OBJECTIVE: The analgesic effect of acupuncture has been widely accepted. Nevertheless, the mechanism behind its analgesic effect remains elusive, thus impeding the progress of research geared toward enhancing the analgesic effect of acupuncture. This paper investigated the role of acupuncture needle surface textures on acupuncture's analgesic effect by creating four experimental acupuncture needles with different patterns of surface augmentation. METHODS: Four types of acupuncture needles with different surface textures (the lined needle, circle needle, sandpaper needle, and threaded needle) were designed. Additionally, the force/torque measurement system used a robot arm and mechanical sensor to measure the force on the needle during insertion and manipulation. To perform acupuncture analgesia experiments, four experimental acupuncture needles and a normal needle were inserted into the Zusanli (ST36) acupoint of rats with inflammatory pain. By comparing the force and torque and the analgesic efficacy of the different acupuncture needles, these experiments tested the role of acupuncture needle body texture on acupuncture analgesia. RESULTS: The analgesic effects of different acupuncture needle body textures varied. Specifically, the force required to penetrate the skin with the lined needle was not greater than that for the normal needle; however, the needle with inscribed circles and the sandpaper-roughened needle both required greater force for insertion. Additionally, the torque of the lined needle reached 2 × 10^-4 N·m under twisting manipulation, which was four times greater the torque of a normal needle (5 × 10^-5 N·m). Furthermore, the lined needle improved pain threshold and mast cell degranulation rate compared to the normal needle. CONCLUSION Optimizing the texture of acupuncture needles can enhance acupuncture analgesia. The texture of our experimental acupuncture needles had a significant impact on the force needed to penetrate the skin and the torque needed to manipulate the needle; it was also linked to variable analgesic effects. This study provides a theoretical basis for enhancing the analgesic efficacy of acupuncture through the modification of needles and promoting the development of acupuncture therapy. Please cite this article as: Sun MZ, Wang X, Li YC, Liu YH, Yu Y, Ren LJ, Gu W, Yao W. Effects of acupuncture needle modification on acupuncture analgesia. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(1): 66-78.
Needles ; Acupuncture Analgesia/methods* ; Animals ; Rats ; Male ; Acupuncture Points ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

This study adopted the policy text analysis method,review the historical background of the enactment,aimed to comparatively analyze the international pharmaceutical trade policies of the BRICS countries.The main objectives of the BRICS countries'international pharmaceutical trade policies included ensuring stable and accessible drug supply,expanding exports of domestic products and creating a favorable political environment.For these purposes,Brazil,Russia,and South Africa all ensure drug supply through substantial imports.However,they have also taken measures such as compulsory patent licensing and promoting localization of production by foreign companies to reduce import dependence.India,on the other hand,protects its domestic industry by resisting drug imports to ensure drug supply while simultaneously promoting the export of pharmaceutical products.China continually optimizes approval and data monitoring procedures to align with international standards,creating a favorable trade environment and expanding exports.China should further refine its international pharmaceutical trade policies while ensuring the autonomy of domestic drug research and supply,fostering stronger collaboration within BRICS nations and promoting global access to public healthcare products.

Objective:To analyze the efficiency of human resource allocation and its spatial distribution characteristics of district-level Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC)in city N of Jiangsu Province in 2020,in order to provide a strong decision-making reference for optimizing and strengthening the CDC talent team.Methods:The efficiency of human resources of district-level CDC of City N in2020 was measured using the Super-Efficiency SBM model,and the spatial association pattern was analyzed using the natural break point classification method and Moran's index,with the visualization presented through LISA maps.Results:The overall level of human resource efficiency in district-level CDC of City N is relatively high.However,spatially,there are significant differences among the regions,showing a trend of high efficiency in the central areas and low efficiency at the ends.Moran's index and LISA maps indicate a negative spatial correlation in efficiency,with a low-high(L-H)cluster centered on Area L and a high-low(H-L)cluster centered on Area J.The high-high(H-H)cluster pattern has not yet formed,exhibiting a characteristic of interspersed high and low efficiency.Conclusions:There are regional differences in the human resource efficiency of the Disease Control Center in City N,and the spatial cluster pattern needs to be optimized.It is recommended to focus on efficiency improvement in Areas P and L,formulate appropriate policies,and promote coordinated regional development.

The performance appraisal of public hospitals is the most official and authoritative assessment and evaluation of tertiary public hospitals in China,and it is an important measure to guide hospitals to improve their internal management level and achieve high-quality development.In this study,a data monitoring management system based on the performance appraisal indicators of national tertiary public hospitals was developed and constructed through intelligent collection and reporting,report in-tegration,visual analysis,data drilling,etc.,which realized the one-stop dynamic management of indicators,optimized the data filling process of national examination indicators,improved the data quality and credibility,and promoted the integration of na-tional assessment and hospital assessment.the intelligent management level of the hospital has been improved,which provides strong support for the hospital's refined operation management and scientific decision-making.

