Acupuncture is an effective therapy for macular damage: A case report.

RATIONALE: Many factors can contribute to the development of macular injury, which results in vision loss as a result of a disease. Heredity, age, underlying eye illness, internal eye surgery, or eye trauma can all cause it. A safer alternative to current therapies for macular degeneration is urgently needed since they all induce ocular irritation and postoperative recurrence as well as a host of other adverse effects. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 12-year-old girl was the patient. A laser pen burnt her right eye. There was a spot and a shadow in the middle of her right eye's visual field. DIAGNOSES: Macular degeneration. INTERVENTIONS: Given the patient's age, we opted out of medicine and instead used acupuncture as a symptomatic treatment. OUTCOMES: Two months after therapy concluded, optical coherence tomography result report indicate that the macula region of the right eye is better than it was previously. The corrected visual acuity of the right eye recovered from 0.25 to 1.0, and the clinical accompanying symptoms of the right eye disappeared. LESSONS: No additional medication or surgical procedure was employed in this instance. We treated the macular damage with acupuncture, which relieved the patient's clinical symptoms and had no adverse effects. This demonstrates that acupuncture may be beneficial in treating ophthalmopathy in this direction.

Study on acupuncture improving sleep deprivation comorbid with cognitive dysfunction based on rs-fMRI: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Sleep deprivation often lead to changes in attention, memory, mood, alertness, and metabolism. Especially, it is often accompanied by cognitive impairment of the brain. Acupuncture is safe and effective for improving cognitive function, but its underlying mechanism is not fully understood. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging is an important means to study brain activity changes. However, the results are inconsistent and lack systematic evaluation and analysis. METHODS: We will search 9 databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, EBSCOhost-Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP Database and Wan-Fang Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and 2 clinical trials register platforms: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ClinicalTrials.gov (www.ClinicalTrials.gov/) from inception to November 1, 2022. We will use the Review Manager 5.4 software provided by the Cochrane Collaborative Network for statistical analysis. We then assessed the quality and risk of the included studies and observed the outcome measures. RESULTS: This study will analyze the effect of acupuncture on brain activity changes, improvement of sleep duration, and cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis aims to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture on brain activity changes in sleep deprivation comorbid with cognitive dysfunction, so as to provide effective evidence for clarifying its pathogenesis.

Acupuncture plus Tuina for chronic insomnia: A protocol of a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is a common sleep disorder. It refers to a subjective feeling of dissatisfaction with sleep duration and quality that affects social functioning, even though there are appropriate opportunities and environments for sleep. The disease for a long time can easily cause physical and mental fatigue, anxiety, depression, and other symptoms. Anxiety, depression, and insomnia can worsen the condition. Acupuncture and Tuina therapy has been widely used in the treatment of chronic insomnia, and this study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis of acupuncture plus Tuina in the treatment of chronic insomnia to clarify its efficacy. METHODS: The following databases will be searched: Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Medline databases. In addition, we will also collect 4 databases of China: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biomedical Literature Database, VIP Database, and Wan-fang Database. We selected eligible studies published up to October 2021. We used Review Manager 5.4, provided by the Cochrane Collaborative Network for statistical analysis. Clinical randomized controlled trials related to acupuncture plus Tuina for chronic insomnia were included in this study. Language is limited to both Chinese and English languages. Study selection, data extraction, and study quality assessment were independently performed by 2 researchers. We then assessed the quality and risk of the included studies and observed the outcome indicators. RESULTS: This study provides a high-quality synthesis to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture plus Tuina for treating chronic insomnia. CONCLUSION: This systematic review will provide evidence to determine whether acupuncture plus Tuina is an effective and safe intervention for patients with chronic insomnia. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The protocol of the systematic review does not require ethical approval because it does not involve humans. This article will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant conferences. REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY2021100115.

TiO2 nanoparticles act as a carrier of Cd bioaccumulation in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila.

