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Using the complex network technology, the characteristics of the core acupoint prescriptions and the application of acupuncture-moxibustion techniques were analyzed in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) so as to provide the evidences for acupoint selection and therapeutic methods for RA treated with acupuncture and moxibustion. The articles of acupuncture and moxibustion for treatment of RA in recent 20 years were collated and imported, and the database of the acupoint prescriptions was developed. Using Cytoscape 3.9.2 software, the acupoints in the prescriptions were visualized for the common occurrence network analysis. The association rule analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Modeler 18.0 software and the complex network analysis was by Gephi 0.9.2 software. A total of 798 articles were screened, in which, 3 258 prescriptions were extracted with 253 acupoints involved. The analysis of acupoint selection was conducted in terms of syndrome/pattern differentiation, acupoint locations and main acupoints, and therapeutic methods. The results showed that the most common TCM syndromes of RA included painful利用复杂网络技术分析针灸治疗类风湿关节炎的核心腧穴处方以及刺灸法应用特点，为临床针灸治疗类风湿关节炎提供选穴、治法依据。对近20年针灸治疗类风湿关节炎的文献进行收集、整理、录入，建立针灸处方数据库，对处方中的腧穴运用Cytoscape3.9.0进行共现网络可视化、运用IBM SPSS Modeler 18.0进行关联规则分析、利用Gephi0.9.2软件进行复杂网络分析。共筛选出798篇文献，提取3 258条针灸处方，涉及253个腧穴，主要从辨证分型选穴、分部选穴、主穴处方及疗法进行分析。结果表明最常见的中医证型为痛痹、行痹、着痹及风湿热痹；辨证选穴核心腧穴组合为痛痹：关元、肾俞；着痹：阴陵泉、三阴交、足三里、脾俞、丰隆；行痹：风池、膈俞、风门、血海、外关；风湿热痹：大椎、曲池、合谷。分部选穴以上肢部、下肢部、脊柱部腧穴多见。曲池在主穴处方中使用频次最高，足三里-肾俞的共现强度最高；相关性最高的腧穴组合为足三里-曲池。针灸治疗类风湿关节炎选穴多遵循“主穴-局部配穴-辨证配穴”的原则，温针灸及针药联合为最常用的施治方法。.

To analyze the application characteristics of acupuncture and moxibustion in clinical treatment of Meniere's disease by using complex network technology, so as to provide evidence for selecting acupoints, needling and moxibustion methods and treatment ideas.Articles both in English and Chinese published from the inception of databases of CNKI, Wanfang VIP, Chinese biomedical literature database (SinoMed), PubMed, Embase, EBSCO (Academic Search Pre-mier), Web of Science and Ovid to April of 2021 were retrieved by using key words "acupuncture" or "moxibustion" or "acupuncture and moxibustion" and "Meniere disease" or "Meniere's syndrome" or "Ménières vertigo" or "otogenic vertigo" or "auditory vertigo", followed by screening the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and establishing a database of clinical li-terature about acupuncture treatment of Meniere's Disease with software Epidata 3.1. Then, the descriptive analysis was conducted first, followed by association rule analysis using SPSS Modeler 18.0, and complex network analysis using Gephi 0.9.2 software.A total of 232 articles were included, containing 152 acupoints [97 body acupoints as Baihui (GV20), Fengchi (GB20), Neiguan (PC6), etc., 28 otopoints as Ershenmen (MA-TF1), Shen (MA-SC), etc., 20 scalp points as Yunting Area, 7 extra-points as Sishencong (EX-HN1), Taiyang (EX-HN5), etc.] which were used to be a total frequency of 1 569. Descriptive analysis showed that the main meridians were the Governor Vessel, Stomach Meridian of Foot Yangming, Trienergizer Meridian of Hand Shaoyang, and Gallbladder Meridian of Foot Shaoyang. Acupuncture was the most commonly used therapy for Meniere's disease. The association analysis showed that the most relevant combination of acupoints was GV20 and GB20, GV20 and PC6, reflecting the principles of local acupoint selection and combination of local and distant acupoints. Finally, "K-core Analytic Hierarchy Process" and "Community Analysis" revealed that 3 core acupoint groups were most frequently used in clinical treatment of Meniere's disease, including 1) auricular acupoints, as MA-TF1, MA-SC, Neier(MA-L), Zhen(MA-AT) and Pizhixia(MA-AT1), 2) acupoints of the 14 meridians and extra-points, as Tinggong(SI19), Yifeng(TE17), GB20, 3) acupoints of the Shaoyang meri-dians of hand and foot, as Shuaigu (GB8), Tinghui (GB2), Zhongzhu (TE3), Ermen (TE21), etc.The principle of acupoint selection is mainly based on the combination of acupoints along the meridians and local areas, while paying attention to the coordination among the auricular points, scalp acupoints and extra-points, which may provide a reference for the clinical treatment and scientific research on acupuncture treatment of Meniere's disease.

To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) of bilateral "Tianshu"(ST25) at different frequencies on the first black stool discharge time, colonic electromyography (EMG) and immunoactivity of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and substance P (SP) in the colon tissue in rats with slow transit constipation (STC), so as to choose a better stimulating frequency in the treatment of STC.A total of 50 male Wistar rats were randomized into control, model, 2 Hz-EA, 100 Hz- EA, and 2 Hz/100 Hz-EA groups, with 10 rats in each group. The STC model was established by intraperitoneal injection of compound diphenoxylate suspension fluid (10 mg/kg). EA was applied to bilateral ST25 for 30 min, once a day for 14 consecutive days. The discharge time for the first black stool was recorded after gavage of mixed suspension fluid of active carbon (2 mL) for assessing the gastrointestinal motility. The colonic EMG was recorded by using a pair of silver electrodes and bioelectric amplifier. The expression of SP and VIP in the colonic tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry.Following mode-ling, the colonic EMG amplitude, the discharge time for the first black stool and VIP immunoactivity were significantly increased (EA can accelerate colonic EMG activities, which may be associated with its functions in down-regulating VIP immunoactivity and up-regulating SP immunoactivity in the colonic tissues. The therapeutic effects of 2 Hz/100 Hz-EA and 2 Hz-EA are better than that of 100 Hz-EA.

