Survivin expression as a prognostic marker for breast cancer

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: Due to the speed of development observed in breast cancer, several studies aimed at discovering new biomarkers have been carried out in order to arrive at an early diagnosis. As survivin plays a fundamental role in the evasion of apoptosis in tumor cells, the aim of this study was to verify the expression profile of the survivin gene in paraffin-embedded breast tumor samples and associate it with the clinical characteristics of the patients. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study, for which 100 tumor samples were obtained from cancer patients treated throughout the year 2019 at Instituto de Mama do Cariri (Juazeiro do Norte, in the state of Ceará). This study included women over 30 years old who had confirmed breast cancer through anatomopathological examination but excluded those with non-neoplastic breast comorbidities, other neoplasms, or chronic diseases. Survivin gene expression was assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: The expression of survivin is associated with the lack of expression of estrogen (p=0.027) and progesterone (p>0.0005) receptors. It means that survivin expression is higher in patients in which labeling was absent for estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor. CONCLUSION: Our data reinforce that survivin expression is higher in estrogen receptor-patients, thus representing an additional prognostic tool.

Acupoint thread-embedding for children with tic disorders of spleen deficiency and liver hyperactivity and its effect on serum level of NSE / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVES@#To observe the clinical efficacy of acupoint thread-embedding for children with tic disorders of spleen deficiency and liver hyperactivity and its effect on serum level of neuron-specific enolase (NSE).@*METHODS@#A total of 68 children with tic disorders of spleen deficiency and liver hyperactivity were randomized into an observation group (34 cases, 1 case dropped out) and a control group (34 cases, 3 cases dropped out, 1 case was eliminated). In the observation group, acupoint thread-embedding was applied at Baihui (GV 20) and bilateral Hegu (LI 4), Taichong (LR 3), Pishu (BL 20), Ganshu (BL 18), Quchi (LI 11), Zusanli (ST 36),etc., once every 4 weeks. In the control group, tiapride hydrochloride tablet was given orally, twice a day. Both groups were treated for 12 weeks. Before and after treatment, the Yale global tic severity scale (YGTSS) score and serum level of NSE were observed in the two groups, and the clinical efficacy was evaluated.@*RESULTS@#After treatment, except for vocal tic score of YGTSS in the control group, the each-item scores and total scores of YGTSS and serum levels of NSE in the two groups were decreased compared with those before treatment (P<0.05); the each-item scores and total score of YGTSS and serum level of NSE in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). The total effective rate in the observation group was 87.9% (29/33), which was higher than 76.7% (23/30) in the control group (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#Acupoint thread-embedding has a good effect in the treatment of children with tic disorders of spleen deficiency and liver hyperactivity, could reduce the YGTSS score and serum level of NSE.

Different frequency of acupoint thread-embedding for overweight/obesity of spleen deficiency and dampness retention: a randomized controlled trial / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVES@#To compare the effect of different frequency of acupoint thread-embedding on weight loss in subjects with overweight/obesity of spleen deficiency and dampness retention.@*METHODS@#A total of 126 subjects with overweight/obesity of spleen deficiency and dampness retention were randomized into a 2-week group(63 cases, 13 cases dropped out)and a 3-week group(63 cases, 11 cases dropped out, 1 case was eliminated). The two groups were treated with acupoint thread-embedding once every 2 weeks and once every 3 weeks respectively, Zhongwan(CV 12), Shuifen(CV 9), Qihai(CV 6), Guanyuan(CV 4) and bilateral Zhangmen(LR 13), Tianshu(ST 25), Liangmen(ST 21), Daheng(SP 15), Fujie(SP 14), Pishu(BL 20), Yinlingquan(SP 9)were selected. Four times were required in the two groups. Before and after treatment, follow-up after 2 months of treatment completion, the body mass index(BMI), body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, obesity degree, fat percentage(F%), skin fold thickness were observed in the two groups.@*RESULTS@#After treatment and in follow-up, the BMI, body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, obesity degree, F%, skin fold thickness in the two groups were decreased compared with those before treatment (P<0.001, P<0.01), the changes of BMI, body weight, obesity degree, F%, skin fold thickness in the 2-week group were larger than those in the 3-week group(P<0.05, P<0.01, P<0.001).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The effect of acupoint thread-embedding once every 2 weeks on weight loss in subjects with overweight/obesity of spleen deficiency and dampness retention is superior to that once every 3 weeks.

