Traditional Chinese Treatment Research Articles

Effectiveness of acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure in the treatment of postoperative ileus: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

About one-third of patients experience postoperative ileus (POI) after abdominal surgery, which can cause various complications and has not been treated well in clinical practice. The comprehensive treatment offered by traditional Chinese medicine may be a good choice for promoting intestinal mobility. Therefore, the aim of this study protocol is to observe the effectiveness of acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure in decreasing the incidence and related symptoms of POI. This is a single-center, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled trial. A total of 160 participants are supposed to recruit at Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital and randomly divided into two parallel groups in a 1:1 ratio. The intervention group are planned to receive manual acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure, while the control group are planned to receive regular enhanced recovery after surgery treatment. The primary outcome is the time to first defecation and first flatus after surgery. The secondary outcomes include the length of postoperative hospital stay, intensity of postoperative abdominal pain and distension, severity of postoperative nausea and vomiting, time to tolerate diet, inflammatory index, and incidence of prolonged postoperative ileus. The results of this research will provide substantial evidence regarding the efficacy of comprehensive traditional Chinese treatment, specifically auricular acupressure and manual acupuncture, in treating and preventing POI. ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: ChiCTR2300075983, registered on September 21, 2023.

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - living with chronic pain. Current knowledge of the disease

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a group of the most common inherited connective tissue disorders. The main symptoms of this syndrome are excessive skin flexibility, joint hypermobility and blood vessels fragility. The diagnosis is based on clinical symptoms, but to confirm the type of EDS, it is necessary to identify the collagen-encoding gene or protein interacting with it. The group of Ehlers and Danlos diseases include fourteen types, the most common are classic, vascular, hypermobile, arthrochalasis, kyphoscoliotic and dermatosparaxis. [15] Connective tissue plays a key role in the process of movement, constituting the main component of bones, joint cartilage, tendons, ligaments and intervertebral discs. In addition, connective tissue is a part of every internal organ including the intestines and parenchymal organs and the cardiovascular system.[19] For this reason, patients with EDS show symptoms of many diseases, including respiratory, muscular, skeletal and vascular. Women suffering from EDS often struggle with complications during their pregnancies. Psychological and emotional issues are also common.[6] However, the most noticeable and debilitating symptom of EDS is pain, which is often severe and chronic. The pain occurs in approximately 90% or more of EDS patients.[8] Successful pain management in patients with EDS is a major challenge for specialists. The treatment involves non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen, opioids and physiotherapy. Also marijuana, traditional chinese treatments, herbal remedies are considered to reduce the severity of the symptoms. [9] During the creation of this article, the authors analyzed the clinically relevant knowledge of EDS treatment and management based on research published on Pubmed.

Evaluation of the knowledge, awareness, and attitudes toward epilepsy among general practitioners in Eastern China

ObjectiveWe aimed to assess the knowledge, awareness, and attitudes toward epilepsy among general practitioners (GPs) from community health service centers (CHCs) in Hangzhou, Eastern China. MethodsOne hundred twenty three GPs working at CHCs participated in this cross-sectional study in 2022. A custom-built electronic questionnaire, which comprised four domains, including 12 items for general condition data, 10 items for awareness (including first aid), a 16-item scale for attitudes, and 6 items for demographic data, was administered to the GPs. Descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U test, the Kruskal-Wallis H test, and Spearman’s rank correlation analysis were used to analyze the non-normal distribution of the data set. ResultsThe GPs’ average score on the awareness of epilepsy section was 18.14 ± 3.34 (aggregate score: 34), the first aid knowledge of epilepsy section scored 4.89 ± 1.54 (aggregate score: 7), and the epilepsy attitude section scored 62.28 ± 10.15 (aggregate score: 80). Age (rs = 0.218, P = 0.015), professional title (rs = 0.215, P = 0.017), and length of service (rs = 0.240, P = 0.008) correlated significantly with mean awareness of epilepsy scores. Age (rs = −0.234, P = 0.009) and educational background (rs = 0.199, P = 0.028) correlated significantly with attitudes toward epilepsy. Furthermore, when GPs faced newly diagnosed people with epilepsy (PWE), a referral was usually recommended (89.43%) and some would give Chinese traditional treatment (13.01%). In addition, the difficulties the GPs encountered in managing included PWE rarely appearing in the community (82.93%), the community lacking corresponding medical equipment (82.11%), and GPs lacking epilepsy-related experience (73.17%). ConclusionThe awareness and attitudes of GPs toward epilepsy in the CHCs were suboptimal. General practitioners age, professional title, length of service, and educational background influenced awareness and attitudes toward PWE. Effective public intervention programs, epilepsy training based on National Guidelines, and referral routes need to improve in China to enhance the care of PWE.

Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatments of Stenosing Tenosynovitis

Sports injuries frequently occur to the hand and wrist, and one of the most common illnesses of the hand and wrist is stenosing tenosynovitis. This report concentrated on stenosing tenosynovitis, encompassing hand and wrist anatomy, high-risk groups and activities, diagnosis, conservative treatment, surgery, traditional Chinese treatment, and post-operative precautions. A high prevalence of stenosing tenosynovitis has been linked to specific sports, occupations, lifestyles, genes, illnesses, and females. The most noticeable clinical symptom is a brief blocking of the fingers during flexion, followed by painful snapping during extension. Auxiliary apparatus such as MRI, ultrasound, and goniometer, as well as specific testing for De Quervain tenosynovitis, are the two basic commonly used diagnostic techniques. Conservative treatment, surgery, and traditional Chinese medicine are options for treating stenosing tenosynovitis. Conservative treatment includes orthoses, steroid injections, and NSAIDs. Surgery involves open release and percutaneous procedures, and the major modalities of Chinese medicine are acupuncture and moxibustion, needle knives and massage. After being successfully treated, the prognosis findings could be influenced by lifestyle, psychological changes, environment, and exercise.

Research Progress of Traditional Chinese Treatment of Diabetic Diarrhea

Research Progress of Traditional Chinese Treatment of Diabetic Diarrhea

A novel epinephrine biosensor based on gold nanoparticles coordinated polydopamine-functionalized acupuncture needle microelectrode

Epinephrine (EP) is an important neurotransmitter that plays a vital role in mammalian central nervous and hormone systems. So, the monitoring of EP is significant to evaluate human health. Until now, developing new methods for detecting EP has attracted increasing interest to avoid the previous disadvantages, such as high cost, long time-consuming, and professional operation. Acupuncture is a kind of traditional Chinese treatment. Herein, stainless steel needle, an acupuncture tool, was used as an electrochemical matrix and functionalized to be a simple, effective sensor for detecting EP. The acupuncture needle showed a typical electrochemical behavior. Gold nanoparticles coordinated polydopamine-modified acupuncture needle (AuNPs/PDA/AN) was fabricated via the green route of pure electron-transfer induced reaction of electrodepositing. The covered interface exhibited synergistic response performance to EP. The electron transfer of the phenolic hydroxyl group in EP molecular was enhanced via the superficial active site, showing the notable current peak. The generated current intensity can be used as an index to reflect the corresponding concentration. Under the optimized conditions, the fabricated biosensor expressed a wide and good linear relationship from 1 μM to 1000 μM, and a detection limit of 0.26 μM, which are competitive with former relative reports. In practical application, the fabricated sensor has been effectively used to analyze EP in real human serum, and also realized the real-time detection of EP secreted by PC12 cells irritated by salbutamol. The sensor was found to perform high selectivity, stability, and reproducibility, which is promising in the future given the advantages of electrochemical sensors, including low price, fast response, and simple operation.

A Review on Electro acupuncture

Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese treatment for pain. Acupuncture is a 3000-year-oldtraditional therapy from China. Electroacupuncture is similar to traditional acupuncture in that it uses electrical stimulation. It works similarly to orthodox acupuncture in that it excites the same regions. As with conventional acupuncture, needles are inserted at designated points on the body. The needles are then coupled to a gadget that leverages tiny clips to establish a consistent electric pulse. These devices alter the frequency and strength of the impulses based on the condition being treated. Electroacupuncture uses two or more needles at the same time to allow impulses to pass from one needle to the next. This can be performed by using a standard TENS machine attached to the needles via cables and crocodile clips by using commercially available electroacupuncture machines.

