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The article discusses the development of the SHARE (SHam Acupuncture REporting) guidelines and checklist for reporting sham acupuncture in clinical trials. Sham acupuncture is commonly used as a control in acupuncture research to evaluate the specific effects of acupuncture. However, the reporting quality of sham acupuncture in trials has been low, hindering the accurate understanding of its effects and leading to misunderstandings about the specific effects of acupuncture. The SHARE guidelines aim to improve the reporting quality of sham acupuncture by providing specific details about its implementation, including stimulation location, needle stimulation methods, and insertion technique. The guidelines also address contextual factors such as practitioner experience, practitioner-patient interaction, and patients' expectations of acupuncture. The SHARE checklist includes 19 subitems across 10 categories and can be used in any clinical trial involving sham acupuncture. The article recommends referencing both the SHARE and the STRICTA (STandards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture) checklist when conducting trials with sham acupuncture control. The development of the SHARE involved a literature review, Delphi surveys, consensus meetings, and pilot testing. The article acknowledges some limitations, such as the small sample size in the pilot test and the impact of COVID-19 on the consensus meetings. Overall, the SHARE guidelines and checklist aim to enhance the transparency, replication, and accuracy of sham acupuncture procedures in clinical trials. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders in clinical practice. IBS diagnosis is based on symptoms defined by abdominal pain or discomfort associated with defecation or changes in bowel habits. Gut-brain interaction caused by stress or depressive emotion is one of the essential pathologies. Acupuncture has been used for the treatment of internal medicine, including digestive disorders and depressive disorders in Chinese medicine. This study aims to determine whether electro-acupuncture could have significant benefits than sham acupuncture for IBS.Methods/design: This is a single-blinded randomized sham-controlled clinical trial with two arms. A total of 120 IBS patients will be recruited. After a 2-week run-in period, eligible subjects will be randomly assigned to one of two arms, acupuncture (AC) arm and sham acupuncture (SAC) arm. Each eligible subject will go through a 2-week run-in-period, 6-week treatment period, and 6-week follow-up period. Five visits in total were scheduled for each subject in week 0, week 2, week 5, week 8, and week 14. The outcomes would be measured with (1) IBS-SSS, (2) Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), (3) Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S), (4) Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and (5) IBS Quality of Life (IBS-QoL).Discussion: The study will compare electro-acupuncture with sham acupuncture to explore the feasibility of electro-acupuncture in improving IBS symptoms.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04387383 . Registered on 13 May 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The standards for reporting interventions in clinical trials of cupping (STRICTOC), in the form of a checklist and explanations for users, were designed to improve reporting of cupping trials, particularly the interventions, and thereby facilitating their interpretation and replication. Methods: A group of clinical experts, methodologists, epidemiologists, and editors has developed this STRICTOC checklist through a comprehensive process, including registration of this guideline, literature review, solicitation of comments, consensus meeting, revision, and finalization. Results: The STRICTOC checklist includes 6 items and 16 sub-items, namely cupping rationale, details of cupping, treatment regimen, other components of treatment, treatment provider background, and control or comparator interventions. Illustrative examples of each item are also provided. Conclusions: It is intended that the STRICTOC, in conjunction with both the main Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement and extension for nonpharmacologic treatment, will raise the reporting quality of clinical trials of cupping. Trial registration We have registered this study on the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) Network: http://www.equator-network.org/library/reporting-guidelines-under-development/reporting-guidelines-under-development-for-clinical-trials/#STRICTOC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clearly report adverse effect or adverse event occurred in the clinical practice is very important for understanding the potential risk of using a drug for treatment of diseases, and with other advantages. This document aims to help healthcare providers to organize, report, and publish information on ADR/AE occurrences and to identify the nature of the ADR/AE in TCM and integrative medicine practice. This document provides recommendations on constructing a title, basic factors of writing an abstract and the text of ADR/AE reporting. In each part, there are some samples could be references for the development of a report and ADR/AE. We welcome any comments for improving this recommendation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author discusses the medical term clinical trial transparency in promoting the development of publication ethics among medical journals in China. He mentions that the term has become a very significant tool in promoting improvement in the quality of clinical trials in the medical field. He describes medical ethics as an integrated system of action rules which must comply with the public interests of the whole society and global recognized moral principles.