Decoding dynamic visual scenes across the brain hierarchy.

Understanding the computational mechanisms that underlie the encoding and decoding of environmental stimuli is a crucial investigation in neuroscience. Central to this pursuit is the exploration of how the brain represents visual information across its hierarchical architecture. A prominent challenge resides in discerning the neural underpinnings of the processing of dynamic natural visual scenes. Although considerable research efforts have been made to characterize individual components of the visual pathway, a systematic understanding of the distinctive neural coding associated with visual stimuli, as they traverse this hierarchical landscape, remains elusive. In this study, we leverage the comprehensive Allen Visual Coding-Neuropixels dataset and utilize the capabilities of deep learning neural network models to study neural coding in response to dynamic natural visual scenes across an expansive array of brain regions. Our study reveals that our decoding model adeptly deciphers visual scenes from neural spiking patterns exhibited within each distinct brain area. A compelling observation arises from the comparative analysis of decoding performances, which manifests as a notable encoding proficiency within the visual cortex and subcortical nuclei, in contrast to a relatively reduced encoding activity within hippocampal neurons. Strikingly, our results unveil a robust correlation between our decoding metrics and well-established anatomical and functional hierarchy indexes. These findings corroborate existing knowledge in visual coding related to artificial visual stimuli and illuminate the functional role of these deeper brain regions using dynamic stimuli. Consequently, our results suggest a novel perspective on the utility of decoding neural network models as a metric for quantifying the encoding quality of dynamic natural visual scenes represented by neural responses, thereby advancing our comprehension of visual coding within the complex hierarchy of the brain.

High Expression of FOXO3 in Gastric Cancer Tissues is Associated with Poor Prognosis and Immune Cell Infiltration.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of FOXO3 in gastric cancer (GC). METHODS: Data on gastric cancer and normal tissues were collected from the TCGA and GTEx databases. Survival analysis was performed with the Kaplan-Meier method, and the ENCORI online analysis tool was used to predict potential interaction miRNA. The MCPCOUNTER and Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) algorithm were used to predict the relationship between immune infiltration and FOXO3. Finally, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to explore the potential pathways of FOXO3 during the development of GC. RESULTS: We found that mRNA expression level of FOXO3 was remarkably higher in tumor tissue than in normal tissue, and poor prognoses of GC patients were correlated with higher expression of FOXO3. We also found that hsa-miR-18a-5p and hsa-miR-18b-5p can interact with FOXO3 and that high expression of hsa-miR-18a-5p and hsa-miR-18b-5p predicted better prognoses in GC patients. TP53 mutation was significantly associated with high FOXO3 expression, while ARID1A mutation was associated with low FOXO3 expression. Multiple immune cells were found to be related to the expression of FOXO3, and lower expression of FOXO3 may be better suited to immune checkpoint blockade treatment. CONCLUSIONS: We find that FOXO3 is a potential oncogene and that the transcript level of FOXO3 is related to the mutation of TP53 and ARID1A. In addition, FOXO3 may influence immune infiltration and different signal pathways through sponge adsorption of miRNA to impact the prognoses of stomach adenocarcinoma patients.

RNA-binding motifs of hnRNP K are critical for induction of antibody diversification by activation-induced cytidine deaminase.

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is the key enzyme for class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM) to generate antibody memory. Previously, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP K) was shown to be required for AID-dependent DNA breaks. Here, we defined the function of major RNA-binding motifs of hnRNP K, GXXGs and RGGs in the K-homology (KH) and the K-protein-interaction (KI) domains, respectively. Mutation of GXXG, RGG, or both impaired CSR, SHM, and cMyc/IgH translocation equally, showing that these motifs were necessary for AID-dependent DNA breaks. AID-hnRNP K interaction is dependent on RNA; hence, mutation of these RNA-binding motifs abolished the interaction with AID, as expected. Some of the polypyrimidine sequence-carrying prototypical hnRNP K-binding RNAs, which participate in DNA breaks or repair bound to hnRNP K in a GXXG and RGG motif-dependent manner. Mutation of the GXXG and RGG motifs decreased nuclear retention of hnRNP K. Together with the previous finding that nuclear localization of AID is necessary for its function, lower nuclear retention of these mutants may worsen their functional deficiency, which is also caused by their decreased RNA-binding capacity. In summary, hnRNP K contributed to AID-dependent DNA breaks with all of its major RNA-binding motifs.

