Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo polysaccharide ameliorated DNFB-induced atopic dermatitis in mice associated with suppressing MAPK/NF-κB/STAT3 signaling pathways.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo as a valuable Chinese medicine has been used in China for more than 2000 years. Its main active components, polysaccharide (DOP), has been reported to have various pharmacological effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and alleviating AD effects. However, the precise mechanism underlying its therapeutic effect in AD remains largely unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: The present study sought to assess the efficacy of DOP and elucidate its intricate mechanisms in ameliorating DNFB-induced AD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mice were sensitized with DNFB and treated with DOP application for 14 days. Treatment effects were assessed using dermatitis scores, ear thickness and scratching frequency. Epidermal thickness, mast cells and CD4+ T cells infiltration were detected by using H&E, toluidine blue staining and immunofluorescence staining respectively. Serum histamine (HIS), immunoglobulin E (IgE), thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), skin SOD, MDA, GHS, CAT, inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1ß, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13) and chemokine (MIP-α, MDC, MCP-1) levels were quantify by ELISA and immunohistochemistry. Additionally, qPCR and Western blot analyses were performed to assess genes and proteins expression associated with MAPK/NF-κB/STAT3 signaling pathway. RESULTS: The results indicated that DOP effectively mitigated AD-like skin lesions in mice through multiple pathways. It reduced epidermal thickness, ear thickness and scratching frequency in AD mice. Additionally, DOP mitigated inflammatory responses by decreasing the levels of inflammatory factors, as well as reducing serum levels of IgE, HIS, and TSLP. Moreover, DOP inhibited infiltration of mast cells and CD4+ T cells, suppressed the expression of skin chemokines such as MDC, MCP-1, and MIP-α, and enhanced filaggrin content in AD mice. Furthermore, DOP significantly boosted antioxidant capacity, as well as significantly reduced the expression of JAK1, STAT3, NF-κB p65, IκBα, ERK1/2, and p38 proteins and phosphorylated proteins such as p-JAK1, p-STAT3, p-NF-κB p65, p-IκBα, p-ERK1/2, and p-p38. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggested that DOP has significant anti-AD activity, primarily through reducing inflammatory responses, improving antioxidant capacity, repairing the skin barrier, and down-regulating key genes and proteins in MAPK/NF-κB/STAT3 signaling pathway, and that this study may provide valuable insights into the development of innovative therapies for the treatment of AD.

Contralateral Transmaxillary Corridor Used in Endoscopic Endonasal Approach for Resecting Adenoma Invading the Retrocarotid Area of the Cavernous Sinus and Beyond: Surgical Anatomy, Patient Selection Algorithm, and Illustrative Cases.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The cavernous internal carotid artery (cICA) and its branches can make it challenging to approach the lateral portion of the retrocarotid area of the cavernous sinus (RcACS) and surrounding areas during the endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA). This can sometimes require more invasive transcranial approaches, causing a higher risk of complications. We sought to explore the feasibility of adding a contralateral transmaxillary (CTM) corridor to improve access to the RcACS during EEA. METHODS: We performed EEA and CTM extensions on 6 cadavers (12 sides) using image guidance. The depth of the surgical corridor, the surgical exposure, the angle of attack, and the trajectory to the anterior genu of the cICA were measured. Two illustrative clinical cases are presented. RESULTS: Compared with the contralateral transnasal approach, the CTM corridor provided a 10.76 (5.32)-mm shorter distance ( P < .001), 36.23% (20.70%) larger surgical exposure ( P < .001), and a 24.6° (3.4°) more parallel trajectory to the anterior genu of the cICA ( P < .001). The mean angle of the lateral nasal wall line and the middle eye line was equal to the mean angle of the contralateral transnasal ( P = .075) and CTM ( P = .262) approaches, respectively. The CTM corridor allowed us to achieve near-total resection of the RcACS and beyond in 2 invasive adenomas with significant lateral extension. CONCLUSION: The CTM corridor is a feasible addition to standard EEA to access the RcACS and beyond, providing a more medial-to-lateral trajectory and improved access. The middle eye line can be used as a reference to help select patients for this approach.

Electrostatic-Field-Induced Collapse of Nanobubbles in Nanochannels.

