Acupuncture randomized controlled trials: comparing China-based vs. Western-based studies / 中国针灸

With the worldwide spread of acupuncture as a therapeutic modality and the rapid development of acupuncture clinical research, the number of acupuncture randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies is steadily increasing in China and around the world. However, the results of these studies seem to come from two different worlds indeed. Chinese RCT studies overwhelmingly demonstrate positive outcomes from acupuncture, whereas Western-based studies generally conclude that there is no discernible difference between acupuncture and a placebo. Why should there be such different outcomes when the same scientific method is being used? This paper analyzes factors that may be contributing to the different outcomes between China-based and Western-based RCT studies by considering and comparing starting points, purpose, study design, investigators, acupuncture treatment regimen, methodological quality, results, conclusions, and deficiencies in acupuncture RCT. Based on these comparisons, this paper examines the value of acupuncture RCT in general, and the methodological confusion which seems to have propagated from study to study. We propose the following suggestions to remediate the acupuncture clinical research paradigm: First, acupuncture clinical researches should be carried out step-by-step according to universal, agreed-upon research protocols. Second, norms for reporting outcome metrics need to be standardized for each stage of a study.

Localization of Chinese acupuncture-moxibustion in the United States: the openness of modern acupuncture-moxibustion system / 中国针灸

The internationalization of Chinese acupuncture-moxibustion is inevitably accompanied by the localization of acupuncture-moxibustion. The localization of acupuncture-moxibustion will inevitably promote the diversified development of acupuncture-moxibustion technique and theory, which fully demonstrates the openness of modern acupuncture-moxibustion. In this study, the characteristics of localization of Chinese acupuncture-moxibustion in the United States are explored and studied from the following aspects: legal adjustment, technical adjustment, educational adjustment, service adjustment and theoretical adjustment.

Convergence of Medicines: West Meets East in Newly-Discovered Organs and Functions / 中国结合医学杂志

Although the foundations and evolution of Chinese medicine and Western medicine are very different, an increasing amount of research has revealed that those Eastern medicine principles practiced over thousands of years are confirmed by new technologies applied to the basic science of the human body. Recent scientific discoveries present enticing opportunities to reconcile Chinese medicine theories with Western biomedicine. Is there a trend toward the convergence of Eastern and Western medicine? Four studies which exemplify the potential for convergence are described in this article. The studies present findings in regard to mesentery, interstitium, a gut-lung axis, and lung-centered hematopoiesis, and were published recently in leading journals such as Science, Nature, and Lancet.

Acupuncture and the Opioid Epidemic in America / 中国结合医学杂志

The opioid epidemic has become a signifificant public health crisis in the United States of America. This crisis has elicited a response at high levels of governmental and health care organizations including the American College of Physicians, the Food and Drug Administration, the Joint Commission, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, the National Association of Attorneys General, and the White House. In various ways, these organizations have recognized that acupuncture can play an important role in dealing with the opioid epidemic. This paper presents and analyzes the scientifific evidence supporting the effificacy of acupuncture in regard to opioid addiction.

To be, or not to be: The calculated politics of acupuncture in JAMA / 中国结合医学杂志

Ten acupuncture-related articles were published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) between 1998 and 2017. Five studies showed positive results in terms of the effectiveness of acupuncture/Chinese medicine (CM); five studies showed negative results. This article summarizes the acupuncturerelated clinical trials published over the last 20 years in JAMA, and addresses what seems to be a fundamental ambivalence in Western medical journals regarding the scientific validity of acupuncture/CM. As yet there has been no consensus on the role of acupuncture in healthcare in Western countries. This is hardly surprising, considering the conflicting evidence found in published studies. Skepticism regarding acupuncture/CM is largely grounded in the fact that an accurate model for assessing the true clinical effects of acupuncture has yet to be created. This article discusses some of the pitfalls which result from applying Western-based scientific principles to CM, and suggests that in many cases, "negative" studies have been misinterpreted. The clinical experience of acupuncture practitioners is often in direct conflict with many of the negative conclusions published in journals. We are in need of an accurate model for sham and placebo treatments, and must analyze all published studies for design flaws and faulty conclusions.