Transcutaneous electrical stimulation equipment is a kind of characteristic therapeutic devices developed on the basis of the integration of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory and modern science and technology, which is widely used in clinical practice. Significant breakthroughs have been made in the development of related devices such as transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) devices, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) devices, and transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) devices in recent years. Although the market for these devices is vast, there are still limitations that need to be optimized in terms of electrode materials and power supply methods, bulky instrument size, cumbersome wiring, restricted applications, and inadequate intelligent functionality. In the future, it is still necessary to further build upon the theoretical foundation of TCM acupuncture, integrate a variety of modern scientific technologies to advance the intelligence and modernization of acupuncture equipment, and thereby improving its capabilities to support clinical practice and research.
Humans ; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation/methods* ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy/instrumentation* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

OBJECTIVE: To reveal the research status of fire needle by analyzing its patent applications, so as to provide reference for the development of fire needle equipment and the promotion of this therapy. METHODS: By searching the incoPat global patent database, from its inception to December 29th, 2024, the patent data on fire needle was collected. The patent analysis was employed on patent application trends, geographical distribution, patent types, current legal status, applicants and inventors, overall technical composition and distribution of applicable diseases. With the help of incoPat's "shared value" evaluation model, the technical efficacy value of patent was comprehensively measured from 3 dimensions, i.e. technical stability, technological advancement and protection scope. Using SWOT analysis, the matrix of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of fire needle technique was constructed, and then its development trend was analyzed systematically. RESULTS: A total of 346 patents were included, comprising 23 granted invention patents (6.65%), 219 utility model patents (63.29%), and 157 patents were in an effective state of validity (45.38%). The number of fire needle patent applications showed a growing trend since 2013 and peaked in 2021. The top 3 provinces and cities in terms of the number of applications were Guangdong, Beijing and Shandong. Existing patents focus on improving convenience, reducing complexity, enhancing safety and increasing efficiency; and are specialized in treatment of dermatological diseases. The results of patent research on fire needle show the application of updated materials, invention of equipment and expansion of applicable diseases. However, there are still some limitations such as technical complexity, high cost, lack of composite talents, lack of awareness of patent maintenance and insufficient international promotion. CONCLUSION Multiple strategies are proposed on the development of fire needle therapy, i.e. enhancing financial support and expanding the number of diseases, giving full play to regional characteristics and advantages to promote resource sharing, deepening the integration of industry, research and education to improve the quality of patents, strengthening supervision to reduce low-quality patents, and carrying out high-level research to promote technical standardization and internationalization, and enhance global competitiveness.
Patents as Topic ; Humans ; Acupuncture Therapy/methods* ; Needles ; China

Stroke flaccid paralysis is stroke patients with abnormal physical movement function and muscle tone decline as the main performance and is a kind of common pathological state after apoplectic stroke. The longer the flaccid paralysis is, the worse the prognosis. The theory of TCM holds that stroke is mainly due to "deficiency, wind, fire, phlegm, stasis, qi", and when the pathogenic factor accumulate and block the meridians, which would cause blood stagnation, muscle and tendon damage and flaccidity, resulting in stroke paralysis. Therefore, it is necessary to set up the "Tongjing Roujin" (stimulating the muscle and nourishing the tendon) as its main treatment. Fire-needling has the effect of stimulating muscle, warming yang, nourishing tendon, and relieving pain in the treatment of stroke flaccid paralysis. It can warm yang and dissipate cold, replenish and nourish meridian qi, release muscle nodules, promote the circulation of qi and blood, and nourish all limbs and bones. Fire-needling therapy can promote the recovery of neural pathway, strengthen local metabolism, improve local muscle tension, and thus restore limb function. The high-quality clinical research, acupoint selection rules, and standardized operating techniques of fire-needling treatment for stroke flaccid paralysis need to be further deepened.

