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Zhang, et al. (2017) established the ecological microexpression recognition test (EMERT), but it only used white models' expressions as microexpressions and backgrounds, and there was no research detecting its relevant brain activity. The current study used white, black and yellow models' expressions as microexpressions and backgrounds to improve the materials ecological validity of EMERT, and it used eyes-closed and eyes-open resting-state fMRI to detect relevant brain activity of EMERT for the first time. The results showed: (1) Two new recapitulative indexes of EMERT were adopted, such as microexpression M and microexpression SD. The participants could effectively identify almost all the microexpressions, and each microexpression type had a significantly background effect. The EMERT had good retest reliability and calibration validity. (2) ALFFs (Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations) in both eyes-closed and eyes-open resting-states and ALFFs-difference could predict microexpression M. The relevant brain areas of microexpression M were some frontal lobes, insula, cingulate cortex, hippocampus, parietal lobe, caudate nucleus, thalamus, amygdala, occipital lobe, fusiform, temporal lobe, cerebellum and vermis. (3) ALFFs in both eyes-closed and eyes-open resting-states and ALFFs-difference could predict microexpression SD, and the ALFFs-difference was more predictive. The relevant brain areas of microexpression SD were some frontal lobes, insula, cingulate cortex, cuneus, amygdala, fusiform, occipital lobe, parietal lobe, precuneus, caudate lobe, putamen lobe, thalamus, temporal lobe, cerebellum and vermis. (4) There were many similarities and some differences in the relevant brain areas between microexpression M and SD. All these brain areas can be trained to enhance ecological microexpression recognition ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in vulvar cancer and determine whether positive HPV in vulvar cancer was associated with a better prognosis. Literature searches of Ovid EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library were performed to identify related studies published from January 2000 to May 2017. A total of 33 studies including 7,721 subjects were selected in this meta-analysis. Overall, the HPV prevalence in vulvar cancer tissue was 34% (95% CI: 28%-39%) with 45% (95% CI: 28%-64%) in Asian populations and 34% (95% CI: 26%-42%) in Caucasian populations. The HPV-positive vulvar cancer was associated with better overall survival (hazard ratio = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.47–0.87; P = 0.004) and recurrence-free survival (hazard ratio = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.45–0.97; P = 0.03) compared with HPV-negative counterpart. HPV status may play an important role in predicting the prognosis of patients with vulvar cancer. The HPV-positive vulvar cancer women might relatively have a better survival than HPV-negative ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing digital inclusive finance is one of the most effective ways to alleviate financial exclusion in the agriculture sector. For empirical investigation, data from 30 provinces of Rural China is collected from the period 2011 to 2020. The study constructs five dimensions and 22 indicators in total to critically conduct the impact of digital inclusive finance on high-quality agricultural development. The level of agricultural development is measured by entropy weight TOPSIS, and the impact of digital inclusive finance on its high-quality development is empirically tested. The results show that digital inclusive finance has significantly improved the agricultural sector and, particularly, the Eastern region of China has the greatest impact. Three dimensions of digital inclusion finance have regional heterogeneity in terms of impact on agricultural development in Rural China. Data does not show the simple linear relationship between digital inclusion finance and agricultural development quality. The impact of the former on the latter is characterized by the double thresholds. The digital inclusive finance index is the weakest when it is lower than the first threshold that is 4.7704, and the impact of the second threshold that is 5.3186 on high-quality agricultural development is gradually enhanced. After crossing the second threshold, the impact of digital inclusive finance on high-quality agricultural development in Rural China is significantly enhanced. The development of digital inclusive finance should be strengthened in the Central and Western regions to compensate for regional financial imbalances and promote synergy in the high-quality development of agriculture across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The micro-expression (ME) processing characteristics of patients with depression has been studied but has not been investigated in people with subthreshold depression. Based on this, by adopting the ecological MEs recognition paradigm, this study aimed to explore ME recognition in people with