Global research trends in palliative care for breast cancer from 2012 to 2022: A scientometric analysis.

Purpose: We used bibliometric methods to evaluate the global scientific output of palliative care breast cancer research and to explore the current status and further research directions in the field over the past decade. Methods: All relevant publications from the year 2012 to 2022 were retrieved from Web of Science. We applied VOSviewer and Bibliometrix R v4.2.1 to obtain information on subject domains, annual publication output and citations, countries and authors with the highest productivity, influential journals and articles, and popular keywords. Results: In total, 1529 publications were included in the final analysis. Health services and supportive care, pain and symptom management were the focus of the research in the field. From the year 2017 to 2021, the annual publication output was abundant and peaked in 2018. The systematic review by Fitzmaurice et al. in 2017 was the most-cited publication. The United States was the leading country with the maximum number of publications, citations, and link strengths with other countries. The most contributing institution was University of Toronto. E. Bruera was the most prolific author, ranking first among the authors in both the H and M index. The journal with the most publications was Palliative & Supportive Care. Keywords analysis indicated that exploring the significant degree of palliative care to reduce anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients may be a good research direction. In addition, how to assess the optimal timing of palliative care interventions and further exploring the specific contradiction between insufficient medical resources and palliative care are also possible research directions. Conclusion: Palliative care plays an important role in the treatment of breast cancer. With the help of a scientometric analysis in this field, researchers can clarify the current research status and hotspots worth fully exploring.

Monitoring and analysis of desertification surrounding Qinghai Lake (China) using remote sensing big data.

Desertification is one of the most serious ecological environmental problems in the world. Monitoring the spatiotemporal dynamics of desertification is crucial for its control. The region around Qinghai Lake, in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, is a special ecological function area and a climate change sensitive area, making its environmental conditions a great concern. Using cloud computing via Google Earth Engine (GEE), we collected Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS, and MODIS Albedo images from 2000 to 2020 in the region around Qinghai Lake, acquired land surface albedo (Albedo), and normalized vegetation index (NDVI) to build a remote sensing monitoring model of desertification. Our results showed that the desertification difference index based on the Albedo-NDVI feature space could reflect the degree of desertification in the region around Qinghai Lake. GEE offers significant advantages, such as massive data processing and long-term dynamic monitoring. The desertification land area fluctuated downward in the study area from 2000 to 2020, and the overall desertification status improved. Natural factors, such as climate change from warm-dry to warm-wet and decreased wind speed, and human factors improved the desertification situation. The findings indicate that desertification in the region around Qinghai Lake has been effectively controlled, and the overall desertification trend is improving.

Corrigendum: Sevoflurane Alleviates Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury by Inhibiting P2X7-NLRP3 Mediated Pyroptosis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.768594.].

EasyNAT MP Assay: A Simple, Rapid, and Low-Cost Method to Detect Mycoplasma pneumoniae Using Cross-Priming Amplification Technology.

BACKGROUND: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) is the most common pathogen of atypical pneumonia and the main cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in infants and older adults. This study aimed at investigating a method based on the cross-priming amplification (CPA) technique for the rapid detection of MP in clinical specimens collected from patients with CAP. METHODS: The sensitivity and specificity of the EasyNAT MP assay were determined. Oropharyngeal swab specimens were collected from 162 in-patients of Hangzhou First People's Hospitals from January 2018 to December 2020. The patients were aged between 1 and 15 years with symptoms, signs, and chest radiographs consistent with CAP. This study evaluated the presence of MP in the clinical specimens using the EasyNAT method and the conventional fluorescence quantitative PCR technique. RESULTS: The limit of detection using the EasyNAT MP assay was 500 copies/mL, while the test results of the other 13 common pathogens causing CAP or colonizing in the upper respiratory tract showed no cross-reactivity. Of 162 specimens, EasyNAT MP gave a positive indication in 82 specimens. Compared with conventional fluorescence quantitative PCR, the positive coincidence rate and the negative coincidence rate of EasyNAT MP was found to be 100.00% and 97.56%, respectively. Of the 82 specimens, two specimens were determined to be negative by the conventional fluorescence quantitative PCR, but were positive for EasyNAT MP. The two samples were re-extracted and confirmed to be positive by conventional fluorescence quantitative PCR. CONCLUSION: EasyNAT MP is suitable as an initial test for MP diagnosis due to its simplicity, low turnaround time, and high sensitivity and specificity.

