The Emotion Regulation of Acupuncture in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Clinical Neuroimaging Protocol.

Introduction: Acupuncture is effective for patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP), which can relieve pain intensity and regulate negative emotional states such as pain-related anxiety and depression. Previous studies mainly discuss the analgesic mechanism of acupuncture treatment of CLBP, but there are multiple dimensions to pain, including sensation, emotion and cognition. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the central mechanism of acupuncture for CLBP from the perspective of emotional regulation by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods and Analysis: A total of 72 patients with CLBP will be recruited in the study and randomly assigned to the verum acupuncture group or the sham acupuncture group. The trail will last for 18 weeks including a 2-week baseline, a 4-week treatment and a 12-week for follow-up period. The primary outcomes are the visual analog scale (VAS) and the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Scores (JOA) score. The secondary outcomes are the 12-item short form health survey (SF-12), the state trait anxiety inventory (STAI), the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS). The VAS, JOA, STAI SAS and SDS will be collected at baseline, week 2, week 4, and after follow-up. The SF-12 will be evaluated at baseline, week 2 and week 4. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data will be collected at baseline and the end of treatment. Emotion-related brain regions will be chosen as regions of interest (ROIs). The gray matter volume (GMV), amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), functional connectivity (FC), and large-scale functional brain network based on these ROIs will be analyzed within and between the two groups. Discussion: This study will verify the emotional regulation of acupuncture and explore the mechanism of acupuncture for emotion regulation in patients with CLBP. Trial Registration Number: https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=195486, identifier: ChiCTR2300070557.

Searching for ultralight dark matter conversion in solar corona using Low Frequency Array data.

Ultralight dark photons and axions are well-motivated hypothetical dark matter candidates. Both dark photon dark matter and axion dark matter can resonantly convert into electromagnetic waves in the solar corona when their mass is equal to the solar plasma frequency. The resultant electromagnetic waves appear as monochromatic signals within the radio-frequency range with an energy equal to the dark matter mass, which can be detected via radio telescopes for solar observations. Here we show our search for converted monochromatic signals in the observational data collected by the high-sensitivity Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope and establish an upper limit on the kinetic mixing coupling between dark photon dark matter and photon, which can reach values as low as 10-13 within the frequency range of 30 - 80 MHz. This limit represents an improvement of approximately one order of magnitude better than the existing constraint from the cosmic microwave background observation. Additionally, we derive an upper limit on the axion-photon coupling within the same frequency range, which is better than the constraints from Light-Shining-through-a-Wall experiments while not exceeding the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) experiment or other astrophysical bounds.

Phage therapy in gut microbiome.

Phage therapy, the use of bacteriophage viruses for bacterial infection treatment, has been around for almost a century, but with the increase in antibiotic use, its importance has declined rapidly. There has been renewed interest in revisiting this practice due to the general decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics, combined with improved understanding of human microbiota and advances in sequencing technologies. Phage therapy has been proposed as a clinical alternative to restore the gut microbiota in the absence of an effective treatment. That is due to its immunomodulatory and bactericidal effects against its target bacteria. In the gastrointestinal diseases field, phage therapy has been studied mainly as a promising tool in infectious diseases treatment, such as cholera and diarrhea. However, many studies have been conducted in non-communicable diseases, such as the targeting of adherent invasive Escherichia coli in Crohn's disease, the treatment of Clostridioides difficile in ulcerative colitis, the eradication of Fusobacterium nucleatum in colorectal cancer, the targeting of alcohol-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or Enterococcus faecalis in alcohol-associated hepatitis. This review will summarize the changes in the gut microbiota and the phageome in association with some gastrointestinal and liver diseases and highlight the recent scientific advances in phage therapy as a therapeutic tool for their treatment.

Immune biomarkers associated with COVID-19 disease severity in an urban, hospitalized population.

