Acupuncture-Related Therapies for Parkinson's Disease: A Meta-Analysis and Qualitative Review.

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the effects of the combination of acupuncture-related therapies with conventional medication compared with conventional medication in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods: A literature search within eight databases [including Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biology Medicine (CBM), VIP, and Wanfang Database] was performed covering a time frame from their inception to August 2020. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing acupuncture-related therapies combined with conventional medication vs. conventional medication in patients with PD were eligible. Two authors independently assessed the risk of bias. Assessments were performed with the total and subscales scores of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39), the dosage of Madopar, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD). Data were analyzed by adopting the Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5.4 (Review Man, Copenhagen, Denmark); and mean effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals were estimated. Tests for heterogeneity were used to assess differences in treatment effects across different types of acupuncture used. Results: Sixty-six trials met the inclusion criteria, of which 61 trials provided data for the meta-analysis. We defined high-quality articles as those with a low risk of bias in four or more domains; and only 10 (15.15%) articles were of high quality. Compared with the controls, acupuncture-related therapies with conventional medication achieved a benefit in the primary outcomes of UPDRS (motor subscore: -3.90, -4.33 to -3.49, P < 0.01; total score: -7.37 points, -8.91 to -5.82, P < 0.001; activities of daily living subscore: -3.96, -4.96 to -2.95, P < 0.01). For the subgroup difference test among the effects of different acupuncture methods, significant differences existed in outcomes with the UPDRS-III, UPDRS-I, UPDRS-IV, and PDQ-39 scores and Madopar dosage, while non-significant differences existed with the UPDRS-total, UPDRS-II, HAMD, and MMSE scores. Conclusions: Acupuncture-related therapies combined with conventional medication may benefit individuals with PD. Our review findings should be considered with caution because of the methodological weaknesses in the included trials. Future, large randomized trials of acupuncture-related therapies for PD with high methodological quality are warranted. Systematic Review Registration: Identifier CRD42021228110.

Compressive sensing for fast 3-D and random-access two-photon microscopy.

3-D two-photon excitation (TPE) microscopy has been a critical tool for biological study since its introduction. Yet, the speed is largely limited by its point detector, e.g., photomultiplier tube (PMT), which requires a point-scanning imaging sequence. In this Letter, we present a multi-focus compressive sensing (CS) method for 3-D and random-access TPE microscopy based on a digital micromirror device (DMD). This new platform combines CS with a unique holography-based DMD random-access scanner to enhance the imaging speed by three to five times for imaging arbitrarily selected regions in 3-D specimens without sacrificing the resolution. In the experiments, 1-20 randomly selected foci are generated by modulating the wavefront of a femtosecond laser via binary holography, where the combined intensity is recorded by a PMT. By exploiting CS algorithms, 3-D images at arbitrarily selected sites can be reconstructed. Simulations and imaging experiments on different samples have been performed to verify the principle and identify the optimal processing parameters, including the number of laser foci and sampling ratios. The results show that high-resolution images can be obtained by using a 25% sampling ratio and five foci. The new CS-based TPE imaging method may find important applications in biological studies, e.g., neuronal imaging and optogenetics.

Spatially resolved random-access pump-probe microscopy based on binary holography.

In this Letter, we present a spatially resolved pump-probe microscope based on a digital micromirror device (DMD). The microscope system enables the measurements of ultrafast transient processes at arbitrarily selected regions in a 3-D specimen. To achieve random-access scanning, the wavefront of the probe beam is modulated by the DMD via binary holography. By switching the holograms stored in the DMD memory, the laser focus can be rapidly moved in space in a discrete fashion. The microscope system has a field of view of 65×130×155 µm3 in the x, y, and z axes, respectively; and a scanning speed of 8 kHz which is limited by the response time of the lock-in amplifier. To demonstrate the pump-probe system, we measured the ultrafast transient reflectivity of 2-D gold patterns on a silicon substrate and on silicon nitride cantilever beams. The results show an excellent signal-to-noise ratio and spatial-temporal resolution, as well as the 3-D random scanning capability. The new pump-probe microscope is a versatile instrument to characterize ultrafast 3-D phenomena with high spatial and temporal resolution, e.g., the propagation of localized surface plasmon resonance on curved surfaces.

Measurement and Correlation of the Viscosity of 1,1,1,2,2,4,5,5,5-Nonafluoro-4-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pentanone.

The Paris Agreement on climate change, in which many nations have agreed to limit greenhouse gas emissions, has spurred interest in developing working fluids with low global warming potential (GWP) that can satisfy environmental concerns and have thermophysical properties that can meet engineering performance requirements. One such fluid is 1,1,1,2,2,4,5,5,5-nonafluoro-4-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pentanone (also known as Novec-649 and Novec-1230), which has potential applications in organic Rankine cycles (ORC), electronics cooling, computer/data center cooling and fire extinguishing. In this work, viscosity measurements of 1,1,1,2,2,4,5,5,5-nonafluoro-4-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pentanone were reported. The measurements were performed over the temperature range of (243 to 373) K and at pressures up to 40 MPa using a vibrating-wire viscometer. The combined expanded uncertainty of the reported viscosity was 2 % with a confidence level of 0.95 (k = 2). These experimental data were used to develop a viscosity correlation that covers a wide temperature and pressure range, with an estimated uncertainty at a 95% confidence level of 2% for the liquid phase from (240 to 400) K at pressures up to 40 MPa.

Crohn's disease in Japanese is associated with a SNP-haplotype of N-acetyltransferase 2 gene.

AIM: To investigate the frequency and distribution of N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) and uridine 5'-diphosphate (UDP)-glucuronosyltransferase 1A7 (UGT1A7) genes in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). METHODS: Frequencies and distributions of NAT2 and UGT1A7 SNPs as well as their haplotypes were investigated in 95 patients with UC, 60 patients with CD, and 200 gender-matched, unrelated, healthy, control volunteers by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), PCR-denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC), and direct DNA sequencing. RESULTS: Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the frequency of haplotype, NAT2*7B, significantly increased in CD patients, compared to that in controls (P = 0.0130, OR = 2.802, 95%CI = 1.243-6.316). However, there was no association between NAT2 haplotypes and UC, or between any UGT1A7 haplotypes and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). CONCLUSION: It is likely that the NAT2 gene is one of the determinants for CD in Japanese. Alternatively, a new CD determinant may exist in the 8p22 region, where NAT2 is located.