Role of miR-106-mediated mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway in oxidative stress injury and inflammatory infiltration in the liver of the mouse with gestational hypertension.

We aim to investigate the role of miR-106-mediated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway in oxidative stress (OS) injury and inflammatory infiltration in the liver of the mouse with gestational hypertension (GH). Ninety specific pathogen-free mice (Kunming species) during middle to late gestation were selected for the study. Fifteen mice were used as control, while the rest were used for establishing the GH model. The mice were assigned to six groups: normal group (normal gestation), model group (GH model), negative control group (GH model, intravenously injected with negative control vector), miR-106a-mimic group (GH model, intravenously injected with vector overexpressing miR-106a, which mimics the overexpression of endogenous mature miR-106a), SB203580 group (GH model, intravenously injected with MAPK pathway inhibitor SB203580), and miR-106a-mimic+SB203580 group (GH model, intravenously injected with SB203580 and vector overexpressing miR-106a). Fourteen days after electrical stimulation, all the groups except for the normal group had elevated blood pressure vs those on day 0 and 7. Compared with the normal group, the other groups had lower levels of miR-106a expression, nitric oxide, nitric oxide synthase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, S cell ratio, and interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-10 in the serum and liver as opposed to increased levels of blood pressure, p38MAPK mRNA expression, p-p38MAPK positive expression rate, protein expressions of p-p38MAPK, p-ERK, and p-JNK, H2 O2 and malondialdehyde in liver, G0/G1 cell ratio, apoptosis rate, and IL-6, interferon-γ (IFN-γ), and IFN-α in the serum and liver (all P < .05). The miR-106 overexpression or inhibiting MAPK signaling pathway can attenuate OS injury and inflammatory response in the liver of the mouse with GH, and the effect can be even better if both miR-106a overexpression and inhibiting MAPK pathway are applied. In conclusion, miR-106a overexpression can inhibit OS injury and inflammatory infiltration in the liver of the mouse with GH by mediating MAPK signaling pathway.

Different Decision-Making Responses Occupy Different Brain Networks for Information Processing: A Study Based on EEG and TMS.

This study used large-scale time-varying network analysis to reveal the diverse network patterns during the different decision stages and found that the responses of rejection and acceptance involved different network structures. When participants accept unfair offers, the brain recruits a more bottom-up mechanism with a much stronger information flow from the visual cortex (O2) to the frontal area, but when they reject unfair offers, it displayed a more top-down flow derived from the frontal cortex (Fz) to the parietal and occipital cortices. Furthermore, we performed 2 additional studies to validate the above network models: one was to identify the 2 responses based on the out-degree information of network hub nodes, which results in 70% accuracy, and the other utilized theta burst stimulation (TBS) of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to modulate the frontal area before the decision-making tasks. We found that the intermittent TBS group demonstrated lower acceptance rates and that the continuous TBS group showed higher acceptance rates compared with the sham group. Similar effects were not observed after TBS of a control site. These results suggest that the revealed decision-making network model can serve as a potential intervention model to alter decision responses.

Brain Network Reconfiguration During Motor Imagery Revealed by a Large-Scale Network Analysis of Scalp EEG.

Mentally imagining rather physically executing the motor behaviors is defined as motor imagery (MI). During MI, the mu rhythmical oscillation of cortical neurons is the event-related desynchronization (ERD) subserving the physiological basis of MI-based brain-computer interface. In our work, we investigated the specific brain network reconfiguration from rest idle to MI task states, and also probed the underlying relationship between the brain network reconfiguration and MI related ERD. Findings revealed that comparing to rest state, the MI showed the enhanced motor area related linkages and the deactivated activity of default mode network. In addition, the reconfigured network index was closely related to the ERDs, i.e., the higher the reconfigured network index was, the more obvious the ERDs were. These findings consistently implied that the reconfiguration from rest to task states underlaid the reallocation of related brain resources, and the efficient brain reconfiguration corresponded to a better MI performance, which provided the new insights into understanding the mechanism of MI as well as the potential biomarker to evaluate the rehabilitation quality for those patients with deficits of motor function.

Multifunctional SiC@SiO2 Nanofiber Aerogel with Ultrabroadband Electromagnetic Wave Absorption.

Traditional ceramic materials are generally brittle and not flexible with high production costs, which seriously hinders their practical applications. Multifunctional nanofiber ceramic aerogels are highly desirable for applications in extreme environments, however, the integration of multiple functions in their preparation is extremely challenging. To tackle these challenges, we fabricated a multifunctional SiC@SiO2 nanofiber aerogel (SiC@SiO2 NFA) with a three-dimensional (3D) porous cross-linked structure through a simple chemical vapor deposition method and subsequent heat-treatment process. The as-prepared SiC@SiO2 NFA exhibits an ultralow density (~ 11 mg cm- 3), ultra-elastic, fatigue-resistant and refractory performance, high temperature thermal stability, thermal insulation properties, and significant strain-dependent piezoresistive sensing behavior. Furthermore, the SiC@SiO2 NFA shows a superior electromagnetic wave absorption performance with a minimum refection loss (RLmin) value of - 50.36 dB and a maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EABmax) of 8.6 GHz. The successful preparation of this multifunctional aerogel material provides a promising prospect for the design and fabrication of the cutting-edge ceramic materials.

