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Background The Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) remains dormant in the dorsal root ganglia and can become reactive later in a person’s life. Factors such as stress, trauma, chronic disease, systemic illness, immune disorders, and age-related decline in host immunologic responses can potentially incite reactivation. Activation of VZV resulting in shingles following acupuncture has been reported in the literature previously, and some mechanisms have been proposed for this observation. Case A patient with a history of total thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer presented with chronic neck pain. She was clinically and biochemically in a euthyroid state and on thyroid replacement therapy. She had a history of chickenpox, at age 13, and seasonal allergies. After her first acupuncture session, she received an allergy shot for her seasonal allergies. A day after the procedure, she developed a vesicular rash and was subsequently diagnosed with acute Herpes zoster. Subsequent acupuncture was withheld following this event. She received acyclovir and applied topical Aloe vera to the cutaneous lesions, and developed mild scarring, but did not experience postherpetic neuralgia. Conclusions Acupuncture is a minor trauma that can predispose a patient to reactivation of VZV and shingles in the setting of immune activation with allergen immunotherapy.Background/Objective To investigate the patient- and therapist-related factors underlying adverse events (AEs) in acupuncture and moxibustion (A&M). Design Retrospective study using data from medical records. Subjects Patients who underwent A&M therapy in 4 clinics providing A&M over a 6-month period and their therapists. Main Outcome Measures Survey items included the number of patients, age, sex, number of sessions, number and type of AEs, patients’ underlying disease, and the therapist’s years of clinical experience. The chi-squared test was used for intergroup comparisons. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlations between the number of sessions and AEs. Logistic regression analysis was performed with AEs as the objective variable to investigate the relationships between the various parameters and AEs. Results The analysis included 615 patients and 113 therapists. A total of 421 AEs occurred in a total of 4,369 sessions (9.6%). The number of sessions and number of AEs were significantly and positively correlated with patients (r = 0.47, P  less then  0.001) and therapists (r = 0.65, P  less then  0.001). Logistic analysis identified patient sex (adjusted odds ratio 1.78, 95% confidence interval [1.39-2.30]), liver disease (0.40, [0.19-0.84]), and years of clinical experience (to a cutoff of 2 or fewer years, 2-4 years 0.65, [0.48-0.88], 5-9 years 0.62, [0.44-0.87], 10 years or more 0.50, [0.37-0.68]) as significant variables. Conclusions Female sex and fewer years of clinical experience were factors that increased the risk of AEs, and underlying liver disease was a factor that decreased the risk of AEs.Objective Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder affecting folliculogenesis and endometrial receptivity. PCOS causes low fertility due to failures in folliculogenesis and ovulation. Electroacupuncture (EA) may help improve folliculogenesis and endometrial receptivity. EA can decrease tonic activity in the sympathetic vasoconstrictor pathway to the uterus. This study was conducted to determine the effect of the addition of EA therapy on folliculogenesis and endometrial receptivity in women with PCOS. see more Materials and Methods This case-control study was conducted at the Dr. Moewardi General Hospital, in Jawa Tengah, Indonesia. The subjects were women with PCOS, ages 20-45, who were infertile. They were divided into a control group (17 women) and an experimental group (17 women). The control group received letrozole therapy, and the experimental group received EA + letrozole therapy. Folliculogenesis is determined by measuring the growth of follicle diameter on days 2, 6, 8, 10, and 12 of the meness with letrozole versus EA + letrozole were, respectively, day 12 = 6.95 ± 1.82 versus 8.22 ± 1.76, P = 0.005. Conclusions The addition of EA to letrozole therapy improved folliculogenesis, RI, PI, and endometrial thickness in patients with PCOS. Further studies are needed to gain a better understanding of the dosage and timing of this therapy and its potential synergy with other current treatments.Objective Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a major public health problem due to MDD’s increasing incidence among adults worldwide. While selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as paroxetine, are considered to be the most effective treatment for MDD, the adverse effects of SSRIs should not be neglected. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture as a complement to paroxetine systematically for improving quality of life (QoL) for patients with MDD. Methods and Materials Chinese and English electronic databases were searched, randomized controlled clinical studies were collected, data entry was managed, and a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the QoL of the patients pre and post treatment. Results There were 5 studies included in the review, in which the researchers compared the QoL of patients with MDD treated with paroxetine + acupuncture (both electroacupuncture and traditional acupuncture) or paroxetine alone. In all aspects-including physical health, psychologic health, social relationships, and environment-patients treated with the combination therapy experienced a significant improvements in QoL compared the patients treated with the single therapy. Conclusions Using acupuncture as a complementary treatment improved QoL in patients with MDD.Auriculotherapy, the treatment of patients using ear-point stimulation, is a French technique, deeply rooted in a European medical tradition. Although the French physician, Paul Nogier, MD (1908-1996 ad) invented and promoted auriculotherapy, it is nevertheless worth mentioning, in the course of European history, the occasional use of the ear to relieve head, face, or sciatic nerve pain. It took several centuries to find a physician who attempted to understand why some healers obtained interesting therapeutic results with ear-point stimulation. The exact history of auriculotherapy remained a mystery for a long time. Only recently have researchers begun to understand it better. Many articles, admittedly not based on robust data, wrongly ascribed the discovery of auricular somatotopy to ancient civilizations. It was the recent reading of a book on the treatment of sciatica written in 1869 by Lagrelette that enabled the current author of this article to characterize and confirm the Western roots of auriculotherapy through the history of cauterizations.Objective Chronic cervical pain is a common and recurrent complaint. Auriculotherapy (AT) or ear acupuncture is an effective complementary method used for pain control, but only a few studies have evaluated this treatment for chronic cervical pain. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of AT to control chronic cervical pain and improve functional capacity. Materials and Methods This study involved patients with at least 2 years of cervical pain and a neck disability index score (NDI) >5. AT was performed at detectable points once per week over 6 weeks. Patients were evaluated with the NDI and a visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain before and at 1 and 4 months after the final treatments. An analysis of variance test for repeated measures was used for comparisons. Results During the study, 19 patients, with a mean (± SD) age of 44.5 ± 15.2 years, were enrolled. The majority of the patients were right-handed (89%) and female (79%). The median (interquartile range) disease duration was 48 months (range 24-66 months ). An average of 4 ear points were used per session; the most frequent points used were Shen men, Posterior Wall, Zero, and C1. Statistically significant decreases in NDI (15.58 ± 5.93) and VAS (4.76 ± 2.37) scores were observed at 1 and 4 months (8.84 ± 5.59; P  less then  0.0001 and 3.21 ± 2.12; P = 0.003, respectively) after AT treatment. Conclusions AT can be used successfully as a complementary method to treat chronic cervical pain.Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practice has been thriving for centuries throughout the world, but its educational system has not been standardized in many countries outside of China. The aim of this article is To share experiences in planning and executing TCM education adapted to Indonesian culture and conditions. TCM practice has thrived since centuries ago in Indonesia due to TCM’s empirically proven effectiveness for maintaining health and wellness. However, formal bachelor’s-degree education in TCM has just begun about a decade ago. The learning outcomes of TCM bachelor’s-degree education in Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at large differs from those of China mainly because of the nearly total integration of Western medicine modalities in China. The learning strategy of TCM education in Indonesia with a pragmatic acculturation approach has been effective for improving TCM acceptance, and has been beneficial in upgrading the social and academic status of Indonesian traditional health care based on ASEAN TCM standards.Worldwide, many vaccines have been developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unilateral reactive axillary adenopathy related to the COVID-19 vaccine is a well-known occurrence. In addition, axillary edema has also been observed following COVID-19 vaccinations in patients undergoing breast MRI, and radiologists need to be aware of this possibility to avoid performing unnecessary work-up that can be costly to the health care system and be stressful for patients.The novel coronavirus pandemic outbreak caused extreme public fear, health concerns, and psychological distress, especially in oncology patients. The presented rare case is of a 40-year-old female with thymoma type B, with rapid progression, due to fear from the COVID-19 pandemic. Biopsy and histological verification of the tumor show a B-type thymoma with a high proliferative index. The fear of infection is causing avoidant behavior and leads to suboptimal therapy in some oncology patients that will have severe consequences. We can conclude that adequate, personalized, and most importantly, active psychological care is necessary and should be implemented for cancer patients. To be prepared for a future lockdown, it may be helpful to urge patients to seek alternative forms of social contact, such as online and mobile communications, to combat depression lockdown effects.Behçet’s disease is a rare, systemic variable vessel vasculitis mostly seen in patients from the Middle East, Northern Africa and Central Asia. Neuro-Behçet disease (NBD) is often diagnosed in patients with known Behçet’s disease who present with neurological symptoms and radiological features of central nervous system involvement. There are very few cases with neuro-Behçet reported from Sub-Saharan Africa in the literature. We report a case of severe parenchymal neuro-Behçet with pseudo-tumoral brainstem lesions in a young male patient of South African origin.