The role of loss aversion in social conformity: psychological and neural representations.

The impact of others' choices on decision-making is influenced by individual preferences. However, the specific roles of individual preferences in social decision-making remain unclear. In this study, we examine the contributions of risk and loss preferences as well as social influence in decision-making under uncertainty using a gambling task. Our findings indicate that while both individual preferences and social influence affect decision-making in social contexts, loss aversion plays a dominant role, especially in individuals with high loss aversion. This phenomenon is accompanied by increased functional connectivity between the anterior insular cortex and the temporoparietal junction. These results highlight the critical involvement of loss aversion and the anterior insular cortex-temporoparietal junction neural pathway in social decision-making under uncertainty. Our findings provide a computational account of how individual preferences and social information collectively shape our social decision-making behaviors.

Oscillatory mechanisms of intrinsic human brain networks.

Non-invasive neuroimaging has revealed specific network-based resting-state dynamics in the human brain, yet the underlying neurophysiological mechanism remains unclear. We employed intracranial electroencephalography to characterize local field potentials within the default mode network (DMN), frontoparietal network (FPN), and salience network (SN) in 42 participants. We identified stronger within-network phase coherence at low frequencies (θ and α band) within the DMN, and at high frequencies (γ band) within the FPN. Hidden Markov modeling indicated that the DMN exhibited preferential low frequency phase coupling. Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) analysis revealed that the low-frequency phase in the DMN modulated the high-frequency amplitude envelopes of the FPN, suggesting frequency-dependent characterizations of intrinsic brain networks at rest. These findings provide intracranial electrophysiological evidence in support of the network model for intrinsic organization of human brain and shed light on the way brain networks communicate at rest.

Ultralow Thermal Conductivity in Vacancy-Ordered Halide Perovskite Cs3Bi2Br9 with Strong Anharmonicity and Wave-Like Tunneling of Low-Energy Phonons.

Halide perovskites are of great interest due to their exceptional optical and optoelectronic properties. However, thermal conductivity of many halide perovskites remains unexplored. In this study, an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity κL (0.24 W m-1 K-1 at 300 K) is reported and its weak temperature dependence (≈T-0.27) in an all-inorganic vacancy-ordered halide perovskite, Cs3Bi2Br9. The intrinsically ultralow κL can be attributed to the soft low-lying phonon modes with strong anharmonicity, which have been revealed by combining experimental heat capacity and Raman spectroscopy measurements, and first-principles calculations. It is shown that the highly anharmonic phonons originate from the Bi 6s2 lone pair expression with antibonding states of Bi 6s and Br 4p orbitals driven by the dynamic BiBr6 octahedral distortion. Theoretical calculations reveal that these low-energy phonons are mostly contributed by large Br motions induced dynamic distortion of BiBr6 octahedra and large Cs rattling motions, verified by the synchrotron X-ray pair distribution function analysis. In addition, the weak temperature dependence of κL can be traced to the wave-like tunneling of phonons, induced by the low-lying phonon modes. This work reveals the strong anharmonicity and wave-like tunneling of low-energy phonons for designing efficient vacancy-ordered halide perovskites with intrinsically low κL.

Cross-country inequalities in disease burden and care quality of chronic kidney disease due to type 2 diabetes mellitus, 1990-2021: Findings from the global burden of disease study 2021.

