There are 9.9 million new cases of dementia in the world every year. Short-term conversion rate from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia is between 20% and 40%, but long-term in 5-10 years ranges from 60% to 100%. It is particularly important to prevent or prolong the development of MCI into dementia. Both auriculotherapy and vagus nerve stimulation are effective on improving cognitive functions. However, there is no double blinded randomized clinical trial to support the effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical stimulation of auricular acupoints in patients with MCI. This randomized controlled trial involved patients with MCI, aged from 55 to 75 years old. Patients were randomly allocated to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) group or sham taVNS group. In the taVNS group, two auricular acupoints were stimulated, including heart (concha, CO₁₅) and kidney (CO₁₀), which are in the distribution of vagus nerve. While in the sham taVNS group, two other auricular acupoints were stimulated, including elbow (scaphoid fossa, SF₃) and shoulder (SF_4,5), which are out of the distribution of vagus nerve. The primary outcome was the Montreal cognitive assessment-basic, MOCA-B. The secondary outcomes included auditory verbal learning test-HuaShan version (AVLT-H), shape trails test A&B (STT-A&B), animal fluence test (AFT), Boston naming test (BNT), Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder screening questionnaire (RBDSQ), Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) and functional activities questionnaire (FAQ). These outcome measures were taken at baseline, 24 weeks later. After 24 weeks of intervention, the data of 52 patients were intended for analysis. After intervention, there was significant difference in the overall scores of MoCA-B between taVNS group and sham taVNS group (p = 0.033 < 0.05). In taVNS group, compared with before intervention, the overall scores of MOCA-B increased significantly after intervention (p < 0.001). As for N5 and N7, the two sub-indicators of AVLT-H, in taVNS group, compared with before intervention, both N5 and N7 increased significantly after intervention (both ps < 0.001). As for STTB, in taVNS group, compared with before intervention, STTB was significantly reduced after intervention (p = 0.016). For BNT, in taVNS group, compared with before intervention, BNT increased significantly after intervention (p < 0.001). In taVNS group, compared with before intervention, PSQI, RBDSQ, ESS and FAQ decreased significantly after intervention (p = 0.002, 0.025, <0.001, 0.006 respectively). 1 patient with a history of tympanic membrane perforation in taVNS group was reported with mild adverse reactions which disappeared a week after termination of taVNS. The intervention of taVNS is effective on increasing the overall scores of MoCA-B, N5 and N7. The clinical trial demonstrated that taVNS can improve cognitive performance in patients with MCI. This inexpensive, effective and innovative method can be recommended as a therapy for more patients with MCI in the prevention or prolonging of its development into dementia, but it is still required to be further investigated. http://www.chictr.org.cn. (ID: ChiCTR2000038868).

As an emerging neuromodulation therapy, transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been proven to be safe and effective for epilepsy, major depressive disorders, insomnia, glucose...

Background: Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is effective for treating major depressive disorder (MDD). We aimed to explore the modulating effect of prolonged longitudinal taVNS on the striatal subregions’ functional connectivity (FC) in MDD patients. Methods: Sixteen MDD patients were enrolled and treated with taVNS for 8 weeks. Sixteen healthy control subjects (HCs) were recruited without intervention. The resting-state FC (rsFC) based on striatal subregion seed points and the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) were evaluated in the MDD patients and HCs at baseline and after 8 weeks. A two-way ANCOVA test was performed on each rsFC metric to obtain the (group-by-time) interactions. Results: The rsFC values between the left ventral caudate (vCa) and right ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), and between the right nucleus accumbens (NAc) and right dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) are lower in the MDD patients compared to the HCs at baseline, and increase following taVNS; the rsFC values between the left vCa and right, superior occipital gyrus (SOG), and between the left dorsal caudate (dCa) and right cuneus are higher in MDD patients and decrease following taVNS. Conclusions: Prolonged longitudinal taVNS can modulate the striatum rsFC with the prefrontal cortex, occipital cortex, temporal cortex, and intra-striatum, and these changes partly underlie any symptomatic improvements. The results indicate that prolonged longitudinal taVNS may produce beneficial treatment effects by modulating the cortical striatum circuitry in patients with MDD.

