Discussion
deficiency diseases, diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, CFS
YANG DEFICIENCY, PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, PATHOGENESIS, DEFICIENCY DISEASES, HEAT, DISEASES
Due to the non-organic pathophysiology, CFS is associated with suboptimal health status [The dose–effect relationship is a crucial issue in the moxibustion research, with key factors such as treatment duration, frequency, extent, and amount of moxa cones/sticks determining the moxibustion dose. However, the relationship between the dose of moxibustion stimulation and the resulting therapeutic efficacy has not yet been established. Previous studies have shown that the above dose factors affect efficacy to varying degrees in different diseases. For instance, in the study of treating diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, aconite cake-separated moxibustion with a treatment regimen of 3 sessions per week and 1 cone per session appeared to produce better therapeutic effects compared to a regimen of 6 sessions per week and 2 cones per session [The duration of Long-snake-like moxibustion is a key factor in optimizing efficacy, but the treatment duration for CFS varies [A large body of evidence has showed that diseases or deviation from normal functioning are accompanied by temperature changes in the body, which, in turn, affect the temperature of the skin. Infrared imaging (IR) has proven to be a useful method for diagnosing signs of certain diseases by measuring the local skin temperature. As a new medical IR technology, TTM enables contactless and non-invasive identification of abnormal heat sources within the human body by analyzing thermographic data and surface temperature distribution [According to the results, most thermal radiation values in CFS patients were obviously lower than those in HCs at baseline, and the ΔTs in CFS patients were statistically different from those of HCs in Middle Jiao, Lower Jiao, Shenque (CV8), neck, upper arm, thoracic segments. Some studies have shown that irregularities in energy metabolism [It is worth mentioning that ΔT changes were negatively correlated with the score changes, indicating that the more thermal radiation values increased, the better the CFS symptoms improved. This suggests that the increase in thermal radiation values may be an indirect reflection of warming and tonifying Yang. ΔT changes in Upper Jiao, Shenque (CV8), Zhongwan (CV12), Danzhong (CV17), Zhiyang (GV9), Dazhui (GV14), upper arm, thoracic segments, lumbar segments, renal region, popliteal fossa strongly correlated with the improvement of Spleen-Kidney Yang Deficiency symptoms. This suggests that Zhiyang (GV19), Dazhui (GV14), thoracic segments, lumbar segments, renal region on the Governor vessel are key acupoints and regions with the Yang-tonifying effect. Other randomized controlled trials have also shown that moxibustion on the Governor vessel has good therapeutic effects on Yang deficiency diseases [One of the limitations of our trial is the small sample size. Considering the pathogenesis characteristic of CFS [