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Dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) play an important role in cognition, emergence from anesthesia, reward, and aversion, and their projection to the cortex is a crucial part of the "bottom-up" ascending activating system. The prelimbic cortex (PrL) is one of the important projection regions of the VTA. However, the roles of dopaminergic neurons in the VTA and the VTA DA -PrL pathway under sevoflurane anesthesia in rats remain unclear. In this study, we found that intraperitoneal injection and local microinjection of a dopamine D1 receptor agonist (Chloro-APB) into the PrL had an emergence-promoting effect on sevoflurane anesthesia in rats, while injection of a dopamine D1 receptor antagonist (SCH23390) deepened anesthesia. The results of chemogenetics combined with microinjection and optogenetics showed that activating the VTA DA -PrL pathway prolonged the induction time and shortened the emergence time of anesthesia. These results demonstrate that the dopaminergic system in the VTA has an emergence-promoting effect and that the bottom-up VTA DA -PrL pathway facilitates emergence from sevoflurane anesthesia., (© 2021. Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.)

Background: As a crucial node of the corticolimbic model, the striatum has been demonstrated in modulating emotional cues in pediatric bipolar disorders (PBD), the striatal distinction in structure and function between PBD-I and PBD-II remains unclear., Methods: MRI data of 36 patients in PBD-I, 22 patients in PBD-II and 19 age-gender matched healthy controls (HCs) were processed. Here, we investigated structural and functional alterations of 8 subregions of striatum (bilateral nucleus accumbens, caudate, putamen and globus pallidus) by analyzing MRI data., Results: We found volume reduction of the right pallidum, the significant positive correlation between the number of episodes and the functional connectivity between left pallidum and right caudate in PBD-I patients, abrupted prefrontal-striatal-thalamic functional connectivity in PBD-I group and decreased functional connectivity in PBD-II relative to HCs and PBD-I., Limitations: Future studies should enroll more subjects and adopt a longitudinal perspective, which could help to discover striatum structural or functional alterations during subject-specific clinical progress in different states., Conclusions: Results of the present study confirmed that structural and functional abnormality of striatum may be helpful in identifying PBD clinical types as distinctive biomarkers. The interruptions of the prefrontal-striatal-thalamic circuits may provide advantageous evidence for expounding the role of striatum in bipolar disorders etiology. Thus, potential mechanisms of dysfunction striatum need to be formulated and reconceptualized with multimodal neuroimaging studies in future., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: By calculating cortical thickness (CT) and cortical structural covariance (SC), we aimed to investigate cortical morphology and cortical inter-regional correlation alterations in adolescent bipolar disorder type I (BD-I) and type II (BD-II) patients., Methods: T1-weighted images from 36 BD-I and 22 BD-II patients and 19 healthy controls (HCs) were processed to estimate CT. CT values of the whole brain were compared among three groups. Cortical regions showing CT differences in groups were regarded as seeds for analyzing cortical SC differences between groups. The relationship between CT and clinical indices was further assessed., Results: Both BD groups showed cortical thinning in several frontal and temporal areas vs. HCs, and CT showed no significant difference between two BD subtypes. Compared to HCs, both BD groups exhibited reduced SC connections between left superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and right postcentral gyrus (PCG), left superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right pars opercularis, and left STG and right PCG. Compared with HCs, decreased SC connections between left STG and right inferior parietal gyrus (IPG) and right pars opercularis and right STG were only observed in the BD-I group, and left PCG and left SFG only in the BD-II group. CT of right middle temporal gyrus was negatively correlated with number of episodes in BD-II patients., Conclusions: Adolescent BD-I and BD-II showed commonly decreased CT while presenting commonly and distinctly declined SC connections. This study provides a better understanding of cortical morphology and cortical inter-regional correlation alterations in BD and crucial insights into neuroanatomical mechanisms and pathophysiology of different BD subtypes., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Kuang, Gao, Long, Cao, Cui, Guo, Jiao, Qiu, Su and Lu.)

