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Purpose To evaluate the anxiety and depression in pregnant women in China, and its influencing factors during the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods From February 22 to February 27, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 156 pregnant women, including demographic characteristics, a self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and a self-depression rating scale (SDS). Results A total of 13 non-homologous end-joining (8.3%, 13/156) patients were anxious, 79 patients (50.6%, 79/156) were depressed, and 13 patients (8.3%, 13/156) suffered from both anxiety and depression. The SAS score of pregnant women was 40.55 ± 6.09, and the SDS score was 50.42 ± 11.64. For the SAS score, only 8.3% of all patients (13/156) were in a light anxiety state. For the SDS score, 46.79% (73/156) of patients was normal, 23.72% of patients (37/156) showed mild depression, 22.44% (35/156) showed moderate depression, and 4.49% (7/156) showed severe depression. No significant changes were observed in SAS and SDS scores between patients from different regions within China, health state, gestational week, educational background, and living condition (P > 0.05). Moreover, no significant differences were observed between diagnosed/suspected patients and the normal control group (P > 0.05), and between pregnant women in Wuhan compared to other regions (P > 0.05). Conclusion During the COVID-19 epidemic, the anxiety level of pregnant women was the same as that before the epidemic, while the level of depression was significantly higher. Pregnant women who lived in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, were not more anxious or depressed compared to pregnant women in other regions during the COVID-19 epidemic. Furthermore, the mental health status of pregnant women with COVID-19 was not more severe. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00404-020-05805-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET), a well-developed technology, provides the last possibility or hope for infertile women. However, the live birth rate per IVF cycle is still not satisfactory. Acupuncture is a frequently used adjunctive therapy drawing wide attention on improvement of IVF. Although so many randomized controlled trials have been evaluating the effect of acupuncture on IVF in the past 20 years, the exact efficacy of acupuncture on IVF is still controversy mainly because of no consensus on placebo control and acupuncture scheme. This paper focused on the general issues in clinical research of acupuncture and IVF and gave some suggestions for future directions.

Objective: To study the effects of expressions of SCCA1 and SCCA2 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma on its diagnosis, treatment evaluation and prognosis analysis. M ethod s : Seventy-six cervical squamous cell carcinoma patients enrolled in our hospital from October 2011 to April 2013 were selected, and another 76 healthy females (without cervical tissue lesions) were enrolled as the control. SCCA1 and SCCA2 expressions in the two groups were compared by RT-PCR. The serodiagnosis results before and after chemotherapy were compared to clarify the effects of SCCA2 expression. Results: The two groups had similar relative SCCA1 expression rates that were not significantly correlated with pathological factors. Before chemotherapy, the relative expression rates of SCCA2 were significantly higher in the patients with later stage (t=6.018, P=0.00082

Background Functional constipation (FC) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) which has a major impact on the quality of life. Acupuncture is widely used as an alternative and complementary medicine (CAM) for FC, but the available evidence of its effectiveness is scarce. Therefore, we will perform a randomized controlled trial to determine whether acupuncture improves symptom and quality of life in FC patients more effectively than sham acupuncture or gastrointestinal prokinetic agent. This article will report the protocol of the trial. Methods The current trial is a multicenter, randomized, three-arm controlled study undergoing in China. About 243 people who aged from 18 to 65 years with FC will be recruited in this study. These participants will be randomly allocated into three treatment groups, including electro-acupuncture (EA), Mosapride (M) and Mosapride & Sham Electro-acupuncture (MS) groups in a 1:1:1 ratio. Both the EA and sham EA receives 16 sessions of needling at Quchi (LI11) and Shangjuxu (ST37) during 4 weeks of treatment, and a follow-up period of 4 weeks. These groups will be compared on the primary outcomes of the number of times of defecation at baseline and 2, 4, 8 weeks after randomization. The secondary outcome measures include: stool consistency, intensity of defecating difficulty, MOS item Short Form health survey (SF-36), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the validated Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC-QOL). These outcomes are measured at baseline and 2, 4 weeks after randomization, but SF-36 is measured at baseline and 4 weeks after randomization. Discussion This study will supply significant evidence for using acupuncture to treat FC, and will help us to observe whether it is a therapeutic effect rather than a placebo effect.

