BACKGROUND: Acupuncture therapy provides a complementary and alternative approach to treating major depressive disorder (MDD), but its efficacy and safety have still not been comprehensively assessed. Recently published systematic reviews remain confusing and inconclusive. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review evaluated the efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapy alone or combined with antidepressants for adult patients with mild and moderate MDD. SEARCH STRATEGY: Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wanfang Database, Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched from their inceptions to March 2025. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Randomized controlled trials that compared acupuncture therapy with antidepressants, or acupuncture therapy plus antidepressants with acupuncture therapy or antidepressants for adult patients with mild and moderate MDD were included. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: Five reviewers independently extracted data from original literature using a standardized form, and the data were verified by two reviewers to ensure accuracy. Statistical meta-analyses, publication bias analyses, and subgroup analyses were performed by using Review Manager 5.3 software. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach was used to assess the certainty of the evidence. RESULTS: A total of 60 eligible studies including 4675 participants were included. Low-certainty evidence showed that compared with antidepressants, acupuncture therapy (standardized mean difference [SMD] = -0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI] = [-0.87, -0.27]; I² = 86%; P = 0.006) or acupuncture therapy plus antidepressants (SMD = -1.00; 95% CI = [-1.18, -0.81]; I² = 77%; P < 0.00001) may reduce the severity of depression at the end of treatment. Low-certainty evidence indicated that compared with acupuncture therapy alone, acupuncture therapy plus antidepressants slightly reduced the severity of depression at the end of treatment (SMD = -0.38; 95% CI = [-0.61, -0.14]; I² = 18%; P = 0.002). Similar results were also found for acupuncture's relief of insomnia. The reported adverse effects of acupuncture therapy were mild and transient. For most of the subgroup analyses, acupuncture type, scale type, and the course of treatment did not show a significant relative effect. CONCLUSION Acupuncture therapy may provide antidepressant effects and relieve insomnia with mild adverse effects for adult patients with mild and moderate MDD. But the certainty of evidence was very low. More high-quality, well designed, large-scale studies with long-term follow-up are needed in the future. Please cite this article as: Kuang HJ, Yang HS, Feng YX, Tang H, Fan Q, Xu YQ, Cui S, Musil R, Luxenburger H, Zhang YX, Zhao H, Zhang YQ. Efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapies for adult patients with mild and moderate major depressive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(5):471-491.
Humans ; Acupuncture Therapy/methods* ; Depressive Disorder, Major/therapy* ; Adult ; Antidepressive Agents/therapeutic use* ; Treatment Outcome ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

OBJECTIVE: Humans are exposed to complex mixtures of environmental chemicals and other factors that can affect their health. Analysis of these mixture exposures presents several key challenges for environmental epidemiology and risk assessment, including high dimensionality, correlated exposure, and subtle individual effects. METHODS: We proposed a novel statistical approach, the generalized functional linear model (GFLM), to analyze the health effects of exposure mixtures. GFLM treats the effect of mixture exposures as a smooth function by reordering exposures based on specific mechanisms and capturing internal correlations to provide a meaningful estimation and interpretation. The robustness and efficiency was evaluated under various scenarios through extensive simulation studies. RESULTS: We applied the GFLM to two datasets from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In the first application, we examined the effects of 37 nutrients on BMI (2011-2016 cycles). The GFLM identified a significant mixture effect, with fiber and fat emerging as the nutrients with the greatest negative and positive effects on BMI, respectively. For the second application, we investigated the association between four pre- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and gout risk (2007-2018 cycles). Unlike traditional methods, the GFLM indicated no significant association, demonstrating its robustness to multicollinearity. CONCLUSION GFLM framework is a powerful tool for mixture exposure analysis, offering improved handling of correlated exposures and interpretable results. It demonstrates robust performance across various scenarios and real-world applications, advancing our understanding of complex environmental exposures and their health impacts on environmental epidemiology and toxicology.
Humans ; Environmental Exposure/analysis* ; Linear Models ; Nutrition Surveys ; Environmental Pollutants ; Body Mass Index