The aim of the study was to develop an algorithm to predict postoperative pneumonia among elderly patients with lung cancer after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. We analyzed 3,009 patients from the Thoracic Perioperative Database for Geriatrics in our hospital and finally enrolled 1,585 elderly patients (age≧65 years) with lung cancer treated with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. The included patients were randomly divided into a training group ( n = 793) and a validation group ( n = 792). Patients in the training group were used to develop the algorithm after screening up to 30 potential risk factors, and patients in the validation group were used to internally validate the algorithm. External validation of the algorithm was achieved in the external validation dataset after enrolling 165 elderly patients with lung cancer treated with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery from two hospitals in China. Of all included patients, 9.15% (145/1,585) of patients suffered from postoperative pneumonia in the Thoracic Perioperative Database for Geriatrics, and 10.30% (17/165) of patients had postoperative pneumonia in the external validation dataset. The algorithm consisted of seven variables, including sex, smoking, history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), surgery duration, leukocyte count, intraoperative injection of colloid, and intraoperative injection of hormone. The C-index from the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.70 in the training group, 0.67 in the internal validation group, and 0.71 in the external validation dataset, and the corresponding calibration slopes were 0.88 (95% confident interval [CI]: 0.37-1.39), 0.90 (95% CI: 0.46-1.34), and 1.03 (95% CI: 0.24-1.83), respectively. The actual probabilities of postoperative pneumonia were 5.14% (53/1031) in the low-risk group, 15.07% (71/471) in the medium-risk group, and 25.30% (21/83) in the high-risk group ( p < 0.001). The algorithm can be a useful prognostic tool to predict the risk of developing postoperative pneumonia among elderly patients with lung cancer after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Song, Liu, Lei, Wang, Fu, Wang, Guo, Mi and Tong.)

Introduction: Oil body (OB), a subcellular organelle that stores oil in plant seeds, is considered a new transdermal drug delivery system. With the increasing understanding of the OB and its main protein (oleosin), numerous studies have been conducted on OB as "carrier" for the expression of exogenous proteins. In our previous study, oil body fused with aFGF (OLAF) was obtained using a plant oil body expression system that had been preliminarily proven to be effective in accelerating the healing of skin wounds. However, no dermal toxicological information on OLAF is available., Objective: To ensure the dermal safety of OLAF, a series of tests (the acute dermal toxicity test, 21-day repeat dermal toxicity test, dermal irritation test and skin sensitisation test) were conducted after optimising the extraction protocol of OLAF., Materials and Methods: To improve the extraction rate of OLAF, response surface methodology (RSM) was first employed to optimise the extraction conditions. Then, Wistar rats were exposed to OLAF (400 mg·kg -1 body weight) in two different ways (6 hours/time for 24 hours and 1 time/day for 21 days) to evaluate the acute dermal toxicity and 21-day repeated dermal toxicity of OLAF. In the acute dermal toxicity test, clinical observations were conducted to evaluate the toxicity, behaviour, and health of the animals for 14 consecutive days. Similarly, the clinical signs, body weight, haematological and biochemical parameters, histopathological changes and other indicators were also detected during the 21 days administration. For the dermal irritation test, single and multiple doses of OLAF (125 mg·kg -1 body weight) were administered to albino rabbits for 14 days (1 time/day). The irritation reaction on the skin of each albino rabbit was recorded and scored. Meanwhile, skin sensitisation to OLAF was conducted using guinea pigs for a period of 28 days., Results: Suitable extraction conditions for OLAF (PBS concentration 0.01, pH of PBS 8.6, solid-liquid ratio 1:385 g·mL -1 ) were obtained using RSM. Under these conditions, the extraction rate and particle size of OLAF were 7.29% and 1290 nm, respectively. In the tests of acute dermal toxicity and 21-day repeated dermal toxicity, no mortality or significant differences were observed in terms of clinical signs, body weight, haematological parameters, biochemical parameters and anatomopathological analysis. With respect to the dermal irritation test and skin sensitisation test, no differences in erythema, oedema or other abnormalities were observed between treatment and control groups on gross and histopathological examinations., Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that OLAF does not cause obvious toxicity, skin sensitisation or irritation in animals.

Anal fistula is a common and serious complication of Crohn's disease (CD). A sufficiently suitable animal model that may be used to simulate this disease is yet to be established. The aim of the present review was to summarize the different characteristics and experimental methods of commonly used animal models of CD with anal fistula. Electronic databases were searched for studies reporting on the use of this type of animal model. A total of 234 related articles were retrieved, of which six articles met the inclusion criteria; these were used as references for the present review article. The characteristics of the animal models, the advantages and disadvantages of the modeling methods and the similarities with patients with CD and anal fistula were summarized and analyzed. The evidence suggests that a sufficiently suitable animal preclinical model requires to be established., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright: © Lu et al.)

