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Objective: Many claims have been made regarding the therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture. However, most controlled clinical studies have been limited to treatment of pain-related disorders and do not provide objective, quantifiable data for analysis. Traditional acupuncture has been applied to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, only a few studies have been performed to determine the efficacy of this treatment. This study was conducted to determine whether a combination of traditional acupuncture treatment and conservative treatment for COPD improves dyspnea on exercise. Methods: This was a prospective trial with matched-pair parallel groups of patients from the departments of respiratory internal medicine of Gifu University of Medicine, Meiji University of Oriental Medicine, and Gifu Red Cross Hospital, Japan. Thirty patients were divided into the acupuncture group ( n = 15) and the control group ( n = 15). The control group received conservative treatment with medication only. The acupuncture group received acupuncture treatments once a week for 10 weeks, in addition to conservative treatment with medication. The main outcome measure was the Modified Borg dyspnea scale after the 6-minute walk test. Results: The acupuncture group had significantly better results on the Borg scale than the control group after 10 weeks (2.2 ± 2.7 versus 6.4 ± 3.4, p = 0.0001, 95% confidence interval, −5.10 to −2.35, paired t-test). The 6-minute walk distance and oxygen saturation at the minimum rate improved significantly in the acupuncture group compared with the control group. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that acupuncture contributed to the reduction of COPD-related dyspnea on exercise in 15 matched-pair parallel subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Elevated serum levels of neurotrophins such as nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) have been reported in allergic and autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to assess serum levels of BDNF in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and to investigate the relationship of the BDNF level with other markers of disease severity. Serum BDNF concentration was significantly higher in patients with AD (n =62) compared to control subjects (n =20) (P <0.01). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed a significant influence of the peripheral blood eosinophil counts (F =6.90) and the percentage of CD4+IL-4+ (Th2) cells (F =6.61). Moreover, after remission of AD patients with conventionally treated AD patients (n =14), serum levels of BDNF, eosinophil counts and percentage of Th2 cells were decreased significantly. These results suggest that serum BDNF may be a useful marker of disease activity in AD and that both eosinophils and Th2 cells are major cellular sources of serum BDNF. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]