Development of needle-thread integrative embedding needle / 中国针灸

The needle-thread integrative embedding needle consists of needle handle, needle core, thread, locker and needle guard. The thread is fixed in the core by the locker. With the needle inserted into acupoint, the locker is separated from the thread, while the thread is embedded directly into acupoint, to achieve one acupoint with one needle. This type of thread embedding needle is operated simply and safely without cross infection occurrence, easy to carry.

Effects of catgut embedding and PGLA embedding at "Zusanli" (ST 36) on skin mast cells, substance P and histamine in healthy rats / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effects of catgut embedding and polyglycolic acid/poly-lactic acid (PGLA) embedding at "Zusanli" (ST 36) on the activation of local skin mast cells (MC), and expression of substance P (SP) and histamine (HA), and to explore the mechanism of the temporal stimulation effect of acupoint catgut embedding and provide a foundation for further research on the initiation mechanism of acupoint catgut embedding.@*METHODS@#One hundred and sixty male SPF-grade SD rats were randomly divided into a blank group (10 rats), a sham-embedding group (50 rats), a catgut group (50 rats), and a PGLA group (50 rats). Each intervention group was further randomly divided into five subgroups according to the time points after intervention: 8 hours, 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, and 21 days, with 10 rats in each subgroup. One-time sham-embedding, catgut embedding and PGLA embedding was given at left "Zusanli" (ST 36) in each intervention group, respectively. The skin and subcutaneous connective tissue of the left "Zusanli" (ST 36) were collected at the corresponding time points after intervention, except for the blank group (only one day before intervention). Toluidine blue staining was used to detect MC count and degranulation, and immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of SP and HA positive cells.@*RESULTS@#There was no significant difference in MC count between the subgroups of each intervention group and the blank group (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in MC count between the subgroups of the catgut group and the PGLA group (P>0.05). The MC count in the 8-hour subgroup of PGLA group was higher than that in the 8-hour subgroup of catgut group (P<0.05), while the MC count in the 21-day subgroup of PGLA group was lower than that in the 21-day subgroup of catgut group (P<0.05). Compared with the blank group, the degranulation rates of MC were increased in the 8-hour and 3-day subgroups of sham-embedding group, 8-hour, 3-day, and 7-day subgroups of catgut group, and 8-hour, 3-day, 7-day, and 14-day subgroups of PGLA group (P<0.01, P<0.05, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the degranulation rate of MC between the subgroups of the catgut group and the PGLA group (P>0.05), and no significant difference in the degranulation rate of MC between the two embedding groups at the same time point (P>0.05). Compared with the blank group, the expression of SP positive cells was increased in the 8-hour subgroup of sham-embedding group, 8-hour, 3-day, 7-day, and 14-day subgroups of catgut group, and 3-day, 7-day, and 14-day subgroups of PGLA group (P<0.001, P<0.05). The expression of SP positive cells in the 7-day subgroup of catgut group was higher than that in the 8-hour subgroup of catgut group (P<0.05), while the expression of SP positive cells in the 14-day subgroup of catgut group was lower than that in the 7-day subgroup of catgut group (P<0.001). The expression of SP positive cells in the 7-day subgroup of PGLA group was higher than that in the 3-day subgroup of PGLA group (P<0.05), while the expression of SP positive cells in the 14-day subgroup of PGLA group was lower than that in the 7-day subgroup of PGLA group (P<0.01). There was no significant difference in the expression of SP positive cells between the subgroups of the two embedding groups at the same time point (P>0.05). Compared with the blank group, the expression of HA positive cells was increased in the 8-hour, 3-day subgroups of sham-embedding group, 8-hour, 3-day, 7-day, and 14-day subgroups of catgut group, and 8-hour, 3-day, 7-day, 14-day, and 21-day subgroups of PGLA group (P<0.001, P<0.01, P<0.05). The expression of HA positive cells in the 14-day subgroup of catgut group was lower than that in the 7-day subgroup of catgut group (P<0.05), while the expression of HA positive cells in the 3-day subgroup of PGLA group was higher than that in the 8-hour subgroup of PGLA group (P<0.05), and the expression of HA positive cells in the 14-day subgroup of PGLA group was lower than that in the 7-day subgroup of PGLA group (P<0.05). The expression of HA positive cells in the 3-day subgroup of PGLA group was higher than that in the 3-day subgroup of catgut group (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Catgut and PGLA embedding at "Zusanli" (ST 36) in healthy rats could induce changes in local skin MC, SP, and HA, which may be one of the mechanisms of the temporal stimulation effect after acupoint embedding. There are certain differences between different suture materials. A moderate inflammatory response in the acupoint area, mediated by MC and involving SP and HA, may be one of the initiating factors for the effect of acupoint catgut embedding.

