No abstract

This study is to investigate the influences of acupuncture for dyspepsia on the Radial Pressure Pulse (RPP) between the Chun, Guan and Chy positions of the right/left wrist. Two series of experiments were designed; for the first series, 30 patients with dyspepsia (Group P) and 30 normal subjects (Group N) were seated to undergo the measurements of pulse pressure waveforms from radial artery by sphygmograph. The parameters of RPP included the spectral energy of 0-10 Hz (SE(0-10 Hz)), 10-50 Hz (SE(10-50 Hz)) and 13-50 Hz (SE(13-50 Hz)). For the second series, acupuncture was administered at the right and left Tsu San Li (St-36) points for the same 30 dyspepsia patients, and then their pulse pressure waveforms were re-examined. The results showed that the SE(0-10 Hz) at Right Guan (RB) (p < 0.05), the SE(10-50 Hz) at RB (p < 0.01), and the SE(13-50 Hz) at RB (p < 0.01) and Left Guan (LB) (p < 0.05) of Group P were significantly greater than that of Group N. After the acupuncture, there were significant decreases in the SE(0-10 Hz) only at RB (p < 0.01), in the SE(10-50 Hz) at RB (p < 0.01), Right Chy (RC) (p < 0.05) and LB (p < 0.05), and in the SE(13-50 Hz) RB (p < 0.01), RC (p < 0.05) and LB (p < 0.01). We concluded that the pulse-frequency spectrum at RB was a more effective characteristic for dyspepsia patients, and the acupuncture had an effect on SE(10-50 Hz) and SE(13-50 Hz) more obviously than that on SE(0-10 Hz).

It is concluded that the EP(10-50 Hz%) revealed the specific characteristics of RPP and significantly varied at the six positions, and the left Chun position, the position to detect the heart diseases in Chinese medicine, is qualified to discriminate the differences between the normotensive and hypertensive patients.

Diagnosis by radial arterial pulse is very important in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of detection time and position on the parameters of time- and frequency-domain of radial pulse wave and to differentiate between Dyspepsia and Rhinitis by the statistical analysis of two signal types. A sphygmograph was developed to record radial pressure pulse for spectral analysis. The measurements were expressed as the pressure wave and its frequency. In this study, 135 subjects including the controls, Dyspepsias and Rhinitis were enrolled in this study. The signals were taken from three diagnosis positions of both wrists. Seven parameters of pressure wave and two parameters of spectrum analysis were evaluated by ANOVA test and Tukey's test. The results showed that the effects of detection time and position on the parameters taken from pulse wave were inconsistent. No regular rules or relationship could be established. The power spectra of 10-50 Hz and 13-50 Hz from sphygmography revealed a significant effect of health status, position and their interaction. There was a significant difference in the power spectra of 13-50 Hz between the control and Rhinitis, as well as between the control and Dyspepsia at right Guan position. The results of this study strongly suggest that the spectrum of sphygmogram might be more helpful than the pressure wave signals for detection of Dyspepsia and Rhinitis.

Abstract. Hepatocellular carcinoma is a common type of cancer that is usually associated with poor prognosis. In this study, we examined the in vitro and in vivo mechanisms of the traditional Vietnamese herb Zanthoxylum avicennae on the inhibition of HA22T human hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation. HA22T cells were treated with different concentrations of Zanthoxylum avicennae extracts (YBBEs) and analyzed with the MTT assay, western blot analysis, flow cytometry, siRNA transfection assays and co-immunoprecipitation assay. Additionally, the HA22T-implanted xenograft nude mouse model was applied to confirm the cellular effects. YBBEs showed a strong inhibition of HA22T cell viability in a dose-dependent manner and significantly reduced cell proliferation-related proteins as well as induced cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) siRNA or okadaic acid totally blocked YBBE-mediated cell proliferation inhibition. In addition, an HA22T-implanted nude mouse model further confirmed that YBBEs inhibit HA22T tumor cell growth and downregulate the survival and cell cycle regulating proteins, as well as activate the PP2A protein. Our findings indicate that the inhibition of HA22T cell proliferation by YBBEs is mediated through PP2A activation.