Objective:To explore the long-term prognosis of surgical treatment for peri-gastric cardial gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs).Methods:In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed selected data of patients with peri-gastric cardial GISTs who had undergone radical surgery in Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, from May 1998 to December 2020. Inclusion criteria comprised radical surgery, pathologically confirmed primary gastric GIST; tumor involving the cardia or within 5 cm of the cardia dentate line; and relatively complete clinical data, including adjuvant therapy and follow-up information. Exclusion criteria comprised presence of multiple GISTs or a history of other malignancies and evidence of distant metastasis or local invasion either preoperatively or intraoperatively. The study cohort comprised 170 patients, including 98 men (57.6%), with a median age of 62 years (range: 30–85 years). Tumors were located less than 2 cm from the dentate line in 97 patients and 2 to 5 cm from it in 73. Tumor growth patterns were intraluminal in 85 patients, extraluminal in 61, and both intraluminal and extraluminal in 24. Tumor diameters were ≤2.0 cm in 11 patients, 2.1–5.0 cm in 90, 5.1–10.0 cm in 60, and >10.0 cm in nine. Mitosis counts (per 50 high-power fields) were ≤5 in 129 patients, 5–10 in 21, and >10 in 20. Risk stratification categorized patients as at extremely low risk in 10 patients, at low risk in 79, at intermediate risk in 43, and at high risk in 38. The guidelines for treatment were adhered to in 128 patients; 21 of 38 high-risk patients had received imatinib for ≥3 years. Primary outcomes included surgical procedure, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS). Data were analyzed using SPSS 28.0 and R studio.Results:Ninety of the patients had undergone open surgery, including five total gastrectomies, 49 proximal gastrectomies, and 36 local resections. In addition, 80 patients had undergone laparoscopic local resections. The median follow-up time was 82.5 months (range 13–278 months). The OS rates at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years were 100.0%, 98.2%, 96.9%, and 89.6%, respectively. The DFS rates at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years were 99.4%, 95.9%, 92.0%, and 88.0%, respectively. After adjusting for tumor diameter, mitotic count, adjuvant therapy, distance from the cardia, and growth pattern using propensity score matching, we found no statistically significant differences in DFS and OS between proximal gastrectomy and partial resection, or between open local resection and laparoscopic local resection (all P>0.05). Conclusions:Surgical treatment of peri-gastric cardial GISTs has a favorable long-term prognosis. The oncological efficacy of proximal gastrectomy and partial resection, whether performed via laparoscopic or open approaches, appears comparable for treatment of peri-gastric cardial GISTs.

Objective:To explore the efficacy and safety of cryopreservation-free integrated autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) model for patients with multiple myeloma.Methods:A total of 96 patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) between July 31, 2020, and December 31, 2022, were retrospectively analyzed, of which 41 patients in the observation group received integrated non-cryopreserved transplantation mode. After hematopoietic stem cells were mobilized and collected, melphalan was started immediately for pre-transplant conditioning, and non-cryopreserved grafts from the medical blood transfusion refrigerator were directly injected intravenously into the patient within 24-48 h after the melphalan conditioning. The control group consisted of 55 patients who received traditional transplantation mode. After hematopoietic stem cells were collected, stem cell cryopreservation was performed in liquid nitrogen, and then the transplant plans were started at the right time. All patients received mobilization of autologous hematopoietic stem cells using the G-CSF combined with the plerixafor.Results:① A total of 34 patients (82.9% ) with VGPR plus CR in the observation group were significantly higher than 33 patients (60.0% ) in the control group ( P=0.016). ②Compared with the control group, the incidence of grade 1 oral mucosal inflammation was higher in the observation group ( P<0.001) ; however, the incidence of grades 2 and 3 oral mucosal inflammation was lower ( P=0.004, P=0.048), and neither group experienced grade 4 or above oral mucosal inflammation. The incidence of grade 1 diarrhea was higher in the observation group ( P=0.002), whereas the incidence of grade 3 diarrhea was lower ( P=0.007). No statistically significant difference was observed in the incidence of grade 4 diarrhea ( P=0.506), and neither group experienced grade 5 diarrhea. ③ The incidence of bacterial infection in the observation group was lower than that in the control group (34.1% vs 65.5%, P=0.002), whereas no statistically significant difference was observed in the incidence of fungal infection (29.3% vs 31.4%, P=0.863) and viral infection (4.88% vs 3.64%, P=0.831). ④No statistically significant difference was observed in the implantation time of granulocytes and platelets between the observation and control groups [10 (8-20) days vs 11 (8-17) days, P=0.501; 13 (10-21) days vs 15 (10-20) days, P=0.245]. ⑤ All patients did not receive lenalidomide treatment 100 days post-transplantation. At 30 days post-transplantation, the CTL, NK, and Th cell counts in the observation group were lower than those in the control group ( P<0.001, P=0.002, P=0.049), and the NKT cell counts were higher than those in the control group ( P=0.024). At 100 days post-transplantation, the CTL, NKT, and Th cell counts in the observation group were higher than those in the control group ( P=0.025, P=0.011, P=0.007), and no statistically significant difference in NK cell counts was observed between the two groups ( P=0.396). ⑥ The median follow-up was 18 (4-33) months. The overall 2-year survival rates of the observation and control groups post-transplantation were 91.5% and 78.2%, respectively ( P=0.337). The recurrence-free survival rates were 85.3% and 77.6%, respectively ( P=0.386), and the cumulative recurrence rates were 9.8% and 16.9%, respectively ( P=0.373) . Conclusion:In NDMM, the cryopreservation-free integrated autologous HSCT model can achieve similar therapeutic effects as traditional transplantation models, with lower rates of severe mucosal inflammation and infection compared with traditional transplantation models.

