Molecular basis underlying default mode network functional abnormalities in postpartum depression with and without anxiety.

Although Postpartum depression (PPD) and PPD with anxiety (PPD-A) have been well characterized as functional disruptions within or between multiple brain systems, however, how to quantitatively delineate brain functional system irregularity and the molecular basis of functional abnormalities in PPD and PPD-A remains unclear. Here, brain sample entropy (SampEn), resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC), transcriptomic and neurotransmitter density data were used to investigate brain functional system irregularity, functional connectivity abnormalities and associated molecular basis for PPD and PPD-A. PPD-A exhibited higher SampEn in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PPC) than healthy postnatal women (HPW) and PPD while PPD showed lower SampEn in PPC compared to HPW and PPD-A. The functional connectivity analysis with MPFC and PPC as seed areas revealed decreased functional couplings between PCC and paracentral lobule and between MPFC and angular gyrus in PPD compared to both PPD-A and HPW. Moreover, abnormal SampEn and functional connectivity were associated with estrogenic level and clinical symptoms load. Importantly, spatial association analyses between functional changes and transcriptome and neurotransmitter density maps revealed that these functional changes were primarily associated with synaptic signaling, neuron projection, neurotransmitter level regulation, amino acid metabolism, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling pathways, and neurotransmitters of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), norepinephrine, glutamate, dopamine and so on. These results reveal abnormal brain entropy and functional connectivities primarily in default mode network (DMN) and link these changes to transcriptome and neurotransmitters to establish the molecular basis for PPD and PPD-A for the first time. Our findings highlight the important role of DMN in neuropathology of PPD and PPD-A.

A network meta-analysis on the effects of different exercise types on COPD patients.

Objective: This study aimed to compare and rank the effects of aerobic exercise (AE), resistance training (RT), endurance training (ET), and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by network meta-analysis (NMA).Methods: PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and Web of Science were searched to identify randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of exercise training on COPD. The search period began on the date of database establishment and ended in April 8, 2023. Two reviewers independently screened the retrieved articles, extracted relevant data, and assessed the risk of bias in the included studies. NMA was performed using Stata 15.1 and R 4.2.1.Results: This study included a total of 27 studies involving 1415 patients. The NMA findings indicated that HIIT was the most effective intervention for improving 6-Minute Walk Distance (6MWD) with a SUCRA (Surface Under the Cumulative Ranking) score of 87.68%. In addition, HIIT showed the highest efficacy in improving Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second (FEV1) with a SUCRA score of 73.17%, FEV1/FVC% with a SUCRA score of 79.52%, and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score with a SUCRA score of 73.88%. Conversely, ET was found to be the most effective for ameliorating Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) with a SUCRA score of 73.39%.Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that HIIT may be more effective than endurance exercise, resistance exercise, and AE in improving the 6MWD, FEV1, FEV1/FVC ratio, and SGRQ scores in patients with COPD. Additionally, ET may be better than resistance exercise, AE, and HIIT in improving FVC in COPD patients. However, due to the limited number of studies conducted on HIIT, more high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are required to verify these conclusions.

Molecular basis underlying changes of brain entropy and functional connectivity in major depressive disorders after electroconvulsive therapy.

INTRODUCTION: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is widely used for treatment-resistant depression. However, it is unclear whether/how ECT can be targeted to affect brain regions and circuits in the brain to dynamically regulate mood and cognition. METHODS: This study used brain entropy (BEN) to measure the irregular levels of brain systems in 46 major depressive disorder (MDD) patients before and after ECT treatment. Functional connectivity (FC) was further adopted to reveal changes of functional couplings. Moreover, transcriptomic and neurotransmitter receptor data were used to reveal genetic and molecular basis of the changes of BEN and functional connectivities. RESULTS: Compared to pretreatment, the BEN in the posterior cerebellar lobe (PCL) significantly decreased and FC between the PCL and the right temporal pole (TP) significantly increased in MDD patients after treatment. Moreover, we found that these changes of BEN and FC were closely associated with genes' expression profiles involved in MAPK signaling pathway, GABAergic synapse, and dopaminergic synapse and were significantly correlated with the receptor/transporter density of 5-HT, norepinephrine, glutamate, etc. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that loops in the cerebellum and TP are crucial for ECT regulation of mood and cognition, which provides new evidence for the antidepressant effects of ECT and the potential molecular mechanism leading to cognitive impairment.