To observe the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) of different frequencies on transmission function, electromyography, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) content and interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) expression of colon in rat models with slow transit constipation (STC). Of the 50 healthy male Wistar rats, 10 were randomly selected as a normal group and fed with ordinary diet, and the remaining 40 rats were fed with the diet added with the compound diphenoxylate at a dose of 8 mg/(kg·bw) each day for continuous 120 d. The 40 successfully established STC rat models were randomly divided into a model group, a low-frequency EA group (2 Hz), a high-frequency EA group (100 Hz), and a variable-frequency EA group (2 Hz/100 Hz), with 10 rats in each group. Rats in the normal and the model groups were not given any treatment; the low-frequency EA and the high-frequency EA groups were given EA at Tianshu (ST 25), Zusanli (ST 36) and Zhigou (TE 6) with continuous wave at the designated frequency, and the variable-frequency EA group received sparse-dense wave (2 Hz/100 Hz) EA at the same acupoints, once a day for a total of 15 d. After treatment, the colonic transmission function, electromyography, NOS content and ICC expression (calculated by the difference in the area of the C-kit positive cells) of the rats in each group were measured. For the colonic transmission function, compared with the normal group, the first black stool excretion durations of rats in the other groups were significantly prolonged (all P

Risk monitoring has been widely used in health care, further, control charts are often used as monitoring methods for surgical outcomes. Most of the methods can only detect step shifts of position parameters, but cannot take measures on scale parameters. In this paper, we proposed four methods based on EWMA control charts, namely SESOP, STSSO, SESOP-MFIR and STSSO-MFIR, to improve the existing monitoring methods. Specifically, SESOP standardizes variable on the basis of an EWMA charting method; STSSO replaces the statistics of the original EWMA charting method with the score test statistics; for SESOP-MFIR and STSSO-MFIR, we upgrade their control limits from asymptotic to time-varying based on SESOP and STSSO, which enhance the timeliness of the earlier shifts monitoring. In order to verify the improvement of surgical outcomes monitoring, we respectively carry out simulation experiment and a practical application on ESOP and our four methods. SESOP can raise the overall efficiency of detecting shifts; STSSO led to a significant increase in the monitoring stability, especially for small volatilities; the optimization brought by SESOP-MFIR and STSSO-MFIR are more obvious, that the speed of detecting earlier shifts can even be reduced to half of the existing methods. Then, we apply these methods to the SOMIP program of Hong Kong, SESOP-MFIR and STSSO-MFIR have the best performance and can detect early shifts in time. According to the results, the methods we proposed can monitor both early shifts and scale parameters and improve the performance of surgical outcome monitoring in different degrees compared to those existing methods.

The scalp acupuncture therapy, an important component of the microneedle system of the acupuncturology, is effective in the treatment of multiple types of diseases. In the present paper, we made a comparative analysis about the theoretical basis, acupoint location and main clinical indications of the ten academic schools of scalp-acupuncture, including FANG Yun-peng's Scalp Acupuncture, JIAO Shun-fa's Scalp Acupuncture, ZHU Ming-qing's Scalp Acupuncture, etc. which are widely used in clinic at present after collecting the related articles published in recent 60 years from databases of CNKI, Wanfang and VIP, and relevant books. These nine academic schools are similar in clinical indications (such as neurological disorders, brain-derived di-seases) and in needle inserting angle and depth, and different in the needling manipulations, needlingmethods, needle retaining time, theoretical basis, attending diseases of the same one stimulated region, and the position and yin or yang of holograms. The main problems facing the scalp acupuncture are non-uniform positioning method, non-uniform needling method, and non-uniform indications of the same scalp acupoint. Up to now, it remains unclear that which academic school is better in the therapeutic efficacy, thus, we should strengthen clinical research to find out its inherent law in diagnosis and treatment, constantly optimize the needle scheme, determine the best scalp-acupoint position and best needling manipulations, quantize and standardize the related issues, and accelerate the integration of the different academic schools, so as to improve clinical curative effect and to further promote the application and popularization, serving the patients in a better way.通过查阅中国知网、万方、维普数据库以及头针各流派相关书籍，对近60年与头针相关的文献进行整理，比较目前应用较广泛的方云鹏头针、焦顺发头针、朱明清头针等10个头针流派的理论基础、选穴部位、临床优势病种等，以期为治疗不同疾病提供头针疗法的最佳刺激部位、全息象、针刺手法、针刺角度、留针时间等, 减少临床选穴(区)的盲目性。众多头针流派各有特点，应通过严密的科学研究找出临床中头针最佳治疗方案，促进流派间的融合，使头针更加规范化和标准化，为临床使用头针提供参考，提高临床疗效，促进头针疗法的应用与推广。.

To investigate the disease spectrum and predominant diseases treated by abdominal acupuncture by data mining and analysis of journal articles on abdominal acupuncture, and to provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment.Based on the database of abdominal acupuncture established by the research group, the data mining technique was used for the analysis and extraction of the articles on abdominal acupuncture included in this study.A total of 788 original journal articles were included. Six departments and 96 disease categories, among which there were 45 internal diseases (46.84%) and 18 surgical diseases (18.75%) were involved. As for the diseases involved, cervical spondylosis had the highest frequency of 84, followed by low back and leg pain with a frequency of 77 and stroke sequela with a frequency of 67. Of all 788 studies, 519 (65.86%) used abdominal acupuncture combined with other therapies with a total frequency of 552, among which acupuncture had the highest frequency of 135 (24.46%), followed by oral administration of traditional Chinese medicine with a frequency of 81 (14.67%) and moxibustion with a frequency of 80 (14.49%). Abdominal acupuncture had a marked clinical effect in the treatment of various diseases, with the highest effective rate of 95.10% in surgical diseases.Abdominal acupuncture has a wide disease spectrum and is most frequently used for the treatment of cervical spondylosis, with a marked clinical effect. Abdominal acupuncture has unique therapeutic characteristics and advantages, but it can achieve a better clinical effect when combined with other therapies.

To observe the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) of different frequencies on the expression levels of substance P (SP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in the colon of rats with slow transit constipation (STC). One hundred healthy male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group, a low-frequency EA group, a high-frequency EA group and a variable-frequency EA group, with 20 rats in each group. The rats in the normal group were fed with normal diet. The rats in the other groups were fed with phenethylpiperidine in the diet at a dose of 8 mg/(kg·bw) per day, for 120 d, to establish the STC model. Rats in the normal group and the model group did not receive any treatment; rats in the low-frequency EA group were treated with 2 Hz continuous wave EA, rats in the high-frequency EA group were treated with 100 Hz continuous wave EA, and rats in the variable-frequency EA group were treated with 2 Hz/100 Hz sparse-dense EA. The current intensity of the EA was determined by the slight vibration of the rat limbs without painful screaming. The intervention was performed once a day, 15 min/time for continuous 15 d. After treatment, the intestinal transit function and the expression levels of SP and VIP in the colon of the rats in each group were determined. After treatment, the defecation duration of the first dark stool in the model group was significantly longer than that in the normal group (P

To observe the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) of three different frequencies (2 Hz, 80 Hz and 2 Hz/80 Hz) on the free radicals in hippocampus of vascular dementia (VD) model mice. A total of 100 Kunming mice were randomly divided into a sham operation group, a model group, a 2 Hz EA group, an 80 Hz EA group and a 2 Hz/80 Hz EA group, with 20 mice in each group. The ischemia-reperfusion VD model was established by repeated blockade of bilateral common carotid arteries. Mice in EA groups began EA treatment on the 4th day after the operation. Baihui (GV 20), Dazhui (GV 14), Geshu (BL 17) and Zusanli (ST 36) were punctured and then connected to EA instrument, with different waves of 2 Hz, 80 Hz or 2 Hz/80 Hz (10 min/time) applied accordingly, once a day. During the jumping stand experiment, the learning performance, memory performance and hippocampal calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), nitric oxide synthase (NOS), malondialdehyde (MDA), changes in superoxide dismutase (SOD) and true choline esterase (TChE) were observed. In hippocampus, the CGRP level was determined by radioimmunoassay; the MDA level was determined by thiobarbituric acid colorimetric method; the activities of NOS and TChE were determined by spectrophotometry; the activity of SOD was determined by xanthine oxidase method. Compared with the sham operation group, the performances of learning and memory decreased significantly in the model group (P

