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Abstract Introduction Previous studies have explored the connections between various ocular biological parameters with myopia. Our previous study also found that pupil data can predict the myopic progression during the interventions for myopia. However, studies exploring the association between pupil diameter and myopia in preschoolers with myopia were lacking. Hence this study was aimed to investigate the association between pupil diameter and myopia in preschoolers with myopia based on a real-world, large-scale dataset. Methods Data containing 650,671 preschoolers were collected from a total of 1943 kindergartens in Shenzhen, China. Refraction and pupil parameters were collected. After data filtering, the occurrence of myopia and its association with age, gender, pupil diameter, and other variables, were analyzed. Random forest (RF) and eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) were selected from seven machine learning algorithms to build the model. The mean decrease accuracy (MDA), mean decrease Gini (MDG), and gain feature importance (GFI) techniques were employed to quantify the importance of pupil diameter and other features. Results After the assessments, 51,325 valid records with complete pupil data were included, and 3468 (6.76%) were identified as myopia based on the calculated cycloplegic refraction. Preschoolers with myopia presented reduced pupil diameter and greater variation (5.00 ± 0.99 mm) compared to non-myopic preschoolers (6.22 ± 0.67 mm). A nonlinear relationship was found according to the scatterplots between pupil diameter and refraction (R 2 = 0.14). Especially preschoolers with myopia had reduced pupil diameter compared to emmetropic preschoolers, but hyperope did not experience additional pupil enlargement. After adjusting for other covariates, this relationship is still consistent (P

Pain is a highly subjective and multidimensional experience, significantly influenced by various psychological factors. Placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia exemplify this influence, where inert treatments result in pain relief or exacerbation, respectively. While extensive research has elucidated the psychological and neural mechanisms behind these effects, most studies have focused on transient pain stimuli. To explore these mechanisms in the context of tonic pain, we conducted a study using a 15-minute tonic muscle pain induction procedure, where hypertonic saline was infused into the left masseter of healthy participants. We collected real-time Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data during the induction of placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia via conditioned learning. Our findings revealed that placebo analgesia was more pronounced and lasted longer than nocebo hyperalgesia. Real-time pain ratings correlated significantly with neural activity in several brain regions. Notably, the putamen was implicated in both effects, while the caudate and other regions were differentially involved in placebo and nocebo effects. These findings confirm that the tonic muscle pain paradigm can be used to investigate the mechanisms of placebo and nocebo effects and indicate that placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia may have more distinct than common neural bases.

Chestnuts, despite their nutritional value, pose challenges in starch processing, digestion, and absorption. This study employed various color-fixing formulations and processing methods to simulate the in vitro digestion of both untreated and enzymatically hydrolyzed chestnut flour. Changes in starch properties, digestion characteristics, and estimated glycemic index (eGI) were analyzed to understand how enzymatic hydrolysis affects chestnut flour properties. The results showed that the browning of chestnut flour was the least when the mass ratio of vitamin C, citric acid, and EDTA-Na2 was 9:1:0.3. Following treatment with pullulanase and glucoamylase, the content of rapidly digestible starch decreased to 10 %, while the content of slowly digestible starch and resistant starch increased to 62 % and 27 %, respectively. The eGI value of chestnut flour after enzymatic hydrolysis increased to 61.85–65.14, the hydrolysis rate was 78.37 %–89.20 %, the water holding capacity was 5.3–8.6, the solubility was 51.33 %–58.33 %, and the swelling degree decreased to 2.21–3.33 mL/g.

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the association of body stature with ocular biometrics and refraction in preschool children. Methods A cross-sectional, school-based study was conducted in Shenzhen, China. Preschool children aged 3 to 6 from 10 randomly-selected kindergartens were recruited. Ocular biometric parameters, including axial length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD), vitreous chamber depth (VCD), corneal radius curvature (CR), axial length to corneal radius ratio (AL-to-CR ratio) and lens thickness (LT) were measured using non-contact partial-coherence laser interferometry. Cycloplegic refractions were obtained by a desktop autorefractor. Body height and weight were measured using standard procedures. The association between body stature and ocular biometrics were analyzed with univariable and multivariable regression model. Results A total of 373 preschoolers were included. AL, ACD, VCD, CR, and AL-to-CR ratio, were positively associated with height and weight (p

Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) have greater bioavailability and safety than inorganic selenium, and was widely used in medical, agricultural, nutritional supplements, and antibacterial fields. The present study screened a strain L11 producing SeNPs from a selenium rich dairy cow breeding base in Hubei Province, China. The strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis through physiological, biochemical, and molecular biology analysis. By adjusting the cultivation conditions, the experiment determined the ideal parameters for L11 to efficiently produce SeNPs. These parameters include a pH value of 6, a cultivation temperature of 37 °C, a concentration of 4 mmol/L Na2SeO3, and a cultivation of 48 h. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used to verify that the Se particles produced by L11 are SeNPs with diameters ranging from 50 to 200 nm. The combination of the protein analysis of different cell components and TEM analysis showed that L11 mainly produces SeNPs through the transformation of the cell’s periplasmic space, cell membrane, and cell wall. Adding the L11 SeNPs complex to sheep feed can significantly enhance the antioxidant activity and immunity of sheep, and increase the Se content in the neck muscles, liver, and spleen tissues.

Moderate amounts of Se can promote crop growth, enhance stress resistance, increase yield, and improve nutritional quality. In the present study, kudzu seedlings were used as experimental materials, and their physiological indicators, antioxidant activity, nutritional components, and flavonoid content were measured after being treated with Na2SeO3 hydroponics. Transcriptome sequencing analysis was used to reveal the relevant genes involved in regulating the effects of exogenous Se on the content of Se-compounds and flavonoids in kudzu. The results indicated that treatment with 20 mg/L Na2SeO3 significantly increased stem and root lengths, dry and fresh weight, lateral root development, and chlorophyll b content. However, at higher concentrations (30–40 mg/L), lateral root abundance and chlorophyll levels decreased. Na2SeO3 treatment also augmented the antioxidant capacity and enhanced the content of major nutrients in kudzu seedlings. The total Se content in kudzu escalated with increasing Na2SeO3 concentration, with selenomethionine emerging as the primary organic-Se species. After treatment with Na2SeO3, the content of puerarin in both aboveground and underground parts decreased, while the content of total flavonoids increased. Daidzin increased in the roots. Differential expression gene analysis revealed that genes such as TRXB2, SYM, MMT1, and METE were involved in Se uptake and transformation in kudzu, while bZIP43 and WRKY47 played a role in flavonoid biosynthesis.

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is rich in vitamins, minerals, and bioactive components, serving as an important source of selenium (Se) intake for humans. This study investigated the effects of Se treatment on lettuce using different concentrations of sodium selenite (Na2SeO3), focusing on biomass, physiological indicators, nutritional composition, and physiological changes during storage. Through correlation analysis of the transcriptome and Se species, the absorption and conversion mechanisms of Se in lettuce were revealed. The results showed that Se treatment initially increased the chlorophyll content in lettuce, followed by a decrease. Soluble sugar, soluble protein, total phenols, and anthocyanins increased at low Se concentrations but decreased at high concentrations. Flavonoid content decreased only at 1 mg/L Se, while other treatments were higher than the control group. GSH content and superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidase activities initially increased and then decreased, while malondialdehyde (MDA) content first decreased and then increased. Five Se species, including Se (IV), Se (VI), selenocysteine (SeCys2), selenomethionine (SeMet), and methylselenocysteine (MeSeCys), were detected in lettuce leaves after Se treatment, with SeMet being the most abundant. During storage, Se-treated lettuce exhibited lower weight loss, a*, b*, browning index, and color difference (ΔE) values compared to the control group. CAT and POD activities and GSH content also followed a trend of initial increase followed by a decrease. Transcriptome data analysis revealed that genes such as MYB1, RPK1, PTR44, NTRC, WRKY7, and CSLD3 were associated with the stress response of Se-treated lettuce.

