OBJECTIVE: To analyze the research progress, hotspots, frontier trends and existing limitations of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment for respiratory diseases in the past decade using bibliometric and scientific knowledge mapping methods. METHODS: Literature on acupuncture and moxibustion treatment for respiratory diseases published from January 1st, 2014 to June 30th, 2024, from CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, PubMed and Web of Science was retrieved. CiteSpace 6.1.R6 and VOSviewer V1.6.20 were used to perform visual analysis, including keyword co-occurrence and clustering, and to construct knowledge maps of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment for respiratory diseases. RESULTS: A total of 1,106 Chinese articles and 185 English articles were included. High-frequency keywords focused on clinical diseases, treatment methods, efficacy observation, mechanisms etc. The main respiratory diseases treated with acupuncture and moxibustion included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and cough. Commonly used acupoints included Feishu (BL13), Zusanli (ST36), Dazhui (GV14) and Shenshu (BL23), primarily involving the bladder meridian of foot-taiyang, conception vessel and lung meridian of hand-taiyin. Among the treatment methods dominated by acupuncture and moxibustion, the primary treatment method was electroacupuncture combined with moxibustion, and acupoint application was supplemented, with increasing emphasis on integrative Chinese and Western medicine and acupuncture combined with medication. The therapeutic mechanisms involved anti-inflammatory effects and inhibition of airway remodeling, with targets mainly associated with the NF-κB signaling pathway. CONCLUSION Acupuncture and moxibustion demonstrates certain advantages in treating respiratory diseases such as COPD, asthma and cough, with mechanisms related to anti-inflammatory effects and inhibition of airway remodeling. Future research should focus on multi-center, large-sample, high-quality clinical and experimental studies to explore the optimal clinical treatment protocols and underlying mechanisms.
Moxibustion/trends* ; Humans ; Acupuncture Therapy/trends* ; Acupuncture Points ; Asthma/therapy* ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/therapy*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the research history, hotspots and development trends of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease（GERD）based on knowledge graph technology, and to provide references for clinical and basic research in this field. METHODS: The literature of acupuncture and moxibustion for gastroesophageal reflux disease was searched from the CNKI, Wanfang, VIP and SinoMed, from the establishment of the databases to December 31th, 2023. CiteSpace 6.2.R6 Advance was used to draw the knowledge graph of authors, institutions, keywords and other elements, and then perform the visual analysis. RESULTS: A total of 341 articles were included, with the number of publications showing an upward trend and the research types continually diversifying. A total of 832 authors and 308 institutions were analyzed, with XIE Sheng from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of CM and BAI Xinghua from the Beijing University of CM as representative figures, forming core research teams. However, there was a lack of close collaboration between institutions, and no significant cross-regional research networks had been formed. A total of 192 keywords were included, forming 8 cluster labels, which mainly included 4 categories：treatment methods, disease types, TCM syndrome types, and literature types. The burst analysis showed that the methods of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease had gradually become more integrated, the treatment methods had transitioned from simple acupuncture therapy to combined therapies with proton pump inhibitors or TCM decoctions, the disease types had become more refined, the focus of mechanism research had shifted from lower esophageal sphincter pressure and esophageal motility to changes in gastrointestinal hormone levels, and the research hotspots had gradually shifted from improving clinical symptoms to considering both mental and psychological states. Twenty-three high-frequency acupoints were obtained, forming 8 clusters of "acupuncture techniques-acupoints" for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease with acupuncture and moxibustion, indicating a gradual enrichment of acupuncture and acupoint treatment protocols. CONCLUSION The research on acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease has gradually deepened, in the future, the cooperation among research teams should be strengthened, the quality of clinical research should be improved, more multi-dimensional mechanism research and horizontal comparative research of different acupuncture and moxibustion methods should be made, to provide a basis for clinical promotion and deeper exploration.
Humans ; Moxibustion/trends* ; Gastroesophageal Reflux/therapy* ; Acupuncture Therapy/trends*

