A diagonal masking self-attention-based multi-scale network for motor imagery classification.

Objective. Electroencephalography (EEG)-based motor imagery (MI) is a promising paradigm for brain-computer interface (BCI), but the non-stationarity and low signal-to-noise ratio of EEG signals make it a challenging task.Approach. To achieve high-precision MI classification, we propose a Diagonal Masking Self-Attention-based Multi-Scale Network (DMSA-MSNet) to fully develop, extract, and emphasize features from different scales. First, for local features, a multi-scale temporal-spatial block is proposed to extract features from different receptive fields. Second, an adaptive branch fusion block is specifically designed to bridge the semantic gap between these coded features from different scales. Finally, in order to analyze global information over long ranges, a diagonal masking self-attention block is introduced, which highlights the most valuable features in the data.Main results. The proposed DMSA-MSNet outperforms state-of-the-art models on the BCI Competition IV 2a and the BCI Competition IV 2b datasets.Significance. Our study achieves rich information extraction from EEG signals and provides an effective solution for MI classification.

Chemical profiling of principle active and toxic constituents in herbs containing aristolochic acids.

Objective: To clear the amounts of the principal active/toxic components in herbs containing aristolochic acids (HCAAs), which are still used as medicine and/or seasoning in many ethnic minority areas of China. Methods: In this study, six major active and toxic components in HCAAs were extracted with ultrasonic extraction. With 6-O-methyl guanosine as internal standard, the target compounds were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by using ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS/MS) with multiple reaction monitoring-information dependent acquisition-enhanced production ion scanning mode (MRM-IDA-EPI) combined with dynamic background subtraction (DBS) function. Results: The method showed good linearity in the linear range of the six analytes. The limit range of detection was from 0.01 ng/mL to 0.27 ng/mL. All of the detection repeatability, extraction repeatability and accuracy of the method were good. After extraction, the samples remained stable at 15 °C within 24 h. Six analytes were all found in samples except aristolactam (AL) in sample 2, and the contents varied greatly. The contents of these compounds decreased in fruits, leaves and stems of Aristolochia delavayi successively. Conclusion: This method has the advantages of less sample dosage, simple operation, short analysis cycle, high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. It laid a good foundation for guiding the safety of HCAAs, the in-depth study of pharmacological and toxicological effects and the scientific and standardized processing and compatibility of HCAAs.

Monosodium Urate Crystal-Induced Pyroptotic Cell Death in Neutrophil and Macrophage Facilitates the Pathological Progress of Gout.

Monosodium urate (MSU) crystal deposition in joints can lead to the infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages, and their activation plays a critical role in the pathological progress of gout. However, the role of MSU crystal physicochemical properties in inducing cell death in neutrophil and macrophage is still unclear. In this study, MSU crystals of different sizes are synthesized to explore the role of pyroptosis in gout. It is demonstrated that MSU crystals induce size-dependent pyroptotic cell death in bone marrow-derived neutrophils (BMNs) and bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) by triggering NLRP3 inflammasome-dependent caspase-1 activation and subsequent formation of N-GSDMD. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the size of MSU crystal also determines the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and aggregated neutrophil extracellular traps (aggNETs), which are promoted by the addition of interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß). Based on these mechanistic understandings, it is shown that N-GSDMD oligomerization inhibitor, dimethyl fumarate (DMF), inhibits MSU crystal-induced pyroptosis in BMNs and J774A.1 cells, and it further alleviates the acute inflammatory response in MSU crystals-induced gout mice model. This study elucidates that MSU crystal-induced pyroptosis in neutrophil and macrophage is critical for the pathological progress of gout, and provides a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of gout.

Thermal Stability, Optical and Electrical Properties of Substoichiometric Molybdenum Oxide.

