[Investigation on cognition for insomnia and preference for acupuncture in breast cancer survivors: a in-depth interview study].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the cognition for insomnia and preference for acupuncture in breast cancer survivors based on the in-depth interview. METHODS: Thirty breast cancer survivors with insomnia symptoms were collected for in-depth interview. The interview questions included three aspects, i.e. sleep expectation, cognition for insomnia (discomfort caused by insomnia, and underlying inducing factors of insomnia) and the preference for acupuncture (treatment methods used in the past, the reasons for not choosing acupuncture, and the tendency of acupuncture treatment). Using Colaizzi content analysis method, the data was analyzed. RESULTS: Regarding sleep expectation, most breast cancer survivors with insomnia symptoms were able to maintain normal activity in daytime. Insomnia symptoms often led to fatigue, and the inducing factors of insomnia referred to the treatment with endocrine therapy, anticipatory anxiety and inadequate sleep hygiene. All of the patients had received pharmacotherapy. The use proportion of non-pharmacological therapies was relatively low, and acupuncture was not chosen due to "not familiar with" and "fear of pain". Concerning to the preference for acupuncture, patients preferred the therapeutic methods of acupuncture with mild pain sensation and gentle stimulation; and the treatment should be more acceptable if delivered 2 or 3 times a week. CONCLUSION: Breast cancer survivors have the expectations for sleep, and are willing to receive the treatment with medication for their sleep disorders. Because of lack of the knowledge for acupuncture effect on insomnia and fear of strong needling sensation, a part of patients are unwilling to be treated with acupuncture therapy, but they are expected to receive the treatment with acupuncture while feeling more comfortable.

Spatiotemporal Microstate Dynamics of Spike-free Scalp EEG Offer a Potential Biomarker for Refractory Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is one of the most frequently observed subtypes of epilepsy and endangers more than 50 million people world-wide. Although electroencephalogram (EEG) had been widely recognized as a classic tool to screen and diagnose epilepsy, for many years it heavily relied on identifying epileptic discharges and epileptogenic zone localization, which however, limits the understanding of refractory epilepsy due to the network nature of this disease. This work hypothesizes that the microstate dynamics based on resting-state scalp EEG can offer an additional network depiction of the disease and provide potential complementary evaluation tool for the TLE even without detectable epileptic discharges on EEG. We propose a novel framework for EEG microstate spatial-temporal dynamics (EEG-MiSTD) analysis based on machine learning to comprehensively model millisecond-changing whole-brain network dynamics. With only 100 seconds of resting-state EEG even without epileptic discharges, this approach successfully distinguishes TLE patients from healthy controls and is related to the lateralization of epileptic focus. Besides, microstate temporal and spatial features are found to be widely related to clinical parameters, which further demonstrate that TLE is a network disease. A preliminary exploration suggests that the spatial topography is sensitive to the following surgical outcomes. From such a new perspective, our results suggest that spatiotemporal microstate dynamics is potentially a biomarker of the disease. The developed EEG-MiSTD framework can probably be considered as a general tool to examine dynamical brain network disruption in a user-friendly way for other types of epilepsy.

Biotransformation of Glaucic Acid Isolated from the Root of Lindera glauca by the Endophytic Fungi Penicillium Chrysogenum SHJ-07.

Glaucic acid isolated from the root of Lindera glauca, was investigated by the biotransformation methods via the endophytic fungi, resulting in the production of five new glausesquiterpenes A-E (1-5), along with a known analogue 6. Their structures were elucidated based on spectroscopic methods and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. In the bioassays, glausesquiterpene A (1) showed good inhibitory activity of NO production in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages with an IC50 value of 20.1 µM than positive control (Indomethacin, IC50 24.1 µM). Further in vitro studies demonstrated that glausesquiterpene A significantly suppressed the protein expression of iNOS and COX-2 at the concentration of 25.0 µM.

No association between error-related ERPs and trait anxiety in a nonclinical sample: Convergence across analytical methods including mass-univariate statistics.