AIM:To investigate the mechanism of Piezo1 channel activation promoting the increase in intra-cellular Ca2+ concentration([Ca2+]i)of rat coronary artery smooth muscle cells(CASMCs).METHODS:The primary CASMCs of SD rats were cultured,and the expression and subcellular localization of Piezo1 in the cells were observed by immunofluorescence staining.The Piezo1 and stromal interaction molecule 1(STIM1)in CASMCs were knocked down by siRNA transfection,and the expression levels of the proteins were detected by Western blot.Utilizing laser confocal mi-croscopy,the change of[Ca2+]i in CASMCs was detected by Fluo-4 AM fluorescent probes.RESULTS:It was confirmed by immunofluorescence staining that the expression of Piezo1 existed in primary rat CASMCs.Immunofluorescence staining also showed that Piezo1 was co-located with sarco-/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase 2(SERCA2),mitochondrial outer membrane protein TOM20 and nuclear membrane protein lamin B1.Western blot results showed that the protein expres-sion levels of STIM1 and Piezo1 were significantly down-regulated by siRNA transfection(P<0.05).Compared with con-trol group,Yoda1,the agonist of Piezo1,could increase the extracellular Ca2+ influx of CASMCs(P<0.01).However,the Ca2+ influx mediated by Yoda1 was not affected by the inhibition of L-type calcium channels.Treatment with Yoda1 in-creased the intracellular Ca2+ release of CASMCs(P<0.01).However,inhibition of calcium channels on endoplasmic re-ticulum,ryanodine receptor and inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor,did not affect intracellular Ca2+ release mediated by Yoda1.After the Ca2+ in endoplasmic reticulum was emptied using thapsigargin(TG),Yoda1 also mediated the Ca2+ re-lease of other organelles in CASMCs(P<0.01).After inhibition of L-type calcium channels,treatment with store-operated calcium channel(SOCC)inhibitor BTP2 or knockdown of STIM1 led to the decrease in extracellular Ca2+ influx of CASMCs mediated by Yoda1(P<0.01).Treatment with TG increased the release of Ca2+ from the endoplasmic reticulum of CASMCs after knockdown of Piezo1(P<0.05),but the extracellular Ca2+ influx mediated by TG was not affected.After inhibition of L-type calcium channels and SOCC,knockdown of Piezo1 led to the decreases in intracellular Ca2+ release and extracellular Ca2+ influx induced by Yoda1(P<0.01).CONCLUSION:The Piezo1 agonist orchestrates the influx of extracellular Ca2+ by activating Piezo1 channels on the cell membrane and inducing the indirect activation of SOCC.More-over,it facilitates the release of Ca2+ from organelles.Consequently,these pathways synergistically elevate the[Ca2+]i of rat CASMCs.