Effects of Acupuncture on Cortical Activation in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

Background Disorder of consciousness (DoC) is a clinical condition caused by severe brain damage. Some studies have reported that acupuncture, a traditional Chinese treatment, could facilitate the recovery of the patient's consciousness. The therapeutic effects of acupuncture may be due to its modulation of facilitating cortex (PFC) activity, but it has not been greatly demonstrated. Objectives We intended to observe the effects of acupuncture on prefrontal cortical activity, explore the potential correlation between cortical activation and the severity of DoC, and analyze the functional brain network connectivity to provide a theoretical basis for its application in clinical practice. Methods Participants diagnosed with DoC were included in the study. Before the intervention, we assessed the patient's state of consciousness using relevant scales, such as the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and the coma recovery scale-revised (CRS-R). All patients received acupuncture manipulation with the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system monitored. Result A total of 16 subjects participated in our study. We observed that the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) in the PFC was increased during the acupuncture manipulation and declined during the resting state. Then, the connection strength of the left cerebral cortex was generally higher than that of the right. Finally, we observed only a weak difference in hemodynamic responses of PFC between the vegetative state (VS) and minimally conscious state (MCS) groups. However, the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion Our results indicated that acupuncture can increase the concentration of HbO in the PFC and strengthen the connection strength of the left cerebral cortex. However, our present study did not find a significant correlation between the cortical hemodynamic response and the severity of DoC.

Nursing Study of Traditional Chinese Orthopaedic Treatment of Aged Osteoarthritis

Nursing Study of Traditional Chinese Orthopaedic Treatment of Aged Osteoarthritis

An Effective Treatment of Perimenopausal Syndrome by Combining Two Traditional Prescriptions of Chinese Botanical Drugs.

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Two types of traditional Chinese formulas of botanical drugs are prescribed for treating perimenopausal syndrome (PMS), a disorder in middle-aged women during their transition to menopause. One is for treating PMS as kidney deficiency (KD) due to senescence and declining reproductive functions, and the other is for treating it as liver qi stagnation (LQS) in association with stress and anxiety. Despite the time-tested prescriptions, an objective attestation to the effectiveness of the traditional Chinese treatment of PMS is still to be established and the associated molecular mechanism is still to be investigated. Materials and methods: A model for PMS was generated from perimenopausal rats with chronic restraint stress (CRS). The effectiveness of traditional Chinese formulas of botanical drugs and a combination of two of the formulas was evaluated based on 1H NMR plasma metabolomic, as well as behavioral and physiological, indicators. To investigate whether the formulas contained ligands that could compensate for the declining level of estrogen, the primary cause of PMS, the ligand-based NMR technique of saturation transfer difference (STD) was employed to detect possible interacting molecules to estrogen receptors in the decoction. Results: Each prescription of the classical Chinese formula moderately attenuated the metabolomic state of the disease model. The best treatment strategy however was to combine two traditional Chinese formulas, each for a different etiology, to adjust the metabolomic state of the disease model to that of rats at a much younger age. In addition, this attenuation of the metabolomics of the disease model was by neither upregulating the estrogen level nor supplementing an estrogenic compound. Conclusion: Treatment of PMS with a traditional Chinese formula of botanical drugs targeting one of the two causes separately could ameliorate the disorder moderately. However, the best outcome was to treat the two causes simultaneously with a decoction that combined ingredients from two traditional prescriptions. The data also implicated a new paradigm for phytotherapy of PMS as the prescribed decoctions contained no interacting compound to modulate the activity of estrogen receptors, in contrast to the treatment strategy of hormone replacement therapy.

