Speech-Processing Network Formation of Cochlear-Implanted Toddlers With Early Hearing Experiences.

To reveal the formation process of speech processing with early hearing experiences, we tracked the development of functional connectivity in the auditory and language-related cortical areas of 84 (36 female) congenitally deafened toddlers using repeated functional near-infrared spectroscopy for up to 36 months post cochlear implantation (CI). Upon hearing restoration, the CI children lacked the modular organization of the mature speech-processing network and demonstrated a higher degree of immaturity in temporo-parietal than temporo-frontal connections. The speech-processing network appeared to form rapidly with early CI experiences, with two-thirds of the developing connections following nonlinear trajectories reflecting possibly more than one synaptogenesis-pruning cycle. A few key features of the mature speech-processing network emerged within the first year of CI hearing, including left-hemispheric advantage, differentiation of the dorsal and ventral processing streams, and functional state (speech listening vs. resting) specific patterns of connectivity development. The developmental changes were predictable of future auditory and verbal communication skills of the CI children, with prominent contribution from temporo-parietal connections in the dorsal stream, suggesting a mediating role of speech-processing network formation with early hearing experiences in speech acquisition.

Neurophysiological evidence for goal-oriented modulation of speech perception.

Speech perception depends on the dynamic interplay of bottom-up and top-down information along a hierarchically organized cortical network. Here, we test, for the first time in the human brain, whether neural processing of attended speech is dynamically modulated by task demand using a context-free discrimination paradigm. Electroencephalographic signals were recorded during 3 parallel experiments that differed only in the phonological feature of discrimination (word, vowel, and lexical tone, respectively). The event-related potentials (ERPs) revealed the task modulation of speech processing at approximately 200 ms (P2) after stimulus onset, probably influencing what phonological information to retain in memory. For the phonological comparison of sequential words, task modulation occurred later at approximately 300 ms (N3 and P3), reflecting the engagement of task-specific cognitive processes. The ERP results were consistent with the changes in delta-theta neural oscillations, suggesting the involvement of cortical tracking of speech envelopes. The study thus provides neurophysiological evidence for goal-oriented modulation of attended speech and calls for speech perception models incorporating limited memory capacity and goal-oriented optimization mechanisms.

Anti-phasic oscillatory development for speech and noise processing in cochlear implanted toddlers.

Human brain demonstrates amazing readiness for speech and language learning at birth, but the auditory development preceding such readiness remains unknown. Cochlear implanted (CI) children (n = 67; mean age 2.77 year ± 1.31 SD; 28 females) with prelingual deafness provide a unique opportunity to study this stage. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, it was revealed that the brain of CI children was irresponsive to sounds at CI hearing onset. With increasing CI experiences up to 32 months, the brain demonstrated function, region and hemisphere specific development. Most strikingly, the left anterior temporal lobe showed an oscillatory trajectory, changing in opposite phases for speech and noise. The study provides the first longitudinal brain imaging evidence for early auditory development preceding speech acquisition.

Differential auditory cortical development in left and right cochlear implanted children.

Unilateral aural stimulation has been shown to cause massive cortical reorganization in brain with congenital deafness, particularly during the sensitive period of brain development. However, it is unclear which side of stimulation provides most advantages for auditory development. The left hemisphere dominance of speech and linguistic processing in normal hearing adult brain has led to the assumption of functional and developmental advantages of right over left implantation, but existing evidence is controversial. To test this assumption and provide evidence for clinical choice, we examined 34 prelingually deaf children with unilateral cochlear implants using near-infrared spectroscopy. While controlling for age of implantation, residual hearing, and dominant hand, cortical processing of speech showed neither developmental progress nor influence of implantation side weeks to months after implant activation. In sharp contrast, for nonspeech (music signal vs. noise) processing, left implantation showed functional advantages over right implantation that were not yet discernable using clinical, questionnaire-based outcome measures. These findings support the notion that the right hemisphere develops earlier and is better preserved from adverse environmental influences than its left counterpart. This study thus provides, to our knowledge, the first evidence for differential influences of left and right auditory peripheral stimulation on early cortical development of the human brain.

Silencing transcription factor FOXM1 represses proliferation, migration, and invasion while inducing apoptosis of liver cancer stem cells by regulating the expression of ALDH2.

