Buping Liu

To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of multiple acupuncture therapies in the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR) using a network Meta-analysis. This network Meta-analysis adhered to the PRISMA-NMA guideline. Eight databases were systematically searched from inception to December 31, 2023, and retrieved references were managed using EndNote 20. The risk of bias in individual studies was assessed with the Cochrane RoB 2.0 tool (ROB 2.0). Data analysis was performed using R 4.2.1 and STATA 15.1. A total of 56 studies that had enrolled 4859 patients with AR were included. Hand acupuncture (HA) combined with acupoint catgut embedding (AE), hand acupuncture with heat sensitive moxibustion (HA + HSM), and acupoint application were the most effective in attaining the clinical effective rate. HA + AE, hand acupuncture with indirect moxibustion (HA + IM), and electroacupuncture (EA) with AE ranked the highest with respect to the Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire Score. HA + IM, HA, and HA + EA yielded the best Total Nasal Symptom Score, whereas HA + AE, EA + AE, and HA had the best results for the Total Non-Nasal Symptom Score. However, subgroup analyses of clinical efficacy revealed that HA + HSM had the best therapeutic effects in the short term, whereas HA + AE was the most effective in the medium to long term. Combined acupuncture and moxibustion therapy may be a safe and effective intervention for patients with AR. HA + IM and HA + AE exhibited the most desirable therapeutic effects compared with other acupuncture and moxibustion therapies.

Background: Vascular dementia is a cognitive dysfunction syndrome caused by cerebral vascular factors such as ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. The effect of acupuncture on vascular dementia models is ambiguous, and there is controversy about whether acupuncture has a placebo effect. Oxidative stress and inflammation are the most essential mechanisms in preclinical studies of vascular dementia. However, there is no meta-analysis on the mechanism of vascular dementia in animal models. It is necessary to explore the efficacy of acupuncture through Meta-analysis of preclinical studies. Methods: Three major databases, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science (including medline), were searched in English until December 2022.The quality of the including literature was assessed using SYRCLE’s risk of bias tool. Review Manager 5.3 was used to statistically summarize the included studies and the statistical effect values were expressed by SMD. The outcomes included: behavioral tests (escape latency, number of crossings), pathological sections (Nissl and TUNEL staining), oxidative stress markers (ROS, MDA, SOD, GSH-PX) and neuroinflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6). Results: A total of 31 articles were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed that the escape latency, the contents of ROS, MDA, IL-1β, and IL-6 were decreased, and the contents of SOD and Nissl-positive neurons were increased in the acupuncture group as compared with the non-group (P < .05). Compared with the impaired group, the acupuncture group also had the above advantages (P < .05). In addition, the acupuncture group also increased the number of crossings and GSH-PX content, and decreased the expression of TUNEL-positive neurons and TNF-α (P < .05). Conclusions: From behavioral tests to slices and pathological markers in animal models of vascular dementia, it can be proved that acupuncture is effective in targeting oxidative stress and neuroinflammatory damage, and acupuncture is not a placebo effect. Nevertheless, attention needs to be paid to the gap between animal experiments and clinical applications.