Dynamic functional connectivity analysis of Taichong (LR3) acupuncture effects in various brain regions

The present study conducted a multi-scale dynamic functional connectivity analysis to evaluate dynamic behavior of acupuncture at Taichong （LR3） and sham acupoints surrounding Taichong Results showed differences in wavelet transform coherence characteristic curves in the declive, precuneus, postcentral gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and occipital lobe between acupuncture at Taichong and acupuncture at sham acupoints. The differences in characteristic curves revealed that the specific effect of acupuncture existed during the post-acupuncture rest state and lasted for 5 minutes.

Acupuncture's Role in Solving the Opioid Epidemic: Evidence, Cost-Effectiveness, and Care Availability for Acupuncture as a Primary, Non-Pharmacologic Method for Pain Relief and Management-White Paper 2017

The United States （U.S.） is facing a national opioid epidemic, and medical systems are in need of non- pharmacologic strategies that can be employed to decrease the public＇s opioid dependence. Acupuncture has emerged as a powerful, evidence-based, safe, cost-effective, and available treatment modality suitable to meeting this need. Acupuncture has been shown to be effective for the management of numerous types of pain conditions, and mechanisms of action for acupuncture have been described and are understandable from biomedical, physiologic perspectives. Further, acupuncture＇s cost-effectiveness can dramatically decrease health care expenditures, both from the standpoint of treating acute pain and through avoiding addiction to opioids that requires costly care, destroys quality of life, and can lead to fatal overdose. Numerous federal regulatory agencies have advised or mandated that healthcare systems and providers offer non-pharmacologic treatment options for pain. Acupuncture stands out as the most evidence-based, immediately available choice to fulfil these calls. Acupuncture can safely, easily, and cost-effectively be incorporated into hospital settings as diverse as the emergency department, labor and delivery suites, andneonatal intensive care units to treat a variety of commonly seen pain conditions. Acupuncture is already being successfully and meaningfully utilized by the Veterans Administration and various branches of the U.S. Military, in some studies demonstrably decreasing the volume of opioids prescribed when included in care.

First experimental constraints on WIMP couplings in the effective field theory framework from CDEX

We present weakly interacting massive particles(WIMPs) search results performed using two approaches of effective field theory from the China Dark Matter Experiment(CDEX), based on the data from both CDEX-1B and CDEX-10 stages. In the nonrelativistic effective field theory approach, both time-integrated and annual modulation analyses were used to set new limits for the coupling of WIMP-nucleon effective operators at 90% confidence level(C.L.) and improve over the current bounds in the low mχregion. In the chiral effective field theory approach, data from CDEX-10 were used to set an upper limit on WIMP-pion coupling at 90% C.L. We for the first time extended the limit to the m_(χ)<6 GeV/c^(2) region.

Precision Higgs physics at the CEPC

The discovery of the Higgs boson with its mass around 125 GeV by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations marked the beginning of a new era in high energy physics.The Higgs boson will be the subject of extensive studies of the ongoing LHC program.At the same time,lepton collider based Higgs factories have been proposed as a possible next step beyond the LHC,with its main goal to precisely measure the properties of the Higgs boson and probe potential new physics associated with the Higgs boson.The Circular Electron Positron Collider(CEPC)is one of such proposed Higgs factories.The CEPC is an e^+e^- circular collider proposed by and to be hosted in China.Located in a tunnel of approximately 100 km in circumference,it will operate at a center-of-mass energy of 240 GeV as the Higgs factory.In this paper,we present the first estimates on the precision of the Higgs boson property measurements achievable at the CEPC and discuss implications of these measurements.

Enzymatic formation of curcumin in vitro and in vivo

The recent classification of curcumin （Cur） as a pan-assay interference compound （PAINS） and an invalid metabolic panaceas （IMPS） candidate demonstrated the controversial nature of Cur as a drug lead owing to its aggregation in aqueous phase and inherent instability in vivo. Here, we report a simple prodrug approach to generate nanoparticles of Cur in situ that allow it to function reproducibly as an anticancer and an anti-inflammatory agent. Diphosphorylated curcumin （Cur-2p）, a precursor of Cur and a substrate of alkaline phosphatase （ALP）, exhibited drastically improved chemical stability and low aggregation in water. After conversion to curcumin around or inside cancer cells by ALP, Cur-2p selectively inhibited cancer cells that overexpressed ALP, but did not affect normal cells. Moreover, the intravitreal injection of Cur-2p resulted in excellent intraocular biocompatibility with no apparent damage to the morphology and visual function of retina, as shown by fundus imaging, optical coherence tomography （OCT）, and histological observation. A rodent model of uveitis showed that Cur-2p significantly suppressed the inflammation response compared with Cur. As a rational approach to investigate and apply PAINS and IMPS candidates, this work presents a straightforward method to maximize the potential of drug leads and ultimately fulfil the promises and potential clinical benefits of PAINS and IMPS candidates.