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Objective To explore the correlation between functional connectivity (FC) in the brains of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with depression and the improvement rate of depression after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS). Methods This study included 38 PD patients (25 with depression and 13 without depression) who underwent STN -DBS at The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China from September 2019 to April 2020. All participants underwent resting-state fMRI. The severity of depression was assessed using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 Items (HAMD-17) before and 2 years after the surgery, and the improvement rate of depression was calculated. Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship between FC and the improvement rate of depression in PD patients with depression. Results There were 34 different FC between PD patients with and without depression compared to control group (P = 0.000, for all). Among patients with PD, those with depression showed 4 distinct FC compared to those without depression, including left precuneus -right supplementary motor area (t = 6.028, P = 0.000), right insula -right lateral orbital gyrus (t = 5.525, P = 0.000), left paracentral lobule-left precuneus (t = 5.545, P = 0.000), and right paracentral lobule - left precuneus (t = 5.578, P = 0.000). Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed a negative correlation between the zFC values of right precuneus-right insula (rs = - 0.544, P = 0.009) and left temporal pole-left insula (rs = - 0.765, P = 0.010) and the improvement rate of depression in PD patients with depression. Conclusions The FC of right precuneus-right insula and left temporal pole-left insula in PD patients with depression is negatively associated with the improvement rate of depression.

Objective: To investigate the causal relationship between risk factors and spontaneous pneumothorax using Mendelian randomization. Methods: Risk factors for spontaneous pneumothorax were identified through searches of English and Chinese databases. Single nucleotide polymorphism information was extracted from the GWAS database, with risk factor as exposure and spontaneous pneumothorax as outcome, and five methods, namely, inverse variance weighting, MR-Egger, weighted median, simple model and weighted model, were used to evaluate the causality between risk factors and spontaneous pneumothorax. Heterogeneity and leave-one-out tests were used for sensitivity analysis to evaluate the robustness of the causal relationship. Results: The search yielded 117 risk factors, and 50 risk factors for which genetic data were available were included. Height, COVID, lymphocytes, standing tall, snoring, exertion lung volume, squamous lung cancer, first second expiratory volume with exertion, and asthma were positively associated with SP, and hip circumference and exertion lung volume were negatively associated with SP. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diaphragmatic hernia may be associated with SP. Conclusion: This study identified significant causal relationship between lymphocyte count, standing tall, asthma and spontaneous pneumothorax from genetic point of view, and provided basis for its prevention and treatment.

Cellulose is the most abundant natural polymer on earth, which has obtained increasing interest in the field of functional materials development for its renewable, high mechanical performance and environmental benign. In this study, the traditional processing method (wet spinning and film production) of cellulose-based materials was applied by using cellulose solution for 3D printing, which can directly build complex 3D patterns. Herein, a natural cellulose is dissolved in an effective mixed aqueous solution of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH). The cellulose solution extrusion was controlled by a modified fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer. During the controlled extrusion 3D printing process, the viscous cellulose solution will gelifies and further solidifies into a predetermined 3D pattern at room temperature in air. Subsequently, a cellulose hydrogel skeleton was obtained, when the 3D pattern was solvent-exchanged with deionized water. Finally, the mechanical and swelling performance of the cellulose hydrogel scaffold was improved by a cross-linking agent treatment method. With treatment of the 3D printed scaffolds in 0.8 wt% cross-linking agent solution, the obtained cellulose hydrogel could absorb 28 g/g water, and the compression strength was 96 kPa. This work provided an efficient way to prepare natural cellulose hydrogel by 3D printing under room temperature.

Abstract Background At low levels, carbon monoxide (CO) has been shown to have beneficial effects on multiple organs and tissues through its potential anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and anti-proliferative properties. However, the effect of CO-releasing molecule (CORM)-3, a water-soluble CORM, on ischemic stroke and its mechanism of action are still unclear. Methods We investigated the role of CORM-3 in the mouse model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). CORM-3 or saline was administered to mice by retro-orbital injection at the time of reperfusion after 1-h tMCAO or at 1 h after sham surgery. We assessed infarct volume and brain water content at 24 and 72 h after ischemia, blood-brain barrier permeability at 6 and 72 h after ischemia, and neurologic deficits on days 1, 3, 7, and 14. Results Among mice that underwent tMCAO, those that received CORM-3 had significantly smaller infarct volume and greater expression of neuronal nuclear antigen (NeuN) and microtubule-associated protein 2 than did saline-treated mice. CORM-3-treated mice had significantly fewer activated microglia in the peri-infarction zone than did control mice and exhibited downregulated expression of ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule (Iba)-1, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin 1β. CORM-3-treated mice had significantly lower brain water content and enhanced neurologic outcomes on days 3, 7, and 14 post-tMCAO. Lastly, CORM-3 treatment reduced Evans blue leakage; increased expression of platelet-derived growth factor receptor-β, tight junction protein ZO-1, and matrix protein laminin; and decreased protein level of matrix metalloproteinase-9. Conclusion CORM-3 treatment at the time of reperfusion reduces ischemia-reperfusion-induced brain injury by suppressing neuroinflammation and alleviating blood-brain barrier disruption. Our data suggest that CORM-3 may provide an effective therapy for ischemic stroke.