AIM: To explore the trend of burden and care quality of chronic kidney disease due to type 2 diabetes mellitus (CKD-T2DM) and their cross-country inequalities from 1990 to 2021. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 study. Disease burden and care quality were quantified using the disability-adjusted life years rate and the quality-of-care index (QCI). Trend analyses of the age-standardized disability-adjusted life years rate (ASDR) and age-standardized QCI from 1990 to 2021 were conducted using the estimated annual percentage change. The associations of disease burden and care quality with the socio-demographic index (SDI) were explored. Cross-country inequalities in disease burden and care quality were assessed using the slope index of inequality (SII) and concentration index. RESULTS: From 1990 to 2021, the global ASDR for CKD-T2DM increased, while the age-standardized QCI slightly decreased, with an estimated annual percentage change of 0.81 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.75, 0.87] and -0.08 (95% CI: -0.09, -0.07). The ASDR escalated with increasing SDI, reaching a peak at mid-level SDI, followed by a decrease. The age-standardized QCI was higher with increasing SDI. Globally, ASDR concentrated on countries/territories with a lower SDI. The SII of ASDR was -96.64 (95% CI: -136.94, -56.35) in 1990 and -118.15 (95% CI: -166.36, -69.94) in 2021,  with a concentration index of -0.1298 (95% CI: -0.1904, -0.0692) in 1990 and -0.1104 (95% CI: -0.1819, -0.0389) in 2021. In 1990 and 2021, countries/territories at higher SDI levels exhibited increased age-standardized QCI, indicated by an SII of 15.09 (95% CI: 10.74, 19.45) and 15.75 (95% CI: 10.92, 20.59), and a concentration index of 0.0393 (95% CI: 0.0283, 0.0503) and 0.0400 (95% CI: 0.0264, 0.0536). CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights considerable disparities in the burden and care quality of CKD-T2DM. Regions experiencing an increasing burden and a declining care quality simultaneously underscore the need for further research and tailored health interventions.

Berberine attenuates liver fibrosis by autophagy inhibition triggering apoptosis via the miR-30a-5p/ATG5 axis.

Berberine (BBR) is an effective drug against liver fibrosis (LF). Autophagy is involved in the pathogenesis of LF; however, the mechanism linking BBR to autophagy in LF remains unresolved. To explore the underlying mechanism, we assessed the effects of BBR on autophagy and apoptosis of activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in vitro and in a murine model of fibrosis. The decreased expression of the autophagy activation marker ATG5, autophagosome formation, and autophagy flux in the HSC model confirmed that BBR inhibited autophagy in activated HSCs and in mice with liver fibrosis. Moreover, ATG5 was necessary for inducing autophagy and HSC activation. BBR suppressed ATG5 expression by upregulating miR-30a-5p expression, which affected the stability of ATG5 mRNA by binding to its 3'-untranslated region, an effect that was attenuated by treatment with a miR-30a-5p inhibitor. BBR also markedly induced HSC apoptosis, as indicated by the upregulated expression of the pro-apoptosis markers p53, BAX, and cleaved PARP and the downregulated expression of the anti-apoptosis marker BCL-2, effects that were reversed by ATG5 overexpression. In vivo, BBR improved mouse LF by decreasing collagen deposition, inflammatory cell infiltration, and expression of fibrosis markers hydroxyproline, α-smooth muscle actin, and collagen type 1-A1 and the autophagy marker LC3. BBR had a protective effect on mouse fibrotic livers and reduced serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels. Collectively, these results reveal a novel mechanism of BBR-induced autophagy inhibition triggering apoptosis in HSCs, providing a reliable experimental and theoretical basis for developing BBR-based candidate drugs for LF.

Prevalence of childhood hypertension and associated factors in Zhejiang Province: a cross-sectional analysis based on random forest model and logistic regression.

With childhood hypertension emerging as a global public health concern, understanding its associated factors is crucial. This study investigated the prevalence and associated factors of hypertension among Chinese children. This cross-sectional investigation was conducted in Pinghu, Zhejiang province, involving 2,373 children aged 8-14 years from 12 schools. Anthropometric measurements were taken by trained staff. Blood pressure (BP) was measured in three separate occasions, with an interval of at least two weeks. Childhood hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ age-, sex-, and height-specific 95th percentile, across all three visits. A self-administered questionnaire was utilized to collect demographic, socioeconomic, health behavioral, and parental information at the first visit of BP measurement. Random forest (RF) and multivariable logistic regression model were used collectively to identify associated factors. Additionally, population attributable fractions (PAFs) were calculated. The prevalence of childhood hypertension was 5.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.1-5.9%). Children with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 85th percentile were grouped into abnormal weight, and those with waist circumference (WC) > 90th percentile were sorted into central obesity. Normal weight with central obesity (NWCO, adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 5.04, 95% CI: 1.96-12.98), abnormal weight with no central obesity (AWNCO, aOR = 4.60, 95% CI: 2.57-8.21), and abnormal weight with central obesity (AWCO, aOR = 9.94, 95% CI: 6.06-16.32) were associated with an increased risk of childhood hypertension. Childhood hypertension was attributable to AWCO mostly (PAF: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.50-0.75), followed by AWNCO (PAF: 0.34, 95% CI: 0.19-0.51), and NWCO (PAF: 0.13, 95% CI: 0.03-0.30). Our results indicated that obesity phenotype is associated with childhood hypertension, and the role of weight management could serve as potential target for intervention.