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a life-threatening illness which clinically defined by an alternating pattern of depressive and manic episodes with a separated period of euthymia. It remains unknown about the consistency of temporal-spatial spontaneous brain activity in euthymic patients, especially in pediatric BD (PBD) patients.Resting-state fMRI signals of sixteen euthymic PBD patients and 16 healthy controls were processed and FOur-dimensional (spatiotemporal) Consistency of local neural Activities (FOCA) and functional connectivity were calculated in the present study. Voxel-wised correlation between clinical and cognitive indices and FOCA in PBD was calculated.Compared with healthy subjects, euthymic PBD patients showed worse performance in tests of Stroop Color-Word Test, Digit Span Test and Trail Making Test. Euthymic PBD patients demonstrated increased FOCA in left inferior frontal gyrus, left anterior cingulate cortex and left superior frontal gyrus and decreased FOCA in right orbital frontal gyrus, bilateral precuneus, right superior occipital gyrus and bilateral superior parietal gyrus. Decreased functional connectivities were found between right orbital frontal gyrus and left amygdala, between left superior frontal gyrus and left putamen, and between left superior frontal gyrus and left insula. And increased functional connectivity was found between right superior occipital gyrus and right hippocampus. FOCA of parahippocampal gyrus was negatively correlated with the SCWT-B score in PBD patients.Abnormal spatiotemporal consistency of brain regions of corticolimbic circuitry is possible to contribute to an imbalance between emotional processing and cognitive control in euthymic PBD. The measurement of FOCA measure may provide important clues of understanding PBD., (© 2020. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

We aim to evaluate the safety and feasibility of novel elbow biopsy forceps with a prebent head for sampling biliary strictures in our institution. A total of 24 patients (15 males and 9 females) with biliary stricture who underwent biliary biopsy during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) using novel elbow biopsy forceps from June 2019 to August 2020 were retrospectively included. The novel biopsy forceps had a head angulation of 30 degrees and were able to cannulate the bile duct and approach the biliary strictures easily to obtain adequate samples. The technical success rate, incidence of adverse events, and consistency of pathological and surgical specimens were assessed. This device was used successfully in all patients. A total of 52 biopsy specimens were obtained from 24 patients, and all specimens could be used for histopathological examination. Seventeen patients were diagnosed with malignancy based on biopsies, and all of them underwent surgical treatment. The histopathological findings of the biopsy specimens were in accordance with the postoperative pathology diagnoses. One of the seven patients was diagnosed with a benign lesion that was proven to be malignant during surgical treatment in the follow-up period. Two patients experienced a single episode of acute pancreatitis and recovered shortly after appropriate treatment. No patients experienced biliary perforation or biliary bleeding. Biopsy using novel elbow forceps in patients with biliary stenosis is feasible and safe. The novel device and related biopsy technique may be widely applied for biliary disease differentiation.

Objective: The expression of therapeutic proteins in plant oil body bioreactors has attracted much attention. But its safety is not yet clear. This article determines the risk of safety after using the drug. Methods: The oil body-linked oleosin-hEGF microgel emulsion (OBEME) was prepared by mixing the xanthan gum with suitable concentrations in an appropriate proportion. Skin irritation and sensitization reaction were investigated in rats and guinea pigs using OBEME as test article. Results: The OBEME did not produce dermal erythema/eschar or oedema responses. The dermal subacute and subchronic toxicity of OBEME were evaluated in accordance with OECD guidelines. Compared with the control group, the basic physical signs, such as weight, feed, drinking, excretion, and behaviour of experimental animals, were not abnormal. In addition, no abnormality was found in haematological parameters, biochemical indexes, relative organ weight, and histopathological observation of organs, and there was no significant difference compared with normal saline treatment group. Therefore, we conclude that OBEME has no toxic effects and is safe and reliable to be used for topical application.