Rare mutation in MKRN3 in two twin sisters with central precocious puberty: Two case reports.

BACKGROUND: Caused by premature activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, there is increasing incidence of central precocious puberty (CPP), especially in girls. Makorin ring finger protein 3 (MKRN3), a maternal imprinted gene with a highly conserved sequence, is the most common genetic etiology associated with CPP. Approximately 50 different mutations in MKRN3 have been found in CPP. CASE SUMMARY: This case report involves identical twin sisters presenting with premature thelarche at the age of 6 years. The left hand bone age of both patients revealed advanced age (9 years). Pelvic B ultrasound indicated enlargement of the ovaries. Luteinizing hormone (LH) releasing hormone testing confirmed CPP. Whole-exome sequencing detected the c.841C>T mutation in MKRN3, leading to a single base substitution, in the twins. This mutation was inherited from the father and paternal grandmother. After 3 mo of treatment with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog, levels of LH, follicle-stimulating hormone, and estradiol in the proband's sister returned to normal levels. CONCLUSION: Here, we report a rare mutation (c.841C>T) in MKRN3 in identical twin sisters with CPP.

Sevoflurane Alleviates Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury by Inhibiting P2X7-NLRP3 Mediated Pyroptosis.

Myocardial ischemia is common in aging population. This study investigates the protective effect of Sevoflurane on myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MIRI) and its underlying mechanism. A total of 87 patients with a history of myocardial ischemia who underwent abdominal surgery with Sevoflurane general anesthesia were recruited in the study. The clinical data, blood pressure, heart rate, pressure-rate quotient (PRQ) and rate-pressure product (RPP) were recorded. Serum samples were collected and heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP), ischemia modified albumin (IMA), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), and interleukin-18 (IL-18) were measured to observe whether Sevoflurane anesthesia had protective effect on myocardium. In addition, MIRI rats and hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury cell model was established using neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM). Rats or NRVM were pretreated with sevoflurane for 45min before hypoxia. The mRNA expression of purinergic receptor-7 (P2X7) and NLR family pyrin domain containing 3(NLRP3) were examined. The protein expression of P2X7, NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein (ASC), cysteine aspartic acid specific protease-1(Caspase-1), Gasdermin-D (GSDMD), Bcl-2 Associated X Protein (Bax), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) in myocardial tissue and cells were evaluated. The serum contents of IL-1ß, IL-18, Malondialdehyde (MDA), Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Creatine kinase (CK), and Creatine kinase isoenzymes (CK-MB) were measured. The cellular localization and fluorescence intensity of NLRP3 and ASC in cells were detected. It was found that the secretion of IL-1ß and IL-18 decreased in the patients. After I45 min/R3h in SD rats and H3h/R1h in NRVM, the protein expressions of P2X7, NLRP3, ASC, Caspase-1 and GSDMD were increased, the release of IL-1ß, IL-18, CK, CK-MB, LDH and MDA were increased, and SOD activity was decreased. Sevoflurane treatment inhibited the high expression of P2X7, NLRP3, ASC, Caspase-1 and GSDMD, inhibited the release of LDH, CK,CK-MB and MDA in cells, and improved the activity of SOD, indicating that Sevoflurane alleviated the damage of MIRI of rats and H/R of NRVM, and had myocardial protective effect. Taken together, our study suggests that Sevoflurane inhibited the expression of IL-1ß, IL-18 and GSDMD by inhibiting the P2X7-NLRP3 signaling pathway. It reduced the H/R injury of cardiomyocytes and protected the cardiac function by regulating inflammatory reaction and pyroptosis.