The adsorbed nanobubbles inside the nanochannels can cause fluid transport blockages, which will obviously degrade the nanodevice performance and reduce the lifetime. However, due to small-scale effects, the removal of nanobubbles is a huge challenge at the nanoscale. Herein, molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to study the effect of the electrostatic field on underwater nitrogen nanobubbles confined in nanochannels. It is found that the nanobubbles will collapse under an appropriate electrostatic field, thereby unblocking the transport of water in the nanochannels. The formation of ordered water structures induced by electrostatic fields plays an important role in the removal of nanobubbles from the nanochannels. Our findings provide a convenient, controllable, and remote way to address the blockage problem of nanobubbles in nanochannels, which may have potential applications in improving the performance of fuel cells.

Research on the effect of charitable donations on regional medical level.

As the main vehicle for the tertiary distribution, charity has a certain regulating effect on regional medical level. However, the improvement of regional medical effect of charity has yet to be tested. Based on provincial panel data from 1997 to 2019, this study analyzes the impact of charitable donations on regional medical level. The empirical results show that charitable donations widen the gap of overall regional medical level in China, which not only results from the current period but also from charity accumulation in the past. The regional heterogeneity analysis show that charitable donations have expanded the regional medical level of the eastern and western regions, while have no significant effect on the regional medical level gap in the central region. The widening effect in the eastern region of charitable donations is the largest. In addition, charitable donations expand the regional medical level gap between urban and rural areas in China. Charity, as the regional medical development mechanism, has not yet played its due role and advantages in regulating regional medical level gap. Formulating and adjusting the corresponding charity promotion policies is necessary.

Investigating the Acid Erosion Characteristics of Carbonate Rocks under Hydrodynamic Action.

In carbonate areas, the unique dissolution features bring a lot of resistance to engineering constructions. The acidic filtrate will definitely cause accelerated dissolution of the surrounding rocks, and the mechanism of accelerated dissolution of such rocks in acid is not clear. In order to explore the dissolution pattern of carbonate rocks after the alteration of their primary environments, a self-made rotating reaction device was used to conduct laboratory dissolution experiments on carbonate cores under three conditions. The mass loss, the change of pH, the molar concentration of Ca2+ and Mg2+, and the morphological changes before and after acid erosion were obtained. The results of correlation analysis show that the dissolution characteristics of carbonate are significantly related to dissolution time, composition of rocks, liquid flow rate, and acid concentration. Segmented characteristics were recorded between CaO/MgO and the reaction sequence (m). When 2 < CaO/MgO < 30, the increase of CaO/MgO has a significant contribution to the chemical dissolution rate; however, when 30 < CaO/MgO < 66, the increase of CaO/MgO does not contribute significantly to the chemical dissolution rate. The dissolution rate is positively correlated with the liquid flow rate. Also, liquid flow rate changes affect dolomite more than they do limestone. The mass loss rate (Rc) order of the rocks of the five carbonate formations was Maocaopu > Qingyan > Falang > Anshun > Dengying. Differences in dissolution induced by the acidic fluids in different formations will eventually form complex dissolution channels.

Biomechanical impact of different isthmus positions in mandibular first molar root canals: a finite element analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study used image-based finite element analysis (FEA) to assess the biomechanical changes in mandibular first molars resulting from alterations in the position of the root canal isthmus. METHODS: A healthy mandibular first molar, characterized by two intact root canals and a cavity-free surface, was selected as the subject. A three-dimensional model for the molar was established using scanned images of the patient's mandibular teeth. Subsequently, four distinct finite element models were created, each representing varied root canal morphologies: non-isthmus (Group A), isthmus located at the upper 1/3 of the root (Group B), middle 1/3 of the root (Group C), and lower 1/3 of the root (Group D). A static load of 200 N was applied along the tooth's longitudinal axis on the occlusal surface to simulate regular chewing forces. The biomechanical assessment was conducted regarding the mechanical stress profile within the root dentin. The equivalent stress (Von Mises stress) was used to assess the biomechanical features of mandibular teeth under mechanical loading. RESULTS: In Group A (without an isthmus), the maximum stress was 22.2 MPa, while experimental groups with an isthmus exhibited higher stresses, reaching up to 29.4 MPa. All maximum stresses were concentrated near the apical foramen. The presence of the isthmus modified the stress distribution in the dentin wall of the tooth canal. Notably, dentin stresses at specific locations demonstrated differences: at 8 mm from the root tip, Group B: 13.6 MPa vs. Group A: 11.4 MPa; at 3 mm from the root tip, Group C: 14.2 MPa vs. Group A: 4.5 MPa; at 1 mm from the root tip, Group D: 25.1 MPa vs. Group A: 10.3 MPa. The maximum stress in the root canal dentin within the isthmus region was located either at the top or bottom of the isthmus. CONCLUSION: A root canal isthmus modifies the stress profile within the dentin. The maximum stress occurs near the apical foramen and significantly increases when the isthmus is located closer to the apical foramina.