Objective To explore the rules of the second metacarpal bone lateral needling in clinical application and its characteristics so as to provide the guidance to clinical practice. Methods Taking “the second metacarpal holographic acupuncture therapy” “the second metacarpal bone lateral needling” and “the second metacarpal bone” as the search terms, the papers on the second metacarpal bone lateral needling were retrieved from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang database from January 1, 1974 to December 31, 2016 and were screened. Using the Excel 2003, the database of the diseases treated by the second metacarpal bone lateral needling was set up. The indications, the acupoints selection rules and needling manipulation of this therapy were analyzed. Results A total of 1103 papers were retrieved, of which, 446 papers were from CNKI and 657 from Wanfang database. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 54 papers were included for analysis finally. It was found that the indications of the second metacarpal bone lateral needling were predominated by the soft tissue injuries, especially acute lumbar sprain, ankle sprain and knee joint injury. Regarding the acupoints selection rules of the second metacarpal bone lateral needling, the corresponding points and tender points were commonly selected. Regarding the needling manipulation, the strong stimulation was required after needle insertion and the patient was required to move the affected areas while keeping the strong needling sensation. The needles were inserted 20 mm in depth along the skin mainly. The even-needling technique was exerted and the needles were retained for 30 min mainly. Conclusion The second metacarpal bone lateral needling is applied to the treatment of soft tissue injuries. It is applicable for some internal diseases. The strong needling sensation and the motion of the local affected area are required especially in treatment with this therapy.

By virtue of rich academic experience, professor JIA Chun-sheng can change the treatment method during clinical practice and implement different therapies according to the diseases, thus he can obtain effective and rapid results. In this study, the theoretical knowledge, application method and clinical experience of professor JIA Chun-sheng in blooddraining therapy on the back were mainly introduced. Professor JIA Chun-sheng focuses on two key viewpoints: “Attacking pathogenic qi is to supplement deficiency,” and “Eliminating stagnant pathogen can clean the intestines and stomach, and removing concretions and conglomerations can harmonize ying and wei”, which have been considered as the important theoretical bases of direction of clinical practice. Generally, professor JIA Chun-sheng conducts blood-draining therapy at Dazhuī ( GV 14), Feishū ( BL 13), Xīnshū ( BL 15), Geshū ( BL 17), Gānshū ( BL 18), Pishū ( BL 20) and Shenshū ( BL 23) on the back in order to improve the blood circulation in local and corresponding zang-fu organs, thus being beneficial to harmonize qi and blood, or eliminate dampness, heat, wind, stasis and toxins. In the process of blood-draining, professor JIA Chun-sheng combines the blood-draining pen with vacuum cup to replace the traditional blood-draining tools, which makes the blooddraining therapy easy to learn and use.

Objective To explore the effects of different acupuncture-moxibustion methods on the plasma substance P (SP) content, and the expression of colonic SP mRNA of the rats with functional constipation. Methods Sixty healthy male SD rats were divided into six groups according to the random number table, including blank control group (group B, n=8), model group (group M, n=11), drug control group (group D, n=8), filiform needle group (group F, n=11), electroacupuncture group (group E, n=11) and moxibustion group (group MB, n=11). The rats in group B and group M accepted no intervention, gavage with cisapride suspension was conducted in group D, and electroacupuncture, filiform needling and moxibustion therapies were carried out in group E, group F and group MB for 6 days. After treatment, the stool quantity and fecal moisture content during 24 h of the rats were observed in each group, colon tissue structure and the acidic mucus in mucosa layer were observed, plasma SP content was detected and the expression of colonic SP mRNA was detected. Results Compared with group B, the stool quantity and fecal moisture content during 24 h of the rats in group M decreased significantly ( P P P P P >0.05), the fecal moisture contents during 24 h of the rats in group F and group E were higher than that of group MB ( P P >0.05). HE staining of colon tissue of rats showed that the structure was normal and complete, and there was no difference among each group. PAS staining showed that the acidic mucus level of the rats in group M decreased significantly when compared with group B; compared with group M, the acidic mucus level of the rats in group D, fgroup F, group E and group MB increased in varying degrees. Compared with group B, the plasma SP content of the rats in group M decreased ( P P P P P P P >0.1); according to the comparison among the groups with different intervention methods, the expression level of colonic SP mRNA of the rats in group MB was lower than that of group F ( P Conclusion The different efficacy of different acupuncture-moxibustion methods in treatment of functional constipation may be related with the mechanism of regulation of plasma SP content and the expression level of colonic SP mRNA.

In this paper, professor JIA Chunsheng's multiple treatment thoughts and methods for insomnia under different pathogenesis were shown through the three proven cases of insomnia, including the type of constraint fire of the liver and gallbladder, and excessive yang harassing the spirit, the type of failure of the heart and kidney to interact declined to kidney yin deficiency and the type of liver constraint transforming into fire, insufficient of the spleen and stomach, which provided physicians with experience and methods during treatment of insomnia in clinic, thus improving the clinical effect.

To analyze the literature regarding wrist-ankle acupuncture therapy by data mining technology, and the dominant diseases of wrist-ankle acupuncture therapy were summarized to provide reference for evaluation of specificity effect of wrist-ankle acupuncture therapy.The journal articles regarding wrist-ankle acupuncture therapy from the CNKI, WANFANG, and VIP since January 1, 1975 to December 31, 2017, and the medical cases regarding wrist-ankle acupuncture therapy inThe scope of disease involved a total of 7 disease entities in the literature regarding wrist-ankle acupuncture therapy. In the journal articles, there were 83 disease types and the most common surgical diseases were soft tissue injury and periarthritis of shoulder, the frequency were 34 and 24 times respectively. The total effective rates of wrist-ankle acupuncture therapy were 92.74% in internal medicine, 91.39% in surgery, 91.51% in gynecology, 90.88% in dermatology, 96.20% in pediatric, 89.05% in ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology and 88.78% in psychiatry. In the medical cases of wrist-ankle acupuncture therapy, there were 118 disease types and the most common diseases were pain andWrist-ankle acupuncture therapy is widely used in treatment of clinical diseases and has significant therapeutic effects. It is mostly used in the treatment of surgery, internal medicine (neurology particularly), dermatology (herpes zoster particularly). Besides, the wrist-ankle acupuncture therapy is also applicable in the treatment of diseases of ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology, gynecology, pediatric and psychiatry.

