Quantitative model for genome-wide cyclic AMP receptor protein binding site identification and characteristic analysis.

Cyclic AMP receptor proteins (CRPs) are important transcription regulators in many species. The prediction of CRP-binding sites was mainly based on position-weighted matrixes (PWMs). Traditional prediction methods only considered known binding motifs, and their ability to discover inflexible binding patterns was limited. Thus, a novel CRP-binding site prediction model called CRPBSFinder was developed in this research, which combined the hidden Markov model, knowledge-based PWMs and structure-based binding affinity matrixes. We trained this model using validated CRP-binding data from Escherichia coli and evaluated it with computational and experimental methods. The result shows that the model not only can provide higher prediction performance than a classic method but also quantitatively indicates the binding affinity of transcription factor binding sites by prediction scores. The prediction result included not only the most knowns regulated genes but also 1089 novel CRP-regulated genes. The major regulatory roles of CRPs were divided into four classes: carbohydrate metabolism, organic acid metabolism, nitrogen compound metabolism and cellular transport. Several novel functions were also discovered, including heterocycle metabolic and response to stimulus. Based on the functional similarity of homologous CRPs, we applied the model to 35 other species. The prediction tool and the prediction results are online and are available at: https://awi.cuhk.edu.cn/∼CRPBSFinder.

Environmentally Relevant Concentrations of Tetrabromobisphenol A Exposure Impends Neurovascular Formation through Perturbing Mitochondrial Metabolism in Zebrafish Embryos and Human Primary Endothelial Cells.

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), the most extensively utilized brominated flame retardant, has raised growing concerns regarding its environmental and health risks. Neurovascular formation is essential for metabolically supporting neuronal networks. However, previous studies primarily concerned the neuronal injuries of TBBPA, its impact on the neurovascularture, and molecular mechanism, which are yet to be elucidated. In this study, 5, 30, 100, 300 µg/L of TBBPA were administered to Tg (fli1a: eGFP) zebrafish larvae at 2-72 h postfertilization (hpf). The findings revealed that TBBPA impaired cerebral and ocular angiogenesis in zebrafish. Metabolomics analysis showed that TBBPA-treated neuroendothelial cells exhibited disruption of the TCA cycle and the Warburg effect pathway. TBBPA induced a significant reduction in glycolysis and mitochondrial ATP production rates, accompanied by mitochondrial fragmentation and an increase in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mitoROS) production in neuroendothelial cells. The supplementation of alpha-ketoglutaric acid, a key metabolite of the TCA cycle, mitigated TBBPA-induced mitochondrial damage, reduced mitoROS production, and restored angiogenesis in zebrafish larvae. Our results suggested that TBBPA exposure impeded neurovascular injury via mitochondrial metabolic perturbation mediated by mitoROS signaling, providing novel insight into the neurovascular toxicity and mode of action of TBBPA.

CircNet 2.0: an updated database for exploring circular RNA regulatory networks in cancers.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), which are single-stranded RNA molecules that have individually formed into a covalently closed continuous loop, act as sponges of microRNAs to regulate transcription and translation. CircRNAs are important molecules in the field of cancer diagnosis, as growing evidence suggests that they are closely related to pathological cancer features. Therefore, they have high potential for clinical use as novel cancer biomarkers. In this article, we present our updates to CircNet (version 2.0), into which circRNAs from circAtlas and MiOncoCirc, and novel circRNAs from The Cancer Genome Atlas database have been integrated. In total, 2732 samples from 37 types of cancers were integrated into CircNet 2.0 and analyzed using several of the most reliable circRNA detection algorithms. Furthermore, target miRNAs were predicted from the full-length circRNA sequence using three reliable tools (PITA, miRanda and TargetScan). Additionally, 384 897 experimentally verified miRNA-target interactions from miRTarBase were integrated into our database to facilitate the construction of high-quality circRNA-miRNA-gene regulatory networks. These improvements, along with the user-friendly interactive web interface for data presentation, search, and visualization, showcase the updated CircNet database as a powerful, experimentally validated resource, for providing strong data support in the biomedical fields. CircNet 2.0 is currently accessible at https://awi.cuhk.edu.cn/∼CircNet.