Objective To analyze the factors influencing the early recovery of renal function in patients with sepsis-associated acute kidney injury(SA-AKI).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 86 SA-AKI patients treated in the Intensive Care Unit at Zhongshan Hospital,Fudan University from January 2021 to December 2022,who met both the Sepsis 3.0 diagnostic criteria and the AKI diagnostic standards.Patients were divided into a recovery group and a non-recovery group based on whether their renal function recovered within 7 days after AKI onset.Clinical data and laboratory tests of patients were compared between the two groups.Univariate and multivariate logistic analyses were used to identify risk factors affecting renal function recovery in SA-AKI patients,and ROC curve was utilized to evaluate the predictive value of these factors for early renal function recovery in SA-AKI patients.Results The renal function of 37(43.02％)patients recoveried.Compared with the recovery group,the renal replacement therapy rate,in-hospital mortality and 28-day mortality of patients in the non-recovery group were higher(P＜0.001).The multivariate logistic analysis showed that age,APACHE Ⅱ score,urine output,urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin(NGAL),and norepinephrine dose were independent related factors affecting renal function recovery in SA-AKI patients(P＜0.05).The final model logit(P)=-4.091+0.001×urine NGAL-0.001 Xurine volume+0.040 ×age+0.073 × APACHE Ⅱ score+1.906 × norepinephrine dose.The AUC of model predicting early SA-AKI recovery was 0.823,with 73.5％of sensitivity,and 81.1％of specificity.Conclusions In SA-AKI patients,age,APACHE Ⅱ score,urine output,urine NGAL,and the dose of norepinephrine independently affect early renal function recovery,and the combined assessment of these indicators has predictive value for the early renal recovery in these patients.

Objective:To seek a correlation between short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and skill in the activities of daily living (ADL) after an ischemic stroke.Methods:Ninety ischemic stroke survivors were assessed using the Barthel Index (BI). Fecal samples were collected and analyzed for the concentration of acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, valeric acid, and isovaleric acid using gas chromatography. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to identify SCFAs that correlated with the total BI score. Linear regressions were evaluated to explore the correlation between the total BI score and SCFAs.Results:The concentrations of propionic and butyric acids in the feces were found to correlate significantly with the total BI scores. Data including propionic acid and butyric acid levels, age, gender, body mass index, disease duration, any history of hypertension or diabetes, and other SCFAs were included in the regression models. Propionic and butyric acid levels were found to be potentially useful predictors of total BI scores.Conclusions:The concentration of propionic and butyric acids in the feces after an ischemic stroke can predict the survivor′s total BI score. Those concentrations could therefore be useful for predicting ADL ability.

Objective:To observe any effects of contralateral repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the swallowing motor cortex on the swallowing and brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) of stroke survivors with dysphagia.Methods:A total of 83 stroke survivors with dysphagia were randomly divided into an ipsilesional stimulation group ( n=22), a contralesional stimulation group ( n=21), a bilateral stimulation group ( n=20), and a control group ( n=20). In addition to their conventional dysphagia training, those in the three stimulation groups received 3Hz rTMS while the control group was given fake stimulation. The treatment was administered daily for 20 minutes, 6 days a week, for 5 consecutive weeks. Before and after the treatment, swallowing function was assessed videofluoroscopically and using the Dysphagia Outcome and Severity Scale (DOSS). The oral and pharyngeal stages of swallowing were evaluated using the videofluoroscopic dysphagia scale (VDS). Brain stem conduction was assessed using BAEPs. Results:After treatment the average DOSS scores of all 4 groups were significantly better than before the treatment. The average DOSS scores of the contralesional and bilateral sti-mulation groups were then significantly better than those of the other two groups. The sub-item and total VDS scores of all 4 groups had decreased significantly, but the average score of the bilateral stimulation group was significantly lower than the control group′s average. Ipsilesional stimulation significantly improved the VDS sub-item scores for the triggering of pharyngeal swallowing, laryngeal elevation, and pharyngeal transit time compared with the control group. In the contralesional stimulation group the average total score and the VDS sub-item scores for apraxia, premature bolus loss, oral transit times, the triggering of pharyngeal swallowing, vallecular residue, laryngeal elevation, coating on the pharyngeal wall, and pharyngeal transit time were significantly lower than those of the control group, on average. After the treatment the latencies of BAEP waves I, III and V and the I-III, III-V and I-V interpeak intervals had decreased significantly in all four groups, but the average latencies and intervals of the bilateral and contralesional groups were significantly shorter than those of the control group. The latencies and intervals of the bilateral stimulation group were then significantly shorter than those in the ipsilesional stimulation group on average. The average latency of wave V in the bilateral stimulation group (6.53±0.73ms) was significantly shorter than that in the contralesional stimulation group after the treatment.Conclusion:Bilateral rTMS over the swallowing motor cortex combined with conventional dysphagia training can significantly improve the swallowing of dysphagic stroke survivors.