To investigate the features, dominant indications and application regularities of eye acupuncture therapy in clinical practice.We first collected original articles, academic dissertations, conference articles, and case reports from databases of CNKI, Wanfang, and Chinese biomedical literature (CBM) from Jan. 1 of 1980 to Dec. 31 of 2017, and medical records from medical books of Zhonghua Yan Zhen (Among the 850 articles retrieved, 178 were eligible to be subjected to analysis, including 42 disorders/diseases in 7 categories. The eye acupuncture therapy has the highest application frequency for 19 types of disorders/diseases of the internal medicine, such as sequela of apoplexy, hiccup, insomnia, vertigo, hypertension, etc., followed by head and body pain (7 types: headache, lumbago, sciatica, shoulder pain, etc.), disorders of the ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology (deafness, squinting eyes, dry eye syndrome, amblyopia, etc.), traumatic injury, gynecopathy, acute pain (biliary colic, renal colic). The effect rate was 95.87% for disorders of the gynecopathy, 95.54% for head and body pain, 94.53% for traumatic skin injury, 92.16% for emergency, 91.98% for disorders of the five sense organs, 91.43% for problems of the internal medicine, etc. Regarding the principle of acupoint selection, acupoints were chosen mainly according to the meridian running (146 articles), local region of the eye (14 articles) and diseased location (153 articles). A total of 157 articles have a marked description about the needling methods, including horizontal needling (81 articles), intra-orbital straight needling (22 articles), extra-orbital oblique needling (13 articles), etc. The duration of needle retaining was mostly from 15 to 30 minutes, and the handle-scraping was frequently adopted (34 articles), and the overall treatment frequency ranged from 11 to 20 times. In regard to the medical records, a total of 53 types of disorders were involved, including 37 types of the internal medicine such as stroke sequelae (34 articles), facial paralysis (11 articles), etc. The acupoints were selected according to the local region of eye (129 articles), the needle insertion involved horizontal needling (102 articles), and cured rate reported was higher than 90%.Eye acupuncture therapy is widely used for a variety of disorders and has a positive effect, particularly for stroke sequelae and various acute and chronic pain problems.

To explore the regularities of clinical application of hand acupuncture therapy to the treatment of diseases of different departments by using data mining technique, so as to provide a reference for clinical practice.We searched papers, academic dissertations and case reports (published in journals from Jan 1, 1953 to December 31, 2017) from databases of China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI), VIP, and Wanfang, and also searched papers from medical books about hand acupuncture treatment of different diseases/illness by using keywords of "hand acupuncture" and "hand acupoints"， followed by constructing a database after sorting, screening, recording, extracting, and statistical analysis by using a computer. Then, the data mining was conducted for summarizing the characteristics and rules of the hand acupuncture therapy in clinical application.The hand acupuncture therapy in Chinese medical journals was found to be applied to various clinical departments, with the frequency from high to low successively being 16 types of diseases (37.21%) in the surgery, 15 diseases (34.88%) in the internal medicine, 2 diseases (4.65%) in the pediatrics, 8 diseases (18.60%) in the ophthalmology-otorhinolaryngology, 1 disease (2.33%) in the genecology and 1 disease (2.33%) in the dermatology. In the treatment of diseases, the cure plus markedly effective rate of hand acupuncture was found to be highest for diseases of the pediatrics (90.65%), and was 88.45% surgery, 78.06% internal medicine, 89.96% ophthalmology-otorhinolaryngology, 60.61% gynecology, and 67.73% dermatology, respectively. When hand acupuncture used, the acupoints of the hand region on both sides, healthy side and affected side were often selected, and movement exercise was often used in combination, particularly for problems of the surgery. In the collected medical records and 6 acupuncture books, the hand acupuncture was employed for treatment of 34 and 123 kinds of diseases or problems, respectively, with the tissue injury, lumbocrural pain being most frequently seen in the records, and abdominal pain, lumbocrural, chest obstruction, etc. most frequently seen in the acupuncture books.Hand acupuncture therapy is widely used in the treatment of many clinical problems of different departments, such as tissue injury, leg pain, etc. of the surgery; abdominal pain, asthma, etc. of the internal medicine; infantile enuresis, diarrhea, etc. of the pediatrics. Acupoints of the hand on the unilateral side are frequently employed and may have a better therapeutic effect.

Different acupuncture-moxibustion therapies can produce different clinical effects, that is, the effect has specificity, which is significantly important in obtaining acupuncture-moxibustion efficacy. In this study, the clinical application laws of fire needle, acupoint injection, catgut embedment, acupoint application, moxibustion therapy and filiform needle acupuncture were summarized in the aspects of category of disease, efficacy and related prescriptions (such as medication and acupoint selection) based on the result of data mining, and the general applicable categories of disease of acupuncture-moxibustion treatment methods were further screened, so as to guide the clinical application and give play to the best efficacy.

Objective To provide objective basis for clinical decision through efficacy evaluation of randomized controlled trial on moxibustion in treatment of urinary retention. Methods Chinese National knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), VIP, Wanfang Data, and Sciencedirect were retrieved. The objects screened were from January 1, 1990 to June 30, 2013. Irrelevant, repeated and non-randomized controlled trials were excluded, and randomized controlled trials on moxibustion in treatment of urinary retention conforming to the inclusive criteria were selected. The quality of randomized controlled trials conforming to the inclusive criteria was evaluated using Jadad Scale, and the trials were analyzed statistically via RevMan5.2 software. The randomized controlled trials on moxibustion in treatment of urinary retention were evaluated systematically through Cochrane systematic review. Results Nineteen references with better homogeneity were included into the study. Based on Meta-analysis result, the consolidated effect size OR=6.95, 95%Cl(5.12, 9.44), consolidated effect size test Z=12.43, P Conclusion Moxibustion in treatment of urinary retention has a certain efficacy but there are some small sample size and low-quality literature in the study, big sample size and high-quality and formal randomized controlled trials are needed to study in the futher.

To explore the regularity and characteristics of clinical application of scalp acupuncture therapy for different types of clinical conditions so as to provide a reference for clinical practice.In the present study, "head acupuncture" and"scalp acupuncture" were used as the keywords to search papers and academic dissertations having definite standards for diagnosis and therapeutic effect assessment and published in journals and academic conferences collected in database China National Knowledge Internet(CNKI) from January 1 of 1959 to December 31 of 2016, followed by constructing a database after sorting, screening, recording, extracting, and statistical analysis by using a computer. Then, the data mining was conducted for summarizing the indications of disease categories, involved medical departments, needle-insertion methods, needle manipulation techniques, academic schools, and clinical efficacy of scalp acupuncture therapy.As a result, a total of 587 papers met our including criteria were analyzed. The scalp acupuncture therapy was widely employed in the treatment of various clinical conditions of different departments, with the application frequency being the internal medicine (438 times), surgery (75 times), pediatrics (44 times), etc. Of the indicated 102 types of clinical problems, 55 belong to the internal medicine, constituting of 53.92%, particularly the cerebral apoplexy and its sequelae with the top application frequency being 102 and 115 times, respectively. In terms of needle inserting methods mentioned in partial papers (most papers do not mention), fingernail-pressing-aided needle insertion, needle-twirling insertion, fingers-squeezed-needle insertion, particularly the swiftly rotating needle insertion and rapid needle-propelling insertion were most commonly used.Regarding the needle manipulation method, rapid needle twirling technique was frequently employed, usually at a frequency of approximately 200 times per min. In regard to the academic schools, JIAO Shun-fa's scalp acupuncture system was most frequently used, followed by the international standardized scalp acupuncture. The therapeutic effect of scalp acupuncture is effective in the treatment of different conditions of various departments, especially those of the dermatology and gynecology.Scalp acupuncture has superiority in the treatment disorders of the internal medicine and has been demonstrated to have positive effects for many types of problems, particularly for apoplexy and its sequelae. Rapid needle-propelling insertion and rapid needle-twirling technique are often employed.