Objective: To explore the relationship between aggression and category perception of angry expression in reform school students under social exclusion, so as to provide reference for the reform school students mental health promotion. Methods: In May 2023, 144 students were randomly selected from a reform school in Guizhou Province, and were divided into high and low aggression groups(77 and 67 students) by Aggression Questionnaire. Cyberball game was used to induce social exclusion and acceptance, subjects were divided into high aggressive exclusion group ( n =42), high aggressive acceptance group ( n =35), low aggressive exclusion group ( n =37) and low aggressive acceptance group ( n =30). All the participants completed the discrimination and identification tasks of category perception paradigm, and the relationship between aggression and category perception of angry expression of reform school students under social exclusion was analyzed by using category turning point, identification curve and analysis of variance. Results: The total score of aggression(97.34±8.00) and four dimensions (physical aggression: 29.75± 4.61, verbal aggression:17.19±2.58, anger:22.29±3.66, hostility:28.10±3.54) in the high aggression group were higher than those in the low aggression group(74.10±9.02，21.09±4.98，14.30±2.66，17.16±3.83，21.55±3.88), and the differences were statistically significant ( t =16.38, 10.85, 6.62, 8.20, 10.59, P <0.01). For identifying the turning point of the fear anger continuum, the social exclusion group（2.58±0.07）was significantly smaller than the social acceptance group（2.79±0.07）( F =4.85, η 2=0.07, P < 0.05 ）, and the social exclusion group had a tendency to shift the category boundary to the fear side. For identifying the slope at the angry happiness continuum category boundary curve, the high aggression group (0.63±0.03) was significantly higher than the low aggression group (0.53±0.03)( F =5.38, η 2=0.08, P <0.05). In the fear anger continuum,the high aggression group[(694.86± 78.29 )ms] reacted more quickly than the low aggression group[(660.70±79.86)ms]( F =5.08, η 2=0.05， P <0.05) In the angry happiness continuum, there was no statistical significance of social exclusion and aggression( P >0.05). Conclusions The suggests that social exclusion can lead to hostility attribution bias in individuals, while aggression can make individuals more sensitive to angry expression. The mechanisms by which social exclusion and aggression affect expression category perception are independent rather than interactive. The society should give tolerance and acceptance to reform school students, reduce exclusion and discrimination, and the reform education department should correct the aggressive behavior of reform school students and promote their mental health.

Although geriatric diseases are complicated due to the coexistence of many diseases,they often have a common pathological basis and are closely related to the pathogenesis of deficiency and excess in traditional Chinese medicine.Exploring the characteristics of the pathogenesis of deficiency and excess diseases in the elderly is helpful to keep simplicity and restrain complexity,grasp the law of occurrence and development of diseases in the elderly as a whole,and give full play to the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.Based on the fundamental characteristics of deficiency and excess in senile diseases,researcher Hu Jingqing further summarized that"essence deficiency,Yin deficiency,Yang deficiency,qi deficiency,blood deficiency"and"qi stagnation,phlegm dampness,blood stasis,fire and heat,and latent wind"are the most common pathogenesis in the occurrence and development of senile diseases.Among them,deficiency is the basic pathogenesis of senile diseases,especially deficiency of kidney essence.Excess disease is the key pathogenesis of the development and changes of senile diseases.Qi stagnation is often the initial step in the development of senile diseases.Phlegm dampness and blood stasis are the pathological products of"excess due to deficiency"and are also the main secondary pathogenesis of senile diseases.In clinical identification of senile diseases,attention should be paid to grasping the pathogenesis of deficiency and excess and its concurrent changes.

BACKGROUND: Previous research demonstrated that a homozygous mutation of g.136372044G>A (S12N) in caspase recruitment domain family member 9 ( CARD9 ) is critical for producing Aspergillus fumigatus -induced ( Af -induced) T helper 2 (T H 2)-mediated responses in allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA). However, it remains unclear whether the CARD9S12N mutation, especially the heterozygous occurrence, predisposes the host to ABPA. METHODS: A total of 61 ABPA patients and 264 controls (including 156 healthy controls and 108 asthma patients) were recruited for sequencing the CARD9 locus to clarify whether patients with this heterozygous single-nucleotide polymorphisms are predisposed to the development of ABPA. A series of in vivo and in vitro experiments, such as quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, flow cytometry, and RNA isolation and quantification, were used to illuminate the involved mechanism of the disease. RESULTS: The presence of the p.S12N mutation was associated with a significant risk of ABPA in ABPA patients when compared with healthy controls and asthma patients, regardless of Aspergillus sensitivity. Relative to healthy controls without relevant allergies, the mutation of p.S12N was associated with a significant risk of ABPA (OR: 2.69 and 4.17 for GA and AA genotypes, P = 0.003 and 0.029, respectively). Compared with patients with asthma, ABPA patients had a significantly higher heterozygous mutation (GA genotype), indicating that p.S12N might be a significant ABPA-susceptibility locus ( aspergillus sensitized asthma: OR: 3.02, P = 0.009; aspergillus unsensitized asthma: OR: 2.94, P = 0.005). The mutant allele was preferentially expressed in ABPA patients with heterozygous CARD9S12N , which contributes to its functional alterations to facilitate Af -induced T H 2-mediated ABPA development. In terms of mechanism, Card9 wild-type ( Card9WT ) expression levels decreased significantly due to Af -induced decay of its messenger RNA compared to the heterozygous Card9S12N . In addition, ABPA patients with heterozygous CARD9S12N had increased Af -induced interleukin-5 production. CONCLUSION Our study provides the genetic evidence showing that the heterozygous mutation of CARD9S12N , followed by allele expression imbalance of CARD9S12N , facilitates the development of ABPA.
Humans ; Aspergillosis, Allergic Bronchopulmonary/complications* ; Aspergillus fumigatus/genetics* ; Asthma/genetics* ; Aspergillus ; Mutation/genetics* ; CARD Signaling Adaptor Proteins/genetics*

