Background: The aim of this study was to compare the short-term and intermediate-term efficacy of acupuncture plus fire needle therapy with that of acupuncture alone in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis (LE). Methods: Thirty-eight patients with LE who had persisted for at least 2 months were enrolled in this prospective, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled pilot trial. Twenty-one patients were randomized to the acupuncture plus fire needle group and 17 to the acupuncture-only group. The primary outcome was the visual analog scale pain score for the previous 24 hours and the secondary outcomes were the maximum grip strength, Patient-rated Forearm Evaluation Questionnaire score, and Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-form Health Survey score. The values at baseline (pretreatment), at the end of treatment, and at 3 months after treatment were used to assess the short-term and intermediate-term effects of treatment. The data were analyzed using the Chi-square test and t test. Results: Within-group analyses showed better results for acupuncture plus fire needle therapy in the short term and intermediate term. Differences in the severity of pain and secondary outcomes were significant in the intermediate term in the acupuncture group. At the end of treatment, none of the differences in outcome scores were significant, except for maximum grip strength in the affected hand in the acupuncture group. No significant between-group differences in short-term or intermediate-term outcomes were observed. Conclusion: Acupuncture plus fire needle therapy was effective in the short term in patients seeking improvement of LE. Twelve treatments were effective for relieving pain and improving disability in the intermediate term in patients with chronic LE in both study groups. The findings of the pilot study confirm the feasibility of proceeding to a larger randomized controlled study of the longer-term effects of acupuncture plus fire needle therapy in patients with LE.
The purpose of this investigation was to reveal the use patterns of the physics journals in the M.I.T. Science Library. The findings are based upon an analysis of actual use data recorded from all volumes and issues left by library users on study tables and on trucks in the photocopy area from March 15 to June 31, 1971. The Science Library contains some 220 physics journals. The study reveals that only 138 journals (62.7%) were used even once during the 3 1/2‐month interval. A core of 49 journals supplies 90% of use, and these titles would cost 51.5% of the total single subscription costs of the 138 used titles: 52.3% of use occurs in journal volumes less than 6 years old. English is the most used language of physics journals and the English journals account for 95.3% of use. American journals, 57.2% of which are published by the American Institute of Physics, supply 59.4% of the total use.
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