This study aims to explore the relationship between locus of control, grit, self-esteem and mental health among college students. A questionnaire survey was used to conduct a study on the mental health of 923 E-learning college students from 10 universities in Guangxi, China. In this study, Pearson correlation analysis was used to test the correlation between the study variables, and Bootstrap was used to test the mediating effect and effect ratio of grit and self-esteem. The results show that, locus of control, grit, and self-esteem can predict the mental health of college students. Grit plays a mediating role between locus of control and mental health; self-esteem plays a mediating role between locus of control and mental health; grit and self-esteem have a chain mediating effect between locus of control and mental health. Specifically, internal locus of control can effectively prevent college students from mental health problems through the chain mediation effect of grit and self-esteem. Powerful others and opportunity as the external locus of control will not only reduce the grit and self-esteem of college students, but also lead to more psychological problems. These research results provide suggestions to the university management on how to manage the mental health of E-learning students, especially those with psychological problems.

This paper takes work-family conflict as the independent variable, work engagement as the dependent variable, and perceived organizational support and emotional exhaustion as the mediating variables, and studies the influence of work-family conflict on work engagement and the mechanism of perceived organizational support and emotional exhaustion of female university teachers in China, based on the job demand-resource model (JD-R). The results of the questionnaire survey of 518 female university teachers revealed a significant negative relationship between work-family conflict and work engagement, with a direct effect accounting for 31.88%. The indirect effect of work-family conflict on work engagement through perceived organizational support was significant, accounting for 63.19%, while the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion was not notable and the chain mediating influence of perceived organizational support and emotional exhaustion was not significant.

Work and family are two of the most important parts in one's life. Individuals cannot fulfill their work requirements and family responsibilities at the same time, so they are faced with the dilemma of timing and role conflict. Based on the conservation theory, this study explored the relationship between work-family conflict and job satisfaction in 422 female university teachers in China, and proposed a moderating mediation model to examine the mediating role of job burnout and the moderating role of perceived organizational support. The results show that work-family conflict has a significant negative predictive effect on job satisfaction; job burnout fully mediates the relationship between work-family conflict and job satisfaction; perceived organizational support moderates the relationship between work-family conflict and job burnout, and the stronger the perceived organizational support, the weaker the negative predictive effect of work-family conflicts on job satisfaction.

The aim of this study was to investigate the competency of physical education teachers at the basic education level in China. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach, using purposive sampling to conduct in-depth interviews with 12 physical education teachers from schools at the basic education level in China using the behavioral event interview method and extracting themes using coding techniques with the thematic analysis method. The results of the study show that the competencies of physical education teachers at the basic education level in China include 6 themes: Competency characteristics, knowledge characteristics, teacher moral characteristics, motivation characteristics, values characteristics and personality characteristics.

Mental fatigue among drivers is a primary factor in many traffic accidents. Electroencephalography (EEG), which directly measures neurophysiological activities in the brain, is commonly used for fatigue recognition. However, cross-subject research in fatigue recognition using EEG faces challenges such as low spatial resolution and significant individual variability. Inspired by neuroscience, a dynamic graph convolution learning from functional neuroimaging (FNI-DGCNN) is proposed, making up for EEG's low spatial resolution. We first use a multi-scale spatiotemporal learning block to extract EEG features with attention allocation, then initialize the adjacency matrix based on prior knowledge about fatigue recognition mechanisms from functional neuroimaging, use the extracted features and the adjacency matrix to initialize the graph, and finally use dynamic graph convolution further to study the intrinsic functional connectivity of mental fatigue. The proposed method achieves an accuracy of 88.89% among 17 subjects, outperforming existing EEG models for cross-subject.

