Global trend of nondrug and nonsedativehypnotic treatment forinsomnia: a bibliometric study.

OBJECTIVE: To present a bibliometric analysis of global scientific publications on the nondrug and nonsedative hypnotic treatment of insomnia with regard to influential institutions, publications, countries, research hotspots, trends, and frontiers. METHODS: A literature review was conducted by searching the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases to identify all publications related to the nondrug and nonsedative hypnotic treatment of insomnia from 2000 to 2021. Eligible publications were reviewed, including annual publication increments, citation analyses, international collaborations, and keyword analyses. The data were analysed using CiteSpace (vers5.8.R3, 6.1.R2 and 6.1.6, College of Computing and Informatics, Philadelphia, PA, USA) and virtualized by knowledge maps. RESULTS：In total, 9832 publications were included in this analysis. The results from the WoSCC showed that the United States of America (Count = 2268, 40.33%), Stanford University (Count = 141, 2.51%), and the United States Department of Health and Human Services were the leading country, institute, and funding agency regarding the number of publications, respectively. 'Cognitive-behavioural therapy" was the most popular research topic generated from the cocited reference. The most frequently co-occurring keywords were insomnia, cognitive behavioural therapy, disorder, depression, quality of life, Meta-analysis, older adult, sleep, prevalence and efficacy, while keywords including clinical practice guideline, guideline, and Tai Chi remained popular after 2021. Circadian rhythm was the strongest research frontier for 2000-2021. In China, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Count = 69, 4.79%) was the most productive institute in this field. The most frequently co-occurring keywords from Chinese literature were sleep disorder, sleep quality, acupuncture and moxibustion, Parkinson's disease, transcranial magnetic stimulation, health education, music therapy, chronic insomnia, quality of life, and nonmotor symptoms. Traditional Chinese medicine was the strongest research frontier for 2019-2021. CONCLUSION: This bibliometric study provides an exhaustive mapping encompassing pertinent institute, publications, influential articles, researchers and topics of the global trend of nondrug and nonsedative hypnotic treatment for insomnia. The results show that the research trend has shifted from primary studies on the efficacy and safety of nondrug and nonsedative hypnotic treatment for insomnia to comorbidity studies. Clinical practice guidelines will potentially become the research frontier for this field post-2021. The findings are important for researchers, clinicians, journal editors, and policy-makers working in the field of nondrug and nonsedative hypnotic treatment for insomnia to understand the strengths and potentials in the current studies and guide future clinical practice, research, and science policy.

Effect of catgut embedding at acupoints versus non-acupoints in abdominal obesity: a randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the difference of catgut embedding effect between acupoints and non-acupoints in patients with abdominal obesity (AO). METHODS: In this multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial, all subjects were randomly assigned into the acupoint catgut embedding (ACE) group and control group (catgut embedding at non-acupoints). With a 12-week actual intervention period and a 4-week period of follow-up. Waist circumference (WC), body weight, body mass index (BMI), hip circumference (HC) and appetite were applied and assessed at baseline and after 6, 12 and 16 weeks. RESULTS: After the total intervention phase (12 weeks), the WC, body weight, BMI, HC and visual analogue scale scores of appetite, decreased significantly in the two groups as compared to the baseline (0.001). Meanwhile, after the 4-week follow-up, the indicators still decreased significantly in the ACE group (0.001). At 12 and 16 weeks, catgut embedding at acupoints showed significantly advantages to non-acupoints in WC and appetite (0.05). No serious adverse events were observed in ACE group and control group. CONCLUSIONS: Catgut embedding at acupoints and non-acupoints are all effective and safe for AO. ACE can effectively treat AO as expected and deliver lasting results.

Mechanisms of immune regulation for acupuncture on chronic respiratory diseases.

Chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are among the most common noncommunicable diseases globally, with high morbidity and mortality rates. Acupuncture, a treatment method derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine, has been shown to be effective at treating CRDs, with little risk of adverse effects. Scientific research on the mechanisms underlying the effects of acupuncture, especially, its immune regulatory function, has rapidly advanced in recent years. Herein, the diverse immune regulatory mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of acupuncture are summarized from the perspectives of innate immunity, adaptive immunity, and neuroimmunity. A better understanding of these mechanisms will ultimately provide a scientific basis for the clinical use of acupuncture for the treatment of CRDs.