Objective:To explore the relevance of a new comprehensive respiratory mechanics parameter, elastic power, to the 28-day prognosis of ARDS patients.Methods:Patients with ARDS hospitalized for at least 48 h with invasive mechanical ventilation in five intensive care units in three local hospitals in Lianyungang City from June 2018 to June 2022 were included in the study. Their baseline data and respiratory mechanics parameters were collected. Elastic power, mechanical power, driving pressure and lung compliance are calculated according to the corresponding formulae. The prognostic risk factors of ARDS patients were analysed using COX multi-factor regression, and the predictive value of EP/Cst on the 28-day prognosis of ARDS patients was evaluated based on ROC curve analysis and Kaplan-Meier survival curve.Results:There was no significantly difference in tidal volume and PEEP settings between the patients in the ARDS survivor and death groups ( P> 0.05). However, the differences in respiratory rate, plateau pressure, driving pressure, lung compliance, mechanical work, elastic work, EP/cst and MP/cst between the two groups were significantly different (all P< 0.01). Multifactorial COX regression analysis showed that EP/cst ( HR=1.211, 95% CI:1.091-1.323) and RR ( HR=1.209, 95% CI:1.046-1.339) were strongly associated with a more severe degree of illness and a worse prognosis in ARDS. And the cumulative survival rate at 28 d was significantly lower in the high Cst-EP group than in the low Cst-EP group (50.00% vs. 82.40%, P < 0.01). Conclusions:The new respiratory mechanics parameters EP and EP/Cst can assess the severity of ARDS with a good predictive effect on patient prognosis at 28 days.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are mediators of the aging process. The purpose of this work was to analyze the miRNA expression profiles of spermatozoa from men of different ages with normal fertility. Twenty-seven donors were divided into three groups by age (Group A, n = 8, age: 20-30 years; Group B, n = 10, age: 31-40 years; and Group C, n = 9, age: 41-55 years) for high-throughput sequencing analysis. Samples from 65 individuals (22, 22, and 21 in Groups A, B, and C, respectively) were used for validation by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). A total of 2160 miRNAs were detected: 1223 were known, 937 were newly discovered and unnamed, of which 191 were expressed in all donors. A total of 7, 5, and 17 differentially expressed microRNAs (DEMs) were found in Group A vs B, Group B vs C, and Group A vs C comparisons, respectively. Twenty-two miRNAs were statistically correlated with age. Twelve miRNAs were identified as age-associated miRNAs, including hsa-miR-127-3p, mmu-miR-5100_L+2R-1, efu-miR-9226_L-2_1ss22GA, cgr-miR-1260_L+1, hsa-miR-652-3p_R+1, pal-miR-9993a-3p_L+2R-1, hsa-miR-7977_1ss6AG, hsa-miR-106b-3p_R-1, hsa-miR-186-5p, PC-3p-59611_111, hsa-miR-93-3p_R+1, and aeca-mir-8986a-p5_1ss1GA. There were 9165 target genes of age-associated miRNAs. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of the target genes identified revealed enrichment of protein binding, membrane, cell cycle, and so on. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis of age-related miRNAs for target genes revealed 139 enriched pathways, such as signaling pathways regulating stem cell pluripotency, metabolic pathways, and the Hippo signaling pathway. This suggests that miRNAs play a key role in male fertility changes with increasing age and provides new evidence for the study of the mechanism of age-related male fertility decline.
Humans ; Male ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; Signal Transduction/genetics* ; Spermatozoa/metabolism* ; Gene Expression Profiling

BACKGROUND: LY01005 (Goserelin acetate sustained-release microsphere injection) is a modified gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist injected monthly. This phase III trial study aimed to evaluated the efficacy and safety of LY01005 in Chinese patients with prostate cancer. METHODS: We conducted a randomized controlled, open-label, non-inferiority trial across 49 sites in China. This study included 290 patients with prostate cancer who received either LY01005 or goserelin implants every 28 days for three injections. The primary efficacy endpoints were the percentage of patients with testosterone suppression ≤50 ng/dL at day 29 and the cumulative probability of testosterone ≤50 ng/dL from day 29 to 85. Non-inferiority was prespecified at a margin of -10%. Secondary endpoints included significant castration (≤20 ng/dL), testosterone surge within 72 h following repeated dosing, and changes in luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and prostate specific antigen levels. RESULTS: On day 29, in the LY01005 and goserelin implant groups, testosterone concentrations fell below medical-castration levels in 99.3% (142/143) and 100% (140/140) of patients, respectively, with a difference of -0.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], -3.9% to 2.0%) between the two groups. The cumulative probabilities of maintaining castration from days 29 to 85 were 99.3% and 97.8%, respectively, with a between-group difference of 1.5% (95% CI, -1.3% to 4.4%). Both results met the criterion for non-inferiority. Secondary endpoints were similar between groups. Both treatments were well-tolerated. LY01005 was associated with fewer injection-site reactions than the goserelin implant (0% vs . 1.4% [2/145]). CONCLUSION: LY01005 is as effective as goserelin implants in reducing testosterone to castration levels, with a similar safety profile. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04563936.
Humans ; Male ; Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal/therapeutic use* ; East Asian People ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone/agonists* ; Goserelin/therapeutic use* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Testosterone