Social stress, a common stressor, causes multiple forms of physical and mental dysfunction. Prolonged exposure to social stress is associated with a higher risk of psychological disorders, including anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder (MDD). The orexinergic system is involved in the regulation of multiple motivated behaviors. The current study examined the regulatory effect of orexinergic projections from the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) to the lateral habenula (LHb) in depression- and anxiety-like behaviors after chronic social defeat stress. When mice were defeated during social interaction, both orexinergic neurons in the LHA and glutamatergic neurons in the LHb were strongly activated, as indicated by the FosTRAP strategy. Infusion of orexin in the LHb significantly alleviated social avoidance and depression-like behaviors induced by chronic social defeat stress. Administration of an orexin receptor 2 antagonist in the LHb further aggravated the depressive phenotype. Photoactivation of orexinergic cell bodies in the LHA or terminals in the LHb relieved anxiety-like behaviors induced by chronic social defeat stress. Collectively, we identified the antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of the circuit from LHA orexinergic neurons to the LHb in response to chronic social stress, providing new evidence of the antidepressant properties of LHA orexin circuits., Competing Interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Background: The neuropeptide orexin promotes arousal from general anaesthesia, however the neuronal circuits that mediate this effect have not been defined. We investigated whether orexinergic neurones modulate the basal forebrain (BF) and locus coeruleus (LC) in emergence from anaesthesia., Methods: Hcrt cre rats were generated using a CRISPR/Cas9-based approach. Viruses encoding optogenetic probes were injected into the perifornical lateral hypothalamic (PeFLH) area, optogenetic fibres were embedded in the PeFLH, BF, or LC, and changes in anaesthesia state under 1.4 vol% or 0.8 vol% isoflurane were determined., Results: In the PeFLH, 98.8% (0.4%) of orexin-A-positive cells expressed tdTomato, and 91.9% (2.2%) of tdTomato cells were orexin-A-positive. Under 1.4 vol% isoflurane anaesthesia, compared with control groups, burst suppression ratio was less, and emergence time was shorter in groups with optogenetic activation of orexinergic cell bodies in the PeFLH (923 [162] vs 493 [68] s, P=0.0003) or orexinergic terminals in the BF (937 (122) vs 674 (108) s, P=0.0049) or LC (913 [128] vs 742 [76] s, P=0.022). Optical stimulation of orexinergic terminals in the BF and LC also improved the movement scores of rats under 0.8 vol% isoflurane anaesthesia., Conclusions: Activation of orexinergic terminals in the FB or LC mediates facilitation of emergence from anaesthesia by orexinergic neurones during isoflurane anaesthesia., (Copyright © 2020 British Journal of Anaesthesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: It remains unknown whether volumetric alterations of ventricles are similar or not in pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) among different mood states. The present study aims to estimate ventricular volumetric alteration of PBD patients in manic and euthymic status, as well as the relationship between this alteration and cognitive changes. Methods: T1 magnetic resonance images were obtained from 20 manic PBD patients, 21 euthymic PBD patients, and 19 healthy controls (HCs). Ventricular volumes were automatically obtained via FreeSurfer 6.0 software. Ventricular volumes and cognitive indices were compared among the three groups, and the relationship between ventricular volumes and cognitive/clinical indices was analyzed. Results: In contrast to HCs, manic and euthymic PBD patients exhibited decreased cognitive scores of the Stroop color-word test and the digit span subtest. Manic PBD subjects presented enlarged volumes in the bilateral ventricles, third ventricle, and whole ventricles, and euthymic PBD participants displayed increased volumes in the third ventricle, fourth ventricle, and whole ventricles. No significant differences in cognitive performance and ventricular volumes were found between PBD groups. No significant correlation was discovered between ventricular volumes and cognitive/clinical indices in both manic and euthymic PBD patients. Conclusions: No significant differences in cognitive performance and ventricle volume were observed between euthymic and manic PBD groups, which may imply that the alterations are not specific to mood state. It may indicate structural and functional damage of corresponding brain circuits in euthymic PBD patients similar with that of manic PBD, which may provide clues to the diagnosis and treatment of euthymic PBD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Kuang, Cui, Jiao, Guo, Cao, Gao, Qiu, Su and Lu.)

The use of Paecilomyces tenuipes (P. tenuipes), a Chinese medicinal fungus in scientific research, is limited due to its low adenosine content. To improve adenosine production, the present study investigated the gene network of adenosine biosynthesis in P. tenuipes via transcriptome analysis. Mycelia of P. tenuipes cultured for 24 h (PT24), 102 h (PT102) and 196 h (PT192) were subjected to RNA sequencing. In total, 13,353 unigenes were obtained. Based on sequence similarity, 8,099 unigenes were annotated with known proteins. Of these 8,099 unigenes, 5,123 had functions assigned based on Gene Ontology terms while 4,158 were annotated based on the Eukaryotic Orthologous Groups database. Moreover, 1,272 unigenes were mapped to 281 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways. In addition, the differential gene expression of the three libraries was also performed. A total of 601, 1,658 and 628 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in PT24 vs. PT102, PT24 vs. PT192 and PT102 vs. PT192 groups, respectively. Reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR was performed to analyze the expression levels of 14 DEGs putatively associated with adenosine biosynthesis in P. tenuipes. The results showed that two DEGs were closely associated with adenosine accumulation of P. tenuipes. The present study not only provides an improved understanding of the genetic information of P. tenuipes but also the findings can be used to aid research into P. tenuipes.