Depression is a major psychological disorder with a growing impact worldwide. Traditional methods for detecting the risk of depression, predominantly reliant on psychiatric evaluations and self-assessment questionnaires, are often criticized for their inefficiency and lack of objectivity. Advancements in deep learning have paved the way for innovations in depression risk detection methods that fuse multimodal data. This paper introduces a novel framework, the Audio, Video, and Text Fusion-Three Branch Network (AVTF-TBN), designed to amalgamate auditory, visual, and textual cues for a comprehensive analysis of depression risk. Our approach encompasses three dedicated branches—Audio Branch, Video Branch, and Text Branch—each responsible for extracting salient features from the corresponding modality. These features are subsequently fused through a multimodal fusion (MMF) module, yielding a robust feature vector that feeds into a predictive modeling layer. To further our research, we devised an emotion elicitation paradigm based on two distinct tasks—reading and interviewing—implemented to gather a rich, sensor-based depression risk detection dataset. The sensory equipment, such as cameras, captures subtle facial expressions and vocal characteristics essential for our analysis. The research thoroughly investigates the data generated by varying emotional stimuli and evaluates the contribution of different tasks to emotion evocation. During the experiment, the AVTF-TBN model has the best performance when the data from the two tasks are simultaneously used for detection, where the F1 Score is 0.78, Precision is 0.76, and Recall is 0.81. Our experimental results confirm the validity of the paradigm and demonstrate the efficacy of the AVTF-TBN model in detecting depression risk, showcasing the crucial role of sensor-based data in mental health detection.

Abstract Background & aims The individual effect of working schedule on survival in the hypertensive population has not been adequately studied. Shiftworkers are also prone to unhealthy lifestyles like pro-inflammatory diet. Therefore, we assessed the effect of shift work and its joint association with dietary inflammatory potential on mortality risk among the large US nationally representative sample of adult hypertensive population. Methods Data were from a nationally representative prospective cohort among US hypertensive population (n = 3680; weighted population, 54,192,988). The participants were linked to the 2019 public-access linked mortality archives. The working schedule were self-reported using the Occupation Questionnaire Section. Dietary inflammatory index (DII) scores were equally calculated using the 24-hour dietary recall (24 h) interviews. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratio and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for survival of hypertension individuals by work schedule and dietary inflammatory potential. The joint effect of work schedule and dietary inflammatory potential was then examined. Results Among the 3680 hypertension individuals (39.89% female [n = 1479] and 71.42% white [n = 1707]; weighted mean [SE] age, 47.35 [0.32] years), 592 individuals reported shift work status. 474 (10.76%) reported shift work status with pro-inflammatory dietary pattern (DII scores > 0). 118 (3.06%) reported shift work status with anti-inflammatory dietary pattern (DII scores

Abstract Aims Heart failure (HF) is one of the leading causes of the global burden of disability and mortality. However, the comprehensive epidemic status of HF in China is unclear. Notably, the gender‐specific survey for HF prevalence is lacking. The present study aimed to analyse the gender‐specific prevalence and temporal trend of HF in China and explore the attributable aetiology and risk factors. Methods and results The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 was used to evaluate the age‐standardized prevalence and years lived with disability of HF in China by gender. The temporal trend of HF and attributable risk factors were analysed by Joinpoint regression models from 1990 to 2019. The total age‐standardized prevalence rate of HF steadily decreased over the past two decades from 1079.4 to 1032.8 per 100 000 individuals. Since 2017, the prevalence trend of HF has significantly increased [annual percentage change (APC) of 2.72 for females and 0.61 for males, P

IntroductionThis study aimed to evaluate morphological changes in cortical and subcortical regions and their asymmetrical differences in individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). These morphological changes may provide valuable insights into the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD).MethodsWe conducted structural MRI scans on a cohort comprising 62 SCD patients, 97 MCI patients, and 70 age-, sex-, and years of education-matched healthy controls (HC). Using Freesurfer, we quantified surface area, thickness, the local gyrification index (LGI) of cortical regions, and the volume of subcortical nuclei. Asymmetry measures were also calculated. Additionally, we explored the correlation between morphological changes and clinical variables related to cognitive decline.ResultsCompared to HC, patients with MCI exhibited predominantly left-sided surface morphological changes in various brain regions, including the transverse temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, insula, and pars opercularis. SCD patients showed relatively minor surface morphological changes, primarily in the insula and pars triangularis. Furthermore, MCI patients demonstrated reduced volumes in the anterior-superior region of the right hypothalamus, the fimbria of the bilateral hippocampus, and the anterior region of the left thalamus. These observed morphological changes were significantly associated with clinical ratings of cognitive decline.ConclusionThe findings of this study suggest that cortical and subcortical morphometric changes may contribute to cognitive impairment in MCI, while compensatory mechanisms may be at play in SCD to preserve cognitive function. These insights have the potential to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of AD.

Abstract Background The present study aimed to investigate the changes in volatile components and metabolites of Dendrobium officinale (D. officinale) juice fermented with starter cultures containing Saccharomycopsis fibuligera and Lactobacillus paracasei at 28 ℃ for 15 days and post-ripened at 4 ℃ for 30 days using untargeted metabolomics of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC–MS) and headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography (HS–SPME–GC–MS) before and after fermentation. Results The results showed that the alcohol contents in the S. fibuligera group before fermentation and after fermentation were 444.806 ± 10.310 μg/mL and 510.999 ± 38.431 μg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, the alcohol content in the fermentation broth group inoculated with the co-culture of L. paracasei + S. fibuligera was 504.758 ± 77.914 μg/mL, containing a significant amount of 3-Methyl-1-butanol, Linalool, Phenylethyl alcohol, and 2-Methyl-1-propanol. Moreover, the Ethyl L (-)-lactate content was higher in the co-culture of L. paracasei + S. fibuligera group (7.718 ± 6.668 μg/mL) than in the L. paracasei (2.798 ± 0.443 μg/mL) and S. fibuligera monoculture groups (0 μg/mL). The co-culture of L. paracasei + S. fibuligera significantly promoted the metabolic production of ethyl L (-)-lactate in D. officinale juice. The differential metabolites screened after fermentation mainly included alcohols, organic acids, amino acids, nucleic acids, and their derivatives. Twenty-three metabolites, including 11 types of acids, were significantly up-regulated in the ten key metabolic pathways of the co-culture group. Furthermore, the metabolic pathways, such as pentose and glucuronate interconversions, the biosynthesis of alkaloids derived from terpenoid and polyketide, and aminobenzoate degradation were significantly up-regulated in the co-culture group. These three metabolic pathways facilitate the synthesis of bioactive substances, such as terpenoids, polyketides, and phenols, and enrich the flavor composition of D. officinale juice. Conclusions These results demonstrate that the co-culture of L. paracasei + S. fibuligera can promote the flavor harmonization of fermented products. Therefore, this study provides a theoretical basis for analyzing the flavor of D. officinale juice and the functional investigation of fermentation metabolites.