Drug repurposing for Alzheimer''s disease using knowledge graph embedding / 中国药科大学学报

@#Alzheimer''s disease (AD) has brought to us huge medical and economic burdens, and so discovery of its therapeutic drugs is of great significance.In this paper, we utilized knowledge graph embedding (KGE) models to explore drug repurposing for AD on the publicly available drug repurposing knowledge graph (DRKG).Specifically, we applied four KGE models, namely TransE, DistMult, ComplEx, and RotatE, to learn the embedding vectors of entities and relations on DRKG.By using three classical knowledge graph evaluation metrics, we then evaluated and compared the performance of these models as well as the quality of the learned embedded vectors.Based on our results, we selected the RotatE model for link prediction and identified 16 drugs that might be repurposed for the treatment of AD.Previous studies have confirmed the potential therapeutic effects of 12 drugs against AD, i.e., glutathione, haloperidol, capsaicin, quercetin, estradiol, glucose, disulfire, adenosine, paroxetine, paclitaxel, glybride and amitriptyline.Our study demonstrates that drug repurposing based on KGE may provide new ideas and methods for AD drug discovery.Moreover, the RotatE model effectively integrates multi-source information of DRKG, enabling promising AD drug repurposing.The source code of this paper is available at https://github.com/LuYF-Lemon-love/AD-KGE.

Jianpi Peiyuan acupoint thread embedding therapy for perimenopausal obesity: a randomized controlled trial / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the clinical efficacy and safety of Jianpi Peiyuan acupoint thread embedding therapy on perimenopausal obesity (PMO).@*METHODS@#Ninety-six patients of PMO were randomly divided into an observation group (48 cases) and a control group (48 cases). The control group received health education and lifestyle intervention. On the basis of the treatment in the control group, the observation group was treated with acupoint thread embedding at the main acupoints of Shangwan (CV 13), Zhongwan (CV 12), Xiawan (CV 10), Yinlingquan (SP 9) and Fenglong (ST 40), etc. as well as the supplementary acupoints in accordance with the syndrome differentiation, once every 2 weeks for 8 weeks (4 times in total). The indexes of obesity (body mass index [BMI], waist circumference, hip circumference and body mass), modified Kupperman score, insomnia severity index (ISI) score, self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) score, and self-rating depression scale (SDS) score of the two groups were observed before and after treatment, and the safety was evaluated.@*RESULTS@#After treatment, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference and body mass in the two groups were lower than before treatment (P<0.05), and those in the observation group were lower than the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, Kupperman, ISI and SAS scores in the observation group were lower than before treatment (P<0.05), and ISI score in the control group was lower than before treatment (P<0.05). Kupperman, ISI and SAS scores in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in SDS between the two groups or within groups (P>0.05). No serious adverse reactions occurred during the experiment.@*CONCLUSION@#Jianpi Peiyuan acupoint thread embedding therapy can reduce the degree of obesity in PMO patients, and improve patients' the perimenopausal symptoms, insomnia and anxiety, with good safety.

