Abnormal Thalamo-Cortical Interactions in Overlapping Communities of Migraine: An Edge Functional Connectivity Study.

OBJECTIVE: Migraine has been demonstrated to exhibit abnormal functional connectivity of large-scale brain networks, which is closely associated with its pathophysiology and has not yet been explored by edge functional connectivity. We used an edge-centric approach combined with motif analysis to evaluate higher-order communication patterns of brain networks in migraine. METHODS: We investigated edge-centric metrics in 108 interictal migraine patients and 71 healthy controls. We parcellated the brain into networks using independent component analysis. We applied edge graph construction, k-means clustering, community overlap detection, graph-theory-based evaluations, and clinical correlation analysis. We conducted motif analysis to explore the interactions among regions, and a classification model to test the specificity of edge-centric results. RESULTS: The normalized entropy of lateral thalamus was significantly increased in migraine, which was positively correlated with the baseline headache duration, and negatively correlated with headache duration reduction following preventive medications at 3-month follow-up. Network-wise entropy of the sensorimotor network was significantly elevated in migraine. The community similarity between lateral thalamus and postcentral gyrus was enhanced in migraine. Migraine patients showed overrepresented L-shape and diverse motifs, and underrepresented forked motifs with lateral thalamus serving as the reference node. Furthermore, migraine patients presented with overrepresented L-shape triads, where the postcentral gyrus shared different edges with the lateral thalamus. The classification model showed that entropy of the lateral thalamus had the highest discriminative power, with an area under the curve of 0.86. INTERPRETATION: Our findings indicated an abnormal higher-order thalamo-cortical communication pattern in migraine patients. The thalamo-cortical-somatosensory disturbance of concerted working may potentially lead to aberrant information flow and deficit pain processing of migraine. ANN NEUROL 2023;94:1168-1181.

Acupuncture for Subthreshold Depression: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Subthreshold depression refers to a state of mental sub-health that has depressive symptoms but does not meet the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder. It is a strong risk factor for depression and is related to an increase in suicide and mortality. Studies suggest that acupuncture may be effective in the treatment of subthreshold depression, but no evidence has proven that the efficacy of acupuncture for subthreshold depression is a specific therapeutic effect or a placebo effect. METHODS: This will be a prospective, randomized, controlled, and double-blind study of 64 patients with subthreshold depression. They will be randomly assigned as verum or minimal acupuncture group members. Patients in the verum acupuncture group will receive acupuncture at the acupoints, and those in the minimal acupuncture group will receive minimal acupuncture at non-acupoints. The interventions will be delivered over an 8-week period. The primary outcome measure will be the Hamilton Depression Scale-17 (HAMD-17). The secondary outcome measures will be the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), and SF-12v2 Health Survey. The assessments will occur at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and during a follow-up period. DISCUSSION: The protocol uses a randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of acupuncture for subthreshold depression and to further study the mechanisms of its effect.

Physicochemical, functional and emulsion properties of edible protein from avocado (Persea americana Mill.) oil processing by-products.

Avocado (Persea americana) is a tropical fruit that has drawn great interest its oil for foods and cosmetic industries; however, avocado oil processing by-product is a potential source of edible protein. Herein, edible protein was prepared from defatted avocado meal, and it's physicochemical, functional and emulsion properties were investigated. The avocado protein showed U-shaped exhibiting strong effect of pH, and a minimum solubility being observed at pH 4.5, confirming the isoelectric point of avocado protein. Nutritionally, the avocado protein contains all the essential amino acids. Avocado protein provided higher water and oil absorption capacities, higher radical scavenging capacity but lower in-vitro digestibility compared with soy protein. Furthermore, the avocado protein as emulsifier afforded a stability oil-in-water emulsion system, resulting in a greater emulsifying stability than that of soy protein. The present results highlight the potential source of edible protein from avocado oil processing by-products for functional food ingredients.

Shenmai injection enhances the cytotoxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs against colorectal cancers via improving their subcellular distribution.

