[Application of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology in edible fungi: a review].

The CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system is a versatile technology for modifying gene, playing a crucial role in the study of functional genes and genetic breeding of plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the application of this technology in gene research and genetic breeding of edible fungi. The review covers various aspects, including the delivery and expression strategies of Cas9 and sgRNA, genetic transformation methods, mutant screening, and repair strategies for target sites following DNA double-strand breaks. Additionally, the review summarizes the main challenges and optimization strategies associated with the application of this technology in edible fungi. Lastly, the future application potential of this technology in edible fungi research is discussed, drawing from the authors' personal research background.

The expression profiling and clinical significance of a chronic pain-related gene IL1R1.

Chronic pain is a disease that existed during cancer treatment for a long time. It has been reported that interleukin (IL)-1 is involved in the inflammatory response during tumor development. IL1R1 and IL1R2 are members of the IL-1 receptor family of cytokine receptors. However, few studies have reported the role of chronic pain-related genes, IL1R1, in pan-cancer. In this study, 8 lumbar disc prolapse (LDP) patients and 8 controls with differentially expressed genes were investigated to find chronic pain-related genes. Then, IL1R1 was analyzed using the TCGA database. The clinical survival data from TCGA were used to analyze the prognostic value of IL1R1. This study further evaluated the relationship between IL1R1 and immune checkpoints, immune-activating genes, immunosuppressive genes, chemokines, and chemokine receptors. IL1R1 was expressed in varying degrees in most TCGA tumor types, indicating a better survival status. The expression of IL1R1 is closely related to T cell infiltration, immune checkpoints, immune-activating genes, immunosuppressive genes, chemokines, and chemokine receptors. The results show that IL1R1 is a kind of potential cancer biomarker. Coordination with other immune checkpoints IL1R1k may adjust the immune microenvironment, immunotherapy can be applied to the development of new targeted drugs.

Image Segmentation-Based Cervical Spine MRI Images to Evaluate the Treatment of Patients with Chronic Pain.

The objective of this research was to investigate the application effect of cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image segmentation algorithm guidance in the treatment of chronic pain with cervical epidural puncture. A total of 72 patients with chronic pain were selected and divided into a cervical spine MRI image-guided group (group A) and a blind puncture group with traditional experience (group B). The results showed that the puncture time of group A was 9.9 ± 8.2 (min), while that of group B was 15.2 ± 8.9 (min), so the puncture time of patients in group A was significantly shorter than that of group B (P < 0.05). The incidences of pain at the puncture site of patients in group A and group B were 6% and 10%, respectively. The incidence of pain at the puncture site in group A was significantly lower than that in group B (P < 0.05). The success rate of the first puncture in group A was 78%, and that in group B was 54%. The success rate of the first puncture in group A was significantly higher than that in group B (P < 0.05). The complication rate of group A was 22.22%, and that of group B was 80.56%. The incidence of complications in group A was significantly lower than that in group B (P < 0.05). In addition, there was no significant difference in the puncture depth between the two groups (P > 0.05). In summary, the guidance of cervical spine MRI image segmentation algorithm can reduce the time and times of puncture and improve the success rate of puncture, thereby reducing the incidence of postoperative complications.

Spinal cord stimulation for chronic intractable trunk or limb pain: study protocol for a Chinese multicenter randomized withdrawal trial (CITRIP study).

BACKGROUND: Although effective results of many studies support the use of spinal cord stimulation in chronic pain patients, no randomized controlled trial has been undertaken in China to date. CITRIP is a multicenter, prospective, randomized, withdrawal study designed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of spinal cord stimulation plus remote programming management in patients with intractable trunk or limb pain. METHOD: Participants will be recruited in approximately 10 centers across China. Eligible participants with intractable trunk or limb and an average visual analog scale (VAS) score ≥ 5 will undergo a spinal cord stimulation test. Participants with VAS score reduction ≥ 50% could move forward to receive implantation of an implanted pulse generator. In the withdrawal period at 3-month follow-up visit, participants randomized to the experimental group (EG) will undergo continuous stimulation while ceasing the stimulation in the control group (CG). The outcome assessment will occur at baseline and at 1, 3 (pre- and post-randomization), and 6 months. The primary outcome is the difference of maximal VAS score between EG and CG in the withdrawal period compared with baseline before the withdrawal period. Additional outcomes include VAS score change at 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow-ups; responder rate (VAS score improving by 50%); achievement rate of a desirable pain state (VAS score ≤ 4); awake times during sleep; Beck Depression Inventory for depression evaluation; short-form 36 for quality of life evaluation; drug usage; and satisfaction rating of the device. Adverse events will be collected. The primary analysis will follow the intention-to-treat principle. DISCUSSION: The CITRIP study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of a randomized withdrawal trial of spinal cord stimulation for patients with intractable trunk or limb pain. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03858790 . Registered on March 1, 2019, retrospectively registered.