Accumulating studies demonstrate emotional and cognitive dysregulation in the euthymic period of pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD). However, the relative contribution of functional integration in human brain to disturbed emotion and cognitive function in the euthymic PBD patients remains unclear. In this study, 16 euthymic PBD patients and 16 healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. A data-driven functional connectivity analysis was used to investigate functional connectivity changes of the euthymic PBD. Compared with healthy controls, the euthymic PBD exhibited greater global functional connectivity density in the left anterior insula and lower global functional connectivity density in the right temporoparietal junction, the left angular gyrus, and the bilateral occipital lobule. A distant functional connectivity analysis demonstrated altered integration within the salience and default mode networks in euthymic PBD. Correlation analysis found that altered functional connectivity of the salience network was related to the reduced performance in the backward digit span test, and altered functional connectivity of the default mode network was related to the Young Mania Rating Scale in euthymic PBD patients. Our findings indicated that disturbed functional integration in salience and default mode networks might shed light on the physiopathology associated with emotional and cognitive dysregulation in PBD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests., (Copyright © 2020 Weifang Cao et al.)

To analyze the clinical characteristics of intestinal tuberculosis (ITB), pay attention to the diagnostic value of endoscopy and mucosal biopsy, improve the recognition of atypical manifestations of ITB under endoscopy, and reduce misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis.The clinical data of 10 patients who were hospitalized in Changzhou second people's Hospital and finally diagnosed as ITB from January 1, 2015 to present were analyzed retrospectively. The basic information, medical history, clinical manifestations and computed tomography (CT), endoscopy of the patients was analyzed retrospectively. The results of pathological examination were analyzed and sorted out.Among the 10 patients, the ratio of male to female was 7:3, 10 (100%) had abdominal pain, 3 (30%) had diarrhea and 2 (20%) had bloody stool. The positive rate of tuberculosis T cell test was 75% (6/8), the diagnostic rate of chest high resolution CT was 60%, and the abnormal rate of abdominal high-resolution CT was 66.7% (6/9). Colonoscopy showed that the lesions mainly involved ileocecum (70%) and ascending colon (60%). Most of the lesions were intestinal stenosis (60%) and circular ulcer (50%). In a few cases, cold abscess (20%) and scar diverticulum (10%). Most of the pathological manifestations were granuloma formation and multinucleated giant cells (60%). The detection rate of caseous granuloma was 20%.The general condition and clinical manifestations of patients with ITB are not specific. Endoscopy and mucosal biopsy are of great significance for its diagnosis. The clinical manifestations and endoscopy of some patients showed atypical signs. Therefore, the combination of multi-disciplinary team models and the enhancement of clinician's recognition of the characteristics of endoscopic examination of ITB can improve us the diagnosis level of ITB.

Background: The amygdala has been proposed to be involved in the pathophysiology of pediatric and adult bipolar disorder (BD). The goal of this structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) study was to investigate the morphometric characteristics of amygdala subnuclei in patients with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) compared to healthy controls (HCs). Simultaneously, we examined correlation between amygdala subnuclei volumes and cognitive dysfunction., Materials and Methods: We assessed 40 adolescent outpatients, diagnosed with manic or euthymic PBD according to the DSM-5 criteria for BD and 19 HCs. Cognitive functions were evaluated using a Stroop color-word test (SCWT), trail making test (TMT), visual reproduction immediate recall subtest (VR I), and digit span subtest (DST). Amygdala and its subnuclei structures were automated segmented using FreeSurfer software and the volumes of them were compared between groups and correlation with clinical and cognitive outcomes was conducted., Results: Manic patients exhibited significantly decreased volumes in the bilateral whole amygdala and its basal nucleus, cortico-amygdaloid transition (CAT), and accessory basal nucleus (ABN) compared with HCs. Euthymic patients had decreased volume in the bilateral ABN and left CAT. In addition, we found significant positive associations between VR I scores and the right whole amygdala and its bilateral basal, right lateral, and ABN volumes in the manic group., Conclusion: These findings support previous reports of smaller amygdala volumes and cognitive dysfunctions in PBD, and further mapping abnormalities to specific amygdala subnuclei. Correlation between basolateral volume and VR I of PBD may expand our understanding of neural abnormalities that could be targeted by treatment., (Copyright © 2020 Cui, Guo, Cao, Gao, Qiu, Su, Jiao and Lu.)

Objective: The digital subtraction angiography (DSA) image is processed to obtain central line and bifurcation point of coronary artery, and angle between blood vessels., Methods: The image is processed on the platform of Matlab. The central line of coronary artery is extracted by Hessian matrix. The coordinates of the bifurcation point and two other points on branch vessels are obtained by central line matrix of DSA image. Then average angle of coronary artery vessels is calculated by the three points., Results: For randomly selected DSA images, high accuracy values of coronary artery central line and angle may be obtained., Conclusions: Accurate measurement of coronary artery vessel angel may help operators of DSA in setting body position and help researchers in image processing.