miRTarBase update 2022: an informative resource for experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNAs with 18-26 nucleotides; they pair with target mRNAs to regulate gene expression and produce significant changes in various physiological and pathological processes. In recent years, the interaction between miRNAs and their target genes has become one of the mainstream directions for drug development. As a large-scale biological database that mainly provides miRNA-target interactions (MTIs) verified by biological experiments, miRTarBase has undergone five revisions and enhancements. The database has accumulated >2 200 449 verified MTIs from 13 389 manually curated articles and CLIP-seq data. An optimized scoring system is adopted to enhance this update's critical recognition of MTI-related articles and corresponding disease information. In addition, single-nucleotide polymorphisms and disease-related variants related to the binding efficiency of miRNA and target were characterized in miRNAs and gene 3' untranslated regions. miRNA expression profiles across extracellular vesicles, blood and different tissues, including exosomal miRNAs and tissue-specific miRNAs, were integrated to explore miRNA functions and biomarkers. For the user interface, we have classified attributes, including RNA expression, specific interaction, protein expression and biological function, for various validation experiments related to the role of miRNA. We also used seed sequence information to evaluate the binding sites of miRNA. In summary, these enhancements render miRTarBase as one of the most research-amicable MTI databases that contain comprehensive and experimentally verified annotations. The newly updated version of miRTarBase is now available at https://miRTarBase.cuhk.edu.cn/.

Harsh, unpredictable childhood environments are associated with inferior frontal gyrus connectivity and binge eating tendencies in late adolescents.

Harsh, unpredictable childhood environments (HUCE) are associated with obesity older in life, but knowledge of how HUCE affect binge eating tendencies is lacking. Five hundred and one late adolescents aged 16-22 were recruited to finish resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan, behavioral measures including retrospective recall of childhood environmental harshness and unpredictability, binge eating tendencies and demographics. Three hundred and seventy-six of participants further completed the computerized visual probe task designed to evaluate attentional engagement towards high and low calorie food. As right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was the key nodes that related to both early life adversity and binge eating tendencies, it was treated as the interest region in the dynamic functional connectivity analyses. Results found that HUCE are associated with significant but modest decreases in connectivity of right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)- bilateral medial frontal gyrus, right IFG - bilateral inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and right IFG - left superior frontal gyrus connectivity, as well as attentional engagement to high-calorie food and binge eating tendencies. A machine-learning method named linear support vector regression (SVR) and leave one out cross-validation (LOOCV) procedure used to examine the robustness of the brain-behavior relationship further confirm the findings. Mediation analyses suggested that right IFG - left IPL connectivity mediates the association of HUCE and binge eating tendencies. Findings suggest right IFG - left IPL connectivity may serve as a crucial neurobiological underpinning of HUCE to regulate binge eating behaviors. As such, these results contribute to a novel perspective and hypotheses in elucidating developmental neuro-mechanisms related to binge eating.

Pharmacological and Behavioral Interventions for Fatigue in Parkinson's Disease: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate pharmacological and behavioral interventions for the treatment of fatigue in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, EMBASE, CNKI, Wan fang, and VIP up to July 31, 2022. We used Revman 5.3 software for the meta-analysis. The outcomes included Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and Parkinson's Fatigue Scale (PFS). The mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were collected or calculated. RESULTS: Thirteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a total of 1758 patients were included. The meta-analysis showed that current clinical treatments reduced FSS (MD: -1.60, 95% CI: -3.14 to -0.05) and PFS (MD: -0.61, 95% CI: -1.17 to -0.05) in patients with PD. Subgroup meta-analysis showed that: (1) neither pharmacological interventions nor behavioral interventions reduced FSS in PD patients; (2) dopaminergic drugs dose-dependently significantly reduced the PFS in patients with PD; (3) behavioral interventions have an almost significant effect (MD: -6.69, 95% CI: -13.71 to 0.33, P = 0.06, I2 = 74%) on alleviating PFS in PD patients; (4) vestibular rehabilitation training significantly reduced the PFS in patients with PD. CONCLUSIONS: Current clinical treatments alleviate fatigue in PD patients. Dopaminergic drugs may act a stronger effect than amphetamines. Behavioral interventions, especially vestibular rehabilitation training, may be a promising way for the treatment of fatigue in patients with PD though further evidence is still needed.

