Acupuncture Combined with Auricular Acupoints Patches for Moderate to Severe Nicotine Dependence：a Randomized Controlled Study / 中医杂志

ObjectiveTo compare the efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with auricular acupoints patches and nicotine transdermal patch in treating moderate to severe nicotine dependence. MethodsIn a rando-mized controlled trial， 64 quit smoking voluntary subjects with moderate to severe nicotine dependence were randomly divided at a ratio of 1∶1 into a treatment group and a control group， with 32 cases in each group. The treatment group was given acupuncture combined with auricular acupoints patches， twice weekly， four weeks as a course for two courses. The control group was given nicotine transdermal patch， one patch per day for 24 hours， 8 weeks. The cure rate was assessed after treatment and at follow-up （the 16th week after treatment）.The daily smoking volume， exhaled carbon monoxide （CO） value， Nicotine Dependence Scale （FTND）， Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms Scale （MNWS）， and Pittsburgh Sleepiness Index Inventory （PSQI） were evaluated before and after treatment and at follow-up， and adverse effects were recorded. ResultsIn terms of the cure rate， there were both six cured cases （20%） after treatment and at follow-up in the treatment group， while in the control group， seven （23.3%） and five （16.7%） patients were cured after treatment and at follow-up， respectively， with no statistically significant differences between the two groups both after treatment and at follow-up （P＞0.05）. The daily smoking volume and exhaled CO value significantly decreased after treatment and at follow-up in both groups （P＜0.05）， but were not significantly different between the groups after treatment and at follow-up （P＞0.05）. After treatment and at follow-up， FTND， MNWS， and PSQI scores were significantly reduced in both groups compared with those before treatment （P＜0.05）. There was no statistically significant difference in the FTND scale scores between the two groups after treatment and at follow-up （P＞0.05）， while the MNWS and PSQI scale scores were lower in the treatment group than in the control group （P＜0.05）. ConclusionAcupuncture combined with auricular acupoint patches for moderate to severe nicotine dependence has comparable effect with the first-line drug nicotine patch in terms of increasing the cure rate and decreasing the degree of nicotine dependence， and is superior to nicotine patch in terms of relieving withdrawal symptoms and improving sleep， with stable long-term effect.

Effects of fire needle on quality of life in patients with chemotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect difference between fire needle combined with chemotherapy and fire needle on quality of life in patients with chemotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>With randomized controlled method, a total of 60 patients with chemotherapy of NSCLC were divided into an observation group (fire-needle plus chemotherapy group) and a control group (chemotherapy group), 30 cases in each one. The observation group was treated with fire needle atpoints which consisted of Geshu (BL 17) and Danshu (BL 19), combined with chemotherapy selected from TP (paclitaxel+cisplatin)/GP (gemcitabine+cisplatin)/DP (docetaxel+cisplatin)/NP (vinorelbine+cisplatin) by the oncologist according to patients' condition. The fire needle was given once a day for 7 days, and chemotherapy was given for 21 days. The control group was treated with chemotherapy alone for 21 days. Before and after treatment, response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) was applied for evaluation, and Karnofsky performance status (KPS) and functional assessment of cancer therapy-lung (FACT-L) were applied for evaluation of quality of life in patients with chemotherapy of NSCLC.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The effective rate was 20.0% (6/30) and the stability rate was 73.3% (22/30) in the observation group, which were insignificantly higher than 16.7% (5/30) and 63.3% (19/30) in the control group, respectively (both>0.05). The KPS after treatment was lower than that before treatment in the control group (<0.05); the KPS after treatment was similar to that before treatment in the observation group (>0.05); the KPS in the observation group after treatment was higher than that in the control group (<0.05). The total score and each item score of FACT-L after treatment were higher than those before treatment in the observation group (all<0.05); the physical score and emotional score of FACT-L after treatment were higher than those before treatment in the control group (both<0.05); the total score, physical score, functional score and subscale score in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group after treatment (all<0.05), while the social/family score and emotional score in the observation group were insignificantly higher than those in the control group (both>0.05). The differences of KPS total score before and after treatment in the two groups had moderate positive correlation with differences of FACT-L total score (<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Fire needle can improve quality of life in patients of NSCLC chemotherapy.</p>

Quality assessment of studies on interventional recanalization of fallopian tube in China / 中华放射学杂志

Obiective To evaluate the current status of studies on interventional recallalization of fallopian tube.Methods According to the standard of evidence-based medicine,literatures were analyzed by two readers in three time periods:1997 to 2000,2001 to 2004 and 2005 t0 2008.Two separate evaluation results were tested by the statistical method Kappa to test its consistency.Scores of clinical controlled trials (CCT)and randomized controlled trials(RCT)were calculated according to Jadad score scale.The accurate criteria of case selection,case exclusion,and effect determination;the method of randomization;the number of samples:the comparability of baseline;the blinded procedure;the therapeutic method;the method of statistical analysis:the follow-up cases; the drop-out cases and the conclusions derivation of RCT and CCT into descriptive analysis were evaluated Results One hundred and fifty seven therapeutic articles were searched and 30 RCT and CCT articles(25 RCT and 5 CCT)were analyzed.The Kappa value was 0.85 and P＜0.05 indicating that the evaluation was in good consistency.2,15 and 8 RCT received 0 point,1 point and 2 points respectively in Jadad score scale.RCT and CCT contained 9 articles(30.0%)fulfilled the accurate criteria of case selection and exclusion:12 articles(40.0%)met the accurate criteria of effect determination:4 articles(13.3%)utilized the definite method of randomization;27 articles (90.0%)had the number of sample beyond 60;14 articles(46.7%)met the baseline comparability;only 1 article(3.3%)used the single-blinded method,17 articles(56.7%)utilized the method of statistical analysis;13(43.3%)mentioned follow-up in articles;4(13.3%)mentioned drop-out cases in the articles and 14(46.7%)articles had the conclusions derived by considering the statistical significance and clinical significance.Conclusion The quality of studies on interventional recanalization of fallopian tube is poor and could not meet the standard of evidence-based medicine.

Experimental study of berberine anti macrophages apoptosis induced by Tg and Fuc / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective To investigate the effect of berberine anti macrophages apoptosis, initially to determine the concentration of anti-apoptosis and to explore its mechanisms of treatment in atherosclerosis (AS). Methods Apoptosis of RAW264.7 macrophages is induced by 0.5 μmol/L Tg and 50 μg/ml Fuc. The cell survival rate and apoptosis rate was detected by MIT and flow cytometry, respectively. Results There was statistical significance between the berberine group of 800 μg/ml and normal group in the cell sur-vival rate(P<0.01). With the decline in concentration of berberine, the cell apoptosis rate showed a down-ward trend, berberine (0.02-0.63 μg/ml) effectively inhibited the cell apoptosis induced by Tg and Fuc. Conclusion Berberine group has little impact on the cell proliferation. Berberine can effectively inhibit the cell apoptosis induced by Tg and Fuc.