AIM:To investigate the influence of fat mass and obesity-associated(Fto)gene on the aberrant contraction of aortic smooth muscle in diabetes mellitus(DM)mice,and to explore the mechanism of Fto gene underlying the calcium regulation.METHODS:Smooth muscle-specific Fto gene knockout(FtoSMKO)mice were generated using Cre-loxP technology.The experiment involved 3 groups of mice:wild-type(WT)group,DM model group and FtoSMKO-DM group,with 15 mice in each group.In DM group and FtoSMKO-DM group,type 1 DM was induced by intraperitoneal injec-tion of streptozotocin.The mice in WT group were injected with equal volume of citric acid-sodium citrate buffer solution.The influences of different drugs on the contraction responses of aortic smooth muscle in mice were analyzed using a multi-myograph system.The expression level of FTO protein in the aortic tissues was detected by Western blot.RESULTS:(1)Compared with WT mice,the expression levels of FTO protein in the aortic tissues of DM mice were significantly in-creased(P＜0.01).(2)The expression level of FTO protein in smooth muscle was significantly decreased after knockout of Fto gene(P＜0.01).Compared with WT group,the mice in DM group exhibited a significant decrease in body weight and a marked increase in fasting blood glucose level(P＜0.05).There were no noticeable differences in body weight or fasting blood glucose level between FtoSMKO-DM group and DM group(P＞0.05).(3)The contraction responses of aortic smooth muscle in DM group were substantially increased by phenylephrine compared with WT group.Specifically,vaso-constriction responses mediated by non-L-type calcium channels and store-operated calcium channels(SOCC)were signifi-cantly enhanced in DM group.In addition,the responses mediated by inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors(IP3R),which facilitate calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum,were significantly enhanced.However,the responses mediated by caffeine-activated ryanodine receptors(RyR),which also facilitate calcium release from the sarcoplasmic re-ticulum,were significantly inhibited(P＜0.05).(4)Compared with DM group,the phenylephrine-induced contraction re-sponses of aortic smooth muscle in FtoSMKO-DM group were greatly weakened(P＜0.05).In particular,the vasoconstriction responses mediated by non-L-type calcium channels and SOCC in FtoSMKO-DM group were greatly suppressed(P＜0.05),while those mediated by caffeine-activated RyR were dramatically boosted(P＜0.05).However,IP3R-mediated responses were not affected(P＞0.05).CONCLUSION:Smooth muscle-specific Fto gene knockout suppresses contractile hyperre-sponsiveness in the aortic smooth muscle of DM mice,which may be attributed to involvement of FTO protein in calcium regulation in the vascular smooth muscle.

Objective:To study the clinical safety and validity of retrograde new endoscopic field of vision in miniature pigs.Methods:6 live miniature pigs were selected as study subjects,En-doscopic Retrograde New View(ERNV)was selected.The performance,image quality and intraoper-ative and postoperative complications were evaluated.To evaluate whether all the experimental ani-mals could complete the relevant endoscopy.Verify ERNV's operating performance,including whether the duodenoscope can enter the biliary tract smoothly,and made sure whether the injection,suction,and instrument channels were unobstructed.Choledochoscope image clarity,color resolu-tion,image deformation and distortion,accurate evaluation of lumen conditions and clear observation of mucosal surface conditions were analyzed.Whether there were operant injuries such as bleeding and perforation,as well as adverse events such as respiratory depression and cardiac arrest.The sur-vival status and adverse reactions of all pigs were observed.Results:The choledochoscope was successfully inserted into the bile duct of 6 miniature pigs.The product had good operation perfor-mance and could enter the bile duct through the duodenoscope smoothly.The injection,suction and instrument channels were relatively smooth.In addition,the endoscopic images are clear,with better color resolution,and without image deformation and distortion,which can realize accurate evaluation of the conditions in the lumen and observe the mucosal surface conditions more clearly.No bile duct stenosis or dilatation occurred in all miniature pigs,and the bile duct mucosa was smooth,without hyperemia and edema,and no abnormal thickening or bending of mucous vessels.During the exami-nation,there were no operational injuries such as bleeding and perforation,and no adverse events such as respiratory depression and cardiac arrest occurred.The vital signs of all miniature pigs tended to be stable after operation,and the survival state was good,and there were no complications such as cholangitis,bleeding and perforation.Conclusion:ERNV has good clinical safety and efficacy,ex-cellent operation performance and excellent image quality,and is worthy of clinical application.

177Lu-prostate specific membrane antigen(PSMA)radio-ligand therapy has been approved abroad for advanced prostate cancer and has been in several clinical trials in China.Based on domestic clinical practice and experimental data and referred to international experience and viewpoints,the expert group forms a consensus on the clinical application of 177Lu-PSMA radio-ligand therapy in prostate cancer to guide clinical practice.

