Brain mechanism of acupuncture for children with anisometropic amblyopia: a resting functional magnetic resonance imaging study based on voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity

AIM:To explore the brain mechanism of acupuncture for children with anisometropic amblyopia using the voxelmirror homotopic connectivity(VMHC)analysis method of resting functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI)technology based on clinical effectiveness.METHODS:Eighty children with anisometropic monocular amblyopia were randomly divided into two groups:control(40 cases,1 case of shedding)and acupuncture(40 cases,1 case of shedding)groups.The control group was treated with glasses,red flash,grating,and visual stimulations,with each procedure conducted for 5min per time.Based on routine treatment,the acupuncture group underwent acupuncture of“regulating qi and unblocking meridians to bright eyes”,Jingming(BL1),Cuanzhu(BL2),Guangming(GB37),Fengchi(GB20)acupoints were taken on both sides,with the needle kept for 30min each time.Both groups were treated once every other day,three times per week,for a total of 4wk.After the treatment,the overall curative effect of the two groups and the latency and amplitude changes of P100 wave of pattern visual-evoked potential were counted.At the same time,nine children with left eye amblyopia were randomly selected from the two groups and were scanned with rsfMRI before and after treatment.The differences in the brain regions between the two groups were compared and analyzed with VMHC.RESULTS:Chi-square test showed a notable difference in the total efficiency rate between the acupuncture(94.87%)and control groups(79.49%).Regarding the P100 wave latency and amplitude,the acupuncture group had significantly shorter latency and higher amplitude of P100 wave than the control group.Moreover,the VMHC values of the bilateral temporal lobe,superior temporal gyrus,and middle temporal gyrus were notably increased in the acupuncture group after treatment.CONCLUSION:Acupuncture combined with conventional treatment can significantly improve the corrected visual acuity and optic nerve conduction in children with anisometropic amblyopia.Compared with the conventional treatment,the regulation of acupuncture on the functional activities of the relevant brain areas in the anterior cerebellum may be an effective acupuncture mechanism for anisometropic amblyopia.

A study of boundary vorticity dynamics and identification of large-scale structures in flow field based on two-dimensional flow around a bluff body

A method based on decomposition of acceleration field and Lie derivative is introduced to identify shearing and rotational domains.This method is validated on two typical kinds of model flows.Vorticity dynamics of flow around bluff body is studied,illustrated by numerical examples of flow around an elliptic cylinder,a slanted elliptic cylinder and an elliptic cylinder with a pair of bumps on the front side.To explain the generation of vortical structures and how they evolve into inner flow field,boundary vorticity dynamics analysis is performed.Boundary vorticity flux as well as the enstrophy diffusion flux creates vorticity sources and vorticity sinks,which generate or consume boundary vorticity,then shearing layers are generated and interact with each other finally create vortices.The results provide potential in accurate flow control by boundary deformation,and show that relevant theoretical conclusions can be effectively applied in revealing the flow mechanisms.

Cu^(2+)-Assisted Synthesis of Au@AgI Core/Shell Nanorods via In Situ Oxidation of Iodide:A Strategy for Colorimetric Iodide Sensing

Colorimetric nanoprobes are frequently employed to construct sensitive sensors via various strategies.In this work,a novel strategy for simple and ultrasensitive sensing of iodide(I_(−))was constructed based on Cu^(2+)-assisted generation of Au@AgI core/shell nanorods(NRs),by etching silver-coated gold nanorods(Ag@Au NRs).Ag@Au NRs were first prepared and characterized with UV-visible spectroscopy,transmission electron microscopy,high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy,and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy before and after iodide treatment.The mechanism of detection was based on the generation of AgI shells via etching Ag shells by I_(2),which was produced from the oxidation of I_(−)with Cu^(2+),resulting in the peak shift of localized surface plasmon resonance(LSPR)while the color changed from green,blue to light-violet.The red-shift of the longitudinal LSPR peak had a linear relationship with I_(−)concentration in the range of 0-50μmol/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.982.Furthermore,the proposed method was used for the quantitative detection of I_(−)in real samples and outstanding recoveries in the range of 91-106%with relative standard deviations lower than 2.5%were observed.