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Obesity is a worldwide public health problem. Currently, increasing evidence suggests acupuncture and related therapies are effective for obesity. This network meta-analysis (NMA) was performed to compare the effectiveness of different acupuncture and related therapies. We searched potential randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in three international databases. Thirty-four trials involving 2283 participants were included. Pairwise meta-analysis showed that acupuncture and related therapies were superior to lifestyle modification and placebo in reducing weight and body mass index (BMI). Based on decreases in body weight, results from NMA showed that acupoint catgut embedding (standard mean difference [SMD]: 1.26; 95% credible interval [95% CI], 0.46–2.06), acupuncture (SMD: 2.72; 95% CrI, 0.06–5.29), and combination of acupuncture and related theories (SMD: 3.65; 95% CrI, 0.96–6.94) were more effective than placebo. Another NMA result indicated that acupoint catgut embedding (SMD: 0.63; 95% CI, 0.25–1.11), acupuncture (SMD: 1.28; 95% CrI, 0.43–2.06), combination of acupuncture and related therapies (SMD: 1.44; 95% CrI, 0.64–2.38), and electroacupuncture (SMD: 0.60; 95% CrI, 0.03–1.22) were superior to lifestyle modification in decreasing BMI. Combination of acupuncture and related therapies was ranked the optimal method for both reducing weight and BMI. Further studies will clarify which combination of acupuncture and related therapies is better.

BACKGROUND Forward osmosis (FO) membranes need to be improved since water fluxes of commercial FO membranes are low. Using electrospun polysulfone (PSf)/titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocomposite fibers as substrates could be a good way to make high‐quality FO membranes. The effect of nano‐TiO2 on polyamide thin film nanocomposite (TFN) FO membrane was investigated. The nanocomposite substrates were fabricated by electrospinning. Hydrophilicity, porosity, pore size and mechanical properties of the membranes were determined. RESULTS Results indicated that hydrophilicity, porosity and pore size of the substrates were increased upon addition of TiO2. Water flux of TFN membrane prepared using PSf substrate embedded with 0.25 wt% TiO2 nanoparticles (denoted as TFN 0.25) was improved by 19% compared with controlled TFC membrane. Further increase in TiO2 nanoparticles loading to 0.5 and 0.75 wt% had higher water flux, but their FO performances were compromised by a significant increase in reverse solute flux and the active layer is more vulnerable. FO performance evaluation indicated that TFN 0.25 membrane showed the most promising results, with high water flux and low reverse solute flux. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated that PSf/TiO2 solution can be electrospun as substrate to make TFN membranes with higher water flux than commercial membranes and electrospun membranes without nano‐TiO2. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry

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