Objectives: We sought to identify immune biomarkers associated with severe Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients admitted to a large urban hospital during the early phase of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Design: The study population consisted of SARS-CoV-2 positive subjects admitted for COVID-19 (n = 58) or controls (n = 14) at the Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center between April 2020 through December 2020. Immunologic markers including chemokine/cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IP-10, MCP-1, TNF-α) and serologic markers against SARS-CoV-2 antigens (including spike subunits S1 and S2, receptor binding domain, and nucleocapsid) were assessed in serum collected on the day of admission using bead-based multiplex immunoassay panels. Results: We observed that body mass index (BMI) and SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were significantly elevated in patients with the highest COVID-19 disease severity. IP-10 was significantly elevated in COVID-19 patients and was associated with increased SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Interactions among all available variables on COVID-19 disease severity were explored using a linear support vector machine model which supported the importance of BMI and SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Conclusions: Our results confirm the known adverse association of BMI on COVID-19 severity and suggest that IP-10 and SARS-CoV-2 antibodies could be useful to identify patients most likely to experience the most severe forms of the disease.

Presumptive First Record of Myotis aurascens (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) from China with a Phylogenetic Analysis.

Bat groups have a high degree of species diversity, and the taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships among bat species have always been research hotspots. Due to the fact that morphological characteristics do not always reflect the evolutionary relationships among species, mitochondrial DNA has been widely used in the study of species relationships due to its maternal inheritance pattern. Myotis aurascens has been suggested as a possible synonym for M. davidii. However, the status of this classification has been controversial. In this study, the morphological and molecular characteristics of a M. aurascens captured from Inner Mongolia, China, were analyzed to determine its taxonomic status. In terms of morphological features, the body weight was 6.33 g, the head and body length were 45.10 mm, the forearm length was 35.87 mm, and the tragus length was 7.51 mm. These values all fell within the species signature data range. Nucleotide skew analysis of the protein-coding genes (PCGs) suggested that only five PCGs (ND1, ND2, COX2, ATP8, and ND4) showed AT-skew value within the mitogenome of M. aurascens. Except for ND6, the GC-skew values of the other PCGs were negative, reflecting the preference for C and T bases compared to G and A bases. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial PCGs indicated that M. aurascens was a distinct species from M. davidii and phylogenetically closer to M. ikonnikovi, M. alcathoe, and M. mystacinus. Genetic distance analysis also showed that M. aurascens and M. davidii were distantly related. Therefore, the integrated analysis demonstrated that M. aurascens should be considered a distinct species rather than a synonym of M. davidii. Our study could provide a reference for enriching species diversity and research on conservation in China.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Sorex minutissimus (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae).

In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of Sorex minutissimus was sequenced and deposited to GeneBank for the first time using muscle tissue. This mitochondrial genome is a circular molecule of 16,700 bp in length and sequence analysis showed it contains 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes, rep_origin, and D_loop. Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of 12 protein-coding genes except ND6 of 13 Soricidae species' mitochondrial genomes using ML and BI demonstrated that S. minutissimus and other Sorex species were clustered into same clade.

Design, analysis, and testing of a novel compliant underactuated gripper.

This paper proposes a novel compliant underactuated gripper with multiple working modes. Based on the pseudo-rigid-body method, a static analysis of different working modes is carried out, establishing an analytical relationship between the output grasping forces and the input load. For the enveloped grasping mode, an algorithm to determine the static equilibrium position is given. Furthermore, a parametric optimization algorithm based on gradient descent is designed to obtain the maximum grasping forces. The effectiveness of the multiple grasping modes, the grasping force models, and the optimization algorithm are verified by a dynamic simulation package and finite element analysis as well as by experimental tests. Finally, various grasping experiments are conducted to further validate each working mode, the stability of grasping, and the ability to protect fragile objects.

Sequencing and analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome of large-toothed Siberian shrew (Sorex daphaenodon).

The mitochondrial genome of Sorex daphaenodon was sequenced and analyzed for the first time using muscle tissue. This genome was 17351 bp in length and contained 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and 2 rRNA genes, 1 control region and 1 rep_origin. The phylogenetic analysis basis of 12 protein-coding genes except for ND6 gene of 13 species shows that Sorex daphaenodon close with Sorex tundrensis, and was farthest related to Sorex cylindricauda in the genus of Sorex.

Wafer Scale Fabrication of Dense and High Aspect Ratio Sub-50 nm Nanopillars from Phase Separation of Cross-Linkable Polysiloxane/Polystyrene Blend.