OBJECTIVE: This study is performed to explore the role of transcription factor FOXM1 in promoting the self-renewal and proliferation of liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) by regulating the expression of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2). METHODS: CD133+ CD24+ LCSCs were sorted and identified. A series of experiments were carried out to determine the proliferation, colony formation rate, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of LCSCs after interfering with FOXM1. Proliferation-, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-, apoptosis-, and stemness-related factors were then detected by western blot analysis. Tumor xenograft in nude mice was used to figure out the role of FOXM1 in tumorigenesis in vivo by regulating ALDH2 expression. Luciferase activity assay was conducted to determine whether FOXM1 could target ALDH2 promoter region and thereby affecting ALDH2 expression. RESULTS: The sorted CD133+ CD24+ Huh-7 cells had the characteristic of stem cells. FOXM1 was highly expressed in CD133+ CD24+ Huh-7 cells. Silencing FOXM1 inhibited the proliferation and colony formation of LCSCs and decreased the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and Ki-67 protein; inhibited the migration, invasion, and EMT of LCSCs while promoting the apoptosis of LCSCs, as well as promoted the expression of Bax and cleaved-caspase-3, and inhibited the expression of Bcl-2. Silencing FOXM1 inhibited the expression of Nanog, Oct4, and Sox2 in LCSCs by decreasing the expression of ALDH2. in vivo experiment, silencing FOXM1 suppressed tumorigenesis of LCSCs by decreasing the expression of ALDH2. CONCLUSION: Our study provides evidence that silencing FOXM1 inhibits stemness of LCSCs by decreasing the expression of ALDH2, and represses the proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumorigenesis while inducing the apoptosis of LCSCs.

Sarcopenia Affects Liver Regeneration and Long-Term Survival Rate After Living-Donor Liver Transplantation in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Despite technological and immunologic innovations, some living-donor liver transplant (LDLT) recipients still face poor liver regeneration. Sarcopenia is often recognized as a biomarker for poor outcomes in surgical patients. This study aimed to evaluate associations between sarcopenia and liver regeneration in LDLT recipients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective review included consecutive patients who had received LDLT at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital between 2005 and 2017. Sarcopenia was assessed using the psoas muscle index (PMI) in cross-sectional images. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the ability of PMI to predict relatively poor survival rates. Correlations between liver regeneration and sarcopenia were evaluated using regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 109 LDLT recipients were included. The 1-, 3-, 5, 10-, and 15-year survival rates were 93.7%, 84.8%, 79.7%, 74.7%, and 73.3% in males and 93.3%, 83.3%, 83.3%, 71.4%, and 71.4% in females. PMIs were significantly different based on 10- and 15-year overall survival rates (P = .001 and P = .000) in male patients. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed the PMI cutoff point at 6.7 cm2/m2 (sensitivity = 48.3%, specificity = 81%, AUC (area under the ROC curve) = 0.685) based on 10-year survival. Linear regression analysis revealed that PMI was significantly associated with liver regeneration in males (P = .013). CONCLUSIONS: Sarcopenia and low PMI are associated with poor liver regeneration and long-term survival after LDLT in male patients. Further studies, including sarcopenia with conventional scores, may help to more reliably predict liver regeneration and mortality among LDLT patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Early Influence of Emotional Scenes on the Encoding of Fearful Expressions With Different Intensities: An Event-Related Potential Study.

Contextual affective information influences the processing of facial expressions at the relatively early stages of face processing, but the effect of the context on the processing of facial expressions with varying intensities remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the influence of emotional scenes (fearful, happy, and neutral) on the processing of fear expressions at different levels of intensity (high, medium, and low) during the early stages of facial recognition using event-related potential (ERP) technology. EEG data were collected while participants performed a fearful facial expression recognition task. The results showed that (1) the recognition of high-intensity fear expression was higher than that of medium- and low-intensity fear expressions. Facial expression recognition was the highest when faces appeared in fearful scenes. (2) Emotional scenes modulated the amplitudes of N170 for fear expressions with different intensities. Specifically, the N170 amplitude, induced by high-intensity fear expressions, was significantly higher than that induced by low-intensity fear expressions when faces appeared in both neutral and fearful scenes. No significant differences were found between the N170 amplitudes induced by high-, medium-, and low-intensity fear expressions when faces appeared in happy scenes. These results suggest that individuals may tend to allocate their attention resources to the processing of face information when the valence between emotional context and expression conflicts i.e., when the conflict is absent (fear scene and fearful faces) or is low (neutral scene and fearful faces).