Confounding factors in research for characteristics of acupoint electrical impedance / 中国针灸

The literature regarding the electrical characteristics of acupoints was reviewed, and the confounding factors (indoor temperature and humidity, criteria of acupoint selection, use of electrical resistance instruments) were summarized and analyzed. It was proposed that during the measurement, the indoor temperature should be constant and in the state of heat adaptation as much as possible; the effects of humidity on resistance value should be reduced to stabilize the heat loss of skin through evaporation; the acupoint selection and manipulation should be in accordance with agreed standard; attention should be paid to the operation and instruction of the instrument, in combination with experiment purpose. As a result, the repeatability and reliability of research results of electrical characteristics of acupoints could be improved.

Acupoint electrosensitivity and regularity based on bibliometric / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the acupoint electrosensitivity and regularity for assisting the clinical diagnosis and treatment so as to improve the clinical therapeutic effects.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>By means of the computer retrieval (CBMdisc, CNKI, VIP, WanFang, PubMed and EMBASE) and manual retrieval, the relevant literature on acupoint electrosensitivity was reviewed and the modern literature database of acupoint electrosensitivity was established. Using bibliometric, the relations were analyzed among the detected indexes, acupoints, meridians and disorders in the conditions of acupoint electrosensitivity, and the potential regularity was explored.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The general detection indexes of acupoint electrosensitivity were resistance, inertia area, volt-ampere area, electric conduction quantity, electric potential, electric current and capacitance. The electrosensitive points included meridian points, auricular points and extraordinary points. Among those points, the electrosensitivity easily occurred at the special points.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The acupoint electrosensitivity is mainly reflected on the electrical impedance and volt-ampere characteristics. The relative specificity exists between acupoint electrosensitivity and disorders. In clinical practice, detecting acupoint electrosensitivity may assist the diagnosis and instruct acupoint selection to improve the clinical therapeutic effects.</p>

Exploration of phenomena and regularity of heat-sensitive acupoints based on bibliometrics / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the phenomena and regularity of heat-sensitive acupoints for clinic and further study.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Modern literature before May 11st, 2017 on heat-sensitive phenomena was retrieved from CNKI, VIP, database, and SinoMED. The research trend of heat-sensitive acupoints and interventions, heat-sensitive region, detection indexes, and diseases were analyzed by bibliometrics.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among 201 included papers, 35 papers on healthy person was the highest, which were mainly related to Mingmen (GV 4) with 8 papers. As to the detection indexes, 125 papers on the individual, saturated and sensation vanishing moxibustion quantity accounted for the largest part, which were most relevant to the points in the bladder meridian of foot- (66 papers) and soft tissue injury (29 papers), and the second part was infrared radiation feature (61 papers), which were most relevant to healthy person (23 papers).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Heat-sensitive phenomena own regularity, and the detection indexes are specific to heat-sensitive points in healthy person or patients with different diseases.</p>

Action mechanism of acupuncture along meridians on improving energy metabolism in cardiomyocytes / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the protective effect of acupuncture along meridians on rats with myocardial ischemia and its effect and action mechanism on cardiomyocyte energy metabolism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 104 healthy 12-week-old SD rats were fed adaptively for 1 week and included into study with no disease symptoms observed. Of them, 24 SD rats were selected regardless of gender, and were randomly divided into a blank group and a sham operation group, 12 rats in each one. The remaining 80 SD rats were treated with ligation of left anterior descending coronary artery to establish the model of myocardial ischemia. The successful rate of model establishment was 60%, and 48 rats survived. They were randomly divided into a model group, an acupuncture along meridian group, an acupuncture along another-meridian group and a non-acupoint group, 12 rats in each one. The blank group was not treated with operation, but only bundle fixation. The sham operation group was treated with sham operation (coronary artery was not ligatured). The model group bundle fixation. The acupuncture along meridian group were treated with electroacupuncture (EA) at "Neiguan" (PC 6), the acupuncture along another-meridian group were treated with EA at "Hegu" (LI 4), and the non-acupoints group were treated at a non-acupoint which located in the hollow of the 3rd and 4th metatarsal bones of the dorsal foot of fore rate limb. Each bundle fixation or EA was given for 30 min, once a day for consecutive 5 days. The electrocardiogram was tested in all groups; the apoptosis rate of cardiomyocytes was detected by Tunel; the contents of ATP, ADP and AMP in myocardium were detected by high performance liquid chromatography.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The ST segment voltage after model establishment was higher than that before modeling (all<0.05). Compared with the model group after intervention, the ST segment was elevated in the acupuncture along meridian group, acupuncture along another-meridian group and non-acupoint group (<0.01,<0.05), but the apoptosis rate of cardiomyocytes was significantly reduced (all<0.01). Compared with the acupuncture along another-meridian group and non-acupoint group, the apoptosis rate of cardiomyocytes in the acupuncture along meridian group was significantly decreased (both<0.01). Compared with the model group after intervention, the content of ATP was increased in acupuncture along meridian group (<0.05); compared with the non-acupoint group, the content of ATP was increased in the acupuncture along meridian group (<0.05); compared with the model group, the contents of ADP and AMP were reduced in the acupuncture along meridian group, acupuncture along another-meridian group and non-acupoint group (all<0.05); the energy charge EC in the acupuncture along meridian group was higher than that in the model group (<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Acupuncture along meridians can effectively relieve the damage of cardiac muscle tissue; the possible mechanism is to increase ATP and reduce ADP, AMP of cardiomyocytes, so EC level is elevated and myocardial cell apoptosis is inhibited, leading to protective effect on cardiac muscle tissue and cells.</p>

