A notably higher prevalence of dementia and AD was found in rural areas than in urban ones, and education might be an important reason for the urban-rural differences.

The prevalence of MCI in elderly Chinese is higher in rural than in urban areas. Vascular-related MCI (MCI-CVD and MCI-VRF) was most common.

In this study, we explore various regions of the brains of Alzheimer' s Disease (AD) patients before and after acupuncture treatment of acupoints in the brain in order to determine the effect, if any, of acupuncture on AD. Twenty-six patients with clinically-diagnosed AD underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRl) while undergoing acupuncture at the four acupoints of Shenmen (HT 7), Zusanii (ST 36), Fenglong (ST 40) and Taixi (KI 3). tMRI Block design paradigm was chosen by electroacupumcture interval stimulation, and the data of fMRl were analyzed by Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM 99), The result demonstrated that there were right main hemisphere activations (temporal lobe, such as hippocampal gyrus, insula, and some area of parietal lobe) and left activated regions (temporal lobe, parietal lohuie, some regions of cerebellum). The activated regions induced by these acupoints were consistent with impaired areas in brain for AD patients, which were closely correlated with the cognitive ftinction (memory, reason, language, executive, etc.). The present study provided the strong evidence that acupuncture had a potential effect on AD, and in partial revealed the mechanism.

BackgroundIn the last decades, full-endoscopic techniques to treat lumbar disc herniation (LDH) have gained popularity in clinical practice. However, few studies have described the safety and efficacy of percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (PTED) in treating younger patients with LDH. This study aims to evaluate the preliminary surgical outcome and complication of PTED in treating younger patients with LDH.MethodsBetween June 2012 and June 2016, 72 young patients (< 45 years old) who underwent PTED for single-level LDH were prospectively followed up. All patients were followed up for at least 12 months (range 12–35 months). Pain was measured using visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. Patient satisfaction was evaluated using the MacNab outcome scale. Clinical outcomes were measured preoperatively, at 2 days and 6 months, and 12 months postoperatively.ResultsThe mean VAS score for back pain was 5.1 ± 2.3 preoperatively and 3.1 ± 1.2, 2.1 ± 0.5, and 2.0 ± 0.7 at 2 days, 6 months, and 12 months postoperatively, respectively. The VAS score for leg pain was 7.1 ± 2.6 preoperatively and 3.0 ± 1.1, 2.1 ± 1.3, and 1.9 ± 0.8 at 2 days, 6 months, and 12 months postoperatively, respectively. These postoperative scores were all significantly different when compared with preoperative scores (P < 0.001). According to the modified MacNab outcome scale, excellent was obtained in 43 patients, good was obtained in 25 patients, and fair was obtained in 4 patients, and 94.44% of these patients had excellent and good outcomes at the final follow-up. There were no complications related to surgery, and no spinal instability was detected.ConclusionPTED appears to be an effective and safe intervention for younger patients with LDH. High-quality randomized controlled trials are required to further study the efficacy and safety of PTED in treating younger patients with LDH.

These findings imply that stimulating PC6 can change the amplitude of the intrinsic cortical activity of the brain. In particular, a continuous and temporally consistent effect of acupuncture within PCC not the common brain circuit of pain including ACC and cerebellum was observed. Considering the cognitive functions and deficits of the relevant areas in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease, acupuncture on PC6 could potentially affect both psychiatric and neurological disorders. Thus, stimulating PC6 may be a candidate method for improving cognitive impairment.

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Numerous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the brain plasticity is associated with chronic low back pain (cLBP). However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the underlying mechanisms of thalamic pathways for chronic pain and psychological effects in cLBP caused by lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Combining psychophysics and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we investigated the structural and functional brain plasticity in 36 patients with LDH compared with 38 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. We found that (1) LDH patients had increased psychophysical disturbs (i.e., depression and anxiety), and depression (Beck-Depression Inventory, BDI) was found to be an outstanding significant factor to predict chronic pain (short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, SF-MPQ); (2) the LDH group showed significantly smaller fractional anisotropy values in the region of posterior corona radiate while gray matter volumes were comparable in both groups; (3) resting state functional connectivity analysis revealed that LDH patients exhibited increased temporal coupling between the thalamus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which further mediate the relationship from chronic pain to depression. Our results emphasized that thalamic pathways underlying prefrontal cortex might play a key role in regulating chronic pain and depression of the pathophysiology of LDH.

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