Substoichiometric molybdenum oxide ceramics have aroused widespread interest owing to their promising optical and electrical performance. In this work, the thermal stability and decomposition mechanism of Mo9O26 and Mo4O11 at 700-1000 °C and 700-1100 °C were investigated, respectively. Based on this information, MoOx (2 < x < 3) bulk ceramics were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The results show that Mo9O26 is stable up to 790 °C in an argon atmosphere. As the temperature rises, it decomposes into Mo4O11. Mo4O11 can exist stably at 830 °C, beyond which it will convert to MoO2. The MoOx ceramic bulks with four different components (MoO2.9, MoO2.8, MoO2.7 and MoO2.6) were successfully sintered by SPS, and their relative density was greater than 96.4% as measured by the Archimedes principle. The reflectivity of MoOx ceramic bulk is low and only 6.3% when the composition is MoO2.8. The resistivity increases from 10-3 to 10-1 Ωcm with the increase in the O/Mo atomic ratio x. In general, the thermal stability information provides a theoretical basis for the processing of MoOx materials, such as the sintering of the MoOx target. The optical and electrical properties show that MoOx is a low-reflective conductive oxide material with great photoelectric application value.

Variations and patterns of C and N stoichiometry in the first five root branch orders across 218 woody plant species.

Despite the vital role in carbon (C) sequestration and nutrient retention, variations and patterns in root C and nitrogen (N) stoichiometry of the first five root orders across woody plant species remains unclear. We compiled a dataset to explore variations and patterns of root C and N stoichiometry in the first five orders of 218 woody plant species. Across the five orders, root N concentrations were greater in deciduous, broadleaf, and arbuscular mycorrhizal species than in evergreen, coniferous species, and ectomycorrhizal association species, respectively. Contrasting trends were found for root C : N ratios. Most root branch orders showed clear latitudinal and altitudinal trends in root C and N stoichiometry. There were opposite patterns in N concentrations between latitude and altitude. Such variations were mainly driven by plant species, and climatic factors together. Our results indicate divergent C and N use strategies among plant types and convergence and divergence in the patterns of C and N stoichiometry between latitude and altitude across the first five root orders. These findings provide important data on the root economics spectrum and biogeochemical models to improve understanding and prediction of climate change effects on C and nutrient dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems.

Aura Intervention for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Prospective, Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial Protocol.

AIM: To determine the feasibility and efficacy of aura intervention in preventing the recurrence of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) by observing the changes in the seizure frequency and quality of life (QOL) scale score. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 160 patients will be selected from a pre-established database and randomly divided into the experimental group and the control group. The proposed study is divided into four stages and requires approximately one and a half years for completion. The primary outcome measure is the change in seizure frequency, and the secondary one is the quality of life. RESULTS: We expect that our subjects show a lasting, stable, and clinically relevant reduction in seizure frequency and improvement in the quality of life, suggesting that aura intervention may be one more feasible way to treat patients with auras, specifically those who experience refractory epilepsy. CONCLUSION: The ability to perceive auras is the premise of our trial. We mainly study TLE as it relatively has more incidence of auras and a higher cure possibility compared to other types of epilepsy. Although we currently address our problems in a small group of subjects, we believe that the studied aura intervention can easily be applied to millions of patients with epilepsy worldwide if this intervention is considered effective.

Preoperative MRI for postoperative seizure prediction: a radiomics study of dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor and a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: In this systematic review the authors aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and superiority of radiomics in detecting tiny epilepsy lesions and to conduct original research in the use of radiomics for preliminary prediction of postoperative seizures in patients with dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNET). METHODS: The PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched from the earliest record, January 1, 2018, to December 29, 2021, for reports of the detection of epilepsy using radiomics, and the resulting articles were carefully checked according to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The authors then conducted original research by evaluating MR images in 18 patients, who were then separated into two groups, the epilepsy recurrence group (ERG) and the epilepsy nonrecurrence group. The tumor region and the edema region were segmented manually by 3D Slicer. The radiomics data were extracted from MR images by using "Slicer Radiomics" running on Mac OS X. Tumor regions were observed with T1-weighted imaging, and edema with FLAIR imaging. Radiomics features with significant differences were selected through comparison according to epilepsy relapses performed with the Mann-Whitney U-test. The edema and tumor regions were also compared within groups to identify their distinctive features. Radiomics features were tested to verify their ability to predict recurrence epilepsy by receiver operating characteristic curve. RESULTS: This systematic review located 9 original articles related to epilepsy and radiomics published from 2018 to 2021. The reported studies demonstrated that radiomics is useful for detecting tiny epilepsy lesions. Among the radiomics features used, the predictive ability of the area under the curve was more than 0.8. The heterogeneity of the peritumoral edema region was found to be higher in the ERG. CONCLUSIONS: Satellite lesions in the peritumoral edema region of DNET patients may cause epilepsy recurrence, and radiomics is an emerging method to detect and evaluate these epilepsy-associated lesions.

