Olfactory Dysfunction as a Marker for Cognitive Impairment in General Paresis of the Insane: A Clinical Study.

BACKGROUND General paresis of the insane (GPI) is characterized by cognitive impairment, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and brain structural abnormalities, mimicking many neuropsychiatric diseases. Olfactory dysfunction has been linked to cognitive decline and neuropsychiatric symptoms in numerous neuropsychiatric diseases. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether patients with GPI experience olfactory dysfunction and whether olfactory dysfunction is associated with their clinical manifestations. MATERIAL AND METHODS Forty patients with GPI and 37 healthy controls (HCs) underwent the "Sniffin Sticks" test battery, Mini-Mental State Examination, and Neuropsychiatric Inventory to measure olfactory function, cognitive function, and neuropsychiatric symptoms, respectively. Brain structural abnormalities were evaluated using visual assessment scales including the medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) visual rating scale and Fazekas scale. RESULTS Compared with HCs, patients with GPI exhibited significant olfactory dysfunction, as indicated by deficits in the odor threshold (OT) (P=0.001), odor discrimination (OD) (P<0.001), and odor identification (OI) (P<0.001). In patients with GPI, the OI was positively correlated with cognitive function (r=0.57, P<0.001), but no significant correlation was found between olfactory function and neuropsychiatric symptoms, blood, or cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers (rapid plasma reagin circle card test and Treponema pallidum particle agglutination test), or brain structural abnormalities (MTA and Fazekas scale scores). Mediation analysis indicated that the impaired OI in patients with GPI was mediated by cognitive impairment and impaired OT respectively. CONCLUSIONS Patients with GPI exhibited overall olfactory dysfunction. OI is correlated with cognitive function and the impaired OI is mediated by cognitive impairment in patients with GPI. Thus, OI may serve as a marker for reflecting cognitive function in patients with GPI.

Disrupted dynamic functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions mediated the slowed information processing speed in late-life depression.

BACKGROUND: Slowed information processing speed (IPS) is the core contributor to cognitive impairment in patients with late-life depression (LLD). The hippocampus is an important link between depression and dementia, and it may be involved in IPS slowing in LLD. However, the relationship between a slowed IPS and the dynamic activity and connectivity of hippocampal subregions in patients with LLD remains unclear. METHODS: One hundred thirty-four patients with LLD and 89 healthy controls were recruited. Sliding-window analysis was used to assess whole-brain dynamic functional connectivity (dFC), dynamic fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (dfALFF) and dynamic regional homogeneity (dReHo) for each hippocampal subregion seed. RESULTS: Cognitive impairment (global cognition, verbal memory, language, visual-spatial skill, executive function and working memory) in patients with LLD was mediated by their slowed IPS. Compared with the controls, patients with LLD exhibited decreased dFC between various hippocampal subregions and the frontal cortex and decreased dReho in the left rostral hippocampus. Additionally, most of the dFCs were negatively associated with the severity of depressive symptoms and were positively associated with various domains of cognitive function. Moreover, the dFC between the left rostral hippocampus and middle frontal gyrus exhibited a partial mediation effect on the relationships between the scores of depressive symptoms and IPS. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with LLD exhibited decreased dFC between the hippocampus and frontal cortex, and the decreased dFC between the left rostral hippocampus and right middle frontal gyrus was involved in the underlying neural substrate of the slowed IPS.

Lower Dorsal Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Functional Connectivity in Late-Life Depression With Suicidal Ideation.

