Effect of the contralateral needling therapy on post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome / 针刺研究

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect contralateral needling of in improving pain, edema and limb dysfunction in stroke patients with shoulder-hand syndrome. METHODS: A total of 62 patients with post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome were divided into a control group and an observation group, 31 cases in each one. The routine treatment with internal medicine and rehabilitation manipulation was adopted in the two groups. Additionally, the routine acupuncture treatment was used in the control group and the contralateral needling techniques was applied in the observation group. The needles were retained for 30 min. The treatment was given once a day for 5 days a week and consecutively for 4 weeks. Before and after treatment, the score of the modified Fugl-Meyer assessment scale (FMA scale), the score of the visual analogue scale (VAS), the score of the hand edema rating and the score of the modified Barthel index (ADL score) were evaluated. RESULTS: The total effective rate was 90.32% (28/31) in the observation group and was 67.74% (21/31) in the control group. The effective rate in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). VAS score, the score of the hand edema rating, FMA score and ADL score were obviously improved as compared with those before treatment in each group and the scores in the observation group were better than those of the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The contralateral needling therapy of acupuncture is effective for relieving pain and edema as well as improving the motor function of the affected limb in the patients with post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome.

Clinical efficacy observation on abdominal acupuncture for cyclomastopathy / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To verify clinical efficacy of abdominal acupuncture for cyclomastopathy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and twenty-one cases of cyclomastopathy were randomly divided into an abdominal acupuncture group (64 cases) and a routine treatment group (57 cases). In the abdominal acupuncture, basic treatment (including psychological counseling and Chinese patent medicine Rupixiao) and abdominal acupuncture at Zhongwan (CV 12), Xiawan (CV 10), Qihai (CV 6), Guanyuan (CV 4) and Huaroumen (ST 24) were applied at the same time. In the routine treatment group, only basic treatment was applied. Before and after the treatment, visual analogue scale (VAS) of main symptoms and WHO Quality of Life-100BREF score were observed, also clinical efficacy of both groups was compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The scores of VAS and WHO Quality of Life-100BREF in both groups had statistical significances before and after the treatment (both P < 0.05), indicating two treatments could both effectively relieve pain and improve life quality. The total effective rate was 84.4% (54/64) in the abdominal acupuncture group, which was superior to 68.4% (39/57) in the routine treatment group (P < 0.01). The abdominal acupuncture had best effect for moderate pain (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The abdominal acupuncture could improve clinical symptoms and life quality of patients with cyclomastopathy.</p>

Inhibition of bladder cancer cell growth and angiogenesis by co-blockage of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor KDR / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of co-blockage of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor (KDR) on growth of bladder carcinoma T24 cells and nude mice xenograft.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>T24 cell line co-transfected with VEGF siRNA and sKDR expression plasmids was developed and its proliferation was assayed by MTT and apoptosis by FCM. The nude mice model bearing bladder carcinoma xenograft was established. The tumor cell VEGF expression, stroma microvessel density (MVD) and tumor cell topoisomerase II alpha (Topo II alpha) expression were detected by immunohistochemistry. Cell apoptosis was estimated by TUNEL assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MTT assay showed that cell proliferation in VEGF siRNA, sKDR and combination groups was 56.3% +/- 8.3%, 42.6% +/- 13.8% and 32.5% +/- 4.3%, respectively, significantly lower than that in the scramble control (97.3% +/- 11.6%, P < 0.0001). FCM showed there were sub-diploid apoptotic peaks before G1 phase in VEGF siRNA, sKDR and combination groups, and apoptosis ratio was 5.1% +/- 0.9%, 4.2% +/- 0.5% and 8.8% +/- 0.7%, respectively, all of which were higher than that in the scramble control (0.9% +/- 0.4%, P < 0.05), and the combination group had even more higher apoptosis than the two singlely treated groups (P < 0.01). In vivo test showed that tumor growth was inhibited in VEGF siRNA, sKDR and combination groups, and from day 16 the tumor volume in combination group was significantly smaller than that in scramble control (P < 0.05), and from day 28 the tumor almost lost the ability to further growth. Immunohistochemistry revealed VEGF expression in combination group was 54.37 +/- 5.28, significantly lower than that in the scramble control (141.66 +/- 8.59, P < 0.0001). MVD number was only 8.22 +/- 3.79, much less compared with that in the scramble control (61.76 +/- 5.28, P < 0.0001) or sKDR group (19.46 +/- 4.16, P = 0.0089). Tumor cell proliferation index in the combination group (1.5% +/- 0.7%) was significantly decreased compared with that in the scramble control (11.8% +/- 5.2%, P < 0.0001), and apoptosis index (67.2% +/- 8.5%) was much higher than that in the scramble control (8.7% +/- 2.7%, P < 0.0001), VEGF siRNA group (54.3% +/- 4.8%, P = 0.0492) or sKDR group (52.3% +/- 6.4%, P = 0.0293).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>VEGF siRNA or sKDR alone can inhibit tumor cell proliferation and induce cell apoptosis, but co-blockage of VEGF and KDR by their combination shows more significant therapeutic efficacy.</p>