Mechanical effects of needle texture on acupoint tissue / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#This study aims to clarify how the stimulation of acupuncture points is achieved by needles with different surface texture during acupuncture; it also seeks to lessen injury at the insertion site and increase the therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture, by simulating the mechanical effects of various needle surface patterns on Zusanli (ST36) without changing the radius of acupuncture needles.@*METHODS@#Five acupuncture needle models with different surface patterns, including the smooth needle, the lined needle, the ringed needle, the left-hand threaded needle and the right-hand threaded needle, and a layered model of the Zusanli acupoint were used to investigate how to reduce tissue damage and increase stimulation during acupuncture treatment. Puncturing of the skin as well as lifting-inserting and twisting needle manipulations were simulated using these models, and the degree of damage and force of stimulation caused by the acupuncture needles with different surface patterns during acupuncture were compared.@*RESULTS@#The smooth needle and the lined needle caused the least tissue damage during insertion, while the left-hand threaded and the right-hand threaded needles caused the most damage. The ringed needle, the left-hand threaded needle and the right-hand threaded needle stimulated the acupoint tissue more during lifting-inserting manipulations, while the lined needle and the smooth needle produced less stimulation. The stimulation of the lined needle on the acupoint tissue was the largest during twisting manipulation, whereas the left-hand threaded needle and the right-hand threaded needle had smaller effects. In lifting-inserting and twisting manipulations, both the left-hand threaded needle and right-hand threaded needle provided more stimulation, but the torsion direction in which they produced better stimulation was the opposite.@*CONCLUSION@#According to the simulation results, the ringed pattern enhances stimulation best in the lifting-inserting manipulation, whereas the lined pattern enhances stimulation best in the twisting manipulation. Both the right-hand and left-hand thread patterns have certain enhancing effects in these two operations. Taking the geometric properties of the pattern into account, the left-hand thread pattern and the right-hand thread pattern have the geometric characteristics of both the lined pattern and the ringed pattern. To conclude, a pattern perpendicular to the movement direction during the acupuncture manipulation creates more stimulation. These results have significance for future needle design. Please cite this article as: Sun MZ, Wang X, Li YC, Yao W, Gu W. Mechanical effects of needle texture on acupoint tissue. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(3): 254-267.

Cumulative influence of preadolescent lifestyles on the prevalence of elevated blood pressure among children / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the cumulative effect of preadolescent lifestyles on the prevalence and incidence of elevated blood pressure (EBP) in children, and to provide evidence for early hypertensive intervention.@*Methods@#In 2017, a cohort study on pubertal development was conducted in Xiamen, Fujian Province. Participants underwent a physical examination and questionnaire survey. Between 2017 and 2019, this study carried out a 2-year follow-up of 1 316 students whose complete data were obtained. Preadolescent lifestyles were assessed by referring to baseline survey results obtained in 2017, and the prevalence and incidence of EBP were determined according to blood pressure levels that were determined in 2019. The logistic regression model was used to analyze the influence of healthy lifestyles on the prevalence and incidence of EBP after adjusted for confounding factors.@*Results@#The prevalence of EBP in 2017 and 2019 was 25.0% and 23.3%, respectively, and its incidence was 18.9% after the 2-year follow-up. Children with a healthy lifestyle had a lower prevalence and incidence of EBP. The regression analysis showed that children who have more healthy lifestyle factors were at a lower risk of EBP (P<0.05). Compared with students with 0-2 healthy lifestyle factors, the OR value of EBP prevalence was 0.52 (95% CI=0.30-0.90) and the RR value of EBP incidence was 0.60(95%CI=0.29-1.22) in children with 4-5 healthy lifestyle factors. Among them, children who were overweight or obese were at a significantly lower risk of EBP prevalence (OR=0.29, 95%CI=0.10-0.81).@*Conclusion@#Preadolescent lifestyles seemed to have a cumulative effect on the occurrence of EBP. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle had a positive effect on reducing the risk of EBP, particularly in overweight and obese children, and this was due to their adoption of a comprehensive healthy lifestyle.

Effects of Shennao Fuyuan Decoction combined with implantation of hUC-MSCs on expression of neurotrophic factors in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion rats / 中草药

Objective: To investigate the neuroprotective effects and mechanisms of Shennao Fuyuan Decoction (SFD) combined with implantation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs). Methods: Rats were randomly divided into Sham operation group, model group[cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) model of rats prepared by middle cerebral artery occlusion, MCAO], SFD group (11.6 g/kg), hUC-MSCs group, combination group (SFD + hUC-MSCs), and these groups were separately divided into other three groups by execution time (days 4,8, and 15). The neurological function of rats was evaluated by neurological severity scores (NSS), the pathological changes of hippocampus were observed by HE staining, and the expression of BDNF and bFGF was detected by immunohistochemical and Werstern blotting method. Results: After cerebral ischemia, the neural necrocytosis of hippocampus in SFD group, hUC-MSCs group, and combination group was alleviated compared with model group; Compared with model group, the NSS was much lower and the expression of BDNF and bFGF was higher in SFD group (days 8 and 15), hUC-MSCs group, and combination group (days 4,8, and 15) (P<0.01 and 0.05); Compared with SFD group and hUC-MSCs group, the NSS was lower and the expression of BDNF and bFGF was higher in combination group (days 8 and 15) (P<0.05). Conclusion: The combination of SFD and hUC-MSCs implantation could significantly improve the restoration of nuerological defects after cerebral ischemia of rats, and this neuroprotective effect is probably due to the promotion of BDNF and bFGF expression.