Objective:To explore whether sleep quality suffers in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease(AD)and mild cognitive impairment(MCI), and to further investigate the correlation between sleep disorders and cognitive function in these patients.Methods:In this study, 30 mild AD patients, 39 MCI patients and 43 demographically matched healthy controls were enrolled.Sleep quality was assessed by the Pittsburgh sleep quality index(PSQI), and cognitive function was assessed by the mini-mental state examination(MMSE), the Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)and a set of neuropsychological scales.The correlation of sleep quality with cognitive function was analyzed for the three groups.Results:Differences were significant in sleep time score[0.0(1.0), 1.0(2.0) vs.1.0(1.0), F=8.18, P=0.02]and daytime function score[1.0(1.0), 1.0(1.0) vs.0.0(1.0), F=8.73, P=0.01]between mild AD, MCI and health control groups.Spearman correlation analysis suggested that scores of sleep disorders were negatively correlated with DSB( r=-0.43, P=0.02)and scores of daytime function were positively correlated with ADL( r=0.39, P=0.03)in patients with mild AD.In addition, scores of sleep quality were negatively correlated with the DSB score( r=-0.40, P=0.01), scores of sleep disorders were positively correlated with ADL( r=0.45, P<0.01), scores of daytime function were negatively correlated with DSF( r=-0.42, P=0.01), DSB( r=-0.62, P<0.01)and VFT-S( r=-0.33, P=0.04), and the total PSQI score was negatively correlated with DSF( r=-0.45, P=0.01)and DSB( r=-0.44, P=0.01)in the MCI group. Conclusions:Patients with mild AD and MCI have longer sleep time and impaired daytime function than healthy people, and sleep quality is correlated with memory, attention and daily living ability in patients with mild AD and MCI.

Memory function is the core component of human brain cognition.Memory impairment significantly affects people's daily life and social ability,but existing cognitive training or drug therapy can not effectively improve memory function.In recent years,new techniques and methods have been emerging in brain science research,especially neural regulation techniques,such as transcranial electrical / magnetic stimulation,which can significantly regulate cognitive ability and effectively promote memory function.Transcranial direct current stimulation is a kind of noninvasive and safe technique.It can regulate cerebral cortex activity by changing the cerebral cortex excitability,and play a role in regulating brain function.At present,there have been reports at home and abroad that transcranial direct current stimulation can promote memory function and improve memory effectively.This technique is applied to the diagnosis and treatment of clinical diseases,but its mechanism is not clear.This article reviews the mechanism and application of transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) in promoting different types of memory function in order to provide evidence for early intervention and treatment of memory impairment.

Objective To explore whether the ability of intertemporal choice is impaired in schizophrenic patients and in their unaffected siblings.Methods Twenty-five schizophrenia patients,twenty-five unaffected siblings of patients and thirty healthy controls were recruited in the study."Delay-discounting" task and a battery of cognitive neuropsychological assessment were used to examine the intertemporal decision-making.Results (1) the value of k was ((0.005±0.009 in schizophrenia,0.011±0.014 in unaffected siblings and 0.024±0.029 in healthy controls,respectively.There was significant difference in k value among these three groups (F=9.487,P＜0.001).There were significant differences in k value between patients group and healthy controls,and between unaffected siblings and healthy controls (P＜0.05).There was no significant difference between schizophrenia and their unaffected siblings (P＜0.05).(2) Pearson correlation analysis not showed any relationship between neuropsychological test and the value of k.Conclusion The ability of intertemporal choices is impaired in schizophrenia and their unaffected siblings to a great degree.

Objective To investigate the effect of high-definition transcranial direct current stimula-tion on visual spatial working memory in patients with schizophrenia. Methods Sixty-six patients with schizophrenia were enrolled in a randomized,double-blind,placebo-controlled study. The subjects were ran-domized into a true stimulation group of 33 patients and a placebo control group of 33 patients,each patient only received one stimulation. After receiving a stimulus,the left dorsolateral prefrontal lobe was stimulated by high-precision transcranial direct current. The true stimulation group was stimulated with a current of 1. 5 mA for 20 min. The control group used pseudo-stimulation,and only the current was passed within 30 s of the beginning and the end of the stimulation. Both groups completed the neuropsychological background test and the n-back task before stimulation,and the stimulation was performed after five days. After the stimula-tion,the two groups completed the n-back task again,and compared the Changes in grades to reflect changes in working memory before and after the pseudo-stimulation. Results Before the stimulation,the response rate of the 3-back task was compared with that of the control group ((0. 32±0. 21),(0. 32±0. 22)),the true stimulation group ((0. 28 ± 0. 19), ( 0. 35 ± 0. 21)), and the difference was statistically significant ( F=5. 298,P=0. 025). Conclusion Using high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation to stimulate the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex using can improve the visual memory function of patients. In the future,this technique can be applied to the cognitive promotion of memory impairment in patients with schizophrenia.