Increased Homer1-mGluR5 mediates chronic stress-induced depressive-like behaviors and glutamatergic dysregulation via activation of PERK-eIF2α.

Glutamatergic dysregulation has served as one common pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) and a promising target for treatment intervention. Previous studies implicate neurotransmission via metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) and Homer1 in stress-induced anhedonia, but the mechanisms have not been well elucidated. In the present study, we used two different animal models of depression, chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) and chronic restraint stress (CRS), to investigate the expression of Homer1 isoforms and functional interaction with mGluRs. We found that chronic stress selectively upregulated the expression of Homer1b/c in the hippocampus, whereas the level of Homer1a was unchanged. Additionally, there was a significant negative correlation between the levels of Homer1-mGluR5 signaling and depressive-like behaviors. Both application of paired-pulse low-frequency stimulation (PP-LFS) and the selective group 1 mGluRs agonist (RS)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) significantly enhanced mGluR-dependent long-term depression (LTD) at CA3-CA1 pyramidal cell synapses in slices from susceptible mice, whereas there was no change in NMDAR-dependent LTD induced by LFS. Furthermore, these effects were associated with the internalization of surface AMPARs in hippocampal pyramidal neurons, including reduced the expression of AMPARs and amplitude of AMPARs-mediated mEPSC. Finally, we found that chronic stress activated the KR-like ER kinase-eukaryotic initiation factor 2α (PERK-eIF2α) signaling pathway, subsequently phosphorylated cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) at the S129 and reduced the BDNF level, eventually leading to the impairment of synaptic transmission and depressive-like behaviors. Therefore, our study suggests that PERK-eIF2α acts as a critical target downstream of Homer1-mGluR5 complex to mediate chronic stress-induced depressive-like behaviors, and highlights them as a potential target for the treatment of mood disorder.

Ranking Support Vector Machine with Kernel Approximation.

Learning to rank algorithm has become important in recent years due to its successful application in information retrieval, recommender system, and computational biology, and so forth. Ranking support vector machine (RankSVM) is one of the state-of-art ranking models and has been favorably used. Nonlinear RankSVM (RankSVM with nonlinear kernels) can give higher accuracy than linear RankSVM (RankSVM with a linear kernel) for complex nonlinear ranking problem. However, the learning methods for nonlinear RankSVM are still time-consuming because of the calculation of kernel matrix. In this paper, we propose a fast ranking algorithm based on kernel approximation to avoid computing the kernel matrix. We explore two types of kernel approximation methods, namely, the Nyström method and random Fourier features. Primal truncated Newton method is used to optimize the pairwise L2-loss (squared Hinge-loss) objective function of the ranking model after the nonlinear kernel approximation. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method gets a much faster training speed than kernel RankSVM and achieves comparable or better performance over state-of-the-art ranking algorithms.

Pulsed radiofrequency to the great occipital nerve for the treatment of intractable postherpetic itch: a case report.

A patient with intractable postherpetic itch lasting for 1 year was reported. The itch was mainly from the left vertex, frontal and ophthalmic regions and extended to the left neck area. The patient had negative response to the ophthalmic nerve block. Under the initial positive response to the great occipital nerve block, pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) was performed on the position of the great occipital nerve. After 4 months treatment, the itch was completely vanished. This case study demonstrates the effectiveness of PRF for intractable postherpetic itch originating in the head and neck. However, more samples needed to verify this management.

Stimulation of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus may affect renal function by melanocortinergic signaling.

Deep brain stimulation of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) has been reported to improve gait disturbance in animal models of Parkinsonism and among patients with Parkinson's disease. Evidence suggests that neurons in the PPTg are involved in the control of the sympathetic outflow to the kidneys, and sympathetic regulation is a major component of central melanocortin action. Our recent studies using transneuronal labeling pseudorabies virus (PRV)-614 and melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R)-green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic mice supported the melanocortinergic nature of the middle and caudal PPTg (mPPTg and cPPTg). Because PRV-614/MC4R-GFP double-labeled neurons in the mPPTg and cPPTg were detected, we propose a hypothesis that deep brain stimulation of the PPTg may influence renal function by the melanocortinergic pathway.

Laterodorsal tegmentum and pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus circuits regulate renal functions: Neuroanatomical evidence in mice models.

Neurons in the laterodorsal tegmentum (LDTg) and pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) play important roles in central autonomic circuits of the kidney. In this study, we used a combination of retrograde tracers pseudorabies virus (PRV)-614 and fluorescence immunohistochemistry to characterize the neuroanatomic substrate of PPTg and LDTg innervating the kidney in the mouse. PRV-614-infected neurons were retrogradely labeled in the rostral and middle parts of LDTg, and the middle and caudal parts of PPTg after tracer injection in the kidney. PRV-614/TPH double-labeled neurons were mainly localized in the rostral of LDTg, whereas PRV-614/TH neurons were scattered within the three parts of LDTg. PRV-614/TPH and PRV-614/TH neurons were located predominantly in the caudal of PPTg (cPPTg). These data provided direct neuroanatomical foundation for the identification of serotonergic and catecholaminergic projections from the mid-brain tegmentum to the kidney.

