Relaxed Control Research Articles

Techno-Economic Analysis and Feasibility Studies of Electric Vehicle Charging Station

Recent United Nations high-level dialogue on energy, which had emphasized on energy usage and environmental protection, has renewed commitments by different countries on the adoption of electric vehicle (EVs). This paper aims to analyze the economic feasibility of establishing electrical charging stations, which is an important factor for the wide adoption of EVs, using life cycle cost analysis. Although local data have been used, the method can be easily adopted to analyze economic feasibility at different markets. The findings have revealed that an electrical charging station is only feasible when the acquisition cost is kept to a minimum to return 1.47 times the initial investment in terms of life cycle cost. An acquisition cost of BND 29,725 on the electrical charging station represents the threshold below which an electrical charging station is more attractive. In order to promote these charging stations, the government needs to provide multiple incentives, including a subsidy to reduce the acquisition cost, relaxing control on the electric selling price, taxing the establishment of conventional filling stations, and minimally reducing the profit margin on the selling price of fossil fuel. It has been shown that a 40% initial subsidy on the purchase of electrical charging stations, coupled with a slight subsidy of BND 0.018/kWh on electricity, would make electrical charging stations economically competitive. To reach its target of 60% electrification of the transportation sector, Brunei would need to implement a structure program to establish between 646 and 3300 electrical charging stations by the year 2035, to cater for its expected number of EVs.

Submodular mean field games: Existence and approximation of solutions

We study mean field games with scalar Itô-type dynamics and costs that are submodular with respect to a suitable order relation on the state and measure space. The submodularity assumption has a number of interesting consequences. First, it allows us to prove existence of solutions via an application of Tarski’s fixed point theorem, covering cases with discontinuous dependence on the measure variable. Second, it ensures that the set of solutions enjoys a lattice structure: in particular, there exist minimal and maximal solutions. Third, it guarantees that those two solutions can be obtained through a simple learning procedure based on the iterations of the best-response-map. The mean field game is first defined over ordinary stochastic controls, then extended to relaxed controls. Our approach also allows us to prove existence of a strong solution for a class of submodular mean field games with common noise, where the representative player at equilibrium interacts with the (conditional) mean of its state’s distribution.

Photodegradation of iron gall ink affected by oxygen, humidity and visible radiation

The causes of the discolouration of iron gall ink have been debated for decades. As a contribution to the understanding of the photodegradation behaviour of iron gall ink, this paper discusses the effects of three environmental factors that are of primary concern – oxygen, moisture and light. Using a range of historical paper-based samples, a 23 full factorial experiment was designed to quantify the effects of oxygen concentration [O2], relative humidity (RH), illuminance (Ev) of broadband LED light, and their interactions. A change in diffuse reflectance with time was observed to mainly take place beyond 600 nm into the NIR range. The change followed similar patterns under all the experimental conditions, which was modelled by a logarithmic relationship with time of degradation. The rate constant was obtained and was found to be mainly affected by [O2], RH and their interaction. The role of Ev needs further investigation, however, its insignificant effect on the discolouration measured in this research suggested the possibility of effective degradation control with relaxed lighting controls. Furthermore, the wavelength sensitivity of iron gall ink's discolouration was investigated using narrowband radiation centred at three different wavelengths (Λ): 450 nm ([Λ450]), 525 nm ([Λ525]) and 625 nm ([Λ625]), with varying [O2] and RH. RH, Λ, the interaction between RH and Λ, and the interaction between RH and [O2] were found to have strong effect on the rate constant of discolouration. Among these factors, Λ showed the strongest effect, which decreased as Λ increased. Approximately 3x and more than 10x faster degradation by [Λ450] than [Λ525] and [Λ625] respectively was observed, which was likely to be associated with photon energy and quantum efficiency in absorption at different wavelength.

Electronic Relaxation Dynamics in 2-Quinolinones with Extended Conjugation.

