Effects of an 8-week Baduanjin intervention combined with low-carbohydrates diet among overweight people who struggle with drug addiction.

Background: Prior studies have consistently revealed that a combination of physical activity with caloric restriction results in a reduction in body weight in the general population. Both overweight and drug abuse are risk factors for poor physiological health, and poor mental health has been associated with drug abuse and unhealthy body mass index (BMI). However, the effects of low-carbohydrates diet (LC) combined with mind-body exercise intervention on improving anthropometric characteristics, lipid metabolism, quality of life, and craving among overweight people who struggle with drug addiction have yet to be clarified. Methods: Fifty-four eligible male patients were randomly assigned to the control group (CON; n = 18), the Baduanjin intervention group (BA, 60 min × 5 times/week, 8 weeks; n = 18), and the Baduanjin combined with LC intervention group (LC; n = 18). We compared the anthropometric characteristics, blood biochemical parameters, quality of life, and drug craving responses between the three groups at baseline (week 0), week 4, and week 8. Results: After repeated measurements in the general linear model, both the BA and LC groups exerted significant effects on decreasing waist circumference, BMI, body weight, hip circumference, body fat percentage, total cholesterol level, and triglyceride level (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the HDL-C level observed among the BA and LC groups at 8 weeks (P > 0.05); however, there was an overall upwards trend. A significant change in trends in the quality of life scale score was determined in the three groups (P < 0.001). The three groups showed reductions in visual analog scale score distribution over time (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Either Baduanjin or an 8-week Baduanjin combined with LC can significantly reduce anthropometric characteristics and body composition, enhance the quality of life, and reduce craving in overweight/obese patients. Baduanjin combined with LC is particularly effective in improving lipid metabolism.

Systematic Investigation of the Reliability of the Frozen Nuclei Approximation for Short-Pulse Excitation: The Example of HCCI.

In this work we quantitatively study the reliability of the frozen nuclei approximation for ultrafast dynamics. Specifically we study laser excitation of HCCI+ from its ground state to the first electronically excited state. The population of the first excited state is obtained by both the frozen nuclei approximation and by multidimensional nuclear dynamics. Detailed comparison of the results by the two methods are performed to provide quantitative criteria for the reliability of the frozen nuclei approximation for this system.

Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Health-Promoting Exercise as an Adjunct Therapy for Drug Use Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: Meta-analysis was used to quantitatively examine the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Health-Promoting Exercise (TCE) as an adjuvant therapy for drug use disorders and rehabilitation based on previously published studies. Methods: Potential literature was retrieved by searching eight electronic databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], Wanfang, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, China Biology Medicine [CBM], PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and EBSCOhost) from January 2000 to May 2021, as well as through manual searches, including email. These literature reports comprised randomized, controlled trial studies and nonrandomized, controlled trial studies assessing the effects of TCE intervention on the physical and psychological (mental) health of drug addicts. The quality and bias risk of each study were assessed using the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool. The RevMan5.3 statistical software was employed to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies, and sensitivity and subgroup analyses using the Stata16.0 MP software were performed to explore the sources of heterogeneity among the data. This study is registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021254124). Results: Data from 14 studies (1094 individuals with drug abuse) meeting the inclusion criteria were extracted for meta-analysis. Compared to the control group, TCE intervention induced significant improvements in the systolic blood pressure (standardized mean difference [SMD] = -0.42, p < 0.05), diastolic blood pressure (SMD = -0.34, p < 0.05), one-leg stand with eyes closed (SMD = 0.74, p < 0.05), Symptom Check List (SMD = -0.42, p < 0.05), anxiety scale (self-rating anxiety scale/STI) (SMD = -0.49, p < 0.05), and depression scale (self-rating depression scale/Beck Depression Inventory/Hamilton Depression Rating Scale for Depression) (SMD = -0.37, p < 0.05). Sensitivity and subgroup analyses of the individual outcome indicators with high heterogeneity (I2 ≥ 50%, p < 0.10) were performed to further explore the source of heterogeneity. The results of the sensitivity analysis showed that, after removing studies one by one, the heterogeneity of the data remained high (I2 > 50), and the difference of synthetic overall effect did not change (p < 0.05), indicating that the sensitivity was low and that the results were robust and reliable. The results of the subgroup analysis results indicated that the gender of the participants and the drug type were the sources of heterogeneity. Conclusion: As an effective mind-body movement intervention, long-term TCE is beneficial to improving the physical and mental health of drug addicts. The specific intervention methods are dependent on the gender of the addict and the drug type, and longer intervention times yielded greater impacts on their physical health.

