With the ongoing opioid crisis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends nonpharmacologic therapies (e.g., acupuncture) for treating pain. Multiple agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health and World Health Organization, recognize acupuncture's effectiveness for treating pain, but acupuncture education for providers is scarce. A Workshop to Introduce Acupuncture for Pediatrics (AcuPeds-Workshop) was developed with support from American Academy of Pediatrics to educate providers. Additional funding was given by the Virginia Apgar Academy to evaluate the effects of attending this workshop. This prospective study used Immediate and 1-Month Post-Workshop (PWS) surveys. The AcuPeds-Workshop components included: history; a literature review; videos of patients receiving acupuncture; and hands-on experience. The workshop was presented at numerous conferences. Attendee survey completion was voluntary. Of 327 attendees, the majority were female, non-Hispanic, and were physicians. At baseline, attendees had: heard of acupuncture, 96%; used it, 28%; and/or had a prior lecture, 13%. In the Immediate-PWS: 97% reported an increase in their knowledge and understanding of the indications for acupuncture; majority correctly addressed 3 clinical application scenarios and contraindications. With respect to attitude: 85% would use acupuncture for themselves and 88% would use it for patients. More than 80% rated the workshop components as useful or very useful. In the One-Month-PWS: majority addressed the same 3 clinical scenarios and contraindications correctly, and 11% considered referring patients for acupuncture. Attendance at this AcuPeds-Workshop had a positive impact on attendees' knowledge, application of, and attitude about acupuncture. This workshop supports efforts to educate medical providers on this nonpharmacologic pain therapy.

Objective: Gagging is a problem for many dental patients, as well as patients undergoing medical procedures, such as intubation. Research to date on the gag reflex has been limited by a lack of objective measures for measuring this reflex. Materials and Methods: A validated quantitative method was used to measure if acupuncture or transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) at Pericardium 6 (PC 6) and Stomach 36 (ST 36) suppressed the gag reflex, compared with a sham placebo. The subjects were 60 healthy adults randomly chosen to receive acupuncture, TEAS, or sham-TEAS on PC 6, located on the forearm, and ST 36, located on the lower leg. The gag reflex was measured by inserting a saliva ejector slowly down each participant's throat to determine the maximum tolerance of the gag reflex; the insertion length was used as an index of this reflex. Results: There was a significant difference in pre- and postintervention insertion lengths in all groups (paired t-test; all groups; P < 0.001). The differences in the insertion length among the groups (P = 0.76) and the interaction effect (group × time) were not significant (P = 0.79; 2-way analysis of variance). Conclusions: This study suggested that PC 6 and ST 36 stimulation was no different than placebo for alleviating the gag reflex.

Objective: Obesity, a condition with serious complications, needs special attention. It is a complex and multifactorial problem and regulation of calorie balance involving various humoral and central factors is the main key for managing obesity. In addition, there is an increase in various proinflammatory cytokines and an increase in oxidative stress. There is a need to discover a useful therapy for obesity management. The goal of this review was to examine the literature on electroacupuncture (EA) as a potential therapy. Methods: This review explores the literature on EA, which has proven to be effective for inducing weight loss in experimental human and animal studies. Both continuous and dense-disperse EA waves have their own roles in hormone regulation of obesity using ST 25, CV 9, CV 12, CV 4, SP 6, ST 36, and ST 44; this is discussed the associated mechanism related to this is through suppression of various orexigenic peptides, enhancement of anorexigenic peptides, suppression of inflammatory factors, and improvement in the balance of pro-oxidants and antioxidants. Conclusions: The absence of another definitive therapy for obesity and EA's minimal side-effects make it a potential therapy for managing obesity.

Objective: The world is experiencing challenging times caused by spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by infection with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus are the most prevalent comorbidities of COVID-19. This review discusses several studies that showed the effect of acupuncture on hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus, and that discussed the mechanism of acupuncture, points used, and treatment strategies. Method: Literature was searched for studies published from 2016 to 2020 on how acupuncture affects hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus on the Google Scholar and PubMed databases using the keywords acupuncture, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Randomized clinical trials on human subjects, studies that measured systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) as outcomes, and studies that measured plasma glucose level as the outcome were included. Studies that did not include clinical effects of acupuncture were excluded. Results: Studies on hypertension (n = 2) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (n = 2) were found. These studies suggested that acupuncture might be able to reduce SBP and DBP, fasting plasma glucose level, oral glucose tolerance, and random blood glucose level. Conclusions: Preliminary studies have suggested that acupuncture might reduce BP in hypertension and reduce blood sugar and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus. More research is required to demonstrate if acupuncture is a useful adjunct for treating hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus as comorbidities of COVID-19.

Objective: A complementary treatment for managing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) with promising results is electrostimulation of Pericardium 6 (PC 6; Neiguan). This review was conducted to evaluate the effects of electrostimulation therapy at PC 6 to control CINV in patients with cancer. The review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42018087753). Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials was accomplished according to the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Studies written in English, Portuguese, or Spanish that met the eligibility criteria organized according to the PICO [Patient, Problem or Population; Intervention; Comparison, Control, or comparator; Outcome(s)] anagram were included. Descriptors used to search the databases were identified and selected according to the Medical Subject Headings of the National Library of Medicine. The primary outcomes evaluated were the frequency and severity of nausea, vomiting, and general emesis after the experimental protocol. The secondary outcomes evaluated were the numbers of antiemetic pills taken and the patients' quality of life. Results: Fourteen articles were included. There was a reduction in the mean number of episodes of acute nausea (mean difference [MD] = -2.08; 95% confidence interval [95%CI] = -2.76, -1.39) and acute vomiting (MD = -0.91; 95% CI = -1.39, -0.42) or delayed (MD = -0.85; 95%CI = -1.47, -0.23) in patients given the treatment. The other analyses of nausea, vomiting and emesis showed no differences. Conclusions: Electrostimulation at PC6 has an effect on controlling general emesis, and acute nausea and vomiting in different phases of recovery from chemotherapy in patients with cancer.