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Abstract The anxiolytic effect of oxytocin (OXT) on psychosocial stress has been well documented, but the effectiveness under the interference of other factors still requires in-depth research. Previous studies have shown that nicotine addiction interacts with OXT on psychosocial stress on the behavioral level. However, the underlying neural mechanism of interaction between OXT and nicotine addiction on psychosocial stress has not been examined, and we conducted two experiments to reveal it. Firstly, after intranasal administration of randomized OXT or placebo (saline), a group of healthy participants (n = 27) and a group of smokers (n = 26) completed the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST) in an MRI scanner. Secondly, a group of smokers (n = 22) was recruited to complete a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) experiment, in which anodal tDCS was applied on subjects’ anterior right superior temporal gyrus (rSTG). In both experiment, subjective stress ratings, salivary cortisol samples and the amount of daily cigarette consumption were obtained from each participant. Analysis of variance were applied on both behavioral and neural data to examine the effects of OXT and nicotine addiction, and correlation analysis were used to examine relationships between neural and behavioral data. In first fMRI experiment, analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed an interaction of OXT and nicotine addiction on subjective stress. In smokers, OXT failed to suppress the elevation of subjective stress and craving ratings after psychosocial stress. A voxel-wise ANOVA of fMRI data identified an interaction between OXT and nicotine addiction in anterior rSTG, and its functional connectivity with right middle frontal gyrus. Correlations between this functional connectivity and subjective psychosocial stress were also found abnormal in smokers. In second tDCS experiment, we found that under tDCS, OXT successfully suppressed the elevation of subjective stress and craving ratings after stress. In summary, we found that nicotine addiction blocked OXT’s anxiolytic on psychosocial stress, which was related to abnormalities in anterior rSTG. By applying anodal tDCS on anterior rSTG, OXT’s anxiolytic effect was restored in smokers. These findings will support further development on oxytocin’s intervention of psychosocial stress in nicotine addiction, and provides essential information for indicating OXT’s effectiveness.

Abstract A lack of adherence to long-term antiretroviral therapy may impact viral suppression. The current study examined the relationship between medication adherence and clinical outcomes in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection (PWH) receiving bictegravir, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (B/F/TAF). A retrospective cohort study using two Japanese claims databases was conducted. Adherence was measured by the proportion of days covered (PDC). Patients were grouped into 3 PDC category and persistence was estimated by Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression analysis was performed to investigate whether the PDC was associated with treatment discontinuation. Among 952 patients, 820 (86.1%), 95 (10.0%), and 37 (3.9%) patients were grouped into the PDC ≥ 90%, 80–

BackgroundWith the advancement of transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) technology, an increasing number of stimulation devices and treatment protocols have emerged. However, safety and tolerability remain critical concerns before new strategies can be implemented. Particularly, the use of gel particle electrodes brings new challenges to the safety and tolerability of tES, which hinders its widespread adoption and further research.ObjectiveOur study utilized a specially designed and validated transcranial electrical stimulation stimulator along with preconfigured gel particle electrodes placed at F3 and F4 in the prefrontal lobes. We aimed to assess the tolerance and safety of these electrodes in healthy subjects by administering different durations and types of tES.MethodsEach participant underwent ten sessions of either transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) or transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), with session durations varying. In the experiment, we collected various measurement data from participants, including self-report questionnaire data and behavioral keystroke data. Tolerability was evaluated through adverse events (AEs), the relationship of adverse events with tES (AEs-rela), the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the Visual Analog Mood Scale-Revised (VAMS-R). Safety was assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the Skin Sensation Rating (SSR), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and Stroop task. These data were analyzed to determine the impact of different parameters on the tolerability and safety of tES.ResultsThere were no significant changes in the results of the MoCA and SAS scales before and after the experiment. However, significant differences were observed in VAS, SSR, AEs, and AEs-rela between tDCS and tACS. Additionally, fatigue increased, and energy levels decreased on VAMS-R with longer durations. No significant differences were found in other neuropsychological tests.ConclusionOur study revealed significant differences in tolerability and safety between tDCS and tACS, underscoring the importance of considering the stimulation type when evaluating these factors. Although tolerance and safety did not vary significantly across different stimulation durations in this study, future research may benefit from exploring shorter durations to further assess tolerability and safety efficiently.

