BACKGROUND:Transcranial magneto-acoustical electrical stimulation(TMAES)is a non-invasive,high-precision neurofocused stimulation method based on magneto-acoustic coupling electrical effect,which can regulate the rhythmic oscillation of nerve activity,thereby affecting the brain's movement,cognition and other functions. OBJECTIVE:To explore the effect of TMAES on beta oscillations in the neural circuits of healthy rats and Parkinson's rats. METHODS:(1)Animal experiments:Twenty-four Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups(n=6 per group).The rats in the normal control group received no intervention,while those in the normal stimulation group received TMAES(the average spatial peak pulse intensity:13.33 W/cm2,fundamental frequency:0.4 MHz,the number of fundamental wave cycles:1000,and pulse frequency:200 Hz).The model control group and model stimulation group were established by intraperitoneal injection of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine.After successful modeling,the rats in the model control group received sham TMAES stimulation in the prefrontal cortex,and those in the model stimulation group received TMAES in the prefrontal cortex,and the duration of stimulation was 2.0 minutes per day.After an interval of 8-10 minutes,the local field potential signals of rats were collected during the execution of T-maze test and the correct rate of behavior was recorded at the same time to compare and analyze the time-frequency distribution of local field potential signals and behavioral differences among the groups.The stimulation experiment and T-maze test were stopped when the correct rate of rats was higher than 80%for 3 consecutive days.(2)Modeling and simulation experiments:The cortical-basal ganglion circuit model under TMAES was established,and the ultrasonic emission period(5,10,20 ms),ultrasonic emission duty cycle(30%,50%,90%)and induced current density(20,50,100 μA/cm2)were changed respectively to compare the power spectral density values of beta oscillations in healthy rats and Parkinson's rats under different stimulation parameters. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Animal experiments:The spatial learning ability of the rats in the normal control group was stronger than that of the model control group(P＜0.001),the spatial learning ability of the rats in the normal stimulation group was stronger than that of the normal control group(P＜0.05),and the spatial learning ability of the rats in the model stimulation group was stronger than that of the model control group(P＜0.01).The distribution of beta oscillation energy in the normal control group was more concentrated,and the beta oscillation signal energy was reduced in the normal stimulation group compared with the normal control group.The beta oscillation energy was widely distributed and the energy value was significantly higher in the model control group and the model stimulation group than the normal control and normal stimulation groups.Moreover,the beta oscillation signal energy in the model stimulation group was significantly lower than that in the model control group.(2)Modeling and simulation experiments:the peak power spectral density of the beta band of healthy rats without stimulation(30 dB)was significantly lower than that of Parkinson's rats(55 dB).The power spectral density value generally decreased after stimulation.The peak power spectral density in the beta band was positively correlated with the ultrasonic emission period and negatively correlated with the induced current density.In addition,the peak power spectral density value was the lowest when the duty cycle of ultrasonic emission was 50%.These findings indicate that TMAES suppresses beta oscillations in healthy and Parkinson's disease rats,thereby improving motor function and decision-making cognitive function in rats.