Does younger children's social health insurance alleviate household impoverishment due to illness?

BACKGROUND: The ambitious expansion of social health insurance in China has played a crucial role in preventing and alleviating poverty caused by illness. However, there is no government-sponsored health insurance program specifically for younger children and inequities are more pronounced in healthcare utilization, medical expenditure, and satisfaction in some households with severely ill children. This study assessed the effectiveness of child health insurance in terms of alleviating poverty caused by illness. METHODS: Data were collected from two rounds of follow-up surveys using the China Family Panel Studies 2016 and 2018 child questionnaires to investigate the relationship between child health insurance and household medical impoverishment (MI). Impoverishing health expenditure (IHE) and catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) were measured to quantify "poverty due to illness" in terms of absolute and relative poverty, respectively. Propensity score matching with the difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) method, robustness tests, and heterogeneity analysis were conducted to address endogeneity issues. RESULTS: Social health insurance for children significantly reduced household impoverishment due to illness. Under the shock of illness, the incidences of IHE and CHE were significantly lower in households with insured children. The poverty alleviation mechanism transmitted by children enrolled in social health insurance was primarily driven by hospitalization reimbursements and the proportion of out-of-pocket medical payments among the total medical expenditure for children. CONCLUSIONS: Children's possession of social health insurance significantly reduced the likelihood of household poverty due to illness. The poverty-reducing effect of social medical insurance is most significant in rural areas, low-income families, no-left-behind children, and infants. Targeted poverty alleviation strategies for marginalized groups and areas would ensure the equity and efficiency of health system reforms, contributing to the goal of universal health insurance coverage in China.

A Light Multi-View Stereo Method with Patch-Uncertainty Awareness.

Multi-view stereo methods utilize image sequences from different views to generate a 3D point cloud model of the scene. However, existing approaches often overlook coarse-stage features, impacting the final reconstruction accuracy. Moreover, using a fixed range for all the pixels during inverse depth sampling can adversely affect depth estimation. To address these challenges, we present a novel learning-based multi-view stereo method incorporating attention mechanisms and an adaptive depth sampling strategy. Firstly, we propose a lightweight, coarse-feature-enhanced feature pyramid network in the feature extraction stage, augmented by a coarse-feature-enhanced module. This module integrates features with channel and spatial attention, enriching the contextual features that are crucial for the initial depth estimation. Secondly, we introduce a novel patch-uncertainty-based depth sampling strategy for depth refinement, dynamically configuring depth sampling ranges within the GRU-based optimization process. Furthermore, we incorporate an edge detection operator to extract edge features from the reference image's feature map. These edge features are additionally integrated into the iterative cost volume construction, enhancing the reconstruction accuracy. Lastly, our method is rigorously evaluated on the DTU and Tanks and Temples benchmark datasets, revealing its low GPU memory consumption and competitive reconstruction quality compared to other learning-based MVS methods.

WoodenCube: An Innovative Dataset for Object Detection in Concealed Industrial Environments.

With the rapid advancement of intelligent manufacturing technologies, the operating environments of modern robotic arms are becoming increasingly complex. In addition to the diversity of objects, there is often a high degree of similarity between the foreground and the background. Although traditional RGB-based object-detection models have achieved remarkable success in many fields, they still face the challenge of effectively detecting targets with textures similar to the background. To address this issue, we introduce the WoodenCube dataset, which contains over 5000 images of 10 different types of blocks. All images are densely annotated with object-level categories, bounding boxes, and rotation angles. Additionally, a new evaluation metric, Cube-mAP, is proposed to more accurately assess the detection performance of cube-like objects. In addition, we have developed a simple, yet effective, framework for WoodenCube, termed CS-SKNet, which captures strong texture features in the scene by enlarging the network's receptive field. The experimental results indicate that our CS-SKNet achieves the best performance on the WoodenCube dataset, as evaluated by the Cube-mAP metric. We further evaluate the CS-SKNet on the challenging DOTAv1.0 dataset, with the consistent enhancement demonstrating its strong generalization capability.

