Purpose: Patients complaining of a feeling of cold in the legs and lower back are frequently encountered in clinical practice. Of 92 patients visiting our center for this condition, three with concurrent menstrual disorders or climacteric symptoms are described, and the results of their treatment by acupuncture and moxibustion are reported.
Methods: The three patients were females, aged from 21 to 49 years, who had a feeling of cold in their legs. Based on the therapeutic approach characteristic of Oriental medicine, their symptoms were regarded as indicative of a general problem, and they were treated by acupuncture stimulation combined with ordinary acupuncture and electric acupuncture therapy based on points located on the focal lesion and remote sites (the meridian and acupuncture points were selected on the basis of functional anatomy). The above treatment was repeated 10 to 15 times. The results were evaluated using a list of complaints prepared by our center (general complaints classified into 70 items in total), by grading changes in their complaints into six stages.
Results: 1) Two of the three patients showed improvement ranging from 2 to 4 stages with acupuncture and moxibustion, with improvement or disappearance of 64.7% of the menstrual disorders or climacteric symptoms. 2) In the remaining patient, no change was noted in the feeling of cold in the legs, with improvement or disappearance of 39.3% of the complaints accompanying the feeling of cold. 3) Of the 92 patients complaining of feeling cold in the legs, 50 who showed improvement by one stage or more tended to have a high rate of improvement of complaints associated with the feeling of cold. 4) The complaint of feeling cold in the legs was found in 5.2% of 2, 000 patients visiting our center, and treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion was effective for 50.7% of them.
Conclusion: The above findings confirmed the necessity of a comprehensive approach to the feeling of cold in the legsIin Oriental medicine, rather than treating it as a clinically isolated entity.

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Among 228 student nurses aged from 19 to 30 years at Tokyo Eisei Gakuen Semmon Gakko of the Goto Gakuen (College of Medical Arts), 132 (58%) complained of a feeling of cold. Thirty students complaining of a particularly severe feeling of cold in this group were examined by various procedures including observation and questionnaire. Many of the findings associated with the feeling of cold in climacteric women (presentation at the 36th General Meeting of Japan Society of Acupuncture) are also comon to younger people. In the present study, disorders of pelvic circulation were examined in relation to this disease. The results were as follows. (1) Pelvic circumferential measurement revealed that the patients tended to have a contracted pelvis. (2) This finding correlated with their abdominal signs and symptoms. (3) Complaints associated with prominent autonomic symptoms were frequently noted before and during menstruation. (4) Infrared thermography for skin temperature distribution showed hypothermic areas distributed in the lower half of the body and (5) slight temperature variations in deep areas with time.

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The effect of non-noxious and noxious stimulation of various skin areas on peristaltic movements of the ureter was examined in anesthetized rats. Experiments were performed on 17 rats anesthetized with urethane-chloralose under artificial respiration. Peristaltic movements of the ureter were continuously recorded by means of an electromyogram recording technique on a polygraph, and either pinching or brushing mechanical stimulation for one minute was delivered to a skin area such as neck, chest, abdomen, perineum or hindpaw.
Under the resting condition without cutaneous stimulation, regular peristaltic movements of the ureter at a frequency of 18+1/min (mean+S. E.) were observed. The frequency of these peristaltic movements was often increased significantly by noxious cutaneous stimulation to hindpaw, perineum or chest, while it was sometimes excited by the noxious stimulation to the other area, such as neck and abdomen. The non-noxious stimulation of various skin areas, however, did not influence these movements.
The increased frequency of the ureteral movements by pinching of hindpaw, perineum or chest after bilaterally sectioning vagal, hypogastric or pelvic nerves persisted, but were totally abolished after bilaterally sectioning splanchnic nerves.
It is suggested that splanchnic nerves play a substantially important role as a efferent arc in production of the reflex response of peristaltic movements of the ureter following the cutaneous noxious stimulation.

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The effectiveness of acupuncture in treating rhinitis due to allergic reaction to housedust and mites was tested by inducing an allergic response through a nasal mucosa test and observing the influence of acupuncture stimulation in the stellate ganglion. Stimulating the ganglion of the same side as that nasal passage which was most strongly blocked obtained suppression of nasal drip on that side with improvement in clearance of the nasal air passage in four out of five subjects. This is thought to be due to the excitation of the sympathetic nervous system in the cervical region.
Next, acupuncture therapy was coupled with conservative therapy to test their usefulness in combination. Seven subjects were treated for allergic rhinitis and of these, six subjects' subjective symptoms (such as nasal obstruction) improved immediately after the acupuncture stimulation. Of these six subjects, two subjects' improved condition continued while the other four subjects' relief lasted only one day.
Then five of the subjects were given long term acupuncture treatment with all five subjects having a complete improvement of their nasal allergy symptoms to housedust and mites.

