Acupuncture
for Postmenopausal Hot Flashes
Nir Y, et al. Stanford University School of Medicine, United States.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether individually tailored acupuncture is an
effective treatment option for reducing postmenopausal hot flashes and improving
quality of life. METHODS: In a randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study, 29
postmenopausal participants averaging at least seven moderate to severe hot
flashes per 24h, with a baseline estradiol concentration of less than 50pg/mL
and a normal TSH level, were randomized to receive 7 weeks (nine treatment
sessions) of either active acupuncture or placebo acupuncture (placebo needles
that did not penetrate the skin at sham acupuncture points). Participants
recorded hot flashes in logs that were reported daily. Global indices of the
severity and frequency of hot flashes were derived from the participants' daily
logs. RESULTS: Participants receiving the active treatment had a greater
reduction in hot flash severity (24.5+/-30.7%) compared to those receiving
placebo (4.4+/-17.1%, P=0.042). Within group repeated measures analyses of
variance revealed a significant reduction in hot flash severity in the active
(P=0.042), but not in the placebo treatment group (P=0.15). Although there was
no significant group difference in the reduction of hot flash frequency between
the active (42.4+/-32.2%) and placebo groups (32.0+/-26.5%; P>/=0.352), within
group repeated measures analyses of variance revealed that the reduction was
statistically significant in both groups (P</=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Standardized,
individually tailored acupuncture treatment was associated with significantly
greater decrease in the severity, but not the frequency, of hot flashes, in
symptomatic postmenopausal women when compared to placebo acupuncture of equal
duration. Future, larger scale, studies are needed.
Maturitas. 2006 Dec 18
Source PubMed
[TOP]
Study on
Brain Response to Acupuncture by Functional MRI
Fang SH, et al. Sir Run Shaw Hospital Affiliated to College of
Medical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou. fangsonghua@163.com
OBJECTIVE: To observe the signal changes of brain functional area during
needling Sanyinjiao (ST36), Zusanli (SP6) and Yanglingquan (GB34), the three
acupoints in three different meridians, in human by functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI), in order to preliminary explore the neural mechanism
of acupuncture. METHODS: Needling was complemented with 30 s of maneuver
applying followed by 30 s of rest as a circle on an acupoint, and at the same
time, fMRI was performed once 5 min and 12 s. Then the same program was repeated
with the same mode on another acupoint, until ending the experiment. RESULTS:
The commonly activated regions were postcentral gyrus and right inferior frontal
gyrus when needling at ST36 and SP6, and the different activated areas included
left inferior frontal gyrus, left insula, left inferior parietal lobule, left
culmen, left middle temporal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus, while no
cortical signal enhanced region was found when needling at GB34. Signal weakened
regions could be found when needling at all the three points, the commonly
activated regions were bilateral parahippocampal, hippocampal, callosal gyrus,
bilateral praecuneus and cerebellum. CONCLUSION: Brain response in special
regions could be obtained by needling at different acupoints.
Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi. 2006 Nov;26(11):965-8.
Source: PubMed
[TOP]
Modern
Biological Basis of TCM Theory that "Kidney Nourishes Marrow and Brain is Sea of
Marrow
Li L, et al. Xuanwu Hospital of Capital University of Medical
Sciences, Beijing 100053, China. linli97@hotmail.com
The theory that "the kidney nourishes marrow and brain is the sea of marrow" has
been instructing traditional Chinese medical doctors in preventing and treating
dementia in aged people for thousands of years. However, the modern biological
basis of this theory has not been systemically studied. In this review, we
summarized our serial pharmacological studies on the treatment of Alzheimer's
disease (AD) with Chinese medicinal herbs, using multiple kinds of AD-like
animal and cell models. The results show that "kidney-reinforcing" herbs of
traditional Chinese medicine play a very important role in the anti-AD effects;
and different "kidney-reinforcing" herbs have different effects in brain
functions. The common effects of "kidney-reinforcing" herbs are improving
cellular energy metabolism, increasing neurotrophic factors and the number of
cholinergic neurons, and decreasing neurotoxin production. Based on above
results, we propose that the essence of "brain marrow" is the neurons and
neurotrophic factors in the brain; "the deficiency of brain marrow" is induced
by the decrease in neurotrophic factors and the atrophy and loss of neurons in
the brain, thus resulting in cognitive impairment and dementia. The modern
biological basis of "reinforcing kidney to replenish marrow" by traditional
Chinese medicine includes improving cellular energy metabolism and utilization,
enhancing endogenous neurotrophic effects and decreasing neurotoxin production,
thus reducing the cell death and increasing the survival and regeneration of
neurons.
Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 2006 Sep;31(17):1397-400,
1417.
Source: PubMed [TOP] |
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