Child ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Organic Anion Transporters/genetics*

The application status of acupuncture and moxibustion therapy for assisted reproductive field in the United States was analyzed, and the existing problems and future development directions were discussed. According to the survey on the 456 websites of assisted reproductive clinic in the United States mentioned in the report of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 111 clinics among 456 assisted reproductive clinics recommend and used acupuncture and moxibustion therapy, accounting for 24.3%. Acupuncture and moxibustion therapy had obvious effect, good safety and low cost, and the assisted reproductive institutions in the United States had a high degree of application and recognition to acupuncture and moxibustion therapy. However, some problems, such as immature treatment scheme, unclear mechanism and imperfect insurance policies, still existed. In the future, the advantages of Chinese traditional acupuncture and moxibustion should combine with international modern assisted reproductive technology, and multi-center and large-sample clinical randomized controlled trials and basic experimental research on the mechanism of acupuncture and moxibustion for assisted reproduction should be carried out.
Acupuncture ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Moxibustion ; Reproduction ; United States

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the combination of Naoxintong Capsule with standard care could further reduce the recurrence of ischemic stroke without increasing the risk of severe bleeding. METHODS: A total of 23 Chinese medical centers participated in this trial. Adult patients with a history of ischemic stroke were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio using a block design to receive either Naoxintong Capsule (1.2 g orally, twice a day) or placebo in addition to standard care. The primary endpoint was recurrence of ischemic stroke within 2 years. Secondary outcomes included myocardial infarction, death due to recurrent ischemic stroke, and all-cause mortality. The safety of drugs was monitored. Results were analyzed using the intention-to-treat principle. RESULTS: A total of 2,200 patients were enrolled from March 2015 to March 2016, of whom 143 and 158 in the Naoxintong and placebo groups were lost to follow-up, respectively. Compared with the placebo group, the recurrence rate of ischemic stroke within 2 years was significantly lower in the Naoxintong group [6.5% vs. 9.5%, hazard ratio (HR): 0.665, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.492-0.899, P=0.008]. The two groups showed no significant differences in the secondary outcomes and safety, including rates of severe hemorrhage, cerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage (P>0.05). CONCLUSION The combination of Naoxintong Capsule with standard care reduced the 2-year stroke recurrence rate in patients with ischemic stroke without increasing the risk of severe hemorrhage in high-risk patients. (Trial registration No. NCT02334969).
Adult ; Humans ; Secondary Prevention/methods* ; Ischemic Stroke ; Stroke/prevention & control* ; Cerebral Hemorrhage/complications* ; Double-Blind Method ; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors

Animals ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Autophagy/drug effects* ; Carnitine/pharmacology* ; Cells, Cultured ; Endothelial Cells ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Mice

Objective To investigate the pathological changes of nasal mucosa by intranasal acupuncture, and to explore the possible signal transduction mechanism through the distribution and expression of transient receptor potential vanillic acid receptor 1 (TRPV1)-substance P (SP) axis in nasal mucosa of experimental allergic rhinitis. Methods An animal model of allergic rhinitis was constructed by ovalbumin and aluminium hydroxide gel treatment. Twenty five New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into normal group, model group, sham acupuncture group, acupuncture Wai Ying Xiang group and intranasal acupuncture group, with 5 rabbits in each group. To observe the effect of intranasal acupuncture on animal behavior, nasal mucosa pathology, eosinophils (EOS) count and IgE content in arterial blood. In addition, HE staining was used to determine the distribution of EOS in nasal mucosa and immunohistochemistry was used to observe the distribution and expression of TRPV1 and SP in nasal mucosa membrane. Results Compared with the model group, the behavioral score of the sham acupuncture group did not decrease significantly, while the behavioral score of the Wai Ying Xiang acupuncture group and the intranasal acupuncture group showed a downward trend, and the decrease degree of the intranasal acupuncture group was more significant. Compared with the normal group, the eosinophil count in the model group increased slightly (P<0.05); Compared with the model group, the number of eosinophils in the intranasal acupuncture group decreased (P<0.05). Compared with the normal group, the serum IgE content in the model group increased significantly (P<0.05). Compared with the model group, there was no significant change in the sham acupuncture group (P<0.05). Compared with the model group, serum IgE content in the Wai Ying Xiang acupuncture group and the internal acupuncture group decreased significantly (P<0.05), but there was no statistical difference between the internal acupuncture group and the Wai Ying Xiang acupuncture group (P>0.05). HE staining found that eosinophilic distribution increased significantly in the model group and the sham acupuncture group compared with the normal group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Compared with the model group, the distribution of eosinophil reduced in the nasal acupuncture group and the Wai Ying Xiang group. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.05 ). Immunohistochemical found that TRPV1 and SP expressed significantly in the nasal mucosa of the model group and the sham acupuncture group compared with the normal group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Compared with the model group, TRPV1 and SP expression decreased significantly in the intranasal acupuncture group and the external yingxiang group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Intranasal acupuncture can alleviate the nasal symptoms of allergic rhinitis model by reducing the Chemotaxis of eosinophils in nasal mucosa and the content of IgE in serum.