OBJECTIVE: The dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been identified as a neuromodulation target for alleviating suicidal ideation. Dysfunctional DLPFC has been implicated in suicidality in depression. This study aimed to investigate the functional connectivity (FC) of the DLPFC in late-life depression (LLD) with suicidal ideation. METHODS: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 32 LLD patients with suicidal ideation (LLD-S), 41 LLD patients without suicidal ideation (LLD-NS), and 54 healthy older adults (HOA) were analyzed using DLPFC seed-based FC analyses. Group differences in FC were examined, and machine learning was applied to explore the potential of DLPFC-FC for classifying LLD-S from LLD-NS. RESULTS: Abnormal DLPFC-FC patterns were observed in LLD-S, characterized by lower connectivity with the angular gyrus, precuneus, and superior frontal gyrus compared to LLD-NS and healthy controls. A classification model based on the identified DLPFC-FC achieved an accuracy of 75%. CONCLUSION: The lower FC of DLPFC networks may contribute to the neurobiological mechanism of suicidal ideation in late-life depression. These findings may facilitate suicide prevention for LLD by providing potential neuroimaging markers and network-based neuromodulation targets. However, further confirmation with larger sample sizes and experimental designs is warranted.

MiR-145 regulates steroidogenesis in mouse primary granulosa cells by targeting Arpc5 and subsequent cytoskeleton remodeling.

MicroRNA (miR)-145 is enriched in the follicular granulosa cells (GCs) of 3-week-old mice. Downregulating miR-145 inhibits the proliferation and differentiation of GCs and induces evident changes in their cytoskeleton. In this study, we examined how miR-145 induces cytoskeletal changes in mouse GCs and its potential mechanism in regulating GC steroidogenesis. We found that actin related protein 2/3 complex subunit 5 (Arpc5) is a target of miR-145. The miR-145 antagomir increased ARPC5 expression but not ß-ACTIN, ß-TUBULIN, and PAXILLIN expression. Arpc5 overexpression inhibited GC proliferation, differentiation, and progesterone synthesis. Furthermore, the expression of progesterone synthesis-associated enzymes was downregulated in the Arpc5 overexpression group, and the GC cytoskeleton exhibited evident changes. We conclude that Arpc5, a new target of miR-145, regulates primary GC proliferation and progesterone production by regulating the cytoskeleton remodeling.

Structural and Functional Abnormalities of Olfactory-Related Regions in Subjective Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer's Disease.

BACKGROUND: Odor identification (OI) dysfunction is an early marker of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it remains unclear how olfactory-related regions change from stages of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to AD dementia. METHODS: Two hundred and sixty-nine individuals were recruited in the present study. The olfactory-related regions were defined as the regions of interest, and the grey matter volume (GMV), low-frequency fluctuation, regional homogeneity (ReHo), and functional connectivity (FC) were compared for exploring the changing pattern of structural and functional abnormalities across AD, MCI, SCD, and normal controls. RESULTS: From the SCD, MCI to AD groups, the reduced GMV, increased low-frequency fluctuation, increased ReHo, and reduced FC of olfactory-related regions became increasingly severe, and only the degree of reduced GMV of hippocampus and caudate nucleus clearly distinguished the 3 groups. SCD participants exhibited reduced GMV (hippocampus, etc.), increased ReHo (caudate nucleus), and reduced FC (hippocampus-hippocampus and hippocampus-parahippocampus) in olfactory-related regions compared with normal controls. Additionally, reduced GMV of the bilateral hippocampus and increased ReHo of the right caudate nucleus were associated with OI dysfunction and global cognitive impairment, and they exhibited partially mediated effects on the relationships between OI and global cognition across all participants. CONCLUSION: Structural and functional abnormalities of olfactory-related regions present early with SCD and deepen with disease severity in the AD spectrum. The hippocampus and caudate nucleus may be the hub joining OI and cognitive function in the AD spectrum.