Enhanced error monitoring, as indexed by increased amplitude of the error-related negativity (ERN) event-related potential (ERP) component, has been suggested to reflect a vulnerability neuro-marker of anxiety disorders. Another error-related ERP component is the error positivity (Pe), which reflects late-stage error processing. The associations between heightened ERN and Pe amplitudes and anxiety levels in the nonclinical population have been inconsistent. In this preregistered study, we examined the association between anxiety, ERN, and Pe, using different analytical methods (mass-univariate analyses, MUAs and conventional analyses), self-reported anxiety scales (STAI and STICSA), and trial numbers (all correct trials and equal numbers of correct and error trials). In a sample of 82 healthy adults, both conventional and MUAs demonstrated a robust enhancement of the ERN and Pe to errors relative to the correct-response ERPs. However, the mass-univariate approach additionally unveiled a wider array of electrodes and a longer effect duration for this error enhancement. Across the analytic methods, the results showed a lack of consistent correlation between trait anxiety and error-related ERPs. Findings were not modulated by trial numbers, analyses, or anxiety scales. The present results suggest a lack of enhancement of error monitoring by anxious traits in individuals with subclinical anxiety and those with clinical anxiety but without a clinical diagnosis. Importantly, the absence of such correlation questions the validity of the ERN as a neural marker for anxiety disorders. Future studies that investigate neuro-markers of anxiety may explore alternative task designs and employ robust statistics to provide a more comprehensive understanding of anxiety vulnerability.

Core concomitant symptoms reported by the patients with breast cancer in postoperative endocrine treatment and the demand for acupuncture therapy： a network-based cross-sectional study. / ä¹³è ºç™Œæœ¯åŽå† åˆ†æ³Œæ²»ç–—æ‚£è€ æŠ¥å‘Šçš„æ ¸å¿ƒä¼´éšç—‡çŠ¶åŠå¯¹é’ˆç¸æ²»ç–—çš„éœ€æ±‚ï¼šä¸€é¡¹åŸºäºŽç½‘ç»œçš„æ¨ªæ–­é¢ç ”ç©¶.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the most common concomitant symptoms and the urgent demand of solution in the breast cancer patients undergoing postoperative endocrine treatment, as well as the acceptance and expectation of acupuncture in the patients so as to provide the scientific data for promoting the application of acupuncture in the breast cancer patients. METHODS: Breast cancer patients treated in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital from January 2022 to March 2023 were randomly selected as the subjects. Using "questionnaire star" website, the questionnaire was conducted to investigate the relevant concomitant symptoms of the patients in postoperative endocrine treatment and the questions related to acupuncture treatment. RESULTS: In this study, 229 questionnaires were distributed and 211 valid ones were collected, with the response rate of 92.1%. Among these patients, the first three common symptoms were sleep disorders (157 cases, 74.4%), hot flashes (138 cases, 65.4%) and joint / muscle pain (118 cases, 55.9%)；the top three symptoms to be solved the most urgently were sleep disorders (131 cases, 62.1%), joint / muscle pain (62 cases, 29.4%) and hot flashes (45 cases, 21.3%). 79.1% of the patients (167 cases) were willing to receive acupuncture treatment because of the high expectations on its potential effect (93%). 20.9% of them (44 cases) refused acupuncture because they were worried not to be treated by the experienced physicians of TCM (52%) or afraid of needling feelings (48%). The average expectation value of acupuncture treatment was 4.02 points (5 points for the total score) among patients willing to receive acupuncture treatment. The main purposes of receiring acupuncture for the patients undergoing endocrine treatment were to strengthen the immune function (92%), reduce the adverse reactions (83%), and improve the physical condition (75%), et al. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep disorder is one of the most concerned symptoms in endocrine treatment for the patients after breast cancer surgery. The patients highly expect for acupuncture treatment even though some patients dislike the needling sensation. How to provide the acceptable and high-quality acupuncture services for cancer patients will be one of the major directions of acupuncture research in the future.

Generation of single-round infectious rotavirus with a mutation in the intermediate capsid protein VP6.