Social support and overeating in young women: The role of altering functional network connectivity patterns and negative emotions.

Research suggests that social support has a protective effect on emotional health and emotionally induced overeating. Women are especially more sensitive to benefits from social support when facing eating problems. Although it has been demonstrated that social support can affect the neural processes of emotion regulation and reward perception, it is unclear how social support alters synergistic patterns in large-scale brain networks associated with negative emotions and overeating. We used a large sample of young women aged 17-22 years (N = 360) to examine how social support influences the synchrony of five intrinsic networks (executive control network [ECN], default mode network, salience network [SN], basal ganglia network, and precuneus network [PN]) and how these networks influence negative affect and overeating. Additionally, we explored these analyses in another sample of males (N = 136). After statistically controlling for differences in age and head movement, we observed significant associations of higher levels of social support with increased intra- and inter-network functional synchrony, particularly for ECN-centered network connectivity. Subsequent chain-mediated analyses showed that social support predicted overeating through the ECN-SN and ECN-PN network connectivity and negative emotions. However, these results were not found in men. These findings suggest that social support influences the synergistic patterns within and between intrinsic networks related to inhibitory control, emotion salience, self-referential thinking, and reward sensitivity. Furthermore, they reveal that social support and its neural markers may play a key role in young women's emotional health and eating behavior.

Testing links between unfavorable living conditions, fast life-history strategy adoption, and overeating: a four-wave longitudinal study.

Although overeating increases risk for chronic illness and premature mortality, evolutionary life-history theorists posit that such behaviors arise as a potential outcome of using fast life-history strategies to function in environments that are harsh or unpredictable. To test this premise, we examined links between harsh, unpredictable living conditions (HULC), the adoption of fast life-history (LH) strategies, and overeating among early adolescents using a four-wave longitudinal design. Participants were 2547 Chinese adolescents (1202 girls, 1345 boys) who completed baseline questionnaires assessing experiences of HULC, preferences for use of fast LH strategies, and overeating. Measures were re-administered in follow-ups 7, 13, and 20 months later. Analyses indicated HULC predicted increased use of fast LH strategies within each gender. However, fast LH strategy adoption contributed to increases in overeating only among girls. Findings supported specific tenets of life-history theory and underscored gender as an important consideration in understanding links between living conditions, the adoption of fast LH strategies, and risk for overeating. Interventions focused on reducing poverty and increasing stable, nurturing family, and community environments may aid in reducing overeating and obesity for adolescents.

Efficacy and safety of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) antibodies in COVID-19 patients: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the efficacy and safety of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) antibodies in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: We searched Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases until July 27, 2022. Both randomized control trials (RCTs) and cohort studies were included and analyzed separately. The outcomes included mortality, incidence of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), ventilation improvement rate (need oxygen therapy to without oxygen therapy), secondary infection, and adverse events (AEs). The odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated by a random-effects meta-analysis model. RESULTS: Five RCTs and 2 cohort studies with 1726 COVID-19 patients were recruited (n = 866 in the GM-CSF antibody group and n = 891 in the control group). GM-CSF antibodies treatment reduced the incidence of IMV, which was supported by two cohort studies (OR 0.16; 95% CI 0.03, 0.74) and three RCTs (OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.41, 0.94). GM-CSF antibodies resulted in slight but not significant reductions in mortality (based on two cohort studies and five RCTs) and ventilation improvement (based on one cohort study and two RCTs). The sensitive analysis further showed the results of mortality and ventilation improvement rate became statistically significant when one included study was removed. Besides, GM-CSF antibodies did not increase the risks of the second infection (based on one cohort study and five RCTs) and AEs (based on five RCTs). CONCLUSION: GM-CSF antibody treatments may be an efficacious and well-tolerant way for the treatment of COVID-19. Further clinical evidence is still warranted.