subthreshold depression. A 4 (background expression: happy, neutral, sad and fearful) × 4 (ME: happy, neutral, sad, and fearful) study was designed; two groups of participants (experimental group with subthreshold depression vs. healthy control group, 32 participants in each group) were asked to complete the ecological ME recognition task, and the corresponding accuracy (ACC) and reaction time (RT) were analyzed. Results: (1) Under different background conditions, recognizing happy MEs had the highest ACC and shortest RT. (2) There was no significant difference in the ACC and RT between experimental and control groups. (3)In different contexts, individuals with subthreshold depression tended to misjudge neutral, sad, and fearful MEs as happy, while neutral MEs were misjudged as sad and fearful. (4) The performance of individuals with subthreshold depression in the ecological ME recognition task were influenced by the type of ME; they showed highest ACC and shortest RT when recognizing happy MEs (vs. the other MEs). Conclusions: (1) The performance of individuals’ ecological ME recognition were influenced by the background expression, and this embodied the need for ecological ME recognition. (2) Individuals with subthreshold depression showed normal ecological ME recognition ability. (3) In terms of misjudgment, individuals with subthreshold depression showed both positive and negative bias, when completing the ecological ME recognition task. (4) Compared with the other MEs, happy MEs showed an advantage recognition effect for individuals with subthreshold depression who completed the ecological ME recognition task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Average sodium intake and stroke mortality in northern China are both among the highest in the world. An effective, low-cost strategy to reduce sodium intake in this population is urgently needed. Objective: We sought to determine the effects of a community-based sodium reduction program on salt consumption in rural northern China. Design: This study was a cluster-randomized trial done over 18 months in 120 townships (one village from each township) from five provinces. Sixty control villages were compared to 60 intervention villages that were given access to a reduced-sodium, added-potassium salt substitute in conjunction with a community-based health education program focusing on sodium reduction. The primary outcome was the difference in 24-hour urinary sodium excretion between randomized groups. Results: Among 1,903 people with valid 24-hour urine collections, mean urinary sodium excretion in intervention compared with control villages was reduced by 5.5% (-14mmol/day, 95% confidence interval -26 to -1; p = 0.03), potassium excretion was increased by 16% (+7mmol/day, +4 to +10; p<0.001), and sodium to potassium ratio declined by 15% (-0.9, -1.2 to -0.5; p<0.001). Mean blood pressure differences were -1.1 mm Hg systolic (-3.3 to +1.1; p = 0.33) and -0.7 mm Hg diastolic (-2.2 to +0.8, p = 0.35) and the difference in the proportion with hypertension was -1.3% (-5.1 to 2.5, p = 0.56). Conclusion: There were clear differences in population sodium and potassium intake between villages that were most likely a consequence of increased use of salt substitute. The absence of effects on blood pressure reflects the moderate changes in sodium and potassium intake achieved. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tumor metastasis is driven by malignant cells and stromal cell components of the tumor microenvironment. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought to be responsible for metastasis by altering the tumor microenvironment. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes contribute to specific stages of the metastatic cascade, promoted by cytokines and chemokines secreted by stromal cell components in the tumor microenvironment. C-C chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) interacts with its ligand, chemokine ligand 21(CCL21), to mediate metastasis in some cancer cells lines. This study investigated the role of CCL21/CCR7 in promoting EMT and metastasis of cluster of differentiation 133+ (CD133+) pancreatic cancer stem-like cells. Methods: Panc-1, AsPC-1, and MIA PaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cells were selected because of their aggressive invasive potentials. CCR7 expression levels were examined in total, CD133+ and CD133− cell fractions by Immunofluorescence analysis and real time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The role of CCL21/CCR7 in mediating metastasis and survival of CD133+ pancreatic cancer stem-like cells was detected by Transwell assays and flow cytometry, respectively. EMT and lymph node metastasis related markers (E-cadherin, N- cadherin, LYVE-1) were analyzed by western blot. CCR7 expression levels were analyzed by immunohistochemical staining and RT-qPCR in resected tumor tissues, metastatic lymph nodes, normal lymph nodes and adjacent normal tissues from patients with pancreatic carcinoma. Results: CCR7 expression was significantly increased in CD133+ pancreatic cancer