Rotavirus causes severe diarrhea in infants. Although live attenuated rotavirus vaccines are available, vaccine-derived infections have been reported, which warrants development of next-generation rotavirus vaccines. A single-round infectious virus is a promising vaccine platform; however, this platform has not been studied extensively in the context of rotavirus. Here, we aimed to develop a single-round infectious rotavirus by impairing the function of the viral intermediate capsid protein VP6. Recombinant rotaviruses harboring mutations in VP6 were rescued using a reverse genetics system. Mutations were targeted at VP6 residues involved in virion assembly. Although the VP6-mutated rotavirus expressed viral proteins, it did not produce progeny virions in wild-type cells; however, the virus did produce progeny virions in VP6-expressing cells. This indicates that the VP6-mutated rotavirus is a single-round infectious rotavirus. Insertion of a foreign gene, and replacement of the VP7 gene segment with that of human rotavirus clinical isolates, was successful. No infectious virions were detected in mice infected with the single-round infectious rotavirus. Immunizing mice with the single-round infectious rotavirus induced neutralizing antibody titers as high as those induced by wild-type rotavirus. Taken together, the data suggest that this single-round infectious rotavirus has potential as a safe and effective rotavirus vaccine. This system is also applicable for generation of safe and orally administrable viral vectors.IMPORTANCERotavirus, a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in infants, causes an annual estimated 128,500 infant deaths worldwide. Although live attenuated rotavirus vaccines are available, they are replicable and may cause vaccine-derived infections. Thus, development of safe and effective rotavirus vaccine is important. In this study, we report the development of a single-round infectious rotavirus that can replicate only in cells expressing viral VP6 protein. We demonstrated that (1) the single-round infectious rotavirus did not replicate in wild-type cells or in mice; (2) insertion of foreign genes and replacement of the outer capsid gene were possible; and (3) it was as immunogenic as the wild-type virus. Thus, the mutated virus shows promise as a next-generation rotavirus vaccine. The system is also applicable to orally administrable viral vectors, facilitating development of vaccines against other enteric pathogens.

Ultrafine IrMnOx Nanocluster Decorated Amorphous PdS Nanowires as Efficient Electrocatalysts for High C1 Selectivity in the Alkaline Ethanol Oxidation Reaction.

As a novel electrochemical energy conversion device, direct ethanol fuel cells are currently encountering two significant challenges: CO poisoning and the difficulty of C-C bond cleavage in ethanol. In this work, an amorphous PdS nanowires/ultrafine IrMnOx bimetallic oxides (denoted as a-PdS/IrMnOx NWs) catalyst with abundant oxide/metal (crystalline/amorphous) inverse heterogeneous interfaces was synthesized via a hydrothermal process succeeded by a nonthermal air-plasma treatment. This unique interfacial electronic structure along with the incorporation of oxyphilic metal has resulted in a significant enhancement in the electrocatalytic performance of a-PdS/IrMnOx NWs toward the ethanol oxidation reaction, achieving current densities of 12.45 mA·cm-2 and 3.68 A·mgPd-1. Moreover, the C1 pathway selectivity for ethanol oxidation has been elevated to 47%, exceeding that of other as-prepared Pd-based counterparts and commercial Pd/C catalysts. Density functional theory calculations have validated the findings that the decoration of IrMn species onto the amorphous PdS surface has induced a charge redistribution in the interface region. The redistribution of surface charges on the a-PdS/IrMnOx NWs catalyst results in a significant decrease in the activation energy required for C-C bond cleavage and a notable weakening of the CO binding strength at the Pd active sites. Consequently, it enhanced both the EOR C1 pathway selectivity and CO poisoning resistance to the a-PdS/IrMnOx NWs catalyst.

