diameter (LV) and homocysteine (HCY) were determined and the correlation between miRNA-21 and these clinical indexes was analyzed.

RESULTSCompared with control group, there was a significant difference in expression of miRNA-21 in patients with angina and AMI (P < 0.05), and miRNA-21 expression in AMI group was much higher than that in AP group. There was statistical significance in CK, CK-MB, cTnI, Genisis integral comparison between AMI group and control group (P < 0.05). The correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between expression of CK, CK-MB, cTnI and the level of circulating miRNA-21 in patients with acute myocardial infarction. And there was a negative correlation between BNP, Gensini integral, LVEF value of coronary artery, LV and circulating miRNA-21.

CONCLUSIONmiRNA-21 was significantly elevated in acute myocardial infarction subgroup than the control group. The level of miRNA-21 associates with the degree of coronary artery stenosis, and might be a potential marker for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. miRNA-21 may play an important role in protecting myocardium from ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Acute Disease ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Coronary Disease ; blood ; Creatine Kinase, MB Form ; metabolism ; Humans ; MicroRNAs ; blood ; Myocardial Infarction ; blood ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; metabolism ; Troponin I ; metabolism

Drug clinical trial is an important link in the chain of new drug research and development. The results of drug discovery and development directly depend on the extent of standardization of clinical trials. Therefore, improving the quality of drug clinical trials is of great importance, and drug clinical trial institutions play a crucial role in the quality management of drug clinical trials. After years of development, the overall level of drug clinical trials has advanced rapidly in China, and a large number of clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine have also been carried out. However, there is still a big gap between our country and developed countries. Therefore, for the construction and management of Chinese drug clinical trial institutions, there is still a long way to go. This study aims to analyze the current development of drug clinical trial institutions in China and explore the existing problems from three aspects, including current situations of institutional organization and management, regional and professional distributions, and quality control. And some suggestions are put forward finally, including support of traditional Chinese medicine, introduction of drug-risk management system, and construction of information management.
China ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; standards ; Drug Evaluation ; Drug Therapy ; standards ; trends ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; standards ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Quality Control ; Research

Objective To explore and compare the effect of sevoflurane and disoprofol to inflammatory factors in patients received abdominal surgeries.Methods Patients with sevoflurane and disoprofol respectively were anaesthetized and detected IL-6,IL-8,IL-10 and TNF-α in their serum at T1 (when anesthesia induction),T2 (after anesthesia induction),T3 (30min after beginning of operations) and T4 (after operations).Results Compared with T1,the serum level of IL-6,IL-8,IL-10 and TNF-α increased significantly in all patients(all P ＜ 0.05) ; Compared with disoprofol group,the serum level of IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α increased significantly (all P ＜ 0.05) ; Compared with sevoflurane group,the serum level of IL-10 increased significantly(all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Intravenous anesthesia with disoprofol in patients receiving abdominal operations is proper for maintenance of inflammatory balance.

Objective To study the changes in small intestinal motility during the process of gallbladder cholesterol stone formation.Methods Forty guinea pigs were divided into two groups of 20 each,the experiment group fed on high cholesterol diet ( cholesterol 2％ ),while the control group on normal diet.Animals were sacrificed at 8 weeks.Slow wave and tension of the isolated small intestinal muscle specimen were measured using a multi-channel physiological recorder,and its relation to gallstone formation was assessed.Results Compared with the control group,the frequency and amplitude of the slow wave significantly reduced in the experimental group (5.70 ± 1.05/min vs.17.45 ± 1.50/min and 0.23 ± 0.31 my vs.0.78 ±0.17 mv respectively,P ＜0.05).The t-value between the two groups were -27.083 and - 13.236 respectively; Frequency of contraction and muscle tension also reduced significantly (5.94 ± 1.25/min vs.15.85 ± 1.76/min and 0.78 ±0.002 g vs.1.20 ±0.11 g respectively,P ＜0.05).Thet-value between the two groups were - 19.448 and - 17.307 respectively.Conclusions Reduced small intestinal motility is present in guinea pigs fed on a lithogenous diet,and may have a role in the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstone formation.