Objective: Several COVID-19 patients have overlapping comorbidities. The independent role of each component contributing to the risk of COVID-19 is unknown, and how some non-cardiometabolic comorbidities affect the risk of COVID-19 remains unclear. Methods: A retrospective follow-up design was adopted. A total of 1,160 laboratory-confirmed patients were enrolled from nine provinces in China. Data on comorbidities were obtained from the patients' medical records. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio ( Results: Overall, 158 (13.6%) patients were diagnosed with severe illness and 32 (2.7%) had unfavorable outcomes. Hypertension (2.87, 1.30-6.32), type 2 diabetes (T2DM) (3.57, 2.32-5.49), cardiovascular disease (CVD) (3.78, 1.81-7.89), fatty liver disease (7.53, 1.96-28.96), hyperlipidemia (2.15, 1.26-3.67), other lung diseases (6.00, 3.01-11.96), and electrolyte imbalance (10.40, 3.00-26.10) were independently linked to increased odds of being severely ill. T2DM (6.07, 2.89-12.75), CVD (8.47, 6.03-11.89), and electrolyte imbalance (19.44, 11.47-32.96) were also strong predictors of unfavorable outcomes. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease on admission (5.46, 3.25-9.19), while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes (6.58, 1.46-29.64) within two weeks. Conclusion Besides hypertension, diabetes, and CVD, fatty liver disease, hyperlipidemia, other lung diseases, and electrolyte imbalance were independent risk factors for COVID-19 severity and poor treatment outcome. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease, while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes.
Adult ; Aged ; COVID-19/virology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome

Objective: To analyze the effect of acupuncture versus hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). Methods: China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Academic Journal Full-text Database (Wanfang), Chongqing VIP Database (CQVIP), China Biology Medicine Disc (CBM), Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE) were searched up to January 31st, 2019 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect of acupuncture for POI. The primary outcome was the level of basal serum follicle- stimulating hormone (FSH). Secondary outcomes included serum levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2) and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH). Two authors extracted data independently and assessed the risk of bias and the methodological quality using the Cochrane's tool. Meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan version 5.3. Results: Eight eligible RCTs with a total of 496 POI patients were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that there was a significant reduction in the basal serum FSH level (MD=-5.82, 95％CI:-9.76 to -1.87, I2=82％, P=0.004) and a remarkable elevation in the basal E2 level (SMD=0.93, 95％CI: 0.34 to 1.52, I2=88％, P=0.002) in the acupuncture group when compared with the control. Subgroup analysis showed that compared with HRT, a significant decrease in the FSH level was observed in both acupuncture alone (MD=-4.53, 95％CI:-8.96 to -0.10, I2=73％, P=0.04) and acupuncture plus HRT (MD=-9.60, 95％CI:-17.60 to -1.61, I2=50％, P=0.02), while a remarkable elevation of E2 was only found in acupuncture plus HRT (SMD=1.43, 95％CI: 1.03 to 1.82, I2=0％, P<0.00001). There was no significant difference in the LH level between acupuncture and HRT (MD=-3.16, 95％CI:-9.41 to 3.10, I2=0％, P=0.32), only one trial reported AMH, and no significant difference was found between acupuncture and HRT. Conclusion: The present study indicated that acupuncture had an advantage over HRT in reducing serum FSH level and increasing serum E2 level in women with POI. However, evidence supporting the finding is limited due to the small sample size, potential methodological flaws and significant heterogeneity. Hence, this conclusion still needs to be verified by high-quality RCTs.

To explore the basic principles and methods of quality control of clinical registry research in the field of acupuncture. This study drawed on the data quality control methods of clinical trials in the United States and combined clinical practice experience, based on the "International Patient Registry Platform of Acupuncture and Moxibustion", and the registry study of acupuncture treatment for early-onset ovarian insufficiency as a model. The principles of accuracy, authenticity, consistency and completeness were followed. A remote and on-site quality control method with remote quality control as the main and on-site quality control as the supplement is formed, with a view to providing ideas and reference for the quality control of registry research.
Acupuncture Therapy ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; standards ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; Quality Control ; Registries

This work aimed to investigate the intestinal absorption characteristics of Laportea bulbifera extract in normal and rheumatoid arthritis model rats. The contents of neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, rutin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, galuteolin, quercetin and isoquercetin in intestinal absorption solution samples were detected by UPLC-MS/MS with 5.0 g·L~(-1) as the absorption concentration. The cumulative absorption(Q) and absorption rate constant(K_a) were calculated, and the absorption characteristics of different components of L. bulbifera in intestinal absorption solution of normal rats and rheumatoid arthritis rats were compared. The results showed that all the eight index components in the extract of L. bulbifera could be absorbed into the intestinal capsule, the cumulative absorption-time curve of each component showed an upward trend without saturation, and the correlation regression coefficient(R~2) was greater than 0.92, which is consistent with the zero-order absorption rate process. It was speculated that the possible absorption mode of each component was passive diffusion. In normal condition, the absorption of ileum was the best(except chlorogenic acid), and in pathological condition, duodenum was the best. The total absorption of 8 components in each intestinal segment of RA rats was better than that of normal rats, which speculated that rheumatoid arthritis may change the specific site of drug absorption. The experimental results showed that rheumatoid arthritis could change the intestinal absorption of the extract of L. bulbifera, and its mechanism needs further study.
Animals ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/drug therapy* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Intestinal Absorption ; Intestines/drug effects* ; Plant Extracts/therapeutic use* ; Rats ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Urticaceae/chemistry*