Research Review of the Action Mechanism of Acupuncture Based on Cell Apoptosis / 上海针灸杂志

Apoptosis refers to the programmed death process of cells modulated by genes. It plays an important role in promoting the evolution of organisms, regulating the development of multiple systems, and maintaining the stability of internal environment. The major apoptosis pathways include mitochondrial pathways, death receptor pathways, and endoplasmic reticulum pathways. With the rapid development of the scientific research on acupuncture, it’s revealed that cell apoptosis should be closely related to the action of acupuncture. So far, the major apoptosis factors involved in relevant researches are P53, Bcl-2 family, Cyt-C, Caspase, Fas/Fasl, TNFR1/TNF-?, and FADD-Caspase8, and PERK, etc. Via influencing these apoptosis factors or genes, acupuncture can produce various effects in improving tissue ischemia, protecting neural cells, reducing inflammation, and correcting endocrine disorders. This article summarized and reviewed the apoptosis pathways and key factors related to the action of acupuncture, to provide some beneficial references for future studies.

Feedback and evaluation on curriculum for major of acupuncture-moxibustion and / 中国针灸

In order to explore the existing problems of teaching, propose suggestions to optimize the teaching and improve the quality of acupuncture-moxibustion teaching, a questionnaire survey was performed to Grade 2008 undergraduates with the major of acupuncture-moxibustion andin our university, and the teaching opinions feedback on main curriculums of acupuncture, including,,,and, were received. It was found out the ratio of curriculum to practice was in need of adjustment, and the link of student ability training was in need of improvement. It was proposed the teaching quality supervision system of acupuncture compulsory courses should be established; the student ability training should be improved; the unchanged pattern of final examination should be changed; the research group of teaching reform should be established. It was hoped this could provide reference for education and teaching reform of acupuncture-moxibustion and tuina in China.

Acupuncture for myocardial ischemia based on purinergic signaling:current status and perspectives / 中国针灸

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is believed to be one of the major diseases with myocardial ischemia (MI) as basic pathological change. The clinical trials and experimental researches in the last 15 years were analyzed in this paper, and it was found that purinergic signaling could transduce the selective expression of molecular adenosine receptors A, A, A, Ain cardiovascular system, which had the potential to be a novel target for treating cardiovascular disease. Using purinergic receptors to explore the actions of acupuncture for myocardial ischemia provides new perspectives to elucidate the mechanism of acupuncture for MI.

Status of diagnosis and treatment devices of acupuncture based on SooPAT and bibliometrics in China / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To perform a bibliometrics analysis on patent literature regarding diagnosis and treatment devices of acupuncture in China, aiming to provide references for the development of diagnosis and treatment devices of acupuncture.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Based on SooPAT, a patent database, the patent literature regarding diagnosis and treatment devices of acupuncture in China was collected. With bibliometrics methods, the annual distribution of type, quantity, classification and content of diagnosis and treatment devices of acupuncture were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The number of acupuncture diagnosis and treatment devices reached its peak in 2012 and 2013 in China. The A61N in patent and utility model patent were the most, which were mainly related to electrotherapy, magnetic therapy, radioactive therapy and ultrasound therapy, etc. The main content was acupuncture treatment devices and meridian treatment devices. The 24-01 in design patent was the most, involving fixation devices used by doctors, hospitals and laboratories, etc.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Currently the majority of diagnosis and treatment devices of acupuncture is therapeutic apparatus, while the acupuncture diagnosis devices are needed.</p>