N-butanol combined with turpentine instead of xylene for paraffin embeddin / 解剖学报

Objective To look for a tissue paraffin embedding method that can replace xylene transparent agent. Methods The mixture of N-butanol and turpentine was used to replace the role of anhydrous ethanol and xylene in the process of conventional paraffin embedding. The brain, kidney, stomach, liver and duodenum of multiple cerebral infarction model rats were embedded in paraffin. Finally, the new dehydration procedure was evaluated according to the effect of paraffin section, HE staining and immunohistochemical result . Results The mixture of N-butanol and turpentine could replace not only the dehydration effect of anhydrous ethanol but also the transparency effect of xylene in the conventional paraffin embedding process. The tissue sections treated with the mixture of N-butanol and turpentine were smooth, and the tissue did not become brittle or hard; After HE staining, the nucleus and cytoplasm of the new dehydrated tissue were distinct, and the chromaticity, color and transparency of the tissue were not different from those of the conventional dehydration procedure; Immunohistochemical staining was performed on different tissues of rats, and the comparison result were no different from conventional embedded tissue immunohistochemical staining. Conclusion N-butanol combined with turpentine for tissue dehydration can not only avoid the toxic effect of xylene on human, but also reduce the tissue damage caused by excessive dehydration of anhydrous alcohol.

An improved crystal embedding method of fetal lung duct casting specimen and its application / 解剖学报

Objective To improve the success rate of crystal embedding of human (animal) pipeline cast specimens for long-term preservation and application of cast specimens better. Methods The selection of embedding mold, specimen fixation, adjustment of the proportion of glue, grinding and polishing were improved, and a crystal embedding model of a fetal lung duct cast specimen was made to explore and optimize the simple and efficient production process of a crystal-embedded human (animal) pipeline casting specimen. Results The crystal model produced after the improvement had great transparency, beautiful shape, no bubbles, and no mold branches broken. The distribution and running of the casted branches of the fetal lung of the crystal model could be observed clearly in the embedded middle fetal lung through any angle and orientation, which was consistent with the cast specimens before embedding, and had a strong sense of three-dimensional space. Conclusion The improved process is better for embedding human (animal) pipeline casting specimens, which is conducive to long-term preservation. It is better for clinical anatomy teaching and exhibition in life science museum.

The Spatial Dimension of integration of Great Anti-epidemic Spirit Education / 中国医学伦理学

The great anti-epidemic spirit is the spirit of the times formed by all Chinese people in the great struggle against COVID-19 under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The reason for the spatial transformation of the integration of anti-epidemic spirit education is that the great anti-epidemic spirit is the product of specific space environment, Modern space theory provides a new perspective for the integration of anti-epidemic spirit education, and With the end of the epidemic, the era of the epidemic has changed from the anti-epidemic space to the anti-epidemic spirit education space. The principle of spatial dimension of anti-epidemic spirit education lies in the environment creats people, the anti-epidemic spirit and the spatial environment are mutually embedded and mutually constructed, and the formation of the anti-epidemic spirit is the unity of perceptual cognition and rational cognition,education, and the formation of the anti-epidemic spirit is the unity of perceptual cognition and rational cognition. At the practical level, considering the integration of anti epidemic spirit education from the spatial dimension, we should not only integrate the anti epidemic spirit elements into the multi dynamic spatial environment, but also give full play to the role of multi spatial collaborative education and the supervision role of multi subjects in the spatial environment.

