Single-Blinded, Randomized Preliminary Study Evaluating the Effect of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on Postoperative Pain in Patients with Colles' Fracture.

OBJECTIVE: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been widely used for pain relief; however, the effect remains controversial. The authors hypothesized that TENS can relieve acute pain. Therefore, a single-blinded, randomized, controlled preliminary study was designed on postoperative pain in patients with Colles' fracture. METHODS: In total, 36 patients were assigned to a real TENS or sham TENS group (18 patients in each group). TENS (50 Hz, 15 min/day) was applied near the Quchi (LI11) and Waiguan (TE5) surfaces of the operative side continuously for 5 days after surgical treatment. RESULTS: The visual analog scale (VAS) scores did not differ significantly between the real and sham TENS groups before the TENS period, from the first to fifth day after surgical treatment (all p > 0.05), whereas the VAS scores were lower for the real TENS group than for the sham TENS group in the post-TENS period, on the first, third, fourth, and fifth days after surgical treatment (all p ≤ 0.01). CONCLUSION: TENS might be valuable as a treatment of postoperative pain, but clinicians and researchers should know that it is no different than a treatment with placebo. Especially, since this form of treatment and sham treatment has a great chance of working under the mechanism of the placebo effect due to its single-blindedness.

A polyphenol extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. ameliorates acetaminophen-induced hepatic steatosis by attenuating the mitochondrial dysfunction in vivo and in vitro.

Oxidative stress is the major contributor to acetaminophen (AAP)-caused liver damage. It promotes mitochondrial oxidative stress and collapses the mitochondrial membrane potential to cause cell death. We have previously shown that a polyphenol extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (HPE) potentiated the antioxidative effect. We further examined in this study the possible mechanism of HPE against AAP-caused liver damage. BABL/c mice were orally fed with HPE (100, 200 or 300 mg/kg) for two weeks prior to an i.p. injection of 1000 mg/kg of AAP. The mice were decapitated 6 h after the AAP injection to collect the blood and liver for further determination. The results show that pretreating with HPE increased the level of glutathione (GSH), decreased the level of lipid peroxidation, and increased catalase activity in the liver. A histopathological evaluation shows that HPE could decrease AAP-induced liver sterosis accompanied by a decreased expression of AIF, Bax, Bid, and p-JNK in the liver. An in vitro assay revealed that HPE could reduce AAP-induced death of BABL/c normal liver cells (BNLs), reverse the lost mitochondrial potency and improve the antioxidative status, similarly to the results of the in vivo assay. We show in this study that HPE possessed the ability to protect the liver from AAP-caused injury. The protective mechanism might be regulated by decreasing oxidative stress and attenuating the mitochondrial dysfunction.

Aqueous Extract from Hibiscus sabdariffa Linnaeus Ameliorate Diabetic Nephropathy via Regulating Oxidative Status and Akt/Bad/14-3-3γ in an Experimental Animal Model.

Several studies point out that oxidative stress maybe a major culprit in diabetic nephropathy. Aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (HSE) has been demonstrated as having beneficial effects on anti-oxidation and lipid-lowering in experimental studies. This study aimed at investigating the effects of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. on diabetic nephropathy in streptozotocin induced type 1 diabetic rats. Our results show that HSE is capable of reducing lipid peroxidation, increasing catalase and glutathione activities significantly in diabetic kidney, and decreasing the plasma levels of triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL) value. In histological examination, HSE improves hyperglycemia-caused osmotic diuresis in renal proximal convoluted tubules (defined as hydropic change) in diabetic rats. The study also reveals that up-regulation of Akt/Bad/14-3-3γ and NF-κB-mediated transcription might be involved. In conclusion, our results show that HSE possesses the potential effects to ameliorate diabetic nephropathy via improving oxidative status and regulating Akt/Bad/14-3-3γ signaling.

Intraocular pressure-lowering effect of auricular acupressure in patients with glaucoma: a prospective, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of auricular acupressure in controlling intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with glaucoma. DESIGN: Thirty-three (33) patients were recruited through advertisement at the clinic for glaucoma. These patients were divided into the auricular acupressure group (16 patients, 28 glaucoma eyes) and the sham group (17 patients, 32 glaucoma eyes). Patients in the acupressure group received auricular acupoint (kidney, liver, and eye) stimulator tapping and regular massage twice a day for 4 weeks. Patients in the sham group received tapping at sham auricular acupoints (wrist, shoulder, and jaw) without massage stimulation. The IOP and visual acuity (VA) were assessed before and after the treatment in the first 4 weeks and followed up, up to 8 weeks. RESULTS: After the treatment and at the 8-week follow-up, IOP and VA improved significantly in the acupressure group when compared with pretreatment (p < 0.05). The most significant IOP-lowering effect was seen at about 3-4 weeks after auricular acupressure. IOP returned to the initial level after acupressure had been discontinued for 4 weeks. Significant improvement of the uncorrected VA (UCVA) was noted at about 2-4 weeks in the acupressure group. UCVA improvement was also noted in the sham group. The difference was only significant in week 3. Improvement of the best-corrected VA was noted in both groups, but was only significant in week 2. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that auricular acupressure can be used as a complementary treatment to ameliorate IOP and VA for patients with glaucoma.