Strategy on the recruitment of free community medical-consultation in acupuncture clinical trials / 中国针灸

The difficulty in the participant recruitment is the common question in acupuncture clinical trial study. The existing recruitment of clinical trial is most applicable for the clinical trial of medicines. Because the intervention of acupuncture clinical trial is different from that of medicines, characterized as the specialties in "theory, principle, acupoints, technique", it is very necessary to develop the strategy on the participant recruitment in acupuncture clinical trial. The free community medical consultation is one of the important means of recruitment. In the paper, by taking the participant recruitment of acupuncture clinical trial on chronic stable angina pectoris as the example, the discussion is given on the strategy on the recruitment of free community medical consultation in the aspects of feasible investigation of recruitment approach, recruitment plan, participant screening, etc. The revisiting after the free community medical consultation is the important approach to the improvement of successful recruitment. This strategy on the recruitment of free community medical consultation is highly practical and improves the successful rate and compliance of the participant recruitment. Hence, this strategy deserves to be promoted.

Exploration of action and significance of-source point for clinical diagnosis based on literature metrology / 中国针灸

Modern literature on the physical property of the-source point were collected from Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI) and China Biology Medicine(CBM) databases. The physical property,relevant diseases and-source acupoints were analyzed through statistical analysis of literature metrology. It is considered that articles on the electrical resistance of acupoint account for the largest part,which are mainly related to hyperthyreosis and the change of menstrual cycle. The second part is radiation spectrum,which are mostly relevant to the coronary heart disease and then the physiological change of healthy people. As to the diseases,articles of cardiovascular diseases are taken the most proportion,which were treated with the 12-source points,Shenmen(HT 7) and Daling(PC 7). Also,the results present the physical property of-source acupoints in themeridians is more sensitive to diseases and the physical property is specific to diseases. Besides,the-source acupoint can show the pathological changes of its own meridian.

Characteristics of acupoints selection of moxibustion for primary dysmenorrhea based on data mining technology / 中国针灸

By using data mining technology, the characteristics of acupoints selection of modern moxibustion for primary dysmenorrhea (PD) were analyzed. The modern literature regarding moxibustion for PDl was coll6cted~ from a comprehensive retrieval in Chinese Biomedical Medicine (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP and PubMed. The prescription database of moxihustion was established, and the association rule4 method of data mining technology was adopted to analyze characteristics and rules of acupoints selection of modern moxibustion for PD. As a result, a total of 35 acupoints were involved with a total frequency of 399. The acupoints, with higher selected frequency included Guanyuan (CV 4, 90 times), Sanyinjiao (SP 6, 47 times), Shenque (CV 8, 43 times), Zhongji (CV 3, 3 times) and Qihai (CV 6, 28 tirmes); the ratio of yin-meridian acupoints to1 yang-meridian acupoints was approximately 341; the utilization of the specific acupoints accountedfor68. 6% (24/35); the crossing acupoints were used mostly (203 "times), featured with high acupoints selected, especially Guanyuan (CV 4), Sanyinjiao CSP 6) and Zhongji (CV 3); the front-mu points (130 times), he-sa points (19 times) and lower he-sea points (18 times) were frequently used. The results reveal thiat acupoints selection of moxibustion of PD focuses on the local acupoints and comnbination with the distal acupoints. The yin-meridian acupoints are preferred and the specific acupoints are the main part of the prescription. This conclusion can also be used to optimize the choosing of acupoints in clinic.

Research progress of mechanism of functional dyspepsia treated with acupuncture / 中国针灸

Literature about functional dyspepsia treated with acupuncture in recent 5 years is retrieved in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database and PubMed. The research achievements are arranged and summed up to explore the mechanism of acupuncture for functional dyspepsia. It is found that acupuncture can regulate the secretion of braingut petide, and cause the coordination response of limbic system-brain. Also, it adjusts serum molecule metabolin and the gene expression of the transduction pathway of adjustment signal for rats. It is believed that functional dyspepsia treated with acupuncture is through multiple ways, and adjusting the function of braingut axis is one of the important mechanisms.