New mutation in EPCAM for congenital tufting enteropathy: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Congenital tufting enteropathy (CTE) is a rare cause of diarrhea in children. However, it can result in early-onset of chronic diarrhea and failure to thrive. Children with this disease have to depend on total parenteral nutrition (TPN), and eventually small intestine transplantation. The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EPCAM) gene was identified to be associated with CTE. Here, we present a case of an infant with CTE due to a mutation not reported in the literature before. CASE SUMMARY: A 1-year and 7-mo infant boy exhibited intractable watery diarrhea and mushy stool within 1 wk after birth, for which he had required medical treatment and hospitalization several times. His sister presented similar symptoms and died at the age of two. On admission, his body weight was 5700 g (-4.8SDS) and measured 66 cm (-5.4SDS) in height. Meanwhile, he cannot speak or climb. He exhibited mild anemia, hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, and an infection in the upper respiratory tract. Microvilli sparse and vacuolar degeneration of epithelial cells were reported by small intestine biopsy. Whole-exome sequencing showed a novel homozygous splice mutation (c.657+1[IVS6] G>A) in the EPCAM gene. He was treated with TPN and recombinant human growth hormone. After 2 mo, his body weight was up to 8500 g and he has been waiting for small bowel transplantation. CONCLUSION: CTE is rare but fatal. Patients with CTE require rapid diagnosis and therapy to improve their survival.

Comparison of clomiphene and letrozole for superovulation in patients with unexplained infertility undergoing intrauterine insemination: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: With the medical advancement some studies put forward that letrozole (LE), a specific aromatase inhibitor with the function of reducing oestrogen synthesis, has recently been applied as a potentially better alternative compared with clomiphene citrate (CC), owing to that it has a superior efficacy as compared with CC in patients of unexplained infertility undergoing intrauterine insemination (IUI). However, there is no one study can clear and definite whether LE can replace the CC as first line drug. OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to compare the LE with CC in the induction of ovulation in patients with unexplained infertility IUI. METHOD: Searching databases consist of all kinds of searching tools, such as Medline, The Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, etc. All the include studies should meet our demand of this meta-analysis: RESULT:: Based on the current meta-analysis, we rigorously consider that LE has a likelihood to improve dominant follicles (MD= -0.56, I= 100%, P= .04; MD= -0.39, I= 73%, P = .0003, respectively) and reduces the miscarriage rate (RR= 0.61, I= 0%, P = .03). There is no significant differences between the 2 groups in The total rate of pregnancy, pregnancy rate per cycle, multiple pregnancy and endometrial thickness. (RR= 1.06, I= 11%, P = .38; RR= 1.09, I= 7%, P = .32; RR= 0.79, I= 0%, P = .46; respectively) CONCLUSION:: Combined with the results of current systematic review and meta-analysis through subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis, we can be cautious: in general, compared with CC, LE is an effective treatment in the IUI cycle, has a likelihood to improve dominant follicles and reduces the miscarriage rate.

Excessive expressions of T cell activation markers in pediatric immune thrombocytopenia.

BACKGROUND: Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an immune-mediated bleeding disorder in children. Activated T cells have been shown to play important roles in ITP. The aims of this study were to evaluate whether these T cell activation markers could be used as indicators to differentiate ITP patients from controls, and to assess whether they could be used as predictors of IVIG response in ITP patients. METHODS: A cohort of 92 hospitalized ITP patients, 49 unrelated healthy children, and 48 thrombocytosis patients were enrolled in this retrospective study between February 2013 and September 2018. Expression of CD25, HLA-DR, and CD69 on the surfaces of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were detected by flow cytometry. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 20.0 software. RESULTS: Compared to the healthy controls, ITP patients had higher percentages of CD4 + CD25+ T cells, CD4 + HLA-DR+ T cells, CD8 + HLA-DR+ T cells, and CD8 + CD69+ T cells. Compared to the thrombocytosis patients, ITP patients had higher percentages of CD4 + HLA-DR+ T cells and CD8 + HLA-DR+ T cells, and lower CD4 + CD69+ T cells and CD8 + CD69+ T cells. Platelet count at admission had a negative correlation with CD4 + CD25+ T cells in ITP. CD4 + CD69+ T cells were decreased in chronic compared to the newly diagnosed and persistent ITP patients. Activated T cell markers had no predictive value for IVIG response in ITP patients. CONCLUSIONS: T cell activation markers were excessively expressed in pediatric ITP, and those markers had no predictive value for IVIG response in ITP patients.

Evaluation of IVIG response in relation to Th1/Th2 cytokines in pediatricm immune thrombocytopenia.