Electroacupuncture pre-treatment exerts a protective effect on LPS-induced cardiomyopathy in mice through the delivery of miR-381 via exosomes.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the cardiac protective effects and molecular mechanisms of electroacupuncture (EA) pre-treatment in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-Induced Cardiomyopathy. METHODS AND RESULTS: Pre-treatment with EA was performed 30 min before intraperitoneal injection of LPS. Cardiac function changes in mice of the EA + LPS group were observed using electrocardiography, echocardiography, and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and compared with the LPS group. The results demonstrated that EA pre-treatment significantly improved the survival rate of septic mice, alleviated the severity of endotoxemia, and exhibited notable cardiac protective effects. These effects were characterized by a reduction in ST-segment elevation on electrocardiography, an increase in ejection fraction (EF) and fraction shortening (FS) on echocardiography and a decrease in the expression of serum cardiac troponin I (cTn-I) levels. Serum exosomes obtained after EA pre-treatment were extracted and administered to septic mice, revealing significant cardiac protective effects of EA-derived exosomes. Furthermore, the antagonism of circulating exosomes in mice markedly suppressed the cardiac protective effects conferred by EA pre-treatment. Analysis of serum exosomes using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) revealed a significant upregulation of miR-381 expression after EA pre-treatment. Inhibition or overexpression of miR-381 through serotype 9 adeno-associated virus (AAV9)-mediated gene delivery demonstrated that overexpression of miR-381 exerted a cardiac protective effect, while inhibition of miR-381 significantly attenuated the cardiac protective effects conferred by EA pre-treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our research findings have revealed a novel endogenous cardiac protection mechanism, wherein circulating exosomes derived from EA pre-treatment mitigate LPS-induced cardiac dysfunction via miR-381.

Oil and gas platforms degrade benthic invertebrate diversity and food web structure.

Oil and gas exploitation introduces toxic contaminants such as hydrocarbons and heavy metals to the surrounding sediment, resulting in deleterious impacts on marine benthic communities. This study combines benthic monitoring data over a 30-year period in the North Sea with dietary information on >1400 taxa to quantify the effects of active oil and gas platforms on benthic food webs using a multiple before-after control-impact experiment. Contamination from oil and gas platforms caused declines in benthic food web complexity, community abundance, and biodiversity. Fewer trophic interactions and increased connectance indicated that the community became dominated by generalists adapting to alternative resources, leading to simpler but more connected food webs in contaminated environments. Decreased mean body mass, shorter food chains, and the dominance of small detritivores such as Capitella capitata near to structures suggested a disproportionate loss of larger organisms from higher trophic levels. These patterns were associated with concentrations of hydrocarbons and heavy metals that exceed OSPAR's guideline thresholds of sediment toxicity. This study provides new evidence to better quantify and manage the environmental consequences of oil and gas exploitation at sea.

The role of the peripheral system dysfunction in the pathogenesis of sepsis-associated encephalopathy.

Sepsis is a condition that greatly impacts the brain, leading to neurological dysfunction and heightened mortality rates, making it one of the primary organs affected. Injury to the central nervous system can be attributed to dysfunction of various organs throughout the entire body and imbalances within the peripheral immune system. Furthermore, central nervous system injury can create a vicious circle with infection-induced peripheral immune disorders. We collate the pathogenesis of septic encephalopathy, which involves microglial activation, programmed cell death, mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress, neurotransmitter imbalance, and blood-brain barrier disruption. We also spotlight the effects of intestinal flora and its metabolites, enterocyte-derived exosomes, cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, peripheral T cells and their cytokines on septic encephalopathy.

IR-780 Dye-based Targeting of Cancer-associated Fibroblasts Improves Cancer Immunotherapy by Increasing Intra-tumoral T Lymphocytes Infiltration.