[Temporal trend of the global prevalence rate of tension-type headache in children and adolescents in 1990-2021]. / 1990­2021å¹´å ¨çƒå„¿ç«¥é’å°‘å¹´ç´§å¼ æ€§å¤´ç—›æ‚£ç— çŽ‡æ—¶é—´å˜åŒ–è¶‹åŠ¿ç ”ç©¶.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of tension-type headache (TTH) in children and adolescents aged 0-19 years globally in 1990-2021, and to provide a basis for the prevention and treatment of TTH. METHODS: Based on the Global Burden of Disease Study data, the age-standardized prevalence distribution of TTH and its changing trend were analyzed among the children and adolescents aged 0-19 years, with different sexes, age groups, sociodemographic index (SDI) regions and countries/territories. RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR) of TTH in children and adolescents aged 0-19 globally in 2021 was 17 339.89/100 000, which was increased by 1.73% since 1990. The ASPR in females was slightly higher than that in males (1990: 17 707.65/100 000 vs 16 403.78/100 000; 2021: 17 946.29/100 000 vs 16 763.09/100 000). The ASPR in adolescence was significantly higher than that in school-aged and preschool periods (1990: 27 672.04/100 000 vs 10 134.16/100 000; 2021: 28 239.04/100 000 vs 10 059.39/100 000). Regions with high SDI exhibited a higher ASPR than the other regions, with significant differences in prevalence rates across different countries. From 1990 to 2021, there was a slight increase in global ASPR, with an average annual percentage change (AAPC) of 0.06%. Females experienced a smaller increase than males based on AAPC (0.04% vs 0.07%). There was reduction in ASPR in preschool and school-aged groups, with an AAPC of -0.02%, while there was a significant increase in ASPR in adolescence, with an AAPC of 0.07%. ASPR decreased in regions with low-middle and low levels of SDI, with an AAPC of -0.02% and -0.04%, respectively, while it increased in regions with middle SDI, with an AAPC of 0.24%. CONCLUSIONS: There is a consistent increase in the ASPR of TTH in children and adolescents aged 0-19 years globally, with significant differences across sexes, age groups, SDI regions and countries/territories.

Trends and projections of inflammatory bowel disease at the global, regional and national levels, 1990-2050: a bayesian age-period-cohort modeling study.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a global health concern with varying levels and trends across countries and regions. Understanding these differences is crucial for effective prevention and treatment strategies. METHODS: Using data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study, we examine IBD incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rates in 198 countries from 1990 to 2019. To assess changes in the burden of IBD, estimated annual percentage changes (EAPC) were calculated, and a Bayesian age-period-cohort model was used to predict the future 30-year trends of IBD. RESULTS: In 2019, there were 405,000 new IBD cases globally (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 361,000 to 457,000), with 41,000 deaths (95% UI 35,000 to 45,000) and 1.62million DALYs (95% UI 1.36-1.92million). The global age-standardized incidence rate in 2019 was 4.97 per 100,000 person-years (95% UI 4.43 to 5.59), with a mortality rate of 0.54 (95% UI 0.46 to 0.59) and DALYs rate of 20.15 (95% UI 16.86 to 23.71). From 1990 to 2019, EAPC values for incidence, mortality, and DALYs rates were - 0.60 (95% UI - 0.73 to - 0.48), - 0.69 (95% UI - 0.81 to - 0.57), and - 1.04 (95% UI - 1.06 to - 1.01), respectively. Overall, the burden of IBD has shown a slow decline in recent years. In SDI stratification, regions with higher initial SDI (high-income North America and Central Europe) witnessed decreasing incidence and mortality rates with increasing SDI, while regions with lower initial SDI (South Asia, Oceania, and Latin America) experienced a rapid rise in incidence but a decrease in mortality with increasing SDI. Predictions using a Bayesian model showed lower new cases and deaths from 2020 to 2050 than reference values, while the slope of the predicted incidence-time curve closely paralleled that of the 2019 data. CONCLUSION: Increasing cases, deaths, and DALYs highlight the sustained burden of IBD on public health. Developed countries have stabilized or declining incidence rates but face high prevalence and societal burden. Emerging and developing countries experience rising incidence. Understanding these changes aids policymakers in effectively addressing IBD challenges in different regions and economic contexts.