Simple obesity of stomach heat and damp obstruction treated with acupoint thread embedding therapy: a randomized controlled trial / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the therapeutic effect and safety of acupoint thread embedding therapy in treatment of simple obesity of stomach heat and damp obstruction.@*METHODS@#A total of 144 patients with simple obesity of stomach heat and damp obstruction were randomized into an acupoint thread embedding group (72 cases, 3 cases dropped off and 1 case removed) and a sham-embedding group (72 cases, 6 cases dropped off and 3 cases removed). On the base of the lifestyle adjustment, the acupoint thread embedding therapy with PGLA thread was applied to Tianshu (ST 25), Zhongwan (CV 12), Ganshu (BL 18), Shuidao (ST 28), etc. in the acupoint thread embedding group, while in the sham-embedding group, the acupoint selection and operation were all same as the acupoint thread embedding group, but without PGLA thread embedded. In either group, the treatment was given once every 2 weeks, consecutively for 12 weeks and the follow-up was conducted for 3 months after treatment. Separately, before and after treatment as well as in follow-up, the obesity indices (body mass index [BMI], waist circumference [WC], waist-to-hip ratio [WHR] and fat percentage [F%]) were observed in the two groups. Before and after treatment, the indices of blood glucose and insulin (fasting blood glucose [FBG], fasting insulin [FINS] and insulin resistance index [HOMA-IR]), adipocyte factor indices (adiponectin, leptin [LP] and serine protease inhibitor [Vaspin]) and inflammatory factor indices (tumor nercosis factor [TNF-α], interleukin-1β [IL-1β] and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) were observed separately in the two groups. The therapeutic effect and safety were compared between the two groups.@*RESULTS@#After treatment and in follow-up, except WC and WHR in the sham-embedding group, BMI, WC, WHR and F% were all reduced as compared with those before treatment in the two groups (P<0.01, P<0.05), and the values in the acupoint thread embedding group were lower than the sham-embedding group (P<0.01). After treatment, except FBG, LP and Vaspin in the sham-embedding group, FBG, FINS, HOMA-IR, LP and Vaspin were all reduced as compared with those before treatment in the two groups (P<0.01, P<0.05), and adiponectin was increased as compared with that before treatment (P<0.01, P<0.05); the improvements in the acupoint thread embedding group were more significant than the sham-embedding group (P<0.01). After treatment, the levels of serum TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in the acupoint thread embedding group were reduced as compared with the values before treatment and those in the sham-embedding group separately (P<0.01). The total effective rate was 89.7% (61/68) in the acupoint thread embedding group, higher than 19.0% (12/63) in the sham-embedding group (P<0.01). There was no severe adverse reaction reported in the two groups.@*CONCLUSION@#Acupoint thread embedding therapy with PGLA thread can alleviate obesity, regulate glucose metabolism and adipocyte factors activity, improve insulin resistance and inhibit the expression of pro-inflammatory factors in the patients with simple obesity with stomach heat and damp obstruction, and this therapy presents a satisfactory safety in treatment.

Observation on efficacy of thumbtack needle combined with pediatric Tuina for constipation in children caused by liver depression and Qi stagnation / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

Objective: To observe the clinical effect of thumbtack needles combined with pediatric Tuina (Chinese therapeutic massage) for constipation in children caused by liver depression and Qi stagnation.Methods: A total of 60 children with constipation caused by liver depression and Qi stagnation were randomly divided into a combined group and a Tuina group, with 30 cases in each group. The cases in the Tuina group were treated with pediatric Tuina, while those in the combined group were treated with additional thumbtack needle therapy. We observed the clinical efficacy and the change in the number of spontaneous bowel movements per week before and after treatment. Results: After treatment, the cure rate and the total effective rate in the combined group were higher than in the Tuina group, showing statistical significance (P<0.05). Compared with the same group before treatment, the number of spontaneous bowel movements per week in both groups increased after treatment (P<0.05). With the progression of treatment, the number of spontaneous bowel movements per week increased in both groups, and the number in the combined group was more than that in the Tuina group, showing statistical significance (P<0.01). Conclusion: Thumbtack needles combined with pediatric Tuina is more effective than pediatric Tuina alone in the treatment of constipation in children caused by liver depression and Qi stagnation.