Trusted Multi-Domain DDoS Detection Based on Federated Learning.

Aiming at the problems of single detection target of existing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, incomplete detection datasets and privacy caused by shared datasets, we propose a trusted multi-domain DDoS detection method based on federated learning. Firstly, we divide the types of DDoS attacks into different sub-attacks, design the federated learning dataset for DDoS detection in each domain, and use them to realize a more comprehensive detection method of DDoS attacks on the premise of protecting the data privacy of each domain. Secondly, in order to improve the robustness of federated learning and alleviate poisoning attack, we propose a reputation evaluation method based on blockchain, which estimates interaction reputation, data reputation and resource reputation of each participant comprehensively, so as to obtain the trusted federated learning participants and identify the malicious participants. In addition, we also propose a combination scheme of multi-domain detection and distributed knowledge base and design a feature graph of malicious behavior based on a knowledge graph to realize the memory of multi-domain feature knowledge. The experimental results show that the accuracy of most categories of the multi-domain DDoS detection method can reach more than 95% with the protection of datasets, and the reputation evaluation method proposed in this paper has a higher ability to identify malicious participants against the data poisoning attack when the threshold is set to 0.6.

Dasycerine rove beetles: Cretaceous diversification, phylogeny and historical biogeography (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Dasycerinae).

Within the hyperdiverse beetle family Staphylinidae, Dasycerinae is one of the smallest and most cryptic subfamilies, comprising a sole extant genus characterized by a latridiid beetle-like body form. Little has been known about their early diversification, character evolution, phylogeny and historical biogeography because of limited fossil material and lack of a phylogeny integrating extant and extinct representatives. Here we report an unexpectedly diverse dasycerine fauna from the mid-Cretaceous of northern Myanmar, including a new genus and four new species. To reconstruct the early evolutionary history of Dasycerinae, we present a phylogenetic framework of the subfamily based on a dataset integrating all extant and extinct taxa using parsimony, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methods. †Cedasyrus gen. n., characterized by distinct sexual dimorphism in antennal and elytral lengths, is recovered as the basal-most lineage, sister to the remaining two extinct genera and all living Dasycerus species. †Vetudasycerus is recovered as sister to †Protodasycerus + Dasycerus. Among all extinct taxa, †Protodasycerus bears distinctly longer elytra, and appears to represent a transitional form from †Vetudasycerus to Dasycerus. Phylogenetic inferences and ancestral distribution reconstruction support an "Out-of-Orient" model for Dasycerinae. Either the Bering- or North Atlantic Land Bridge may have served as a passageway for dasycerine dispersal between Eurasian and North American continents. An elevation-reconstruction analysis indicated that the ancestor of the extant Dasycerus probably lived at a high altitude and stayed at this elevation through the end of the Miocene. We propose that the extinction of dasycerine ancestors living on the Tethyan islands at low altitude was likely caused by sea-level rise and climatic warming during the Late Cretaceous. The high-altitude areas might have played the role of refugia that harboured subalpine derivatives which eventually gave rise to the extant Dasycerus.

Structural colours in diverse Mesozoic insects.