The present study was designed to investigate the efficacy and mechanism of acupuncture treatment on embryo implantation failure in rats. The pregnant rats were randomized into normal group (N), implantation failure group (M), acupuncture treatment group (A), and progestin treatment group (W). The embryo implantation failure model was established by mifepristone. Efficacy of acupuncture treatment was evaluated by the number of implanted embryos. The expression of CCL2 and CXCL8 and the subset of uterine natural killer cells in the endometrium were detected. We demonstrated that the number of implanted embryos was dramatically reduced after mifepristone (M group) treatment, while the acupuncture (A group) and progestin (W group) treatments significantly rescued impaired embryo implantation. The protein and mRNA expressions of CCL2 and CXCL8 were significantly reduced by mifepristone treatment, but the attenuated expression of CCL2 and CXCL8 was markedly reversed by acupuncture or progestin treatment. More importantly, acupuncture and progestin could markedly increase the subset of uNK cells in rats with embryo implantation failure. These evidences suggest that acupuncture is able to modulate the endometrial immune microenvironment and thus improve embryo implantation in pregnant rats, which provides solid experimental evidence for the curative effect of acupuncture treatment on infertility.

The aim of this paper was to provide reliable evidence by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis for evaluating the role of acupuncture in assisted reproductive technology. All randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effects of acupuncture, including manual, electrical, and laser acupuncture (LA) techniques, on the clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) and live birth rate (LBR) of in vitro fertilization (IVF) or artificial insemination were included. The controlled groups consisted of no acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups. The sham acupuncture included sham acupuncture at acupoints, sham acupuncture at non- or inappropriate points, sham LA, and adhesive tapes. Twenty-three trials (a total of 5598 participants) were included in this paper. The pooled CPR from all acupuncture groups was significantly higher than that from all controlled groups, whereas the LBR was not significantly different between the two groups. However, the results were quite distinct when the type of control and/or different acupuncture times were examined in a sensitivity analysis. The results mainly indicate that acupuncture, especially around the time of the controlled ovarian hyperstimulation, improves pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing IVF. More positive effects from acupuncture in IVF can be expected if a more individualized acupuncture programs are used.

The aim is to explore the effect of acupuncture on Th1, Th2 cytokines in rats of implantation failure. Early pregnant rats were randomized into normal group (N), implantation failure group (M), acupuncture group (A), progestin group (H). The model was established with mifepristone. Samples of serum, endometrium were collected on Day 5, 6 and 8 of pregnancy. Compared with group M, the number of embryos was significantly higher in groups N, A and H; IL-1β, IL-2 protein in serum and endometrium were significantly lower in groups N, A and H, while IL-4, IL-10 were significantly higher in groups N, A and H; the endometrial IL-2, IL-4 mRNA were significantly lower in groups N, A and H, while IL-1β, IL-10 mRNA were significantly higher in groups N, A and H. Acupuncture could improve the poor receptive state of endometrium due to mifepristone by promoting Th2 cytokines secretion and inhibiting Th1 cytokines to improve blastocyst implantation.

ObjectiveTo observe the effects of Bushenyiqihexue Formula (Formula for Tonifying the Kidney, Replenishing qi and Harmonizing Blood, FTKRQHB) on the endometrial gland apoptosis in the mice with blastocyst implantation dysfunction.MethodsThe mice with the first-day pregnancy were divided into the control, model and treatment groups, with 30 in each group, and blastocyst implantation dysfunction was induced by subcutaneous injection of mifepristone in the mice of the model and treatment groups. The pregnancy rate and implantation number of blastocysts were measured and the expressions of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), Bax, Bcl-2, and activated caspase-3 were detected in all the three groups.ResultsThe model group had significantly depressed pregnancy rate, implantation number of blastocysts and apoptosis index, and elevated proliferation index of endometrial gland as compared with the control group (P

Functional constipation (FC) is highly prevalent in the general population of the world and has a substantial negative impact on the health-related quality of life of individuals. Many clinical trials have indicated that acupuncture is effective in the treatment of FC. However, the sample sizes of these previous studies were too small. Furthermore, there are no reports investigating the relationship between the stimulation parameter and the therapeutic effect. We therefore designed a multicenter randomized controlled trial to address these problems and hopefully provide a more conclusive answer to these questions. Participants will be included if they meet all of the following conditions: (1) diagnosed with functional constipation according to the Roman III standard; (2) aged between 18 and 65 years; (3) not taking any drugs that promote gastrointestinal movements at least during the 1 week prior to randomization; (3) willing to sign an informed consent form; (4) willing to return to the study site for their study visits. The participants will be randomly assigned to three groups in a 1:1:1 ratio: high current intensity group, low current intensity group, and mosapride citrate control group. The total study period is 9 weeks for each patient, 1 week for baseline, 4 weeks for treatment, and 4 weeks for follow-up. The primary outcome in this trial is the number of defecating events per week. The secondary outcomes will include the shape and properties of the stool, intensity of defecating difficulty, Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC-QOL), MOS item Short Form health survey (SF-36), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). This study will provide significant evidence for the application of acupuncture in FC and will identify a suitable stimulation parameter for treatment. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT01274793 .