BackgroundMild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), as a high risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), represents a state of cognitive function between normal aging and dementia. Moxibustion may effectively delay the progression of AD, while there is a lack of studies on the treatments in MCI. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of moxibustion treatment revealed by the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in MCI.MethodWe enrolled 30 MCI patients and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) in this study. We used ALFF to compare the difference between MCI and HCs at baseline and the regulation of spontaneous neural activity in MCI patients by moxibustion. The Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores were used to evaluate cognitive function.ResultsCompared with HCs, the ALFF values significantly decreased in the right temporal poles: middle temporal gyrus (TPOmid), right inferior temporal gyrus, left middle cingulate gyrus, and increased in the left hippocampus, left middle temporal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, and right middle occipital gyrus in MCI patients. After moxibustion treatment, the ALFF values notably increased in the left precuneus, left thalamus, right temporal poles: middle temporal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, right putamen, right hippocampus, and right fusiform gyrus, while decreased in the bilateral lingual gyrus in MCI patients. The Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores increased after moxibustion treatment, and the increase in Mini-Mental State Examination score was positively correlated with the increase of ALFF value in the right TPOmid, the right insula, and the left superior temporal gyrus.ConclusionMoxibustion treatment might improve the cognitive function of MCI patients by modulating the brain activities within the default mode network, visual network, and subcortical network with a trend of increased ALFF values and functional asymmetry of the hippocampus. These results indicate that moxibustion holds great potential in the treatment of MCI.
Excessive carbon dioxide emissions have caused several environmental problems. This has an unpromising impact on the Earth's ecosystem. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) attracted more and more attention because of their extraordinary specific surface area, adjustable framework and excellent stability in the effective capture and conversion of carbon dioxide. This article introduced the main synthesis methods of MOF materials, including ionothermal synthesis, mechanochemical synthesis, sonochemical synthesis and ultrasound synthesis method. Each synthesis method of MOFs has its advantages such as shorter reaction times or faster screening rates, which contribute to the development of the synthesis of MOFs. The key evaluation metrics for carbon dioxide capture using MOFs including adsorption isotherm, adsorption ability, enthalpy and high selectivity also were discussed, which have a direct impact on the capture of carbon dioxide. Additionally, the main carbon capture by MOFs in power plants, such as post-combustion capture, capture before combustion and oxy-fuel combustion were also highlighted.
Background Moxibustion has definite clinical effect in improving the cognitive condition of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, yet its potential neural mechanism remains elusive. This study aimed to investigate the changes of spontaneous brain activity and cognitive function in MCI patients with moxibustion treatment. Methods We enrolled a cohort of 30 MCI patients and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) in this study. MCI subjects were assigned to receive moxibustion treatment for two months. Based on resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging technique, we used regional homogeneity (ReHo) to evaluate changes in brain activity and Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment to assess changes in the participants' cognitive performance. Results There existed aberrant ReHo values in different brain areas mainly involved in the default mode network (DMN) in MCI subjects compared with HCs. After moxibustion treatment, MCI subjects showed an inverse change in ReHo values from baseline in the hippocampus/parahippocampus and insula, as well as an increase ReHo value in the middle frontal gyrus. Furthermore, changes in ReHo values of the left hippocampus/parahippocampus and middle frontal gyrus correlated with cognitive improvement in MCI group. Conclusion Abnormal neural activity occurred in MCI subjects mainly within the DMN. Moxibustion therapy may improve the cognitive function of MCI subjects through regulating their brain activity, particularly reversing the neural activity of DMN and salience network at reset, and may hold great potential for the early intervention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
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