An Overview of the Isoprenoid Emissions From Tropical Plant Species.

Terrestrial vegetation is the largest contributor of isoprenoids (a group of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs)) to the atmosphere. BVOC emission data comes mostly from temperate regions, and less is known about BVOC emissions from tropical vegetation, even though it is estimated to be responsible for >70% of BVOC emissions. This review summarizes the available data and our current understanding of isoprenoid emissions from tropical plant species and the spatial and temporal variation in emissions, which are strongly species-specific and regionally variable. Emission models lacking foliar level data for tropical species need to revise their parameters to account for seasonal and diurnal variation due to differences in dependencies on temperature and light of emissions from plants in other ecosystems. More experimental information and determining how emission capacity varies during foliar development are warranted to account for seasonal variations more explicitly.

MRI radiomic features of peritumoral edema may predict the recurrence sites of glioblastoma multiforme.

Background and purpose: As one of the most aggressive malignant tumor in the central nervous system, the main cause of poor outcome of glioblastoma (GBM) is recurrence, a non-invasive method which can predict the area of recurrence pre-operation is necessary.To investigate whether there is radiological heterogeneity within peritumoral edema and identify the reproducible radiomic features predictive of the sites of recurrence of glioblastoma(GBM), which may be of value to optimize patients' management. Materials and methods: The clinical information and MR images (contrast-enhanced T1 weighted and FLAIR sequences) of 22 patients who have been histologically proven glioblastoma, were retrospectively evaluated. Kaplan-Meier methods was used for survival analysis. Oedematous regions were manually segmented by an expert into recurrence region, non-recurrence region. A set of 94 radiomic features were obtained from each region using the function of analyzing MR image of 3D slicer. Paired t test was performed to identify the features existing significant difference. Subsequently, the data of two patients from TCGA database was used to evaluate whether these features have clinical value. Results: Ten features with significant differences between the recurrence and non-recurrence subregions were identified and verified on two individual patients from the TCGA database with pathologically confirmed diagnosis of GBM. Conclusions: Our results suggested that heterogeneity does exist in peritumoral edema, indicating that the radiomic features of peritumoral edema from routine MR images can be utilized to predict the sites of GBM recurrence. Our findings may further guide the surgical treatment strategy for GBM.

Emerging Role of Microglia-Mediated Neuroinflammation in Epilepsy after Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Epilepsy is a common and serious complication of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), giving rise to increased morbidity and mortality. It's difficult to identify patients at high risk of epilepsy and the application of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) following SAH is a controversial topic. Therefore, it's pressingly needed to gain a better understanding of the risk factors, underlying mechanisms and the optimization of therapeutic strategies for epilepsy after SAH. Neuroinflammation, characterized by microglial activation and the release of inflammatory cytokines, has drawn growing attention due to its influence on patients with epilepsy after SAH. In this review, we discuss the risk factors for epilepsy after SAH and emphasize the critical role of microglia. Then we discuss how various molecules arising from pathophysiological changes after SAH activate specific receptors such as TLR4, NLRP3, RAGE, P2X7R and initiate the downstream inflammatory pathways. Additionally, we focus on the significant responses implicated in epilepsy including neuronal excitotoxicity, the disruption of blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the change of immune responses. As the application of AEDs for seizure prophylaxis after SAH remains controversial, the regulation of neuroinflammation targeting the key pathological molecules could be a promising therapeutic method. While neuroinflammation appears to contribute to epilepsy after SAH, more comprehensive experiments on their relationships are needed.

Primary central nervous system T-cell lymphoma: An analysis from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results program.