Awareness and Mental Health of Male Drug Addicts With Tuberculosis During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction: At present, the COVID-19 pandemic remains the most pressing global health issue. Given the significant amount of public awareness, the infection rate and rehabilitation efforts are governed not only by the compliance of transmission mitigation strategies but also by the understanding of coexisting diseases and COVID-19 in patients with chronic infectious diseases. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the differences in demographics, as well as awareness, risk perception, and emotional reactions, among imprisoned drug addicts with and without tuberculosis (TB) regarding their perceptions of and feelings toward the COVID-19 pandemic. The secondary goal of the study was also to measure how the psychological health and nutritional indices of the drug addicts with TB changed during their ongoing rehabilitation. Methods: A total of 265 male drug addicts, 45 of which were positive for TB and another 220 who were negative, were selected as subjects from a mandatory detoxification and rehabilitation center (MDRC). Data were collected through a combination of questionnaires (questions regarding COVID-19 awareness, emotional knowledge and responses, and SCL-90 tests), anthropometric examination, and laboratory blood tests, with which inferential and descriptive statistical analyses were performed. Results: During a period of 1 week in early 2021, the differences in the accuracy of the responses from the questions probing the awareness of COVID-19 symptoms, transmission, susceptible populations, what kind of mask should be worn, and preventive measures between TB addicts to non-TB addicts were 11.11 vs. 60.45%, 57.78 vs. 77.27%, 66.67 vs. 78.64%, 97.98 vs. 97.73%, and 93.33 vs. 65.91%, respectively. In the risk perception and emotional reaction sections of the questionnaire, there was a significant difference in the responses to "What you were more worried about was?" (p < 0.001) and "Alteration in your mood since the outbreak?" (p = 0.002) between the two cohorts. In the section assessing the 10 dimensions of the SCL-90 scale, there were significant differences between the TB addicts and the Chinese norm. In addition, the BMI (21.06 ± 2.65 kg/m2) and total serum protein (77.14 ± 6.12 g/L) levels of the TB addicts were normal, but the serum hemoglobin (117.02 ± 4.97 g/L) and albumin (42.08 ± 1.81 g/L) levels were significantly lower in the TB addicts compared to the norm (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic we are facing is both an epidemiologic and a psychological crisis. However, while the COVID-19 epidemic will eventually disappear (or become manageable, similar to the flu), the TB epidemic may still persist. To avoid the deleterious consequences of multiple simultaneous epidemics, complementary response measures to COVID-19 and TB can help curb the exacerbation of both situations and, therefore, save lives. Imprisoned drug addicts, especially those with TB, can master relevant knowledge on COVID-19.

Low-Frequency Electrical Stimulation Promotes Satellite Cell Activities to Facilitate Muscle Regeneration at an Early Phase in a Rat Model of Muscle Strain.

The capability of regeneration for skeletal muscle after injury depends on the differentiation and proliferation ability of the resident stem cells called satellite cells. It has been reported that electrical stimulation was widely used in clinical conditions to facilitate muscle regeneration after injury, but the characterization of satellite cell responses to the context of low-frequency electrical stimulation in early-phase muscle strain conditions has not been fully clarified. In this study, we aim to investigate the effects of low-frequency electrical stimulation (frequency: 20 Hz; duration: 30 minutes, twice daily) on satellite cell activities in a rat model for the early phase of muscle strain. Firstly, we adopted our previously developed rat model to mimic the early phase of muscle strain in human. After then, we examined the effects of low-frequency electrical stimulation on histopathological changes of the muscle fiber by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Finally, we investigated the effects of low-frequency electrical stimulation on satellite cell proliferation and differentiation by quantification of the expression level of the specific proteins using western blot analyses. The muscle strain in biceps femoris muscles of rats can be induced by high-speed rotation from knee flexion 50° to full knee extension at 960°·s-1 angular velocity during its tetany by activating the sciatic nerve, as evidenced by a widening of the interstitial space between fibers, and more edema or necrosis fibers were detected in the model rats without treatment than in control rats. After treatment with low-frequency electrical stimulation (frequency: 20 Hz; duration: 30 minutes, twice daily), the acute strained biceps femoris muscles of rats showed obvious improvement of histomorphology as indicated by more mature muscle fibers with well-ordered formation with clear boundaries. Consistently, the expression levels of the MyoD and myogenin were marked higher than those in the rats in the animal model group, indicating increased satellite cell proliferating and differentiating activities by low-frequency electrical stimulation. This study shows that low-frequency electrical stimulation provides an effective stimulus to upregulate the protein expression of MyoD/myogenin and accelerate the restoration of structure during the early phase of muscle strain. This may have significance for clinical practice. Optimization of low-frequency electrical stimulation parameters may enhance the therapeutic outcome in patients.

De- and Recoherence of Charge Migration in Ionized Iodoacetylene.

During charge migration, electrons flow rapidly from one site of a molecule to another, perhaps inducing subsequent processes (e.g., selective breaking of chemical bonds). The first joint experimental and theoretical preparation and measurement of the initial state and subsequent quantum dynamics simulation of charge migration for fixed nuclei was demonstrated recently for oriented, ionized iodoacetylene. Here, we present new quantum dynamics simulations for the same system with moving nuclei. They reveal the decisive role of the nuclei, i.e. they switch charge migration off (decoherence) and on (recoherence). This is a new finding in attosecond-to-femtosecond chemistry and physics which opens new prospects for laser control over electronic dynamics via nuclear motions.

A Comparison Study of Ag Composites Prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering and Hot Pressing with Silver-Coated CNTs as the Reinforcements.

