Objective. To observe the effects of core stabilization training on the Cobb angle, respiratory muscle strength (maximum inspiratory pressure, MIP; maximal expiratory pressure, MEP), and pulmonary function (forced vital capacity, FVC; forced expiratory volume, FEV1.0; FEV1.0/FVC%) in adolescent patients with idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and offer practical-based evidence for the rehabilitation treatment for AIS patients. Methods. 36 AIS patients were assigned to the core stability training (CST) group (n = 18) and control group (n = 18); the CST group participated in three sessions of core stabilization exercise per week for 12 weeks and the control group did not perform regular physical training during 12 weeks of study. Then, the Cobb angle, respiratory muscle strength (MIP and MEP), and pulmonary function (FVC, FEV1.0, and FEV1.0/FVC%) were measured before and after core stabilization training. Results. After 12 weeks of core stabilization training, compared with the pretest, the Cobb angle showed a significant decrease, FVC, FEV1, MIP, and MEP a significant increase ( P < 0.01 respectively), and there was no statistical difference in FEV1/FVC in the CST group; there was no significant difference ( P > 0.05 respectively) before and after an experiment in the control group except MEP decreased significantly ( P < 0.01 , P < 0.05 ). After 12 weeks of core stabilization training, compared with the control group, the Cobb angle significantly decreased ( P < 0.01 ), FVC, FEV1, MIP, and MEP significantly increased ( P < 0.05 respectively) in the CST group, but there was no significant difference ( P > 0.05 , respectively) in FEV1/FVC between the control group and CST group. Conclusions. Core stabilization exercise can be considered to have a positive effect on the normal physiological curvature of the spine in AIS patients, as it decreases the Cobb angle and strengthens respiratory muscle strength and pulmonary function.

We introduce an all-optical technique that enables volumetric imaging of brain-wide calcium activity and targeted optogenetic stimulation of specific brain regions in freely swimming larval zebrafish. The system consists of three main components: a 3D tracking module, a dual color fluorescence imaging module, and a real-time activity manipulation module. Our approach uses a sensitive genetically encoded calcium indicator in combination with a long Stokes shift red fluorescence protein as a reference channel, allowing the extraction of Ca2+ activity from signals contaminated by motion artifacts. The method also incorporates rapid 3D image reconstruction and registration, facilitating real-time selective optogenetic stimulation of different regions of the brain. By demonstrating that selective light activation of the midbrain regions in larval zebrafish could reliably trigger biased turning behavior and an asymmetric propagation of brain-wide neural activity, we present a valuable tool for investigating the causal relationship between distributed neural circuit dynamics and naturalistic behavior.

A quantitative characterization of brain-wide activity imposes strong constraints on mechanistic models that link neural circuit connectivity, brain dynamics, and behavior. Here, we analyze whole-brain calcium activity in larval zebrafish captured by fast light-field volumetric imaging during hunting and spontaneous behavior. We found that the brain-wide activity is distributed across many principal component dimensions described by the covariance spectrum. Intriguingly, this spectrum shows an invariance to spatial subsampling. That is, the distribution of eigenvalues of a smaller and randomly sampled cell assembly is statistically similar to that of the entire brain. We propose that this property can be understood in the spirit of multidimensional scaling (MDS): pairwise correlation between neurons can be mapped onto a distance function between two points in a low-dimensional functional space. We numerically and analytically calculated the eigenspectrum in our model and identified three key factors that lead to the experimentally observed scale-invariance: (i) the slow decay of the distance-correlation function, (ii) the higher dimension of the functional space, and (iii) the heterogeneity of neural activity. Our model can quantitatively recapitulate the scale-invariant spectrum in zebrafish data, as well as two-photon and multi-area electrode recordings in mice. Our results provide new insights and interpretations of brain-wide neural activity and offer clues on circuit mechanisms for coordinating global neural activity patterns.

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