Under the influence of academic theories of numerous physicians of TCM such as Li Gao and Li Zhong-zi in antient China, Professor Jia Chun-sheng proposed the academic thought of tonifying spleen and kidney in combination with acupuncture based on his clinical experience for decades. In clinical practice of acupuncture, Zhōngwan ( CV 12), bilateral Tiānshū ( ST 25), Qihai ( CV 6), Guānyuan ( CV4) are often selected to invigorate spleen so as to nourish original qi and to treat both spleen and kidney. The above-mentioned five acupoints form a pattern similar to a star according to their location distribution, so it is called the starlike selection method of acupoints, which attaches importance to spleen and kidney (original qi). Many diseases, especially internal injuries, are often treated with the starlike acupuncture manipulation combined with acupuncture at other acupoints, which achieves good clinical efficacy.

This study aims to investigate the expression changes of RANKL, RUNX2, and OPG in rabbit periodontal tissues under orthodontic force and explore its effect on the remodeling of periodontal tissues. A total of 16 specific pathogen-free rabbits were used in this study. The maxillary appliance was worn on the right (experimental) side, and the appliance-free left side was used as the control. Rabbits were sacrificed after 3, 5, 7, and 14 days of treatment. Changes in the expression levels of OPG, RANKL, and RUNX2 in the periodontium were detected using real-time PCR and western blotting methods. The OPG expression levels decreased after 3 to 14 days of treatment, while the expression levels of RANKL and RUNX2 increased after 3 to 14 days. The OPG expression levels decreased while those of RANKL and RUNX2 increased during orthodontic tooth movement, which suggested that they play a role in the osteogenesis process and the reconstruction of periodontal tissue.

To compare the effect of manual acupuncture (MA), electroacupuncture (EA) and moxibustion interventions on intestinal motility and expression of enteric nervous activity related proteins calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP), transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV 1) and proteinase activated receptor-4 (PAR-4) in colon tissue of rats with functional constipation (FC), so as to select a better intervention method for FC.Sixty male SD rats were randomly divided into blank control (Compared with the control group, the stool weight within 24 h and intestinal propulsive rate were significantly decreased in the model group (MA, EA and moxibustion interventions can promote the intestinal motility in FC rats, which may be related to their functions in down-regulating the expression of CGRP, TRPV 1 and PAR-4 proteins and genes (except CGRP in the moxibustion group).

To explore the rule of clinical application of auricular acupuncture therapy by data mining in order to guide clinical practice.The data base about single auricular acupuncture therapy for different clinical diseases was established by collection, sorting, screening, recording, collation, data extraction, statistic analysis on data samples from journals, academic theses dissertations published in near 60 years. The application rules of auricular therapy including its predominant diseases, stimulus modality, therapeutic effect, and angle of needling were summarized by data mining technique.Auricular acupuncture therapy has been widely and mostly used in the internal medicine department, accounting for 48.56%. Of stimulus modalities, auricular point paste and pressure is applied with the highest frequency, accounting for 64%. The highest effective rate is found in the surgery department diseases(81.41%). Pressure is the most effective stimulus in the internal medi-cine department, and bloodletting combined with paste and pressure in the surgery department, auricular point injection in the gynecology and pediatrics departments, bloodletting in the ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology department, and auricular point incision in the dermatology department. Auricular point injection has remarkable effect. Bloodletting combined with paste and pressure has nearly the same effect as bloodletting in the same medical department except dematology department. Otherwise, angle of needling is rarely studied.Auricular therapy is widely used and has remarkable effect in treating diseases by using different stimulus modalities. Whereas the angle of needling is rarely studied and future investigation is needed.

In the present paper, using data mining technology,the authors downloaded information from databases on auricular needle therapy, and obtained data samples from journals and academic dissertations involving the application of auricular needle therapy to treat diseases, and then screened, audited, and extracted the data and performed a statistical analysis. The authors extracted data on the application of auricular needle therapy in the stimulation methods of medicine (needling instrument), selection of the side of ear to treat disease and the number of times the ear was pressed per day and the compression time. In the stimulation methods, the needling instrument varied, the seeds of cowherb

To compare the effects of filiform needling, electroacupuncture, and moxibustion on functional constipation in rats, and to explore the possible mechanism of these three different methods.Male SD rats were randomly divided into blank control group (Compared with the blank control group, the first defecation time was prolonged, and the NO, NOS and VIP contents in plasma were increased in the model group (All the three different kinds of acupuncture and moxibustion methods have positively regulatory effect on functional constipation; electroacupuncture is the best for the regulation of plasma NO, NOS and VIP contents, while moxibustion is the best for the regulation of VIP expression in colonic tissue.

Objective To systematically evaluate the effect of acupoint catgut embedding therapy (ACET) for simple obesity. Methods Computer retrieval was used for randomized controlled trials on the treatment effect of simple obesity with ACET in databases of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data system, and the China Biology Medicine disc (CBMDisc). The Jadad Quality Scale was used in the evaluation of included studies. The outcome indicators were analyzed with the Review Manage 5.1 software. Results A total of 16 randomized controlled trials were included finally. The meta-analysis result showed that compared with the control group, there was statistically significance on the total efficiency of using ACET for simple obesity [OR=2.51, 95% confidence interval (1.74, 3.63), Z=4.91, P , ST 25), Zhōngwân ( CV 12), Fēnglong ( ST 40), Shu fēn ( CV 9), Qihai ( CV 6), Sānyīnjiāo ( SP 6), Zusanl ( ST 36), Ashi point, Daheng ( SP 15). The five kinds of catgut embedding needle were injection needles + acupuncture needle, specialized catgut embedding needle, spinal needle, triangular needle, and skin suture needle. Conclusion There is definite efficiency of using ACET in the treatment of simple obesity. However, the clinical efficiency still lacks of sufficient evidences. Therefore, further clinical research should be conducted in the providing of reliable evidences in the clinical decision-making in the future.

To explore the regularities and features of compound reinforcing-reducing manipulation of acupuncture filiform needles in the treatment of clinical conditions or diseases by using data mining technique, so as to guide clinical practice.At first, the data base about the reinforcing-reducing manipulation (CRRM) of filiform needles for different clinical problems was established by collection, sorting, screening, recording, collation, data extraction of the related original papers published in journals and conferences and related academic dissertations from Jan. 1 of 1950 to Jan. 31 of 2015 by using key words of "acupuncture" "moxibustion" "needling" "filiform needle", and according to the included and excluded standards.A total of 130 835 papers met the included standards were collected. Outcomes of data mining in the present study showed that (1) the ORRM is most frequently applied in the internal medicine, followed by surgery, gynecology, ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology, dermatology, and pediatrics, successively, mostly for lumbago and leg pain; (2) the heat-producing needling manipulation is the most frequently applied technique, followed by cool-producing needling, dragon-tiger warring, yang occluding in yin, yin occluding in yang techniques; (3) the highest effective rate of CRRM is for problems of the pediatrics, followed by those of the internal medicine, surgery, ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology, dermatology, and gynecology; (4) the most fre- quently used acupoints are Zusanli (ST 36), then Sanyinjiao (SP 6), stimulated by heat-producing needling, and Zusanli (ST 36), then Quchi (LI 11), stimulated by cool-producing needling, and Huantiao (GB 30), stimulated by dragon-tiger warring needling.The compound reinforcing-reducing manipulation of acupuncture is most frequently applied to problems in the inter- nal medicine, predominately for lumbago and leg pain, and the best effectiveness is for pediatric conditions. The heat-producing needling and cool-producing needling are most frequently applied at Zusanli (ST 36) and the dragon-tiger warring manipulation is most frequently applied at Huantiao (GB 30).