IntroductionThe time, frequency, and space information of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is crucial for motor imagery decoding. However, these temporal-frequency-spatial features are high-dimensional small-sample data, which poses significant challenges for motor imagery decoding. Sparse regularization is an effective method for addressing this issue. However, the most commonly employed sparse regularization models in motor imagery decoding, such as the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), is a biased estimation method and leads to the loss of target feature information.MethodsIn this paper, we propose a non-convex sparse regularization model that employs the Cauchy function. By designing a proximal gradient algorithm, our proposed model achieves closer-to-unbiased estimation than existing sparse models. Therefore, it can learn more accurate, discriminative, and effective feature information. Additionally, the proposed method can perform feature selection and classification simultaneously, without requiring additional classifiers.ResultsWe conducted experiments on two publicly available motor imagery EEG datasets. The proposed method achieved an average classification accuracy of 82.98% and 64.45% in subject-dependent and subject-independent decoding assessment methods, respectively.ConclusionThe experimental results show that the proposed method can significantly improve the performance of motor imagery decoding, with better classification performance than existing feature selection and deep learning methods. Furthermore, the proposed model shows better generalization capability, with parameter consistency over different datasets and robust classification across different training sample sizes. Compared with existing sparse regularization methods, the proposed method converges faster, and with shorter model training time.

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element for the human body, and its dietary deficiency has been a widespread issue globally. Vegetables serve as a significant source of dietary Se intake, with organic Se derived from plants being safer than inorganic Se. In the present study, Taraxacum mongolicum plants were treated with various concentrations of Na2SeO3. The results showed that as the concentration of Na2SeO3 increased, the chlorophyll content of dandelion seedlings decreased at high concentrations, and the content of soluble sugars, soluble proteins, flavonoids, total phenols, and Vc all increased. The application of Na2SeO3 at concentrations ranging from 0 to 4 mg/L resulted in a reduction in plant malondialdehyde content and an enhancement in the activity of antioxidant enzymes. Following the Na2SeO3 treatment, five Se species were identified in the seedlings, Se4+, Se6+, selenocysteine, selenomethionine, and methylselenocysteine. Notably, selenomethionine emerged as the primary organic Se species in the shoots of dandelion. Transcriptome analysis revealed that ABC11b, PTR4, MOCOS, BAK1, and CNGC1 were involved in the absorption, transport, and storage of Se in dandelion, and C7317 was involved in the scavenging of reactive oxygen species. This study complements the understanding of the possible molecular mechanisms involved in the absorption and transformation of organic Se by plants, thereby providing a theoretical foundation for the biofortification of dandelion with Se in crops.

Determining and decoding emotional brain processes under ecologically valid conditions remains a key challenge in affective neuroscience. The current functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) based emotion decoding studies are mainly based on brief and isolated episodes of emotion induction, while sustained emotional experience in naturalistic environments that mirror daily life experiences are scarce. Here we used 12 different 10-minute movie clips as ecologically valid emotion-evoking procedures in n = 52 individuals to explore emotion-specific fMRI functional connectivity (FC) profiles on the whole-brain level at high spatial resolution (432 parcellations including cortical and subcortical structures). Employing machine-learning based decoding and cross validation procedures allowed to investigate FC profiles contributing to classification that can accurately distinguish sustained happiness and sadness and that generalize across subjects, movie clips, and parcellations. Both functional brain network-based and subnetwork-based emotion classification results suggested that emotion manifests as distributed representation of multiple networks, rather than a single functional network or subnetwork. Further, the results showed that the Visual Network (VN) and Default Mode Network (DMN) associated functional networks, especially VN-DMN, exhibited a strong contribution to emotion classification. To further estimate the temporal accumulative effect of naturalistic long-term movie-based video-evoking emotions, we divided the 10-min episode into three stages: early stimulation (1∼200 s), middle stimulation (201∼400 s), and late stimulation (401∼600 s) and examined the emotion classification performance at different stimulation stages. We found that the late stimulation contributes most to the classification (accuracy=85.32%, F1-score=85.62%) compared to early and middle stimulation stages, implying that continuous exposure to emotional stimulation can lead to more intense emotions and further enhance emotion-specific distinguishable representations. The present work demonstrated that sustained happiness and sadness under naturalistic conditions are presented in emotion-specific network profiles and these expressions may play different roles in the generation and modulation of emotions. These findings elucidated the importance of network level adaptations for sustained emotional experiences during naturalistic contexts and open new venues for imaging network level contributions under naturalistic conditions.

EEG signals exhibit commonality and variability across subjects, sessions, and tasks. But most existing EEG studies focus on mean group effects (commonality) by averaging signals over trials and subjects. The substantial intra- and inter-subject variability of EEG have often been overlooked. The recently significant technological advances in machine learning, especially deep learning, have brought technological innovations to EEG signal application in many aspects, but there are still great challenges in cross-session, cross-task, and cross-subject EEG decoding. In this work, an EEG-based biometric competition based on a large-scale M3CV (A Multi-subject, Multi-session, and Multi-task Database for investigation of EEG Commonality and Variability) database was launched to better characterize and harness the intra- and inter-subject variability and promote the development of machine learning algorithm in this field. In the M3CV database, EEG signals were recorded from 106 subjects, of which 95 subjects repeated two sessions of the experiments on different days. The whole experiment consisted of 6 paradigms, including resting-state, transient-state sensory, steady-state sensory, cognitive oddball, motor execution, and steady-state sensory with selective attention with 14 types of EEG signals, 120000 epochs. Two learning tasks (identification and verification), performance metrics, and baseline methods were introduced in the competition. In general, the proposed M3CV dataset and the EEG-based biometric competition aim to provide the opportunity to develop advanced machine learning algorithms for achieving an in-depth understanding of the commonality and variability of EEG signals across subjects, sessions, and tasks.

Abstract The purpose is to explore the brain’s structural difference in local morphology and between-region networks between two types of peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP): postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and lower back pain (LBP). A total of 54 participants including 38 LBP and 16 PHN patients were enrolled. The average pain scores were 7.6 and 7.5 for LBP and PHN. High-resolution structural T1 weighted images were obtained. Both grey matter volume (GMV) and morphological connectivity (MC) were extracted. An independent two-sample t-test with false discovery rate (FDR) correction was used to identify the brain regions where LBP and PHN patients showed significant GMV difference. Next, we explored the differences of MC network between LBP and PHN patients and detected the group differences in network properties by using the two-sample t-test and FDR correction. Compared with PHN, LBP patients had significantly larger GMV in temporal gyrus, insula and fusiform gyrus (p

Abstract Background Green tea has been one of the most popular beverages in China since ancient times. Mixed results concerning the effect of green tea consumption on the incidence of hypertension have been published over the past decades. However, no previous studies have focused on longevous individuals in China and the sex differences in the association between habitual green tea intake and hypertension. Methods The data extracted from the database of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) in 2018 were used for a secondary analysis. Logistic regression models were employed to examine the odds ratio (OR) of daily green tea consumption on the incidence of hypertension by sex. Results A total of 9277 individuals were included in the analysis (39.8% were men). The included individuals had a mean age of 80.9 and 84.8 years for those who drank green tea daily and those who had never, respectively (p

The littering of nitrogen into water bodies has led to several adverse effects on the environment. “Nitrification-denitrification” is still a prevalent method for removing nitrogen from water bodies, which demands high energy consumption and complex operational conditions. In recent years, MBS has attracted much attention because of its advantages in recovering nitrogen, emitting oxygen, and capturing CO2. It has been proven that light is the top factor influencing the performance of MBS. This paper will critically review the effects of light parameters on nitrogen removal by MBS, and the nitrogen-removal mechanisms of MBS driven by artificial illumination.

