Transcranial pulse current stimulation improves the locomotor function in a rat model of stroke

Previous studies have shown that transcranial pulse current stimulation(tPCS) can increase cerebral neural plasticity and improve patients' locomotor function.However, the precise mechanisms underlying this effect remain unclear.In the present study, rat models of stroke established by occlusion of the right cerebral middle artery were subjected to tPCS, 20 minutes per day for 7 successive days.tPCS significantly reduced the Bederson score, increased the foot print area of the affected limbs, and reduced the standing time of affected limbs of rats with stroke compared with that before intervention.Immunofluorescence staining and western blot assay revealed that tPCS significantly increased the expression of microtubule-associated protein-2 and growth-associated protein-43 around the ischemic penumbra.This finding suggests that tPCS can improve the locomotor function of rats with stroke by regulating the expression of microtubule-associated protein-2 and growth-associated protein-43 around the ischemic penumbra.These findings may provide a new method for the clinical treatment of poststroke motor dysfunction and a theoretical basis for clinical application of tPCS.The study was approved by the Animal Use and Management Committee of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China(approval No.PZSHUTCM190315003) on February 22, 2019.

The mechanisms through which auricular vagus nerve stimulation protects against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury

Previous studies have shown that vagus nerve stimulation can improve patients' locomotor function.The stimulation of the auricular vagus nerve,which is the only superficial branch of the vagus nerve,may have similar effects to vagus nerve stimulation.However,the precise mechanisms remain poorly understood.In this study,rat models of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury were established by modified Longa ligation.Twenty-four hours later,7-day auricular vagus nerve stimulation was performed.The results showed that auricular vagus nerve stimulation promoted the secretion of acetylcholine,inhibited the secretion of interleukin-1β,interleukin-6,and tumor necrosis factor-α,and reduced connexin 43 phosphorylation in the ischemic penumbra and motor cortex,promoting locomotor function recovery in rats with cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.These findings suggested that auricular vagus nerve stimulation promotes the recovery of locomotor function in rats with cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury by altering the secretion of acetylcholine and inflammatory factors and the phosphorylation of connexin 43.This study was approved by the Animal Use and Management Committee of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine on November 8,2019(approval No.PZSHUTCM191108014).

THE STABILITY OF THE θ-METHODS FOR DELAYDIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

This paper deals with the stability analysis of numerical methods for the solution of delay differential equations. We focus on the behaviour of three θ-methodsin the solution of the linear test equation u'(t)-A(t)u(t)+B(t)u( (t)) with (t)and A(t),B(t) continuous matrix functions. The stability regions for the threeθ-methods are determined.

Status quo of brain mechanism research of acupuncture in rehabilitation of chronic pain

In recent years,the brain mechanism research speeds up for the effect of acupuncture intervention on chronic pain.Currently,in the relevant articles,the brain mechanism research in chronic pain focuses on musculoskeletal system diseases,in which,the rigorous controlled designs has been adopted in the most of researches and the effect verification has been predominated as the research objective.The corresponding results indicate that the brain mechanism of acupuncture effect is mediated by brain area,nerve circuit or brain network related with sensory,motor,cognitive and emotional functions.In this paper,the prospective thinking has been conducted on the dual-directional transfer between the relevant brain mechanism research and clinical research achievement.Moreover,the optimization and innovation of intervention scheme are prospected while the acupuncture intervention is promoted in pain rehabilitation widely in the future.

Numerical Approximation of Hopf Bifurcation for Tumor-Immune System Competition Model with Two Delays

This paper is concernedwith theHopf bifurcation analysis of tumor-immune system competition model with two delays.First,we discuss the stability of state points with different kinds of delays.Then,a sufficient condition to the existence of the Hopf bifurcation is derived with parameters at different points.Furthermore,under this condition,the stability and direction of bifurcation are determined by applying the normal form method and the center manifold theory.Finally,a kind of Runge-Kutta methods is given out to simulate the periodic solutions numerically.At last,some numerical experiments are given to match well with the main conclusion of this paper.