Investigation of 200 anthropogenic activities in a representative alpine peatland in the Altay Mountains, northwestern China.

Peatlands records can be used to reconstruct and understand the history of environmental evolution, as well as a more accurate reflection of human activities. The black carbon (BC) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ideal natural archives of anthropogenic activities. To identify the information of anthropogenic activities recorded by peatlands in the middle and high latitudes of the alpine mountains in the arid and semi-arid regions of China. this study analyzed the concentrations of BC, δ13C ratios of BC, PAHs, and molecular diagnostic ratios of PHAs (including Benzo(a) anthracene (BaA), Chrysene (Chr), fluoranthene (Flt), anthracene (Ant), phenanthrene (Phe), Benzo(a) pyrene (BaP), and pyrene (Pyr) in a 30-cm peat profile from the Altay Mountain, northwestern China. Our results revealed concentrations of BC from 11.71 to 67.5 mg·g-1, and PAHs from 168.09 to 263.53 ng·g-1. The δ13CBC value ranged from - 31.37 to - 26.27‰, with an average of - 29.54‰, indicating that the BC mainly comes from biomass combustion. The ratios of BaA/(BaA + Chr), Flt/(Flt + Pyr), and Ant/(Ant + Phe) exceeded 0.35, 0.5, and 0.1, respectively, revealing that the PAHs pollutants mainly originated from the combustion of biomass and fossil fuel burning. Furthermore, based on these findings and our knowledge of social development in Altay, industrial transport and tourism have influenced the emission, transport, and deposition of BC and PAH in peatlands in the Altay mountains since the 1980s. After 1980, pollutant concentrations decreased with the implementation of environmental policies. The results not only reveal the influence of anthropogenic activities on the sedimentary characteristics of peatlands in the Altay Mountains, but also provide an important theoretical basis for the conservation of fragile mountain peatlands.

Ultrahigh-Flux Water Nanopumps Generated by Asymmetric Terahertz Absorption.

Controlling active transport of water through membrane channels is essential for advanced nanofluidic devices. Despite advancements in water nanopump design using techniques like short-range invasion and subnanometer-level control, challenges remain facilely and remotely realizing massive waters active transport. Herein, using molecular dynamic simulations, we propose an ultrahigh-flux nanopump, powered by frequency-specific terahertz stimulation, capable of unidirectionally transporting massive water through asymmetric-wettability membrane channels at room temperature without any external pressure. The key physics behind this terahertz-powered water nanopump is revealed to be the energy flow resulting from the asymmetric optical absorption of water.

Association analyses between the variants of SNAP25, SV2C and ST3GAL2 and the efficacy of botulinum toxin A in the treatment of the primary Meige syndrome.