Objective:To explore the long-term prognosis of surgical treatment for peri-gastric cardial gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs).Methods:In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed selected data of patients with peri-gastric cardial GISTs who had undergone radical surgery in Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, from May 1998 to December 2020. Inclusion criteria comprised radical surgery, pathologically confirmed primary gastric GIST; tumor involving the cardia or within 5 cm of the cardia dentate line; and relatively complete clinical data, including adjuvant therapy and follow-up information. Exclusion criteria comprised presence of multiple GISTs or a history of other malignancies and evidence of distant metastasis or local invasion either preoperatively or intraoperatively. The study cohort comprised 170 patients, including 98 men (57.6%), with a median age of 62 years (range: 30–85 years). Tumors were located less than 2 cm from the dentate line in 97 patients and 2 to 5 cm from it in 73. Tumor growth patterns were intraluminal in 85 patients, extraluminal in 61, and both intraluminal and extraluminal in 24. Tumor diameters were ≤2.0 cm in 11 patients, 2.1–5.0 cm in 90, 5.1–10.0 cm in 60, and >10.0 cm in nine. Mitosis counts (per 50 high-power fields) were ≤5 in 129 patients, 5–10 in 21, and >10 in 20. Risk stratification categorized patients as at extremely low risk in 10 patients, at low risk in 79, at intermediate risk in 43, and at high risk in 38. The guidelines for treatment were adhered to in 128 patients; 21 of 38 high-risk patients had received imatinib for ≥3 years. Primary outcomes included surgical procedure, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS). Data were analyzed using SPSS 28.0 and R studio.Results:Ninety of the patients had undergone open surgery, including five total gastrectomies, 49 proximal gastrectomies, and 36 local resections. In addition, 80 patients had undergone laparoscopic local resections. The median follow-up time was 82.5 months (range 13–278 months). The OS rates at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years were 100.0%, 98.2%, 96.9%, and 89.6%, respectively. The DFS rates at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years were 99.4%, 95.9%, 92.0%, and 88.0%, respectively. After adjusting for tumor diameter, mitotic count, adjuvant therapy, distance from the cardia, and growth pattern using propensity score matching, we found no statistically significant differences in DFS and OS between proximal gastrectomy and partial resection, or between open local resection and laparoscopic local resection (all P>0.05). Conclusions:Surgical treatment of peri-gastric cardial GISTs has a favorable long-term prognosis. The oncological efficacy of proximal gastrectomy and partial resection, whether performed via laparoscopic or open approaches, appears comparable for treatment of peri-gastric cardial GISTs.

Objective:To discuss the association between occupational acid fog exposure and accelerated biological aging of the workers,and to clarify its related risk factors.Methods:A total of 341 male workers exposed to occupational acid fog and 201 male workers without occupational exposure were selected as the study subjects,and they were divided into exposure group and control group,respectively.The general informations of the subjects in two groups were collected through questionnaires and physical examinations.The levels of red blood cell count(RBC),platelet count(PLT),albumin(ALB),urea(Urea),creatinine(CR),triglycerides(TG),total cholesterol(TC),glycated hemoglobin(HBA1c),and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(Hs-CRP)in serum of the subjects in two groups were detected.The Klemera-Doubal method(KDM)was used to construct the composite aging measure,KDM-biological age(BA)(KDM-BA).The model parameters were trained using samples from the 2009 China Health and Nutrition Survey(CHNS)Database to calculate the BA acceleration of the subjects in two groups;stratified analysis based on the population characteristics was conducted to analyze the BA of the subjects in two groups with different population characteristics;generalized linear model was used to analyze the factors influencing BA acceleration due to acid fog exposure.Results:The model parameters were trained using samples from the 2009 CHNS Database,including 8 133 cases aged 20-79 years,of which 3 788 were male.The levels of Urea,CR,HBA1c,ALB,and TC,as well as systolic blood pressure(SBP),total working years,sleep duration,and body mass index(BMI)of the subjects between two groups had significant differences(P<0.05).Compared with control group,the BA acceleration of the subjects in exposure group was significantly increased(P<0.05).In entire population and exposure group,the BA acceleration in the smokers was significantly higher than that in the non-smokers(P<0.05).In entire population,control group,and exposure group,the BA accelerations of the subjects in different BMI groups were significantly decreased with the increase of BMI(P<0.05).Compared with control group,the BA acceleration of the subjects in exposure group was significantly increased(P<0.05),including those under 40 years old,with total working years of 4-7 years,Han nationality,unmarried,smokers,and sleep duration 6-7 h,and with overweight.Acid fog exposure,smoking,and BMI were associated with the BA acceleration(β=0.72,95%CI:0.24-1.21;β=0.59,95%CI:0.11-1.06;β=-0.29,95%CI:-0.35—-0.22).Conclusion:Occupational acid fog exposure may accelerate the biological aging in the workers,and acid fog is a risk factor to accelerate the biological aging of the body.