Cardiovascular diseases and related risk factors accelerated cognitive deterioration in patients with late-life depression: a one-year prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: Cognitive impairment in late-life depression is common and associated with a higher risk of all-cause dementia. Late-life depression patients with comorbid cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) or related risk factors may experience higher risks of cognitive deterioration in the short term. We aim to investigate the effect of CVDs and their related risk factors on the cognitive function of patients with late-life depression. METHODS: A total of 148 participants were recruited (67 individuals with late-life depression and 81 normal controls). The presence of hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, or hyperlipidemia was defined as the presence of comorbid CVDs or related risk factors. Global cognitive functions were assessed at baseline and after a one-year follow-up by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Global cognitive deterioration was defined by the reliable change index (RCI) of the MMSE. RESULTS: Late-life depression patients with CVDs or related risk factors were associated with 6.8 times higher risk of global cognitive deterioration than those without any of these comorbidities at a one-year follow-up. This result remained robust after adjusting for age, gender, and changes in the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) scores. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that late-life depression patients with comorbid CVDs or their related risk factors showed a higher risk of cognitive deterioration in the short-term (one-year follow up). Given that CVDs and their related risk factors are currently modifiable, active treatment of these comorbidities may delay rapid cognitive deterioration in patients with late-life depression.

Cognitive Impairment and Structural Abnormalities in Late Life Depression with Olfactory Identification Impairment: an Alzheimer's Disease-Like Pattern.

Background: Late-life depression patients are at a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, and diminished olfactory identification is an indicator in early screening for Alzheimer's disease in the elderly. However, whether diminished olfactory identification is associated with risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in late-life depression patients remains unclear. Methods: One hundred and twenty-five late-life depression patients, 50 Alzheimer's disease patients, and 60 normal controls were continuously recruited. The participants underwent a clinical evaluation, olfactory test, neuropsychological assessment, and neuroimaging assessment. Results: The olfactory identification impairment in late-life depression patients was milder than that in Alzheimer's disease patients. Diminished olfactory identification was significantly correlated with worse cognitive performance (global function, memory language, executive function, and attention) and reduced grey matter volume (olfactory bulb and hippocampus) in the late-life depression patients. According to a multiple linear regression analysis, olfactory identification was significantly associated with the memory scores in late-life depression group (B=1.623, P<.001). The late-life depression with olfactory identification impairment group had worse cognitive performance (global, memory, language, and executive function) and more structural abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease-related regions than the late-life depression without olfactory identification impairment group, and global cognitive function and logical memory in the late-life depression without olfactory identification impairment group was intact. Reduced volume observed in many areas (hippocampus, precuneus, etc.) in the Alzheimer's disease group was also observed in late-life depression with olfactory identification impairment group but not in the late-life depression without olfactory identification impairment group. Conclusion: The patterns of cognitive impairment and structural abnormalities in late-life depression with olfactory identification impairment patients were similar to those in Alzheimer's disease; olfactory identification may help identify late-life depression patients who are at a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Neuropsychiatric Features of Neurosyphilis: Frequency, Relationship with the Severity of Cognitive Impairment and Comparison with Alzheimer Disease.

BACKGROUND: The pattern of neuropsychiatric features of patients with neurosyphilis and the impact of the severity of cognitive impairment on neuropsychiatric syndromes are unknown. OBJECTIVE: We aim to assess the neuropsychiatric features of patients with neurosyphilis, and compare the impact of the severity of cognitive impairment on the neuropsychiatric syndromes between neurosyphilis and Alzheimer disease (AD). METHODS: Neuropsychiatric symptoms and the degree of cognitive impairment were assessed in a case-control study of 91 neurosyphilis, 162 AD, 157 mild cognitive impairment, and 139 normal controls by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) scale and Clinical Dementia Rating scale, respectively. Factor analysis was performed on the 12 NPI items. RESULTS: Factor analysis showed that patients with neurosyphilis showed more severe neuropsychiatric syndromes at the dementia stage than those neurosyphilis patients at the mild cognitive impairment stage, while neuropsychiatric manifestations were equally common among the different stages of dementia (all p < 0.05). Frontal lobe syndrome was more severe in patients with neurosyphilis than in patients with AD from the early mild cognitive impairment stage to the moderate dementia stage (all p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with neurosyphilis show different patterns of neuropsychiatric syndromes at the mild cognitive impairment and dementia stages, and differ from patients with AD.