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a common immune-mediated bleeding disorder in children, and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is widely used as the initial therapy of ITP. Effective predictive factors of response to IVIG in ITP are important for guiding the treatment decisions. A retrospective study was performed on 197 Chinese ITP patients, and the data of their serum interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ) levels, age at onset, duration of disease, white blood cell count (WBC), platelet count, and gender ratio were collected. Our results showed that ITP patients had higher IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IFN-γ levels than healthy children. Moreover, lower IL-4 level (<3.5 pg/ml), higher WBC (>6.37*109/L), and higher platelet count (>12 * 109/L) at diagnosis were favorable predictive factors for IVIG response in the newly diagnosed ITP. In addition, ITP patients with lower IL-10 level (<3.7 pg/ml) and older onset age (>2.84 years) were more resistant to therapy and developed to chronic ITP more easily. These findings may help guide the treatment decisions making for ITP patients.

Sleep regulates visual selective attention in Drosophila.

Although sleep deprivation is known to impair attention in humans and other mammals, the underlying reasons are not well understood, and whether similar effects are present in non-mammalian species is not known. We therefore sought to investigate whether sleep is important for optimizing attention in an invertebrate species, the genetic model Drosophila melanogaster We developed a high-throughput paradigm to measure visual attention in freely walking Drosophila, using competing foreground/background visual stimuli. We found that whereas sleep-deprived flies could respond normally to either stimulus alone, they were more distracted by background cues in a visual competition task. Other stressful manipulations such as starvation, heat exposure and mechanical stress had no effects on visual attention in this paradigm. In contrast to sleep deprivation, providing additional sleep using the GABA-A agonist 4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoxazolo-[5,4-c]pyridine-3-ol (THIP) did not affect attention in wild-type flies, but specifically improved attention in the learning mutant dunce Our results reveal a key function of sleep in optimizing attention processes in Drosophila, and establish a behavioral paradigm that can be used to explore the molecular mechanisms involved.

CRM-1 knockdown inhibits extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma tumor growth by blocking the nuclear export of p27Kip1.

Cholangiocarcinoma is a deadly disease which responds poorly to surgery and conventional chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Early diagnosis is difficult due to the anatomical and biological characteristics of cholangiocarcinoma. Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1B (p27Kip1) is a cyclin­dependent kinase inhibitor and in the present study, we found that p27Kip1 expression was suppressed in the nucleus and increased in the cytoplasm in 53 samples of cholangiocarcinoma from patients with highly malignant tumors (poorly-differentiated and tumor-node-metastsis (TNM) stage III-IV) compared with that in samples from 10 patients with chronic cholangitis. The expression of phosphorylated (p-)p27Kip1 (Ser10), one of the phosphorylated forms of p27Kip1, was increased in the patient samples with increasing malignancy and clinical stage. Coincidentally, chromosome region maintenance 1 (CRM-1; also referred to as exportin 1 or Xpo1), a critical protein responsible for protein translocation from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, was also overexpressed in the tumor samples which were poorly differentiated and of a higher clinical stage. Through specific short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated knockdown of CRM-1 in the cholangiocarcinoma cell line QBC939, we identified an elevation of cytoplasmic p27Kip1 and a decrease of nuclear p27Kip1. Furthermore, the viability and colony formation ability of QBC939 cells was largely reduced with G1 arrest. Consistent with the findings of the in vitro experiments, in a xenograft mouse model, the tumors formed in the CRM-1 knockdown group were markedly smaller and weighed less than those in the control group in vivo. Taken together, these findings demonstrated that the interplay between CRM-1 and p27Kip1 may provide potentially potent biomarkers and functional targets for the development of future cholangiocarcinoma treatments.

Closed-Loop Behavioral Control Increases Coherence in the Fly Brain.

A crucial function of the brain is to be able to distinguish whether or not changes in the environment are caused by one's own actions. Even the smallest brains appear to be capable of making this distinction, as has been shown by closed-loop behavioral experiments in flies controlling visual stimuli in virtual reality paradigms. We questioned whether activity in the fruit fly brain is different during such closed-loop behavior, compared with passive viewing of a stimulus. To address this question, we used a procedure to record local field potential (LFP) activity across the fly brain while flies were controlling a virtual object through their movement on an air-supported ball. The virtual object was flickered at a precise frequency (7 Hz), creating a frequency tag that allowed us to track brain responses to the object while animals were behaving. Following experiments under closed-loop control, we replayed the same stimulus to the fly in open loop, such that it could no longer control the stimulus. We found identical receptive fields and similar strength of frequency tags across the brain for the virtual object under closed loop and replay. However, when comparing central versus peripheral brain regions, we found that brain responses were differentially modulated depending on whether flies were in control or not. Additionally, coherence of LFP activity in the brain increased when flies were in control, compared with replay, even if motor behavior was similar. This suggests that processes associated with closed-loop control promote temporal coordination in the insect brain. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: We show that closed-loop control of a visual stimulus promotes temporal coordination across the Drosophila brain, compared with open-loop replay of the same visual sequences. This is significant because it suggests that, to understand goal-directed behavior or visual attention in flies, it may be most informative to sample neural activity from multiple regions across the brain simultaneously, and to examine temporal relationships (e.g., coherence) between these regions.