It is an essential method for healthy Selenium (Se) supplementation to convert exogenous Se into organic Se via crops. Brassica juncea (L.) Czern (leaf mustard) was employed as plant material in this investigation and was treated with sodium selenite (Na2SeO3). Its physiological indicators, nutritional quality, antioxidant enzyme activity, total Se content, and Se morphology were all evaluated. The absorption, transportation, and transformation mechanisms of Se in mustard were studied using transcriptome data. The results revealed that low concentration of Se treatment promoted the growth of mustard, while high concentration Se treatment inhibited it. The concentration of 10 mg/L Na2SeO3 treatment had the best growth parameters for mustard. Compared to the control group, the content of vitamin C (Vc) and anthocyanins in the treatment group increased to varying degrees, while the content of flavonoids, total phenols, soluble sugar, and soluble protein increased first and then decreased. Five Se forms, Se (IV), Se (VI), selenocystine(SeCys2), selenomethionine (SeMet), and methylselenocysteine (MeSeCys), were detected in the Na2SeO3 treatment group, with organic Se accounting for over 95%. Na2SeO3 treatment can significantly reduce the accumulation of ROS in mustard plants and enhance their stress resistance. Transcriptome data and metabolite association analysis showed that PHO1-H8 promoted the absorption of Na2SeO3 by mustard roots, while SULTR3;3 and SULTR4;1 promoted the transport of Se from roots to the aboveground portion and chloroplasts. Se in mustard was transformed into SeMet, SeCys, MeSeCys, and selenoprotein through the action of genes such as APS, APR, and SEP1, and stored in plant leaves.

Cadmium (Cd) is a common agricultural soil pollutant, which does serious harm to the environment and the human body. In this study, Brassica juncea was treated with different concentrations of CdCl2 and Na2SeO3. Then, physiological indexes and transcriptome were measured to reveal the mechanisms by which Se reduces the inhibition and toxicity of Cd in B. juncea. The results showed that Se alleviated the inhibitive Cd effects on seedling biomass, root length, and chlorophyll, and promoted the adsorption of Cd by pectin and lignin in the root cell wall (CW). Se also alleviated the oxidative stress induced by Cd, and reduced the content of MDA in cells. As a result, SeCys and SeMet alleviated the transport of Cd to the shoots. Transcriptome data showed that the bivalent cation transporter MPP and ABCC subfamily participated in the separation of Cd in vacuoles, CAL1 was related to the chelation of Cd in the cytoplasm of cells, and ZIP transporter 4 reduced the transport of Cd to the shoots. These results indicated that Se alleviated the damage of Cd in plants and decreased its transport to the shoots by improving the antioxidant system, enhancing the ability of the CW to adsorb Cd, reducing the activity of Cd transporters, and chelating Cd.

BackgroundThe government’s COVID-19 pandemic response lockdown strategy had a negative psychological and physical impact on individuals, which necessitated special care to pregnant women’s mental health. There has been no large-scale research on the underlying relationship between perceived stress and insomnia symptoms in pregnant Chinese women up to this point. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to see if there was an association between perceived stress and insomnia symptoms, as well as the moderating impact of resilience for Chinese pregnant women.MethodsThis cross-sectional study examined 2115 pregnant women from central and western China using multi-stage sampling methodologies. A systematic questionnaire was used to collect information on sleep quality, perceived stress, and resilience using the Insomnia Severity Index, Perceptual Stress Scale, and Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale. To assess the moderating influence of resilience, hierarchical regressions were used.ResultsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, 18.53% of respondents (N = 2115) reported experiencing sleeplessness. In pregnant women, perceived stress was positively linked with insomnia symptoms (p < 0.001). Furthermore, resilience significantly attenuated the influence of perceived stress on insomnia symptoms in Chinese expectant mother (βinteraction = −0.0126, p < 0.001).ConclusionPregnant women with strong resilience were less influenced by perceived stress than those with poor resilience. The findings of this study might give empirical proof that health care professionals should identify the relevance of reducing perceived stress in pregnant women with poor resilience and provide better treatment and support when necessary.

The dominant approach in investigating the individual reliability for event-related potentials (ERPs) is to extract peak-related features at electrodes showing the strongest group effects. Such a peak-based approach implicitly assumes ERP components showing a stronger group effect are also more reliable, but this assumption has not been substantially validated and few studies have investigated the reliability of ERPs beyond peaks. In this study, we performed a rigorous evaluation of the test-retest reliability of ERPs collected in a multisensory and cognitive experiment from 82 healthy adolescents, each having two sessions. By comparing group effects and individual reliability, we found that a stronger group-level response in ERPs did not guarantee higher reliability. A perspective of neural oscillation should be adopted for the analysis of reliability. Further, by simulating ERPs with an oscillation-based computational model, we found that the consistency between group-level ERP responses and individual reliability was modulated by inter-subject latency jitter and inter-trial variability. The current findings suggest that the conventional peak-based approach may underestimate the individual reliability in ERPs and a neural oscillation perspective on ERP reliability should be considered. Hence, a comprehensive evaluation of the reliability of ERP measurements should be considered in individual-level neurophysiological trait evaluation and psychiatric disorder diagnosis.

Characterization and prediction of individual difference of pain sensitivity are of great importance in clinical practice. MRI techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), have been popularly used to predict an individual’s pain sensitivity, but existing studies are limited by using one single imaging modality (fMRI or DTI) and/or using one type of metrics (regional or connectivity features). As a result, pain-relevant information in MRI has not been fully revealed and the associations among different imaging modalities and different features have not been fully explored for elucidating pain sensitivity. In this study, we investigated the predictive capability of multi-features (regional and connectivity metrics) of multimodal MRI (fMRI and DTI) in the prediction of pain sensitivity using data from 210 healthy subjects. We found that fusing fMRI-DTI and regional-connectivity features are capable of more accurately predicting an individual’s pain sensitivity than only using one type of feature or using one imaging modality. These results revealed rich information regarding individual pain sensitivity from the brain’s both structural and functional perspectives as well as from both regional and connectivity metrics. Hence, this study provided a more comprehensive characterization of the neural correlates of individual pain sensitivity, which holds a great potential for clinical pain management.

Acute inflammation often contributes to the increased arrhythmogenesis in the cardiomyocytes. We investigated the protective effects of pravastatin on calcium disorders induced by acute administration of pro-inflammatory cytokines in isolated ventricular myocytes and its underlying mechanisms. Wild-type mice were intraperitoneally injected for five days with either pravastatin 20 mg/kg per day or an equal volume of normal saline. Cytosol Ca2+ handling was studied in freshly isolated ventricular myocytes after acute exposure of interleukin-6 (IL-6) (1 ng/ml) for 120 min by Ionoptix and confocal microscopy. Acute administration of clinically relevant concentrations of IL-6 disturbed calcium handling in ventricular myocytes, which presented as decreased amplitudes, prolonged decay times of Ca2+ transients, and reduced sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium stores. The frequency of spontaneous Ca2+ release, including calcium sparks and spontaneous calcium waves, was dramatically enhanced in the setting of IL-6. Notably, the pretreatment of pravastatin alleviated disturbed Ca2+ cycling, reduced spontaneous Ca2+ leakage induced by IL-6. Mitochondrial ROS pathway may constitute the underlying mechanism of the protective effects of pravastatin. Pravastatin protected the cardiomyocytes against calcium disorders induced by IL-6 via the mitochondrial ROS pathway, which suggests that pravastatin may represent a promising auxiliary therapeutic strategy for cardiac injury under acute inflammation.