Spatial structure of the non-integrable discrete defocusing Hirota equation.

In this paper, we investigate the spatial property of the non-integrable discrete defocusing Hirota equation utilizing a planar nonlinear discrete dynamical map method. We construct the periodic orbit solutions of the stationary discrete defocusing Hirota equation. The behavior of the orbits in the vicinity of the special periodic solution is analyzed by taking advantage of the named residue. We characterize the effects of the parameters on the aperiodic orbits with the aid of numerical simulations. A comparison with the non-integrable discrete defocusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation case reveals that the non-integrable discrete defocusing Hirota equation has more abundant spatial properties. Rather an interesting and novel thing is that for any initial value, there exists triperiodic solutions for a reduced map.

Prefrontal control of social influence in risk decision making.

To optimize our decisions, we may change our mind by utilizing social information. Here, we examined how changes of mind were modulated by Social Misalignment Sensitivity (SMS), egocentric tendency, and decision preferences in a decision-making paradigm including both risk and social information. Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging with computational modeling, we showed that both SMS and egocentric tendency modulated changes of mind under the influence of social information. While SMS was represented in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and superior parietal gyrus (SPG) in the socially aligned situation, a distributed brain network was activated in the misaligned condition, including not only the dACC and SPG but also superior frontal gyrus and precuneus. These results suggest that SMS is related to a monitoring brain system, the scope of which varies according to the level of misalignment with social majority. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex selectively interacted with SMS among the participants with a low switching threshold, indicating that its regulation on SMS may be sensitive to inter-individual variation. Our findings highlight the predominant roles of SMS and the prefrontal control system towards changes of mind under social influence.

Quality and efficiency of a standardized e-handover system for pediatric nursing: A prospective interventional study.

AIM: This study examined the effect on pediatric nursing handover quality and efficiency when a standardized e-handover system was implemented. BACKGROUND: Handover quality is an important aspect of nursing quality management; however, handover quality among nursing staff is poor. METHODS: A prospective interventional study was carried out in a general pediatrics ward from December 2019 to November 2020. The tools included a standardized e-handover system. The intervention strategies included workflow remodeling and employee training on oral handover using the standardized e-handover system. RESULTS: The omission frequency of critical handover elements decreased from 47.32% to 2.94% (p < .01), among which the omission frequencies of nine out of 16 key elements significantly decreased. Integrity also showed improvement. Specifically, the integrity of five types of critical information was significantly improved, including vital signs, signs and symptoms, laboratory test results, radiologic examination results, and treatment regimen (2.00 vs. 5.00, p < .01; 3.00 vs. 5.00, p < .01; 3.00 vs. 5.00, p < .01; 5.00 vs. 5.00, p = .009; 3.00 vs. 4.00, p < .01, respectively). Information accuracy was 100%. Workflow and efficiency significantly improved, communication duration with patient/family during work hours significantly increased (24.00 vs. 56.00, p < .01), and prehandover preparation duration significantly decreased (32.00 vs. 2.50, p < .01). Nurse handover satisfaction showed improvement (56.88 ± 15.08 vs. 74.31 ± 9.22, p < .01). CONCLUSION: The standardized e-handover system effectively improved nurse handover quality, optimized workflow, increased work efficiency, and promoted teamwork. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Standardized e-handover systems have great potential for ensuring the safety of pediatric patients and improving the quality of handover.

Profiles of liver function abnormalities in elderly patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019.