The 2-quinolinone family of molecules, also known as carbostyrils, have been proposed as light absorbing donor molecules in energy transfer based sensing schemes and as possible photocatalysts. Both of these applications make use of electronic excited states, but the photophysics of 2-quinolinones have not yet been examined closely. This study applies static and dynamic spectroscopy, with supporting density functional theory calculations, to reveal the electronic relaxation dynamics of a family of five 2-quinolinones with extended conjugated rings. These modifications lead to red-shifted absorbance and emission maxima, relative to unmodified 2-quinolinone. Optical excitation of these molecules with near UV light resulted in transitions with strong π → π* and HOMO → LUMO character. Time-correlated single photon counting measurements yielded fluorescence lifetimes ranging from 849.3 (±0.6) ps to 4.586 (±0.002) ns. Transient absorption spectroscopy revealed relaxation dynamics of the S1 excited state formed by photoexcitation at 350 nm, along with formation of a long-lived signal assigned as excited state absorption by a triplet excited state. Vibrational relaxation in the S1 state was also characterized in some compounds. Overlapping signals of S1 decay and triplet growth in the transient absorption data set could not be fully disentangled. These results demonstrate a highly competitive relaxation scheme following multiple simultaneous pathways, a promising situation for establishing chemical control of electronic relaxation in the 2-quinolinone family.

An Immersive and Interactive Platform for Cognitive Assessment and Rehabilitation (bWell): Design and Iterative Development Process.

BackgroundImmersive technologies like virtual reality can enable clinical care that meaningfully aligns with real-world deficits in cognitive functioning. However, options in immersive 3D environments are limited, partly because of the unique challenges presented by the development of a clinical care platform. These challenges include selecting clinically relevant features, enabling tasks that capture the full breadth of deficits, ensuring longevity in a rapidly changing technology landscape, and performing the extensive technical and clinical validation required for digital interventions. Complicating development, is the need to integrate recommendations from domain experts at all stages.ObjectiveThe Cognitive Health Technologies team at the National Research Council Canada aims to overcome these challenges with an iterative process for the development of bWell, a cognitive care platform providing multisensory cognitive tasks for adoption by treatment providers.MethodsThe team harnessed the affordances of immersive technologies while taking an interdisciplinary research and developmental approach, obtaining active input from domain experts with iterative deliveries of the platform. The process made use of technology readiness levels, agile software development, and human-centered design to advance four main activities: identification of basic requirements and key differentiators, prototype design and foundational research to implement components, testing and validation in lab settings, and recruitment of external clinical partners.ResultsbWell was implemented according to the findings from the design process. The main features of bWell include multimodal (fully, semi, or nonimmersive) and multiplatform (extended reality, mobile, and PC) implementation, configurable exercises that pair standardized assessment with adaptive and gamified variants for therapy, a therapist-facing user interface for task administration and dosing, and automated activity data logging. bWell has been designed to serve as a broadly applicable toolkit, targeting general aspects of cognition that are commonly impacted across many disorders, rather than focusing on 1 disorder or a specific cognitive domain. It comprises 8 exercises targeting different domains: states of attention (Egg), visual working memory (Theater), relaxation (Tent), inhibition and cognitive control (Mole), multitasking (Lab), self-regulation (Butterfly), sustained attention (Stroll), and visual search (Cloud). The prototype was tested and validated with healthy adults in a laboratory environment. In addition, a cognitive care network (5 sites across Canada and 1 in Japan) was established, enabling access to domain expertise and providing iterative input throughout the development process.ConclusionsImplementing an interdisciplinary and iterative approach considering technology maturity brought important considerations for the development of bWell. Altogether, this harnesses the affordances of immersive technology and design for a broad range of applications, and for use in both cognitive assessment and rehabilitation. The technology has attained a maturity level of prototype implementation with preliminary validation carried out in laboratory settings, with next steps to perform the validation required for its eventual adoption as a clinical tool.

Tendon midsubstance trauma as a means for the development of translatable chronic rotator cuff degeneration in an ovine model.

