Stimulated by Krecké et al 2023.[1] Mike receiving a thermal pain stimulus to his ventral forearm under the watchful eye of colleagues in Greifswald (2023). HRV – heart rate variabilityCCK – cholecystokinin key to acronyms I have always been intrigued by placebo and nocebo effects as well as the more subtle differences between men and … Continue reading HRV predicts placebo response in men
Stimulated by Wu et al 2023.[1] EA – electroacupunctureNVP – nausea and vomiting of pregnancyPCOS – polycystic ovarian syndromeLisa SV – Professor Elisabet Stener-Victorin, Karolinska InstitutetPUQE – pregnancy unique quantification of emesisIF – impact factorGWAS – genome wide association studyhCG – human chorionic gonadotrophinGDF15 – growth/differentiation factor 15 key to acronyms This is the largest … Continue reading EA for NVP 2023
Inspired by Ferreira et al 2023.[1] Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.comI chose an image that looks a bit like one formulation of duloxetine – the SNRI that probably figures most prominently in the research discussed. NICE – National Institute for Health and Care ExcellenceSR – systematic reviewSNRIs – serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitorsCI – confidence intervalMCID … Continue reading Antidepressants for pain 2023
Inspired by Liu et al 2022.[1] Photo by Anh Nguyen on Unsplash. MRM – menstrual-related migraineMA – manual acupunctureRCT – randomised controlled trialRR50 – responder rate (% of patients with a reduction in headache days of 50% or more)AP – acupuncture point key to acronyms I almost skipped past this paper when it showed up … Continue reading Acupuncture for MRM 2022
Inspired by Yin et al 2022.[1] Photo by VAZHNIK on Pexels.com EA – electroacupunctureMA – manual acupunctureSC – standard carePSQI – Pittsburgh Sleep Quality IndexHAM-D – Hamilton Depression Rating ScaleHAMD-17 – the sum of the first 17 items on the HAM-Dkey to acronyms This 3-armed trial from Shanghai is the biggest trial (n=270) of acupuncture … Continue reading EA for depression-related insomnia
Inspired by Zeng et al 2022.[1] Cropped photo of BMJ cover from 10th March 2018. IF – impact factorEA – electroacupunctureMA – manual acupunctureNPQ – Northwick Park Neck Pain QuestionnaireSF-MPQ – Short-Form McGill Pain QuestionnaireVAS – visual analogue scorePT – pain threshold (in this case electrical pain threshold in skin)PPT – pressure pain thresholdkey to … Continue reading Missing the point in Guangzhou 2022
Inspired by Jang et al 2020.[1] Image of fNIRS from Elisenicolegray on Wikipedia. PD – Parkinson’s diseasefNIRS – functional near infrared spectroscopySTRICTA – Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncturekey to acronyms There is a lot of research published on acupuncture in PD, and I generally ignore it. So why did this paper … Continue reading Acupuncture in PD 2020
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com I was spoilt for choice this week! Various papers had the potential to make the cut, but there was no easy way to draw them together, apart from the fact that many were systematic reviews.[1–5] The race and sex from the title refers to a couple of recent experimental papers … Continue reading Reviewing, Race & Sex
Stimulated by Ormsby et al 2020.[1] Photo by NEOSiAM 2020 on Pexels.com This is a pragmatic 3-arm comparative trial. It has feasibility in the title, so it may be that the authors are planning a much bigger version. I’ll ask! (No reply as yet...) Pregnant women of 24 weeks gestation who scored 13 or more … Continue reading Acupuncture for antenatal depression
Stimulated by Power et al 2020,[1] and Kang et al 2020.[2] Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Placebo figured heavily in last week’s blog, so I could not overlook this paper when it appeared on PubMed at the end of the same week. The first author has a remarkably suitable name on a paper that tests … Continue reading The Power of Placebo and MUI
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