Research on knowledge reasoning of TCM based on knowledge graphs / 数字中医药（英文）

@#With the widespread use of Internet, the amount of data in the field of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is growing exponentially. Consequently, there is much attention on the collection of useful knowledge as well as its effective organization and expression. Knowledge graphs have thus emerged, and knowledge reasoning based on this tool has become one of the hot spots of research. This paper first presents a brief introduction to the development of knowledge graphs and knowledge reasoning, and explores the significance of knowledge reasoning. Secondly, the mainstream knowledge reasoning methods, including knowledge reasoning based on traditional rules, knowledge reasoning based on distributed feature representation, and knowledge reasoning based on neural networks are introduced. Then, using stroke as an example, the knowledge reasoning methods are expounded, the principles and characteristics of commonly used knowledge reasoning methods are summarized, and the research and applications of knowledge reasoning techniques in TCM in recent years are sorted out. Finally, we summarize the problems faced in the development of knowledge reasoning in TCM, and put forward the importance of constructing a knowledge reasoning model suitable for the field of TCM.

Caracterización de un corpus extraído de historias clínicas electrónicas de maternas a través de técnicas de procesamiento de lenguaje natural / Characterization of a corpus extracted from maternal electronic health records through natural language processing techniques

Este artículo tuvo como propósito caracterizar el texto libre disponible en una historia clínica electrónica de una institución orientada a la atención de pacientes en embarazo. La historia clínica electrónica, más que ser un repositorio de datos, se ha convertido en un sistema de soporte a la toma de decisiones clínicas. Sin embargo, debido al alto volumen de información y a que parte de la información clave de las historias clínicas electrónicas está en forma de texto libre, utilizar todo el potencial que ofrece la información de la historia clínica electrónica para mejorar la toma de decisiones clínicas requiere el apoyo de métodos de minería de texto y procesamiento de lenguaje natural. Particularmente, en el área de Ginecología y Obstetricia, la implementación de métodos del procesamiento de lenguaje natural podría ayudar a agilizar la identificación de factores asociados al riesgo materno. A pesar de esto, en la literatura no se registran trabajos que integren técnicas de procesamiento de lenguaje natural en las historias clínicas electrónicas asociadas al seguimiento materno en idioma español. En este trabajo se obtuvieron 659 789 tokens mediante los métodos de minería de texto, un diccionario con palabras únicas dado por 7 334 tokens y se estudiaron los n-grams más frecuentes. Se generó una caracterización con una arquitectura de red neuronal CBOW (continuos bag of words) para la incrustación de palabras. Utilizando algoritmos de clustering se obtuvo evidencia que indica que palabras cercanas en el espacio de incrustación de 300 dimensiones pueden llegar a representar asociaciones referentes a tipos de pacientes, o agrupar palabras similares, incluyendo palabras escritas con errores ortográficos. El corpus generado y los resultados encontrados sientan las bases para trabajos futuros en la detección de entidades (síntomas, signos, diagnósticos, tratamientos), la corrección de errores ortográficos y las relaciones semánticas entre palabras para generar resúmenes de historias clínicas o asistir el seguimiento de las maternas mediante la revisión automatizada de la historia clínica electrónica(AU)

The purpose of this article was to characterize the free text available in an electronic health record of an institution, directed at the care of patients in pregnancy. More than being a data repository, the electronic health record (HCE) has become a clinical decision support system (CDSS). However, due to the high volume of information, as some of the key information in EHR is in free text form, using the full potential that EHR information offers to improve clinical decision-making requires the support of methods of text mining and natural language processing (PLN). Particularly in the area of gynecology and obstetrics, the implementation of PLN methods could help speed up the identification of factors associated with maternal risk. Despite this, in the literature there are no papers that integrate PLN techniques in EHR associated with maternal follow-up in Spanish. Taking into account this knowledge gap, in this work a corpus was generated and characterized from the EHRs of a gynecology and obstetrics service characterized by treating high-risk maternal patients. PLN and text mining methods were implemented on the data, obtaining 659 789 tokens and a dictionary with unique words given by 7 334 tokens. The characterization of the data was developed from the identification of the most frequent words and n-grams and a vector representation of embedding words in a 300-dimensional space was performed using a CBOW (Continuous Bag of Words) neural network architecture. The embedding of words allowed to verify by means of Clustering algorithms, that the words associated to the same group can come to represent associations referring to types of patients, or group similar words, including words written with spelling errors. The corpus generated and the results found lay the foundations for future work in the detection of entities (symptoms, signs, diagnoses, treatments), correction of spelling errors and semantic relationships between words to generate summaries of medical records or assist the follow-up of mothers through the automated review of the electronic health record(AU)