BackgroundChronic degeneration of rotator cuff tendons is a major contributing factor to the unacceptably high prevalence of rotator cuff repair surgery failures. The etiology of chronic rotator cuff degeneration is not well understood, and current therapies are not effective, necessitating preclinical research to fill this knowledge gap. Unfortunately, current large animal models rely on enthesis disruption as a means of model generation, which is not representative of human patients with chronic rotator cuff degeneration prior to full-thickness tears. Following, the goal of this study was to develop and characterize a translational large-animal model of chronic rotator cuff degeneration without enthesis release.MethodsA midsubstance damage model [i.e., “combed fenestration” (CF)] in adult sheep was generated by creating 16 longitudinal cuts within the top third of the infraspinatus tendon thickness. Tendon integrity was characterized through exhaustive non-destructive biomechanical stress relaxation testing [peak stress, peak load, percent relaxation, and cross-sectional area (CSA)], followed by histopathological degeneration scoring and analysis (Bonar score), histomorphological analysis of collagen organization and fatty atrophy (percent adipose area), and gene expression analyses.ResultsThe CF model tendons exhibited significantly decreased mechanical properties as evidenced by decreased peak stress (P<0.025) and increased percent relaxation (18-week vs. Control, P<0.035) at multiple strain magnitudes and across all timepoints. At all timepoints, the CF tendons exhibited pathological changes aligned with tendon degeneration, as evidenced by increased Bonar scoring (P<0.001) and decreased collagen organization (6-week vs. Control, P=0.013). Increases in intramuscular adipose content were also documented through histomorphology analysis (6- and 18-week vs. Control, P<0.077). Significant changes in gene expression were noted at all timepoints.ConclusionsThese data reveal that this new ovine CF model of chronic rotator cuff degeneration results in tendons with decreased mechanical properties, degenerative pathology characteristics, and gene expression profiles that aligned with the degenerative changes that have been noted in humans with tendinopathy. For these reasons, we believe this novel large animal model of chronic rotator cuff degeneration is a translational platform in which to test devices, therapies, and/or technologies aimed at repairing damage to the shoulder.

Considerations and guidance to control the rebound in COVID-19 cases.

Induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a serious crisis for healthcare systems worldwide. COVID-19 vaccine coverage has increased in many countries, but the COVID-19 epidemic has rapidly expanded, with a daily increase of 30,390 COVID-19 cases and 9,761 deaths since August 12, 2021. This article provides a brief overview of growing concerns about a rebound of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the Delta variant and public health epidemic control measures that have recently been relaxed. As of August 13, 2021, 465,679 cases of COVID-19 due to the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected in over 120 countries. Epidemic control measures were relaxed in some areas, such as allowing large gatherings and improper criteria for ending self-isolation. Even in China, where the epidemic was tightly controlled with strict non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), new COVID-19 cases, and asymptomatic cases in particular, spiked in the first 13 days of August. More importantly, most of those cases were local, while most of the cases accounting for the previous increase were imported. Therefore, relaxed epidemic control measures and asymptomatic infections possibly caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 may increase the risk of virus transmission. Accordingly, suggestions for COVID-19 containment, such as encouraging vaccination of the general population, using Internet of Things technology (loT) to reduce the possibility of contact with the asymptomatic infected, and enhancing disease surveillance, have been offered here.

Existence of relaxed stochastic optimal control for G-SDEs with controlled jumps

In this article, we study the relaxed control problem where the admissible controls are measure-valued processes and the state variable is governed by a G-stochastic differential equation (SDEs) driven by a relaxed Poisson measure where the compensator is a product measure. The control variable appears in the drift and in the jump term. We prove that every solution of our SDE associated to a relaxed control can be written as a limit of a sequence of solutions of SDEs associated to strict controls (stability results). In the end, we show the existence of our relaxed control.

Resistance exercise relieves symptoms of vestibular migraine patients with MRI diagnosis: A randomized parallel-controlled single-blind clinical trial

To investigate the efficacy of resistance exercise on symptoms of vestibular migraine (VM) among migraine patients, a total of 385 VM patients were recruited, among whom 312 were eligible to participate in the current study. Patients were randomly allocated into either resistance exercise or relaxation control groups, and received respective interventions two times per week for 12 weeks. Patients were followed up at two and four months, respectively, to evaluate treatment effects. Primary outcomes included Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), the number of vertiginous attacks in the previous week and Vertigo Severity Scale (VSS). Secondary endpoints included depression and anxiety symptoms, which were measured using the scores of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Serum concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ), were also assessed. Resistance exercise was slightly more pronounced in alleviating VM symptoms than relaxation control at two-month follow-up. While at four-month follow-up, the extents of the symptom attenuation were obviously better in the resistance exercise group than the relaxation control, in terms of VSS and DHI scores, as well as BDI and BAI scores. Serum levels of both TNF-α and IFN-γ were also significantly lower in patients in the resistance group than those in the relaxation control group. Our study favors an exercise-oriented treatment scheme in rehabilitating therapy for patients suffering from VM, and sheds light on the molecular mechanism potentially involving TNF-α and IFN-γ related inflammation pathways.