BACKGROUND: Primary central nervous system T-cell lymphoma (PCNSTCL) is a rare neoplasm with few data regarding its common features and survival characteristics. OBJECTIVE: To explore the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 18 (SEER 18) database to determine the epidemiology of PCNSTCL. METHODS: The SEER 18 registry database was queried to identify patients diagnosed with PCNSTCL from 1973 to 2014 and extract their information. Age-specific rates and Kaplan-Meier overall survival (OS) were calculated. A Cox proportional hazards model was applied to investigate relationships between various demographic/treatment variables and OS. RESULTS: The age-specific incidence rates were higher in the older population (≥60 years). Among 59 PCNSTCL cases from the SEER 18, the mean age at presentation was 55.8 years (SD, ±17.95), with a male predominance (1.36:1.00). The median follow-up was 8 months, and the median OS was 8 months (SE, ±4.162). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS was 46.3% [95% CI, 33.4%-59.2%], 32.8% [20.3%-45.3%], and 32.8% [20.3%-45.3%], respectively. Seventeen of the 59 patients survived at last follow-up. Patients < 60 years had a greater 3-year OS compared with patients ≥ 60 years (52.6% [33.6%-71.6%] vs 13.9% [1.4%-26.4%]. Multivariate analysis has demonstrated that only age at diagnosis (≥60/<60 years) exhibited a significant relationship with OS (HR, 3.495 [1.688-7.235];p = 0.001). Sex (female/male) was observed to have a doubted trend towards significance (HR, 0.487 [0.231-1.030]; p = 0.060). CONCLUSIONS: PCNSTCL is generally of poor prognosis but younger age at diagnosis (<60 years) predicts a better prognosis.

Linc-RA1 inhibits autophagy and promotes radioresistance by preventing H2Bub1/USP44 combination in glioma cells.

Radiotherapy is one of the standard treatments for glioma patients; however, its clinical efficacy is limited by radioresistance. We identified a mechanism of such resistance mediated by linc-RA1 (radioresistance-associated long intergenic noncoding RNA 1). Linc-RA1 was upregulated in radioresistant glioma cells and glioma tissue samples, compared with radiosensitive cells and nontumor tissues. Linc-RA1 was associated with inferior overall survival and advanced clinical stage of glioma. Linc-RA1 promoted glioma radioresistance in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, linc-RA1 stabilized the level of H2B K120 monoubiquitination (H2Bub1) by combining with H2B and inhibiting the interaction between H2Bub1 and ubiquitin-specific protease 44 (USP44), which inhibited autophagy, thus contributing to glioma radioresistance. These results reveal that linc-RA1-mediated autophagy is a key mechanism of radioresistance and is an actionable target for improving radiotherapy efficacy in patients with glioma.

Short-term effects of snow cover manipulation on soil bacterial diversity and community composition.

Winter snow cover is a major driver of soil microbial processes in high-latitude and high-altitude ecosystems. Warming-induced reduction in snow cover as predicted under future climate scenarios may shift soil bacterial communities with consequences for soil carbon and nutrient cycling. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain elusive. In the present study, we conducted a snow manipulation experiment in a Tibetan spruce forest to explore the immediate and intra-annual legacy effects of snow exclusion on soil bacterial communities. We analyzed bacterial diversity and community composition in the winter (i.e., the deep snow season), in the transitional thawing period, and in the middle of the growing season. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria were dominant phyla across the seasons and snow regimes. Bacterial diversity was generally not particularly sensitive to the absence of snow cover. However, snow exclusion positively affected Simpson diversity in the winter but not in the thawing period and the growing season. Bacterial diversity further tended to be higher in winter than in the growing season. In the winter, the taxonomic composition shifted in response to snow exclusion, while composition did not differ between exclusion and control plots in the thawing period and the growing season. Soil bacterial communities strongly varied across seasons, and the variations differed in specific groups. Both soil climatic factors (i.e., temperature and moisture) and soil biochemical variables partly accounted for the seasonal dynamics of bacterial communities. Taken together, our study indicates that soil bacterial communities in Tibetan forests are rather resilient to change in snow cover, at least at an intra-annual scale.

Nucleus accumbens shell: A potential target for drug-resistant epilepsy with neuropsychiatric disorders.

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is an important component of the ventral striatum, involving motivational and emotional processes, limbic-motor interfaces. Recently, experimental and clinical data have shown that NAc, particularly NAc shell (NAcs), participates in ictogenesis and epileptogensis in drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). Therefore, we summarize the existing literature on NAcs and potential role in epilepsy, from the bench to the clinic. Connection abnormalities between NAcs and remainings, degeneration of NAc neurons, and an aberrant distribution of neuroactive substances have been reported in patients with DRE. These changes may be underlying the pathophysiological mechanism of the involvement of NAcs in DRE. Furthermore, alterations in NAcs may also be involved in neuropsychiatric disorders in patients with DRE. These observational studies demonstrate the multiple properties of NAcs and the complex relationship between the limbic system and DRE with neuropsychiatric disorders. NAcs can be a potential target for DBS and stereotactic lesioning to manage DRE with neuropsychiatric disorders. Future studies are warranted to further clarify the role of NAcs in epilepsy.