Structural colours, nature's most pure and intense colours, originate when light is scattered via nanoscale modulations of the refractive index. Original colours in fossils illuminate the ecological interactions among extinct organisms and functional evolution of colours. Here, we report multiple examples of vivid metallic colours in diverse insects from mid-Cretaceous amber. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed a smooth outer surface and five alternating electron-dense and electron-lucent layers in the epicuticle of a fossil wasp, suggesting that multilayer reflectors, the most common biophotonic nanostructure in animals and even plants, are responsible for the exceptional preservation of colour in amber fossils. Based on theoretical modelling of the reflectance spectra, a reflective peak of wavelength of 514 nm was calculated, corresponding to the bluish-green colour observed under white light. The green to blue structural colours in fossil wasps, beetles and a fly most likely functioned as camouflage, although other functions such as thermoregulation cannot be ruled out. This discovery not only provides critical evidence of evolution of structural colours in arthropods, but also sheds light on the preservation potential of nanostructures of ancient animals through geological time.

Basal polyphagan beetles in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar: biogeographic implications and long-term morphological stasis.

The origin and early evolutionary history of polyphagan beetles have been largely based on evidence from the derived and diverse 'core Polyphaga', whereas little is known about the species-poor basal polyphagan lineages, which include Scirtoidea (Clambidae, Decliniidae, Eucinetidae, and Scirtidae) and Derodontidae. Here, we report two new species Acalyptomerus thayerae sp. nov. and Sphaerothorax uenoi sp. nov., both belonging to extant genera of Clambidae, from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Acalyptomerus thayerae has a close affinity to A. herbertfranzi, a species currently occurring in Mesoamerica and northern South America. Sphaerothorax uenoi is closely related to extant species of Sphaerothorax, which are usually collected in forests of Nothofagus of Australia, Chile, and New Zealand. The discovery of two Cretaceous species from northern Myanmar indicates that both genera had lengthy evolutionary histories, originated at least by the earliest Cenomanian, and were probably more widespread than at present. Remarkable morphological similarities between fossil and living species suggest that both genera changed little over long periods of geological time. The long-term persistence of similar mesic microhabitats such as leaf litter may account for the 99 Myr morphological stasis in Acalyptomerus and Sphaerothorax. Additionally, the extinct staphylinoid family Ptismidae is proposed as a new synonym of Clambidae, and its only included species Ptisma zasukhae is placed as incertae sedis within Clambidae.

Range extension and sexual dimorphism in Megabatrus caviceps Löbl (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Pselaphinae).

Megabatrus caviceps Löbl, originally described from Kuatun, Fou-kien (= Guadun, Fujian), eastern China, is recorded from the Nanling Nature Reserve, Guangdong, southern China, ca. 550 km SW from the type locality. The female of this species is discovered and described for the first time. For comparative purposes, male diagnostic characters of M. caviceps are figured and supplementary description is provided. Some new data on this species' biology are given.

Zopherobatrus gen. n. (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), a new troglobitic batrisine from southwestern China.

A new genus and new species of the pselaphine tribe Batrisini, Zopherobatrus tianmingyii Yin & Li gen. et sp. n., is described based on material collected from a cave in Guizhou, southwestern China. The new taxon exhibits a typical suite of morphological adaptations to life in caves, and represents a third genus of the cave-inhabiting Pselaphinae in China.

New species and new record of Megatyrus Hlavác & Nomura (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) from Asia.

A new species, Megatyrus femoralis sp. n., is described from the Koshi Zone, East Nepal, with major diagnostic features illustrated. Megatyrus masumotoi Nomura, Sakchoowong & Chanpaisaeng, originally described from southwestern Thailand, is recorded from the Noring Timur Mountain, West Malaysia. The above data extends the known range of Megatyrus about 1,200 km to the west, and 870 km to the south.

A new species of Lasinus Sharp (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) from East China.

Lasinus orientalis Yin & Bekchiev, new species, is described from the eastern Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, with major diagnostic features illustrated. The new species is compared with, and distinguished from related congeners.

A new species of Syndicus (s. str.) Motschulsky (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae) from East China.