We demonstrated a simple and effective approach to fabricate dense and high aspect ratio sub-50 nm pillars based on phase separation of a polymer blend composed of a cross-linkable polysiloxane and polystyrene (PS). In order to obtain the phase-separated domains with nanoscale size, a liquid prepolymer of cross-linkable polysiloxane was employed as one moiety for increasing the miscibility of the polymer blend. After phase separation via spin-coating, the dispersed domains of liquid polysiloxane with sub-50 nm size could be solidified by UV exposure. The solidified polysiloxane domains took the role of etching mask for formation of high aspect ratio nanopillars by O2 reactive ion etching (RIE). The aspect ratio of the nanopillars could be further amplified by introduction of a polymer transfer layer underneath the polymer blend film. The effects of spin speeds, the weight ratio of the polysiloxane/PS blend, and the concentration of polysiloxane/PS blend in toluene on the characters of the nanopillars were investigated. The gold-coated nanopillar arrays exhibited a high Raman scattering enhancement factor in the range of 108-109 with high uniformity across over the wafer scale sample. A superhydrophobic surface could be realized by coating a self-assembled monolayers (SAM) of fluoroalkyltrichlorosilane on the nanopillar arrays. Sub-50 nm silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with high aspect ratio of about 1000 were achieved by using the nanopillars as etching mask through a metal-assisted chemical etching process. They showed an ultralow reflectance of approximately 0.1% for wavelengths ranging from 200 to 800 nm.

Restoring the youth of aged red blood cells and extending their lifespan in circulation by remodelling membrane sialic acid.

Membrane sialic acid (SA) plays an important role in the survival of red blood cells (RBCs), the age-related reduction in SA content negatively impacts both the structure and function of these cells. We have therefore suggested that remodelling the SA in the membrane of aged cells would help recover cellular functions characteristic of young RBCs. We developed an effective method for the re-sialylation of aged RBCs by which the cells were incubated with SA in the presence of cytidine triphosphate (CTP) and α-2,3-sialytransferase. We found that RBCs could be re-sialylated if they had available SA-binding groups and after the re-sialylation, aged RBCs could restore their membrane SA to the level in young RBCs. Once the membrane SA was restored, the aged RBCs showed recovery of their biophysical and biochemical properties to similar levels as in young RBCs. Their life span in circulation was also extended to twofold. Our findings indicate that remodelling membrane SA not only helps restore the youth of aged RBCs, but also helps recover injured RBCs.

Human red blood cell aging: correlative changes in surface charge and cell properties.

Red blood cells (RBCs) during microcirculation, aging and storage, lose N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) and other biomaterials thereby altering cell structures, some properties and functions. Such cell damage very likely underlies the serious adverse effects of blood transfusion. However, a controversy has remained since 1961-1977 as to whether with aging, the RBCs, suffering loss of NANA, do have a decreased charge density. Any correlation between the changes in the cell properties with cell aging is also not clear. Therefore, to remove the ambiguity and uncertainty, we carried out multiparameteric studies on Percoll fractions of blood of 38 volunteers (lightest-young-Y-RBCs, densest-old-O-RBCs, two middle fractions).We found that there were striking differences between the properties of Y-RBCs and O-RBCs. The ζ-potential of Y-RBCs decreased gradually with aging. Studies in parallel on RBC fractions incubated with both positively charged quantum dots and Sambucus Nigra-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) along with their ζ-potentials provide for the first time direct visual evidence about the lesser amount of charge density and NANA on O-RBCs, and a collinear decrease in their respective ζ-potentials. Close correlation was found between the surface charge on an aging RBC and its structure and functions, from the cell morphology, the membrane deformability to the intracellular Hb structure and oxidation ability. This quantitative approach not only clarifies the picture but also has implications in biology and medicine.

Quantum dots as a sensor for quantitative visualization of surface charges on single living cells with nano-scale resolution.

We developed a technique using quantum dot (QD) as a sensor for quantitative visualization of the surface charge on biological cells with nano-scale resolution. The QD system was designed and synthesized using amino modified CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles. In a specially designed buffer solution, they are positively charged and can homogeneously disperse in the aqueous environment to label all the negative charges on the surfaces of living cells. Using a wide-field optical sectioning microscopy to achieve 2D/3D imaging of the QD-labeled cells, we determined the charge densities of different kinds of cells from normal to mutant ones. The information about the surface charge distribution is significant in evaluating the structure, function, biological behavior and even malignant transformation of cells.