Acupoint catgut embedding inhibiting neuroinflammation in vascular dementia rats / 解剖学报

Objective To observe the effect of acupoint catgut embedding on the expression of inflammatory factor mRNA in cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)/prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) signal pathway of vascular dementia (VD) rats, and to explore the protective mechanism of acupoint catgut embedding on the brain inflammatory response of VD rats. Methods VD model was established by the modified Pulsinelli ' s four vessel blocking method. Totally 148 male rats were randomly divided into VD model group, non acupoint catgut embedding group and acupoint catgut embedding group. On the 7th day after operation, catgut embedding at acupoints and catgut embedding at non acupoints were performed in the two treatment groups respectively, and materials were taken out 15 days later. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of COX-2 and PGE2, and real-time PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), intercellular cell adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), interieukin(IL)-6, macrophage inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2), IL-lβ, and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 ( MCP-1 ) in rat hippocampus. Results Compared with the sham group, the expressions of COX-2, PGE2, TNF-α, ICAM-1, IL-6, MIP-2, IL-lβ and MCP-1 in hippocampus of the other three groups were significantly higher (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the expressions of COX-2, PGE2 protein and TNF-α, ICAM-1, IL-6, MIP-2, IL-lβ, MCP-1 mRNA in the hippocampus of the acupoint catgut embedding group and the non acupoint catgut embedding group decreased significantly (P<0.01). Conclusion Acupoint catgut embedding can protect the brain from inflammatory injury by down-regulating the expression of related inflammatory factors in COX-2/PGE2 signaling pathway and reducing the inflammatory response induced by VD rats.

Acupoint thread-embedding as adjuvant therapy for bronchial asthma in children and its effect on pulmonary function, serum IgA and IgE levels / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the efficacy of acupoint thread-embedding combined with fluticasone propionate aerosol for chronic persistent bronchial asthma of lung-spleen @*METHODS@#A total of 120 children with chronic persistent bronchial asthma were randomly divided into an observation group (60 cases, 9 cases dropped off) and a control group (60 cases, 7 cases dropped off). The control group was treated with fluticasone propionate aerosol (125 μg per inhalation), twice a day; based on the control group treatment, the observation group was treated with acupoint thread-embedding at Dingchuan (EX-B 1), Feishu (BL 13), Zusanli (ST 36) and Danzhong (CV 17), once half a month. Both groups were treated for 3 months. The pulmonary function, serum IgA, IgE levels and TCM symptom score were compared between the two groups before and after treatment, and the clinical efficacy was evaluated.@*RESULTS@#After treatment, the large airway function (peak expiratory flow [PEF], forced expiratory volume at the first second [FEV1]) and small airway function (maximal expiratory flow at 25% of the forced capacity [MEF25%], maximal expiratory flow at 50% of the forced capacity [MEF50%], maximal expiratory flow at 75% of the forced capacity [MEF75%] and midexpiratory flow 25%-75% [MEF25%-75%]) were higher than those before treatment (@*CONCLUSION@#Acupoint thread-embedding combined with fluticasone propionate aerosol could improve the pulmonary function, TCM symptoms and serum IgA and IgE levels in children with chronic persistent bronchial asthma of lung-spleen

Clinical efficacy observation of acupoint thread-embedding in treating obese patients with food addiction / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