BACKGROUND: Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) against programmed death (PD)-1/PD-L1 pathway immunotherapy have been demonstrated to be effective in only a subset of patients with cancer, while the rest may exhibit low response or may develop drug resistance after initially responding. Previous studies have indicated that extensive collagen-rich stroma secreted by cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) within the tumor microenvironment is one of the key obstructions of the immunotherapy for some tumors by decreasing the infiltrating cytotoxic T cells. However, there is still a lack of effective therapeutic strategies to control the extracellular matrix by targeting CAFs. METHODS: The enhanced uptake of IR-780 by CAFs was assessed by using in vivo or ex vivo nearinfrared fluorescence imaging, confocal NIR fluorescent imaging, and CAFs isolation testing. The fibrotic phenotype down-regulation effects and in vitro CAFs killing effect of IR-780 were tested by qPCR, western blot, and flow cytometry. The in vivo therapeutic enhancement of anti-PD-L1 by IR-780 was evaluated on EMT6 and MC38 subcutaneous xenograft mice models. RESULTS: IR-780 has been demonstrated to be preferentially taken up by CAFs and accumulate in the mitochondria. Further results identified low-dose IR-780 to downregulate the fibrotic phenotype, while high-dose IR-780 could directly kill both CAFs and EMT6 cells in vitro. Moreover, IR-780 significantly inhibited extracellular matrix (ECM) protein deposition in the peri-tumoral stroma on subcutaneous EMT6 and MC38 xenografts, which increased the proportion of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in the deep tumor and further promoted anti-PD-L1 therapeutic efficacy. CONCLUSION: This work provides a unique strategy for the inhibition of ECM protein deposition in the tumor microenvironment by targeted regulating of CAFs, which destroys the T cell barrier and further promotes tumor response to PD-L1 monoclonal antibody. IR-780 has been proposed as a potential therapeutic small-molecule adjuvant to promote the effect of immunotherapy.

Pharmaceutical Manipulation of Mitochondrial F0F1-ATP Synthase Enables Imaging and Protection of Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury Through Stress-induced Selective Enrichment.

To rescue ischemic myocardium from progressing to myocardial infarction, timely identification of the infarct size and reperfusion is crucial. However, fast and accurate identification, as well as the targeted protection of injured cardiomyocytes following ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, remain significantly challenging. Here, a near infrared heptamethine dye IR-780 is shown that has the potential to quickly monitor the area at risk following I/R injury by selectively entering the cardiomyocytes of the at-risk heart tissues. Preconditioning with IR-780 or timely IR-780 administration before reperfusion significantly protects the heart from ischemia and oxidative stress-induced cell death, myocardial remodeling, and heart failure in both rat and pig models. Furthermore, IR-780 can directly bind to F0F1-ATP synthase of cardiomyocytes, rapidly decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential, and subsequently slow down the mitochondrial energy metabolism, which induces the mitochondria into a "quiescent state" and results in mitochondrial permeability transition pore inhibition by preventing mitochondrial calcium overload. Collectively, the findings show the feasibility of IR-780-based imaging and protection strategy for I/R injury in a preclinical context and indicate that moderate mitochondrial function depression is a mode of action that can be targeted in the development of cardioprotective reagents.

Progress of research on organ protection of acupuncture and moxibustion in the prevention and treatment of sepsis. / é’ˆåˆºé˜²æ²»è„“æ¯’ç—‡çš„å™¨å®˜ä¿æŠ¤ä½œç”¨åŠæœºåˆ¶ç ”ç©¶è¿›å±•.

Sepsis is a major disease that threatens human life and health. Clinically, it is mainly based on supportive treatment and lacks specific treatment methods. Acupuncture has important clinical significance in the prevention and treatment of sepsis. In the present paper, we systematically searched CNKI and PubMed databases, included the clinical trials and animal experiments on the prevention and treatment of sepsis with acupuncture, summarized the clinical efficacy and the mechanism of acupuncture. Results indicate that the role of acupuncture therapies in improving sepsis involves inhibiting systemic inflammatory response, alleviating oxidative stress, regulating immune system, and resisting cell apoptosis, thus having a protective effect on multiple organs. The mechanism involves multiple signaling pathways and related factors.

Collagen biomaterials promote the regenerative repair of abdominal wall defects in Bama miniature pigs.

