Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture treatment for recovery of patients with vertebral compression fracture(VCF). Methods : We searched ten English and Chinese and seven Korean database up to April 2018. Randomised controlled trials(RCTs), quasi-RCTs, non-radomised Controlled Trials(CCTs) were eligible. Quasi-RCTs and CCTs were assessed only for safety assessment. Pain and adverse events were primary outcome of this review. Quality of life, dysfunction, patient satisfaction, incidence of new vertebral compression fracture were regarded as secondary outcomes. The risk of bias was assessed by two independent authors using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Level of evidence was tabulated using the GRADE methods. Results : Of 1656 screened, 15 RCTs, 1 quasi-RCT and 3 CCTs were included. Number of participants per study ranged from 45 to 135. Most of the studies had unclear or high risk of bias and considerable heterogeneity in terms of type of intervention, comparison and time-points for outcome measurement. Compared to usual care alone, acupuncture combined with usual care showed short-term favorable results for pain relief in patients with VCF(5 studies, n=252, MD -1.05 point on a 0 to 10 point scale, 95% CI -1.45 to -0.65, $I^2=74%$). Four studies reported mild and temporary adverse events, and no serious adverse events were reported. One study descriptively reported that acupuncture was effective for improving quality of life without providing numerical outcomes. There were no reports of patient satisfaction and incidence of new VCF. Conclusions : Level of evidence is very low for the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for pain, harms and other clinical outcomes in patients with VCF. Included studies suffered from incomplete reporting, high or unclear risk of bias and substantial heterogeneity between studies. Future high-quality RCTs are needed to assess whether acupuncture is beneficial for recovery of patients with VCF.

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to review which acupoints and meridians are selected to treat visceral pain in articles published in international journals and to investigate quality of reporting acupuncture intervention according to the STRICTA guidelines. Methods : Electrical and hand search were conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library for acupuncture studies on visceral pain in human and animals. Reporting quality of intervention was evaluated using the revised STRICTA guidelines. Results : We included 51 articles (7 clinical studies and 44 animal studies) in this study. The most frequently adopted meridians and acupoints were Stomach meridian, Spleen meridian, Conception Vessel meridian, and ST36, CV4, SP6, LI4, PC6, SP9, ST25, ST37 in clinical studies. In animal studies, Stomach meridian, Conception Vessel meridian, Pericardium meridian and ST36, ST37, CV12, PC6 were most frequently used. Animal studies showed significantly lower quality of reporting compared to clinical studies. According to the analysis on the effect of year of publication of articles, announcement of STRICTA guidelines did not improve the quality of reporting for studies on visceral pain. Conclusions : These results suggest that both proximal and distal acupoints based on meridian theory were used to study the underlying mechanisms of visceral pain both in human and animal studies. Guidelines of acupuncture intervention reporting for animal study is necessary to improve the quality of evidence, and it will also allow us the integrative understanding of the mechanisms and clinical effects of acupuncture treatment in human and animal.

Objectives : Carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) laser, a high power laser has been used for pain management, dermatology, and surgery and laser acupuncture and moxibustion as well, since it had been oscillated in 1964 at Bell Telephone Laboratories in the US. The purpose of this study is to investigate the history of $CO_2$ laser acupuncture through reviewing studies published in early stage of laser medicine. Methods : To investigate the early history of $CO_2$ laser acupuncture, studies were searched in the electronic databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, CNKI, Wanfang, J-STAGE, CiNii, KTNP, and OASIS, since 1964. Articles in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean were included, and there were no limitations in literature types such as reviews, essays, clinical trials, animal experiments and veterinary research. Results : We found that the first $CO_2$ laser application to acupoints was done by a research team in Shanghai in 1976. They used $CO_2$ laser for acupuncture treatment and it was also the first laser acupuncture treatment in China. Since the first case report of $CO_2$ laser for leukopenia, it has been applied to various diseases in China, Korea, Japan and other western countries. It has been widely applied in the fields of dentistry and veterinary medicine, as well as clinical applications. Conclusions : Not only $CO_2$ laser can be used as laser acupuncture by stimulating the acupoints and meridians, but also can produce moxibustion effect by using heat stimulus. Therefore, it is expected that it will be used in various clinical fields in the future.

Objectives : Teaching the standardized acupuncture point locations and improving the accuracy of acupoint locations through objective evaluation is a very important part of Korean medicine education. The aim of this study is to develop a dummy system for evaluation and support of teaching acupoint location in meridian and acupoints classes and to introduce the developed system. Methods : We established a protocol for the development of the system. The protocol included definition of usage purpose, definition of its essential performance, and set of scope. The system compares the amount of light at the target acupoint with the amount of light at the other sites to determine whether the target acupoint is properly specificated. Results : A prototype of the system was built according to the protocol and consists of light emitter, dummy, control/operation, input part and output part. The light emitter projects laser beam passing through the skin of the dummy. Light sensors were attached inside the acupoints of the dummy. Three types of light sensors were selected depending on the location of the acupoints. The arithmetic, input, and output parts were constructed using Arduino and Raspberry pi boards. The developed system was applied in class. Conclusions : It is thought that the dummy system for evaluation and support of teaching acupoint location can be used as a training model in order to help teach standardized acupoint locations and objective evaluation.