IntroductionBasic and clinical research on auricular acupuncture points (AAPs) was performed in China, the United States, France and Germany. Clinical auricular acupuncture point (AAP) research was done in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, the UK, Holland, Japan, Russia, and Africa. This paper is aimed at investigating the similarities of WFAS standard of auricular acupuncture points (AAPs) and European system of AAPs according to Nogier and Bahr.MethodsSimilarities were analyzed from the perspective of name and location of auricular acupuncture points, taking the standards of the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies (WFAS)-Auricular Acupuncture Point, and the European system of auricular acupuncture according to Nogier/Bahr as a reference.ResultsThe location of the acupoints associated with the locomotor system, including shoulder, wrist, elbow, finger, pelvis and buttock, were similar. The reflexed gastrointestinal system on the auricle, including stomach, esophagus, duodenum, small intestine, large intestine, appendix, liver, gallbladder and pancreas were also similar, as were the mapping for the urogenital system, including the ureter, urinary bladder, prostate and urethra. For the head region, only the eye point is similar but for the nervous system, including the temple, occiput, sub-cortex and endocrine, locations were similar. An additional twenty-five sub-areas or points, named by the auricular anatomical name, can be listed internationally as more widely acknowledged points.ConclusionThere are twenty-four auricular acupuncture points sharing the same name and similar locations, and twenty-five sub-areas or points which share the auricular anatomical name with different reflexed parts of the body and different therapeutic effects

IntroductionMoxibustion is commonly used as a traditional Chinese medicine treatment. The aim was to investigate how the exposure of moxa smoke influences sperm parameters, testis index and serum sex hormones in Wistar male rats.Methods48 Wistar rats were randomly assigned, n=12/group, to a control group or one of three moxa-smoke groups: M1 (low concentration, 0.4% of optical density), M2 (middle concentration, 2%) and M3 (high concentration, 15%). Rats in moxa smoke groups were exposed at the respective concentrations of M1 (0.4% of optical density), M2 (2%) and M3 (15%) for 12 weeks, at 5 days per week and 200min per day. Dynamic analyses of sperm fluid were used to determine sperm concentration, progressive motility, sperm motility, linearity (LIN), wobble (WOB), straightness (STR), velocity of curved line (VCL), velocity of straight line (VSL) and velocity of average path (VAP). The testis index (TI) was measured, and serum sex hormones were determined by using ELISA.ResultsAt the end of 12 weeks of treatment, when the control group was compared with the moxa-smoke groups, the moxa-smoke groups exhibited the following results: sperm concentrations were significantly higher in groups M1 and M3 (p=0.013), progressive motility was significantly higher in M1 (p=0.006), and sperm motility was significantly higher in groups M1, M2 and M3 (M1, p=0.003; M2, p=0.044; M3, p=0.008). Compared to the control group, TI was also significantly higher in groups M1, M2 and M3 (M1, p=0.004; M2, p=0.003; M3, p=0.002), as were serum total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT) and testosterone secreting index (TSI), respectively (TT, p=0.000; FT, TSI, p=0.001). Compared to M1, TT was significantly lower in groups M2 and M3 (M2, p=0.021; M3, P=0.001). The comparison of LIN, WOB, STR, VCL, VSL and VAP between groups showed no significant differences.ConclusionAs compared to the non-moxa-smoke control group, low, middle and high concentrations of moxa smoke are effective to improve the male reproductive system in Wistar rats. More specifically, low moxa-smoke concentration seems slightly better than high concentrations for improving the sperm concentrations, progressive motility and sperm motility, TI, TT, FT, TSI of Wistar rats