Objective:To explore the effect of visual processing patterns on emotional face processing in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).Methods:From June 2020 to August 2021, twenty-two AD patients (AD group) who met the conditions of this study were selected from the memory impairment clinic of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, and demographically matched twenty-one elderly healthy people (control group) were selected from the patients' family members and community residents. The two groups of subjects performed emotional face visual scanning and facial recognition experiments after completing the evaluation of the cognitive scale and eye movement data were recorded in the emotional face visual scanning task. Statistical analysis of the obtained results was performed using SPSS 23.0 Windows version software. The data that conformed to the normal distribution were tested by independent samples t-test and variance analysis, and the data that did not conform to the normal distribution were tested by nonparametric test. Results:(1)In the emotional face recognition task, the total accuracy of facial emotion recognition of AD patients(0.52(0.42, 0.59)) was lower than that of the normal control group(0.67(0.64, 0.69)), and the difference was statistically significant( Z=-4.023, P<0.01), which was mainly manifested in recognizing complex facial emotion. (2) In the emotional face visual processing task, the saccade count ((1.96±0.97), (2.50±0.44)), fixation count ((3.93±2.58), (6.37±2.08))and fixation time ((1 205.89±727.32)s, (1 761.38±525.54)s)of AD patients were lower than those of the control group( t=-2.314, -3.402, -2.880, all P<0.05), and the surrounding facial fixation time (384.95 (276.51, 587.78)s, 276.06 (190.03, 384.55)s) was higher than that of the control group( Z=-2.478, P=0.013). Patients with AD had a lower fixation count than that in the control group on the eye area of surprise ((3.76±2.90), (6.25±2.19)), anger ((4.48±2.72), (7.06±2.55)) and disgust ((4.10±2.45), (6.67±2.45)), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=-3.164, -3.207, -3.436, all P<0.05). Patients with AD had a lower fixation time than those of the control group on the eye area of surprise ((1 150.26±753.22)s, (1 779.91±551.66)s), angry ((1 430.85±869.52)s, (1 944.51±612.63)s) and disgust ((1 266.14±765.67)s, (1 898.33±676.02)s), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=-3.115, -2.247, -2.865, all P<0.05). (3) Spearman correlation analysis showed that the accuracy of overall emotional face recognition was positively correlated with the fixation time in the eye area in AD patients ( r=0.429, P<0.05). Conclusion:The impaired visual processing of AD patients causes emotional face recognition disorders. Therefore, AD patients have different visual processing patterns in emotional face processing than age-matched normal controls, mainly manifested as the decreased fixation on the eye area.

ObjectiveTo explore the mechanism of Chaihu Guizhitang （CHGZT） in alleviating neuropathic abdominal pain induced by 2，4，6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid （TNBS） in rats with chronic pancreatitis （CP）. MethodFifty male SD rats were randomly assigned into five groups： sham operation， CP model， and low-， medium-， and high-dose （4， 8， and 16 g·kg^-1， respectively） CHGZT groups. In the sham operation group， the abdomen was closed after the pancreas was gently stirred. The rat model of CP was established by retrograde injection of 2% TNBS-10% ethanol into the pancreatic duct. The oral administration of CHGZT started 4 weeks after modeling and lasted for 2 weeks. Pain threshold was measured by Von Frey fibers 6 weeks after surgery. Hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining was employed to reveal the chronic inflammation and fibrosis of the pancreatic tissue. Immunohistochemmistry （IHC） was employed to detect the expression of PGP9.5 （a marker of pancreatic nerves） and reveal the inflammatory changes around the nerves. IHC and immunofluorescence （IF） were used to determine the location of ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule-1 （Iba-1， microglia marker） and purinergic receptor P2X7 （P2RX7） and the co-expression of P2RX7 and Iba-1 in the thoracic spinal dorsal horn. ResultCompared with the sham operation group， the modeling increased the scores of pancreatic gland atrophy， inflammatory infiltration， and fibrosis （P<0.01）， the abdominal pain response under different force values （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and the score of peripancreatic inflammation. Moreover， the modeling up-regulated the expression of Iba-1 and P2RX7 in the thoracic spinal dorsal horn （P<0.01）. Compared with the model group， the high- and medium-dose CHGZT lowered the scores of pancreatic gland atrophy， inflammatory infiltration， and fibrosis， the abdominal pain response， and the score of peripancreatic inflammation （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The high-， medium-， and low-dose CHGZT all down-regulated the expression of Iba-1 and P2RX7 （P<0.01）. ConclusionCHGZT can significantly relieve abdominal pain in CP rat by suppressing the inflammation around nerves in the pancreas and the P2RX7 activation of microglia in the spinal dorsal horn.