A Case-Series of Dry Needling as an Immediate Sensory Integration Intervention.

Background: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) has been associated with altered cortical mapping in the primary somatosensory cortex. Various sensory discrimination treatments have been explored to positively influence CLBP by targeting cortical maps.

Objectives: To determine if dry needling (DN) applied to patients with CLBP would yield changes in two-point discrimination (TPD) and left-right judgment (LRJ) tasks for the low back.

Fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy of a fluorescent bent-core liquid crystal exhibiting polarization splay modulated (B7) structures and defects.

The B7 phases of bent-core molecules are polarization splay modulated fluid smectics that exhibit an unusually complex variety of exotic macroscopic structures, textures, and defects visible in polarized light microscopy. Herein we describe optical studies of these structures using fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy (FCPM) and depolarized transmission optical microscopy to probe their organization in three dimensions. These experiments utilize recently reported fluorescent bent-core molecules designed to give strong polarized fluorescence.