To analyze the characteristics of point prescriptions for acute and chronic urticaria treated with acupuncture using complex network and data mining, so as to provide the basis for acupoint selection and the approaches to clinical treatment of acute and chronic urticaria.

The clinical trials of acupuncture in treatment of urticaria were systematically searched from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP database (VIP), Wanfang database (WanFang), SinoMed and PubMed. According to the screening criteria, the “database of acupuncture for acute and chronic urticaria” was established. IBM SPSS Modeler18.0, Cytoscape3.9.0, Origin2021, Gephi0.9.2 and other softwares were used for frequency analysis, association rule analysis and cluster analysis.

A total of 352 articles were included, and 158 acupuncture prescriptions were extracted, involving 76 points. The analysis focused on main acupoints, and the laws of acupoint selection and medications based on syndrome differentiation. The results showed that the meridian with the highest use frequency of acupuncture was the bladder meridian of foot-taiyang. The top 6 acupoints with the highest use frequency included Quchi (LI11), Xuehai (SP10), Zusanli (ST36), Sanyinjiao (SP6), Geshu (BL17) and Feishu (BL13). Acupuncture was delivered for urticaria in terms of “syndrome differentiation and treatment” to determine the principle, and acupuncture was combined with medication as the main regimen. Among reinforcing and reducing techniques, the neutral supplementation and drainage method is the most frequently used. In the acupoint and herbal prescriptions for combined acupuncture-medication therapy of chronic urticaria: the 3 strongest acupoint pairings were Quchi (LI11) and Xuehai (SP10), Quchi (LI11) and Zusanli (ST36), and Xuehai (SP10) and Sanyinjiao (SP6). The 3 strongest herb pairs were Jingjie (Schizonepeta) and Fangfeng (Saposhnikovia), Gancao (Licorice) and Fangfeng (Saposhnikovia), and Danggui (Angelica sinensis) and Fangfeng (Saposhnikovia). The three strongest herb-acupoint associations were Xuehai (SP10) and Fangfeng (Saposhnikovia), Quchi (LI11) and Fangfeng (Saposhnikovia), and Zusanli (ST36) and Fangfeng (Saposhnikovia).

Acupuncture is commonly combined with medication in treatment of acute and chronic urticaria. The combined therapy can solve the insufficiency presented in treatment with either simple delivery of acupuncture or Chinese herbal medicine, give a full play to the advantages of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and advance the therapeutic effect.

To analyze the clinical application characteristics of acupuncture in treatment of hiccup, using data mining and complex network technology so as to provide better therapeutic regimen for the patients.

Using computer retrieval, the articles of clinical study for the treatment of hiccup with acupuncture and moxibustion were searched in CNKI, Wanfang Database, VIP Database and PubMed from January 2002 to December 2022. The eligible articles were collected in compliance with the exclusion and inclusion criteria, and “clinical literature database of acupuncture-moxibustion treatment of hiccup” was established. The data were sorted in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using IBM SPSS Modeler 18.0 and Gephi-0.9.2.

A total of 920 articles were included, with 204 acupoints involved, and the selection frequency of acupoints was 9024 times. The top five meridians with the high use frequency included conception vessel, bladder meridian of foot-taiyang, stomach meridian of foot-yangming, pericardium meridian of hand-jueyin and spleen meridian of foot-taiyin. Based on the association rule analysis, “Zusanli (ST36)→Neiguan (PC6)”, “Zhongwan (CV12)→PC6” and “CV12→ST36” were the most relevant acupoint combinations, which was coincident with the principles of acupoint selection, e.g. the selection of local acupoints, the selection of distal acupoints, and the combination of the acupoints located in the upper and lower parts of the body. Regarding the high use frequency of single therapy in treatment, filiform needle acupuncture, acupoint injection, moxibustion, auricular acupuncture and electroacupuncture were listed. Concerning to the compound therapy, “filiform needle acupuncture→acupoint injection” was the most correlated, followed by “filiform needle acupuncture→moxibustion” and “filiform needle acupuncture→auricular acupuncture”. Through the K-core analytic hierarchy process and community analysis, 3 core acupoint prescriptions, 5 supplementary acupoint prescriptions based on syndrome differentiation, and 3 acupoint prescriptions for reinforcing and reducing were obtained.