Objective:To study the infection and epidemiological characteristics of soil borne nematode disease in Sihong County, Suqian City, and to provide scientific basis for further development of prevention and control measures.Methods:In 2022, according to geographic location, Sihong County was divided into east and west areas. Jieji Town, Shiji Township, and Linhuai Town were selected from the east area, and Tianganghu Township, Meihua Town from the west area. One administrative village was selected as a survey point in each township. Using cluster sampling method, 450 permanent residents aged 3 years old and older in the village were selected as the respondents for questionnaire survey and fecal sample collection. The infection status of hookworms, roundworms, whipworms and pinworms in fecal samples were examined, transparent tape anal swab method for detecting pinworm eggs in children, and influencing factors were analyzed.Results:A total of 2 264 survey subjects were included, 18 cases of soil borne nematodes were detected as positive, with an overall positive rate of 0.80%. Among them, 15 cases were positive for hookworms, 1 case was positive for whipworms, and 2 cases were positive for pinworms, with detection rates of 0.66%, 0.04%, and 0.09%, respectively. No ascaris lumbricoides were detected. Transparent tape anal swab method was used to examine 142 children, and the positivity rate of 1.41% (2/142). By township, the detection rate of soil borne nematodes was the highest in Jieji Town, at 2.41% (11/457); the others were Meihua Town, Tianganghu Township, Shiji Township, and Linhuai Town, with detection rates of 0.89% (4/451),0.66% (3/454), 0 (0/451) and 0 (0/451), respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between different townships (χ 2 = 19.21, P < 0.001). Among the 18 positive cases of soil borne nematode, 7 were males and 11 were females, with detection rates of 0.66% (7/1 063) and 0.92% (11/1 201), respectively, the difference was not statistically significant (χ 2 = 0.47, P = 0.491). The age distribution showed the highest detection rate in the 40 - < 60 age group, at 1.42% (9/634), with statistically significant differences between different age groups (χ 2 = 6.41, P = 0.033). The occupational distribution showed the highest detection rate in farmers, at 1.46% (9/617), with statistically significant differences between different professions (χ 2 = 8.00, P = 0.034). The differences in total soil borne nematode and hookworm detection rates were statistically significant among different methods of treating human and animal feces (χ 2 = 11.01, 9.02, P = 0.003, 0.011). Conclusions:The main species of soil borne nematode infections in Sihong County, Suqian City are hookworms, with fewer infections of whipworms and pinworms, and no roundworm infections observed. There are regional differences in detection rate. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen health education for key populations, enhance health knowledge publicity, and effectively intervene to change unhealthy production and lifestyle, further reducing the infection of soil borne nematodes in Suqian City.

Electromagnetic stimulation is an important neuromodulation technique that modulates the electrical activity of neurons and affects cortical excitability for the purpose of modulating the nervous system. The phenomenon of inverse stochastic resonance is a response mechanism of the biological nervous system to external signals and plays an important role in the signal processing of the nervous system. In this paper, a small-world neural network with electrical synaptic connections was constructed, and the inverse stochastic resonance of the small-world neural network under electromagnetic stimulation was investigated by analyzing the dynamics of the neural network. The results showed that: the Levy channel noise under electromagnetic stimulation could cause the occurrence of inverse stochastic resonance in small-world neural networks; the characteristic index and location parameter of the noise had significant effects on the intensity and duration of the inverse stochastic resonance in neural networks; the larger the probability of randomly adding edges and the number of nearest neighbor nodes in small-world networks, the more favorable the anti-stochastic resonance was; by adjusting the electromagnetic stimulation parameters, a dual regulation of the inverse stochastic resonance of the neural network can be achieved. The results of this study provide some theoretical support for exploring the regulation mechanism of electromagnetic nerve stimulation technology and the signal processing mechanism of nervous system.
Action Potentials/physiology* ; Computer Simulation ; Models, Neurological ; Stochastic Processes ; Neurons/physiology* ; Electromagnetic Phenomena

With the widespread use of electrical equipment, cognitive functions such as working memory (WM) could be severely affected when people are exposed to 50 Hz electromagnetic fields (EMF) for long term. However, the effects of EMF exposure on WM and its neural mechanism remain unclear. In the present paper, 15 rats were randomly assigned to three groups, and exposed to an EMF environment at 50 Hz and 2 mT for a different duration: 0 days (control group), 24 days (experimental group I), and 48 days (experimental group II). Then, their WM function was assessed by the T-maze task. Besides, their local field potential (LFP) in the media prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was recorded by the in vivo multichannel electrophysiological recording system to study the power spectral density (PSD) of θ and γ oscillations and the phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) intensity of θ-γ oscillations during the T-maze task. The results showed that the PSD of θ and γ oscillations decreased in experimental groups I and II, and the PAC intensity between θ and high-frequency γ (hγ) decreased significantly compared to the control group. The number of days needed to meet the task criterion was more in experimental groups I and II than that of control group. The results indicate that long-term exposure to EMF could impair WM function. The possible reason may be the impaired communication between different rhythmic oscillations caused by a decrease in θ-hγ PAC intensity. This paper demonstrates the negative effects of EMF on WM and reveals the potential neural mechanisms from the changes of PAC intensity, which provides important support for further investigation of the biological effects of EMF and its mechanisms.
Humans ; Rats ; Animals ; Memory, Short-Term/physiology* ; Electromagnetic Fields/adverse effects* ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Cognition

