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Backgrounds: Reduced brain cortical activity over the frontotemporal regions measured by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been reported in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES). This study aimed to differentiate between patients with FES and healthy controls (HCs) on basis of the frontotemporal activity measured by NIRS with a support vector machine (SVM) and deep neural network (DNN) classifier. In addition, we compared the accuracy of performance of SVM and DNN.Methods: In total, 33 FES patients and 34 HCs were recruited. Their brain cortical activities were measured using NIRS while performing letter and category versions of verbal fluency tests (VFTs). The integral and centroid values of brain cortical activity in the bilateral frontotemporal regions during the VFTs were selected as features in SVM and DNN classifier.Results: Compared to HCs, FES patients displayed reduced brain cortical activity over the bilateral frontotemporal regions during both types of VFTs. Regarding the classifier performance, SVM reached an accuracy of 68.6%, sensitivity of 70.1%, and specificity of 64.6%, while DNN reached an accuracy of 79.7%, sensitivity of 88.8%, and specificity of 74.9% in the classification of FES patients and HCs.Conclusions: Compared to findings of previous structural neuroimaging studies, we found that using DNN to measure the NIRS signals during the VFTs to differentiate between FES patients and HCs could achieve a higher accuracy, indicating that NIRS can be used as a potential marker to classify FES patients from HCs. Future additional independent datasets are needed to confirm the validity of our model.

Background The dose–effect relationship of Long-snake-like moxibustion for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) remains poorly understood. In order to address this gap, we designed this trial to assess the association between different treatment duration of Long-snake-like moxibustion and its effects on CFS based on the combination measurements of the subjective patient-reported scales with objective medical infrared imaging technology─Thermal Texture Maps (TTM). Methods From December 2020 to January 2022, 60 female CFS patients were recruited and equally allocated to two groups: Group A, receiving 60-min Long-snake-like moxibustion per treatment, and Group B, receiving 30-min Long-snake-like moxibustion per treatment. The treatment was administered 3 times per week for a total of 4 weeks. The primary outcome was defined as the improvement of symptoms measured by the Fatigue scale-14 (FS-14), and secondary outcomes were designated as the improvement in Symptoms Scale of Spleen-Kidney Yang Deficiency, Self-rating depression scale, and Self-rating anxiety scale. TTM scanning was employed twice for CFS patients (before and after 4-week treatment) and once for Healthy control subjects (HCs). Results At week 4, the scores of FS-14 and Symptoms Scale of Spleen-Kidney Yang Deficiency in Group A were significantly lower than those in Group B (physical fatigue: 5.00 vs. 6.00, with 95%CI − 2.00 to 0.00, p = 0.003; FS-14 total score: 8.00 vs. 9.00, with 95%CI − 3.00 to 0.00, p = 0.012; total score of Symptoms Scale of Spleen-Kidney Yang Deficiency: 9.80 vs. 13.07, with 95%CI − 5.78 to − 0.76, P = 0.012). All thermal radiation values of the two groups increased, and statistical differences in ΔTs between Group A and HCs were not obtained. More significant correlations between symptoms improvements and ΔT changes were observed in Group A, and its ΔT changes in Upper Jiao, Shenque (CV8), Zhongwan (CV12), Danzhong (CV17), Zhiyang (GV9), Dazhui (GV14), upper arm, thoracic segments, lumbar segments, renal region, popliteal fossa strongly correlated with the improvement of Spleen-Kidney Yang Deficiency symptoms. Conclusions In the same course of treatment, the positive dose–effect relationship was found between the treatment duration of Long-snake-like moxibustion and CFS effect assessment. 60-min Long-snake-like moxibustion per treatment were associated with optimal clinical response and TTM improvement. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trail Registry (No. ChiCTR2000041000, date of registration: 16 December 2020), http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=62488

Background Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a disease with high incidence rate and great impact on life, but it lacks for specific pharmacological treatment and diagnostic indicators. In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), fatigue is the result of Yang deficiency. Long-snake-like moxibustion, as one of a special moxa therapy, has been applied in Yang deficiency patients for thousands of years in China and it is used widely to relieve fatigue symptoms for its strong function of Yang warming. However, the does-effect relationship is unclear in the moxibustion research. Hence, we design this trial to assess the duration-effect of long-snake-like moxibustion through combining measurements of the subjective patient-reported scales with objective medical infrared imaging technology─Thermal Texture Maps (TTM). Methods This is a single-center, randomized controlled trial. Thirty healthy women and sixty female CFS patients will be recruited to receive the first TTM scanning, then CFS patients will be allocated to 60-minute long-snake-like moxibustion (Group A) and 30-minute long-snake-like moxibustion (Group B) equally. These two groups will receive corresponding treatment once a day, three sessions per week every other day for consecutive 4 weeks. The second TTM scanning will be employed for CFS patients after the end of treatment. The primary outcome will be the score improvement of the Fatigue scale-14 (FS-14). Secondary outcomes include the change of the Self-rating depression scale (SDS),the Self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and the Symptoms Scale of spleen-kidney Yang deficiency. Discussion The trial will provide evidence for the choice of treatment duration for long-snake-like moxibustion in treating CFS. The results will contribute to explore the dose-effect relationship of moxibustion, and optimize the efficacy of moxibustion therapy. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trail Registry (No. ChiCTR2000041000), on 16th December, 2020, http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=62488