Objective To study the repair of great vessels injured by firearm in extremities. Methods From May 2002 to Sep. 2005, 15 cryopreserved homologous arteries were transplanted to repair the defects of great vessels of extremities in 14 patients, including 5 cases of defect of brachial arteries, 1 case of defect of axillary artery, 1 case of popliteal artery damage and 7 cases of defect of femoral arteries. The average length of homologous arterial transplants was 9.5 cm. After operation, all the 14 patients were monitored and treated according to principles of microsurgery. Result No early reject reaction was found in all the 14 cases, and all the wounds healed after Ⅱ stage treatment. With Doppler ultrasonic examination 2-3 weeks after healing, it was proved that 100% of the vessels were patent. In 4 to 8 month follow up, the function of the extremities recovered well, and no delayed reject reaction was observed. Conclusion The vessels after cryopreservation is a suitable biomaterial in homologous transplantation for repairing the defect of great vessels of the extremities as a result of firearm injury.

Objective To investigate the pathologic appearances,immunohistochemical features,and genetic changes of malignant triton tumor(MTT). Methods One case of MTT was studied pathologically and immunohistochemically,and the related literatures were reviewed. Results A huge mass,demonstrated in the thorax by X ray and CT scan was seen in the posterior mediastinum in the surgery.Histologically,the tumor was composed of spindle cells with significant atypia.Some of the tumor cells had dense eosinophilic cytoplasm.Immunohistochemical staining revealed positive for myoglobin,desmin and S-100 in most of the tumor cells.The pathological diagnosis was MTT of the posterior mediastinum. Conclusion Cases of MTT in the mediastinum are very rare,with less specific clinical and imaging manifestations.The diagnosis is mainly made on the basis of pathological examination and immunohistochemical staining.

Background Flickering light is different from the normal light environment.Animal experiment proved that flickering light can induce myopia.But its mechanism remains unclear.Objective This study was to investigate the expression of c-fos gene in retina of myopic C57BL/6J mice induced by flickering light and monocular form deprivation.Methods Ninety clean C57BL/6J mice aged 28-day-old with the similar refraction in both eyes were randomly assigned to five groups.Fifteen mice in the control group were exposed to continuous white light environment.The white flickering light with the frequency of 10,5,2 Hz were used to irradiate the mice respectively in high frequency flickering group (15 mice),moderate frequency flickering group (15 mice) and low frequency flickering group (15 mice),respectively.The right eyes of other 30 mice were monocularly occluded with a semitransparent hemispherical thin plastic shell to establish the form deprivation models and then were exposed to white light environment.The diopter and ocular axial length were measured by murine-specific eccentric infrared photorefraction and A-scan ultrasonography before experiment and two weeks after the treatments.At the end of experiment,the mice were sacrificed by neck dislocation.Mice eyes were enucleated and retinal samples were prepared for the detect of c-fos protein and its mRNA by immunohistochemistry,Western blot and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR),respectively.Results Immunohistochemistry showed that the expressing rate ofc-fos protein in retina was (68.000±10.368)％,(51.000±6.519)％,(46.000±6.519)％,(31.000±7.416)％ and (25.000 ± 7.071)％ in the control group,high frequency flickering group,moderate frequency flickering group,low frequency flickering group and form deprivation group respectively 2 weeks after experiment.The expression rates of c-fos protein in retina in different frequencies of flickering light groups and form deprivation group were significantly lower than that in the control group (t =3.104,4.017,6.490,7.661,all P＜0.05),with the lowest rate in the form deprivation group (P＜0.05).The expression of c-fos detected by Western blot assay exhibited that the relative values of c-fos protein in retina (c-fos/GAPDH) was 0.804±0.050,0.687±0.047,0.667±0.036,0.558±0.036 and 0.532 ±0.056,respectively in the control group,high frequency flickering group,moderate frequency flickering group,low frequency flickering group and form deprivation group,illustrating significantly lowing in different frequencies of flickering light groups and form deprivation group compared with control group (t =2.961,3.184,6.971,6.276,all P＜0.05),whereas the c-fos in the low frequency group and form deprivation group,c-fos protein was less expressed in comparison with the higher frequency flicking group (P＜0.05).The expression level of c-fos mRNA (c-fos mRNA/GAPDH mRNA) in retina was 0.820±0.056,0.663±0.061,0.627±0.034,0.521±0.041 and 0.474 ±0.045 in the control group,high frequency flickering group,moderate frequency flickering group,low frequency flickering group and form deprivation group,respectively.These results demonstrated a significant decline in the expression of c-fos mRNA in different frequencies of flickering group and form deprivation group compared with the control group(t=3.262,5.070,7.173,8.305,all P＜0.05),and the inhibition ability of low frequency of flickering group and form deprivation group was much stronger.Conclusions The c-fos gene level in the retina has a negative relationship with the severity of myopia induced by flickering light and form deprivation.