BACKGROUND: The profiles of liver function abnormalities in COVID-19 patients need to be clarified. METHODS: In this retrospective study, consecutive COVID-19 patients over 60 years old in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from January 1 to February 6 were included. Data of demographics, clinical characteristics, comorbidities, laboratory tests, medications and outcomes were collected and analysed. Sequential alterations of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were monitored. RESULTS: A total of 330 patients were included and classified into two groups with normal (n = 234) or elevated ALT (n = 96). There were fewer females (40.6% vs 54.7%, P = .020) and more critical cases (30.2% vs 19.2%, P = .026) in patients with elevated ALT compared with the normal group. Higher levels of bacterial infection indices (eg, white blood cell count, neutrophil count, C-reactive protein and procalcitonin) were observed in the elevated group. Spearman correlation showed that both ALT and AST levels were positively correlated with those indices of bacterial infection. No obvious effects of medications on ALT abnormalities were found. In patients with elevated ALT, most ALT elevations were mild and transient. 59.4% of the patients had ALT concentrations of 41-100 U/L, while only a few patients (5.2%) had high serum ALT concentrations above 300 U/L. ALT elevations occurred at 13 (10-17) days and recovered at 28 (18-35) days from disease onset. For most patients, the elevation of serum ALT levels occurred at 6-20 days after disease onset and reached their peak values within a similar time frame. The recovery of serum ALT levels to normal frequently occurred at 16-20 days or 31-35 days after disease onset. CONCLUSIONS: Liver function abnormalities were observed in 29.1% of elderly people COVID-19 patients, which were slightly and transient in most cases. Liver function abnormalities in COVID-19 may be correlated with bacterial infection.

Developmental neurotoxicity and toxic mechanisms induced by olaquindox in zebrafish.

Olaquindox (OLA) has been widely used as an animal feed additive in China for decades; however, its toxicity and toxic mechanisms have not been well investigated. In this study, the developmental neurotoxicity and toxic mechanisms of OLA were evaluated in zebrafish. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to different concentrations of OLA (25-1,000 mg/L) from 6 to 120 hours post fertilization (hpf). OLA exposure resulted in many abnormal phenotypes in zebrafish, including shortened body length, notochord degeneration, spinal curvature, brain apoptosis, damage of axon and peripheral motor neuron, and hepatotoxicity. Interestingly, OLA increased zebrafish spontaneous tail coiling, while reduced locomotor capacity. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) showed that the expression levels of nine marker genes for nervous system functions or development, namely, α1-tubulin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (gfap), myelin basic protein (mbp), synapsinII a (syn2a), sonic hedgehog a (shha), encoding HuC (elavl3), mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (manf) growth associated protein 43 (gap43), and acetylcholinesterase (ache) were all down-regulated significantly in zebrafish after treated with OLA. Besides, the anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic genes bcl-2/bax ratio was reduced. These results show that OLA exposure could cause severe developmental neurotoxicity in the early stages of zebrafish life and OLA might induce neurotoxicity by inhibiting the expression of neuro-developmental genes and promoting apoptosis.

MicroRNA-665 Regulates Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells by Targeting TGFBR1.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the heavy health burdens worldwide. Aberrant proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) contributes to the occurrence and development of CAD. This study aimed at exploring differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) and their regulatory mechanisms in the development of CAD.The miRNA expression profile of GSE28858 was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) between CAD and healthy control samples were analyzed using limma package in R. Target genes of DEmiRNAs were predicted, and a miRNA-target gene network was constructed. The relationship between miR-665 and transforming growth factor beta receptor 1 (TGFBR1) was selected for further analysis. The interaction between miR-665 and TGFBR1 was confirmed by dual luciferase reporter assay. Effects of miR-665 on cell viability and apoptosis of VSMCs were evaluated by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Besides, western blot assays for BCL2L11 and caspase 3 were also conducted.A total of 38 upregulated miRNAs and 28 downregulated miRNAs were identified. The expression level of miR-665 was significantly downregulated in patients with CAD. TGFBR1 was proved to be a target gene of miR-665. Besides, ectopic expression of miR-665 obviously inhibited VSMC growth and promoted VSMC apoptosis. TGFBR1 overexpression in VSMCs transfected with miR-665 mimic could restore the effect of miR-665 on the proliferation and apoptosis of VSMCs.MiR-665 might participate in the proliferation and apoptosis of VSMCs by targeting TGFBR1.

The levels of bioactive ingredients in Citrus aurantium L. at different harvest periods and antioxidant effects on H2 O2 -induced RIN-m5F cells.