The influence of mouth opening and closing degrees on processing in NimStim facial expressions: An ERP study from Chinese college students.

The degree of mouth opening and closing is one of the most important attributes of expression, reflecting the intensity of facial expression and can assist people to recognize the expression more accurately. The NimStim set of facial expressions contains the open and closed expression pictures of the same actor. Although this expression set has been widely used, there is little research on the intensity effect of this set. In this study, 32 Chinese college students were recruited in to view the pictures passively in an ERP experiment, aiming to investigate the intensity effect in the NimStim set (mouth open, mouth closed) of anger, disgust, sad, happy and neutral expression in electrical physiological aspects of the reaction. Our results reported that intensity of expression early affected in VPP and mainly affected in LPP with the open mouth having a larger activity. And there was no intensity effect found in P1, N170 and EPN. Notably, culture and social environment may influence the intensity effect of different emotions. In future, researchers should use methods that ensure subjects pay more attention to the intensity effect of the NimStim facial set.

Comparative study of the safety and efficacy of SMOFlipid vs non SMOFlipid as TPN for liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Liver transplantation (LT) is one of the widely recognised and leading treatments for end-stage liver disease. Nutrition impacts its success. Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) is usually prescribed for patients recommended prolonged fasting after LT. The supplement of SMOFlipid (soybean oil, MCT oil, olive oil, and fish oil) is easily metabolised to produce energy, and it possesses anti-inflammatory effects; however, SMOFlipid emulsion use raises concerns regarding coagulopathy after LT. This study investigated the postoperative correlation between SMOFlipid and coagulation in LT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 54 recipients of living donor LT between January 2012 and June 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with pretransplant platelet count <40,000/µL and >40,000/µL were assigned to the non-SMOFlipid (n = 23) group and the SMOFlipid (n = 31) group, respectively. RESULTS: The coagulation and nutrition profile of patients improved significantly after TPN support. No significant difference was observed in the coagulation profile between SMOFlipid and non-SMOFlipid groups. Although the SMOFlipid group exhibited a higher platelet count than the non-SMOFlipid group on day 7 (P < 0.001), no significant differences were observed in the platelet count on 14 and 30 days after TPN support between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: TPN using SMOFlipid after LT is a good strategy for improving nutritional status without increasing the risks of bleeding and coagulation in patients intolerant of early enteral nutrition. Moreover, SMOFlipid use may not cause coagulopathy up to 14 days after LT. Overall, SMOFlipid provides nutritional benefits without increasing the risk of bleeding.

Sarcopenia adversely impacts postoperative complications in living-donor liver transplantation recipients.

Despite technological and immunological innovations, living-donor liver transplant (LDLT) recipients still face substantial risk of postoperative complications. Sarcopenia is being recognized more and more as a biomarker that correlates with poor outcomes in surgical patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between sarcopenia and significant surgical complications in LDLT recipients. This retrospective review included patients who had received LDLT at our institute from 2005 to 2017. Sarcopenia was assessed using the psoas muscle index (PMI) in cross-sectional images. ROC curve analysis was used to determine the ability of PMI to predict postoperative complications. Correlations between major postoperative complications and sarcopenia were evaluated using regression analysis. A total of 271 LDLT recipients were included. No significant differences were found between PMI and major postoperative complications in male patients. Female recipients with major postoperative complications had significantly lower mean PMI values (P = 0.028), and the PMI cut-off value was 2.63 cm2/m2. Postoperative massive pleural effusion requiring pigtail drainage occurred more frequently in the sarcopenia group than in the non-sarcopenia group (P = 0.003). 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year overall survival rates in female were significantly poorer in the sarcopenia group (n = 14) compared with the non-sarcopenia group (n = 108), at 92.9% versus 97.2%, 85.7% versus 95.4%, 85.7% versus 92.5% and 70.1 versus 82.0%, respectively (P = 0.041) and 94.6%, 89.9%, 85.9% and 78.5% in male patients. Sarcopenia is associated with a significantly higher risk of major postoperative complications in females. PMI and sarcopenia together are predictive of major postoperative complications and survival rates in female LDLT recipients.