Dihydroisotanshinone I as a Treatment Option for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are the most common cancers of the head and neck, and their prevalence is rapidly increasing. HNSCCs present a clinical challenge because of their high recurrence rate, therapeutic resistance to radiation and chemotherapy drugs, and adverse effects. Hence, traditional Chinese herbal treatment may be advantageous to therapeutic strategies for HNSCCs. Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza), a well-known Chinese herb, has been extensively applied in treatments for various diseases, including cancer, because of its high degree of safety and low rate of adverse effects despite its unclear mechanism. Thus, we aimed to explore the possible anticancer effects and mechanisms of dihydroisotanshinone I (DT), a compound in danshen (extract from danshen), on HNSCCs. Three HNSCCs cell lines were used for in vitro studies, and a Detroit 562 xenograft mouse model was chosen for in vivo studies. Our in vitro results showed that DT could initiate apoptosis, resulting in cell death, and the p38 signaling partially regulated DT-initiated cell apoptosis in the Detroit 562 model. In the xenograft mouse model, DT reduced tumor size with no obvious adverse effect of hepatotoxicity. The present study suggests that DT is a promising novel candidate for anti-HNSCCs therapy.

Moxibustion for primary dysmenorrhea: A protocol for evidence-based clinical practice guideline.

Background:Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is a common gynecological disease characterized by lower abdominal pain. Moxibustion as a traditional Chinese treatment, can effectively treat PD with few adverse reactions. Nowadays, there is still no standard guideline for moxibustion treatment of PD, so related clinical practice guidelines need to be developed.Methods:This guideline will be developed in line with the latest guideline definition from Institute of Medicine, and that applies the GRADE system as well as the World Health Organization handbook to appraise the quality of evidence and develop recommendations. We will set up a Guideline working group, put forward the corresponding problems based on the principle of Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes (PICO), and complete the literature retrieval. After achieving consensus through evidence syntheses and 2 to 3 rounds of Delphi process, we will also consider patients values and preferences and implement peer review in the guideline.Result:We will put forward evidence-based best practice recommendations and moxibustion standard to improve the symptoms caused by primary dysmenorrhea in a more efficient way. At present, the research is still in progress, and there is no result to report.Conclusions:This guideline will be helpful to clinical acupuncturists and other professionals to further improve clinical efficacy in treating PD with moxibustion. Moreover, we will also constantly update and evaluate the evidence to both support recommendations and identify gap areas for future research.Systematic Review registrations:registration number: IPGRP-2020CN021

布鲁菌病中西医治疗研究进展

布鲁菌病中西医治疗研究进展

Effect of pre-existing diseases on COVID-19 infection and role of new sensors and biomaterials for its detection and treatment.

The entire world is suffering from a new type of viral disease, occurred by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). The present article briefly discussed the genome sequencing and interaction of host cells with SARS‐CoV‐2. The influence of pre‐existing diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and age of the patients on COVID‐19 infection is reviewed. The possible treatments of SARS‐CoV‐2 including antiviral drugs, Chinese traditional treatment and plasma therapy are elaborately discussed. The proper vaccine for COVID‐19 is not available till date. However, the trials of pre‐existing antiviral vaccines such as, chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, ritonavir and lopinavir and their consequences are briefly presented. Further, the importance of new materials and devices for the detection and treatment of COVID‐19 has also been reviewed. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐based, and non‐PCR based devices are used for the detection of COVID‐19 infection. The non‐PCR based devices provide rapid results as compared to PCR based devices.

Moxibustion Intervention Effect to Vertical Jump Performance

More and more people have known moxibustion as a traditional Chinese treatment technique. Moxibustion not only activate the immune system but also lessen sport tired effectively. The main goal of this study to investigate whether moxibustion alleviates the fatigue after the movement of the human body through biomechanics testing. The experiment recruited 6 young males as subjects, using moxibustion intervention after exercise-fatigue. The joint angle was obtained from Vicon motion analysis system, Kistler was used to measuring the GRF, jump height. In the sagittal plane, the peak angle of the hip, knee, ankle show significant differences between the intervention of moxibustion and no treatment during the take-off state. In the coronal plane, the main difference is represented in the landing state. In the transverse plane, both the take-off and landing state show the difference between the three conditions. The height of moxibustion intervention is significantly higher than baseline and no treatment; it may be indicated that the participants made a recovery well after the intervention of moxibustion. Nevertheless, the ground reaction force didn’t show significance. Overall, it can be concluded that moxibustion can have a direct effect on vertical jump performance during a fatigued state. Evidence from these results could perhaps suggest that moxibustion could be used as a preventative measure to reduce fatigue and enhance athlete performance.