Objective To explore the clinically indicated diseases of acupoint catgut-embedding therapy, and summarize and analyze the disease spectrum of acupoint catgut-embedding therapy. Methods By literature research and data mining technique, the clinical study papers relevant to acupoint catgut-embedding therapy published from 1971 to June 2011 were selected, entered and verified, then the effective information were extracted, and finally, the disease spectrum were summarized. Results Acupoint catgut-embedding therapy is indicated for 103 diseases, involving 6 departments, of which there are 50 internal diseases, which is the most, accounting to 48.54%, and 15 surgical diseases, 12 ENT diseases, 11 gynecological diseases and 11 dermatological diseases, and 4 pediatric diseases, which is the least. Meanwhile, according to the rule of “Efficacy acupuncture grading disease spectrum”, the diseases treated with this therapy were graded preliminarily into grade I with 26 diseases, grade II with 30 diseases, and grade III with 8 diseases. Conclusion Acupoint catgut-embedding therapy can be used widely in clinical treatment with much broader disease spectrum, and it is worthy of being spread and applied.

To discuss the specificity of diseases treated by moxibustion and fire needling in clinical practice, so as to provide references for clinical treatment.With data mining of modern computer technique, journal and literature databases regarding moxibustion and fire needling were established, respectively. Literature regarding moxibustion and fire needling for the past 60 years has been collected, screened, included, reviewed and abstracted. The utility rate of moxibustion and fire needling in each department was calculated, frequency of diseases in clinical practice was summarized, and diseases which had differences in clinical practice in each department were screened; also the advantages of disease categories and clinical practice between two kinds of therapies in each department were compared.(1) The utility rate of moxibustion was highest in department of internal medicine and surgery, which were 43.6% and 28.1%, respectively; the utility rate of fire needling was highest in surgery and dermatological department, which were 53.7% and 23.8%, respectively. (2) According to the comparison and analysis on diseases treated by two therapies in clinic, among 26 kinds of gynecology diseases that were treated by moxibustion, 20 kinds were not involved with fire needling; among 22 kinds of pediatrics diseases that were treated by moxibustion, 20 kinds were not involved with fire needling. It was certain that the difference of the two therapies in clinical application was more significant in gynecology and pediatrics than that in the rest four departments. (3) Among the diseases which had differences in clinical practice in each department, the ones involved with moxibustion alone were insomnia, distention and fullness, consumptive fatigue in the department of internal medicine, blood-vessel Bi, stiff neck and hernia in surgery department, urticarial, skin Bi and skin cancer in dermatological department, malposition, infertility and amenorrhea in gynecology department, diarrhea, indigestion and stomachache in pediatrics department, blepharoptosis, blurred vision and dryness syndrome in ENT department; the ones involved with fire needling alone were numbness, coldness syndrome and acute renal colic in the department of internal medicine, lipoma, soft tissue injury and papilloma in surgery department, bromhidrosis, freckle and erysipelas in dermatological department, uterine fibroid in gynecology department, umbilical polyp in pediatrics department, auricle pseudocyst, starred nebula and phlegmatic mass in ENT department.Moxibustion is frequently applied in department of internal medicine and surgery, while fire needling is frequently used in surgery and dermatological department; the application of moxibustion is broader than that of fire needling in gynecology and pediatrics department. Among the diseases which have differences in clinical practice in each department, moxibustion is commonly seen for clinical symptoms featured with deficiency syndrome, while fire needling is commonly applied for the diseases that have obvious local symptoms.

To explore the regularities and characteristics of application of moxibustion therapy for different clinical problems or diseases by using data mining technique.A database on moxibustion therapy was established first by collection, sorting, screening, recording, collation, data extraction of the related literatures published in recent 60 years. By analyzing the appearance-frequency of clinical disorders treated by moxibustion and their effective rates, the regularities and characteristics were summed up.Moxibustion therapy has been used to treat 193 types of clinical disorders or diseases up to now, mostly in internal medicine for 72 types (accounting for 37%). Of the collected 2 516 articles about moxibustion therapy, 1 107 are for problems of the internal medicine, accounting for 44% ; those of facial paralysis and uroschesis are 139 and 108 respectively. The second and third mostly seen articles are surgery and gynecology respectively. Analysis on the therapeutic effect showed that moxibustion therapy is effective for relieving many types of clinical conditions or diseases, particularly those of pediatrics, surgery and dermatology. By taking both the appearing frequency and efficacy into account, analysis on the therapeutic effect shows that a total of 29 types of clinical disorders are preferably treated by moxibustion, including 12 types (41. 4%) attributed to the department of internal medicine, 10 types (34. 5%) to the department of surgery, 2 types to the department of dermatology, 3 types to the department of gynecology, one to the pediatrics and one to the department of five-organs.Moxibustion therapy is effective for many clinical disorders, particularly for those of the department of internal medicine and surgery.

To explore the specific efficacy of different moxibustion techniques in treatment of common diseases and clinical indications, and compare the specificity in clinical indications and efficacy among different moxibustion techniques so as to guide clinical practice better.The modern computerization and data mining technology were adopted to set up moxibustion literature database. The relevant literature of moxibustion techniques in recent 60 years were collected, screened, examined, extracted and analyzed statistically so as to explore the advantages of different moxibustion techniques in clinical treatment.(1) Of 2,516 literature, moxa stick, moxe cone and moxa device were used in the highest frequency in internal medicine department, for 730 times, 278 times and 102 times respectively. The warm needling technique was used in the highest frequency, for 70 times in the surgical department. (2) In the dermatology department, the curative rate with moxa cone was the highest, 75%. In the ear-nose-throat department, the warm needing technique and moxa device achieved the highest curative rate, 49% for both of them. In the internal medicine department and surgical department, the curative rate of warm needling technique was 53% and 58% respectively. In the gynecology department, the curative rate of moxa device was the highest, 59%. In the pediatrics department, the curative rate of moxa cone was the highest, 80%. (3) The numbers of priority disorders, frequency ≥20 times: 24 kinds of disease for moxa stick, five kinds of disease for moxa cone, 2 kinds of disease for warm needling technqiue and one disorder for moxa device. Facial paralysis, diarrhea, lumbar and leg pain and elbow and knee swelling pain were of the highest priority, treated with these 4 moxibustion techniques, with a certain of literature research values. (4) The warm needling technique achieved the better efficacy on elbow and knee swelling pain, lumbar and leg pain and diarrhea compared with the other three techniques and the curative rate was higher. The moxa device tecnique achieved the higher curative rate for facial paralysis compared with the other three techniques.Through the comparison of application frequency, curative rate, clinical application frequency in disorders and the efficacy of priority disorders in the treatment with different moxibustion techniques, it is found that moxa stick, moxa cone and moxa device are simple in manipulation, safe and effective. Hence, they can be extensively used in the treatment of common disorders in every department in clinic. The warm needling technique acts on the body by the co-work of needling and warming stimulation of mugwort. It achieves the particular effect on the disorders with complicated etiologies compared with the other three techniques. It can be chosen in priority for the disorders caused by blockage in meridian and collateral and stagnation of qi and blood.

