Inspired by Li et al and He et al 2025.[1,2] COPD – chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseEA – electroacupunctureAPI – allergic pulmonary inflammationIF – impact factorGOLD – Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease6MWD – 6-minute walk distanceSGRQ – St. George’s Respiratory QuestionnaireHRQoL – health-related quality of lifeMCID – minimal clinically important difference – key to ..read more

Inspired by Jiang et al 2025.[1] EA – electroacupunctureAOA – ankle osteoarthrosisIF – impact factorAOS – Ankle Osteoarthritis ScaleAOFAS-AHS – American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society Ankle-Hindfoot ScaleMCID – minimal clinically important differenceNSAIDs – non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugsUS – ultrasoundPRP – platelet rich plasma – key to acronyms This paper is from the journal Back and ..read more

Inspired by Liu et al 2025.[1] EA – electroacupunctureIF – impact factorAPI – allergic pulmonary inflammationSP – spinous processCHRM3 – cholinergic receptor muscarinic 3CHRM4 – cholinergic receptor muscarinic 4 – key to acronyms This paper is from the British Journal of Pharmacology (IF 6.8) – a journal first established in 1946 and focussing on experimental ..read more

Inspired by Sun et al 2024.[1] OA – osteoarthritisOAK – OA of the kneeMA – manual acupunctureEA – electroacupunctureWA – warm acupunctureMM – mild moxibustionSA – sham acupunctureVAS – visual analogue scaleWOMAC – Western Ontario and McMaster Universities OA indexBMI – body mass indexARC – Acupuncture in Routine Care studies (part of the Modellvorhaben Akupunktur)MCID ..read more

Stimulated by Jun et al 2025.[1] CVD – cardiovascular diseasePSM – propensity score matchingaHR – adjusted hazard ratioCI – confidence interval – key to acronyms This is another one of those large retrospective cohort studies. This time it is from Iksan, Korea and investigates the association of acupuncture with mortality in patients with disabilities who ..read more

Stimulated by Shi et al 2025.[1] LDH – lumbar disc herniationRCT – randomised controlled trialVAS – visual analogue scaleJOA – Japanese Orthopaedic Association score for low back painSIJ – sacroiliac jointSR – systematic reviewGRADE – Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (a method of grading the quality or ‘certainty’ and strength or ‘effect size ..read more

Stimulated by Hoheisel et al 2025.[1] DRG – dorsal root ganglionFG – fluorogold or fluorochrome yellowc-fos – a protein from the Fos family widely used as a marker for neuronal activityc-fos-ir – c-fos immunoreactivityDH – dorsal horn (of the spinal cord)VLP – ventral posterolateral nucleus of the thalamusvlPAG – ventrolateral periaqueductal gray – key to ..read more

Stimulated by Kazue Mizumura and Toru Taguchi 2024.[1] IF – impact factorGPT – generative pre-trained transformerDRG – dorsal root ganglionDOMS – delayed onset muscle sorenessLC – lengthening contractionEDL – extensor digitorum longusNGF – nerve growth factorGDNF – glial cell line derived neurotrophic factorASIC – acid sensing ion channelTRPV – transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily ..read more

Stimulated by Chen et al 2024.[1] TEAS – transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (ie a form of TENS)TENS – transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulationCVA – cerebrovascular accidentIF – impact factorRCT – randomised controlled trialICU – intensive care unitGCS – Glasgow coma scaleGI – gastrointestinalNG – nasogastricCD – cluster of differentiationCD4 – protein marker for helper T cells ..read more

Stimulated by Babamiri et al 2025.[1] ALL – acute lymphoblastic leukaemiaIF – impact factorAML – acute myeloblastic leukaemiaCML – chronic myeloblastic leukaemiaCLL – chronic lymphoblastic leukaemiaPSQI – Pittsburgh sleep quality indexMCID – minimum important clinical difference – key to acronyms There are several novel aspects about the paper I am highlighting this week. We have ..read more