When nanoparticles can enter a unicellular organism directly, how may they affect the bioaccumulation and toxicity of other pollutants already present in the environment? To answer this question, we conducted experiments with a protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila. The well-dispersed polyacrylate-coated TiO2 nanoparticles (PAA-TiO2-NPs) were used as a representative nanomaterial, and Cd as a conventional pollutant. We found that PAA-TiO2-NPs could get into Tetrahymena cells directly. Such internalization was first induced by low concentrations of Cd, but later suppressed when Cd concentrations were higher than 1 µg/L. Considering its significant adsorption on PAA-TiO2-NPs, Cd could be taken up by T. thermophila in the form of free ion or metal-nanoparticle complexes. The latter route accounted for 46.3% of Cd internalization. During the 5 h depuration period, 4.34-22.1% of Cd was excreted out, which was independent of the concentrations of intracellular Cd and PAA-TiO2-NPs. On the other hand, both free and intracellular Cd concentrations only partly predicted its toxicity at different levels of PAA-TiO2-NPs. This may have resulted from PAA-TiO2-NPs' synergistic effects and the distinct subcellular distribution of Cd taken up via the two routes above. Overall, we should pay attention to the carrier effects of nanoparticles when assessing their environmental risks.

Cd2+ toxicity as affected by bare TiO2 nanoparticles and their bulk counterpart.

Toxicity of engineered nanoparticles has received extensive attention in recent years. However, nanoparticles always co-exist with other pollutants in natural environment. Whether there are any interactions between these classical pollutants and nanoparticles; and how these interactions may influence the environmental behavior, effects and fate of each other remain largely unclear. For this purpose, effects of bare titanium dioxide engineered nanoparticles (TiO(2)-NP) and their bulk counterpart (TiO(2)-BC) on Cd(2+) bioavailability and toxicity to the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were examined in the present study. We first investigated the kinetics and equilibrium isotherm of Cd(2+) adsorption on both particles in the algal culture medium. Pseudo-first-order adsorption kinetics was observed with equilibrium rate constant ranging from 0.19 to 0.33min(-1). Increase in Cd(2+) adsorption with its ambient concentration at equilibrium followed a single Langmuir isotherm for different concentrations of TiO(2). Furthermore, surface-area-based Cd(2+) adsorption by TiO(2)-BC was higher than that by TiO(2)-NP in most Cd(2+) concentration treatments suggesting that particle size was not the only cause for different adsorption. Both forms of TiO(2) could alleviate Cd(2+) inhibitive effects on C. reinhardtii. However, Cd(2+) toxicity and its bioaccumulation were comparable as long as its free ion concentration in ambient toxicity media was similar regardless the particle size and concentration of TiO(2). There was no TiO(2) inside the algal cells either. Therefore, it was Cd(2+) adsorption by TiO(2) which decreased its ambient free ion concentration and further its intracellular accumulation as well as toxicity.

Cd2+ Toxicity to a green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as influenced by its adsorption on TiO2 engineered nanoparticles.

In the present study, Cd(2+) adsorption on polyacrylate-coated TiO(2) engineered nanoparticles (TiO(2)-ENs) and its effect on the bioavailability as well as toxicity of Cd(2+) to a green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were investigated. TiO(2)-ENs could be well dispersed in the experimental medium and their pH(pzc) is approximately 2. There was a quick adsorption of Cd(2+) on TiO(2)-ENs and a steady state was reached within 30 min. A pseudo-first order kinetics was found for the time-related changes in the amount of Cd(2+) complexed with TiO(2)-ENs. At equilibrium, Cd(2+) adsorption followed the Langmuir isotherm with the maximum binding capacity 31.9, 177.1, and 242.2 mg/g when the TiO(2)-EN concentration was 1, 10, and 100 mg/l, respectively. On the other hand, Cd(2+) toxicity was alleviated in the presence of TiO(2)-ENs. Algal growth was less suppressed in treatments with comparable total Cd(2+) concentration but more TiO(2)-ENs. However, such toxicity difference disappeared and all the data points could be fitted to a single Logistic dose-response curve when cell growth inhibition was plotted against the free Cd(2+) concentration. No detectable amount of TiO(2)-ENs was found to be associated with the algal cells. Therefore, TiO(2)-ENs could reduce the free Cd(2+) concentration in the toxicity media, which further lowered its bioavailability and toxicity to C. reinhardtii.