The Dynamic Brain Networks of Motor Imagery: Time-Varying Causality Analysis of Scalp EEG.

Motor imagery (MI) requires subjects to visualize the requested motor behaviors, which involves a large-scale network that spans multiple brain areas. The corresponding cortical activity reflected on the scalp is characterized by event-related desynchronization (ERD) and then by event-related synchronization (ERS). However, the network mechanisms that account for the dynamic information processing of MI during the ERD and ERS periods remain unknown. Here, we combined ERD/ERS analysis with the dynamic networks in different MI stages (i.e. motor preparation, ERD and ERS) to probe the dynamic processing of MI information. Our results show that specific dynamic network structures correspond to the ERD/ERS evolution patterns. Specifically, ERD mainly shows the contralateral networks, while ERS has the symmetric networks. Moreover, different dynamic network patterns are also revealed between the two types of MIs, in which the left-hand MIs exhibit a relatively less sustained contralateral network, which may be the network mechanism that accounts for the bilateral ERD/ERS observed for the left-hand MIs. Similar to the network topologies, the three MI stages also appear to be characterized by different network properties. The above findings all demonstrate that different MI stages that involve specific brain networks for dynamically processing the MI information.

Top-Down Disconnectivity in Schizophrenia During P300 Tasks.

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are correlated with the dysfunctions of distinct brain regions including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Apart from the dysfunctions of the intrinsic connectivity of related areas, how the coupled neural populations work is also crucial in related processes. Twenty-four patients with schizophrenia (SZs) and 24 matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited in our study. Based on the electroencephalogram (EEG) datasets recorded, the Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) was then adopted to estimate how the brain architecture adapts among related areas in SZs and to investigate the mechanism that accounts for their cognitive deficits. The distinct winning models in SZs and HCs consistently emphasized the importance of ACC in regulating the elicitations of P300s. Specifically, comparing to that in HCs, the winning model in SZs uncovered a compensatory pathway from dorsolateral PFC to intraparietal sulcus that promised the SZs' accomplishing P300 tasks. The findings demonstrated that the "disconnectivity hypothesis" is helpful and useful in explaining the cognitive deficits in SZs, while the brain architecture adapted with related compensatory pathway promises the limited brain cognitions in SZs. This study provides a new viewpoint that deepens our understanding of the cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.

Time-Varying Networks of Inter-Ictal Discharging Reveal Epileptogenic Zone.

The neuronal synchronous discharging may cause an epileptic seizure. Currently, most of the studies conducted to investigate the mechanism of epilepsy are based on EEGs or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recorded during the ictal discharging or the resting-state, and few studies have probed into the dynamic patterns during the inter-ictal discharging that are much easier to record in clinical applications. Here, we propose a time-varying network analysis based on adaptive directed transfer function to uncover the dynamic brain network patterns during the inter-ictal discharging. In addition, an algorithm based on the time-varying outflow of information derived from the network analysis is developed to detect the epileptogenic zone. The analysis performed revealed the time-varying network patterns during different stages of inter-ictal discharging; the epileptogenic zone was activated prior to the discharge onset then worked as the source to propagate the activity to other brain regions. Consistence between the epileptogenic zones detected by our proposed approach and the actual epileptogenic zones proved that time-varying network analysis could not only reveal the underlying neural mechanism of epilepsy, but also function as a useful tool in detecting the epileptogenic zone based on the EEGs in the inter-ictal discharging.

Association between Interleukin-10 gene polymorphisms and risk of early-onset preeclampsia.

We conducted a case-control study to investigate the role of IL-10 -1082A/G (rs1800896), -819T/C (rs1800871), and -592A/C (rs1800872) polymorphisms in the development of early-onset preeclampsia. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay was applied to assess the polymorphisms of IL-10 -1082A/G (rs1800896), -819T/C (rs1800871), and -592A/C (rs1800872). The genotype distributions of IL-10 -1082A/G (rs1800896), -819T/C (rs1800871), and -592A/C (rs1800872) confirmed with HWE in the controls, and the P value for HWE was 0.41, 0.38 and 0.26, respectively. The results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the association of individuals expressing the CC genotype and AC+CC of IL-10 -592A/C (rs1800872) with a significantly increased risk of early-onset preeclampsia in co-dominant and dominant models, compared to the AA genotype; the OR (95% CI) for these individuals was determined to be 2.09 (1.12-3.90) and 1.66 (1.03-2.71), respectively. In the recessive model, we found that CC genotype of IL-10 -592A/C (rs1800872) was associated with the increased risk of early-onset preeclampsia when compared with AA+AC genotype (OR = 1.67; 95% CI = 1.01-2.92). In conclusion, our study has indicated that IL-10 -592A/C (rs1800872) polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of early-onset preeclampsia in a Chinese population.