Clinical research evidence of cupping therapy in China: a systematic literature review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Though cupping therapy has been used in China for thousands of years, there has been no systematic summary of clinical research on it.</p> <p>This review is to evaluate the therapeutic effect of cupping therapy using evidence-based approach based on all available clinical studies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We included all clinical studies on cupping therapy for all kinds of diseases. We searched six electronic databases, all searches ended in December 2008. We extracted data on the type of cupping and type of diseases treated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>550 clinical studies were identified published between 1959 and 2008, including 73 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 22 clinical controlled trials, 373 case series, and 82 case reports. Number of RCTs obviously increased during past decades, but the quality of the RCTs was generally poor according to the risk of bias of the Cochrane standard for important outcome within each trials. The diseases in which cupping was commonly employed included pain conditions, herpes zoster, cough or asthma, etc. Wet cupping was used in majority studies, followed by retained cupping, moving cupping, medicinal cupping, etc. 38 studies used combination of two types of cupping therapies. No serious adverse effects were reported in the studies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>According to the above results, quality and quantity of RCTs on cupping therapy appears to be improved during the past 50 years in China, and majority of studies show potential benefit on pain conditions, herpes zoster and other diseases. However, further rigorous designed trials in relevant conditions are warranted to support their use in practice.</p

Acclimation of leaf dark respiration to nocturnal and diurnal warming in a semiarid temperate steppe

National Key Research and Development Program of China 2010CB833503；Forestry Department of Sichuan Province 2009-204；National Natural Science Foundation 30925009<p class="FR_field"> A better understanding of thermal acclimation of leaf dark respiration in response to nocturnal and diurnal warming could help accurately predict the changes in carbon exchange of terrestrial ecosystems under global warming, especially under the asymmetric warming. A field manipulative experiment was established with control, nocturnal warming (1800-0600hours), diurnal warming (0600-1800hours), and diel warming (24h) under naturally fluctuating conditions in a semiarid temperate steppe in northern China in April 2006. Temperature response curves of in situ leaf dark respiration for Stipa krylovii Roshev. were measured at night (R-n) and after 30min of darkness imposed in the daytime (R-d). Leaf nonstructural carbohydrates were determined before sunrise and at sunset. Results showed that R-n could acclimate to nocturnal warming and diurnal warming, but R-d could not. The decreases in Q(10) (temperature sensitivity) of R-n under nocturnal-warming and diurnal warming regimes might be attributed to greater depletion of total nonstructural carbohydrates (TNC). The real-time and intertwined metabolic interactions between chloroplastic and mitochondrial metabolism in the daytime could affect the impacts of warming on metabolite pools and the distinct response of R-n and R-d to warming. Projection on climate change-carbon feedback under climate warming must account for thermal acclimation of leaf dark respiration separately by R-n and R-d.</p

The cAMP-dependent protein kinase mediates the expression of AChE in chick myotubes

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a neuropeptide synthesized by motor neurons, stimulates the expression of AChR and AChE at the vertebrate neuromuscular junctions. The signaling mechanism of CGRP-induced AChE expression in muscle was determined both in vitro and in vivo. In cultured chick myotubes, the intracellular cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) activity increased to similar to 2-fold after the application of CGRP or PKA activators; the induction was blocked by PKA inhibitors, in vivo transfection analysis on chick gastrocnemius muscles showed that the transfection of cDNA encoding constitutively active mutant G alpha(s) increased the expression of AChE mRNA and protein to similar to 2-fold, while the constitutively active mutant G alpha(i) cDNA transfection showed an opposite effect. The induced catalytic subunit of AChE at similar to 105 kDa was determined by specific antibody. These findings indicate that the CGRP-induced AChE expression in chick muscle is mediated by a PKA-dependent pathway. NeuroReport 11:801-806 (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

SB and AGNs in the HDF-N and HFF: Deep, Global VLBI Observations

We present the results of deep, wide-field global VLBI 1.4 GHz observations of the Hubble Deep Field North (HDF-N) region and the surrounding Hubble Flanking Fields (HFF). Using the global VLBI network, we attained an r.m.s. noise level of 7 mu Jy/beam with a 4 mas angular resolution in the inner part of the field. Above the 5 sigma detection level, we clearly detected 12 compact radio sources. The observations strongly suggest that these sources harbour active galactic nuclei (AGN). Some of the sources show resolved structures, in particular we resolved a jet-like extension emanating from the AGN core of a distant, dust-obscured starburst galaxy. We compared radio, IR., and X-ray luminosities of 12 VLBI detected AGN with starburst sample. The radio/X-ray luminosity correlation clearly presents two separate sub-populations of AGN. One of the sub-population (radio-enhanced AGN) dramatically shows extremely red optical/near-infrared (NIR) colour and even the deepest X-ray survey missed some of the AGN in this group, which imply that these AGN are heavily obscured by dust in the host galaxies. The results clearly demonstrate the power of deep, high-resolution VLBI imaging in discriminating between star-formation and AGN activity in distant, dust-obscured systems

A cyclic AMP-dependent pathway regulates the expression of acetylcholinesterase during myogenic differentiation of C2C12 cells

The expression of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is markedly increased during myogenic differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts to myotubes; the expression is mediated by intrinsic factor(s) during muscle differentiation. In order to analyze the molecular mechanisms regulating AChE expression during myogenic differentiation, a similar to2.2-kb human AChE promoter tagged with a luciferase reporter gene, namely pAChE-Luc, was stably transfected into C2C12 cells. The profile of promoter-driven luciferase activity during myogenic differentiation of C2C12 myotubes was found to be similar to that of endogenous expression of AChE catalytic subunit. The increase of AChE expression was reciprocally regulated by a cAMP-dependent signaling pathway. The level of intracellular cAMP, the activity of cAMP-dependent protein kinase, the phosphorylation of cAMP-responsive element binding protein and the activity of cAMP-responsive element (CRE) were down-regulated during the myotube formation. Mutating the CRE site of human AChE promoter altered the original myogenic profile of the promoter activity and its suppressive response to cAMP. In addition, the suppressive effect of the CRE site is dependent on its location on the promoter. Therefore, our results suggest that a cAMP-dependent signaling pathway serves as a suppressive element in regulating the expression of AChE during early myogenesis

CDNA encodes Xenopus P2Y(1) nucleotide receptor: expression at the neuromuscular junctions

A cDNA encoding Xenopus P2Y(1) receptor was isolated by cross-hybridization with chicken homolog. The deduced amino acid sequence of Xenopus P2Y(1) receptor with 361 amino residues is 80-85\% identical to human, rodent and avian homologs. When the cDNA was expressed in mammalian cells, the activation of Xenopus P2Y(1) receptor by adenine nucleotides stimulated the accumulation of inositol phosphate, and adenosine 3',5'-bismonophosphate (A3P5P) or other antagonists blocked its action; these pharmacological properties showed resemblance of P2Y(1) receptor family in higher vertebrate. A transcript encoding Xenopus P2Y(1) receptor at similar to 3.2 kb was revealed in the brain, spinal cord and muscle of adult Xenopus, and it is strongly expressed in developing brain, spinal cord and myotomal muscles of the embryos by in situ hybridization. P2Y(1) receptor was shown to be restricted to the neuromuscular junctions and co-localized with AChRs in adult muscle. These results support the notion that ATP and its P2Y(1) receptor subtype are effectors in organizing the post-synaptic apparatus