Clinical Observation of Staging Treatment with Various Acupuncture Therapies Mainly on Yifeng Point for Peripheral Facial Paralysis / 广州中医药大学学报

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of staging treatment with various acupuncture therapies mainly on Yifeng (TE17) point for the treatment of peripheral facial paralysis. Methods One hundred and two peripheral facial paralysis patients were randomly divided into trial group and control group, 51 patients in each group. The trial group was given acupuncture mainly on Yifeng point, by Yang needling(plum-blossom needling) for acute stage, Qi needling(concentrated triple-needling) for resting stage and Bang needling(lateral needling) for recovery stage. The control group was given conventional acupuncture. The treatment for the two groups was performed once a day, 5 continuous days constituted a course, and the treatment lasted 3 courses. Before treatment and after treatment for 1, 2, 3 course (s), facial nerve function scores were evaluated with House-Brackmann Grading Scale (HB) and the scores of pain in head and face were evaluated with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). And the clinical efficacy of the two groups was assessed after treatment. Results (1) After treatment for 3 courses, the cure rate and total effective rate of the trial group were 82.35％, 100.00％, and those of the control group were 60.78％, 86.27％, respectively. The differences between the two groups were significant (P <0.05). (2) After treatment, HB scores and VSA scores of patients with facial pain and headache in the two groups were improved after treatment (P < 0.05 compared with those before treatment), and the improvement in the trial group was superior to that in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion Staging treatment with various acupuncture therapies mainly on Yifeng point is more effective for the treatment of peripheral facial paralysis than conventional acupuncture.

Therapeutic Observation of Stage-based Treatment of Peripheral Facial Paralysis with Yifeng (TE 17) as the Major Point Treated by Different Acupuncture Methods / 上海针灸杂志

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of stage-based treatment of peripheral facial paralysis with Yifeng (TE 17) selected as the major point treated by different acupuncture methods.Method A total of 102 patients with peripheral facial paralysis were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 51 cases each. The treatment group was intervened by selecting Yifeng (TE 17) as the major point, treated with centro-square needling in the acute stage, triple needling in the resting stage, and proximal needling in the remission stage; the control group was intervened by ordinary acupuncture. The two groups were treated once a day, 5 d as a course of treatment. Before and after 3 treatment courses, the House Brackmann (HB) facial nerve grading scale and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) in those patients complicated with pain were observed, and the clinical efficacies were compared.Result The total effective rate and recovery rate were respectively 100.0％ and 82.3％ in the treatment group versus 86.3％ and 60.8％ in the control group, and the between-group differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The HB scores were significantly changed respectively after 1, 2 and 3 treatment courses in the two groups compared with the pre-treatment scores (P<0.05). The HB scores in the treatment group were significantly different from those in the control group respectively after 1, 2 and 3 treatment courses (P<0.05). The patients complicated with facial pain or headache presented significant differences in VAS score respectively after 1, 2 and 3 treatment courses in the two groups (P<0.05). In comparing the VAS score in the patients complicated with facial pain or headache, there were significant differences between the two groups respectively after 1, 2 and 3 treatment courses (P<0.05).Conclusion Stage- based treatment with Yifeng (TE 17) selected as the major point treated with different acupuncture methods can produce valid efficacy in treating peripheral facial paralysis.

Studies on flavonoids from Derris eriocarpa / 中国中药杂志

Derris eriocarpa, a traditional Chinese medicine belonging to the family of Leguminosae, is widely distributed mainly over Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou of China. Modern pharmacological researches on this herb showed that it had extensive bioactivities, such as promoting urination, removing dampness and cough and reducing inspissated mucus and other biological activities. The extensive studies on the chemical constituents of this plant have resulted in the isolation of triterpenoids, steroids, fatty acid and others, but the flavone compounds haven't reported before. In our further research on the ethyl acetate of this plant, nine flavone compounds were obtained by column chromatography on silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, semi-prep HPLC, polyamide column chromatography and recrystallization for separation and purification. The structures were determined on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis, including MS, NMR experiments and comparison with spectroscopic data in the literature, respectively, as diosmetin (1), 3, 3'-di-O-methylquercetin (2), afromosin (3), 6, 3'-dihydroxy-7, 4'-dimethoxyisoflavone (4), odoratin (5), 7, 3'-dihydroxy-8, 4'-dimethoxyisoflavone (6), 6, 4'-dihydroxy-7, 3'-dimethoxyisoflavone (7), 5, 7, 4'-trihydroxy-3, 3', 5'-trimethoxyflavone (8), and alpinumisoflavone (9). All these compounds were isolated from Derris eriocarpa How for the first time. And the in vitro assays showed that compound 2 possessed moderate inhibitory activity against human cancer cells K562 and HEL.

Diosgenin inhibits tumor necrosis factor-induced tissue factor activity and expression in THP-1 cells via down-regulation of the NF-κB, Akt, and MAPK signaling pathways / 中国天然药物

AIM@#To investigate whether diosgenin could modulate tissue factor (TF) procoagulation activity, expression, and related signal transduction pathways.@*METHODS@#Human THP-1 monocytic cells were exposed to tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α, 10 ng·mL(-1)) with or without diosgenin (0.01, 0.1, and 1 μmol · L(-1)) for 2 h or 5 h to induce TF procoagulant activity and expression, which were determined by the simplified chromogenic assay, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), real-time quantitative PCR, and Western blotting assays. In addition, the activation of the NF-κB, Akt, and MAPK signaling pathways were also measured by Western blotting.@*RESULTS@#Diosgenin significantly inhibited TNF-α-induced TF procoagulant activity at concentrations of 0.01 to 1 μmol · L(-1) with IC50 of 0.25 μmol · L(-1). It also reduced protein expression and mRNA accumulation of TF dose-dependently in activated THP-1 cells. TNF-α stimulated significantly phosphorylation on Ser536 of NF-κB/p65, Ser473 of Akt at 5-15 min, and activations of IKK-β and ERK at 15-30 min. Diosgenin (1 μmol · L(-1)) could inhibit the phosphorylation of NF-κB/p65, IKK-β, Akt, ERK, and JNK, but had no remarkable effects on IκB and p38 phosphorylation in THP-1 cells.@*CONCLUSION@#Diosgenin inhibits TNF-α-induced TF activity and expression in monocytes, partly due to its down-regulation of the phosphorylation of NF-κB/p65, IKK-β, Akt, ERK, and JNK.