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Introduction Migraine is a common neurovascular disorder disease often characterized by episodic headaches that can develop chronic disorders. Acupuncture as a non-pharmacological therapy has been extensively used to manage migraine prevention and treatment in clinical practice. Many studies focused on acupuncture therapy for migraine, but none analyzed the publications quantitatively and qualitatively. The aim of this study is to show the recent researches and trend of advances in this field based on quantitative and qualitative analyses. Methods Publications related to acupuncture research about migraine were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection and Scopus database. The quantitative data analysis was performed to show the recent researches and trend of advances from six perspectives: annual scientific production, countries, institutions, authors, journals, and keywords. For the qualitative analysis, acupuncture research about migraine was analyzed from the top twenty most highly cited articles. Results The number of annual scientific production steadily increased with some fluctuations over the years. The country and institutions contributing most to this field are China and Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Zhao Ling was the most relevant author in this field, Linde Klaus was the highly co-cited author. The leading journal regarding the number of selected articles was “Zhongguo Zhen Jiu”. The top twenty most highly cited articles were divided into two categories: original articles and reviews. Among these two categories, original articles occupied the vast majority. Moreover, the real effectiveness of acupuncture for migraine prevention and treatment was the research frontier and hot spot. Conclusion Results of our analysis indicate that the number of publications showed an overall increasing trend, demonstrating that this research field still has a promising future. In addition, more researchers will probably focus their work on the difference between verum acupuncture and usual care for preventing and treating migraine.

Up to now, there has been insufficient clinical data to support the safety and effects of vaccination on pregnancy post COVID-19 vaccination. The γδ-T cells are considered an important component in the immune system to fight against viral infection and exhibit critical roles throughout the pregnancy period. However, the immunological roles of γδ-T cells in pregnant women with the COVID-19 vaccination remain unclear. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the alteration of frequency and expression pattern of activation receptors and inhibitory receptors in γδ-T cell and its subsets in peripheral blood samples collected from non-pregnant vaccinated women, vaccinated pregnant women, and unvaccinated pregnant women. Our findings indicated that the frequency of CD3+γδ-T+ cells is lower in vaccinated pregnant women than in unvaccinated pregnant women. But no significant difference was found in the frequency of CD3+γδ-T+ cells between non-pregnant vaccinated women and vaccinated pregnant women. In addition, there were no significant differences in the frequencies of CD3+γδ-T+Vδ1+T cells, CD3+γδ-T+Vδ2+T cells, CD3+γδ-T+Vδ1-Vδ2-T cells, and Vδ1+T cell/Vδ2+T cell ratio between the pregnant women with or without COVID-19 vaccination. Similar results were found after comparing non-pregnant and pregnant women who received the COVID-19 vaccine. However, there was a significant difference in the fraction of Vδ1-Vδ2-T cells in CD3+γδ-T+ cells between non-pregnant vaccinated women and vaccinated pregnant women. The frequency of NKG2D+ cells in Vδ2+T cells was not significantly different in the vaccinated pregnant women when compared to that in unvaccinated pregnant women or non-pregnant vaccinated women. But the percentage of NKG2D+ cells in Vδ1+T cells was the lowest in pregnant women after COVID-19 vaccination. Furthermore, down-regulation of NKP46 and NKP30 were found in Vδ2+T and Vδ1+T cells in the vaccinated pregnant women, respectively. After the vaccination, up-regulation of PD-1 expression in Vδ1+T cells and Vδ2+T cells indicated γδ-T cells could respond to COVID-19 vaccination and display an exhausted phenotype following activation. In conclusion, COVID-19 vaccination influences subtypes of γδ-T cells during pregnancy, but the side effects might be limited. The phenotypical changes of Vδ1+T cells and Vδ2+T cells will be a promising predictor for evaluating the clinical outcome of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Lithium, a trace element important for fetal health and development, is considered a metal drug with a well-established clinical regime, economical production process, and a mature storage system. Several studies have shown that lithium affects tumor development by regulating inositol monophosphate (IMPase) and glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3). Lithium can also promote proliferation and programmed cell death (PCD) in tumor cells through a number of new targets, such as the nuclear receptor NR4A1 and Hedgehog-Gli. Lithium may increase cancer treatment efficacy while reducing side effects, suggesting that it can be used as an adjunctive therapy. In this review, we summarize the effects of lithium on tumor progression and discuss the underlying mechanisms. Additionally, we discuss lithium’s limitations in antitumor clinical applications, including its narrow therapeutic window and potential pro-cancer effects on the tumor immune system.