To evaluate the therapeutic effect of pricking blood therapy for migraine.We searched all the original papers about pricking blood therapy for migraine in common databases as the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Library (CBM), Ovid, Science Direct, Socolar, and Sci Finder (1949 -2012), Wanfang Data (1998-2012) and Foreign Medical Journal Service (FMJS, 1990-2012). The original articles were searched in accordance with a pre-defined standards (simple pricking blood treatment, or the pricking blood therapy was the principal approach), while those about other diseases (such as cerebrovascular disease, cervical spondylosis, etc.) evoked migraine, pricking blood used as a complementary therapy, case report, specialists' experience summary, reviews, surveys, news articles, animal studies were excluded. Then, a Meta-analysis was made by software Review Manager 5.1.A total of 11 clinical trial papers involving 826 cases of migraine were included in the present paper. Three of them were high-quality researches, and the other eight were low quality researches. Results of Meta-analysis indicated that the therapeutic effect of the pricking blood therapy was significantly superior to that of non-bleeding therapies in relieving migraine [OR = 6.23, 95% CI: (4.03, 9.63), Z = 8.24, P0.00 001]. However, the poor symmetry of funnel plot suggested a risk of bias.The pricking blood therapy is effective for relieving migraine, but larger sample clinical trials, particularly randomized controlled trials are definitely needed for confirming the conclusion.

Through computer-based technology and data mining method, with treatment in cases of bloodletting acupuncture therapy in collected literature as sample data, the association rule in data mining was applied. According to self-built database platform, the data was input, arranged and summarized, and eventually required data was acquired to perform the data mining of bleeding volume and method in blood-letting acupuncture therapy, which summarized its application rules and clinical values to provide better guide for clinical practice. There were 9 kinds of blood-letting tools in the literature, in which the frequency of three-edge needle was the highest, accounting for 84.4% (1239/1468). The bleeding volume was classified into six levels, in which less volume (less than 0.1 mL) had the highest frequency (401 times). According to the results of the data mining, blood-letting acupuncture therapy was widely applied in clinical practice of acupuncture, in which use of three-edge needle and less volume (less than 0.1 mL) of blood were the most common, however, there was no central tendency in general.

To analyze the effectiveness of acupoint application therapy for infantile diarrhea so as to provide an objective evidence for clinical decision making.The authors of the present paper did a literature retrieval using The China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database, Chinese bio-medical database and Wanfang database covering the period of January 1, 1990-June 30, 2012, and made a systemic evaluation on the retrieved randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) of acupoint application therapy for infantile diarrhea using Cochrane system evaluation method. Following excluding the repetitive, irrelevant and non-randomized controlled trials, those meeting the standards of randomized controlled trials were collected. Trial quality was assessed using the Jadad score which evaluates the randomization process, blinding, and the description of withdrawals or dropouts. The RevMan 5. 1 software was used to make statistical analysis.A total of 16 papers (2,151 patients) were included in the Meta analysis. The homogeneity test was better (chi2 = 8.09, P = 0.92, I2 = 0%), displaying a homogenicity of most studies. Meta analysis showed the merger effect quantity odds ratio (OR) = 4.68, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 3.41, 6.42, and the merger effect value test Z = 9.58, P0.00001. Statistical difference indicates a better therapeutic effect of acupoint application group than the control group, providing evidence in favor of acupoint application therapy for infantile diarrhea. Funnel chart displays that the researched object distribution is symmetric, being smaller in the bias. But the potential publication bias still possibly exists.Acupoint application therapy for infantile diarrhea has some advantages, which needs further confirmation due to lower quality of the collected literatures. Larger sample, high quality and randomized controlled clinical trials are highly recommended.

To analyze the basic characteristics of effects of acupoint application therapy in order to guide clinical decision better.A database on acupoint application therapy was established first by collection, sorting, screening, recording, collation, data extraction, and statistical analyses of the related literature published in recent 60 years, and using modern computer system. Then, its predominant indications and application rules in clinical practice were analyzed using data mining techniques.Outcomes of data mining showed that the acupoint application therapy was extensively utilized in the treatment of a variety of diseases or clinical conditions (142 in total) in different clinical departments, particularly in the internal medicine which contains 51 types of clinical conditions or diseases (accounting for 35.92%). Among them, the top 3 are asthma, cough, and abdominal pain, with the appearance frequency being 161, 79 and 45 times (= articles) in the domestic journals, respectively. The second one is the paediatric department, containing 30 kinds of diseases or clinical conditions (accounting for 21.13%). Among them, cough (106 articles), asthma (104 articles) and diarrhoea (82 articles) are frequently seen. The surgery department takes the third place, involving 27 disorders (accounting for 19.01%), with lumbago-leg pain being the most (31 articles). In the departments of ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology, 14 types of disorders (accounting for 9.86%) have been reported, with nasosinusitis being the most (56 papers). This therapy has also been used to treat 10 types of gynecopathy (7.04%) and 10 kinds of dermopathy (7.04%), with dysmenorrhea (37 articles) and shingles (6 articles) being the most. For acupoint application, complex prescriptions of Chinese herbal medicines in the forms of paste and cataplasm are frequently adopted, but with fewer application of enhancer of cutaneous penetration. Regarding the utilized acupoint, local points are often chosen. In the light of the collected papers, the highest effective rate is for dermopathy, followed by surgical problems, gynecopathy, paediatric conditions, and disorders of the internal medicine, ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology.Acupoint application therapy has been used for 142 kinds of disorders of different clinical departments, with the dominant indications being asthma, cough, abdominal pain, facial paralysis and constipation in the internal medicine, cough, asthma and diarrhoea in the paediatrics, lumbago-leg pain in the surgery, nasosinusitis in the otorhinolaryngology, and dysmenorrhea of gynecopathy.

To analyze the superiorities of acupoint catgut-embedding therapy, discuss its law of clinical application and provide scientific decision-making for clinical treatment.Literatures on acupoint catgut-embedding therapy in the recent 40 years were selected, input, examined and verified, picked up and analyzed by establishing database with the modern computer technology.(1) One thousand and seventy-five literatures were input. It shows that the acupoint catgut-embedding therapy has an extensive application in all departments, especially in the internal department, accounting for 48.54% (50/103) of the total disease category. It has the most extensive application on treatment of epigastric pain, with the frequency of 102 times, and obesity of 74 times. The next is surgery, accounting for 14.56% (15/103). The major application is on low back pain and leg pain with the frequency of 79 times. Psoriasis, with the frequency of 30 times, holds the major application in dermatological department. And blepharoplasty, with the frequency of 30 times, gains the most application in department of ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology. (2) In the included literatures, selection of adjacent acupoints and distal acupoints are held as the major method of acupoint selection. The adjusted lumbar puncture needle is taken as the major tool for the acupoint catgut-embedding therapy. And catguts of different sizes are adopted for the operation. (3) Analysis of the therapeutic effect shows that acupoint catgut-embedding therapy has obvious effect in all departments, especially in surgery and dermatology, with the total effective rate over 90%.Epigastric pain, obesity, epilepsy, asthma, abdominal pain, facial paralysis and constipation of the internal medicine, low back pain and leg pain of the surgical department, psoriasis of the dermatological department and blepharoplasty of the department of ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology are considered as the dominant diseases for acupoint catgut-embedding therapy.

