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To investigate the effect of acupuncture on the brain functional activities of the patients with primary dysmenorrhea based on the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), and to provide visual evidence for the central mechanism of acupuncture in treatment of primary dysmenorrhea.Forty-two patients of primary dysmenorrhea were enrolled and randomly divided into an observation group (21 cases, 1 case dropped off) and a control group (21 cases, 2 cases dropped off, 3 cases withdrawal). In the observation group, acupuncture was exerted at Sanyinjiao (SP 6) and Guanyuan (CV 4), started 5-7 days before menstrual flow, once a day till menstrual onset, for a total of 3 menstrual cycles. No intervention was applied in the control group. The scores of visual analogue scale (VAS) and Cox menstrual symptom scale (CMSS) were observed in both groups before and after treatment. Based on rs-fMRI, the data of resting-state functional magnetic resonance were collected from two groups before and after treatment. Combined with functional connectivity strength (FCS) and functional connectivity (FC) analysis, the differences of brain regions before and after treatment were compared between the two groups and the correlation was analyzed between their functional connectivity changes and the improvements in VAS and CMSS scores of the patients in the observation group.In the observation group, the scores of VAS and CMSS were all decreased after treatment (The anterior insula may be the key brain region in treatment of primary dysmenorrhea with acupuncture. Acupuncture may relieve dysmenorrhea and the related symptoms through strengthening the functional connectivity of anterior insula-limbic system and anterior insula-control network.

The application progress of machine learning in research of acupuncture and moxibustion was reviewed from three aspects: mining of acupuncture and moxibustion prescription and indications, acupuncture efficacy prediction and its influencing factors, acupoint specificity and acupuncture manipulation research, and the existing problems in current research and future research trends were discussed. It is believed that the appropriate machine learning algorithm should be selected to build the model according to the research purpose and data characteristics in the future research; attention should be paid to feature design, feature selection and feature cleaning; sample data collection should be a priority, and data sharing platform and standardized data collection should be developed to improve the data quality.从针灸处方及适应证挖掘、针刺疗效预测及其影响因素评价、穴位特异性及针刺手法研究3个方面对机器学习在针灸研究领域的应用现状进行梳理，并对当前研究存在的问题以及未来研究趋势进行讨论与展望。认为今后的研究应当根据研究目的及数据特征，选择合适的机器学习算法构建模型；重视特征设计和特征选择，并做好特征清洗工作；重视样本数据采集，通过建立针灸数据共享平台和规范数据采集流程，以提高数据质量。.

The article "Effect of acupuncture vs sham acupuncture on live births among women undergoing in vitro fertilization: a randomized clinical trial", published in

To analyze studies published in journals included in PubMed in terms of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the therapeutic effect of acupuncture for simple obesity, so as to provide a reference for subsequent RCT-related designs and results.RCT literature about acupuncture treatment of simple obesity from the PubMed database and from 2000 to 2016 was retrieved by using keywords of "obesity" "fat" "acupuncture" "joint application of acupuncture and herbal medicine" or "auricular point" "electroacupuncture", "acupoint application", or "cupping", followed by screening, extraction and evaluation of the design methodology and outcomes using Consolidated Standards for Reporting of Trials (CONSORT) and Standards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA).Fourteen articles from six countries in Asia examining the therapeutic effect of acupuncture in the treatment of simple obesity mainly by using acupoints of the Stomach Meridian were included. Generally, acupuncture was found to be more effective than sham acupuncture. However, PubMed did not include any RCTs comparing acupuncture with western medicine for weight loss and many problems (as details of needling manipulation, etc.) remained in the the research reports available in the database.All the existing RCTs generally affirm the positive efficacy of acupuncture for simple obesity, but high-quality RCTs, particularly those comparing acupuncture with western medicines for weight loss are lacking.