ABSTRACT
This randomized controlled trial investigates the efficacy of thread-embedding acupuncture (TEA) compared to sham TEA in treating drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). Fifty-four DRE outpatients were randomly divided into two groups: TEA (27 patients) and sham TEA (27 patients). Both groups received four sessions of TEA or sham TEA, spaced four weeks apart, targeting GV20, GV14, BL15, BL18, ST40, and GB34 acupoints. Antiseizure medications were maintained at consistent doses throughout the study. Outcome measures included satisfactory seizure control, seizure freedom, and heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) measurements. TEA demonstrated a significantly higher rate of satisfactory seizure control at follow-up compared to the sham TEA group (37% vs. 3.7%, p = 0.003). While no significant intergroup differences were observed in HR, HRV, and HRV components at each stage, the TEA group experienced a significant decrease in HR and a significant increase in HRV posttreatment. This study demonstrates TEA's effectiveness in managing DRE and suggests its impact may relate to heightened parasympathetic nerve activity. Further research with extended follow-up periods is necessary to validate these findings.
ABSTRACT
The photocatalytic activity of the ZnO NRs/CuO composite film was investigated by using both experimental and numerical methods. The ZnO NRs/CuO composite film exhibits significantly enlarge absorption range to visible-light and suppress the recombination rate of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs, which can be well utilized as a photocatalyst. The ZnO NRs/CuO composite film also presents good stability, and reusability, and durability for photo-decomposition purpose. The optimal ZnO NRs/CuO composite film contains 1µ-thick of CuO film and 10 nm-thick of ZnO NRs film. The donor concentration in ZnO NRs film should be lower than 1016 cm-3. The short circuit current density of the optimal composite film is 25.8 mA/cm2 resulting in the calculated pseudo-order rate constant of 1.85 s-1. The enhancement in degradation efficiency of this composite film is attributed to the inner electric field and large effective surface area of ZnO NRs film.
ABSTRACT
Hysteresis of ferromagnetic system exhibits a fundamental stimulus-response behavior, thereby casting all the important macromagnetic system parameters such as coercivity, nucleation field, saturation magnetization, and hysteresis loss. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to exploration of relatively less understood minor loop behavior, since faster operation of magnetic devices is inevitably accompanied by minor hysteresis behavior from cycling among unsaturated ferromagnetic states. Here, we report our microscopic investigation of unusual minor hysteresis loop behavior, represented by rounded or sharpened response of minor hysteresis loop of (CoFeB/Pd)4 multilayer film. It is observed that rounded and sharpened response in the minor hysteresis response could be manifested under proper conditions. The minor loop behavior has been systematically investigated by direct microscopic magnetic domain observation using magneto-optical Kerr microscopy. The rounded response of magnetization at the reversing external field along the minor hysteresis curve, so far neglected or considered as one of 'unusual' behaviors, has been found to be elaborately controllable by tuning the reversing field strength and the field sweep rate for multilayers with low repeat numbers. Variable roundedness of the minor hysteresis loop is understandable based on the analysis of magnetic domain dynamics such as domain nucleation and the domain wall velocity.