Abstract Introduction Although patients with HBV have a risk of reactivation after immunosuppressive therapy (IST), the status of their risk management is unclear in Japan. This study aims to describe the proportion of patients who received preventive management of HBV reactivation during ISTs in patients with chronic HBV infection of HBsAg or resolved HBV infection. Method A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the JMDC Japanese claims database from April 2011 to June 2021. Patients with HBV infections of HbsAg who received ISTs or patients who had resolved HBV infections who received ISTs were identified from the database and evaluated for appropriate management to prevent HBV reactivation. Results In total, 6242 eligible patients were identified. The proportions of patients with appropriate HBV reactivation management, stratified by the HBV reactivation risk level of IST, was 43.1% (276/641) for high-risk, 40.2% (223/555) for intermediate-risk and 14.9% (741/4965) for low-risk patients. When the evaluation period for the outcome calculation was shortened from 360 to 180 days, the proportion for high risk increased to 52.7%. The odds ratios of large hospitals for receiving appropriate management were 2.16 (95% CI 1.12–4.44) in the high-risk, 4.63 (95% CI 2.34–10.25) in the intermediate-risk and 3.60 (95% CI 3.07–4.24) in the low-risk patients. Conclusion HBV reactivation management was tailored according to the reactivation risk associated with IST. However, adherence to HBV reactivation management guidelines was sub-optimal, even among high-risk patients. This is especially the case for ensuring smaller-sized medical institutions, highlighting the need for further educational activities.

Emotions are fundamental to social interaction and deeply intertwined with interpersonal dynamics, especially in romantic relationships. Although the neural basis of interaction processes in romance has been widely explored, the underlying emotions and the connection between relationship quality and neural synchronization remain less understood. Our study employed EEG hyperscanning during a non-interactive video-watching paradigm to compare the emotional coordination between romantic couples and close friends. Couples showed significantly greater behavioral and prefrontal alpha synchronization than friends. Notably, couples with low relationship quality required heightened neural synchronization to maintain robust behavioral synchronization. Further support vector machine analysis underscores the crucial role of prefrontal activity in differentiating couples from friends. In summary, our research addresses gaps concerning how intrinsic emotions linked to relationship quality influence neural and behavioral synchronization by investigating a natural non-interactive context, thereby advancing our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying emotional coordination in romantic relationships.

Aim: This study investigated the molecular action mechanism of a compound herb, also known as the Dendrobium officinale throat-clearing formula (QYF), by using network pharmacology and animal experimental validation methods to treat chronic pharyngitis (CP)., Methods: The active ingredients and disease targets of QYF were determined by searching the Batman-TCM and GeneCards databases. Subsequently, the drug-active ingredient-target and protein-protein interaction networks were constructed, and the core targets were obtained through network topology. The Metascape database was screened, and the core targets were enriched with Gene Ontology and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes., Results: In total, 1403 and 241 potential targets for drugs and diseases, respectively, and 81 intersecting targets were yielded. The core targets included TNF, IL-6, and IL-1β, and the core pathways included PI3K-Akt. The QYF treatment group exhibited effectively improved general signs, enhanced anti-inflammatory ability in vitro , reduced serum and tissue expressions of TNF- α, IL-6, and IL-1β inflammatory factors, and decreased blood LPS levels and Myd88, TLR4, PI3K, Akt, and NF-κB p65 protein expression in the tissues., Conclusion: QYF could inhibit LPS production, which regulated the expression of the TLR4/PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway to suppress the expression of the related inflammatory factors (i.e., TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β), thereby alleviating the CP process., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)