Analysis of WNT4 polymorphism in Chinese Han women with endometriosis.

Endometriosis is a complex disease that is influenced by genetic and environmental factors. In endometriosis, WNT4 plays a likely role owing to its biological functions. In this study, the TaqMan allelic discrimination technique was used to investigate the relationship between endometriosis and four single nucleotide polymorphisms in WNT4 (rs7521902 [A/C], rs16826658 [G/T], rs7515106 [C/T] and rs2235529 [A/G]) in Chinese Han women. A total of 646 patients with endometriosis and 766 normal controls were recurited. Regression analyses revealed that rs2235529 was a risk locus for endometriosis (P = 1.80E-03, OR, 95% CI = 1.311, 1.129 to 1.522), particularly in patients with stage III and IV disease. No significant association was found between endometriosis and rs7521902 (A/C), rs16826658 (G/T), or rs7515106 (C/T). For each of the four single nucleotide polymorphisms, no association was found between patients with endometriosis-related infertility or primary infertility and the controls. The results demonstrated that WNT4 rs2235529 is associated with endometriosis in Chinese Han women, which may result in aberrant expression of WNT4, leading to the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

Hypoxia-induced circRNAs encoded by PPARA are highly expressed in human cardiomyocytes and are potential clinical biomarkers of acute myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a serious cardiovascular disease that adversely affects human health. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are involved in the pathological and physiological processes of AMI, but the biological mechanism of their involvement and their clinical significance remain unknown. We aimed to identify circRNAs that are significantly associated with morbidity in the peripheral blood of patients with AMI and evaluate their diagnostic utility. METHODS: High-throughput sequencing was used to screen for differentially expressed circRNAs in peripheral blood samples obtained from five patients with AMI and five sex- and age-matched healthy controls. A series of bioinformatics tools and databases were used to determine the biological functional classification and pathway enrichment of the circRNAs based on data obtained from sequencing. A hypoxia model was established and used to evaluate the effect of hypoxia on circRNA expression in human cardiomyocytes. A cytoplasmic separation assay and enzyme resistance assay were employed to identify the biological characteristics of circRNA. Polymerase chain reaction validity testing and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were used to evaluate the utility of circRNA assessments in the diagnosis of AMI. RESULTS: A large number of circRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in the peripheral blood of patients with AMI, and significantly more of these circRNAs were highly expressed than lowly expressed. The genes encoding these circRNAs have a wide range of effects on various functions in the body. A hypoxic environment promoted the upregulation of circRNA expression in human cardiomyocytes, and hsa_circ_0116795 encoded by PPARA was highly expressed in the peripheral blood of the patients with AMI. In terms of biological characteristics, under physiological conditions, hsa_circ_0116795 (circ_PPARA) was mainly located in the cytoplasm of cardiomyocytes and found to be resistant to exonuclease. The ROC curve analysis showed that the expression levels of circ_PPARA in the peripheral blood of patients with AMI were significantly different from those in the peripheral blood of healthy controls. CONCLUSION: A large number of abnormally expressed circRNAs are detectable in the peripheral blood of patients with AMI. In particular, circ_PPARA is highly expressed in human myocardial cells under hypoxic conditions, and its biological characteristics indicate that it could be employed as a biomarker for the early diagnosis of AMI.

Capillary-driven microchip integrated with nickel phosphide hybrid-modified electrode for the electrochemical detection of glucose.