Preliminary study on lacquer figure with meridian-points marked of the western Han dynasty unearthed in Laoguanshan, Chengdu / 中国针灸

The lacquer figure with meridian-points marked of the western Han dynasty, unearthed in Tianhui town, Jinniu district, Chengdu in 2012, has been the earliest and the most complete human figure of meridian-acupoints in China so far. There were over ten courses of meridians, and over 100 visible acupoints as well as multiple intaglio inscriptions. All of them are valuable in academic study. The writers introduced the lacquer figure un- earthed in Laoguanshan in terms of the briefs and characteristics of meridian and acupoint distributions, which give the references to the future studies.

Theory analysis and clinical application of spirit-regulating and pain-relieving acupuncture method / 中国针灸

The theoretical foundation and scientific connotation of spirit-regulating and pain-relieving acupuncture method as well as its clinical application for pain are discussed. During spirit regulation, attention should be paid on regulating heart and brain, while acupoints should be selected mainly from the Heart Meridian, Pericardium Meridian and Governor Vessel. It has significant efficacy for refractory pain in clinical treatment. Spirit-regulating and pain-relieving acupuncture method is development of acupuncture treating spirit, and it is an important method for pain in clinic. Improvement on sensitization of pain center and brain function is considered as one of the mechanisms in spirit-regulating and pain-relieving acupuncture method.

Study on Regulation of Gene Expression Profiles of Aura-absence Migraine Patients by Meridian Differentiation Acupoint Selection / 广州中医药大学学报

Ob jective To research the gene expression profile of aura-absence migraine patients before and after acupuncture of Shaoyang meridian acupoints or non-acupoints. Methods Twenty aura-absence migraine patients were randomly divided into meridian acupoint group and non-acupoint group, 10 cases in each group. Gene chip technology was used to investigate the differences of two sets of gene expression profiles, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was applied for the analysis of partial genes to verify the accuracy of gene chip detection results. Results Seventy-two differentially expressed genes were obtained in meridian acupoint group, and 110 differentially expressed genes were obtained in non-acupoint group. The function genes of meridian acupoint group involved brain endorphin enzyme, adenosine triphosphate ( ATP) synthase, etc., which were closely related with the curing of aura-absence migraine. Non-acupoint group had extensive and scattered function genes involving apoptosis, DNA repair, etc., which had less correlation with the curing of aura-absence migraine. ATPAF2, PTGS2, TOR3A genes of meridian acupoint group and ACP2, AURKA, ARHGEF11, CASP8 gene of non-acupoint group presented by RT-PCR analysis had verified the reliability of microarray data. Conclusion The therapeutic effect of meridian acupoints acupuncture for aura-absence migraine has achieved through the multi-gene action at the molecular level, but the corresponding target genes for the placebo effect of non-acupoint acupuncture have not been found , which demonstrates the existence of meridian effect.

Comments on "Acupuncture for chronic knee pain: a randomized clinical trial" from Journal of the American Medical Association / 中国针灸

The development of TCM acupuncture represents a internationalized and modern trend. A recent study with the title of "Acupuncture for chronic knee pain: a randomized clinical trial" published in Journal of the American Medical Association on October 1st, 2014, which raised doubts on acupuncture efficacy as well as traditional manipulation and acupoint theory, makes some negative impact and challenges on the development of acupuncture. From the view of future development of acupuncture, the potential influence of this research on acupuncture development is proposed, and by combining acupuncture theory, some discussions and doubts on the research design and outcome explanations are made. Additionally, enlightenments of this research on further clinical research are summarized.

Acupuncture status analysis in PROSPERO systematic review registry platform / 中国针灸

By searching the registry information of systematic review regarding acupuncture included before March 31, 2014 in PROSPERO systematic review registry platform, information in the project plan such as care gories of diseases, interventions, research team and the completion status was analyzed to make a comprehensive understanding on registry status of acupuncture systematic review in this platform. As a result, a total of 52 project plans was finally included. The health problem concerned was mainly painrelated diseases, and the interventions were mostly simple acupuncture or combination of acupuncture and moxibustion. The registered plan participated with Chinese team appeared comparatively late, which was featured with fewer independent projects and concentrated research organization, so its scientific research advantage in acupuncture did not present. In conclusion, it is believed that the consciousness on systematic review registry in domestic researchers needs to be improved, and researchers might take good advantages of the PROSPERO platform in the future.