The Effect of Hamstring Relaxation Program on Headache, Pressure Pain Threshold, and Range of Motion in Patients with Tension Headache: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the severity of headache is reduced by decreasing hamstring tension in patients with tension headache. Thirty patients participated in this study. The participants were randomly allocated to two groups: hamstring relaxation program (HR) group (n = 15) and control group (n = 15). The participants in the HR group participated in a HR program for 25 min per day, three times per week, for a period of 4 weeks, and the control group participated in an electrotherapy for 25 min per day, three times per week, for a period of 4 weeks. Both groups participated in a self-myofacial release for 5 min per day, three times per week, for a period of 4 weeks. Headache was evaluated using the headache impact test (HIT-6) and visual analog scale (VAS). The pain pressure threshold (PPT) was evaluated using a digital pressure algometer. The range of motion (ROM) was evaluated using a goniometer and two special tests: straight leg raise test (SLRT) and popliteal angle test (PAT). The two groups showed no significant differences in terms of age, sex, height, and weight. The VAS and HIT-6 scores (p < 0.05) and neck and hamstring PPT showed significant improvements (p < 0.05). Neck flexion ROM and SLRT and PAT scores showed significant improvements (p < 0.05) in both groups, and the HR group showed significantly more improvements than the control group. This study confirmed that the HR program has positive effects on tension headache and is a good intervention for alleviating headaches in patients with tension headache.

How do we best relax control measures as vaccine coverage for SARS-CoV-2 rises?

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered movement and behaviour patterns of populations across the world. To reduce disease spread, countries have enacted varying levels of control measures, such as border restrictions, mask mandates, and social distancing policies.1 Given the rising rates of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, a key challenge for each country is to determine the optimal speed to relax control measures at, as domestic vaccine coverage increases. In The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, Trung Nguyen and colleagues2 use mathematical modelling to analyse how different vaccination strategies interact with control measures to affect COVID-19 transmission in New Zealand (NZ).

Targeting autonomic flexibility to enhance cognitive training outcomes in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

ImportanceCognitive training with components that can further enhance the transferred and long-term effects and slow the progress of dementia is needed for preventing dementia.ObjectiveThe goal of the study is to test whether improving autonomic nervous system (ANS) flexibility via a resonance frequency breathing (RFB) training will strengthen the effects of a visual speed of processing (VSOP) cognitive training on cognitive and brain function, and slow the progress of dementia in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).DesignStage II double-blinded randomized controlled trial. The study was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, with registration approved on 21 August 2020 (No. NCT04522791).SettingStudy-related appointments will be conducted on-site at University of Rochester Medical Center locations. Data collection will be conducted from August 2020 to February 2025.ParticipantsOlder adults with MCI (n = 114) will be randomly assigned to an 8-week combined intervention (RFB+VSOP), VSOP with guided imagery relaxation (IR) control, and a IR-only control, with periodical booster training sessions at follow-ups. Mechanistic and distal outcomes include ANS flexibility, measured by heart rate variability, and multiple markers of dementia progress. Data will be collected across a 14-month period.DiscussionThis will be among the first RCTs to examine in older persons with MCI a novel, combined intervention targeting ANS flexibility, an important contributor to overall environmental adaptation, with an ultimate goal for slowing neurodegeneration.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04522791. Registered on 21 August 2020Protocol version: STUDY00004727; IRB protocol version 2, approved on 30 July 2020.

Multiple Concussion Effects On Neural Control Of Force Production And Relaxation In College-aged Young Adults

Multiple Concussion Effects On Neural Control Of Force Production And Relaxation In College-aged Young Adults

Critical fluctuations in epidemic models explain COVID-19 post-lockdown dynamics

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, research on mathematical modeling became imperative and very influential to understand the epidemiological dynamics of disease spreading. The momentary reproduction ratio r(t) of an epidemic is used as a public health guiding tool to evaluate the course of the epidemic, with the evolution of r(t) being the reasoning behind tightening and relaxing control measures over time. Here we investigate critical fluctuations around the epidemiological threshold, resembling new waves, even when the community disease transmission rate beta is not significantly changing. Without loss of generality, we use simple models that can be treated analytically and results are applied to more complex models describing COVID-19 epidemics. Our analysis shows that, rather than the supercritical regime (infectivity larger than a critical value, beta > beta _c) leading to new exponential growth of infection, the subcritical regime (infectivity smaller than a critical value, beta < beta _c) with small import is able to explain the dynamic behaviour of COVID-19 spreading after a lockdown lifting, with r(t) approx 1 hovering around its threshold value.

PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH AND CORONA

Covid-19 can be considered the most serious global health crisis to hit humanity since the Second World War. It has not only affected the health aspect, but also various aspects of economic, social, educational, political and even cultural life, resulting in high levels of stress and anxiety in a difficult test of our ability to adapt to the unknown. There is no doubt that the mental and psychic health of individuals has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and by the exceptional and unprecedented measures that restrict individual freedoms, such as quarantine, social distancing contrary to the social nature of human beings, as well as therapeutic and preventive protocols as a means of responding to the spread of the virus, which have caused and continue to cause psychological problems for individuals who do not respond positively to this crisis and who are in a fragile psychological situation. This article discusses the mental health effects of this pandemic, such as anxiety disorders, OCD, PTSD and depression, highlighting the main psychological and physical symptoms that can result from the fear of inter-individual transmission and quarantine. It also discusses the best ways and strategies for coping with this pandemic, as well as the most important psychological techniques that are part of cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy, including physical techniques such as relaxation and breath control, cognitive techniques such as cognitive reconstruction, as well as emotional techniques such as mindfulness, which help to mitigate the psychological effects and build psychological immunity for an effective response to the pandemic.

The differential importation risks of COVID-19 from inbound travellers and the feasibility of targeted travel controls: A case study in Hong Kong

BackgroundMany countries/regions implemented strict border measures (e.g., 14-day quarantines) as a blanket policy to prevent COVID-19 importations, while proposed “travel bubbles” as an alternative to reduce the impact of border controls. We aim to examine the differential importation risks with departure origins and post-arrival controls. MethodsWe developed a Bayesian framework to model disease progress of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of travel measures and inferred the origin-specific disease prevalence among inbound travellers, using data on passengers arriving in Hong Kong and laboratory-confirmed imported cases. We estimated the origin-specific risks of releasing infectious travellers under different control strategies and traveller volumes. We also estimated the risk of having released infectious travellers when a resurgence occurs in departure locations with no imported cases during a certain period. FindingsUnder the then strict controls of 14-day quarantine and testing on day 12, the Philippines imposed the greatest importation risk among the studied countries/regions (95.8% of releasing at least one infectious traveller, 95% credible interval (CrI), 94.8-96.6%). This was higher than that from low prevalence countries/regions (e.g., 23.4%, 95% CrI, 21.6-25.3% for Taiwan) if controls relaxed (i.e., 7-day quarantine and test on day 5). Increased traveller volumes and resurgence in departure locations with low prevalence under relaxed controls did not impose a greater importation risk than high prevalence locations under stricter controls. InterpretationModerate relaxation of control measures for travellers arriving from low prevalence locations did not impose higher risks of community outbreaks than strict controls on travellers from high prevalence locations. FundingHealth and Medical Research Fund, Hong Kong.

Reduced preload increases Mechanical Control (strain-rate dependence) of Relaxation by modifying myosin kinetics

Rapid myocardial relaxation is essential in maintaining cardiac output, and impaired relaxation is an early indicator of diastolic dysfunction. While the biochemical modifiers of relaxation are well known to include calcium handling, thin filament activation, and myosin kinetics, biophysical and biomechanical modifiers can also alter relaxation. We have previously shown that the relaxation rate is increased by an increasing strain rate, not a reduction in afterload. The slope of the relaxation rate to strain rate relationship defines Mechanical Control of Relaxation (MCR). To investigate MCR further, we performed in vitro experiments and computational modeling of preload-adjustment using intact rat cardiac trabeculae. Trabeculae studies are often performed using isometric (fixed-end) muscles at optimal length (Lo, length producing maximal developed force). We determined that reducing muscle length from Lo increased MCR by 20%, meaning that reducing preload could substantially increase the sensitivity of the relaxation rate to the strain rate. We subsequently used computational modeling to predict mechanisms that might underlie this preload-dependence. Computational modeling was not able to fully replicate experimental data, but suggested that thin-filament properties are not sufficient to explain preload-dependence of MCR because the model required the thin-filament to become more activated at reduced preloads. The models suggested that myosin kinetics may underlie the increase in MCR at reduced preload, an effect that can be enhanced by force-dependence. Relaxation can be modified and enhanced by reduced preload. Computational modeling implicates myosin-based targets for treatment of diastolic dysfunction, but further model refinements are needed to fully replicate experimental data.

Variants in Maternal Effect Genes and Relaxed Imprinting Control in a Special Placental Mesenchymal Dysplasia Case with Mild Trophoblast Hyperplasia.