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) reportedly regulates sleep and wakefulness through communication with the lateral hypothalamus (LH). It has also been suggested that adequate anesthesia produced by administration of chloral hydrate, ketamine, or halothane significantly reduces the GABAergic neuronal firing rate within the VTA. However, the exact effects on GABAergic neurons in the VTA and the mechanisms through which these neurons modulate anesthesia through associated neural circuits is still unclear. Here, we used optogenetic and chemogenetic methods to specifically activate or inhibit GABAergic neuronal perikarya in the VTA or their projections to the LH in Vgat-Cre mice. Electroencephalogram (EEG) spectral analyses and burst suppression ratio (BSR) calculations were conducted following administration of 0.8 or 1.0% isoflurane, respectively; and loss of righting reflex (LORR), recovery of righting reflex (RORR), and anesthesia sensitivity were assessed under 1.4% isoflurane anesthesia. The results showed that activation of GABAergic neurons in the VTA increased delta wave power from 40.0 to 46.4% ( P = 0.006) and decreased gamma wave power from 15.2 to 11.5% ( P = 0.017) during anesthesia maintenance. BSR was increased from 51.8 to 68.3% ( P = 0.017). Induction time (LORR) was reduced from 333 to 290 s ( P = 0.019), whereas arousal time (RORR) was prolonged from 498 to 661 s ( P = 0.007). Conversely, inhibition of VTA GABAergic neurons led to opposite effects. In contrast, optical activation of VTA-LH GABAergic projection neurons increased power of slow delta waves from 44.2 to 48.8% ( P = 0.014) and decreased that of gamma oscillations from 10.2 to 8.0%. BSR was increased from 39.9 to 60.2% ( P = 0.0002). LORR was reduced from 330 to 232 s ( P = 0.002), and RORR increased from 396 to 565 s ( P = 0.007). Optical inhibition of the projection neurons caused opposite effects in terms of both the EEG spectrum and the BSR, except that inhibition of this projection did not accelerate arousal time. These results indicate that VTA GABAergic neurons could facilitate the anesthetic effects of isoflurane during induction and maintenance while postponing anesthetic recovery, at least partially, through modulation of their projections to the LH., (Copyright © 2019 Yin, Li, Deng, Wang, Guo, Zhang, Li, Zhao, Zhong and Dong.)

Objective: To establish a digital subtraction angiography (DSA) information management and image analysis system to realize scientific management of DSA image information and efficient processing of image data., Methods: Based on Java Web under Windows 7 environment, a dynamic Browser/Server mode system was constructed by JSP and Servlet on the network. Eclipse and MySQL were used as development tool and database development platform. Tomcat network information service was used as application server. Matlab codes were embedded to analyze DSA image., Results: The system consists of five modules:image information management, image processing, image analysis, advanced retrieval and clinical data management. It may complete such process as storing, deleting, saving, analyzing of DSA image and basic information of patients., Conclusions: The main interface of the system is user-friendly and easy to operate. The system will be helpful to the clinical, teaching and scientific research work related to DSA.