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Twelve patients with chronic renal diseases who underwent hemodialysis in the Oriental Medicine Outpatient Clinic of a general hospital were analyzed. The ratio of female to male patients was high, and patients' ages ranged from 31 to 71 years, with a mean age of 53.3 years. Many patients had been receiving hemodialysis for a relatively long time at a frequency of three times a week in most cases. They thus had to maintain a fixed posture for 4-5h per day several times a week. Underlying diseases were chronic glomerulonephritis, diabetic nephropathy, polycystic kidney and nephrosclerosis. Blood biochemical examination revealed high levels of BUN, CRE and UA, while K, Na, Ca and Pi electrolytes were almost normal. The drug therapy consisted mainly of urate biosynthesis inhibitors and electrolyte metabolism amelioraters. Symptoms resulting from long-term maintenance of a fixed posture and abnormalities in K, Na, Ca and Pi electrolytes included headache, stiffness in the neck and shoulder, pain in the arms, low back pain, pain in the legs and pain in the knee joint. Acupuncture was slightly effective or better in 73.1% of the patients, and none of them showed aggravation.

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We have been studying the optimal condition of low-frequency electro-acupuncture. In the present paper, clinical effect of music-rhythm low-frequency electro-acupuncture on shoulder stiffness was evaluated. In this therapy, musical rhythms was directly converted to pulse waves.
Subjects were fifty patients with chronic shoulder stiffness who visited the anesthesical department of Osaka Medical College and assented to be a subject of this experiment. Each patient underwent the following three methods in random order: conventional 3Hz continuous-wave low-frequency electro-acupuncture (C method), music-rhythm low-frequency electro-acupuncture without music sound (S method), music-rhythm low-frequency electro-acupuncture with music sound (M method). The acupoints such as “Tianzhu” and “Jianjing”, which were reported by the Acupoint Committee of Japan Acupuncturists' Association as frequently used ones, were selected as basic points. Music-rhythm low-frequency electro-acupuncture was carried out using a special signal discriminating apparatus which output alternating square waves (1-100Hz) sychronizing with a music tape. Electrical stimulation was given for 15 minutes. The music was from an album of Japanese popular songs called Enka. No. 20 needles of 30mm in length were used. The effect of each method was evaluated by the patient immediately after the treatment using a numerical scale. The numerical evaluation was classed into four grades (“remarkably effective”, “effective”, “slightly effective”, “not effective”), and “Remarkably effective” and “effective” cases were counted as effective ones. Comfortableness was rated using a visual analog scale with 11 grade {-5 (discomfort): 0: +5 (comfort)}.
As to the immediate effect, “effective” was seen in 60% cases of C method (30/50), 58% of S method (29/50) and 76% of M method (38/50). M method showed 20% higher effectiveness than C and S method. This was statistically significant. Averaged comfortableness was 2.1 in C method, 1.9 in S method and 2.7 in M method.
We demonstrated the effectiveness of music-rhythm low-frequency electro-acupuncture on shoulder stiffness. To give music sound simaltaneously is necessary to get better physical and psychological results.

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The subjects of this study were 13 patients who came to the Juridical Foundation of Oriental Medical Science Techniques Center from September 1986 to February 1987. We measured their blood pressure during one acupuncture therapysession by serial hemodynamometer.
(1) Blood pressures tended to fall duringtherapy.
(2) The highest blood pressures tended tofall after acupuncture, EAT and massage.
(3) After therapy, blood pressure slowly returned to the previous level.
We found that it is useful to use certain related therapies to promote the stability of blood pressure.