stem-like cells, resected pancreatic cancer tissues, and metastatic lymph nodes, compared with CD133− cancer cells, adjacent normal tissues and normal lymph nodes, respectively. CCL21/CCR7 promoted metastasis and survival of CD133+ pancreatic cancer stem-like cells and regulated CD133+ pancreatic cancer stem-like cells metastasis by modulating EMT and Erk/NF-κB pathway. Conclusions: These results indicate a specific role for CCL21/CCR7 in promoting EMT and metastasis in CD133+ pancreatic cancer stem-like cells. Furthermore the data also indicated the potential importance of developing therapeutic strategies targeting cancer stem-like cells and CCL21/CCR7 for reducing metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mothers are important to all humans. Research has established that maternal information affects individuals' cognition, emotion, and behavior. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine attentional and evaluative processing of maternal stimuli while participants completed a Go/No-go Association Task that paired mother or others words with good or bad evaluative words. Behavioral data showed that participants responded faster to mother words paired with good than the mother words paired with bad but showed no difference in response to these others across conditions, reflecting a positive evaluation of mother. ERPs showed larger P200 and N200 in response to mother than in response to others, suggesting that mother attracted more attention than others. In the subsequent time window, mother in the mother + bad condition elicited a later and larger late positive potential (LPP) than it did in the mother + good condition, but this was not true for others, also suggesting a positive evaluation of mother. These results suggest that people differentiate mother from others during initial attentional stage, and evaluative mother positively during later stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer, and it is the second most common cancer-related mortality globally. The prognostic value of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) remains controversial. The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis and literature review to evaluate the association of HMGB1 expression with the prognosis of patients with HCC. Methods: A detailed literature search was made in Medline, Google Scholar and others for related research publications. The data were extracted and assessed by two reviewers independently. Analysis of pooled data were performed, Hazard Ratio (HR) and mean difference with corresponding confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and summarized respectively. Results: 10 relevant articles were included for this meta-analysis study. HMGB1 mRNA levels in HCC were significantly higher than those in normal (p<0.00001) and para-tumor tissues (p = 0.002) respectively. The protein levels of HMGB1 in HCC were significantly higher than those in para-tumor tissues (p = 0.005). Two studies reported the serum HMGB1 levels in patients with HCC of TNM stages, and indicating significantly different between stage I and II, stage II and III, as well as stage III and IV (two studies showed p<0.01 and p<0.001 respectively). The overall survival (OS) was significantly shorter in HCC patients with high HMGB1 expression compared those with low HMGB1 expression and the pooled HR was 1.31 with 95% CI 1.20–1.44, Z = 5.82, p<0.0001. Two additional studies showed that there were higher serum HMGB1 levels in patients with chronic hepatitis than those in healthy people (p<0.05). Conclusions: The results of this meta-analysis suggest that HMGB1 mRNA and protein tissue levels in the patients with HCC are significantly higher than those in para-tumor and normal liver tissues respectively. Tissue HMGB1 overexpression is a potential biomarker for HCC diagnosis, and it is significantly associated with the prognosis of patients with HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral research has established that humans implicitly tend to hold a positive view toward themselves. In this study, we employed the event-related potential (ERP) technique to explore neural manifestations of positive implicit self-esteem using the Go/Nogo association task (GNAT). Participants generated a response (Go) or withheld a response (Nogo) to self or others words and good or bad attributes. Behavioral data showed that participants responded faster to the self paired with good than the self paired with bad, whereas the opposite proved true for others, reflecting the positive nature of implicit self-esteem. ERP results showed an augmented N200 over the frontal areas in Nogo responses relative to Go responses. Moreover, the positive implicit self-positivity bias delayed the onset time of the N200 wave difference between Nogo and Go trials, suggesting that positive implicit self-esteem is manifested on neural activity about 270 ms after the presentation of self-relevant stimuli. These findings provide neural evidence for the positivity and automaticity of implicit self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]