BACKGROUND: Transition metal phosphides with properties similar to platinum metal have received increasing attention for the non-enzymatic detection of glucose. However, the requirement of highly corrosive reagent during sample pretreatment would impose a potential risk to the human body, limiting their practical applications. RESULTS: In this study, we report a self-powered microfluidic device for the non-enzymatic detection of glucose using nickel phosphide (Ni2P) hybrid as the catalyst. The Ni2P hybrid is synthesized by pyrolysis of metal-organic framework (MOF)-based precursor and in-situ phosphating process, showing two linear detection ranges (1 µM-1 mM, 1 mM-6 mM) toward glucose with the detection limit of 0.32 µM. The good performance of Ni2P hybrid for glucose is attributed to the synergistic effect of Ni2P active sites and N-doped porous carbon matrix. The microchip is integrated with a NaOH-loaded paper pad and a capillary-based micropump, enabling the automatic NaOH redissolution and delivery of sample solution into the detection chamber. Under the optimized condition, the Ni2P hybrid-based microchip realized the detection of glucose in a user-friendly way. Besides, the feasibility of using this microchip for glucose detection in real serum samples has also been validated. SIGNIFICANCE: This article presents a facile fabrication method utilizing a MOF template to synthesize a Ni2P hybrid catalyst. By leveraging the synergy between the Ni2P active sites and the N-doped carbon matrix, an exceptional electrochemical detection performance for glucose has been achieved. Additionally, a self-powered chip device has been developed for convenient glucose detection based on the pre-established high pH environment on the chip.

Abnormal levels of expression of microRNAs in peripheral blood of patients with traumatic brain injury are induced by microglial activation and correlated with severity of injury.

BACKGROUND: Microglia play a crucial role in regulating the progression of traumatic brain injury (TBI). In specific, microglia can self-activate and secrete various substances that exacerbate or alleviate the neuroimmune response to TBI. In addition, microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the functional regulation of microglia. However, molecular markers that reflect the dynamics of TBI have not yet been found in peripheral tissues. METHODS: Paired samples of peripheral blood were collected from patients with TBI before and after treatment. Next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics analysis were used to identify the main pathways and biological functions of TBI-related miRNAs in the samples. Moreover, lipopolysaccharide-treated human microglia were used to construct a cellular immune-activation model. This was combined with analysis of peripheral blood samples to screen for highly expressed miRNAs derived from activated microglia after TBI treatment. Quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the expression levels of these miRNAs, allowing their relationship with the severity of TBI to be examined. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to analyse the clinical utility of these miRNAs for determining the extent of TBI. RESULTS: Sequencing results showed that 37 miRNAs were differentially expressed in peripheral blood samples from patients with TBI before and after treatment, with 17 miRNAs being upregulated and 20 miRNAs being downregulated after treatment. The expression profiles of these miRNAs were verified in microglial inflammation models and in the abovementioned peripheral blood samples. The results showed that hsa-miR-122-5p and hsa-miR-193b-3p were highly expressed in the peripheral blood of patients with TBI after treatment and that the expression levels of these miRNAs were correlated with the patients' scores on the Glasgow Coma Scale. ROC curve analysis revealed that abnormally high levels of expression of hsa-miR-122-5p and hsa-miR-193b-3p in peripheral blood have some clinical utility for distinguishing different extents of TBI and thus could serve as biomarkers of TBI. CONCLUSION: Abnormally high levels of expression of hsa-miR-122-5p and hsa-miR-193b-3p in the peripheral blood of patients with TBI were due to the activation of microglia and correlated with the severity of TBI. This discovery may help to increase understanding of the molecular pathology of TBI and guide the development of new strategies for TBI therapy based on microglial function.

Disrupted functional connectivity of the habenula links psychomotor retardation and deficit of verbal fluency and working memory in late-life depression.

BACKGROUND: Functional abnormalities of the habenula in patients with depression have been demonstrated in an increasing number of studies, and the habenula is involved in cognitive processing. However, whether patients with late-life depression (LLD) exhibit disrupted habenular functional connectivity (FC) and whether habenular FC mediates the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment remain unclear. METHODS: Overall, 127 patients with LLD and 75 healthy controls were recruited. The static and dynamic FC between the habenula and the whole brain was compared between LLD patients and healthy controls, and the relationships of habenular FC with depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment were explored by correlation and mediation analyses. RESULTS: Compared with the controls, patients with LLD exhibited decreased static FC between the right habenula and bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG); there was no significant difference in dynamic FC of the habenula between the two groups. Additionally, the decreased static FC between the right habenula and IFG was associated with more severe depressive symptoms (especially psychomotor retardation) and cognitive impairment (language, memory, and visuospatial skills). Last, static FC between the right habenula and left IFG partially mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms (especially psychomotor retardation) and cognitive impairment (verbal fluency and working memory). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with LLD exhibited decreased static FC between the habenula and IFG but intact dynamic FC of the habenula. This decreased static FC mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment.