Application of 3D Printing in the Construction of Burr Hole Ring for Deep Brain Stimulation Implants.

3D printing has been widely applied in the medical field since the 1980s, especially in surgery, such as preoperative simulation, anatomical learning and surgical training. This raises the possibility of using 3D printing to construct a neurosurgical implant. Our previous works took the construction of the burr hole ring as an example, described the process of using softwares like computer aided design (CAD), Pro/Engineer (Pro/E) and 3D printer to construct physical products. That is, a total of three steps are required, the drawing of 2D-image, the construction of 3D-image of burr hole ring, and using a 3D printer to print the physical model of burr hole ring. This protocol shows that the burr hole ring made of carbon fiber can be rapidly and accurately molded by 3D printing. It indicated that both CAD and Pro/E softwares can be used to construct the burr hole ring via integrating with the clinical imaging data and further applied 3D printing to make the individual consumables.

Clinical evaluation of deep brain stimulation of nucleus accumbens/anterior limb of internal capsule for opioid relapse prevention: protocol of a multicentre, prospective and double-blinded study.

INTRODUCTION: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a new potential surgical treatment for opioid dependence. However, the implement of DBS treatment in addicted patients is currently controversial due to the significant associated risks. The aim of this study was mainly to investigate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of bilateral DBS of nucleus accumbens and the anterior limb of the internal capsule (NAc/ALIC-DBS) in patients with refractory opioid dependence (ROD). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: 60 patients with ROD will be enrolled in this multicentre, prospective, double-blinded study, and will be followed up for 25 weeks (6 months) after surgery. Patients with ROD (semisynthetic opioids) who meet the criteria for NAc/ALIC-DBS surgery will be allocated to either the early stimulation group or the late stimulation group (control group) based on the randomised ID number. The primary outcome was defined as the abstinence rate at 25 weeks after DBS stimulation on, which will be confirmed by an opiate urine tests. The secondary outcomes include changes in the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score for craving for opioid drugs, body weight, as well as psychological evaluation measured using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence assessment, social disability screening schedule, the Activity of Daily Living Scale, the 36-item Short Form-Health Survey and safety profiles of both groups. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study received ethical approval from the medical ethical committee of Tangdu Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China. The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at international conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03424616; Pre-results.

3-D printing for constructing the burr hole ring of lead fixation device in deep brain stimulation.

BACKGROUND: As the bearing structure of fixation device in deep brain stimulation (DBS), burr hole ring is fixed on the skull and used in conjunction with Stimloc and plastic cap. But in patients with traumatic event, excessive movements are likely to bring strain on the anchoring system, which will finally cause the fixation device to fall off from the skull. METHOD: AutoCAD was used to construct two-dimension (2-D) images for traditional burr hole ring and innovative burr hole ring, respectively. According to the 2-D image, pro/Engineer (Pro/E) will be applied to construct the three-dimension (3-D) geometries. And then, 3-D printing technology was used to build the solid model. These two kinds of burr hole rings were divided into two groups: Innovative group (N = 21) and Traditional group (N = 21). Pull-out strength of these two groups of burr hole rings will be measured by manual tensile force testing machine on the full-size skull model, and the data were transmitted to the notebook in real time for recording and further analyzing. RESULT: The fixation strength of the innovative group is stronger than traditional group, pull-out strength value of traditional group and innovative group were 34.08 ±â€¯1.31 N and 99.73 ±â€¯2.14 N, respectively. (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: We provide an innovative burr hole ring, which can fix on the burr hole steadily. Moreover, 3-D printing technology may be suitable for personalized and customized medical treatment in the future.

Soil respiration in a subtropical forest of southwestern China: Components, patterns and controls.