Simultaneous analysis of N(ε) -(carboxymethyl)Lysine and N(ε) -(carboxyethyl)lysine in foods by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with derivatization by 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate.

Isotope dilution ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry with derivatization by 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate was successfully applied to quantify N(ε) -(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and N(ε) -(carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL) in processed foods. We demonstrate that this analytical method is well validated for the determination of CML and CEL contents in processed foods. Relative standard deviations (RSD) indicate repeatability (RSD < 6% for CML and CEL) and reproducibility (RSD < 6% for CML and < 7% for CEL) in this method. Percent recovery is also good. We obtain recoveries of 102% to 112% for CML and 86% to 114% for CEL. CML levels detected in the samples vary from 2.29 to 480 mg/kg food, whereas CEL is detected in significantly lower concentrations ranging from 0.56 to 107 mg/kg food. These data could help consumers make better food choices by monitoring intake of advanced glycation end-products, which may pose a risk to human health.

Identification of neurons responsible for feeding behavior in the Drosophila brain.

Drosophila melanogaster feeds mainly on rotten fruits, which contain many kinds of sugar. Thus, the sense of sweet taste has evolved to serve as a dominant regulator and driver of feeding behavior. Although several sugar receptors have been described, it remains poorly understood how the sensory input is transformed into an appetitive behavior. Here, we used a neural silencing approach to screen brain circuits, and identified neurons labeled by three Gal4 lines that modulate Drosophila feeding behavior. These three Gal4 lines labeled neurons mainly in the suboesophageal ganglia (SOG), which is considered to be the fly's primary taste center. When we blocked the activity of these neurons, flies decreased their sugar consumption significantly. In contrast, activation of these neurons resulted in enhanced feeding behavior and increased food consumption not only towards sugar, but to an array of food sources. Moreover, upon neuronal activation, the flies demonstrated feeding behavior even in the absence of food, which suggests that neuronal activation can replace food as a stimulus for feeding behavior. These findings indicate that these Gal4-labeled neurons, which function downstream of sensory neurons and regulate feeding behavior towards different food sources is necessary in Drosophila feeding control.

Multichannel brain recordings in behaving Drosophila reveal oscillatory activity and local coherence in response to sensory stimulation and circuit activation.

Neural networks in vertebrates exhibit endogenous oscillations that have been associated with functions ranging from sensory processing to locomotion. It remains unclear whether oscillations may play a similar role in the insect brain. We describe a novel "whole brain" readout for Drosophila melanogaster using a simple multichannel recording preparation to study electrical activity across the brain of flies exposed to different sensory stimuli. We recorded local field potential (LFP) activity from >2,000 registered recording sites across the fly brain in >200 wild-type and transgenic animals to uncover specific LFP frequency bands that correlate with: 1) brain region; 2) sensory modality (olfactory, visual, or mechanosensory); and 3) activity in specific neural circuits. We found endogenous and stimulus-specific oscillations throughout the fly brain. Central (higher-order) brain regions exhibited sensory modality-specific increases in power within narrow frequency bands. Conversely, in sensory brain regions such as the optic or antennal lobes, LFP coherence, rather than power, best defined sensory responses across modalities. By transiently activating specific circuits via expression of TrpA1, we found that several circuits in the fly brain modulate LFP power and coherence across brain regions and frequency domains. However, activation of a neuromodulatory octopaminergic circuit specifically increased neuronal coherence in the optic lobes during visual stimulation while decreasing coherence in central brain regions. Our multichannel recording and brain registration approach provides an effective way to track activity simultaneously across the fly brain in vivo, allowing investigation of functional roles for oscillations in processing sensory stimuli and modulating behavior.