Objective: Individual differences were observed in the clinical efficacy of Botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) in the treatment of the primary Meige syndrome. Our study aimed to explore the potential associations between the clinical efficacy of BoNT-A in the treatment of the primary Meige syndrome and variants of SNAP25, SV2C and ST3GAL2, which are involving in the translocation of the BoNT-A in vivo. Methods: Patients with the primary Meige syndrome treated with BoNT-A were enrolled. Clinical efficacy was evaluated by the maximum improvement rate of motor symptoms and the duration of efficacy. Variants of SNAP25, SV2C and ST3GAL2 were obtained by Sanger sequencing. Another cohort diagnosed with primary cervical dystonia was also enrolled in the replication stage. Results: Among the 104 primary Meige syndrome patients, 80 patients (76.9%) had a good efficacy (the maximum improvement rate of motor symptoms ≥30%) and 24 (23. 1%) had a poor (the maximum improvement rate of motor symptoms <30%). As to the duration of efficacy, 52 patients (50.0%) had a long duration of efficacy (≥4 months), and 52 (50.0%) had a short (<4 months). In terms of primary Meige syndrome, SNAP25 rs6104571 was found associating with the maximum improvement rate of motor symptoms (Genotype: P = 0.02, OR = 0.26; Allele: P = 0.013, OR = 0.29), and SV2C rs31244 was found associating with the duration of efficacy (Genotype: P = 0.024, OR = 0.13; Allele: P = 0.012, OR = 0.13). Besides, we also conducted the association analyses between the variants and BoNT-A-related adverse reactions. Although, there was no statistical difference between the allele of SV2C rs31244 and BoNT-A-related adverse reactions, there was a trend (P = 0.077, OR = 2.56). In the replication stage, we included 39 patients with primary cervical dystonia to further expanding the samples' size. Among the 39 primary cervical dystonia patients, 25 patients (64.1%) had a good efficacy (the maximum improvement rate of motor symptoms ≥50%) and 14 (35.9%) had a poor (the maximum improvement rate of motor symptoms <50%). As to the duration of efficacy, 32 patients (82.1%) had a long duration of efficacy (≥6 months), and 7 (17.9%) had a short (<6 months). Integrating primary Meige syndrome and primary cervical dystonia, SV2C rs31244 was still found associating with the duration of efficacy (Genotype: P = 0.002, OR = 0. 23; Allele: P = 0.001, OR = 0. 25). Conclusion: In our study, SNAP25 rs6104571 was associated with the maximum improvement rate of motor symptoms in patients with primary Meige syndrome treated with BoNT-A, and patients carrying this variant had a lower improvement rate of motor symptoms. SV2C rs31244 was associated with duration of treatment in patients with primary Meige syndrome treated with BoNT-A and patients carrying this variant had a shorter duration of treatment. Patients with primary Meige syndrome carrying SV2C rs31244 G allele have an increase likelihood of BoNT-A-related adverse reactions. Involving 39 patients with primary cervical dystonia, the results further verify that SV2C rs31244 was associated with duration of treatment and patients carrying this variant had a shorter duration of treatment.

A data-adaptive methods in detecting exogenous methyltransferase accessible chromatin in human genome using nanopore sequencing.

MOTIVATION: Identifying chromatin accessibility is one of the key steps in studying the regulation of eukaryotic genomes. The combination of exogenous methyltransferase and nanopore sequencing provides an strategy to identify open chromatin over long genomic ranges at the single-molecule scale. However, endogenous methylation, non-open-chromatin-specific exogenous methylation and base-calling errors limit the accuracy and hinders its application to complex genomes. RESULTS: We systematically evaluated the impact of these three influence factors, and developed a model-based computational method, methyltransferase accessible genome region finder (MAGNIFIER), to address the issues. By incorporating control data, MAGNIFIER attenuates the three influence factors with data-adaptive comparison strategy. We demonstrate that MAGNIFIER is not only sensitive to identify the open chromatin with much improved accuracy, but also able to detect the chromatin accessibility of repetitive regions that are missed by NGS-based methods. By incorporating long-read RNA-seq data, we revealed the association between the accessible Alu elements and non-classic gene isoforms. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Freely available on web at https://github.com/Goatofmountain/MAGNIFIER.

Enhanced water permeation through the terahertz-induced phase and diffusion transition in metal-organic framework membranes.

Freshwater scarcity is a pressing global concern, and water desalination has emerged as a promising solution. Metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes have demonstrated exceptional potential in this regard. However, previous efforts to improve the permeability of MOFs have primarily focused on chemical modifications and synthesis rather than exploring physical methods. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we propose that the use of terahertz waves at a specific frequency of 7.5 ± 1.0 THz significantly enhances water permeability across MOF membranes, up to 27-fold, while maintaining effective ion rejection capabilities throughout the process. The mechanism behind this enhancement involves the resonance between the terahertz wave and the hydrogen bond vibrations of water within the MOF. This resonance amplifies the rotational kinetic energy of water molecules, disrupting the hydrogen bonds and causing a phase transition from quasi 1D square ice to a gas-like phase. Additionally, the diffusion behavior shifts from Fickian diffusion to sub-diffusion, resulting in improved water permeation across the MOF membrane. This study highlights the potential of terahertz waves as a physical tool to enhance the permeability of MOFs in water desalination, providing new avenues for efficient water treatment and resource sustainability.