Exosome-mediated lnc-ABCA12-3 promotes proliferation and glycolysis but inhibits apoptosis by regulating the toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor kappa-B signaling pathway in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a kind of malignant tumor with high incidence and mortality in the digestive system. The aim of this study is to explore the function of lnc-ABCA12-3 in the development of ESCC and its unique mechanisms. RT-PCR was applied to detect gene transcription levels in tissues or cell lines like TE-1, EC9706, and HEEC cells. Western blot was conducted to identify protein expression levels of mitochondrial apoptosis and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signaling pathway. CCK-8 and EdU assays were carried out to measure cell proliferation, and cell apoptosis was examined by flow cytometry. ELISA was used for checking the changes in glycolysis-related indicators. Lnc-ABCA12-3 was highly expressed in ESCC tissues and cells, which preferred it to be a candidate target. The TE-1 and EC9706 cells proliferation and glycolysis were obviously inhibited with the downregulation of lnc-ABCA12-3, while apoptosis was promoted. TLR4 activator could largely reverse the apoptosis acceleration and relieved the proliferation and glycolysis suppression caused by lnc-ABCA12-3 downregulation. Moreover, the effect of lnc-ABCA12-3 on ESCC cells was actualized by activating the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway under the mediation of exosome. Taken together, the lnc-ABCA12-3 could promote the proliferation and glycolysis of ESCC, while repressing its apoptosis probably by regulating the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway under the mediation of exosome.

Trait self-control and disinhibited eating in COVID-19: The mediating role of perceived mortality threat and negative affect.

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads globally, people are at risk of developing disinhibited eating behaviors. This study aimed to examine whether perceived mortality threat and negative affect mediate the relationship between trait self-control and disinhibited eating during the pandemic. A longitudinal survey was administered to a sample of college students (N = 634) before the outbreak (September 2019, T1), during the mid-term (February 2020, T2), and in the later stage of the pandemic (April 2020, T3). Self-report measures of trait self-control (T1), perceived mortality threat (T2, T3), negative affect (T2, T3), and disinhibited eating (T2, T3) were successively completed. Trait self-control was found to be negatively associated with negative affect, perceived mortality threat, and disinhibited eating during the mid-term and later stage of the pandemic. Disinhibited eating was positively associated with negative affect and perceived mortality threat. The longitudinal mediation results demonstrated that trait self-control (T1) could negatively predict disinhibited eating (T3) through negative affect (T2) rather than through perceived mortality threat. These findings suggest that trait self-control is of great importance in regulating psychological discomfort and disinhibited eating during stressful periods and that negative affect might be the main psychological mechanism underlying the relationship between self-control ability and disinhibited eating.

Postoperative radiation therapy of pT2-3N0M0 esophageal carcinoma-a review.

Esophageal cancer is one of the most malignant gastrointestinal cancers worldwide. Despite advances in surgical technique, 5-year survival in pathologic stage T2-3N0M0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients who are treated with surgery alone is still poor. The addition of adjuvant radiotherapy may confer a benefit for these patients. However, not all patients could get a benefit from radiotherapy and patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma receiving radiotherapy seem to have a disparity in treatment response. Thus, identifying effective prognostic indicator to complement current clinical staging approaches is extremely important. Those prognostic factors could give rise to a novel prognostic stratification system, which serve as criteria for selecting patients for adjuvant therapy. Consequently, it may help to define the subgroups who are more likely to benefit from postoperative radiation therapy.

Peer Teasing and Restrained Eating among Chinese College Students: The Chain Mediating Role of Negative Coping Styles and Negative Physical Self.

This study aimed to determine whether negative coping styles and negative physical self sequentially mediate the relationship between peer teasing and restrained eating among Chinese university students. In total, 1127 participants (66.9% women, average age = 18.43 years; age range, 14-26 years) completed the Perception of Teasing Scale, Coping Style Questionnaire, Negative Physical Self Scale, and the Chinese version of the Restraint Scale. The mediational analysis showed that, after controlling for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI), peer teasing was related to restrained eating behaviors through (a) the mediating effect of negative coping styles, (b) the mediating effect of negative physical self, and (c) the chain-mediating effect of negative coping styles and negative physical self. This study showed for the first time that negative coping styles and negative physical self may chain mediate the association between peer teasing and restrained eating. It also provides suggestions for clinical practices as to strategies for controlling restrained eating.

Altered connectivity patterns of medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex underlie the severity of bulimic symptoms.