Using the complex network analysis, the rules of acupoint selection and the acupuncture-moxibustion techniques are found in treatment of hiccup. Acupoint selection is based on the acupoint location, syndrome differentiation and symptoms. Auricular acupuncture is predominated in terms of the micro-acupuncture system, and filiform needle acupuncture is the most common technique in treatment. For the application of compound therapy, the combination of filiform needle acupuncture with acupoint injection is the highest in use frequency.

To observe the effect of wheat-grain moxibustion plus chemotherapy on the activities of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling and expressions of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 in mice with breast cancer, so as to explore its mechanisms underlying suppression of tumor growth.

Forty female BALB/c mice were randomly divided into blank control, model, chemotherapy, wheat-grain moxibustion (moxibustion) and moxibustion+chemotherapy groups, with 8 mice in each group. The breast cancer model was established by injection of 4T1 cell suspension (0.1 mL) into the subcutaneous fat pad of the mouse’s right fourth nipple. After successful modeling, the mice of the chemotherapy group and moxibustion+chemotherapy group received injection of Adriamycin (2.5 mg/kg) into the mouse’ leg or abdomen in the morning of Monday and Friday every week, 3 weeks altogether. For mice of the moxibustion and moxibustion+chemotherapy groups, wheat-grain moxibustion was applied to “Shenque” (CV8) and bilateral “Zusanli” (ST36) for 2 cones every time, once every other day for 21 days. The body weight, tumor weight and tumor volume were measured. The histopathological changes of the tumor were observed after H. E. staining. The terminal-deoxynucleoitidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) was used to detect the apoptosis of tumor tissues in each group. The expression levels of PI3K, AKT, mTOR, phosphorylated (p)-PI3K, p-AKT, p-mTOR, Caspase-3, Cleaved Caspase-3, Caspase-9, and Cleaved Caspase-9 proteins in the tumor tissues were determined by Western blot.

Compared with the model group, the body weight in the chemotherapy group, the tumor weight, tumor volume, and the expression ratios of p-PI3K/PI3K, p-AKT/AKT and p-mTOR/mTOR in the chemotherapy, moxibustion and moxibustion+chemotherapy groups were significantly decreased (P＜0.05), while the apoptosis rate of tumor tissue, the expression levels of Caspase-3, cleaved Caspase-3, Caspase-9 and cleaved Caspase-9 proteins in the chemotherapy, moxibustion and moxibustion+chemotherapy groups were considerably increased (P＜0.05). The therapeutic effect of moxibustion + chemotherapy was significantly superior to that of simple chemotherapy and simple moxibustion in reducing the tumor volume and tumor mass, and in down-regulating the expression ratio of p-AKT/AKT (P＜0.05), and in up-regulating the apoptosis rate and the expression levels of Caspase-3 and cleaved Caspase-3 proteins (P＜0.05), and superior to that of simple moxibustion (not the simple chemotherapy) in up-regulating the expression levels of Caspase-9 and cleaved Caspase 9 protein (P＜0.05). The therapeutic effect of simple moxibustion was evidently inferior to that of simple chemotherapy in reducing tumor volume and tumor mass, in down-regulating the expression ratios of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-mTOR/mTOR (P＜0.05), and in increasing the apoptosis rate, and expression of Caspase-3, Caspase-9 and cleaved Caspase-9 proteins (P＜0.05). H. E. staining showed that the tumor cells of tumor tissue grew diffusely and arranged densely in the model group, while in the chemotherapy, moxibustion and moxibustion+chemotherapy groups, the tumor tissue showed light staining of cytoplasm and nucleus, reduced nuclear division, nuclear debris, smaller density, and different degrees of tumor cell necrosis, and the degree of necrosis was increased in the moxibustion group, chemotherapy group and moxibustion+ chemotherapy group.

Moxibustion plus chemotherapy and simple moxibustion can inhibit tumor growth in breast cancer mice, which may be related to their functions in inhibiting the expression and phosphorylation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway related proteins in the tumor tissue, and then upregulating the expression of apoptosis related proteins Caspase-3 and Caspase-9.