卵巢早衰的中西医治疗进展

卵巢早衰的中西医治疗进展

Involvement of Interleukin-10 in Analgesia of Electroacupuncture on Incision Pain.

Objective Postincision pain often occurs after surgery and is an emergency to be treated in clinic. Electroacupuncture (EA) is a Chinese traditional treatment widely used to cure acute or chronic pain, but its mechanism is not clear. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a powerful anti-inflammatory cytokine that shows neuroprotective effects in inflammation and injury in the CNS. The present study attempts to reveal that IL-10 is crucial for EA analgesia on postincision pain. Methods A model of incision pain was established in C57BL/6J mice. The pain threshold was detected by behavioral test, and the expression of IL-10 and its receptor was detected by an immunohistochemical method. C-fiber-evoked field potentials were recorded by in vivo analysis. Results The mechanical allodynia induced by paw incision was significantly inhibited by pretreatment of EA in mice. Intrathecal injection of IL-10 neutralizing antibody (2 µg/10 µL) but not intraplantar injection (10 µg/10 µL) reversed the analgesia of EA. The upregulations of IL-10 mRNA and protein were induced by EA at 6 h and 1 d after incision, respectively. Spinal long-term potentiation (LTP), a substrate for central sensitization, was also suppressed by EA with IL-10. IL-10 recombinant protein (1 µg/10 µL, i.t.) mimicked the analgesia of EA on mechanical allodynia and inhibition on the spinal LTP. Posttreatment of EA after incision also transitorily relieved the mechanical allodynia, which can be blocked by spinal IL-10 antibody. IL-10 and its receptor, IL-10RA, are predominantly expressed in the superficial spinal astrocytes. Conclusions These results suggested that pretreatment of EA effectively prevented postincision pain and IL-10 in spinal astrocytes was critical for the analgesia of EA and central sensitization.

Systematic Review of Herbal Tea (a Traditional Chinese Treatment Method) in the Therapy of Chronic Simple Pharyngitis and Preliminary Exploration about Its Medication Rules.

Background Chronic simple pharyngitis (CSP) is a common clinical chronic respiratory inflammation with persistent and intransigent symptoms. We analyzed the clinical data to find the evidence that herbal tea, a traditional Chinese medicine treatment in China, could improve the symptoms of CSP patients in a simple way. Methods We systematically reviewed the clinical data of randomized controlled treatments from April 2019 and evaluated the results using the improved Jadad scale and the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool. RevMan 5.3 software was used for chart analysis. In addition, we used Excel to conduct frequency statistics on Chinese herbs from included articles and analyze its medication rules. Results Among the collection of 161 articles, 6 RCTs published in Chinese journals were included in this review. The methodological quality of the treatments was low, and most of them only provide diagnostic criteria. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were not specified, and none of the 6 RCTs used the blind method on the result evaluator. Furthermore, only one RCT evaluated the baseline level variance. For these reasons, we did not make a network meta-analysis. Conclusions The traditional Chinese herbs involved in herbal tea did have ingredients to alleviate CSP symptoms. However, our research showed that the current research could not draw any credible conclusions on the curative effect of herbal tea, which indicated that the overall level of TCM clinical research needs to be improved to evaluate the efficacy of herbal tea.

Role of intestinal flora characteristics in traditional Chinese medicine-based diagnosis and treatment of spleen and stomach diseases

Role of intestinal flora characteristics in traditional Chinese medicine-based diagnosis and treatment of spleen and stomach diseases

An Interesting Case Report of a Giant Bladder Calculi in China

Objective: To report a giant bladder calculi in a 52-year-old man. Methods: The patient was diagnosed as bladder calculi since 1998. Due to the lack of sufficient medical and health conditions in the countryside, he only received the Chinese traditional treatment and did not seek any urologic treatments for more than 20 years. In April 2018, he was referred to our hospital with dysuria. Results: A big bladder calculi (8.0 cm × 10.0 cm × 6.0 cm in size) was revealed by ultrasound and intravenous pyelography and removed by open cystolithotomy. Conclusions: Our case demonstrates the necessity of early treatment for patients with bladder calculi.