While existing literature supports the use of smartphones to teach English vocabulary, limited studies have addressed how learned words can be transferred to college students' writing. This action research study designed pretest, treatment on mobile phones, posttest, and out-of-class pair-work, followed by a delayed posttest after three weeks to promote academic vocabulary use in writing. In the four-week treatment, academic words and collocations were designed using Quizlet units, combined with in-class writing practice. In the pair-work stage, the participants were allowed freedom to choose words they desired to learn and to exchange each other's word logs with recycling of taught vocabulary designed in the treatment. Assessment of the pretest, posttest, and the delayed posttest involved (a) a general academic vocabulary test (receptive knowledge), (b) a vocabulary test of target words (gap-filling), and (c) an in-class writing task. Results show that our mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) project helped participants remember more words after their MALL experiences and apply them in their writing; meanwhile, such improvement could be maintained. Pair work was more favored than individual work as the participants indicated a stronger preference and endorsed collaborative learning. We argue that mobile devices should be combined with new learning strategies for both in-class and out-of-class learning.

Neurexins are widely thought to promote synapse formation and to organize synapse properties. Here we found that in contrast to neurexin-1 and neurexin-3, neurexin-2 unexpectedly restricts synapse formation. In the hippocampus, constitutive or neuron-specific deletions of neurexin-2 nearly doubled the strength of excitatory CA3➔CA1 region synaptic connections and markedly increased their release probability. No effect on inhibitory synapses was detected. Stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) superresolution microscopy revealed that the neuron-specific neurexin-2 deletion elevated the density of excitatory CA1 region synapses nearly twofold. Moreover, hippocampal neurexin-2 deletions also increased synaptic connectivity in the CA1 region when induced in mature mice and impaired the cognitive flexibility of spatial memory. Thus, neurexin-2 controls the dynamics of hippocampal synaptic circuits by repressing synapse assembly throughout life, a restrictive function that markedly differs from that of neurexin-1 and neurexin-3 and of other synaptic adhesion molecules, suggesting that neurexins evolutionarily diverged into opposing pro- and antisynaptogenic organizers.

BackgroundViral tracers are important tools for mapping brain connectomes. The feature of predominant anterograde transneuronal transmission offers herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) strain H129 (HSV1-H129) as a promising candidate to be developed as anterograde viral tracers. In our earlier studies, we developed H129-derived anterograde polysynaptic tracers and TK deficient (H129-dTK) monosynaptic tracers. However, their broad application is limited by some intrinsic drawbacks of the H129-dTK tracers, such as low labeling intensity due to TK deficiency and potential retrograde labeling caused by axon terminal invasion. The glycoprotein K (gK) of HSV-1 plays important roles in virus entry, egress, and virus-induced cell fusion. Its deficiency severely disables virus egress and spread, while only slightly limits viral genome replication and expression of viral proteins. Therefore, we created a novel H129-derived anterograde monosynaptic tracer (H129-dgK) by targeting gK, which overcomes the limitations of H129-dTK.MethodsUsing our established platform and pipeline for developing viral tracers, we generated a novel tracer by deleting the gK gene from the H129-G4. The gK-deleted virus (H129-dgK-G4) was reconstituted and propagated in the Vero cell expressing wildtype H129 gK (gKwt) or the mutant gK (gKmut, A40V, C82S, M223I, L224V, V309M), respectively. Then the obtained viral tracers of gKmut pseudotyped and gKwt coated H129-dgK-G4 were tested in vitro and in vivo to characterize their tracing properties.ResultsH129-dgK-G4 expresses high levels of fluorescent proteins, eliminating the requirement of immunostaining for imaging detection. Compared to the TK deficient monosynaptic tracer H129-dTK-G4, H129-dgK-G4 labeled neurons with 1.76-fold stronger fluorescence intensity, and visualized 2.00-fold more postsynaptic neurons in the downstream brain regions. gKmut pseudotyping leads to a 77% decrease in retrograde labeling by reducing axon terminal invasion, and thus dramatically improves the anterograde-specific tracing of H129-dgK-G4. In addition, assisted by the AAV helper trans-complementarily expressing gKwt, H129-dgK-G4 allows for mapping monosynaptic connections and quantifying the circuit connectivity difference in the Alzheimer's disease and control mouse brains.ConclusionsgKmut pseudotyped H129-dgK-G4, a novel anterograde monosynaptic tracer, overcomes the limitations of H129-dTK tracers, and demonstrates desirable features of strong labeling intensity, high tracing efficiency, and improved anterograde specificity.