84 research outputs found
Exercise-induced neuroplasticity: a new perspective on rehabilitation for chronic low back pain
Chronic low back pain patients often experience recurrent episodes due to various peripheral and central factors, leading to physical and mental impairments, affecting their daily life and work, and increasing the healthcare burden. With the continuous advancement of neuropathological research, changes in brain structure and function in chronic low back pain patients have been revealed. Neuroplasticity is an important mechanism of self-regulation in the brain and plays a key role in neural injury repair. Targeting neuroplasticity and regulating the central nervous system to improve functional impairments has become a research focus in rehabilitation medicine. Recent studies have shown that exercise can have beneficial effects on the body, such as improving cognition, combating depression, and enhancing athletic performance. Exercise-induced neuroplasticity may be a potential mechanism through which exercise affects the brain. This article systematically introduces the theory of exercise-induced neuroplasticity, explores the central effects mechanism of exercise on patients with chronic low back pain, and further looks forward to new directions in targeted neuroplasticity-based rehabilitation treatment for chronic low back pain
Synthesis and physical properties of CeRhSb single crystals
Millimeter-sized CeRhSb () single
crystals were synthesized by a Bi-flux method and their physical properties
were studied by a combination of electrical transport, magnetic and
thermodynamic measurements. The resistivity anisotropy
, manifesting a quasi-one-dimensional electronic
character. Magnetic susceptibility measurements confirm as the
magnetic easy plane. A long-range antiferromagnetic transition occurs at
K, while clear short-range ordering can be detected well above .
The low ordering temperature is ascribed to the large Ce-Ce distance as well as
the geometric frustration. Kondo scale is estimated to be about 2.4 K,
comparable to the strength of magnetic exchange. CeRhSb,
therefore, represents a rare example of dense Kondo lattice whose
Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida exchange and Kondo coupling are both weak but
competing.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Effects of acute normobaric hypoxia on memory interference
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Purpose: Previous research has evaluated the effects of acute hypoxia exposure on cognitive function, notably executive function. No studies, to date, have evaluated the effects of acute hypoxia exposure on memory interference, which was the purpose of this experiment. Methods: A within-subjects, counterbalanced experimental design was employed, with condition (hypoxia vs. normoxia) and time (immediate vs. delayed) being the independent variables. Participants (N = 21; Mage = 21.0 years) completed two laboratory visits, involving 30 min of exposure to either hypoxia (FIO2 = 0.12) or normoxia (FIO2 = 0.21). Following this, they completed a memory interference task (AB/AC paradigm), assessing immediate and delayed proactive and retroactive interference. Results: For retroactive interference, we observed a significant main effect for condition, F(1, 20) = 5.48, p = 0.03, η2 = 0.10, condition by time interaction, F(1, 20) = 4.96, p = 0.03, η2 = 0.01, but no main effect for time, F(1, 20) = 1.75, p = 0.20, η2 = 0.004. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that acute hypoxia exposure was facilitative in reducing memory interference. We discuss these findings in the context of the potential therapeutic effects of acute hypoxia exposure on synaptic plasticity
The effects of tai chi on markers of atherosclerosis, lower-limb physical function, and cognitive ability in adults aged over 60: A randomized controlled trial
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Tai Chi (TC) on arterial stiffness, physical function of lower-limb, and cognitive ability in adults aged over 60. Methods: This study was a prospective and randomized 12-week intervention trial with three repeated measurements (baseline, 6, and 12 weeks). Sixty healthy adults who met the inclusion criteria were randomly allocated into three training conditions (TC-24, TC-42, and TC-56) matched by gender, with 20 participants (10 males, 10 females) in each of the three groups. We measured the following health outcomes, including markers of atherosclerosis, physical function (leg power, and static and dynamic balance) of lower-limb, and cognitive ability. Results: When all three TC groups (p \u3c 0.05) have showed significant improvements on these outcomes but overall cognitive ability at 6 or 12 weeks training period, TC-56 appears to have superior effects on arterial stiffness and static/dynamic balance in the present study. Conclusions: Study results of the present study add to growing body of evidence regarding therapeutic TC for health promotion and disease prevention in aging population. Future studies should further determine whether TC-42 and TC-56 are beneficial for other non-Chinese populations, with rigorous research design and follow-up assessment
Wuqinxi qigong as an alternative exercise for improving risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
