Xuanfei Baidu granule is an effective prescription for COVID-19, which is modified from classical famous prescriptions. In order to further standardize clinician’s rational use of Xuanfei Baidu granule, enhance clinical efficacy, improve rational medication level, and let it play a more significant role, the frontline clinical experts are invited for discussion on the major functions, usage, adverse reactions, and considerations of Xuanfei Baidu granule to form the consensus. The consensus is that: Xuanfei Baidu granule has the efficacy of promoting the lung and resolving dampness, clearing heat and removing pathogeneses, purging the lung and depoisoning; it can be used for the treatment of patients with mild, moderate, and heavy COVID-19 and other common upper respiratory tract infectious diseases such as influenza; acute tracheitis and bronchitis and community-acquired lower respiratory tract infectious diseases all belong to damp-toxin constraint in the lungs, Xuanfei Baidu granule can relieve cough, expectoration, and other symptoms caused by an acute exacerbation of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with definite clinical efficacy and good safety. According to the principles of evidence-based medicine, this expert consensus will be updated regularly.

An increasing number of practitioners are using acupuncture methods such as wrist-ankle acupuncture (WAA) to treat pain. We aimed systematically to evaluate the effects of WAA on cancer pain, primary pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain and pathological neuralgia pain. Nine electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on WAA from inception of the data base to July 31, 2022. RCTs within the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in the study. Outcomes included pain score, clinical efficacy (overall efficiency), and occurrence of adverse events. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration criteria and meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4.1 software to determine the effect of WAA intervention and statistical significance was set a P < 0.05. A total of 19 RCTs were included in the meta-analysis including 1,380 participants, consisting of 673 who had received WAA alone or in combination with other treatments (WAA group, WG) and 707 who did not receive WAA (control group, CG). Subgroup analyses were performed according to different chronic pain types and occurrence of adverse events of WAA versus oral or non-oral drug therapy. The WG had better analgesic effects on various types of chronic pain than CG (P < 0.00001) and clinical efficacy (P < 0.00001). Additionally, WAA was shown to be safer than oral medication (P = 0.09). Therefore, WAA has good analgesic efficacy for several types of common chronic pain alone and in combination with other therapies, and it is safer than oral medication. However, more high-quality randomized controlled trials are needed in the future to support this evidence.

In recent years, the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China has been effectively controlled by implementing national prevention and control measures. However, a large number of recovered patients are plagued by fatigue, whether acute or chronic, and other fatigue-related syndromes that severely affect their quality of life. Post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) is a widespread chronic neurological disease with no definite etiological factor(s), definitive diagnostic test, or approved pharmacological treatment, therapy, or cure. In this study, we performed a bibliometric analysis and the results suggested that neuroinflammation played a role in the development of PVFS. Therefore, we briefly analyzed the mechanisms underlying the development of neuroinflammation in patients with COVID-19. To identify effective drugs to alleviate PVSF, we summarized four traditional herbal phytoadaptations and discussed their molecular mechanisms in improving neurological fatigue. Our study showed that ginseng, Acanthopanax, Rhodiola, and Schisandra played beneficial roles in alleviating PVSF.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common urological condition in aging men. High levels of androgens, including testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), are closely associated with BPH occurrence and development. Currently, the main clinical drugs used for BPH treatment are 5α-reductase inhibitors and α-receptor blockers, both of which aim to decrease abnormal androgenic signaling while having several unignored side effects. Recently, various natural herbs, such as tonifying yang traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), have been found to have androgenic activities, some of which are also effective for BPH treatment. Here, we review the androgenic activities of phytoandrogens, together with their therapeutic effects in BPH, and summarize the mechanisms involved, providing evidence that such herbs serve as selective androgen receptor modulators.

Objective: Pinellia tuber, the dried tuber of Pinellia ternata, causes severe acrid irritation in the mouth and throat when swallowed in its raw form. Based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, this acridity is reduced by heating or processing using ginger, licorice, alum, or lime. Although these detoxification methods have been known since ancient times, only little is known about the mechanisms by which they detoxify Pinellia tubers. In the present study, we aimed to reveal the effectiveness of α-starch, and glycyrrhizin in licorice for the detoxification of Pinellia tubers.Methods: Previously, we found that intact raphides of raw Pinellia tuber have a lipophilic character, and denaturation of the raphides reduced their lipophilicity and acridity. Accordingly, we developed a raphide denaturation assay (RDA) to quantify the degree of denaturation of raphides by measuring the absorbance of the petroleum ether (PE) layer comprising the raphides. The effect of α-starch or the decoction of licorice (the root and stolon of Glycyrrhiza uralensis) on raphide denaturation was then determined using this assay.Results: The treatment of raphides with α-starch markedly enhanced heat denaturation of the raphides. Licorice decoction, glycyrrhizin, and glycyrrhetinic acid significantly denatured raphides in a calcium-dependent manner at high pH. Glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetinic acid are also attached to the denatured raphides.Conclusions: α-starch in Pinellia tubers contributes to detoxification by heating. In the traditional processing method for Pinellia tubers using licorice and lime, glycyrrhizin in licorice and calcium ions play important roles in denaturing raphides.

Background: We aimed to investigate changes into the levels of angiogenesis-associated factors following cerebral infarction and acupuncture intervention and reveal the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in promoting angiogenesis.Methods: Model rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) were randomized into electroacupuncture (EA), model control (MC), and blank control (control) groups. Changes in the degree of neurological impairment following cerebral infarction and angiogenesis in the ischemic center and peripheral area were observed using immunofluorescence double-labeling. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting were used to detect changes in the Ang-1, Ang-2, PDGF-B, and bFGF levels. Moreover, the effects of EA intervention were evaluated.Results: The neurological severity score of each phase in the EA group was lower than that into the simultaneous phase in the MC group. The proliferation of vascular endothelial cells in the EA group was higher than that in the MC group at 12 hours to 7 days. The Ang-1 and Ang-2 mRNA and protein levels in the EA group were significantly higher than those in the MC group. PDGF-B levels in the EA group were significantly higher than those in the MC group at 3 to 6 hours and 3 to 12 days, and protein levels were high at 6 hours and 3 to 12 days. bFGF mRNA levels at 24 hours to 12 days and bFGF protein at 3 to 12 days were significantly elevated in the EA group than those in the MC group.Conclusions: EA at Shui Gou(DU 26) significantly improved the neurological symptoms of MCAO rats, promoted vascular endothelial cell proliferative activity around the infarct area, significantly advanced the time of proliferation of vascular endothelial cells, and upregulated the expression of angiogenesis-related factors, thereby promoting angiogenesis. Thus, EA may significantly improve the prognosis of cerebral infarction.

A new network platform named ACU&MOX-DATA (http://cbcb.cdutcm.edu.cn/ACU&MOX-DATA/) was recently set up and introduced. The purpose of this website is to integrate and analyze multi-omics data of acupuncture and moxibustion and serve as a disease, clinical, and laboratory experiment public database. Some existing functions and the future plan of the website were also discussed. This platform can help researchers to integrate analyses and visual interpretation of key scientific issues in acupuncture & moxibustion under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine theory through heterogeneous and multi-level data fusion analysis.