Due to adhesion and rejection of recent traditional materials, it is still challenging to promote the regenerative repair of abdominal wall defects caused by different hernias or severe trauma. However, biomaterials with a high biocompatibility and low immunogenicity have exhibited great potential in the regeneration of abdominal muscle tissue. Previously, we have designed a biological collagen scaffold material combined with growth factor, which enables a fusion protein-collagen binding domain (CBD)-basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) to bind and release specifically. Though experiments in rodent animals have indicated the regeneration function of CBD-bFGF modified biological collagen scaffolds, its translational properties in large animals or humans are still in need of solid evidence. In this study, the abdominal wall defect model of Bama miniature pigs was established by artificial operations, and the defective abdominal wall was sealed with or without a polypropylene patch, and unmodified and CBD-bFGF modified biological collagen scaffolds. Results showed that a recurrent abdominal hernia was observed in the defect control group (without the use of mesh). Although the polypropylene patch can repair the abdominal wall defect, it also induced serious adhesion and inflammation. Meanwhile, both kinds of collagen biomaterials exhibited positive effects in repairing abdominal wall defects and reducing regional adhesion and inflammation. However, CBD-bFGF-modified collagen biomaterials failed to induce the regenerative repair reported in rat experiments. In addition, unmodified collagen biomaterials induced abdominal wall muscle regeneration rather than fibrotic repair. These results indicated that the unmodified collagen biomaterials are a better option among translational patches for the treatment of abdominal wall defects.

Multi-effective characteristics and advantages of acupuncture in COVID-19 treatment.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a major disease that threatens human life and health. Its pathogenesis is complex and still not fully clarified. The clinical treatment is mainly supportive and lacks specific treatment methods. Acupuncture treatment can inhibit immune inflammatory reactions, neuroinflammatory reactions, oxidative stress levels, and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, improve lung function, and relieve migraine, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. However, whether acupuncture treatment is suitable for treating these symptoms in patients with COVID-19 still needs to be investigated. For this review, the literature was systematically searched for multiple databases to summarize the mechanisms of acupuncture treatment for COVID-19-related symptoms and complications. A complex network analysis of acupoints and symptoms was also performed to clarify acupoint selection in the acupuncture treatment of symptoms related to COVID-19. The evidence indicates that acupuncture can improve the respiratory, digestive, nervous, and mental and psychological symptoms related to COVID-19 by inhibiting immune inflammatory reactions, regulating intestinal flora, mitochondrial function, oxidative stress level, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, neurotransmitter release, and HPA axis activity, and alleviating basic diseases such as diseases of the vascular system. Acupuncture can improve various clinical and concomitant symptoms of COVID-19; however, its mechanism of action is complex and requires further study. Graphical abstract: http://links.lww.com/AHM/A54.

Ontogenetically distinct neutrophils differ in function and transcriptional profile in zebrafish.

The current view of hematopoiesis considers leukocytes on a continuum with distinct developmental origins, and which exert non-overlapping functions. However, there is less known about the function and phenotype of ontogenetically distinct neutrophil populations. In this work, using a photoconvertible transgenic zebrafish line; Tg(mpx:Dendra2), we selectively label rostral blood island-derived and caudal hematopoietic tissue-derived neutrophils in vivo during steady state or upon injury. By comparing the migratory properties and single-cell expression profiles of both neutrophil populations at steady state we show that rostral neutrophils show higher csf3b expression and migration capacity than caudal neutrophils. Upon injury, both populations share a core transcriptional profile as well as subset-specific transcriptional signatures. Accordingly, both rostral and caudal neutrophils are recruited to the wound independently of their distance to the injury. While rostral neutrophils respond uniformly, caudal neutrophils respond heterogeneously. Collectively, our results reveal that co-existing neutrophils populations with ontogenically distinct origin display functional differences.

Early Visual Deprivation Impairs Functional Development of the Visual Ventral Stream.

