Acupuncture is Superior to Conventional Western Medicine in Treating of Poststroke Depression.

Filiform Needle Acupuncture versus Antidepressant Drugs for Poststroke Depression

Whether acupuncture or antidepressant drugs exhibit better therapeutic effects on poststroke depression remains disputed. The effectiveness of acupuncture for poststroke depression can be evaluated by evidence-based medicine studies, which provide evidence for clinical application. Systematic review or meta-analysis studies have demonstrated that early acupuncture is superior to conventional western medicine in the treatment of poststroke depression.

However, high-quality literatures are needed to further validate the effectiveness of acupuncture for poststroke depression. Jiping Zhang and his colleagues, College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, China performed a meta-analysis study on the effectiveness of early filiform needle acupuncture on poststroke depression. In this meta-analysis, 17 clinical trials scored at least 4 points on the Jadad scale were included. It can be known through these included references that early filiform needle acupuncture for poststroke depression can perfectly control depression, is safe and reliable and exhibits superior therapeutic effects to antidepressant drugs.

This meta-analysis was published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 7, 2014).

More information:
Zhang JP, Chen J, Chen JQ, Li XH, Lai XY, Zhang SQ, Wang SX. Early filiform needle acupuncture for poststroke depression: a meta-analysis of 17 randomized controlled clinical trials. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(7):773-784.

Acupuncture Lowers Blood Pressure

Acupuncture Lowers Blood Pressure

New research finds acupuncture effective for reducing high blood pressure and preventing damage to the kidneys. In a controlled laboratory experiment, researchers applied two acupuncture points to laboratory rats with hypertension and renal interstitial fibrosis, a kidney disease characterized by destruction of the renal tubules and capillaries. Acupuncture “significantly decreased” blood pressure and decreased “damage of kidney morphology.”

Three groups were compared. Group 1 received acupuncture. Group 2 was a control group and group 3 received pharmaceutical medication. The drug group received perindopril, an ACE inhibitor used for the treatment of high blood pressure and other forms of heart disease. The acupuncture group received electroacupuncture at LI11 (Quchi) and ST36 (Zusanli) for a period of 20 minutes, once per day. Blood pressure, kidney morphology, optical densities of kidney collagen with immunohistochemistry, and expression of TGF-beta1 mRNA with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method changes were measured.

The acupuncture group had similar results as the medication group in that TGF-beta1 mRNA expression was decreased. The acupuncture group showed significantly lower blood pressure and less pathological structural changes to the kidneys. The pathological depositional area of collagen in the acupuncture group also showed clinical benefits with a significant reduction of both type I and type III collagen. The researchers concluded that acupuncture at LI11 and ST36 “probably intervenes the process of RIF (renal interstitial fibrosis) by reducing synthesis of kidney type I, III collagen and restraining expression of TGF-beta1.”

This new research supports research released last month. Investigators measured the effectiveness of acupuncture for the treatment of hypertension in a human clinical case study. Two acupuncture points were identical across both studies: ST36, LI11. Additionally, the human study included LI4, ST9, CV6, CV6 and SP6. The patient showed significant reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Another recent investigation conducted jointly at the University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Irvine uncovered how acupuncture lowers blood pressure. The investigators discovered that acupuncture reduces hypertension by stimulating brain neurons to decrease neural activity in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (rVLM) to stimulate a decrease in SNS activity thereby reducing blood pressure.

The UC (University of California) researchers “have shown that electroacupuncture stimulation activates neurons in the arcuate nucleus, ventrolateral gray, and nucleus raphe to inhibit the neural activity in the rVLM in a model of visceral reflex stimulation-induced hypertension.” The UC researchers concluded that acupuncture reduces hypertension through downregulation of excess sympathetic nerve activity.

Three acupuncture groups were compared. Group 1 received electroacupuncture at P5, P6, LI10 and LI11. Group 2 received LI4, LU7, ST36 and ST37 electroacupuncture stimulation. Both groups showed decreases in hypertension with group 1 showing the greatest reduction in blood pressure. Group 3 received electroacupuncture at LI6, LI7, K1, UB67. This group did not have the clinical benefits as in groups 1 and 2. As a result, the researchers conclude that electroacupuncture is effective in the reduction of hypertension and the effects are point specific.

Source of the report is here.

Disruptive innovation

Three Books Recommended to My Practice Management Class

 Three books written by Clayton Christensen：

 The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth

The Innovator’s Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care

Disruptive innovation describes a process by which a product or service transforms an existing market where complication and high cost are the status quo by introducing simplicity, convenience, accessibility, and affordability. Initially, a disruptive innovation is formed in a niche market that may appear unattractive or inconsequential to industry incumbents, but eventually the new product or idea completely redefines the industry.

Marvels of Chinese Medicine

Marvels of Chinese Medicine

Everyone who appreciates Chinese delicacies will probably have heard at least one claim purporting that a particular type of food or medicine promotes longevity or wondrous health benefits. Some are understood to be mere myths, while others are taken very seriously, almost religiously. Are any of these foods, herbs and plants actually all that beneficial though?

 “Chinese medicine won’t leave any chemical residue. There are no steroids or any additives,” said Manop Lertsuthiruck, president of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Association of Thailand. “The drawback is that you have to consume quite a lot. You have to build up [the dosage] to see any improvements. And, if you can use it according to the nature of your body, all chronic disease can be cured.”

Here, Manop offers his insights into the most well-known Chinese food and medicines available in Thailand.

Fish maw

Contrary to popular Thai belief, fish maw is actually the air bladder of a fish rather than its gut. This gas-filled bladder helps fish to maintain buoyancy and control position in the water.