Intelligent acupuncture-moxibustion medical equipment is an important force in promoting the inheritance, innovation, and modernization of acupuncture-moxibustion. This paper reviews the development status of intelligent acupuncture-moxibustion medical equipment and related new technologies, as well as the challenges faced. It is found that, with the advancement of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, acupuncture-moxibustion medical equipment has shown characteristics of greater precision, miniaturization, intelligence, and portability. However, deficiencies remain in areas such as standardization and regulation, including relatively low rates of effective transformation and a lack of innovation in research outcomes. Therefore, there is an urgent need to formulate corresponding strategies: improving the development of relevant standards for intelligent acupuncture-moxibustion medical equipment, encouraging the integration of medicine and engineering, cultivating interdisciplinary talents, and strengthening the protection of invention patents. It is necessary to establish a demand-oriented pathway connecting "equipment development, equipment evaluation, product formation" through multiple stages such as talent training and research project initiation, thereby promoting the modernization and standardization of intelligent acupuncture-moxibustion medical equipment and supporting the revitalization of traditional medicine.
Moxibustion/instrumentation* ; Humans ; Acupuncture Therapy/trends* ; Artificial Intelligence

To analyze statistically the situation of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) from 2007 to 2016 in the field of acupuncture and moxibustion for supporting the national Universities colleges of traditional Chinese medicine on the General Program (GP) and the National Science Fund for Young Scholars (NSFYS). In view of five aspects, named fund, supporting units, key words, method, disorder and signal path, the differences were compared between GP and NSFYS, the following characteristics were summarized. ① The fund aid was increased from 2007 through 2013 and down-regulated from 2013 through 2016. In recent ten years, the funding condition was fluctuated, but increasing in tendency generally. ② The relevant projects of the same research direction had been approved continuously for over 3 years in a part of TCM universities, in which, the research continuity was the hot topic. ③ Regarding the therapeutic methods, acupuncture was the chief therapy; electroacupuncture, moxibustion and acupoints were involved as well. ④ The disorders involved in the research were cerebral ischemia, myocardial ischemia and reperfusion injury. It is suggested that the ischemic disorder is predominated in the research. ⑤ The signal path occupied the main research index system, including cell proliferation, metabolism, immune, apoptosis and autophagy. The researches on the other aspects were less.
Acupuncture Therapy ; trends ; China ; Humans ; Ischemia ; therapy ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Moxibustion ; trends ; Universities

The research of acupuncture and moxibustion for endometrial receptivity in recent 10 years was reviewed. CNKI and PubMed databases were retrieved with "acupuncture" "moxibustion" and "endometrial receptivity" as key words. The retrieving time was from January of 2007 through December of 2016. As a result, 63 relevant papers were collected and 28 papers regarding clinical and experimental researches of acupuncture for endometrial receptivity were included into analysis. It was found that acupuncture and moxibustion could improve endometrial morphology (including the expression of pinopodes, endometrial thickness and the rate of endometrial type A), reduce the endometrial microcirculation (including endometrial pulsatility index, resistance index and hemodynamic index), increase the levels of estrogen and progesterone and the expressions of their receptors, and regulate the expression of molecular biological regulator (such as integrin, leukemia inhibitory factor, vascular endothelial growth factor and HOXA10). As a result, the endometrial receptivity was improved to provide good environment for embryo implantation and improve the pregnancy rate, which had significant advantage in the field of assisted reproductive technology. However, detections of pinopodes and integrin were invasive. Its application for clinical use had limitations. In addition, the evidence of acupuncture improving endometrial receptivity was still insufficient. By reviewing related research result, this paper further summarized and analyzed the action mechanism of acupuncture for endometrial receptivity to provide references for the clinical treatment.
Acupuncture Therapy ; trends ; Embryo Implantation ; Endometrium ; Female ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; trends ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate

By taking the evaluations made by scholars such as Wang Yongyan, et al. on status of TCM academic research as the introduction, various influencing factors in acupuncture school development are separately discussed, and the overall trend and existential state are described in modern acupuncture academic area. By displaying the opinions of acupuncture schools in recent years, the relationship among specific therapy, school and schools is analyzed to explain the similarities and differences of school and schools as well as their respective characteristics. It is proposed that the obstacles that lay before acupuncture school researchers are not the rights and wrongs of school and schools, but the evaluation criterion and development patterns that is appropriate for acupuncture research and development.
Acupuncture ; education ; trends ; Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; trends ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; methods ; trends ; Teaching

From the TCM theoretical basis and the evidences of acupoint selection and acupuncture and moxibustion methods regarding acupuncture for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a theoretical discussion is made in this article, also a review regarding the key mechanism of experiment researches on acupuncture for PTSD is made from aspects of neurobiology and brain functional imaging, etc., which could further clarify the effect mechanism of acupuncture on PTSD. It is found that PTSD is a kind of stress syndrome accompanied with a variety of abnormal mental symptom , and acupuncture has superior effect on PTSD. Based on these, the research progress and deficiency on current mechanism study of PTSD are reviewed, hoping to offer ideas for upcoming research and to serve the clinical practice better.
Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; trends ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; therapy

The development and status of acupuncture-moxibustion in Turkey in the fields of education, legal establishment, treatment, etc. are introduced. There are four distinguished features of acupuncture-moxibustion development in Turkey: (1) The geographical position of the country as the link of Europe and Asia, has resulted in the special feature of acupuncture-moxibustion transmission and development. It combines both the traditional theories from the East and the modified and modern techniques from the West. (2) The combination of theories and clinical practice started when acupuncture-moxibustion was first introduced. (3) The application of acupuncture-moxibustion has gone through a process from spontaneous transmission among the people to legalization by the government, from disorderly to orderly, and from market behavior to government-lead regulation, which has powerfully promoted healthy development of the medicine. (4) Acupuncture-moxibustion education provided by registered universities has guaranteed the quality of the education itself and the competency of the professionals. It has raised the scientific and normative character of application and increased the credibility of the people, and also has ensured the sustainability of acupuncture-moxibustion development by providing qualified professionals.
Acupuncture ; education ; Acupuncture Therapy ; trends ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; trends ; Turkey

In recent years, translational medicine, which is characterized by advanced concepts and methods, developes rapidly and playes a strategic role in the development of TCM acupuncture and moxibustion. Therefore, it is worth studying by acupuncturists. Through the background, development, features and research model of translational medicine, the present situation and problems of TCM acupuncture research are analyzed. Several cases of translational Chinese medicine and acupuncture are listed with the consideration of the concept of translational medicine. Studies and thoughts on translational acupuncture are expounded as well. Thus, it is suggested that combined with characteristics of acupuncture, the concept of translational medicine should be utilized to instruct the clinical treatment and research of acupuncture, foster researchers of translational medicine as well as establish the related research teams.
Acupuncture Therapy ; trends ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; trends ; Translational Medical Research ; trends

The research methods, such as philology of medicine history and comparison between tradition and modern and so on were adopted in this article to study the acupuncture-moxibustion development after western medicine spreading to the East in Japan and its main transition under the impact of western medicine. The results showed that from Meiji to Showa period, under the influence of western medicine, the transition of Japanese acupuncture-moxibustion mainly embodied in following three aspects, incuinng acupuncture works absorbing western medicine knowledge, applying experiment measures to explore acupuncture principle and launching acupuncture teaching in accordance with Europe and America academy educational pattern. The changes on acupuncture works, teaching materials and methods of researching and teaching have triggered the transition and transformation of Japanese acupuncture-moxibustion from tradition to modern.
Acupuncture Therapy ; history ; trends ; History of Medicine ; History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Japan ; Medicine ; trends ; Medicine in Literature ; Moxibustion ; history ; trends