Placental mesenchymal dysplasia (PMD) and partial hydatidiform mole (PHM) placentas share similar characteristics, such as placental overgrowth and grape-like placental tissues. Distinguishing PMD from PHM is critical because the former can result in normal birth, while the latter diagnosis will lead to artificial abortion. Aneuploidy and altered dosage of imprinted gene expression are implicated in the pathogenesis of PHM and also some of the PMD cases. Diandric triploidy is the main cause of PHM, whereas mosaic diploid androgenetic cells in the placental tissue have been associated with the formation of PMD. Here, we report a very special PMD case also presenting with trophoblast hyperplasia phenotype, which is a hallmark of PHM. This PMD placenta has a normal biparental diploid karyotype and is functionally sufficient to support normal fetal growth. We took advantage of this unique case to further dissected the potential common etiology between these two diseases. We show that the differentially methylated region (DMR) at NESP55, a secondary DMR residing in the GNAS locus, is significantly hypermethylated in the PMD placenta. Furthermore, we found heterozygous mutations in NLRP2 and homozygous variants in NLRP7 in the mother’s genome. NLRP2 and NLRP7 are known maternal effect genes, and their mutation in pregnant females affects fetal development. The variants/mutations in both genes have been associated with imprinting defects in mole formation and potentially contributed to the mild abnormal imprinting observed in this case. Finally, we identified heterozygous mutations in the X-linked ATRX gene, a known maternal–zygotic imprinting regulator in the patient. Overall, our study demonstrates that PMD and PHM may share overlapping etiologies with the defective/relaxed dosage control of imprinted genes, representing two extreme ends of a spectrum.

Control of rat bladder neck relaxation with NORD-1, a red light–reactive nitric oxide releaser: In vitro study

We aimed to control the relaxation of rat bladder neck specimens by using NORD-1, a red light-reactive nitric oxide (NO) releaser. Female and male 10–11-week-old Wistar/ST rats were divided into three groups: NORD-1, vehicle, and NORD-1+[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ; a soluble guanylyl cyclase inhibitor). We infused 10−4 M NORD-1 into the bladders of NORD-1 and NORD-1+ODQ group rats and the vehicle into those of vehicle group rats. Isometric tension was analyzed using circular bladder neck specimens with 10−5 M NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester, an NO synthase inhibitor. Moreover, 10−5 M ODQ was added into the NORD-1+ODQ group bath. After precontraction with 10−5 M carbachol, the specimens were irradiated with red light and their relaxation responses were measured. We evaluated NORD-1 tissue permeability by observing the sliced bladder neck specimens. The NORD-1 group specimens relaxed during red light irradiation; the relaxation response increased with the increase in light intensity. The vehicle and NORD-1+ODQ group specimens did not respond to irradiation. Sex-related differences in responsiveness were not noted. NORD-1 permeated into the urothelium of NORD-1 group specimens. Rat bladder neck relaxation was controlled by NORD-1 and light irradiation in vitro. NORD-1 might be a novel therapeutic agent for voiding dysfunction.

Patient response with lupus erythematosus to treatment with Yamamoto New Scalp Acupuncture (YNSA)

It is estimated that 5 million people worldwide have some form of Lupus. It is an autoimmune, idiopathic and until now incurable disease, which affects, especially women in reproductive period. In the West, its treatment is educational, essentially medication, with administration of anti-inflammatories, antimalarials and immunosuppressants. For Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Lupus is above all a syndromic imbalance, which varies according to its manifestation. The set of these disorders is classified as deterioration of the Spleen (Pi) and Heart (Xin), weakening of the Fire and the Door of Life. Treatment by MTC occurs with the administration of herbal medicines, diet therapies, acupuncture, massage, moxibustion, Qi Gong, magnetotherapy, wind therapy, flowers and others. YNSA (Yamamoto Neue Schädelakupunktur) is a somatotopic scalp therapy that, among other advantages, has access points to the 12 main meridians, bilaterally. Usually used in case of pain, neurological disorders and surgical conditions, it has its own diagnostic methods that also serve to monitor the treatment. Ryodoraku is the most sensitive and reproducible current diagnostic tool for identifying the average circulating energy in the meridians. This research aimed to identify the usefulness of YNSA in the treatment of lupus patients. In this process, the energy evolution of a patient with lupus considered severe was monitored, over 23 applications of YNSA. It was compared with the results of acupuncture with those of allopathy. With YNSA, in addition to relaxation and pain control, there was greater energy adequacy. The relevant gains over the 23 applications of YNSA, reaching three times the initial energy pattern, have almost completely retreated to exclusive treatment with allopathy. In effect, chloroquine diphosphate brought much more losses than gains.