Partitioning the components of soil respiration is crucial to understand and model carbon cycling in forest ecosystems. In this study, total soil respiration (RS), autotrophic respiration (RA), heterotrophic respiration (RH), litter respiration (RL), litterfall input and environmental factors were synchronously monitored for 2 years in a subtropical Michelia wilsonii forest of southwestern China. RH rates were often higher than RA rates during the two years except for the middle growing season (from July to September). The mean rate of Rs, RA, RH and RL was 1.94 µmol m-1 s-1, 0.85 µmol m-1 s-1, 1.09 µmol m-1 s-1 and 0.65 µmol m-1 s-1, respectively, during the 2-year experiment. Annual CO2 emission derived from RA, RH and RL was 3.26 Mg C ha-1 a-1, 4.67 Mg C ha-1 a-1 and 2.61 Mg C ha-1 a-1, respectively, which accounted for 41.4%, 58.6% and 32.9% of RS. Over the experimental period, the ratio of RA/RS increased with soil temperature but the opposite was true for RH/RS and RL/RS. The Q10 value was 2.01, 4.01, 1.34 and 1.30, respectively, for RS, RA, RH and RL. Path analysis indicated that environmental variables and litterfall production together explained 82.0%, 86.8%, 42.9% and 34.7% variations of monthly fluxes of RS, RA, RH and RL, respectively. Taken together, our results highlight the differential responses of the components of RS to environmental variables.

Effect of accumbens nucleus shell lesioning on bitemporal lobe epilepsy in rat model.

INTRODUCTION: To explore the effect of accumbens nucleus shell (ACbSh) lesioning on bitemporal lobe epilepsy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Adult Wistar rats (male) were enrolled and randomly assigned into the control group and epilepsy groups with multiple time-points. Lithium-pilocarpine was used to establish the rat epilepsy model, while the control group received an equal amount of saline. Ibotenic acid stereotaxic injection was performed to cause accumbens nucleus shell lesioning for specific groups. Cascade software was used for electroencephalogram (EEG) examination. Fluoro-Jade C staining was performed to examine neuronal degeneration. RESULTS: Latency period of the epilepsy in epilepsy groups was 15.3 ± 1.1 min, and epilepsy intensity was 4.8 ± 0.5 events/ 12 h. ACbSh lesioning significantly reduced aggressive behavior. Compared with epilepsy groups without ACbSh lesioning, ACbSh lesioning significantly decreased epileptic seizures and reduced epileptic duration (p < 0.05). EEG showed that there were still sharp waves in the hippocampus and amygdala region after ACbSh lesioning, but epileptic discharge in prefrontal cortex was significantly decreased (p < 0.05), while epilepsy groups without ACbSh lesioning had more sharp waves in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala region. Fluoro-Jade C staining showed that ACbSh lesioning significantly decreased grades of neuronal degeneration (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Recurrent epilepsy caused neuronal degeneration via ACbSh region-related pathways, and ACbSh lesioning could mitigate epilepsy-caused neuronal degeneration by reducing epileptic discharge.

Dehydration induced transcriptomic responses in two Tibetan hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum) accessions distinguished by drought tolerance.

BACKGROUND: The harsh environment on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau gives Tibetan hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum) great ability to resist adversities such as drought, salinity, and low temperature, and makes it a good subject for the analysis of drought tolerance mechanism. To elucidate the specific gene networks and pathways that contribute to its drought tolerance, and for identifying new candidate genes for breeding purposes, we performed a transcriptomic analysis using two accessions of Tibetan hulless barley, namely Z772 (drought-tolerant) and Z013 (drought-sensitive). RESULTS: There were more up-regulated genes of Z772 than Z013 under both mild (5439-VS-2604) and severe (7203-VS-3359) dehydration treatments. Under mild dehydration stress, the pathways exclusively enriched in drought-tolerance genotype Z772 included Protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, Wax biosynthesis, and Spliceosome. Under severe dehydration stress, the pathways that were mainly enriched in Z772 included Carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms, Pyruvate metabolism, Porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism. The main differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to dehydration stress and genes whose expression was different between tolerant and sensitive genotypes were presented in this study, respectively. The candidate genes for drought tolerance were selected based on their expression patterns. CONCLUSIONS: The RNA-Seq data obtained in this study provided an initial overview on global gene expression patterns and networks that related to dehydration shock in Tibetan hulless barley. Furthermore, these data provided pathways and a targeted set of candidate genes that might be essential for deep analyzing the molecular mechanisms of plant tolerance to drought stress.