Summarize the professor Hu Jingqing's experience in treating pathogenesis of intermingled phlegm and blood stasis by using purgative method.Intermingled phlegm and blood stasis is one of the most important pathogenesis of many difficult diseases in the contemporary era.From the perspective of TCM theory,the purgative method can dissipate phlegm,eliminate blood stasis and resolve masses,which is a suitable method for the treatment in pathogenesis of intermingled phlegm and blood stasis.In clinical practice,the professor Hu Jingqing emphasizes the specific classification of pathogenesis of phlegm and blood stasis in diagnosis,using the purgative methods according to different classifications of"excess heat"and"deficiency cold".And make flexible selections of various purgative drugs in prescription.Last but not least,it is suggested that the purgative method also should not be used as the only treating method.

Purpose: The current meta-analysis combining mid and low rectal cancer with no meta-analysis only for low rectal cancer was seen. This meta-analysis was to compare the short- and mid-term outcomes of the transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME) vs. laparoscopic total mesorectal excision (LaTME) for low rectal cancer. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using the web-based databases; China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese BioMedical Database, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Wanfang Database. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were evaluated using the Jadad scale and non-RCTs (NRCs) were evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results: Ten studies (2 RCTs and 8 NRCs) involving 772 patients were included. Among them, 378 patients underwent TaTME and 394 patients underwent LaTME. Compared with the LaTME group, the conversion rate was low (risk ratio [RR], 0.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.11–0.54; P < 0.001), the circumferential resection margin (CRM) involvement was low (RR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.27–0.86; P = 0.010), and the hospital stay was short (mean difference, –1.72; 95% CI, –2.89 to –0.55; P = 0.004) in the TaTME group. No significant differences were seen in the mesorectal resection quality, CRM distance, distal resection margin (DRM) involvement, DRM distance, local R1 resection, intraoperative complications, morbidity, anastomotic leakage, severe morbidity, mortality, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, harvested lymph nodes, and local recurrence rate (P > 0.05). Conclusion The TaTME is a promising surgical technique and is fully a safe and efficacious option in managing low rectal cancer.

Hydronephrosis is a common and frequent clinical disease. With the extensive application of minimally invasive techniques of Western medicine, it can quickly remove the obstruction and eliminate water. However, there may be problems of easy recurrence after surgery, causing more serious irreversible kidney damage. TCM has a unique advantage in the treatment of hydronephrosis, which can radically relieve the pain of patients, prevent recurrence, and protect the kidney function. Professor SHAO Zhao-di thinks that the cause of hydronephros is deficiency of kidney qi, which affects the function of gasification. Therefore, the treatment should be nourishing qi to invigorate spleen and reinforcing kidney for diuresis. In clinical practice, Bixie Fenqing Decoction can be used to treat hydronephrosis, which can obtain good efficacy.

By sorting out the literature on circling acupuncture manipulation in past dynasties’ acupuncture books and famous doctors’ treatises and selecting representative doctors and works, this article summarizes, sorts out and analyzes the definition, performance, action and application of circling acupuncture manipulation and explores its essence in order to promote the inheritance of circling acupuncture manipulation as old and very effective therapy and better its clinical application.