Static and dynamic functional connectivity of the habenula in late-life depression patient with suicidal ideation.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is one of the most lethal complications of late-life depression (LLD), and habenular dysfunction may be involved in depression-related suicidality and may serve as a potential target for alleviating suicidal ideation. This study aimed to investigate abnormal functional connectivity of the habenula in LLD patients with suicidal ideation. METHODS: One hundred twenty-seven patients with LLD (51 with suicidal ideation (LLD-S) and 76 without suicidal ideation (LLD-NS)) and 75 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. The static functional connectivity (sFC) and dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) between the habenula and the whole brain were compared among the three groups, and correlation and moderation analyses were applied to investigate whether suicidal ideation moderated the relationships of habenular FC with depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment. RESULTS: The dFC between the right habenula and the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) increased in the following order: LLD-S > LLD-NS > control. No significant difference in the habenular sFC was found among the LLD-S, LLD-NS and control groups. The dFC between the right habenula and the left OFC was positively associated with global cognitive function and visuospatial skills, and the association between this dFC and visuospatial skills was moderated by suicidal ideation in patients with LLD. CONCLUSION: The increased variability in dFC between the right habenula and left OFC was more pronounced in the LLD-S group than in the LLD-NS group, and the association between habenular-OFC dFC and visuospatial skills was moderated by suicidal ideation in patients with LLD.

Altered resting-state brain oscillation and the associated cognitive impairments in late-life depression with different depressive severity: An EEG power spectrum and functional connectivity study.

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive impairments are prevalent in late-life depression (LLD). However, it remains unclear whether there are concurrent brain oscillation alterations in resting condition across varying level of depression severity. This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the characteristics of altered resting-state oscillations, including power spectrum and functional connectivity, and their association with the cognitive impairments in LLD with different depression severity. METHODS: A total of 65 patients with LLD and 40 elder participants without depression were recruited. Global cognition and subtle cognitive domains were evaluated. A five-minute resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) was conducted under eyes-closed conditions. Measurements included the ln-transformed absolute power for power spectrum analysis and the weighted phase lag index (wPLI) for functional connectivity analysis. RESULTS: Attentional and executive dysfunction were exhibited in Moderate-Severe LLD group. Enhanced posterior upper gamma power was observed in both LLD groups. Additionally, enhanced parietal and fronto-parietal/occipital theta connectivity were observed in Moderate-Severe LLD group, which were associated with the attentional impairment. LIMITATIONS: Limitations include a small sample size, concomitant medication use, and a relatively higher proportion of females. CONCLUSIONS: Current study observed aberrant brain activity patterns in LLD across different levels of depression severity, which were linked to cognitive impairments. The altered posterior brain oscillations may be trait marker of LLD. Moreover, cognitive impairments and associated connectivity alterations were exhibited in moderate-severe group, which may be a state-like marker of moderate-to severe LLD. The study deepens understanding of cognitive impairments with the associated oscillation changes, carrying implications for neuromodulation targets in LLD.

Abnormalities in Electroencephalographic Microstates in Patients with Late-Life Depression.