Syndicus (s. str.) jaloszynskii Yin and Song, new species is described from Fujian and Zhejiang, East China. All material was collected in rotten woods. The habitus of both sexes, aedeagus, and spermatheca are illustrated. The new species can be readily separated from all known congeners by the strikingly large body size, the structure of aedeagal endophallus, and the form of spermatheca. This is the first species of the nominotypical subgenus of Syndicus known to occur in China.

Notes on the Pselaphodes Westwood complex (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Pselaphinae) of Hubei, China, with description of a new species and additional faunistic data.

The Pselaphodes Westwood complex of genera is represented in Hubei Province by four genera and eight species. Recent field work at Wanchaoshan Nature Reserve, Xingshan County revealed a small series of material belonging to this complex. In this paper, we describe Pselaphodeswanchaoshanus sp. nov. and provide new faunistic data for P.nomurai Yin, Li & Zhao. A key to the hitherto known members of Pselaphodes complex that occur in Hubei is provided to facilitate ready species identification.

Two new species of ant-loving beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) from Jiulong National Wetland Park, China.

Continued collecting efforts at the Jiulong National Wetland Park, Zhejiang, East China revealed two additional species of the ant-loving beetle subfamily Pselaphinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae): Trisiniotus jiulong sp. nov. and Arthromelodes lianghongbini sp. nov. Both new species are diagnosed, described, and their important characters are illustrated.

Visual identification of three kinds of human decidual tissues from elective termination of pregnancy.

INTRODUCTION: The decidua can be classified into the decidua basalis, decidua capsularis and decidua parietalis. This study aimed to visually identify these three kinds of decidual tissues from fresh samples obtained in early pregnancy based on their macroscopic appearances, which can be discerned visually. METHODS: Decidual samples were collected from 15 pregnant women between 6 and 8 weeks of gestation after elective termination of pregnancy. We identified the three different kinds of fresh decidual tissues in early pregnancy according to their different macroscopic appearances by only the naked eye. H&E staining, in situ immunofluorescence and flow cytometry were performed to confirm the accuracy of this method. RESULTS: We developed a method to discern the three different kinds of decidual tissues according to their individual macroscopic features. We found that the decidua parietalis was a thick tissue with less blood, with one side being intact epidermis and the other side being rough tissue. The decidua basalis had rough surfaces, a dense texture and high blood content. The decidua capsularis was a thin membrane tissue with or without blood clots. CK+/HLA-G+ extravillous trophoblast cells (EVTs) and heme oxygenase-1+ (HMOX1+) decidual macrophages were present in large quantities in the decidua basalis and decidua capsularis but were nearly undetectable in the decidua parietalis. We also found a wide distribution of endovascular extravillous trophoblast cells (enEVTs), which participate in spiral artery remodelling in the decidua basalis. DISCUSSION: We successfully identified three kinds of human decidual tissues from early pregnancy with the naked eye for the first time. This breakthrough method will greatly assist studies related to decidua during early pregnancy.

Associations between systemic immunity-inflammation index and heart failure: Evidence from the NHANES 1999-2018.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is a disease closely associated with inflammation, and the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) is a novel inflammatory marker. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between SII and HF. METHODS: We used National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 1998 to 2018 to include adults who reported a diagnosis of HF and complete information on the calculation of SII. SII was calculated as platelet count × neutrophil count/lymphocyte count. We used multiple logistic regression models to examine the association between SII and HF and explored possible influencing factors by subgroup analysis. In addition, we performed smoothed curve fitting and threshold effect analysis to describe the nonlinear relationship. RESULTS: The population-based study involved a total of 48,155 adults ages 20-85. Multivariate logistic regression showed that participants with the highest SII had a statistically significant 32% increased risk of HF prevalence compared to those with the lowest SII (OR = 1.32; 95% CI, 1.06-1.65, P = 0.0144) in a fully adjusted model. Subgroup analysis revealed no significant interactions between SII and specific subgroups (p > 0.05 for all interactions). Furthermore, the association between SII and HF was non-linear; the inflection point was 1104.78 (1000 cells/µl). CONCLUSIONS: Based on our findings, elevated SII levels were found to be strongly associated with the risk of HF, and SII was nonlinearly associated with HF. To validate these findings, a larger prospective investigation is needed to support the results of this study and investigate potential problems.