© 2019 by the authors. Background: The improvement of living standards has led to increases in the prevalence of hypokinetic diseases. In particular, multifactorial complex diseases, such as metabolic syndrome, are becoming more prevalent. Currently, developing effective methods to combat or prevent metabolic syndrome is of critical public health importance. Thus, we conducted a systematic review to evaluate the existing literature regarding the effects of Wuqinxi exercise on reducing risk factors related to metabolic syndrome. Methods: Both English- and Chinese-language databases were searched for randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of Wuqinxi on these outcomes. Meanwhile, we extracted usable data for computing pooled effect size estimates, along with the random-effects model. Results: The synthesized results showed positive effects of Wuqinxi exercise on systolic blood pressure (SBP, SMD = 0.62, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.85, p \u3c 0.001, I2 = 24.06%), diastolic blood pressure (DBP, SMD = 0.62, 95% CI 0.22 to 1.00, p \u3c 0.001, I2 = 61.28%), total plasma cholesterol (TC, SMD = 0.88, 95% CI 0.41 to 1.36, p \u3c 0.001, I2 = 78.71%), triglyceride (TG, SMD = 0.87, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.24, p \u3c 0.001, I2 = 67.22%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, SMD = 1.24, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.72, p \u3c 0.001, I2 = 78.27%), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL, SMD = 0.95, 95% CI 0.43 to 1.46, p \u3c 0.001, I2 = 82.27%). In addition, regression results showed that longer-duration Wuqinxi intervention significantly improved DBP (β = 0.00016, Q = 5.72, df = 1, p = 0.02), TC (β = -0.00010, Q = 9.03, df = 1, p = 0.01), TG (β = 0.00012, Q = 6.23, df = 1, p = 0.01), and LDL (β = 0.00011, Q = 5.52, df = 1, p = 0.02). Conclusions: Wuqinxi may be an effective intervention to alleviate the cardiovascular disease risk factors of metabolic syndrome
Postoperative ctDNA detection predicts relapse but has limited effects in guiding adjuvant therapy in resectable stage I NSCLC
BackgroundTo date, identifying resectable stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients likely to benefit from adjuvant therapy (ADT) remains a major challenge. Previous studies suggest that circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is emerging as a promising biomarker for NSCLC. However, the effectiveness of ctDNA detection in guiding ADT for resectable stage I NSCLC patients remains elusive. This study aimed to elucidate the role of ctDNA detection in estimating prognosis and guiding ADT for resectable stage I NSCLC patients.MethodsIndividual patient data and ctDNA results data were collected from 270 patients across four independent cohorts. The detection of ctDNA was conducted at 3 days to 1 month after surgery. The endpoint for this study was relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS).ResultsOf the 270 resectable stage I NSCLC patients, 9 patients with ctDNA-positive and 261 patients with ctDNA-negative. We found that the risk of recurrence was significantly lower in the ctDNA-negative group compared to the ctDNA-positive group(HR=0.11, p<0.0001). However, there is no difference in the risk of death between the two groups (p =0.39). In the ctDNA-positive group, there were no significant differences in RFS between patients who received ADT and patients who did not receive ADT (p =0.58). In the ctDNA-negative group, those who received ADT had a worse RFS in comparison with those who did not receive ADT (HR=2.36, p =0.029). No difference in OS was seen between patients who received ADT and patients who did not receive ADT in both the ctDNA-positive group and the ctDNA-negative group (All p values>0.05). Furthermore, there was no difference in RFS and OS between patients who received chemotherapy-based or tyrosine kinase inhibitor-based ADT and patients who did not receive ADT in both the ctDNA-positive group and the ctDNA-negative group (All p values>0.05).ConclusionsPostoperative ctDNA detection can be a prognostic marker to predict recurrence but has limited effects in guiding ADT for resectable stage I NSCLC. Future prospective investigations are needed to verify these results
The dynamic conformational landscape of the protein methyltransferase SETD8
Elucidating the conformational heterogeneity of proteins is essential for understanding
protein function and developing exogenous ligands. With the rapid development of experimental
and computational methods, it is of great interest to integrate these approaches to illuminate the
conformational landscapes of target proteins. SETD8 is a protein lysine methyltransferase (PKMT),
which functions in vivo via the methylation of histone and nonhistone targets. Utilizing covalent
inhibitors and depleting native ligands to trap hidden conformational states, we obtained diverse
X-ray structures of SETD8. These structures were used to seed distributed atomistic molecular
dynamics simulations that generated a total of six milliseconds of trajectory data. Markov state
models, built via an automated machine learning approach and corroborated experimentally, reveal
how slow conformational motions and conformational states are relevant to catalysis. These
findings provide molecular insight on enzymatic catalysis and allosteric mechanisms of a PKMT via
its detailed conformational landscape
Insight-HXMT observations of Swift J0243.6+6124 during its 2017-2018 outburst
The recently discovered neutron star transient Swift J0243.6+6124 has been
monitored by {\it the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope} ({\it Insight-\rm HXMT).
Based on the obtained data, we investigate the broadband spectrum of the source
throughout the outburst. We estimate the broadband flux of the source and
search for possible cyclotron line in the broadband spectrum. No evidence of
line-like features is, however, found up to . In the absence of
any cyclotron line in its energy spectrum, we estimate the magnetic field of
the source based on the observed spin evolution of the neutron star by applying
two accretion torque models. In both cases, we get consistent results with
, and peak luminosity of which makes the source the first Galactic ultraluminous
X-ray source hosting a neutron star.Comment: publishe
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