Effect of acupuncture on quality of life in atrial fibrillation: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the prevalent cardiac arrhythmia and can significantly impair the quality of life (QoL). Although catheter ablation (CA) is an established treatment for AF,post-procedural complications or perceived inadequate control of AF may diminish the QoL for some patients, potentially even to levels lower than pre-procedure. Preliminary findings from our previous pilot trial indicate that acupuncture may positively influence QoL in AF patients post-CA.

Acupuncture vs Sham Acupuncture for Chronic Sciatica From Herniated Disk: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Sciatica is commonly caused by herniated lumbar disc and contributes to severe pain and prolonged disability. Although acupuncture is widely used by patients with chronic sciatica, the evidence of its efficacy is scarce.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture in patients with chronic sciatica from herniated disk.

Electroacupuncture Ameliorates Knee Osteoarthritis By Rebalancing T Cell Homeostasis as Revealed By Immune Repertoire (IR) Sequencing.

Background: In this study, we used immune repertoire (IR) sequencing technology to profile the diversity of peripheral blood T cell receptors and used transcriptomics to profile the gene expression of peripheral blood neutrophil mRNA in patients with mild-moderate knee osteoarthritis (KOA) before and after electroacupuncture (EA) treatment.

Methods: An 8-week intervention with EA was performed on 3 subjects with KOA. IR sequencing of complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) was performed using RNA extracted from peripheral blood T cells of KOA subjects prior to and at the end of the intervention, as well as healthy volunteers (controls) who matched the subjects in sex and age.

Acupuncture Modulation of Chronic Neuropathic Pain and Its Association With Brain Functional Properties.

Chronic neuropathic pain has been one of the prominent causes of disability, and acupuncture has shown promise in treatment. The present study aimed to characterize acupuncture modulation of chronic neuropathic pain and explore the related functional brain changes. Sixty chronic sciatica patients were divided into acupuncture- or sham acupuncture groups and received 10 sessions of treatment during 4 weeks.

Cognitive and Hippocampal Changes in Older Adults With Subjective Cognitive Decline After Acupuncture Intervention.

Objective: Converging evidence indicates that subjective cognitive decline (SCD) could be an early indicator of dementia. The hippocampus is the earliest affected region during the progression of cognitive impairment. However, little is known about whether and how acupuncture change the hippocampal structure and function of SCD individuals.

[Application of "patient and public involvement" in acupuncture clinical research].

In order to explore the application of "patient and public involvement" (PPI) in acupuncture clinical research, the connotation, reporting standards and research status of PPI at home and abroad are collated, and the key problems of PPI encountered in acupuncture clinical research are deeply considered and summarized. It is suggested that the short-form checklist of (GRIPP) of the 2nd edition should be applied to acupuncture clinical research. PPI provides a new perspective for acupuncture clinical research.

Thermographic evaluation of acupoints in lower limb region of individuals with osteoarthritis: A cross-sectional case-control study protocol.

Purpose: Acupuncture has been widely used in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), but the selection of acupoints is indeterminate and lacks biological basis. The skin temperature of acupoints can reflect the state of local tissue and may be a potential factor for guiding acupoint selection. This study aims to compare the skin temperature of acupoints between KOA patients and the healthy population.

Psychological and neurological predictors of acupuncture effect in patients with chronic pain: a randomized controlled neuroimaging trial.

Chronic pain has been one of the leading causes of disability. Acupuncture is globally used in chronic pain management. However, the efficacy of acupuncture treatment varies across patients.

Identifying the neural marker of chronic sciatica using multimodal neuroimaging and machine learning analyses.

Introduction: Sciatica is a pain disorder often caused by the herniated disk compressing the lumbosacral nerve roots. Neuroimaging studies have identified functional abnormalities in patients with chronic sciatica (CS). However, few studies have investigated the neural marker of CS using brain structure and the classification value of multidimensional neuroimaging features in CS patients is unclear.

Smart phone-based transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation as adjunctive therapy for hypertension (STAT-H trial): protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Hypertension is a common risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) may be effective for hypertension, but the evidence remains limited. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the smart phone-based TEAS as adjunctive therapy for hypertension.

Serum uric acid to creatinine ratio is associated with higher prevalence of NAFLD detected by FibroScan in the United States.

Background: The association between the serum uric acid (sUA) to creatinine ratio (sUA/Cr) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has not been sufficiently clarified. In this study, we investigated the relationship between sUA/Cr and NAFLD among participants in the United States.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study based on data from the National Health and Nutrition examination Survey (NHANES) 2017-2018.

Moxibustion attenuates neurogenic detrusor overactivity in spinal cord injury rats by inhibiting M2/ATP/P2X3 pathway.

Purpose: Activation of muscarinic receptors located in bladder sensory pathways is generally considered to be the primary contributor for driving the pathogenesis of neurogenic detrusor overactivity following spinal cord injury. The present study is undertaken to examine whether moxibustion improves neurogenic detrusor overactivity via modulating the abnormal muscarinic receptor pathway.

Materials And Methods: Female Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to spinal cord injury with T9-10 spinal cord transection.

An exploration of new methods for metabolic syndrome examination by infrared thermography and knowledge mining.

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a clinical syndrome with multiple metabolic disorders. As the diagnostic criteria for MS still lacking of imaging laboratory method, this study aimed to explore the differences between healthy people and MS patients through infrared thermography (IRT). However, the observation region of the IRT image is uncertain, and the research tried to solve this problem with the help of knowledge mining technology.

Structural and Functional Asymmetry in Precentral and Postcentral Gyrus in Patients With Unilateral Chronic Shoulder Pain.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the structural and functional asymmetry of precentral and postcentral gyrus in patients with unilateral chronic shoulder pain (CSP) utilizing MRI.

Patients And Methods: We collected structural and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data in 22 left-sided, 15 patients with right-sided CSP, and 24 healthy controls (HCs). Here, we performed the structural asymmetry and seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analyses.

Acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy for arrhythmia: a Delphi expert consensus survey.

Background: Current evidence suggests that acupuncture is an effective adjunctive therapy that can bring potential benefits to patients with cardiac arrhythmias. However, there are relevant gaps in the optimal therapeutic strategy, which may cause uncertainties on the best practice of acupuncture treatment for arrhythmia. We aim to develop consensus-based recommendations for clinical guidance on acupuncture treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.

[Optimization and implementation of clinical trial of acupuncture: reflection on the successful case of acupuncture for postprandial distress syndrome].

Taking the clinical trial of acupuncture in treatment of postprandial distress syndrome as an example, this paper proposes that the acupuncture clinical trial protocol should be optimized in view of acupuncture prescription, acupuncture frequency and outcomes. Besides, the data quality of acupuncture clinical trial should be improved in consideration of data sharing and electronic data capture so as to provide a reference for the majority of researchers to optimize and implement acupuncture clinical trial.