Efficacy and safety comparison between Lenvatinib and Sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis of real-world study.

OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Lenvatinib compared with Sorafenib for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients under real-world setting. METHODS: We retrieved relevant literature through the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases from 1 January 2000 to 25 June 2022. The differences in overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR) as well as treatment adverse related events were evaluated between HCC patients treated with Lenvatinib and Sorafenib using fixed or random-effects models. The MINORS evaluation questionnaire was used to assess the quality of the included literature. RESULTS: This meta-analysis included a total of 9 single-arm studies and 6 comparative studies. In the meta-analysis, Lenvatinib showed significantly longer median OS than Sorafenib ( P  < 0.01, MD = 1.20, 95% CI [0.92-1.48]), as well as median PFS ( P  < 0.01, OR = 2.68, 95% CI [1.59-3.76]), and higher ORR( P  < 0.01, OR = 5.36, 95% CI [3.42-8.40]), DCR( P  < 0.01, OR = 2.17, 95% CI [1.64-2.86]). The occurrence of Hypertension was higher in Lenvatinib than in Sorafenib treatment ( P  < 0.01, MD = 5.27, 95% CI [2.38-11.66]), and there was no significant difference in Hand-foot syndrome between Lenvatinib and Sorafenib. CONCLUSION: We found that treatment with Lenvatinib in HCC patients resulted in better OS, PFS, and higher ORR and DCR compared to Sorafenib. However, safety data indicated that Lenvatinib did not exhibit a significant advantage.

Notes on synonymy of Diartiger Sharp with Microdiartiger Sawada (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), with description of two new species from East China.

The relationship of the clavigerite genera Diartiger Sharp and Microdiartiger Sawada is discussed, and the synonymy of the two genera proposed by Besuchet (1986) is followed. This results in two new combinations: D. thinhi (Nomura), comb. n. and D. songxiaobini (Yin & Li), comb. n. Two new species, D. dentatus Yin & Li, sp. n. and D. yaoluopingensis Yin & Li, sp. n. are described from Anhui, East China, and new locality data for D. songxiaobini from Anhui and Jiangxi is provided. The new species and D. songxiaobini from Anhui were simultaneously collected from colonies of Lasius sp. nesting under stones. The Diartiger species are newly placed in two groups: the D. japonicus-group and the D.fossulatus-group. A key is provided to assist in identification of the Diartiger species from China.

Smetanabatrus kinabalu (Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae: Batrisitae), a new genus and new species from Sabah, Borneo.

A new genus and new species of the pselaphine tribe Batrisini, Smetanabatrus kinabalu gen. et sp. n., is described from Sabah, East Malaysia. Both sexes of the new species have securiform maxillary palpi, with the male exhibiting extreme abdominal modification. Illustrations of the habitus and major diagnostic features, as well as a discussion on the taxonomic placement of the new taxon is provided. A key to genera of the Batrisini from Borneo is provided.

On the identity of Pselaphodes walkeri (Sharp, 1892) (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), with description of a new related species.

The identity of Pselaphodes walkeri (Sharp, 1892) is clarified based on examinations of the holotype and recently collect-ed material from the type locality (Damao Island, Zhoushan Archipelago). Previous records of P. walkeri from West Tian-mushan Mountain (Zhejiang), Baishanzu Natural Reserve (Zhejiang) and Wuyishan Mountain (Jiangxi) are proven to be based on misidentifications, populations there represent a new species closely related to P. walkeri. Both P. walkeri and the new species are redescribed/described, illustrated and distinguished from the other members of the genus.