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In our previous paper, we reported that the rate of responses to the electric stimulation through an acupuncture applied to the source point “TAISHO” increased in anamnestic and, in particular, status pathogenic sites. In the present paper, we conducted a similar investigation using the source poiht “GOUKOKU” to study relations between anamnestic or status sites, Meridians, and algesic thresholds. It was found:
(1) Among subjects with anamnestic and status pathogenic sites, those subjects with a nasal disorder, such as rhinitis and empyema, showed a significantly higher rate or responses in the nasal area.
(2) There was no right-left lateral difference in the response rate. The exception is when stimulation was applied on facial sites, a higher response rate was observed on the contralateral side, thus suggesting a route pattern similar to the Meridian-stream pattern recorded in classical documents.
(3) Although there were individual variations, an increase in the algesic threshold was generally observed in all body areas, and not in a specific area; therefore, no relationship was found between the Meridian and the phenomenon of propagated sensation.

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In order to studying the action mechanism of moxibustion from a view point of the spontaneous movement, an experiment was attempted to ascertain whether movement dysfunctions of aged rats were able to rejuvenated by multiple moxibustion.
Female rats (Wistar) were used as experimental animals and in ovariectomized rats bearing subcutaneous ovaian transplants. 15mg of moxa was divided into 6 cones and they were treated by 2 cones at right GB-25, left GB-25 and GV-20 and 10 times every four days.
In 4-month-old. rats after of the operation, moxibustion receiving animals that an isochronal 4-day sexual rythm established was make a comparative study with normal animals and vehicle control animals for measures of swim performance.
In the present paper it was clarified that for the 15-minute test, the two age gvoups differed significantly for both measures indicating more rapid detrioration of swim performance in 12-month-old rats than in 4-month-old rats. Moreover these movement dysfunctions of aged rats were reserved by the effect of the multiple moxibustion treatment.
Ovariectomized rats bearing subcutaneous ovarian transplants indicate more rapid deterioration of the swimming success in young abult rats than aged rats.

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Previous studies have been reported on the properties of moxa and the effect it has on the self defense mechanism of the body. To study the characteristics of acupoints, the study this time is from the point of whether there are any differences in biological responses if the same stimuli (5mg/body and 15mg/body of moxa) are applied to different acupoints. The acupoints chosen were KIMON, which is the therapeutic acupoint of liver, and DAIO, which is the spleen meridian acupoint located on the same vertical line and which has no effect on the liver. Male ddy mice (6 weeks old) were used as experimental animals. A comparison of the clinical biochemical values of serum 1, 3, 6 and 24 hours after application was conducted. The amount of invasion on body function from each moxibustion stimulus through the strength and progress of biological response was studied. Increases in serum Amylase, LDH, CK, GOT, and GPT in the DAIO group were obtained as compared to that of the KIMON group. There was also a decrease in serum CHE in the DAIO group as compared to that of the KIMON group. It was suggested that there were difference in biological responses between different application points, even with the application of the same stimuli.

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Clinically, it has been recognized that moxibustion with artemisia stimulates the internal parts of the body without a burn on the skin. Recently, Matsuyama et al. reported that the maximun temperature of moxibustion varied with every change of size, mass, hardness, quality, and humidity of moxa. The purpose of this study was to investigate experimentally the temperature-changes in vivo with moxibustion by using laboratory animals.
Male mice of the C57BL/6CrSlc strain (30 weeks old) and chromel-alumel thermocouples (0.32mm diam. and 0.5Ω electric resistance) were used. Following autoclave sterilization, the chromel-alumel thermocouples were surgically set in the subcutaneous and the muscle layers of the mice. Three weeks later, the temperature-changes in the mice with 5mg of Ibuki-moxa were registered by a calibrated recorder.
As illustrated in Fig. 2, maximum temperature diminished in the following order; on the skin (A), in the subcutaneous layer (B), and in the muscle layer (C). And the time occupied on the temperature restoration in the body became longer than that on the skin. As illustrated in Fig. 3, a series of three moxa-cauterizations induced the maximum temperatures to diminish on the skin (A), and to augment in the subcutaneous (B) and muscle layer (C). The former is caused by the barriers of previous moxa tar, sap, and ash to the heat conduction, while the latter is due to the accumulation of prior moxibustion heat. These results indicate that a series of three moxibustions enhances the stimulation not to the shallow parts but to the deep parts of the body. However, it should be made to clarify whether this conclusion holds good for clinical cases.

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It is necessary to research constituents of moxa on the studies of moxibution.
As we analyged the essential oil in moxa with gas liquid chromatography, n-nonacosane and n-hentriacontane were detected. Several compound (ex.: tricosanol, hentricontane, arachinakohol, thujone) have been already detected in moxa. But n-nonacosane and n-hentriacontane are newly detected constituents in moxa.

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