[Primary study on the influence of blood transfusion on the STR genotypes of recipient's blood].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether any change occurred in recipients' blood collected at different times after transfusion with different quantity of blood. METHODS: Three patients were transfused with 400 ml, 800 ml and 1200 ml blood separately. The blood samples were collected from the recipients before transfusion and at 4 h, 8 h, 12 h after transfusion, and from the donors. DNA were extracted by Chelex-100 method and were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Six loci of D1S549, D18S865, D3S1754, D12S391, D12S375, D6S477 were selected. The PCR products were analyzed by polyacrylamide gel (PAG) vertical electrophoresis and silver staining. RESULTS: The investigations on the six STR loci revealed that the patients' STR genotypes remained unchanged within 12 h after blood transfusion. CONCLUSION: The STR genotypes of the donors would have no influence on the STR genotypes of the patients within 12 h after transfusion providing the volume of blood transfused is less than 1200 ml.

Allele frequency distribution of two X-chromosomal STR loci in Han population in China.

POPULATION: 127 unrelated female and 118 unrelated male volunteer donors, Southwest China.

[Sequence polymorphisms of the mitochondrial DNA control region in 100 Chengdu Hans in China].

OBJECTIVE: To study the genetic polymorphisms of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region in Chengdu Han population. METHODS: Sequence polymorphisms of the mtDNA control region, hypervariable regions I and II from 100 unrelated Chinese Hans were determined by PCR and direct sequencing. RESULTS: Sequences of 404 nucleotides for hypervariable region I and 379 nucleotides for region II were obtained. Ninety-two and fifty variable sites were revealed in region I and region II respectively as compared to the reference sequence, and a total of 97 different genetic patterns from both the regions I and II were determined. The probability of identity was estimated at 1.84% for region I, 1.94% for region II, and 1.18% for both the regions. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that sequence polymorphism of mtDNA control region would be very useful in forensic practice as a marker for individual identification.

[Analysis of polymorphism of ACTBP2 locus in Han population in Chengdu and triplexing of three STR loci].

OBJECTIVE: To obtain the polymorphism of ACTBP2 locus in Han Chinese in Chengdu and establish the triplexing of three STR loci (DHFRP2,FIBRA and ACTBP2). METHODS: Amp-FLP, PAGE and silver stain were used to analyze 147 individuals. RESULTS: Twenty alleles and 86 genotypes were observed in ACTBP2. The discriminating power (DP), observed heterozygosity(h), polymorphism information content (PIC) and chance of paternity exclusion power (EP) were 0.9861, 0.9728, 0.9310 and 0.8203, respectively. The distributions of the genotypes were in good agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Studies of the families revealed that the locus was in accord with the Mendelian law. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that ACTBP2 is of good polymorphism and can be applied to human genetic study, forensic parentage testing and identification.

[Study on the genetic polymorphisms of D8S1132 locus in Chinese Han, Mongolian and Thai populations].

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to obtain the population genetic data of short tandem repeat (STR) locus D8S1132 and study the difference of allelic frequency distributions among different populations. METHODS: A sample of 380 unrelated individuals from 3 populations (Han, Mongolian, Thai) were studied using single PCR followed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver staining. RESULTS: Eleven allels and 42 genotypes were observed. The observed heterozygosity and the discrimination power were 85.0%-89.5% and 94.1%-95.5%, respectively. The genotype distributions of D8S1132 locus in 3 populations were in accordance with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and the difference of allelic frequency distributions among 3 populations was obvious. CONCLUSION: The methods established are easy-to-perform and sensitive. The discrimination power and exclusion chances of this locus are desirable for forensic analysis.

[DNA-based technique and species identification].

The species identification plays a key role in forensic analysis. Generally, three methods have been applied for this purpose, they are morphologic-based, serologic-based and DNA-based techniques. This review mainly discussed the DNA-based technique and evaluate it's value in species identification of forensic science.

[A population study of three Y-STR loci by multiplexing in Han population in Chengdu, China].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a better method determining three Y-STR loci. METHODS: A multiplex of Y-STRs and amplify simultaneously three Y-STRs loci. RESULTS: Establish successfully a multiplexing system of three Y-STR loci (DYS390, DYS391 and DYS393) followed by a population genetic study of Han population in Chengdu, China. CONCLUSION: The diversity of haplotype is 0.8965, the value of discrimination and the chance of exclusion chance is 0.8965 with the standard error 0.0081. This established system is one of the good tools in personnel identification and genetic study.