The novel long non-coding RNA CRG regulates Drosophila locomotor behavior.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that have no protein-coding capacity make up a large proportion of the transcriptome of various species. Many lncRNAs are expressed within the animal central nervous system in spatial- and temporal-specific patterns, indicating that lncRNAs play important roles in cellular processes, neural development, and even in cognitive and behavioral processes. However, relatively little is known about their in vivo functions and underlying molecular mechanisms in the nervous system. Here, we report a neural-specific Drosophila lncRNA, CASK regulatory gene (CRG), which participates in locomotor activity and climbing ability by positively regulating its neighboring gene CASK (Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase). CRG deficiency led to reduced locomotor activity and a defective climbing ability-phenotypes that are often seen in CASK mutant. CRG mutant also showed reduced CASK expression level while CASK over-expression could rescue the CRG mutant phenotypes in reciprocal. At the molecular level, CRG was required for the recruitment of RNA polymerase II to the CASK promoter regions, which in turn enhanced CASK expression. Our work has revealed new functional roles of lncRNAs and has provided insights to explore the pathogenesis of neurological diseases associated with movement disorders.

Edge detection depends on achromatic channel in Drosophila melanogaster.

Edges represent important information in object recognition, and thus edge detection is crucial for animal survival. Various types of edges result from visual contrast, such as luminance contrast and color contrast. So far, the molecular and neural mechanisms underlying edge detection and the relationship between different edge information-processing pathways have been largely undemonstrated. In the present study, using a color light-emitting-diode-based Buridan's paradigm, we demonstrated that a blue/green demarcation is able to generate edge-orientation behavior in the adult fly. There is a blue/green intensity ratio, the so-called point of equal luminance, at which wild-type flies did not show obvious orientation behavior towards edges. This suggests that orientation behavior towards edges is dependent on luminance contrast in Drosophila. The results of mutants ninaE(17) and sev(LY3);rh5(2);rh6(1) demonstrated that achromatic R1-R6 photoreceptor cells, but not chromatic R7/R8 photoreceptor cells, were necessary for orientation behavior towards edges. Moreover, ectopic expression of rhodopsin 4 (Rh4), Rh5 or Rh6 could efficiently restore the edge-orientation defect in the ninaE(17) mutant. Altogether, our results show that R1-R6 photoreceptor cells are both necessary and sufficient for orientation behavior towards edges in Drosophila.

Two pairs of neurons in the central brain control Drosophila innate light preference.

Appropriate preferences for light or dark conditions can be crucial for an animal's survival. Innate light preferences are not static in some animals, including the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, which prefers darkness in the feeding larval stage but prefers light in adulthood. To elucidate the neural circuit underlying light preference, we examined the neurons involved in larval phototactic behavior by regulating neuronal functions. Modulating activity of two pairs of isomorphic neurons in the central brain switched the larval light preference between photophobic and photophilic. These neurons were found to be immediately downstream of pdf-expressing lateral neurons, which are innervated by larval photoreceptors. Our results revealed a neural mechanism that could enable the adjustment of animals' response strategies to environmental stimuli according to biological needs.

The protective effects of Egr-1 antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide on cardiac microvascular endothelial injury induced by hypoxia-reoxygenation.

Early growth response 1 (Egr-1) over-expression has been demonstrated in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, which is closely associated with endothelial dysfunction. In the present study we investigated the expression of Egr-1 on cultured cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) to help define the mechanism of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. A model of cultured CMECs exposed to hypoxia-reoxygenation was developed in which synthesized Egr-1 sense and antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide were transfected into the cells. The expression of Egr-1 was examined by Western blot analysis. Lactate dehydrogenase, malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 were measured after hypoxia-reoxygenation to assess cell function and injury. Cell morphology, cell viability, and neutrophil adhesion to the CMECs were measured to assess the degree of injury and inflammation. Only cells transfected with Egr-1 antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide showed a significant reduction in Egr-1 protein expression following hypoxia-reoxygenation. Consistent with the down-regulation of Egr-1 expression, other forms of cell injury were significantly reduced in this group of cells, as evidenced by less alteration in cell morphology, a decrease in expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha and intercellular adhesion molecule 1, improved cell survival, and reduced neutrophil adhesion.