Fish maw is mainly used in soups or stews and sometimes in a stir fry. It is quite an easy dish to find in Chinese restaurants and street stalls around Bangkok. Many, however, believe that some cheap fish maw soup is actually made using pork skin as a substitute. It still retains the name, although obviously the texture is quite different. Genuine, high-quality fish maw can cost almost 1 million baht per piece.

“Fish maw is suitable for anyone weak or old,” said Manop. This, he believes, is due to the power from the air bladder that allows the fish to swim. Once it has been harvested, according to Manop, it can absorb the power of the universe and transfer that power to the consumer. However, for fish maw to yield such favour, it has to have been harvested and kept for over 20 years. Fresh ones aren’t known to really give any benefits.

Lingzhi

Lingzhi is a type of mushroom grown especially in East Asia. It has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years and can be found in various locations. According to Manop, however, the benefits procured from lingzhi differ depending on the altitude that they are found.

If grown at high altitude — over 600m above sea level — the taste of lingzhi is comparatively light, not bitter. There are some cases where cancer patients get better after regularly eating lingzhi, said Manop. Moreover, lingzhi is good for detoxifying the liver.

Lingzhi that grows at a lower altitude is good for anyone wanting to regulate their blood pressure and blood sugar level. It also helps in reducing fat and liver enzymes.

Manop also added that the mushroom is the definition of the elixir of longevity.

Goji berry

Also known simply as goji, this berry, when dried, looks like a red raisin. It has a sweet and sour taste and is quite a common ingredient in Chinese cuisine. In most cases, goji berries are added into stew soups — which are allegedly tonics — along with other types of Chinese herbs.

“Goji is the elixir of life,” proclaimed the expert. “When you eat it continuously and build it up in your body, it will keep your eyes open and alert and will eradicate fat in your liver.”

Manop suggested that drinking 40g of powdered goji mix with water regularly helps reduce overall fat and weight. It is also good for improving eyes and kidneys. Sour gojis are also believed to have more beneficial properties.

“The sour kind works better in detoxifying your body. For those who have a lot of fat in the liver, or in fact anyone wanting to be slimmer, then the sour goji is better.

“We’re quite lucky that the price of goji hasn’t risen yet as it’s so widely grown,” he added.

Bird’s nest

This is the edible kind, of course, unless you prefer to put twigs in your sweet soup. This gelatinous delicacy is made from hardened saliva of edible-nest swiftlets, usually found in Southeast Asia.

“Bird’s nest, according to Chinese medicine, is not considered that important,” said Manop. “It’s more of a supplementary diet.”

Bird’s nest has a Yin — or cooling — property and is said to help those who have problems with ulcers in the throat, larynx and lungs. Another benefit, said Manop, is that it can improve skin condition, especially in those battling with acne.

On its own, bird’s nest is tasteless, but full of protein. It is often added into the sweet soup we see in the Chinatown neighbourhood of Yaowarat. A bowl of sweet bird’s nest soup can cost as little as 50-200 baht for the cheapest range.
The better quality ones, with the shape of the nest still intact, obviously cost more than the soups with strands that can be tried at street stalls. High-end quality nests can cost up to 100,000 baht per kilo — rightly deserving its claim as the Caviar of the East.

Due to the industry’s high value, the consumption of bird’s nests has been turned into a large scale business venture. Some companies build large properties and decorate the interior to resemble dark caves, so that birds may go in and create their nests. Other traders go right into caves — the birds’ natural habitat — and take the nests whilst the birds are away.

The swiftlets have to keep rebuilding their nests once they have been looted by human hands, leading many to wonder whether this constitutes an indirect act of animal torture.

Source of the story is here.

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Chinese Herbs as a Source of Discovering New Drugs

Chinese Medicine as a Source of Discovering New Drugs

Infection is a major category of diseases which caused significant mortality and morbidity worldwide. Traditional Chinese herbs have been used to treat infective diseases for thousands years. The numerous clinical practices make it a large chemical resource library for drug discovery. This study collected 1156 kinds of herbs and 22,172 traditional Chinese medicinal compounds (Tcmcs). The chemical informatics and network pharmacology were employed to analyze the anti-infective effects of herbs and Tcmcs. In order to evaluate the drug likeness of Tcmcs, the molecular descriptors of Tcmcs and FDA-approved drugs were calculated and the chemical space was constructed on the basis of principal component analysis in the eight descriptors. On purpose to estimate the effects of Tcmcs to the targets of FDA-approved anti-infective or anti-inflammatory drugs, the molecular docking was employed. After that, docking score weighted predictive models were used to predict the anti-infective or anti-inflammatory efficacy of herbs.

The distribution of herbs in the phylogenetic tree showed that most herbs were distributed in family of Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Lamiaceae. Tcmcs were well coincide with drugs in chemical space, which indicated that most Tcmcs had good drug-likeness. The predictive models obtained good specificity and sensitivity with the AUC values above 0.8. At last, 389 kinds of herbs were obtained which were distributed in 100 families, by using the optimal cutoff values in ROC curves. These 389 herbs were widely used in China for treatment of infection and inflammation. Traditional Chinese herbs have a considerable number of drug-like natural products and predicted activities to the targets of approved drugs, which would give us an opportunity to use these herbs as a chemical resource library for drug discovery of anti-infective and anti-inflammatory.

Ding W, Gu J, Cao L, Li N, Ding G, Wang Z, Chen L, Xu X, Xiao W. Traditional Chinese herbs as chemical resource library for drug discovery of anti-infective and anti-inflammatory. J Ethnopharmacol. 2014 Jun 11.