Background: Late-life depression (LLD) is characterized by disrupted brain networks. Resting-state networks in the brain are composed of both stable and transient topological structures known as microstates, which reflect the dynamics of the neural activities. However, the specific pattern of EEG microstate in LLD remains unclear. Methods: Resting-state EEG were recorded for 31 patients with episodic LLD (eLLD), 20 patients with remitted LLD (rLLD) and 32 healthy controls (HCs) using a 64-channel cap. The clinical data of the patients were collected and the 17-Item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) was used for symptom assessment. Duration, occurrence, time coverage and syntax of the four microstate classes (A-D) were calculated. Group differences in EEG microstates and the relationship between microstates parameters and clinical features were analyzed. Results: Compared with NC and patients with rLLD, patients with eLLD showed increased duration and time coverage of microstate class D. Besides, a decrease in occurrence of microstate C and transition probability between microstate B and C was observed. In addition, the time coverage of microstate D was positively correlated with the total score of HAMD, core symptoms, and miscellaneous items. Conclusion: These findings suggest that disrupted EEG microstates may be associated with the pathophysiology of LLD and may serve as potential state markers for the monitoring of the disease.

Association of an oestrogen receptor gene polymorphism in Chinese Han women with endometriosis and endometriosis-related infertility.

Endometriosis is a steroid-dependent complex disease. The oestrogen receptor plays an important role by mediating oestrogen action and eutopic or ectopic endometrium development. This study investigated whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the genes for oestrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) and oestrogen receptor 2 (ESR2) are associated with endometriosis and endometriosis-related infertility. The participants included 157 infertile and 155 fertile endometriosis women as well as 92 women with primary infertility and 265 fertile women as controls. The iPLEX Gold system (MassARRAY system, Sequenom) was used for genotyping of ESR1 and ESR2. Statistical analysis showed that ESR1 (rs3798573 A/G) was significantly associated with endometriosis and endometriosis-related infertility (P=0.011, P=0.009). No association was found with ESR1 (rs1159327 A/G, rs3020348 A/C) and ESR2 (rs17179740 A/G) either for endometriosis or endometriosis-related infertility. According to the revised American Fertility Society classification, all of the detected single-nucleotide polymorphisms had no association with endometriosis in stage I-II or in stage III-IV. The results suggest that the ESR1 polymorphism rs3798573 A/G is associated with increased risk of endometriosis and endometriosis-related infertility in Han women from central China. Endometriosis is an oestrogen-dependent complex disease, which is one of the most common causes of infertility. Oestrogen receptors (ESR), which mediate oestrogen actions, are considered to play an essential role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Therefore, ESR may also play an important role in endometriosis-related infertility. To investigate the association between ESR and endometriosis or endometriosis-related infertility, detection of ESR polymorphisms have been carried out in several populations by other researchers; however, the results remain controversial. In a previous study of ours, through a pooling-based genome-wide scan of endometriosis and controls, we obtained two highly ranked single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) that were individually located in introns of the genes ESR1 and ESR2. To find more evidence of a relationship between ESR and endometriosis or endometriosis-related infertility, the current study selected for genotyping another two ESR1 SNP from a Japanese genome-wide association study in endometriosis. According to the genotypes and the patients' histories, we found that the ESR1 polymorphism rs3798573 A/G was associated with risk of endometriosis and infertile endometriosis in Han women from central China.