Objective: Compared to clinical bulimia nervosa, sub-threshold bulimic symptoms are becoming more prevalent in non-clinical or general population, which is repeatedly linked with the connectivity in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), including functionally heterogeneous the medial and lateral OFC (mOFC; lOFC). However, the specific connectivity patterns of the mOFC and lOFC in individuals with severe or mild bulimic symptoms (SB; MB) remain poorly understood. Methods: We first utilized resting-state functional connectivity (FC) and spectral dynamic causal modeling (spDCM) to investigate abnormal functional and effective connectivity (EC) of OFC subregions in adults with different severity of bulimic. The SB group (n = 21), MB group (n = 114), and healthy controls (HC, n = 91) underwent rs-fMRI scans. A generalized linear model was applied to determine the OFC-seeded whole-brain FC across the three groups. Subsequently, spDCM was used to estimate differences in EC among the three groups based on the FC results. Results: We observed a shared neural basis for SB and MB groups (i.e., weaker lOFC-superior parietal lobule connectivity), which may support the role of dysfunctional inhibitory control in general bulimic symptomatology. Whereas, SB group displayed greater lOFC-occipital pole connectivity than MB group, suggesting the specificity of the neural correlates of full-threshold/severe bulimia. The directional links from the mOFC to lOFC and amygdala could further explain the aberrant interactions of reward sensitivity with inhibitory control and homeostatic energy in sub-threshold/mild condition. Conclusion: The current study provides novel evidence that divergent connectivity patterns of the lOFC and mOFC may contribute to different severities of bulimia, which will expands our understanding of the neurobiological substrates underlying bulimia across a spectrum from healthy to unhealthy.

Bifunctional CdS-MoO2 catalysts for selective oxidation of lactic acid coupled with photocatalytic H2 production.

The persistent hurdles of charge rapid recombination, inefficient use of light and utilization of sacrificial reagents have plagued the field of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE). In this research, tiny MoO2 nanoparticles of 10 nm in diameter were prepared through a straightforward solvothermal approach with a specific ratio of oleylamine and oleic acid as stabilizers. The critical factor in the synthesis process was found to be the ratio of oleylamine to oleic acid. Moreover, a two-phase interface assembly method facilitated the uniform deposition of MoO2 onto CdS nanorods. Due to the localized plasmonic-thermoelectric effect on the surface of MoO2 along with its abundant oxygen vacancies, the composite catalyst exhibited outstanding photo-utilization efficiency and an abundance of active sites. The CdS-MoO2 composite displayed a unique photochemical property in transforming lactic acid into pyruvic acid and generating hydrogen simultaneously. After exposure to artificial sunlight for 4 h, significant values of 4.7 and 3.7 mmol⋅g-1⋅h-1 were achieved for hydrogen production and pyruvic acid formation, respectively, exceeding CdS alone by 3.29 and 4.02-fold, while the selectivity of pyruvic acid was 95.68 %. Furthermore, the S-Scheme electron transport mechanism in the composites was elucidated using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, radical trapping experiments, energy band structure analysis, and the identification of critical intermediates in the process of selective oxidation. This work sheds light on the design and preparation of high-performance photocatalysts for biorefining coupled with efficient hydrogen evolution.

Structural and functional neural patterns among sub-threshold bulimia nervosa: Abnormalities in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex.

BACKGROUND: Disordered eating behaviors are prevalent among youngsters and highly associated with dysfunction in neurocognitive systems. We aimed to identify the potential changes in individuals with bulimia symptoms (sub-BN) to generate insights to understand developmental pathophysiology of bulimia nervosa. METHODS: We investigated group differences in terms of degree centrality (DC) and gray matter volume (GMV) among 145 undergraduates with bulimia symptoms and 140 matched control undergraduates, with the secondary analysis of the whole brain connectivity in these regions of interest showing differences in static functional connectivity (FC). RESULTS: The sub-BN group exhibited abnormalities of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right orbitofrontal cortex in both GMV and DC, and displayed decreased FC between these regions and the precuneus. We also observed that sub-BN presented with reduced FC between the calcarine and superior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and inferior parietal gyrus. Additionally, brain-behavioral associations suggest a distinct relationship between these FCs and psychopathological symptoms in sub-BN group. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that individuals with bulimia symptoms present with aberrant neural patterns that mainly involved in cognitive control and reward processing, as well as attentional and self-referential processing, which could provide important insights into the pathology of BN.