Purpose: To identify an immune-related long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) signature with potential prognostic value for patients with pancreatic cancer., Methods: Pancreatic cancer samples with available clinical information and whole genomic mRNA expression data obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were enrolled in our research. The immune score of each sample was calculated according to the expression level of immune-related genes and used to identify the most promising immune-related lncRNAs. According to the risk score developed from screened immune-related lncRNAs, the high- and low-risk groups were separated on the basis of the median risk score. The prediction reliability was further evaluated in the validation set and combination set. Both gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed for functional annotation, and the microenvironment cell population record was applied to evaluate the immune composition and purity of the tumor., Results: A cohort of 176 samples was included in this study. A total of 163 immune-related lncRNAs were collected according to Pearson correlation analyses between immune score and lncRNA expression |R| > 0.5, P < 0.01). Nine immune-related lncRNAs (AL138966.2, AL133520.1, AC142472.1, AC127024.5, AC116913.1, AC083880.1, AC124016.1, AC008443.5, and AC092171.5) with the most significant prognostic values (P < 0.01) were identified. In the training set, it was observed that patients in the low-risk group showed longer overall survival (OS) than those in the high-risk group (P < 0.001); meanwhile, similar results were found in the validation set, combination set and various stratified sets (P < 0.05, P < 0.001, P < 0.05, respectively). Moreover, the signature was identified as an independent prognostic factor and significantly associated with the OS of pancreatic cancer. The area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) for the nine lncRNA signature in predicting the 2-year survival rate was 0.703. In addition, the low-risk and high-risk groups displayed different distributed patterns in PCA and different immune statuses in the GSEA. The signature indicated decreased purity of the tumor by implying a lower proportion of cancer cells along with an increasing enrichment of fibroblasts, myeloid dendritic cells, and monocytic lineage cells., Conclusions: Our research suggests that the immune-related lncRNA signature possesses latent prognostic value for patients with pancreatic cancer and may provide new information for immunological research and treatment in pancreatic cancer., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Ultrafast electro-optical conversion at nanoscale is of fundamental interest for information transfer and optical interconnects. Light emission from a quantum tunnel junction provides an opportunity owing to its unique capability of ultrafast response and small footprint. However, the main challenge to the wide adoption of the tunnel junction is its low emission efficiency caused by the low inelastic electron tunneling proportion and radiation efficiency. In this Letter, an electrically driven silicon light source with its efficiency enhanced by using a nano-antenna in a metal-insulator-semiconductor junction is proposed. Strong plasmon confinement in the nano-antenna provides large local density of optical states and bridges the wave vector mismatch between nanoscale volume field confinement and far-field radiation. Two orders of magnitude of emission enhancement are achieved over typical planar MIS junctions.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a risk factor for cognitive impairment and potentially Alzheimer's disease. However, the precise mechanism underlying the effects of glucose on brain abnormalities is not fully understood. The differential effects of glucose alteration on brain changes in patients with T2D and those with prediabetes are also unclear. MRI data were collected from 21 patients with T2D (male/female, 7/14); 21 patients with prediabetes (male/female, 8/13); and 21 age-matched, sex-matched, and education-matched normal controls (male/female, 7/14). MRI data were analyzed using the Freesurfer software to obtain subcortical gray matter (GM) structural volumes. Spearman correlation analysis was performed between GM structural volume and clinical data. Reduced subcortical GM volumes were found in patients with prediabetes and those with T2D in the bilateral lateral hippocampus, left amygdala, and right putamen compared with healthy controls. In addition, postprandial blood sugar remained significantly associated with GM volume in the left hippocampus of patients with T2D. Our results indicate that prediabetes is not the harmless condition that it was previously thought to be, that impaired glycemia negatively affects the structures of the brain, and that long-lasting hyperglycemia accelerates brain atrophy in patients with T2D.

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of a large cohort of subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have successfully identified multiple risk genes, including fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF7). However, the underlying molecular mechanism influencing function of FGF7 and risk of COPD remains further study., Methods: In this study, we replicated the genetic association of variants near the FGF7 gene in 258 Chinese Han patients with COPD and 311 healthy controls. Additionally, we functionally evaluated a candidate causal variant upstream of the FGF7 gene., Results: The most significant association was observed at rs12905203 (P = 5.9 × 10 - 3 , odd ratio, OR = 1.516) that explains associations of previously reported variants at the FGF7 locus. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (ChIP-qPCR) assays showed that the risk allele of the variant was bound to activator protein 1 transcription factors (c-Fos and c-Jun) with a significantly reduced affinity and associated with decreased mRNA expression of FGF7 in fibroblast cells at both resting and PMA/Ionomycin-stimulated conditions. Overexpression of c-Fos and c-Jun proteins or stimulation with PMA/Ionomycin significantly increases mRNA expression of FGF7 in fibroblast cells. Bioinformatic analysis showed that the variant overlaps with multiple genetic regulatory marks, suggesting the regulatory DNA element might function as an enhancer for the FGF7 gene. Luciferase enhancer activity assays demonstrated that the DNA sequences carrying the variant produce enhancer activity while the risk allele of the variant reduces its activity., Conclusions: In this study, we demonstrated a consistent association of the FGF7 gene with COPD and mechanistically characterized a candidate functional variant upstream of the FGF7 gene. These data highlighted the important role of the risk variant and the FGF7 gene in influencing risk for COPD.