Objective: To observe the effects of acupoint thread-embedding therapy and low-carbohydrate diet therapy on obese patients with food addiction. Methods: Sixty-five eligible patients were randomized into a thread-embedding group of 33 cases and a diet group of 32 cases to respectively receive 12-week treatment. Before treatment, after treatment and at 6-month follow-up, the two groups were observed and compared in terms of body mass (BM), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body mass index (BMI), body fat rate (BFR), basal metabolic rate (BMR) and Yale food addiction scale version 2.0 (YFAS 2.0). Results: At the end of treatment, there were no significant differences in the general efficacy, and the improvements in BM, BMI, WC, HC, WHR and BFR between the thread-embedding group and diet group (all P>0.05). At follow-up, the thread-embedding group showed more significant improvements in all the aforementioned indicators compared with the diet group except HC (all P<0.05). At the end of treatment and follow-up, BMR and YFSA 2.0 had more significant improvements in the thread-embedding group than in the diet group (all P<0.05). Conclusion: Acupoint thread-embedding therapy can produce significant efficacy in treating obese patients with food addiction; it can improve the food addiction state and work better in maintaining the efficacy compared with low-carbohydrate diet therapy.

Safety of Thread Embedding Acupuncture Therapy: A Systematic Review / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the safety of thread embedding acupuncture therapy (TEAT) and discuss the prevention and treatment of some adverse events (AEs).@*METHODS@#Review of databases, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), CBMdisc, Wanfang, VIP databases and English literature published in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science, were searched from their inception to January 2020, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and case reports in which AEs with TEAT were included. Cochrane Collaboration's tool and RevMan V.5.3.3 software were used to evaluate the quality of the studies.@*RESULTS@#A total of 61 studies (45 RCTs and 16 case reports) with 620 cases of AEs were included in this review. These studies were published in two countries: China and South Korea. Twenty eight kinds of AEs were summarized. The most common AEs were induration, bleeding and ecchymosis, redness and swelling, fever, and pain. They were accounted for 75.35% (425/564) in the review, and most of them were mild. The rarest AEs were epilepsy, irregular menstruation, skin ulcer, thread malabsorption, and fat liquefaction, with 1 case each. But not all of them had clear causal relationship with TEAT. Most of the AEs were local reactions [with incidence of 9.83% (480/4,882)] and systemic reactions accounted for only 1.27% (62/4,882). Although the included studies showed that AEs were very commonly encountered (11.09%), only 5 cases of severe AEs reported from 2013 to 2017 (0.1%) by using catgut thread, which are rarely seen nowdays with the wide use of new absorbable surgical suture. All of the severe AEs were recovered after symptomatic treatment with no sequelae.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The evidence showed that TEAT is a relatively safe and convenient therapy especially since application of new absorbable surgical suture. Improving practitioner skills, regulating operations, and paying attention to the patients' conditions may reduce the incidence of AEs and improve safety of TEAT.

Preliminary research of / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the impacts on weight reduction effect treated with acupoint thread embedding therapy at different tissue levels under ultrasonic guidance.@*METHODS@#A total of 70 patients with overweight or obesity were randomized into a shallow-tissue thread embedding group (35 cases, 5 cases dropped off) and a deep-tissue thread embedding group (35 cases, 4 cases dropped off). Under ultrasonic guidance, the thread was embedded in the shallow tissue level and the deep tissue level respectively. The acupoints were Zhongwan (CV 12), Xiawan (CV 10), Shuifen (CV 9), Zhongji (CV 3), etc. The thread embedding therapy was exerted once every 2 weeks, totally for 3 times. Before and 2 weeks after treatment, body mass, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and hip circumference were recorded in the patients of the two groups separately. After each treatment, the number and the property of blood vessels under each acupoint were detected by ultrasound. Besides, the needling sensation and the intensity were scored and the adverse events were observed after thread embedding therapy.@*RESULTS@#After treatment, the reduction range of body mass, BMI and waist circumference in the deep-tissue thread embedding group were larger than those in the shallow-tissue thread embedding group successively (@*CONCLUSION@#The deep-tissue thread embedding therapy achieves the stronger