A horizontal and perpendicular interlaminar approach for intrathecal nusinersen injection in patients with spinal muscular atrophy and scoliosis: an observational study.

BACKGROUND: Lumbar puncture is challenging for patients with scoliosis. Previous ultrasound-assisted techniques for lumbar puncture used the angle of the probe as the needle trajectory; however, reproducing the angle is difficult and increases the number of needle manipulations. In response, we developed a technique that eliminated both the craniocaudal and lateromedial angulation of the needle trajectory to overall improve this technique. We assessed the feasibility and safety of this method in patients with scoliosis and identify factors related to difficult lumbar puncture. METHODS: Patients with spinal muscular atrophy and scoliosis who were referred to the anesthesia department for intrathecal nusinersen administrations were included. With a novel approach that utilized patient position and geometry, lumbar puncture was performed under ultrasound guidance. Success rates, performance times and adverse events were recorded. Clinical-demographic and spinal radiographic data pertaining to difficult procedures were analyzed. RESULTS: Success was achieved in all 260 (100%) lumbar punctures for 44 patients, with first pass and first attempt success rates of 70% (183/260) and 87% (226/260), respectively. Adverse events were infrequent and benign. Higher BMI, greater skin dural sac depth and smaller interlaminar size might be associated with greater difficulty in lumbar puncture. CONCLUSIONS: The novel ultrasound-assisted horizontal and perpendicular interlaminar needle trajectory approach is an effective and safe method for lumbar puncture in patients with spinal deformities. This method can be reliably performed at the bedside and avoids other more typical and complex imaging such as computed tomography guided procedure.

Locus coeruleus tyrosine hydroxylase positive neurons mediated the peripheral and central therapeutic effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) in MRL/lpr mice.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in MRL/lpr mice. METHODS: MRL/lpr mice were treated with taVNS for ten weeks. Locus coeruleus (LC) tyrosine hydroxylase positive (TH+) neurons were selectively lesioned by stereotactic injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or selectively activated by chemogenetic methods. Sympathetic denervation was conducted by intraperitoneal injection of 6-OHDA. RESULTS: TaVNS activated the TH + neurons in LC. TaVNS produced central therapeutic effects by reducing the number of hippocampal microglia, and increasing the number of surviving LC TH+ neurons in MRL/lpr mice. TaVNS also retarded the development of lymphadenectasis and splenomegaly, decreased the proportion of double-negative T (DNT) cells, and alleviated nephritis in MRL/lpr mice. The lesion of LC TH+ neurons eliminated both these central and peripheral therapeutic effects of taVNS, while chemogenetic activation of LC TH+ neurons mimicked most central and peripheral protective effects of taVNS in MRL/lpr mice. Furthermore, taVNS regulated the autonomic nervous system in MRL/lpr mice. CONCLUSION: This study provides direct evidence that taVNS can retard the development of peripheral and central symptoms of SLE, which is mediated by the LC TH+ neurons.

Support from a Best Friend Makes People Eat Less under Stress: Evidence from Two Experiments.

When experiencing acute stress, individuals often turn to eating for comfort, as it provides a sense of satiety and satisfaction that can temporarily alleviate the stressful condition. However, this may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease. In this study, we conducted two behavioral experiments to investigate the effectiveness of social support in reducing stress-induced overeating and the mediative role of negative affect and self-efficacy (Experiment 1), as well as the role of reward sensitivity (Experiment 2). Acute stress was induced using a speech preparation task and then participants were asked to regulate their emotions and cognition, either alone or with the help of pictures and supportive sentences provided by a best friend or stranger. Participants in Experiment 1 then completed the food choice task, and participants in Experiment 2 completed the food incentive delay task and the bogus tasting task. The results of both experiments consistently showed that participants who received support from their friends reported lower levels of perceived stress, chose fewer food portions, and consumed fewer snacks during acute stress, compared to the other three groups. Further mediation analysis using the process macro revealed that the differential influence of social support on the choice of high-calorie foods was due to decreased negative affect and increased self-efficacy. This study provides valuable insights for the development of therapeutic interventions for clinical eating disorders.