Electroencephalography (EEG) microstate analysis is a powerful tool to study the spatial and temporal dynamics of human brain activity, through analyzing the quasi-stable states in EEG signals. However, current studies mainly focus on rest-state EEG recordings, microstate analysis for the recording of EEG signals during naturalistic tasks is limited. It remains an open question whether current topographical clustering strategies for rest-state microstate analysis could be directly applied to task-state EEG data under the natural and dynamic conditions and whether stable and reliable results could still be achieved. It is necessary to answer the question and explore whether the topographical clustering strategies would affect the performance of microstate detection in task-state EEG microstate analysis. If it exists differences in microstate detection performance when different topographical clustering strategies are adopted, then we want to know how the alternations of the topographical clustering strategies are associated with the naturalistic task. To answer these questions, we work on a public emotion database using naturalistic and dynamic music videos as the stimulation to evaluate the effects of different topographical clustering strategies for task-state EEG microstate analysis. The performance results are systematically examined and compared in terms of microstate quality, task efficacy, and computational efficiency, and the impact of topographical clustering strategies on microstate analysis for naturalistic task data is discussed. The results reveal that a single-trial-based bottom-up topographical clustering strategy (bottom-up) achieves comparable results with the task-driven-based top-down topographical clustering (top-down). It suggests that, when task information is unknown, the single-trial-based topographical clustering could be a good choice for microstate analysis and neural activity study on naturalistic EEG data.

Terpene trilactones (TTL) is a pharmacological ingredient in Ginkgo biloba and its content has become one of the key indices for medicinal value evaluation of ginkgo. 1-Deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase (DXR) catalyzes the first step specific for isopentenyl diphosphate production in methylerythritol phosphate pathway, which provide the basic structure required for TTLs biosynthesis. To understand the mechanism controlling the GbDXR gene expression, the GbDXR promoter sequence was isolated and subjected to transient expression with the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in tobacco plants. Characteristic analysis revealed various cis-acting elements that related to light-regulated transcription, hormone signaling (auxin, ethylene), adversity stress and defense signaling (heat/dehydration stress) in the GbDXR promoter region. In transient expression assay, deletion of different portions of the upstream GbDXR promoter identified that the promoter region -3230bp to -865bp conserve the positive regulation function, which could promote the expression of GFP in the cytoplasm of tobacco leaf epidermal cells. The regulation function of the promoter region -865bp to -262bp remained to be elucidated. EMSA analysis suggested possible interactions of GbERF10 and GbERF17 with the ERF-binding elements in the upstream of GbDXR promoter. For abiotic stresses treatment, the expression of GbDXR gene could be significantly induced by UV-B and drought stress. In general, the GbDXR gene expressed differently in different ginkgo tissues but exhibited the highest transcriptional level in the root, with the maximum TTLs content simultaneously. The positive relationship between gene expression level and TTLs content indicated that the GbDXR is responsible for TTLs biosynthesis in G. biloba.

Glutamine binding protein (GlnBP) is an Escherichia Coli periplasmic binding protein, which binds and carries glutamine to the inner membrane ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter. GlnBP binds the ligand with affinity around 0.1μM measured by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and ligand binding stabilizes protein structure shown by its increase in thermodynamic stability. However, the molecular determinant of GlnBP ligand binding is not known. Electrostatic and hydrophobic interaction between GlnBP and glutamine are critical factors. We propose that the freedome of closure movement is also vital for ligand binding. In order to approve this hypothesis, we generate a series of mutants with different linker length that has different magnitude of domain closure. Mutants show different ligand binding affinity, which indicates that the propensity of domain closure determines the ligand binding affinity. Ligand binding triggers gradual ensemble conformational change. Structural changes upon ligand binding are monitored by combination of small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and NMR spectroscopy. Detailed structure characterization of GlnBP contributes to a better understanding of ligand binding and provides the structural basis for biosensor design.

Background. There exist sex differences in the clinical profile, management, and outcome of atrial fibrillation (AF). Catheter ablation of AF has become a first-line therapy and has markedly made headway over the recent decades. Little is known about sex differences and temporal trends in hospitalization for catheter ablation of AF in the real-world setting. Methods. We retrospectively retrieved medical records of patients at Beijing Anzhen Hospital between January 2005 and December 2019. The patients undergoing catheter ablation of AF were enrolled. Demographical and clinical data were compared between sexes. The temporal trends of sex differences were evaluated. Results. We identified 13502 male patients (66.8%) and 6713 female patients (33.2%). The number of patients undergoing AF ablation had remarkably increased over time, but no sex differences were observed (p=0.17). The median age of women was five years older than that of men (p

This paper provides a viewpoint of the technology of the fast-scanning calorimetry with the relaxation behavior of disordered side chains of poly[2,5-bis(3-dodecylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene] (PBTTT-C12) around the glass transition temperature of the side chains (Tg,γ). PBTTT is an ideal model of the high-performance copolymer of poly(alkylthiophenes) with side chains. The γ1 relaxation process of the disordered side chains of PBTTT was detected as a small endothermic peak that emerges before the γ2 relaxation process. It shows an increase with increasing temperature as it approaches the glass transition temperature of the disordered side chains of PBTTT. The ductile–brittle transition of PBTTT in low temperatures originating from the thermal relaxation process is probed and illustrated by physical aging experiments. The signature is shown that the relaxation process of the disordered side chain of PBTTT at low temperatures varies from Arrhenius temperature dependence to super Arrhenius temperature dependence at high temperatures. These observations could have significant consequences for the stability of devices based on conjugated polymers, especially those utilized for stretchable or flexible applications, or those demanding mechanical robustness during tensile fabrication or use in a low-temperature environment.

Pueraria lobata (wild.) Ohwi is a leguminous plant and one of the traditional Chinese herbal medicines. Its puerarin extract is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry. This study reported a chromosome-level genome assembly for P. lobata and its characteristics. The genome size was ~939.2 Mb, with a contig N50 of 29.51 Mbp. Approximately 97.82% of the assembled sequences were represented by 11 pseudochromosomes. We identified that the repetitive sequences accounted for 63.50% of the P. lobata genome. A total of 33,171 coding genes were predicted, of which 97.34% could predict the function. Compared with other species, P. lobata had 757 species-specific gene families, including 1874 genes. The genome evolution analysis revealed that P. lobata was most closely related to Glycine max and underwent two whole-genome duplication (WGD) events. One was in a gamma event shared by the core dicotyledons at around 65 million years ago, and another was in the common ancestor shared by legume species at around 25 million years ago. The collinearity analysis showed that 61.45% of the genes (54,579 gene pairs) in G. max and P. lobata had collinearity. In this study, six unique PlUGT43 homologous genes were retrieved from the genome of P. lobata, and no 2-hydroxyisoflavanone 8-C-glucoside was found in the metabolites. This also revealed that the puerarin synthesis was mainly from the glycation of daidzein. The combined transcriptome and metabolome analysis suggested that two bHLHs, six MYBs and four WRKYs were involved in the expression regulation of puerarin synthesis structural genes. The genetic information obtained in this study provided novel insights into the biological evolution of P. lobata and leguminous species, and it laid the foundation for further exploring the regulatory mechanism of puerarin synthesis.