Objectives : The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of Zingiberis Rhizoma Pharmacopuncture(ZP) at GB30 and ST36 in neuropathic pain induced SD rats by the block of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1(TRPV1). Methods : Neuropathic pain in rats was induced by tibial and common peroneal nerve transection of right leg. The rat subjects were divided into 6 groups : normal(Nor, n=5), control(Con, n=5), neuropathic pain plus 2 mg/kg ZP injection at GB30 and ST36(ZP-A, n=5), 10 mg/kg ZP(ZP-B, n=5), 20 mg/kg ZP(ZP-C, n=5) and 0.45 mg/kg Tramadol(Tra, n=5). Three days after the surgery, injections were administered once a day for 17 days. Withdrawal response of neuropathic rats' legs were measured by stimulating the paw of Right leg with von frey filament, acetone and radient heat on day 3, 7, 11, 15, 19 after surgery. After all treatments were completed, c-Fos in the midbrain central gray and TRPV1 & TRPA1 of DRG(L5) were analyzed. Results : Groups ZP-B and ZP-C showed a meaningful decrease in the withdrawal response of mechanical allodynia, thermal hyperalgesia and cold allodynia compared to the control group(p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001). Groups ZP-B and ZP-C showed a meaningful decrease in the expression of c-fos and TRPV1 protein level compared to the control group(p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001). Conclusions : These results suggest that Zingiberis Rhizoma Pharmacopuncture at GB30 and ST36 could decrease mechanical & cold allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia by block the TRPV1 on the model of neuropathic pain.

Objectives : This study was designed to investigate the effects of Alismatis Rhizoma (AR) pharmacopuncture at BL23 on acute renal failure induced by cisplatin. Methods : The Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into Normal group (no injection of cisplatin and no treatment), Control group (cisplatin injection without treatment), Acu group (needling at BL23 after cisplatin injection), AR-PA1 group (treated with $0.3571mg/kg/20{\mu}l$ of AR pharmacopuncture at BL23 after cisplatin injection), and AR-PA2 group (treated with $1.7855mg/kg/20{\mu}l$ of AR pharmacopuncture at BL23 after cisplatin injection). Each treatment was given once daily for 8 days. Changes in body weight, kidney weight, tumor necrosis factor-alpha ($TNF-{\alpha}$), interleukin-6 (IL-6), Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu-Zn SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), serum blood urea nitrogen (serum BUN), and serum creatinine were observed. Results : Body weight was significantly increased in AR-PA1 on $4^{th}$ and $6^{th}$ days and AR-PA2 on $2^{nd}$ day. $TNF-{\alpha}$ was significantly decreased in Acu, AR-PA1 and AR-PA2 groups. Cu-Zn SOD was significantly increased in AR-PA2 group. GPx was significantly increased in AR-PA1 and AR-PA2 groups. But kidney weight, IL-6, serum BUN and serum creatinine were not significantly changed in any groups compared to control group. Conclusions : In acute renal failure induced by cisplatin, AR pharmacopuncture has a mitigating effect on the inflammatory reaction related to the increase of $TNF-{\alpha}$ in the kidney tissue and a protective effect on the oxidative stress of the kidney tissue. However it is unlikely to restore the glomerular function or inhibit the renal swelling.

Objectives : TA, a polyherbal extract, typically is used for pharmacopuncture therapy on patients with traffic accident-related injuries and musculoskeletal diseases. This study was performed to evaluate the safety of the TA extract, using a micronucleus test. Methods : The dose range and sampling time were first established. An in vivo micronucleus test was then performed to determine the induction of micronuclei in mouse bone marrow cells after a single intramuscular administration of TA to 7-week-old ICR mice (0.2 ml/animal, at 24 hours post-dosing). Results : The incidence of micro-nucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (PCEs) in PCEs in the TA group was similar to that in the negative-control group, while that in the positive-control group was significantly greater. The positive- and negative-control groups did not differ in the ratio of PCEs to total erythrocytes. Conclusions : Our toxicity study indicates that the TA extract does not induce micronucleus formation in mouse bone marrow cells.

Objectives : Symptoms caused by traffic accidents can be divided into localized pain and systemic symptoms. Edema and pain can be increased due to obesity. During hospitalization of obese patients after traffic accident injury, obesity and systemic symptoms such as edema, dizziness, abdominal fullness and heavy body feeling might increase more by decreased physical activity due to pain. Methods : This report details on two cases of obese female inpatients with systemic symptoms after a car accident who were treated with wild ginseng complex (WGC) pharmacopuncture combined with Korean Medicine (KM) automobile insurance treatment. The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), Neck Disablility Index (NDI) and the Oswestry Disablility Index (ODI) were evaluated before and after treatment for comparison. Body composition was also measured. Results : Localized pain improved with a decrease in patients' NRS, NDI and ODI scores. Systemic symptoms increased during hospitalization were also improved with changes of body composition. Conclusions : Combining WGC pharmacopuncture with KM automobile insurance treatment may be synergistically effective for the treatment of obese patients with systemic symptoms such as edema, heavy body feeling and abdominal fullness.