The impact of Lactococcus lactis KUST48 on the transcription profile of Aeromonas hydrophila-infected zebrafish spleen.

Aeromonas hydrophila, an aquatic pathogenic bacterium, has been found to infect many fish species and cause huge aquaculture losses. Antibiotics are the most common drugs used to treat these infections. However, antibiotic abuse can lead to the development of antibiotic resistance. Probiotics have the potential to replace antibiotics for preventing infections. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a model organism used to study the innate immune system and host-pathogen interactions. Currently, there is little information on how the fish immune system responds to A. hydrophila and probiotic treatment. To increase the understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind the zebrafish defense against A. hydrophila and provide evidence that antibiotics can be replaced by probiotics, a transcriptome analysis of the zebrafish spleen was conducted 48 hours after infection by A. hydrophila, as well as after treatment using Lactococcus lactis KUST48 4 hours after infection. A total of 36,499 genes were obtained. There were 3,337 genes found to have significant differential expression between treatment and control groups. According to further annotation and enrichment analysis, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were involved in signal transduction, endocrine system cancer, and the immune system. Insulin resistance disappeared in the zebrafish after treatment. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to confirm the significant regulation of immune defense DEGs, the results of which were consistent with the RNA-sequencing data. These results could serve as a basis for future studies on the immune response to A. hydrophila and provide suggestions for probiotic alternatives to antibiotics, which will be of great significance to aquaculture and environmental protection.IMPORTANCEIn recent years, the unreasonable use of antibiotics has led to the emergence of drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria, antibiotic residues, cross infection, toxic side effects, and so on, which has caused a serious threat to human food safety and life health. In recent years, many studies have demonstrated the potential of probiotics as a substitute for antibiotics, but there is still a lack of understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying probiotic therapy. We conduct a research on the impact of Lactococcus lactis KUST48 on the transcription profile of Aeromonas hydrophila-infected zebrafish spleen. Mortality of zebrafish infected with A. hydrophila was significantly reduced after treatment with L. lactis KUST48. Our results can help to strengthen our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of zebrafish and provide a valuable reference for the molecular mechanisms of probiotic therapy.

Adversarial Attack and Defense in Deep Ranking.

Deep Neural Network classifiers are vulnerable to adversarial attacks, where an imperceptible perturbation could result in misclassification. However, the vulnerability of DNN-based image ranking systems remains under-explored. In this paper, we propose two attacks against deep ranking systems, i.e., Candidate Attack and Query Attack, that can raise or lower the rank of chosen candidates by adversarial perturbations. Specifically, the expected ranking order is first represented as a set of inequalities. Then a triplet-like objective function is designed to obtain the optimal perturbation. Conversely, an anti-collapse triplet defense is proposed to improve the ranking model robustness against all proposed attacks, where the model learns to prevent the adversarial attack from pulling the positive and negative samples close to each other. To comprehensively measure the empirical adversarial robustness of a ranking model with our defense, we propose an empirical robustness score, which involves a set of representative attacks against ranking models. Our adversarial ranking attacks and defenses are evaluated on MNIST, Fashion-MNIST, CUB200-2011, CARS196, and Stanford Online Products datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that our attacks can effectively compromise a typical deep ranking system. Nevertheless, our defense can significantly improve the ranking system's robustness and simultaneously mitigate a wide range of attacks.

Combined analysis of transcriptomics and metabolomics provide insights into the antibacterial mechanism of bacteriocin XJS01 against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria are widespread in the environment and pose a serious threat to public health. It has been shown that bacteriocins have a great potential in controlling MDR pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus. A previously reported Lactobacillus salivarius bacteriocin XJS01 exhibited good antibacterial activity against MDR S. aureus 2612:1606BL1486 (henceforth referred to as S. aureus_26), but its molecular mechanism remains unknown. Herein, we investigated the antibacterial mechanism of XJS01 on S. aureus_26 using an approach combining transcriptomics and metabolomics. The results showed that XJS01 induced significant changes at both transcriptional and metabolic levels in S. aureus_26. In total, 231 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 206 differentially abundance metabolites (DAMs) were identified in S. aureus_26 treated with 1 × MIC (minimum inhibition concentration) XJS01 compared with untreated (XJS01-free) cells (control). Functional analysis revealed that these DEGs and DAMs, alone with the related pathways and biological processes, were typically involved in stress response, being primarily related to metal uptake, cell virulence, self-help mechanism, amino acid and energy metabolism, bacterial stress response (e.g., two-component system), and membrane transport (e.g., phosphotransferase system). Overall, this study uncovered the multi-target effects of bacteriocins against MDR S. aureus at the genome-wide transcriptional and metabolic levels. These findings might be useful in the development of bacteriocins for the control of MDR S. aureus and other drug-resistant bacteria.