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a member of the fibroblast growth factors family. It is a highly specific mitogenic factor for many cell types, as though it be involved in wound repair, angiogenesis, nerve nutrition and embryonic development etc. Oil bodies have been applied for medicine, foodstuff and industry field. The heterogonous proteins expressed in oil bodies have distinct advantages, such as less purification steps and low costs. In this study, bFGF was expressed in A. thaliana seeds using oleosin fusion technology. The pOTB-bFGF vector contained an oleosin-bFGF fusion gene and a glufosinate resistance gene for selection. Transgenic A. thaliana lines were obtained by the floral dip method and protein expression was identified by SDS-PAGE and western blotting in transgenic A. thaliana lines. Moreover, MTT assays showed that the oil bodies expressed oleosin-bFGF fusion protein had a remarkable proliferation effect on NIH/3T3 cells and animal experiments showed that it could effectively decrease wound size and accelerate granulation tissue maturation. In conclusion, this may be a better method of producing oleosin-bFGF fusion protein to meet the increasing demand in its pharmacological application., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: In order to accurately reconstruct the acoustic source image, the application of transducer's receiving characteristics in magneto-acoustic tomography with magnetic induction (MAT-MI) is studied., Methods: The conductivity phantom model is built, and the magnetic acoustic signals are simulated and the acoustic sources are reconstructed according to the transducer's receiving characteristics., Results: The reconstructed image of acoustic source is consistent with the topographic shape and size of the phantom model., Conclusion: MAT-MI based on the transducer's characteristics lays the foundation for further study.

With regard to the large amount of calculation in image mosaic algorithm, an image mosaic algorithm based on extended phase correlation of edge is presented. The improved wavelet edge detection algorithm is to detect edge of blood vessels. Then the image translation, rotation and scale changes are calculated by the extended phase correlation method. These parameters are utilized to stitch images. Finally, image fusion can be achieved by fade-in-fade-out method. It is proved by experiments that this algorithm is simple to calculate, and can effectively achieve the image mosaic.

Objective: To study the Ri plasmid transformation and metabolism of ginseng products on HepG2 cells., Method: The inhibitory effect of ginseng saponin on hepatoma HepG2 cells was studied. The hairy root-induced conditions were screened by orthogonal experimental design. The culture conditions were determined through hairy root biomass accumulation and saponin content. The effect of ginsenoside on HepG2 cells was determined by MTT assay., Result and Conclusion: The optimal ginseng hairy root inducing conditions: A = 0.6, infection time of 10 min, pre-incubation time for the 3 d. The best culture conditions: MS medium, pH 6.1, 24 degrees C. At those conditions the hairy root bio-accumulation and saponin content were higher. The results of ginseng saponins on the inhibitory effect of HepG2 cells showed that inhibition of ginseng saponins on HepG2 was the concentration positively related.

In this study, ECG signals of normal sinus rhythm (NSR), ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) were taken out to extract the RR interval series. Approximate entropy (ApEn) values of the RR interval series were calculated and compared among the three groups by ANOVA methods. It was found that the values of ApEn were increased significantly from NSR to VT and then to VF. Approximate entropy may be regarded as an index to discriminate the ECG signals of different state.

According to fundus fluorescein angiography images characteristics, this paper proposes a feature based image mosaic vessel edge method. First, detect edge of blood vessels by carrying on the pretreatment to the fundus fluorescein angiography image in the foundation, wavelet edge detection algorithm. Then, the matching method based on chain code feature is described. Finally, a local area based on gray level information of the image fusion method is applied to angiographic image series. Data processing results show that the method can generate an ideal mosaic effect.

Objective: To study the instantaneous expression aFGF-GFP fusion gene in Carthamus tinctorius., Method: Molecular biology methods were applied to construct aFGF and GFP fusion gene vector, it is transformed into C. tinctorius by Agrobacterium tumefaciens, forming the resistant callus, fluorescence microscopy was used for detection., Result: aFGF gene and GFP gene were amplified by PCR reaction. It was successfully constructed plant fluorescence expression vector pCAMBIA1390: :35S: :aFGF-GFP, it was used to transform C. tinctorius, and the acquired resistance calli showed strong green fluorescence under UV light., Conclusion: The expression of GFP in resistance C. tinrictorius calli is good, it is indicated that aFGF gene in plant cells has also been expressed.

In this study, the automatic segmentation of the irregular lesion region in the image of fundus fluorescence angiography was actualized by means of the modified Back Propagation (BP) neural network method. Combining the transfer scaling coefficient between pixel of the image and the actual size, the area of the irregular lesion region was measured. The results may provide valuable data for the clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognostic evaluation.

Chaos and fractals are ubiquitous phenomena of nature. A system with fractal structure usually behaves chaos. As a complicated nonlinear dynamics system, heart has fractals structure and behaves as chaos. The deeper inherent mechanism of heart can be opened out when the chaos and fractals theory is utilized in the research of the electrical activity of heart. Generally a time series of a system was used for describing the status of the strange attractor of the system. The indices include Poincare plot, fractals dimension, Lyapunov exponent, entropy, scaling exponent, Hurst index and so on. In this article, the basic concepts and the methods of chaos and fractals were introduced firstly. Then the applications of chaos and fractals theories in the study of electrocardial signal were expounded with example of how they are used for ventricular fibrillation.