The impact of moxibustion on brain function in vascular dementia: a neuroimaging study involving amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and functional connectivity
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Object On the basis of determining the clinical effect of moxibustion on vascular dementia (VD), this study explored the central mechanism of moxibustion on VD through fMRI. Method Fifty-five VD patients formed the observation group (treated with moxibustion at GV20, GV14, and GV24; 20 min/acupoint, once every other day, three times a week) and 50 healthy individuals served as the control group. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were administered, and fMRI data collected, pre- and post-treatment for the observation group, and once for the control group. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) was analyzed for pre-treatment fMRI data of both groups. Regions of interest (ROI) were defined by discrepant brain regions, and functional connectivity (FC) was analyzed for the observation group. Result After moxibustion treatment, MoCA scores increased with a mean difference (MD) of 2.0385 (95% CI, 1.6867 to 2.3902), and MMSE scores with an MD of 3.3077 (95% CI, 2.7997 to 3.8156), both significantly ( p < 0.01). Regarding fMRI findings, baseline ALFF alterations in VD patients vs. controls included increased values in the bilateral hippocampus (HIP), precuneus, and left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and decreased values in the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and insula (INS) (FDR-corrected p < 0.05). After moxibustion treatment, significant FC increases were observed: left PCC with right superior/inferior temporal gyrus, left INS with right superior temporal gyrus/superior occipital gyrus and left inferior temporal gyrus, left HIP with right superior temporal gyrus and left PCC, and right HIP with bilateral postcentral gyrus and left fusiform gyrus (GRF-corrected: voxel p < 0.005, cluster p < 0.05). Additionally, pre-treatment left MTG ALFF was negatively correlated with MMSE ( p < 0.05, r = −0.486). Post-treatment, FC of left PCC-right superior/inferior temporal gyrus ( r = 0.650/0.638), left HIP-left PCC ( r = 0.456), and right HIP-left fusiform gyrus ( r = 0.411) were positively correlated with MMSE ( p < 0.05). Discussion Moxibustion can effectively improve the cognitive dysfunction in VD patients, possibly by promoting DMN functional recovery and facilitating functional reorganization.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".