Electroacupuncture at HT5 + GB20 produces stronger activation effect on swallowing cortex and muscle than single points.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the effects of electroacupuncture on cortical activation and swallowing muscle groups. The study examined brain activation in healthy subjects performing swallowing tasks during electroacupuncture. Additionally, the study analyzed electromyographic signals of swallowing muscle groups after electroacupuncture. Methods: Twenty-seven healthy subjects were randomly separated into three groups. They underwent electroacupuncture at HT5 acupoint (HT5 group), or GB20 acupoint (GB20 group), or HT5 + GB20 acupoint (HT5 + GB20 group) for 30 min of intervention. Subjects performed a swallowing task while receiving electroacupuncture. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to detect cortical activation and functional connectivity (FC). The mean amplitude values of the swallowing muscle groups after electroacupuncture were also measured. Statistical analysis was used to investigate the differences between the three groups. The protocol was registered with the China Clinical Trials Registry with the registration number ChiCTR2300067457. Results: Compared with the HT5 group, the HT5 + GB20 group showed higher cortical activation in the LM1 (t = 2.842, P < 0.05) and a tighter FC in the RM1 and LM1 (t = 2.4629, P < 0.05) with considerably increased mean amplitude values of the swallowing muscle groups (t = 5.2474, P < 0.0001). Increased FC was found in the HT5 + GB20 group compared to the GB20 group between the RM1 and RS1 (t = 2.9997, P < 0.01), RM1 and RPM (t = 2.2116, P < 0.05), RM1 and LM1 (t = 3.2078, P < 0.01), RPM and LM1 (t = 2.7440, P < 0.05). However, there were no statistically significant differences in cortical activation or mean amplitude values of swallowing muscle groups. Conclusion: This study showed that electroacupuncture at HT5 + GB20 acupoints particularly engaged the cerebral cortex related to swallowing, resulting in tighter functional connectivity and higher amplitude values of swallowing muscle groups than electroacupuncture at single acupoints. The results may reveal the mechanism of electroacupuncture for post-stroke swallowing dysphagia.

Photoacoustic Microscopic Imaging of Cerebral Vessels for Intensive Monitoring of Metabolic Acidosis.

PURPOSE: Metabolic acidosis as one of the most common perioperative complications has been associated with increased risks for poor prognosis. Routine monitoring methods include blood gas analysis and electrocardiogram, which are limited by time delay effects. And the existing intravital imaging modalities are difficult to achieve in one step. Here, we present a dual-wavelength photoacoustic imaging approach to overcome this dilemma. The aim of this study was to develop a rapid approach for intensive monitoring of acid-base imbalance and cerebral oxygen metabolism. PROCEDURES: We characterized the cerebrovascular structure by label-free dual-wavelength (532 and 559 nm) photoacoustic microscopy in healthy and diabetic mouse models with metabolic acidosis. Concurrently, we developed a single-vessel analysis method to accurately delineate the differential responses of small vessels and quantify the cerebral oxygenation following experimental alteration of pH. RESULTS: We demonstrated that there was an increasing trend in changes of vascular measurements (density, diameter, and relative hemoglobin concentration) and cerebral microvascular oxygen metabolism with the aggravation of acidosis. Furthermore, we established a clinical nomogram for the diagnosis of disease severity and yielded good discrimination ability with area under the curve of 0.920-0.967 and accuracy of 81.9-93.0%. The nomogram was also validated well in the diabetic mouse model with metabolic acidosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our photoacoustic imaging approach has great potential for rapid detection of metabolic acidosis and brain oxygen metabolism, which could potentially be applied as a bedside monitoring method for brain protection and timely treatment of acid-base abnormalities.

Ligustrazine-Loaded Borneol Liposome Alleviates Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Rats.

Our team's pharmacological and clinical trials proved that ligustrazine/borneol spray had a definite effect on ischemic stroke (IS). To solve the shortcomings of ligustrazine/borneol spray, such as low bioavailability, short half-life, and poor compatibility between borneol and ligustrazine, ligustrazine-loaded borneol liposomes (LIP@TMP) were successfully prepared by a thin-film ultrasonication method. The average particle size of LIP@TMP was 282.4 ± 3.6 nm, the drug loading rate was 14.5 ± 0.6%, and the entrapment efficiency was 42.7 ± 1.0%, which had excellent stability and sustained release ability. In addition, live/dead fluorescent staining and the CCK-8 test confirmed that LIP@TMP had good biocompatibility. Moreover, middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rat model experiments further demonstrated that LIP@TMP could significantly alleviate cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injury by improving neurological scores, reducing cerebral infarct volume, promoting neurogenesis, inhibiting inflammation, and reducing tissue damage. In addition, LIP@TMP enhanced neuronal marker doublecortin (DCX) and neuronal nuclei (NEUN), inhibited inflammatory factors (TNF-α and IL-1ß), and reduced apoptosis signal molecules (TUNEL and caspase-3). The findings of this study suggested that the prepared LIP@TMP had tremendous potential for the treatment of cerebral ischemia.

Result of a year-long animal survey in a state-owned forest farm in Beijing, China.

Background Artificial forest can have great potential in serving as habitat to wildlife, depending on different management methods. As the state-owned forest farms now play a new role in ecological conservation in China, the biological richness of this kind of land-use type is understudied. Once owned by a mining company, a largest state-owned forest farm, Jingxi Forest Farm, has been reformed to be a state-owned forest farm with the purpose of conservation since 2017. Although this 116.4 km2 forest farm holds a near-healthy montaine ecosystem very representative in North China, a large proportion of artificial coniferous forest in the forest farm has been proven to hold less biodiversity than natural vegetation. This situation, however, provides a great opportunity for ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation. Therefore, from November 2019 to December 2020, we conducted a set of biodiversity surveys, whose results will serve as a baseline for further restoration and conservation. New information Here, we report the result of a multi-taxa fauna diversity survey conducted in Jingxi Forest Farm mainly in year 2020 with explicit spatial information. It is the first survey of its kind conducted in this area, revealing a total of 19 species of mammals, 86 birds, four reptiles, two amphibians and one fish species, as well as 101 species of insects. Four species of mammals are identified as data-poor species as they have less than 100 occurrence records with coordination in the GBIF database. One species of insect, representing one new provincial record genus of Beijing, is reported.