To analyze the regularities and characters of clinical application of red-hot needle therapy in ancient and modern literature of Chinese medicine by using data mining techniques, so as to provide a reference for study on the specificity of efficacy of red-hot needle therapy.Sample data was collected from some medical books, medical cases, reports of modern journals for calculating frequent item sets by using methods of association rules of data mining. Then, the collected data was extracted, sorted out, and summed up by using our newly developed literature database platform of red-hot needle therapy in order to find out the most suitable indications of this therapy in clinical practice.A total of 6 categories of clinical conditions treated by red-hot needle therapy were found. Among them, the frequency times (percentages) of red-hot needle application for surgical problems appeared in journals, medical cases and medical books are 287 times (49.83%), 235 times (48.96%), 154 times (41.73%), respectively. The frequency times of red-hot needle application for disorders of internal medicine and dermatology are 276 times and 360 times. Among the 115 categories of clinical conditions or diseases treated by red-hot needle appeared in journals, arthromyodynia and struma are frequently found, with the frequency being 115 and 46 times, separately. The total effective rates of the present therapy from higher to lower are 99.46% for pediatric problems, 98.65% five sensory organs department, 97.32% surgery, 96.66% dermatology, 96.34% gynecology, and 93.95% internal medicine, respectively. Among the 97 types of clinical conditions recorded in the literature on medical cases, aural verruca is more frequently seen apart from arthromyodynia and struma. In medical books, 94 types of clinical conditions treated by red-hot needle therapy are found, including 32 types of problems of internal medicine.Data mining results show that red-hot needle therapy has been widely used in different clinical departments, and more frequently used in surgery (mainly orthopedic and general surgery), internal medicine (mainly neurology and gastroenterology), dermatology.

Affinity propagation (AP) is a clustering algorithm which has much better performance than traditional clustering approach such as K-means algorithm. AP can usually find a moderate clustering number, but “moderate” usually may not be the “optimal”. If we have found the optimal clustering number of AP, to estimate the input “preferences” (p) and the effective corresponding “preferences” (p) interval from the data sets is hard. In this paper, we propose a new approach called Automatically Affinity Propagation Clustering (AAP).Our AAP method is absolutely “automatic”. AAP represents the issue of finding the optimal AP clustering and the corresponding “preferences” (p) interval as an optimization problem of searching optimal solution of the input “preferences” (p).AAP searches the “preferences” (p) space using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, and evaluates the particles’ fitness using clustering validation indexes. In order to prevent particles from flying out of defined region, we used Boundary Checking (BC) rule to check the validity of particles’ positions of PSO. According to lots of AAP’s independent runs results, we can find AP’s optimal clustering number and estimate the corresponding “preferences” (p) interval. One artificial data set and several real-world data sets are presented to illustrate the simplicity and effectiveness of AAP.

Air Combat Decision-Making for Coordinated Multiple Target Assignment is an important yet difficult problem in the modern information warfare. Previous methods, such as neural network, genetic algorithm, ant colony algorithm, particle swarm optimization and auction algorithm, used to resolve this problem have proved to be either too brittle or not stable. To address this problem, a new continuous and distributed method based on Entropy Regularization is proposed. Based on the Probability Collective, the discrete problem is converted to be continuous by adding an Entropy Regular Item in the original basis of the global utility function, in order to amend the pathosis of the original function. Then, the optimization probability algorithm updating is done by jointly minimizing a Lagrangian of their joint state probability distribution. The experiment results show that as compared with conventional methods, the proposed method is be able to converge to the global optimum with more precision and stability.

Affinity propagation (AP) is a new powerful clustering algorithm based message passing between data points. One of the major problems in clustering is the determination of the optimal number of clusters. In this paper, we propose a new approach called Affinity Propagation Clustering based Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO-AP), which using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to determination of the optimal clustering number of AP. Our PSO-AP method is absolutely “automatic”. PSO-AP represents the issue of finding the optimal clustering number of AP as an optimization problem of searching optimal solution of the input “preferences” space. It evaluates the particles' fitness using clustering validation indexes. Bounded constraint strategy of PSO used supervisor-student model. Several experiments data sets are presented to illustrate the simplicity and effectiveness of PSO-AP.

It is a challenging and difficult task that designing large collections of agents without centralized control to support coordinated work. Previous methods, such as rule-based systems, artificial life and market-based systems, used to address this problem have proved to be either too brittle or not scalable to large system. To address this problem, a new method based on COllective INtelligence(COIN) which presented by NASA/Ames research center is proposed. Firstly, a hierarchical model is defined which expand the conventional COIN framework to the heterogeneous multi-agent system; then the forms and the constructing process of the global utility constructed by the hierarchical model are discussed. Secondly, based on an air defense scenario where weapons(agents) needed to assign to the targets without centralized control, a concrete world utility is constructed to solve the rapid self-response of agents. Finally, the impacting factors, effect set, which impacting the coordination effect of the system are discussed. Simulation experiment results show our model and algorithm are effective by comparing with the original methods.

Dofetilide (DOF), a novel Class III antiarrhythmic drug, prolongs the action potential duration (APD) and shows a positive inotropic effect in guinea pig papillary muscle. The present experiments were designed to study the positive inotropic effect of DOF on rat ventricle and explore its possible mechanism(s). Hearts from male Wistar rats (260–320 g) were divided into five groups and perfused in Langendorff mode. Ventricular myocytes were enzymatically isolated from male Wistar rats. Whole-cell voltage-clamping technique was used to test the Na+–Ca2+ exchange (NCE) current (I NCX); Calcium transients and cell shortening provoked by field stimulation or using calcium current command waveform were observed synchronously with an ionic imaging system. DOF (0.03–1.0 μM) increased left ventricular function in isolated rat hearts in a concentration-dependent manner. DOF (0.03–1.0 μM) also concentration-dependently increased both inward and outward I NCX in isolated rat ventricular cells. The EC50 values of DOF were 0.149 μM for the inward I NCX and 0.249 μM for outward I NCX, respectively. DOF 0.2 μM significantly enhanced Ca2+ transient and cell shortening in single rat ventricular myocytes driven by field electric stimulation. When the patch clamp system was connected to the ionic imaging system, Ca2+ current (I Ca), Ca2+ transient and cell shortening amplitude in a same cell were recorded synchronously. Application of DOF 0.2 μM had no effect on I Ca, but significantly increased Ca2+ transient and cell shortening. NCX inhibitor KB-R7943 0.6 μM significantly depressed the effects of DOF on Ca2+ transient and cell shortening. We conclude that DOF enhanced contractility of rat ventricular myocytes. The enhancement of NCE may be involved in the positive inotropic action of DOF.