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The warm needling technique used in traditional Chinese medicine has been shown to be effective in the treatment and prevention of knee osteoarthritis (OA), but the biological mechanisms behind this action have not been well explored. This study investigated the molecular mechanisms behind warm needling using cDNA microarray technology, thus providing further scientific evidence for its efficacy. Ten patients with knee OA of deficiency-cold syndrome were selected for 2 weeks of warm needling treatment. This treatment involved stimulating the selected acupoints using needles with a burning moxa stick on their handle for 40 minutes per session. Pain intensity and accumulated clinical scores of deficiency-cold syndrome were assessed pretreatment and posttreatment using a 40-factor questionnaire of OA with deficiency-cold syndrome. Four patients with the best therapeutic efficacy were selected for cDNA microarray testing. Among the four patients, 41, 246, 57 and 70 differentially expressed genes were obtained, with more than 50% of these differentially expressed genes functionally linked to primary, cellular and energy metabolism pathways. This work demonstrates that the molecular mechanism behind warm needling treatment may be associated with the regulation of metabolism-related genes and pathways.

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Objectives Compared with nipple sparing mastectomy (NSM), microwave ablation (MWA) is one relatively new modality indicated for selected breast cancer with nipple sparing and with little of evidence-based medical research for decision-making. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of ultrasound-guided percutaneous MWA and NSM for breast cancer. Materials and Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a single institution from 2014 to 2020. Women with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast ≤ 5cm treated by MWA or NSM were enrolled. The primary end point was tumor progression and secondary end points included survival, cosmetic results, and complications. Results 21 patients in the MWA group and 43 in the NSM group were evaluated. The mean tumor size was 2.3 cm (range, 0.3–5.0 cm). Median follow-up was 26.7 months (range, 14.6–62.5 months). The mean age of MWA was 24 years older than that of the NSM group. All the patients achieved technique effectiveness. One local tumor progression and one ipsilateral breast recurrence occurred at 42 and 28 months after MWA, respectively. One ipsilateral breast recurrence and two bone metastasis occurred at 31.2, 34, and 30.5 months after NSM. Two groups had no significant difference in tumor progression (P = 0.16). No participants in both groups developed cancer related death (P > 0.99) and major complications (P > 0.99). However, MWA needed less hospitalization time (P < 0.001) and achieved better cosmetic results (P < 0.001). Conclusions MWA achieved similar short term effect for breast cancer control and better cosmetic satisfaction compared with NSM in selected patients. MWA provides appropriate option for elderly patients who are unfit for surgery.

A total of 82 differentially expressed genes were identified, among which 27 were up-regulated and 55 down-regulated. Gene microarray assay is effective to identify differentially expressed genes and may find out novel osteoarthritis associated genes. Multiple genes are involved in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. The differentially expressed genes provide important information for further studies on the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis and gene therapy of osteoarthritis.