In this study, carbon nanotube-reinforced silver composites (CNT/Ag) were prepared by the powder metallurgy process via spark plasma sintering (SPS) and hot pressing sintering (HP) with composite powders through an improved electroless plating method assisted by ultrasonic spray atomization. The dispersion of CNTs was effectively improved by ultrasonic spray atomization, and uniform silver layers were deposited on the surface of CNTs by electroless deposition. The property testing results showed significant improvements of the electrical conductivity, hardness, and tensile strength in the samples prepared by SPS, as compared to their HP sintered counterparts. When the volume fraction of CNTs reached 2.5%, the tensile strength reached a maximum value of 221 MPa, which was more than twice that of the pure silver samples. The structural analysis indicated different degrees of CNT agglomeration and matrix mean grain sizes in the composites prepared by SPS and HP, which are responsible for the differences in properties.

Timing the recoherences of attosecond electronic charge migration by quantum control of femtosecond nuclear dynamics: A case study for HCCI.

This work suggests an approach to a new target of laser control of charge migration in molecules or molecular ions. The target is motivated by the fact that nuclear motions can not only cause decoherence of charge migration, typically within few femtoseconds, but they may also enable the reappearance of charge migration after much longer times, typically several tens or even hundreds of femtoseconds. This phenomenon is called recoherence of charge migration, opposite to its decoherence. The details depend on the initiation of the original charge migration by an ultrashort strong intense pump laser pulse. It may reappear quasiperiodically, with reference period Tr. We show that a well-designed pump-dump laser pulse can enforce recoherences of charge migration at different target times Tc, for example, at Tc ≈ Tr/2. The approach is demonstrated by quantum dynamics simulations of the laser driven electronic and nuclear motions in the oriented linear cation HCCI+. First, the concept is explained in terms of a didactic one-dimensional (1D) model that accounts for the decisive CI stretch. The 1D results are then confirmed by a three-dimensional model for the complete set of the CH, CC, and CI stretches.

Nuclear spin blockade of laser ignition of intramolecular rotation in the model boron rotor B 13 + 11 .

The boron rotor B 13 + 11 consists of a tri-atomic inner "wheel" that may rotate in its pseudo-rotating ten-atomic outer "bearing"-this concerted motion is called "contorsion." B 13 + 11 in its ground state has zero contorsional angular momentum. Starting from this initial state, it is a challenge to ignite contorsion by a laser pulse. We discover, however, that this is impossible, i.e., one cannot design any laser pulse that induces a transition from the ground to excited states with non-zero contorsional angular momentum. The reason is that the ground state is characterized by a specific combination of irreducible representations (IRREPs) of its contorsional and nuclear spin wavefunctions. Laser pulses conserve these IRREPs because hypothetical changes of the IRREPs would require nuclear spin flips that cannot be realized during the interaction with the laser pulse. We show that all excited target states of B 13 + 11 with non-zero contorsional angular momentum have different IRREPs that are inaccessible by laser pulses. Conservation of nuclear spins thus prohibits laser-induced transitions from the non-rotating ground to rotating target states. We discover various additional constraints imposed by conservation of nuclear spins, e.g., laser pulses can change clockwise to counter-clockwise contorsions or vice versa, but they cannot stop them. The results are derived in the frame of a simple model.

Communication: Electronic flux induced by crossing the transition state.

We present a new effect of chemical reactions, e.g., isomerizations, that occurs when the reactants pass along the transition state, on the way to products. It is based on the well-known fact that at the transition state, the electronic structure of one isomer changes to the other. We discover that this switch of electronic structure causes a strong electronic flux that is well distinguishable from the usual flux of electrons that travel with the nuclei. As a simple but clear example, the effect is demonstrated here for bond length isomerization of Na2 (21Σu+), with adiabatic crossing the barrier between the inner and outer wells of the double minimum potential that support different "Rydberg" and "ionic" type electronic structures, respectively.

A universal mechanism of the planar boron rotors B11-, B13+, B15+, and B19-: inner wheels rotating in pseudo-rotating outer bearings.

Planar boron clusters B11-, B13+, B15+, and B19- have been introduced recently as molecular Wankel motors or tank treads. Here we present a universal mechanism for these dynamically fluxional clusters; that is, they are molecular rotors with inner wheels that rotate almost freely in pseudo-rotating outer bearings, analogous to rotating molecules trapped in pseudo-rotating cages. This mechanism has significant quantum mechanical consequences: the global-minimum structures of the clusters have C2v symmetry, whereas the wheels rotating in pseudo-rotating bearings generate rosette-type shapes with D9h, D10h, D11h, and D13h symmetries. The related rotational/pseudo-rotational energies appear with characteristic band structures, effecting the dynamics.

[Refractivity of C60 composite material].

The experiment makes C60 composite material by mixing up C60 and polymethyl methacrylate. Then three minor studies are conducted: (1) Studying the relation of refractivity of the material with the change in temperature. (2) Studying the different change in refractivity with different amount of C60 in the composite material. (3) Studying the change in refractivity of the material radiated with ultraviolet radiation. A comparison is made between the above three cases. The result shows that: under different circumstances, the change in refractivity with the change of temperature differ.