Objective To explore the effect of acupuncture at Yanglingquan (GB 34) on white matter structure of stroke patients. Methods 6 stroke patients with left hemiplegia in recovery stage were recruited. The sham acupoint was as control, the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data in a 1.5 T SIEMENS scanner before and after acupuncture at Yanglingquan point was collected. Differences between the two conditions were compared with the Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS), which is one of FSL tools. Results The brain areas included left precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, supplementary motor area, inferior frontal gyrus, internal capsule, fornix and bilateral inferior parietal gyrus, in which the verum acupuncture had stronger effect on fractional anisotropy (FA) than the sham acupuncture. White matter tract such as pyramidal tract, arcuate fasciculus, corpus callosum and other inter-cortex association fibers passed these brain areas. The fiber tracts and brain areas were found to be involved with multiple brain networks of motor compensation, somatosensory, language and cognition. Conclusion Compared with the sham point, acupuncture at Yanglingquan point can change the microstructure of stroke patients' white matter, mainly in the inaffected side and related to multiple functional networks.

The high-affinity glucocorticoid binding sites (HAGS) and the low-affinity glucocorticoid binding sites (LAGS) with steroid specificity were demostrated in cerebral cytosol of rats by using the radioligand binding assay. The Kd of HAGS and LAGS were (178?0.71)?l0-8mol/L and (2.12?1.06)?10-6mol/L respecitively as estimated by Scatchard and Pseudoscatchard analysis. Glucocorticoid receptors (GR) in the traumatized(left) hemisphere cytosol were decreased more significantly than those in both the control (right) hemisphere cytosol at 6h postinjury and normal brain tissue (P

Objective To explore the changes of resting state default mode network (DMN) in patients with chronic pain caused by cervical spondylosis (CPCS). Methods 8 healthy controls and 10 patients accepted functional MRI scanning. Surface based DMN was extracted with independent component analysis (ICA). The functional connectivity of the components of DMN were discriminated with support vector machine (SVM) algorithm from the patients to the controls. Results The DMN connectivity was different in the patients from the controls in some of the component areas. Conclusion DMN of CPCS patients is disorder in multiple brain areas, which may be involved with dysfunction of perception processing, emotion and memory.

Objective:To use the resting state functional network connectivity (FNC) method based on independent component analysis (ICA) to analyze the characteristics of FNC changes in patients with basal ganglia aphasia (BGA) after stroke, and to explore its occurrence and recovery mechanism under the intervention of acupuncture combined with language rehabilitation training.Methods:Using a prospective observational research method, 16 right-handed BGA patients who were treated at Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University from July 2021 to December 2022, as well as 14 healthy subjects matched in age, gender, education level, and handedness, were included. The resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging, demographic information, and Western Aphasia Examination data of healthy subjects and BGA patients before and after intervention were collected. The GIFT toolbox based on MATLAB platform was applied for ICA and resting state brain network FNC analysis. The FNC differences between BGA patients and healthy subjects were compared horizontally, and the FNC changes in BGA patients before and after intervention were compared vertically.Results:Compared with healthy subjects, post-stroke BGA patients showed decreased connectivity between the basal ganglia network, default network, and visual network before intervention, while increased connectivity between the auditory network, right frontoparietal network, and anterior cuneiform network; After the intervention of acupuncture combined with language rehabilitation training, the connectivity between the basal ganglia network, visual network, and anterior cuneiform network decreased, while the connectivity between the anterior convex network and bilateral frontoparietal network decreased, while the connectivity between the default network, auditory network, right frontoparietal network, and visual network increased. The BGA patient group showed enhanced connectivity between the basal ganglia network and the left frontoparietal network before and after intervention.Conclusions:The FNC changes between the basal ganglia network and other brain networks are key to reflecting the mechanism of BGA occurrence and language function recovery. Acupuncture combined with language rehabilitation training may improve language function by enhancing the connectivity between the basal ganglia network and the left frontoparietal network, and the redistribution of attention resources may also be one of the reasons for promoting language function recovery in BGA patients.

Objective To explore the design of word-picture matching semantic judgment task based on Chinese high frequency nouns and further explore the way to apply the task in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)/event-related potential (ERP) study.Methods The materials, stimuli and procedure of the word-picture matching semantic task were provided. Then, a healthy subject for the pilot study was included. In the pilot study, fMRI and ERP data of the subject were collected during the word-picture matching task. The fMRI and ERP data were analyzed to test the feasibility of the word-picture matching task in an fMRI/ERP task.Results The results of fMRI analysis showed an increased activity in the right middle frontal gyrus under the word-picture presenting condition compared with the "+" presenting condition. In addition, fMRI analysis showed an increased activity in the right middle temporal gyrus in the word-picture mismatching condition compared with the word-picture matching condition. The results of ERP analysis showed an increased activity in the left frontal/temporal area in the word-picture matching condition and an increased activity in the right frontal area in the word-picture mismatching condition.Conclusion Language associated brain regions can be identified in the fMRI/ERP research based on the word-picture matching task described in this article, which indicated that the task is effective in exploring language processing mechanism in the brain.