Ginkgolide is a unique terpenoid natural compound in Ginkgo biloba, and it has an important medicinal value. Proper selenium has been reported to promote plant growth and development, and improve plant quality, stress resistance, and disease resistance. In order to study the effects of exogenous selenium (Se) on the physiological growth and the content of terpene triolactones (TTLs) in G. biloba seedlings, the seedlings in this work were treated with Na2SeO3. Then, the physiological indexes, the content of the TTLs, and the expression of the related genes were determined. The results showed that a low dose of Na2SeO3 was beneficial to plant photosynthesis as it promoted the growth of ginkgo seedlings and increased the root to shoot ratio. Foliar Se application significantly increased the content of soluble sugar and protein and promoted the content of TTLs in ginkgo leaves; indeed, it reached the maximum value of 7.95 mg/g in the ninth week, whereas the application of Se to the roots inhibited the synthesis of TTLs. Transcriptome analysis showed that foliar Se application promoted the expression levels of GbMECPs, GbMECT, GbHMGR, and GbMVD genes, whereas its application to the roots promoted the expression of GbDXS and GbDXR genes. The combined analysis results of metabolome and transcriptome showed that genes such as GbDXS, GbDXR, GbHMGR, GbMECPs, and GbCYP450 were significantly positively correlated with transcription factors (TFs) GbWRKY and GbAP2/ERF, and they were also positively correlated with the contents of terpene lactones (ginkgolide A, ginkgolide B, ginkgolide M, and bilobalide). Endogenous hormones (MeJA-ILE, ETH, and GA7) were also involved in this process. The results suggested that Na2SeO3 treatment affected the transcription factors related to the regulation of endogenous hormones in G. biloba, and further regulated the expression of genes related to the terpene synthesis structure, thus promoting the synthesis of ginkgo TTLs.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) neurofeedback (NFB) is a popular neuromodulation method to help one selectively enhance or inhibit his/her brain activities by means of real-time visual or auditory feedback of EEG signals. Sensory motor rhythm (SMR) NFB protocol has been applied to improve cognitive performance, but a large proportion of participants failed to self-regulate their brain activities and could not benefit from NFB training. Therefore, it is important to identify the neural predictors of SMR up-regulation NFB training performance for a better understanding the mechanisms of individual difference in SMR NFB. Twenty-seven healthy participants (12 males, age: 23.1 ± 2.36) were enrolled to complete three sessions of SMR up-regulation NFB training and collection of multimodal neuroimaging data [resting-state EEG, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and resting-state functional MRI (fMRI)]. Correlation analyses were performed between within-session NFB learning index and anatomical and functional brain features extracted from multimodal neuroimaging data, in order to identify the neuroanatomical and neurophysiological predictors for NFB learning performance. Lastly, machine learning models were trained to predict NFB learning performance using features from each modality as well as multimodal features. According to our results, most participants were able to successfully increase the SMR power and the NFB learning performance was significantly correlated with a set of neuroimaging features, including resting-state EEG powers, gray/white matter volumes from MRI, regional and functional connectivity (FC) of resting-state fMRI. Importantly, results of prediction analysis indicate that NFB learning index can be better predicted using multimodal features compared with features of single modality. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of multimodal neuroimaging technique as a tool to explain the individual difference in within-session NFB learning performance, and could provide a theoretical framework for early identification of individuals who cannot benefit from NFB training.

Chestnut (Castanea mollisima) is an important woody food crop, but its yield has been low in cultivation, mainly due to the problems of fewer female flowers and more male flowers. Therefore, regulating the transition of chestnut flowers and effectively balancing the proportion of male and female to improve the yield are key factor to be solved in production. In this study, the chestnut floral buds in pre- and post-winter were used as materials. The data of metabolites, hormones, and gene expression during flower bud differentiation of chestnut were analyzed by transcriptomics and metabolomics to preliminarily reveal the possible reason of male and female flower bud transformation in pre- and post-winter. The analysis of Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) showed that there were 6323 DEGs in the Complete mixed flower bud (CMF) group in pre- and post-winter, of which 3448 genes were up-regulated and 2875 genes were down-regulated. There were 8037 DEGs in the Incomplete mixed flower bud (IMF) in pre- and post-winter, of which 4546 genes were up-regulated and 3491 genes were down-regulated. A total of 726 genes from the two flower buds were enriched into 251 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways in post winter, of which plant hormone signal transduction accounted for 4.13%. The analysis results of differential metabolites showed that the differential metabolites of the two flower buds were mainly concentrated in the secondary metabolic synthesis pathway. The difference of hormone content showed that the content of Gibberellin 9 (GA9) and GA19 in CMF was higher than that in IMF in pre-winter, but the opposite in post-winter. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) content was only very high in CMF in pre-winter, while Jasmonoyl-(l)-Isoleucine (JA-ILE) showed high content in CMF in post-winter. In post-winter, higher concentration of JA-ILE was positively correlated with the expression of Flowering Locus T (CmFT), and CmFT gene was significantly positively correlated with the expression levels of MYC2-1, MYC2-2 and LFY 3 (LEAFY 3). The higher concentration of JA-ILE was negatively correlated with the transcription level of JAZ1-3. In vitro experiments further verified that Jasmonate-Zim 1–3 (JAZ 1–3) combined with MYC2-1 inhibited the transcription of CmFT gene, while MYC2-1 alone promoted the expression of FT. The results suggested that a higher concentration of GA is conducive to breaking the dormancy of flower buds and promoting the development of male flower buds, while a lower concentration of GA and a higher concentration of JA-ILE are conducive to the differentiation and formation of female flower buds in post-winter, in which JAZ1-3 and MYC2-1 play a key role in the differentiation of female flower buds of chestnut.

The existence of nociceptive-specific brain regions has been a controversial issue for decades. Multisensory fMRI studies, which examine fMRI activities in response to various types of sensory stimulation, could help identify nociceptive-specific brain regions, but previous studies are limited by sample size and they did not differentiate nociceptive-specific regions and nociceptive-preferential regions, which have significantly larger responses to nociceptive input. In this study, we conducted a multisensory fMRI experiment on 80 healthy participants, with the aim to determine whether there are certain brain regions that specifically or preferentially respond to nociceptive stimulation. By comparing the evoked fMRI responses across four sensory modalities, we found a series of brain regions specifically or preferentially involved in nociceptive sensory input. Particularly, we found different parts of some cortical regions, such as insula and cingulate gyrus, play different functional roles in the processing of nociceptive stimulation. Hence, this multisensory study improves our understanding of the functional integrations and segregations of the nociceptive-related regions.

Pain sensitivity is highly variable among individuals, and it is clinically important to predict an individual’s pain sensitivity for individualized diagnosis and management of pain. Literature has shown that pain sensitivity is associated with regional structural features of the brain, but it remains unclear whether pain sensitivity is also related to structural brain connectivity. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between pain thresholds and morphological connectivity (MC) inferred from structural MRI based on data of 221 healthy participants. We found that MC was highly predictive of an individual’s pain thresholds and, importantly, it had a better prediction performance than regional structural features. We also identified a number of most predictive MC features and confirmed the crucial role of the prefrontal cortex in the determination of pain sensitivity. These results suggest the potential of using structural MRI-based MC to predict an individual’s pain sensitivity in clinical settings, and hence this study has important implications for diagnosis and treatment of pain.

Using machine learning to predict the intensity of pain from fMRI has attracted rapidly increasing interests. However, due to remarkable inter- and intra-individual variabilities in pain responses, the performance of existing fMRI-based pain prediction models is far from satisfactory. The present study proposed a new approach which can design a prediction model specific to each individual or each experimental trial so that the specific model can achieve more accurate prediction of the intensity of nociceptive pain from single-trial fMRI responses. More precisely, the new approach uses a supervised k-means method on nociceptive-evoked fMRI responses to cluster individuals or trials into a set of subgroups, each of which has similar and consistent fMRI activation patterns. Then, for a new test individual/trial, the proposed approach chooses one subgroup of individuals/trials, which has the closest fMRI patterns to the test individual/trial, as training samples to train an individual-specific or a trial-specific pain prediction model. The new approach was tested on a nociceptive-evoked fMRI dataset and achieved significantly higher prediction accuracy than conventional non-specific models, which used all available training samples to train a model. The generalizability of the proposed approach is further validated by training specific models on one dataset and testing these models on an independent new dataset. This proposed individual-specific and trial-specific pain prediction approach has the potential to be used for the development of individualized and precise pain assessment tools in clinical practice.

The anchor effect in nanomolding technology (NMT) refers to the effect that polymer nanorods in nanopores on metal surfaces act as anchors to firmly bond the outside polymer components onto the metal surface. In this work, the influences of thermal treatments on the anchor effect are studied at microscopic level from the perspective of interfacial interaction by a model system (poly(n-butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) and alumina nanopore composite). The differential scanning calorimeter and fluorescence results indicate that the formation of a dense polymer layer in close contact with the pore walls after proper thermal treatments is the key for a strong interfacial interaction. Such polymer layers were formed in NMT products composed of PBMA and aluminum after slow cooling or annealing, with an up to eighteen-fold improvement of the interfacial bonding strength. The polymer chains near the nanopore walls eliminate the thermal stress induced by the mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients through relaxation over time and remain in close proximity with the pore walls during the cooling process of nanomolding. The above dynamic behaviors of the polymer chains ensure the formation of stable interfacial interaction, and then lead to the formation of the anchor effect.

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are a novel class of glucose-lowering agents that significantly improve the prognosis of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and heart failure. SGLT2i has recently been implicated in the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) with clinical data demonstrating that these agents decrease the incidence of AF events in patients with T2D. Fundamental findings have suggested that SGLT2i may alleviate atrial electrical and structural remodeling. The underlying mechanisms of SGLT2i are likely associated with balancing the sodium and calcium handling disorders and mitigating the mitochondrial dysfunction in atrial myocytes. This review illustrates the advances in understanding the underlying mechanisms of SGLT2i as an evolving treatment modality for AF.

Biocides, in the form of sanitisers and disinfectants, are used extensively to reduce the risk of microbial contamination to beverage products and to ensure the safety of potable water used in processing. To better understand consumers’ perceptions of biocide use and to explore messaging strategies regarding their importance to ensure product safety, eight focus groups were conducted in New Zealand (n = 4) and China (n = 4). Consumers generally did not understand why or how biocides were used. In both countries, their most trustworthy source of information on biocide use was government sources. New Zealand and Chinese participants did not like the word “biocide” mentioned on labels due to its perceived negative connotations. Interestingly, acceptance for the word was higher if the phrase “environmentally friendly” was simultaneously communicated. The findings from this study have provided the beverage industry with guidance on how best to initiate conversations with consumers on the use of biocides.

Background: “Pill-in-the-pocket” (PIP) treatment with type IC drugs for cardioversion of recent-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) has been recommended in guidelines. Major adverse effects have been often reported, and the underlying mechanisms are proposed to be associated with the genetic backgrounds.Methods and Results: A male patient was treated with PIP approach (propafenone 600 mg.po) for the conversion of new onset AF. His symptoms got worse and referred to emergency room; ECG showed a typical Brugada syndrome (BrS) type I ECG pattern with sinus rhythm. Genetic screening identified a common SCN5A polymorphism R1193Q. Propafenone blockade of INa was studied in HEK293 cells expressed SCN5A R1193Q channel and WT channel using patch clamp techniques. There was no significant difference in peak current and steady-state gating parameters between R1193Q and WT at baseline. At clinically relevant concentration of 2 μmol/L propafenone, use-dependent block (UDB) of INa was more pronounced in R1193Q versus WT (44.2 ± 7.2 versus 24.8 ± 5.7% at the frequency of 2 Hz, P < 0.05); IC50 of UDB was 2.9 ± 0.7 μmol/L for R1193Q and 8.1 ± 1.8 μmol/L for WT, respectively. Propafenone produced more left shift of steady-state inactivation and slower recovery from inactivation in R1193Q compared with WT.Conclusion: A common SCN5A polymorphism R1193Q enhances UDB by propafenone and predisposes the patients to drug-induced BrS with PIP treatment. Our data suggest that R1193Q polymorphism is likely to be a genetic marker for the major adverse effects associated with propafenone PIP approach for AF patients’ management. Ajmaline challenge to rule out the presence of BrS should be considered prior to propafenone PIP therapy in AF patients who are identified to have R1193Q polymorphism.

It has been challenging to simultaneously improve photosynthesis and stress tolerance in plants. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a CO2-concentrating mechanism that facilitates plant adaptation to water-limited environments. We hypothesized that the ectopic expression of a CAM-specific phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), an enzyme that catalyzes primary CO2 fixation in CAM plants, would enhance both photosynthesis and abiotic stress tolerance. To test this hypothesis, we engineered a CAM-specific PEPC gene (named AaPEPC1) from Agave americana into tobacco. In comparison with wild-type and empty vector controls, transgenic tobacco plants constitutively expressing AaPEPC1 showed a higher photosynthetic rate and biomass production under normal conditions, along with significant carbon metabolism changes in malate accumulation, the carbon isotope ratio δ13C, and the expression of multiple orthologs of CAM-related genes. Furthermore, AaPEPC1 overexpression enhanced proline biosynthesis, and improved salt and drought tolerance in the transgenic plants. Under salt and drought stress conditions, the dry weight of transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing AaPEPC1 was increased by up to 81.8% and 37.2%, respectively, in comparison with wild-type plants. Our findings open a new door to the simultaneous improvement of photosynthesis and stress tolerance in plants.

Fungal diseases of plants continue to contribute to heavy crop losses in spite of the best control efforts of plant pathologists. Breeding for disease-resistant varieties and the application of synthetic chemical fungicides are the most widely accepted approaches in plant disease management. CMN1308 strain of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens was isolated from healthy Chinese chestnut fruit, which has antibiosis and induced resistance to the prevention mechanism of pathogenic bacterium after picking. In order to evaluate the antibiosis mechanism, CMN1308 was fostered with the method of confront culture. The antimicrobial components were also isolated from the culture of CMN1308, and their stability and antimicrobial activity was tested under different treatments such as temperature, pH and UV. The results showed that CMN1308 displays advantages in regard to spatial competition against the major pathogens of chestnut, Rhizopus stolonifer, Fusarium solani, Stachybotrys chartarum, Cryphonectria parasitica, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Penicillium expansum and Aspergillus niger. Among this, CMN1308 had the best antimicrobial activity against P. expansum, with the inhibition zone diameter of 27.1 mm. The antimicrobial material isolated from CMN1308 culture showed a strong inhibition to the growth of P. expansum hyphal and also had a good stability to high temperature, alkali media and UV, but was sensitive to acidic conditions. Furthermore, CMN1308 increased the peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase activity and reduced the MDA content in chestnuts after infecting by pathogenic fungi. Thus, producing antibiotic compounds and inducible resistance are the main factors that may explain the antibacterial mechanism of CMN1308 on chestnut pathogenic. The results of this study might help to optimize the practical use of CMN1308 in the biological control of chestnut rot or other fruit rot infected by pathogenic fungi.