Purpose: To probe the dynamic alternations of neural networks in real-time visual processing after visual deprivation (VD) removal. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted. Twenty children with a history of early binocular VD caused by congenital cataracts and 20 matched typically developing (TD) children were enrolled. The event-related potential (ERP) data were obtained via high-density electroencephalography. ERP data were analyzed based on three components (P1, N170, and P2), three test conditions (objects, human faces, and Chinese characters), and peak time and region of interest (ROI) chosen on a grand average head map collapsed from the averaged waveform of each group. Source localization and alpha power spectrum density were applied to define the functional pattern of brain areas and evaluate the attention function. Results: The VD group showed significantly lower P1 amplitudes than the TD group under all conditions in peak ROIs, which were situated in the left occipito-temporal region. For both VD and TD groups, there were strong N170 effects in the character and human face conditions in the component's peak ROIs. Furthermore, source mapping indicated that the VD group generally showed significantly lower activation in the visual cortex and ventral stream, whereas the beyond network areas (mostly frontal areas) intensively participated in functional compensation in the VD group. The VD group showed significant poststimulus alpha desynchronization in object recognition. Conclusions: Our research described the mechanisms of visual networks after early binocular VD removal. Our findings may provide a new basis for the poor visual recovery after early binocular VD removal and offer clues for visual recovery strategies.

Electroacupuncture-driven endogenous circulating serum exosomes as a potential therapeutic strategy for sepsis.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis poses a serious threat to human life and health, with limited options for current clinical treatments. Acupuncture plays an active role in treating sepsis. However, previous studies have focused on the neuromodulatory effect of acupuncture, neglecting its network modulatory effect. Exosomes, as a new way of intercellular communication, may play an important role in transmitting acupuncture information. This paper explores the possibility of electroacupuncture-driven endogenous circulating serum exosomes and their carried miRNAs as a potential treatment for sepsis. METHODS: The sepsis mouse model was established by intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (12 mg/kg, 24 mg/kg), and EA (continuous wave, 10 Hz, intensity 5) or intraperitoneal injection of Acupuncture Exosomes (Acu-exo) were performed before the model establishment. The therapeutic effect was evaluated by survival rate, ELISA, H&E staining and lung wet/dry weight ration (W/D). In vivo imaging of small animals was used to observe the accumulation of Acu-exo in various organs of sepsis mice. LPS was used to induce macrophages in cell experiments, and the effect of Acu-exo on macrophage inflammatory cytokines was observed. In addition, The miRNA sequencing method was further used to detect the serum exosomes of normal and EA-treated mice, and combined with network biology analysis methods to screen possible key targets. RESULTS: EA and Acu-exo reduced the W/D and lung tissue damage in sepsis mice, down-regulated the expression of serum inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6, and increased the survival rate of sepsis mice. In vivo imaging of small animals found that Acu-exo were accumulated in the lungs of sepsis mice. Cell experiments proved that Acu-exo down-regulated the expression of inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1ß to alleviate the inflammatory response induced by LPS in macrophages. MiRNA sequencing revealed 53 differentially expressed miRNAs, and network biology analysis revealed the key targets of Acu-exo in sepsis treatment. CONCLUSION: Electroacupuncture-driven endogenous circulating serum exosomes and their carried miRNAs may be a potential treatment for sepsis.

Gene loss and co-option of toll-like receptors facilitate paternal immunological adaptation in the brood pouch of pregnant male seahorses.

Male pregnancy in syngnathids (seahorses, pipefishes, and sea dragons) is an evolutionary innovation in the animal kingdom. Paternal immune resistance to the fetus is a critical challenge, particularly in seahorses with fully enclosed brood pouches and sophisticated placentas. In this study, comparative genomic analysis revealed that all syngnathid species lost three vertebrate-conserved Toll-like receptors (TLR1, TLR2, and TLR9), of which all play essential roles in immune protection and immune tolerance in the uterus and placenta. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that the TLR paralog genes including TLR18, TLR25, and TLR21 were highly expressed in the placenta inside the seahorse brood pouch and changed dynamically during the breeding cycle, suggesting the potentially important role of the TLRs during male pregnancy. Furthermore, the immune challenge test in vitro showed a remarkable expression response from all three TLR genes to specific pathogenic antigens, confirming their immune function in seahorse brood pouches. Notably, the altered antigen recognition spectrum of these genes appeared to functionally compensate in part for the lost TLRs, in contrast to that observed in other species. Therefore, we suggest that gene loss and co-option of TLRs may be a typical evolutionary strategy for facilitating paternal immunological adaptation during male pregnancy.