Comparison of the anti-apoptotic effects of 15-and 35-minute suspended moxibustion after focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury

Heat-sensitive suspended moxibustion has a neuroprotective effect against focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, but the underly- ing mechanisms remain unclear. The duration of heat-sensitive suspended moxibustion （usually from 30 minutes to 1 hour） is longer than traditional suspended moxibustion （usually 15 minutes）. However, the effects of 15- and 35-minute suspended moxibustion in rats with cerebra/ischemia/reperfusion injury are poorly understood. In this study, we performed 15- or 35-minute suspended moxibustion at acupoint Dazhui （GV14） in an adult rat model of focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Infarct volume was evaluated with the 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride assay. Histopathological changes and neuronal apoptosis at the injury site were assessed by hematoxy- lin-eosin staining and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay. Caspase-9 and caspase-3 expression at the in- jury site was detected using immunofluorescent staining. Bax and Bcl-2 expression at the injury site was assessed using western blot assay. In the 35-minute moxibustion group, infarct volume was decreased, neuronal apoptosis was reduced, caspase-9, caspase-3 and Bax expres- sion was lower, and Bcl-2 expression was increased, compared with the 15-minute moxibustion group. Our findings show that 35-minute moxibustion has a greater anti-apoptotic effect than 15-minute moxibustion after focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Development and Validation of a Nomogram for Predicting the 1-,3-,and 5-year Survival in Patients with Acinar-predominant Lung Adenocarcinoma

Objective This study aimed to develop a nomogram to predict the overall survival(OS)of patients with acinar-predominant adenocarcinoma(APA).Methods Data from patients with APA obtained from the Surveillance,Epidemiology,and End Results(SEER)database between 2008 and 2016 were used.Significant prognostic factors were incorporated to construct a nomogram for predicting the 1-,3-,and 5-year OS in these patients.The discrimination and calibration abilities of the nomogram were assessed using a C-index and calibration curves,respectively.Results A total of 2242 patients with APA were randomly divided into a training cohort(n=1576)and validation cohort(n=666).The independent prognostic factors for OS incorporated into the nomogram included marital status,age,gender,differentiation grade,T stage,N stage,and M stage.The nomogram showed good prediction capability,as indicated by the C-index[0.713,95%confidence interval(CI):0.705–0.721 in the training cohort,and 0.662,95%CI:0.649–0.775 in the validation cohort].The calibration curves demonstrated that the 1-,3-,and 5-year OS probabilities were consistent between the observed and predicted outcome frequencies.Patients were divided into the high-risk and low-risk groups with the former showing significantly worse survival than the latter(P<0.001).Conclusion Using the SEER database,a nomogram was established to predict the 1-,3-,and 5-year OS of patients with APA and was superior to the tumor size,lymph node,and metastasis staging system in terms of evaluating long-term prognosis.

Anti-inflammatory Effect of Heat-sensitive Moxibustion via the NF-κB Signaling Pathway on Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rats

Ischemic stroke is universally acknowledged as a common cause of long-term disability or even death. Suspended moxibustion, an indirect form of moxibustion, is when moxibustion is placed superficially over the skin without being in contact with it. Some researchers have used this method to treat stroke patients, but strong evidence of its therapeutic effectiveness is lacking. However, the effect of traditional suspended moxibustion has recently been improved with the development of heat-sensitive suspended moxibustion. Our previous studies showed that moxibustion for 35 min provided a more effective treatment strategy than moxibustion for 15 min, and moxibustion by 35 min with tail temperature increase had a better outcome than that without, however, the mechanism underlying the effect is not clear. In this study, we treated the stroke rats with moxibustion by 35min and divided them into non-heat sensitive moxibustion(NHSM) group and heat sensitive moxibustion (HSM) group according to difference in the tail temperature increase, then we compared the effect and investigated the mechanisms between NHSM and HSM. We found that HSM significantly decreased tail-flick latency, increased neurological function score, decreased infarct volume, reduced inflammatory cells, decreased the expression of inflammatory factor ICAM-1 and reduced the expression of NF-κB p65 and p-IKKα/β in rats with focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Our experimental findings revealed that HSM exerted its anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects from MCAO-induced injury by decreasing the expression of the NF-κB signaling pathway.