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by cognitive impairment, with the predominant clinical diagnosis of spatial working memory (SWM) deficiency, which seriously affects the physical and mental health of patients. However, the current pharmacological therapies have unsatisfactory cure rates and other problems, so non-pharmacological physical therapies have gradually received widespread attention. Recently, a novel treatment using 40 Hz light flicker stimulation (40 Hz-LFS) to rescue the cognitive function of model animals with AD has made initial progress, but the neurophysiological mechanism remains unclear. Therefore, this paper will explore the potential neural mechanisms underlying the modulation of SWM by 40 Hz-LFS based on cross-frequency coupling (CFC). Ten adult Wistar rats were first subjected to acute LFS at frequencies of 20, 40, and 60 Hz. The entrainment effect of LFS with different frequency on neural oscillations in the hippocampus (HPC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was analyzed. The results showed that acute 40 Hz-LFS was able to develop strong entrainment and significantly modulate the oscillation power of the low-frequency gamma (lγ) rhythms. The rats were then randomly divided into experimental and control groups of 5 rats each for a long-term 40 Hz-LFS (7 d). Their SWM function was assessed by a T-maze task, and the CFC changes in the HPC-mPFC circuit were analyzed by phase-amplitude coupling (PAC). The results showed that the behavioral performance of the experimental group was improved and the PAC of θ-lγ rhythm was enhanced, and the difference was statistically significant. The results of this paper suggested that the long-term 40 Hz-LFS effectively improved SWM function in rats, which may be attributed to its enhanced communication of different rhythmic oscillations in the relevant neural circuits. It is expected that the study in this paper will build a foundation for further research on the mechanism of 40 Hz-LFS to improve cognitive function and promote its clinical application in the future.
Humans ; Adult ; Rats ; Animals ; Memory, Short-Term/physiology* ; Rats, Wistar ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Hippocampus ; Prefrontal Cortex

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is characterized by high temporal resolution, and various EEG analysis methods have developed rapidly in recent years. The EEG microstate analysis method can be used to study the changes of the brain in the millisecond scale, and can also present the distribution of EEG signals in the topological level, thus reflecting the discontinuous and nonlinear characteristics of the whole brain. After more than 30 years of enrichment and improvement, EEG microstate analysis has penetrated into many research fields related to brain science. In this paper, the basic principles of EEG microstate analysis methods are summarized, and the changes of characteristic parameters of microstates, the relationship between microstates and brain functional networks as well as the main advances in the application of microstate feature extraction and classification in brain diseases and brain cognition are systematically described, hoping to provide some references for researchers in this field.
Electroencephalography ; Brain ; Cognition

Accurate source localization of the epileptogenic zone (EZ) is the primary condition of surgical removal of EZ. The traditional localization results based on three-dimensional ball model or standard head model may cause errors. This study intended to localize the EZ by using the patient-specific head model and multi-dipole algorithms using spikes during sleep. Then the current density distribution on the cortex was computed and used to construct the phase transfer entropy functional connectivity network between different brain areas to obtain the localization of EZ. The experiment result showed that our improved methods could reach the accuracy of 89.27% and the number of implanted electrodes could be reduced by (19.34 ± 7.15)%. This work can not only improve the accuracy of EZ localization, but also reduce the additional injury and potential risk caused by preoperative examination and surgical operation, and provide a more intuitive and effective reference for neurosurgeons to make surgical plans.
Humans ; Scalp ; Brain Mapping/methods* ; Epilepsy/diagnosis* ; Electroencephalography/methods* ; Brain

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an interventional technique capable of highly effective neuromodulation in major depressive disorder (MDD), but its antidepressant mechanism remains unclear. By recording the resting-state electroencephalogram (RS-EEG) of 19 MDD patients before and after ECT, we analyzed the modulation effect of ECT on the resting-state brain functional network of MDD patients from multiple perspectives: estimating spontaneous EEG activity power spectral density (PSD) using Welch algorithm; constructing brain functional network based on imaginary part coherence (iCoh) and calculate functional connectivity; using minimum spanning tree theory to explore the topological characteristics of brain functional network. The results show that PSD, functional connectivity, and topology in multiple frequency bands were significantly changed after ECT in MDD patients. The results of this study reveal that ECT changes the brain activity of MDD patients, which provides an important reference in the clinical treatment and mechanism analysis of MDD.
Humans ; Depressive Disorder, Major/therapy* ; Electroconvulsive Therapy ; Brain ; Algorithms ; Electroencephalography