[Association of FOXP3 gene polymorphism in Chinese women with endometriosis].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of forkhead box P3 gene (FOXP3) and endometriosis in Chinese Han women from central China. METHODS: MassARRAY IPLEX and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) technique was used to determine the genotypes of FOXP3 gene in 314 patients with endometriosis and 358 healthy controls. RESULTS: Genotypes of C/T polymorphism for the rs2280883 locus, A/C for the rs3761548 locus, and C/T for the rs3761549 locus were determined. No significant difference was detected in distribution of genotypes CC, CT and TT (P=0.770, OR=0.960; P=0.923, OR=1.013) and frequencies of C and T alleles (P=0.772, OR=0.960; P=0.925, OR=1.013) for rs2280883 and rs3761549 between the two groups. And no significant difference was detected in distribution of genotypes AA, AC and CC (P=0.762, OR=0.958) and frequencies of A and C alleles (P=0.715, OR=0.950) for rs3761548 was detected between the two groups. Based on r-AFS classification, the patients were divided into two groups (respectively with I-II stage and III-IV stage endometriosis). Again, no significant difference was detected in distribution of genotypes CC, CT and TT (P=0.454, OR=1.198, P=0.526, OR=0.909; P=0.220, OR=0.750, P=0.548, OR=1.094) and frequencies of C and T alleles (P=0.473, OR=1.215, P=0.532, OR=0.912; P=0.204, OR=0.737, P=0.558, OR=1.089) for rs22080883 and rs3761549 loci between the two patient groups. No association was found between distribution of genotypes AA, AC and CC (P=0.431, OR=1.211; P=0.508, OR=0.905) and frequencies of A and C alleles (P=0.417, OR=1.226; P=0.516, OR=0.908) for rs3761548 locus between the two patient groups. CONCLUSION: Our study has failed to found any association between FOXP3 gene polymorphisms rs2280883, rs3761548 and rs3761549 with endometriosis in Chinese Han patients.

Identification of novel key genes associated with uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma progression and prognosis.

Background: Uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC) is a common malignant cancer type which affects the health of women worldwide. However, its molecular mechanism has not been elucidated. Methods: To identify the hub modules and genes in UCEC associated with clinical phenotypes, the RNA sequencing data and clinical data of 543 UCEC samples were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and then subjected to weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). To explore the potential biological function of the hub modules, Gene Ontology (GO) annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were conducted. Genes differentially expressed in UCEC were screened according to TCGA data using the "gdcDEAnalysis" package in R (The R Foundation for Statistical Computing). After intersecting with hub genes, the shared genes were used for further survival analyses. The relationship between gene expression level and clinical phenotype was analyzed in the TCGA-UCEC cohort in The University of ALabama at Birmingham CANcer data analysis Portal and the Human Protein Atlas. The microarray data set GSE17025 was also analyzed to validate the gene expression profiles. Results: There were 19 coexpression modules generated by WGCNA. Among them, 2 modules with 198 hub genes were highly correlated with clinical features (especially histologic grade and clinical stage). Meanwhile, 4,003 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened out, and 164 DEGs overlapped with hub genes. Survival analyses revealed that high expression of GINS4 and low expression of ESR1 showed a trend of poor prognosis. Further analyses demonstrated that both messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression profiles of GINS4 and ESR1 were significantly associated with UCEC development and progression in TCGA and GSE17025 cohorts. Conclusions: Based on the integrated bioinformatic analyses, our data indicated that GINS4 and ESR1 might serve as potential prognostic markers and targets for UCEC therapy.

Comparison of recurrence rate and risk factors in patients with focal adenomyosis with and without medical treatment after conservative surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the recurrence rate and risk factors between conservative surgery followed by medical treatments and conservative surgery-only in patients with focal adenomyosis. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted in a single teaching hospital from May 2011 to October 2016. All eligible patients were identified into three groups: surgery-only group, surgery combined with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa), and a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) group. The recurrence rate and risk factors were compared among groups using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards analyses. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was applied to determine a cut-off value for identifying recurrence-related risk factors. RESULTS: A total of 249 postoperative patients with adenomyosis were included in the final analysis with a mean of 41 months of follow up. The recurrence rate at the long-term follow up was significantly lower in intervention groups than in the surgery-only group (P = 0.011). The Cox proportional hazards and ROC analyses showed that a menstrual cycle longer than 26 days (P = 0.026), diameter of lesions <6 cm (P = 0.030), and combination treatment using GnRHa (P = 0.039) or LNG-IUS (P = 0.007) were protective against relapse. The risk of recurrence was lower in patients with anterior (P = 0.034) or fundus (P = 0.038) adenomyosis. CONCLUSION: Postoperative therapy using GnRHa or LNG-IUS decreases the long-term relapse rate in women undergoing conservative surgery.