Search

To observe the clinical effect of penetrating moxibustion on migraine without aura (MO) patients.Totally 60 MO patients from the Acupuncture Clinic of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine were collected from November 2015 to February 2017. All patients were assigned to a treatment group and a control group using a random number table, 30 cases in each group. The treatment group was treated with penetrating moxibustion, and the control group was treated with mild moxibustion, thrice a week for 4 consecutive weeks. The total effective rate, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores, headache intensity, and Migraine Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MSQ) scores of patients after treatment were compared between the two groups. The moxibustion sensation and reaction after moxibustion were observed, and the adverse reactions were evaluated. All patients were followed up at 4 and 16 weeks after treatment.The total effective rate of the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group (93.33% vs. 80.00%, P0.05). The improvement of VAS scores, headache intensity, and the role restrictive and role preventive scores in MSQ in the treatment group was better than those in the control group (P0.05). The person-time of moxibustion sensations of itching, numbness and cold as well as flushing and sweating after moxibustion in the treatment group was all significantly higher than that in the control group (P0.01). There was no significant difference in safety evaluation between the two groups (P0.05).Penetrating moxibustion can significantly relieve pain and improve quality of life of MO patients. After penetrating moxibustion, flushing and sweating of patients were obvious, and the curative effect was superior to the mild moxibustion.

One case of seborrheic dermatitis, male patient, aged 73 years is reported. After treated with acupuncture, penetrating moxibustion and bloodletting therapies, skin lesions on the neck and shoulder regions disappeared, the epidermis returned to normal and itching disappeared. There was no recurrence in the follow-up visit 3 months later. Hence, acupuncture, combined with penetrating moxibustion and bloodletting has a definite effect on this case in the patient and it is worthy of promotion and application in clinical practice.

From our clinical practice, it was found that, using the back-shu acupoints as the main ones together with the symptomized acupoints according to the different syndromes, the therapeutic effect in the treatment of arrhythmia was good. Our experience in acupuncture treatment for arrhythmia is introduced as follows with two cases attached.

Development of hydrogels with high mechanical and recoverable properties under physiological conditions is of great importance for broadening and improving their potential applications in load-bearing artificial soft tissues. Inspired by the self-assembly of chemical entities, homogeneous network hydrogels, which contain over 90 wt% water, were synthesized via covalent cross-linking of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) triggered by microwave-assisted treatment. A structurally homogeneous network results in an evenly distributed stress that endures high strains with minimal energy dissipation, which enable the hydrogels to withstand up to 1.16 MPa of tensile stress, over seven-fold stretch length with negligible hysteresis, and sustain cyclic compression following high amplitude deformation. It is of importance for tissue replacement that the hydrogels retain these excellent properties under physiological conditions.

Two cases of herpes zoster neuralgia treated by shallow needling combined with electroacupuncture were introduced. The literature basis and possible mechanisms were discussed.

In this paper, Ag@Fe3O4@cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile and green microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. In the procedure, CNC was used as a reducing agent for the synthesis of Ag. During the whole synthesis process, there were no additional reducing agents or toxic solvents used. The nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential thermal analysis. In addition, Ag@Fe3O4@CNC nanocomposites were also synthesized by microwave-assisted method and hydrothermal method. Both the effects of reaction time and synthetic procedures on the reduction process of Ag+ by CNC were explored. The results showed that Fe3O4 was formed with sphere-like structure and dispersed uniformly. Ag@Fe3O4@CNC nanocomposites exhibited good adsorption of dye solution, which showed potential applications in water treatment. The antibacterial results showed that Ag@ Fe3O4@CNC nanocomposites had good antibacterial activities toward both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The green and facile strategy reported in this paper may be broadly used in synthesizing other metal nanoparticles, as well as organic–inorganic nanocomposites.

The purpose of this article was to explore the influences of synthetic methods on the lignin-based carbon materials. In this paper, the lignin-based activated carbon materials were comparatively researched in ZnCl2 solution using various methods, including the microwave-assisted method, ultrasound method, and UV irradiation method, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were used to characterize the as-prepared samples. The effects of the synthetic parameters including the types of lignin, activated solution concentration, types of activated solution, and synthetic methods on the morphologies, thermal stability, and specific surface area of samples were comparatively investigated in detail. The specific surface area of lignin-based activated carbon increased to 473.8, 765.3, and 211.2 m2∙g&minus, 1 using the microwave-assisted method, ultrasound method, and UV irradiation method, respectively, compared with that of the control (113.4 m2∙g&minus, 1). The lignin-based carbon materials displayed the enhanced absorptive capacity, compared with that of the control. These novel synthetic methods reported here maybe have a guiding significance for the synthesis of carbon materials using the lignin as precursors.

Developing simple, rapid, and environmentally friendly synthetic methodologies for the preparation of functional nanomaterials is of great importance for broadening and improving their potential applications. In comparison with other methods, the microwave-assisted hydrothermal method possesses and combines the merits of microwave and hydrothermal methods, which can achieve the high temperature and high pressure for a short time from several minutes to several hours in a closed reaction system. In this review, the synthesis of various types of functional nanomaterials such as metals oxides, metal composite oxides, inorganic biomaterials (hydroxyapatite and calcium carbonate), and metal sulfides via the microwave-assisted hydrothermal method is summarized. The special properties and applications of functional nanomaterials by the microwave-assisted hydrothermal method are compared with others methods. The future developments of this promising method are put forward.

In this paper, Ag@AgCl@AlOOH hollow microspheres were successfully synthesized with AgNO 3 and AlCl 3 ·6H 2 O in NaOH/urea solution by a facile hydrothermal method. NaOH/urea solution acted as structure-directing agent here. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the as-prepared samples. The effects of hydrothermal heating temperatures on the phases and morphologies of samples were investigated. The size distributions analysis showed that the samples were Ag@AgCl@AlOOH microspheres with a diameter of 5.48~6.77 µm. With higher reaction temperatures, more Ag@AgCl@AlOOH microspheres with hollow structures appeared, and the size of Ag@AgCl@AlOOH microspheres decreased. The formation process of Ag@AgCl@AlOOH hollow microspheres was explored and discussed in detail.

The purpose of this study was to explore the influences of cellulose types on the cellulose/Ag nanocomposites via a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. The cellulose/Ag nanocomposites were successfully fabricated using AgNO 3 and four types of cellulose (cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), cellulose fibers (CF), and holocellulose (HC)), in which the cellulose simultaneously served as the reducing agent and substrate for silver ions. The effects of different cellulose types on the products were investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The experimental results revealed that the cellulose types played a vital role on the size, number, and morphology of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). It is believed that these results could be a guidance for the synthesis of cellulose/Ag nanocomposites in the future.

In the paper, Ag@AgCl@cellulose composites were fabricated by an ultrasonic-assisted method using AgNO3 and cellulose solution in ethylene glycol (EG). The cellulose solution was prepared by the dissolution of the microcrystalline cellulose in lithium chloride/N,N-dimethylacetamide (LiCl/DMAc) solvent. EG acts as both a solvent and a reducing agent, and LiCl is used as the Cl source to synthesize AgCl crystals. Two kinds of surfactants including cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) were applied as the dispersing agents during the synthesis process. The effects of heating time and EG volumes on the phases and morphologies of composites were investigated. Both heating time and EG volumes had effects on the reducing AgCl to Ag, and the addition of surfactants slightly decreased the composites' thermal stabilities. The efficient strategy may provide a more choice to fabricate other inorganic-organic composites.