CPU-GPU hybrid accelerating the Zuker algorithm for RNA secondary structure prediction applications.

BACKGROUND: Prediction of ribonucleic acid (RNA) secondary structure remains one of the most important research areas in bioinformatics. The Zuker algorithm is one of the most popular methods of free energy minimization for RNA secondary structure prediction. Thus far, few studies have been reported on the acceleration of the Zuker algorithm on general-purpose processors or on extra accelerators such as Field Programmable Gate-Array (FPGA) and Graphics Processing Units (GPU). To the best of our knowledge, no implementation combines both CPU and extra accelerators, such as GPUs, to accelerate the Zuker algorithm applications. RESULTS: In this paper, a CPU-GPU hybrid computing system that accelerates Zuker algorithm applications for RNA secondary structure prediction is proposed. The computing tasks are allocated between CPU and GPU for parallel cooperate execution. Performance differences between the CPU and the GPU in the task-allocation scheme are considered to obtain workload balance. To improve the hybrid system performance, the Zuker algorithm is optimally implemented with special methods for CPU and GPU architecture. CONCLUSIONS: Speedup of 15.93× over optimized multi-core SIMD CPU implementation and performance advantage of 16% over optimized GPU implementation are shown in the experimental results. More than 14% of the sequences are executed on CPU in the hybrid system. The system combining CPU and GPU to accelerate the Zuker algorithm is proven to be promising and can be applied to other bioinformatics applications.

Role of spinal cord in regulating mouse kidney: a virally mediated trans-synaptic tracing study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the spinal innervation and neuronal connections is important for studying renal metabolic responses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, the spinal cords of 10 adult male C57BL/6J strain mice were mapped retrograde using injections of pseudorabies virus (PRV)-614. The virus, injected into the kidney, was specifically transported to the spinal cord. RESULTS: At 5 days after injection of the PRV-614, PRV-614-positive cells were found in the intermediolateral cell column, the intercalates nucleus, or the central autonomic nucleus of spinal cord segments T4-L1, and most PRV-614-labeled cells were found in the T9 segment. CONCLUSION: Our results revealed neuroanatomical circuits between kidney and the spinal intermediolateral cell column neurons.

Deep brain stimulation of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus may influence renal function.

Deep brain stimulation of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) had usually been reported to improve the symptoms of advanced Parkinson's disease. Previous studies showed that neurons in the PPTg involved in the control of the sympathetic outflow to the kidneys. Our recent studies using transneuronal labeling pseudorabies virus (PRV)-614 supported the sympathetic nature of the caudal PPTg. We propose a hypothesis that deep brain stimulation of the PPTg may influence renal function by serotonergic and catecholaminergic pathways. Because PRV-614/tryptophan hydroxylase and PRV-614/tyrosine hydroxylase double-labeled neurons in the compact parts of PPTg (cpPPTg) were not detected, deep brain stimulation of the cpPPTg might not influence renal function.

[Status of termite-mushroom artificial domestication cultivation--a review].

OBJECTIVE: Two models of domestication and cultivation of termite-mushroom were discussed: the cultivation of termitomyces model, which method of woodrotting fungi cultivation was emphasized and the original ecological model, which multiplication of symbiotic termites was focused. The problems and possible solutions during termite-mushroom cultivation were also discussed.

Synthesis, characterization, and antifungal activity of novel quaternary chitosan derivatives.

Three novel quaternary chitosan derivatives were successfully synthesized by reaction of chloracetyl chitosan (CACS) with pyridine (PACS), 4-(5-chloro-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-pyridine (CHPACS), and 4-(5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-pyridine (BHPACS). The chemical structure of the prepared chitosan derivatives was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance ((13)C NMR) and their antifungal activity against Cladosporium cucumerinum, Monilinia fructicola, Colletotrichum lagenarium, and Fusarium oxysporum was assessed. Comparing with the antifungal activity of chitosan, CACS, and PACS, CHPACS and BHPACS exhibited obviously better inhibitory effects, which should be related to the synergistic reaction of chitosan itself with the grafted 2-[4-(5-chloro-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-pyridyl]acetyl and 2-[4-(5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-pyridyl]acetyl.

2,4-Dichloro-benzaldehyde 4-methyl-thio-semicarbazone.

The mol-ecule of the title compound, C(9)H(9)Cl(2)N(3)S, has an E configuration about the C=N bond. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked through inter-molecular N-H⋯S hydrogen bonds, forming zigzag chains along the a axis.