[The expression of bFGF and its receptor FGFR1 in rat after fluid-percussive brain injury].

OBJECTIVE: Study on the pattern of changes of bFGF and FGFR1 immunoreactivity occurred in the experimental brain injury model for the purpose of providing the scientific basis for molecular pathological diagnosis, forensic identification, clinical treatment as well as further ascertaining the molecular mechanism of brain injury. METHODS: Male SD rats were divided into normal control, sham operation control and injury groups. The rats of injury groups were subjected to moderate lateral fluid percussion brain injury (0.2 mPa). The injury groups were then subdivided into 30 min, 1, 3, 6, 12 h, 1, 3, 7 d groups according to the time elapsed after injury. The SP immunohistochemistry method was used to examine the expression of both bFGF and FGFR1 factors in rat brain. RESULTS: In the brain of normal control and sham operation control groups, the low expression levels of bFGF and FGFR1 were observed. The increase of bFGF and FGFR1 immunoreactivity could be observed 6 h after injury in cortex and brain stem, reached to the peak at 1 d and remained at the high level up to 3 d, then partly declined at 7 d. In hippocampus, however, the increase occur as early as 3 h after injury, reached to the peak at 1 d and then decreased progressively, and returned to basal level at 7 d. CONCLUSION: The results suggested that brain injury induced the gene expressions of bFGF and FGFR1. The bFGF may contribute to maintenance of nerve cell survival and the repair of damaged neural tissues after CNS injury and the patterns of their level change were quite regular and can be used for timing of injury in forensic medicine aspect.

[Genetic polymorphism of the STR DXS9898 locus in Han population].

OBJECTIVE: Studying the genetic polymorphism of X-STR locus DXS9898 in Han population. METHODS: 296 unrelated Chinese individuals (199 females and 97 males) living in Chengdu were investigated using PCR and PAG electrophoresis followed by silver staining. RESULTS: 6 alleles were observed and the range of fragment size was 189-214 bp. The genotype distribution of DXS9898 locus was in accordance with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Family survey confirmed Mendelian inheritance of alleles. The observed heterozygosity in females was 0.5930, the discriminating power (Dp) were 0.5667 and 0.9420 for males and females respectively. The power of exclusion were 0.5862 and 0.4392 for trio and duo respectively. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that the locus is highly polymorphic and can be used in forensic identification and parentage testing.

Enalapril increases ischemia-induced endothelial progenitor cell mobilization through manipulation of the CD26 system.

Enalapril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, reduces cardiovascular events in patients with acute myocardial infarction. However, whether the beneficial effect of enalapril is mediated in part through endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) has yet to be elucidated. This study investigated the role of the CD26/dipeptidylpeptidase IV (DPP IV) system in enalapril-modulated EPC mobilization. C57 BL/6 mice were divided into control and enalapril-treated groups. Peripheral EPCs were enumerated before and after ischemic stress. CD26/DPP IV activity and stroma-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha) levels were measured in the blood and the bone marrow. In response to ischemic stress, the enalapril group displayed a significant increase in circulating EPCs (with a 3.6-fold increase of sca-1+KDR+ cells and a 2.2-fold increase of c-kit+CD31+ cells versus controls at 12 h). Enalapril also caused a sixfold increase in the contribution of bone marrow-derived EPCs to the ischemia-induced neovascularization. In the bone marrow, enalapril did not alter CD26+ cell numbers; however, it did amplify DPP IV activity. In the blood, through the anti-inflammatory effect, enalapril significantly decreased CD26+ cell numbers, leading to a decrease in total DPP IV activity. These phenomena were associated with a lower SDF-1alpha concentration in the bone marrow but higher in the blood in the enalapril group, compared to the controls. All these findings were not demonstrated without ischemic stress. The effect of enalapril on EPC mobilization could be substantially blocked by Diprotin-A, a DDP IV antagonist. This study demonstrates that one of the pleiotropic effects of enalapril on the cardiovascular system involves the modulation of circulating EPC numbers via the CD26/DPP IV system, which may serve as a potential target for mobilizing EPCs for therapeutic purposes.