Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease connections with fat-free tissues: A focus on bone and skeletal muscle

The estimates of global incidence and prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) are worrisome, due to the parallel burden of obesity and its metabolic complications. Indeed, excess adiposity and insulin resistance represent two of the major risk factors for NAFLD; interestingly, in the last years a growing body of evidence tended to support a novel mechanistic perspective, in which the liver is at the center of a complex interplay involving organs and systems, other than adipose tissue and glucose homeostasis. Bone and the skeletal muscle are fat- free tissues which appeared to be independently associated with NAFLD in several cross-sectional studies. The deterioration of bone mineral density and lean body mass, leading to osteoporosis and sarcopenia, respectively, are age-related processes. The prevalence of NAFLD also increases with age. Beyond physiological aging, the three conditions share some common underlying mechanisms, and their elucidations could be of paramount importance to design more effective treatment strategies for the management of NAFLD. In this review, we provide an overview on epidemiological data as well as on potential contributors to the connections of NAFLD with bone and skeletal muscle.

Clinical study on brain-benefiting and collateralunblocking needling technique for chronic alcoholic gastritis complicated with depression

Objective： To observe the clinical efficacy of brain-benefiting and collateral-unblocking needling technique for chronic alcoholic gastritis complicated with depression. Methods： A total of 92 cases with chronic alcoholic gastritis complicated with depression were included in this trial. They were randomly allocated into an observation group（n=46） and a control group（n=46） by random number（envelope） method. Patients in the observation group received the brain-benefiting and collateral-unblocking needling technique. Scalp points included Shenting（GV 24）, Xinhui（GV 22）, Qianding（GV 23）, Baihui（GV 20）, Chengguang（BL 6）, Tongtian（BL 7） and Luoque（BL 8）. Body points included Neiguan（PC 6）, Zusanli（ST 36）, Zhongwan（CV 12）, Gongsun（SP 4）, Shenmen（HT 7）, Daling（PC 7）, Qimen（LR 14）, Xinshu（BL 15） and Taichong（LR 3）. The control group only received the same body acupuncture as the observation group. The treatment was conducted once a day, 30 min for each treatment, and 10 times made up a course of treatment. The efficacy was observed after 3 courses of treatment, and there was a 2-d interval between two courses. Results： After 3 courses of treatment, the clinical symptoms and gastroscopic features were significantly improved in the observation group than that in the control group. The clinical efficacy, self-rating anxiety scale（SAS） and self-rating depression scale（SDS） were significantly better than those in the control group（all P〈0.05）. Conclusion： The brain-benefiting and collateral-unblocking needling technique can significantly improve clinical symptoms in patients with chronic alcoholic gastritis complicated with depression and substantially alleviate their gastroscopic features, anxiety and depression.