Presurgical Medical Treatment in Prolactinomas: Surgical Implications and Pathological Characteristics From 290 Cases.

OBJECTIVE: To review experience regarding the treatment of prolactinomas by endoscopic endonasal surgery focusing on the association between presurgical dopamine agonist (DA) treatment and perioperative outcomes, surgical morbidities, endocrine outcomes, and pathological characteristics. METHODS: A single-center series of 290 cases was analyzed retrospectively and clinical data were collected. Intratumoral collagen content was assessed by Masson trichrome staining. RESULTS: Tenacious tumor consistency (27.8% vs 9.8%, P < .001) was more common in DA-pretreated patients compared with patients who underwent initial surgery. Moreover, DA-pretreated macroadenomas presented more intraoperative blood loss (200 [100-400] mL vs 175 [100-300] mL; P = .014), longer surgical duration (177 ± 95 minutes vs 154 ± 57 minutes; P = .043), and more surgical morbidities (19.4% vs 8.9%; P = .034). Additionally, DA-pretreated macroadenomas presented a higher collagen volume fraction than that of the initial surgery group (23.6 ± 2.2% vs 13.2 ± 2.1%; P = .001). Correlation analysis revealed a close correlation between collagen volume fraction and the cumulative dose of bromocriptine (BRC) in macroadenomas (r = 0.438, P < .001). Regarding endocrine outcomes, DA-pretreated microadenomas showed a lower proportion of initial remission compared with patients who underwent initial surgery (86.7% vs 100%, P = .047). CONCLUSION: This study described increased surgical difficulty and inferior endocrine outcomes associated with tumor fibrosis secondary to presurgical BRC treatment in prolactinomas. Neurosurgeons should note that presurgical BRC treatment may render subsequent surgery more challenging.

Evaluation of therapeutic benefits of botulinum toxin for foot dystonia associated with Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND: Foot dystonia occurs in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and leads to pain, malformation, and difficulty with walking. Botulinum toxin injections may be effective for foot dystonia, but the extent of improvement and effects on motor function are unclear. METHODS: In this study, we performed botulinum toxin injections for foot dystonia in 25 patients with PD. At 3 weeks and 3 months post-infection, we assessed changes in plantar pressure distribution utilizing the Pressure Plate system; dystonia using the Modified Ashworth Spasm score; pain using the visual analog scale (VAS) score; and lower extremity function using the Calf-raise Senior (CRS) test, Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, and gait parameters (eg, stride length, step length). RESULTS: We found improved Modified Ashworth Spasm score (p < 0.01) and VAS score (p < 0.01) post-injection. CRS test score (3 weeks, p = 0.006; 3 months, p = 0.068), stride length (3 weeks, p = 0.012; 3 months, p = 0.715), and step length (3 weeks, p = 0.011; 3 months, p = 0.803) also improved. Plantar pressure distribution improved after botulinum toxin injection (metatarsal 1, 3 weeks, p = 0.031; 3 months, p = 0.144; metatarsal 2, 3 weeks, p = 0.049; 3 months, p = 0.065; metatarsal 3, 3 weeks, p = 0.002; 3 months, p = 0.017; metatarsal 4, 3 weeks, p = 0.017; 3 months, p = 0.144; medial heel, 3 weeks, p = 0.01; 3 months, p = 0.395; lateral heel, 3 weeks, p = 0.035; 3 months, p = 0.109). CONCLUSION: Botulinum toxin injection for foot dystonia in patients with PD can reduce spasms and pain and normalize plantar pressure distribution, which improves balance and lower extremity function.