Transcranial magneto-acoustic electrical stimulation (TMAES) is a novel method of brain nerve regulation and research, which uses induction current generated by the coupling of ultrasound and magnetic field to regulate neural electrical activity in different brain regions. As the second special envoy of nerve signal, calcium plays a key role in nerve signal transmission. In order to investigate the effect of TMAES on prefrontal cortex electrical activity, 15 mice were divided into control group, ultrasound stimulation (TUS) group and TMAES group. The TMAES group received 2.6 W/cm ² and 0.3 T of magnetic induction intensity, the TUS group received only ultrasound stimulation, and the control group received no ultrasound and magnetic field for one week. The calcium ion concentration in the prefrontal cortex of mice was recorded in real time by optical fiber photometric detection technology. The new object recognition experiment was conducted to compare the behavioral differences and the time-frequency distribution of calcium signal in each group. The results showed that the mean value of calcium transient signal in the TMAES group was (4.84 ± 0.11)% within 10 s after the stimulation, which was higher than that in the TUS group (4.40 ± 0.10)% and the control group (4.22 ± 0.08)%, and the waveform of calcium transient signal was slower, suggesting that calcium metabolism was faster. The main energy band of the TMAES group was 0-20 Hz, that of the TUS group was 0-12 Hz and that of the control group was 0-8 Hz. The cognitive index was 0.71 in the TMAES group, 0.63 in the TUS group, and 0.58 in the control group, indicating that both ultrasonic and magneto-acoustic stimulation could improve the cognitive ability of mice, but the effect of the TMAES group was better than that of the TUS group. These results suggest that TMAES can change the calcium homeostasis of prefrontal cortex nerve clusters, regulate the discharge activity of prefrontal nerve clusters, and promote cognitive function. The results of this study provide data support and reference for further exploration of the deep neural mechanism of TMAES.
Acoustics ; Animals ; Brain ; Calcium ; Electric Stimulation ; Mice ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Transcranial magneto-acoustic-electrical stimulation is a new non-invasive neuromodulation technology, in which the induced electric field generated by the coupling effect of ultrasound and static magnetic field are used to regulate the neural rhythm oscillation activity in the corresponding brain region. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of transcranial magneto-acoustic-electrical stimulation on the information transfer and communication in neuronal clusters during memory. In the experiment, twenty healthy adult Wistar rats were randomly divided into a control group (five rats) and stimulation groups (fifteen rats). Transcranial magneto-acoustic-electrical stimulation of 0.05~0.15 T and 2.66~13.33 W/cm ² was applied to the rats in stimulation groups, and no stimulation was applied to the rats in the control group. The local field potentials signals in the prefrontal cortex of rats during the T-maze working memory tasks were acquired. Then the coupling differences between delta rhythm phase, theta rhythm phase and gamma rhythm amplitude of rats in different parameter stimulation groups and control group were compared. The experimental results showed that the coupling intensity of delta and gamma rhythm in stimulation groups was significantly lower than that in the control group ( P<0.05), while the coupling intensity of theta and gamma rhythm was significantly higher than that in the control group ( P<0.05). With the increase of stimulation parameters, the degree of coupling between delta and gamma rhythm showed a decreasing trend, while the degree of coupling between theta and gamma rhythm tended to increase. The preliminary results of this paper indicated that transcranial magneto-acoustic-electrical stimulation inhibited delta rhythmic neuronal activity and enhanced the oscillation of theta and gamma rhythm in the prefrontal cortex, thus promoted the exchange and transmission of information between neuronal clusters in different spatial scales. This lays the foundation for further exploring the mechanism of transcranial magneto-acoustic-electrical stimulation in regulating brain memory function.
Acoustics ; Animals ; Electric Stimulation ; Memory, Short-Term/physiology* ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Theta Rhythm/physiology* ; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation