RESUMO
The pain-relieving effect of acupuncture is known to involve primary afferent nerves (PANs) via their roles in signal transmission to the CNS. Using single-unit recording in rats, we characterized the generation and transmission of electrical signals in Aβ and Aδ fibers induced by acupuncture-like stimuli. Acupuncture-like signals were elicited in PANs using three techniques: manual acupuncture (MAc), emulated acupuncture (EAc), and electro-acupuncture (EA)-like peripheral electrical stimulation (PES). The discharges evoked by MAc and EAc were mostly in a burst pattern with average intra-burst and inter-burst firing rates of 90 Hz and 2 Hz, respectively. The frequency of discharges in PANs was correlated with the frequency of PES. The highest discharge frequency was 246 Hz in Aβ fibers and 180 Hz in Aδ fibers. Therefore, EA in a dense-disperse mode (at alternating frequency between 2 Hz and 15 Hz or between 2 Hz and 100 Hz) best mimics MAc. Frequencies of EA output >250 Hz appear to be obsolete for pain relief.
RESUMO
Autism spectrum disorder can be differentiated into three subtypes (aloof, passive, and active-but-odd) based on social behaviors according to the Wing Subgroups Questionnaire (WSQ). However, the correlations between the scores on some individual items and the total score are poor. In the present study, we translated the WSQ into Chinese, modified it, validated it in autistic and typically-developing Chinese children, and renamed it the Beijing Autism Subtyping Questionnaire (BASQ). Our results demonstrated that the BASQ had improved validity and reliability, and differentiated autistic children into these three subtypes more precisely. We noted that the autistic symptoms tended to be severe in the aloof, moderate in the passive, and mild in the active-but-odd subtypes. The modified questionnaire may facilitate etiological studies and the selection of therapeutic regimes.