BACKGROUND: Citrus aurantium L. (Aurantii fructus) is a multi-purpose citrus fruit with high medicinal and nutritional value, but currently there are no data that can be used to investigate the appropriate harvest time to obtain high-quality citrus bioactive ingredients from it. RESULTS: Phytochemicals and the levels of the main bioactive ingredients were investigated by ultra high performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF/MS). The flavanone, polymethoxyflavone, coumarin, synephrine, and limonin content in the citrus fruit was analyzed at different harvest periods, and significant differences, ranging from 0.03 ± 0.01 to 116.26 ± 40.20 g kg-1 (DW), were shown. These compounds were present in higher amounts in June and then decreased gradually, while the biomass accumulation of most of them showed an increasing tendency around harvest time. The H2 O2 -induced RIN-m5F cells model was employed to evaluate their antioxidant capacity. Citrus fruit harvested from June 11 to July 7 possessed an excellent antioxidant capacity by inhibiting the intensity of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) (P < 0.01) and improving superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH) activity (P < 0.01). The chemical composition and antioxidant capacity of citrus leaves, stems, and roots were also evaluated, and these showed great variation compared with other citrus fruits. Multivariate statistical analysis indicated that harvesting time was related closely to the phytochemical contents and antioxidant capacity. CONCLUSION: Citrus fruit can be appropriately harvested from June to early July when the levels of bioactive ingredients and antioxidant activity reach higher values. This research provides practical information for producing high-quality citrus products. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

[Effects of different alveolar bone finite element models on the biomechanical responses of periodontal ligament].

In the study of oral orthodontics, the dental tissue models play an important role in finite element analysis results. Currently, the commonly used alveolar bone models mainly have two kinds: the uniform and the non-uniform models. The material of the uniform model was defined with the whole alveolar bone, and each mesh element has a uniform mechanical property. While the material of the elements in non-uniform model was differently determined by the Hounsfield unit (HU) value of computed tomography (CT) images where the element was located. To investigate the effects of different alveolar bone models on the biomechanical responses of periodontal ligament (PDL), a clinical patient was chosen as the research object, his mandibular canine, PDL and two kinds of alveolar bone models were constructed, and intrusive force of 1 N and moment of 2 Nmm were exerted on the canine along its root direction, respectively, which were used to analyze the hydrostatic stress and the maximal logarithmic principal strain of PDL under different loads. Research results indicated that the mechanical responses of PDL had been affected by alveolar bone models, no matter the canine translation or rotation. Compared to the uniform model, if the alveolar bone was defined as the non-uniform model, the maximal stress and strain of PDL were decreased by 13.13% and 35.57%, respectively, when the canine translation along its root direction; while the maximal stress and strain of PDL were decreased by 19.55% and 35.64%, respectively, when the canine rotation along its root direction. The uniform alveolar bone model will induce orthodontists to choose a smaller orthodontic force. The non-uniform alveolar bone model can better reflect the differences of bone characteristics in the real alveolar bone, and more conducive to obtain accurate analysis results.

Predicting the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: wavelet transforming radiomics in MRI.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of wavelet-transformed radiomic MRI in predicting the pathological complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). METHODS: Fifty-five female patients with LABC who underwent contrast-enhanced MRI (CE-MRI) examination prior to NAC were collected for the retrospective study. According to the pathological assessment after NAC, patient responses to NAC were categorized into pCR and non-pCR. Three groups of radiomic textures were calculated in the segmented lesions, including (1) volumetric textures, (2) peripheral textures, and (3) wavelet-transformed textures. Six models for the prediction of pCR were Model I: group (1), Model II: group (1) + (2), Model III: group (3), Model IV: group (1) + (3), Model V: group (2) + (3), and Model VI: group (1) + (2) + (3). The performance of predicting models was compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (AUC). RESULTS: The AUCs of the six models for the prediction of pCR were 0.816 ± 0.033 (Model I), 0.823 ± 0.020 (Model II), 0.888 ± 0.025 (Model III), 0.876 ± 0.015 (Model IV), 0.885 ± 0.030 (Model V), and 0.874 ± 0.019 (Model VI). The performance of four models with wavelet-transformed textures (Models III, IV, V, and VI) was significantly better than those without wavelet-transformed textures (Model I and II). In addition, the inclusion of volumetric textures or peripheral textures or both did not result in any improvements in performance. CONCLUSIONS: Wavelet-transformed textures outperformed volumetric and/or peripheral textures in the radiomic MRI prediction of pCR to NAC for patients with LABC, which can potentially serve as a surrogate biomarker for the prediction of the response of LABC to NAC.