Objective: Pain and affective disorders have clear clinical relevance; however, very few studies have investigated the association between pain and bipolar disorder. This study investigated the brain activity of patients with bipolar disorder (BPs) undergoing tonic pain and assessed the interaction between pain and emotion.Methods: Ten BPs and ten healthy controls (HCs) were exposed to emotional pictures (positive, neutral, or negative), tonic pain only (pain session), and emotional pictures along with tonic pain (combined session). A moderate tonic pain was induced by the infusion of hypertonic saline (5% NaCl) into the right masseter muscle with a computer-controlled system. Whole-brain blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals were acquired using 3T functional resonance imaging (fMRI).Results: Ten BPs and ten healthy participants were included in the final analysis. During the pain session, BPs accepted more saline, but showed lower pain rating scores than HCs. When experiencing pain, BPs showed a significant decrease in the BOLD signal in the bilateral insula, left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and left cerebellum as compared with HCs. In the combined session, the activated regions for positive mood (pain with positive mood > baseline) in BPs were the left cerebellum, right temporal gyrus, and left occipital gyrus; the activated regions for negative mood (pain with negative mood > baseline) were the right occipital gyrus, left insula, left IFG, and bilateral precentral gyrus.Conclusions: This study presents the preliminary finding of the interaction between pain and emotion in BPs. BPs exhibited lower sensitivity to pain, and the activation of insula and IFG may reflect the interaction between emotion and pain stimulus.

Decoding subjective pain perception from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data using machine learning technique is gaining a growing interest. Despite the well-documented individual differences in pain experience and brain responses, it still remains unclear how and to what extent these individual differences affect the performance of between-individual fMRI-based pain prediction. The present study is aimed to examine the relationship between individual differences in pain prediction models and between-individual prediction error, and, further, to identify brain regions that contribute to between-individual prediction error. To this end, we collected and analyzed fMRI data and pain ratings in a laser-evoked pain experiment. By correlating different types of individual difference metrics with between-individual prediction error, we are able to quantify the influence of these individual differences on prediction performance and reveal a set of brain regions whose activities are related to prediction error. Interestingly, we found that the precuneus, which does not have predictive capability to pain, could also affect the prediction error. This study elucidates the influence of interindividual variability in pain on the between-individual prediction performance, and the results will be useful for the design of more accurate and robust fMRI-based pain prediction models.

Anthracyclines are effective agents generally used to treat solid-tumor and hematologic malignancies. The use of anthracyclines for over 40 years has improved cancer survival statistics. Nevertheless, the clinical utility of anthracyclines is limited by its dose-dependent cardiotoxicity that adversely affects 10–30% of patients. Anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity may be classified as acute/subacute or chronic/late toxicity and leads to devastating adverse effects resulting in poor quality of life, morbidity, and premature mortality. Traditional Chinese medicine has a history of over 2,000 years, involving both unique theories and substantial experience. Several studies have investigated the potential of natural products to decrease the cardiotoxic effects of chemotherapeutic agents on healthy cells, without negatively affecting their antineoplastic activity. This article discusses the mechanism of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity, and summarizes traditional Chinese medicine treatment for anthracycline-induced heart failure (HF), cardiac arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, and myocardial ischemia in recent years, in order to provide a reference for the clinical prevention and treatment of cardiac toxicity.

The level of pain perception is correlated with the magnitude of pain-evoked brain responses, such as laser-evoked potentials (LEP), across trials. The positive LEP-pain relationship lays the foundation for pain prediction based on single-trial LEP, but cross-individual pain prediction does not have a good performance because the LEP-pain relationship exhibits substantial cross-individual difference. In this study, we aim to explain the cross-individual difference in the LEP-pain relationship using inter-stimulus EEG (isEEG) features. The isEEG features (root mean square as magnitude and mean square successive difference as temporal variability) were estimated from isEEG data (at full band and five frequency bands) recorded between painful stimuli. A linear model was fitted to investigate the relationship between pain ratings and LEP response for fast-pain trials on a trial-by-trial basis. Then the correlation between isEEG features and the parameters of LEP-pain model (slope and intercept) was evaluated. We found that the magnitude and temporal variability of isEEG could modulate the parameters of an individual's linear LEP-pain model for fast-pain trials. Based on this, we further developed a new individualized fast-pain prediction scheme, which only used training individuals with similar isEEG features as the test individual to train the fast-pain prediction model, and obtained improved accuracy in cross-individual fast-pain prediction. The findings could help elucidate the neural mechanism of cross-individual difference in pain experience and the proposed fast-pain prediction scheme could be potentially used as a practical and feasible pain prediction method in clinical practice.

The terpene trilactones (TTLs) are believed to be important for the pharmacological properties of Ginkgo biloba leaves extract. 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) is a critical enzyme involved in the biosynthetic pathway of TTLs. In this study, an 1.2-kb fragment of 5’ flanking region of the HMGR gene (GbHMGR), was isolated from G. biloba by genome walking. Extensive sequence analysis revealed the presence of evolutionarily conserved and over-represented putative cis-acting elements in light-regulated transcription, hormone signaling (gibberellic acid, jasmonate and salicylic acid), elicitor and stress responses (cold/dehydration responses), and plant defense signaling (W-box/WRKY) that are common to the promoter region of GbHMGR. EMSA analysis suggested possible functionality of W-box in GbHMGR promoter region. The behavior of gene transcripts in ginkgo callus upon light, low temperature, MeJA and SA treatments further verified the regulatory function of GbHMGR promoter. A significant positive relationship between gene expression level and total TTL contents suggested that GbHMGR might be one of key genes involved in TTL biosynthesis in G. biloba.

Recently, there has been an increasing interest among researchers in using combinations of biological control agents to exploit potential synergistic effects among them. In the present study, there were investigated commercially acceptable formulations of Bacillus cereus CE3 wetting powder with long storage life and retained efficacy to control chestnut and other fruit rot caused by Endothia parasitica (Murr) and Fusarium solani. The study sought to develop a new B. cereus formulation that would be more effective and better suited to the conditions of field application. By a series of experiments, the formulation was confirmed as follows: 60% B. cereus freeze-dried powder, 28.9% diatomite as carrier, 4% sodium lignin sulfonate as disperser, 6% alkyl naphthalene sulfonate as wetting agent, 1% K2HPO4 as stabilizer, 0.1% β-cyclodextrin as ultraviolet protectant. The controlling experiments showed that the diluted 100 times of 60% B. cereus wetting powder had 79.47% corrosion rate to chestnut pathogens; and this result is comparable to the diluted 1,000 times of 70% thiophanate-methyl. Safety evaluation results showed that rats acute oral lethal dose 50% was 5,000.35, therefore application of B. cereus wettable powder could not cause a person or animal poisoning. This work illustrated that 60% B. cereus wetting powder had commercial potential; however, to apply this formulation as a biological pesticide in the field, masses production processes need to be further studied.

This study investigated the effects of various culture conditions on the growth and the production of flavonoids and terpene lactones in the callus of Ginkgo biloba. Callus induced from embryos displayed distinct morphological and physiological responses. MS medium with different plant growth regulators showed a significant effect on the quality and growth of callus. The optimal medium for inducing embryo-derived callus was MS with 2.0 mg/L naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 2.0 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA), and the culture medium MS+NAA (2.0 mg/L)+6-BA (1.0 mg/L) was better for the subculture of callus than other culture media tested in this study. In addition, both plant growth regulators and subculturing cycle strongly influenced the production of flavonoids and terpene lactones in the callus. The best subculturing cycle and the optimum culture medium for production of flavonoids and terpene lactones was 30 d and MS+NAA (2.0 mg/L)+6-BA (1.0 mg/L), respectively. These findings provided an important technical support for obtaining the callus cell line from G. biloba embryo that is the richest in flavonoids and terpene lactones.