Shenmai injection (SMI) is a Chinese patent-protected injection, which was mainly made of Red Ginseng and Radix Ophiopogonis and widely used for treating coronary heart disease and tumors by boosting Qi and nourishing Yin. In this study we examined whether SMI could produce direct synergetic effects on the cytoxicity of adriamycin (ADR) and paclitaxel (PTX) in colorectal cancers in vivo and in vitro, and explored the underlying pharmacokinetic mechanisms. BALB/c nude mice with LoVo colon cancer xenografts were intraperitoneally injected with ADR (2 mg·kg-1·3d-1) or PTX (7.5 mg·kg-1·3d-1) with or without SMI (0.01 mL·g-1·d-1) for 13 d. Co-administration of SMI significantly enhanced the chemotherapeutic efficacy of ADR and PTX, whereas administration of SMI alone at the given dosage did not produce visible anti-cancer effects, The chemosensitizing action of SMI was associated with increased concentrations of ADR and PTX in the plasma and tumors. In Caco-2 and LoVo cells in vitro, co-treatment with SMI (2 µL/mL) significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity of ADR and PTX, and resulted in some favorable pharmacokinetic changes in the subcellular distribution of ADR and PTX. In addition, SMI-induced intracellular accumulation of ADR was closely correlated with the increased expression levels of P-glycoprotein in 4 colon cancer cell lines (r2=+0.8558). SMI enhances the anti-cancer effects of ADR and PTX in colon cancers in vivo and in vitro by improving the subcellular distributions of ADR and PTX.

[Responses of the Benthic Diatom Community to Nutrients and the Identification of Nutrient Thresholds in Three Aquatic Ecoregions of the Huntai River, Northeast China].

Benthic diatom communities and nutrient gradients were investigated from 287 sampling sites in three aquatic ecoregions (AE) of the Huntai River to characterize the spatial distribution of nutrients and the benthic diatom communities. Locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOWESS) was used to analyze the thresholds for nitrogen and phosphorus. The results showed that:① The concentration of ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus significantly differs in the three AEs, and shows a tendency of AEⅠ < AE Ⅱ < AE Ⅲ. ② To reveal the structure of benthic diatom communities, various benthic diatom indexes, including the sportive diatom percentage, sensitive diatom percentage, stipitate diatom percentage, Pielou evenness index, specific polluosensitivity index (IPS), biological diatom index (IBD), and generic diatom index (IDG) were analyzed. The sportive diatom percentage varied significantly in AEI, AEⅡ, and AE Ⅲ, with the highest percentage observed in AEⅢ and the lowest in AEⅠ. However, the other six indexes exhibited an opposite trend. All revealed that AE Ⅲ has been seriously damaged, while AEⅠ is less disturbed than AEⅡ and AE Ⅲ. ③ LOWESS fitting curves show thresholds for ammonia nitrogen (NH4+ -N) in the three aquatic ecoregions as 0.13, 0.30, and 1.98 mg·L-1, respectively and for total phosphorous (TP) were 0.04, 0.06, and 0.20 mg·L-1. All results were tested by independent-sample T tests. This study will provide assistance for effectively protecting the benthic diatom community in different aquatic ecoregions and also provide a theoretical basis for water management.

Efficacy of Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation Combined with Biofeedback Therapy in Patients with Functional Constipation.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: A large number of studies have shown that function constipation (FC) has an extremely high incidence of mental and psychological disorders. Cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) was applied to the treatment of psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression. We explored the effects of CES combined with biofeedback therapy (BFT) on the psychological state, clinical symptoms, and anorectal function in patients with FC. METHODS: A total of 74 patients with FC were randomly divided into 2 groups. The control group received BFT. CES combined with BFT was carried out in the experiment group. All patients were assessed using the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), self-rating depression scale (SDS), and Wexner constipation score at baseline and the end of each course. Anorectal manometry and balloon expulsion tests were performed before and after treatment. RESULTS: After treatment, the participants in the experiment group had significantly lower score SAS, SDS, and Wexner constipation scores than the control group (all P < 0.05). The number of successful expulsion in the experiment group was larger than the control group (P = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: CES combined with BFT was effective in improving the psychological status of anxiety, depression, and bowel symptoms in patients with FC.

The effect of continuous nursing intervention guided by chronotherapeutics on ambulatory blood pressure of older hypertensive patients in the community.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore the effect of continuous nursing intervention guided by chronotherapeutics so as to provide the easy, noninvasive, effective and acceptable intervention for older hypertensive patients in the community. BACKGROUND: Many researchers studied the effect of administration at different times on blood pressure control and circadian rhythm. However, the individual administrative time was set ambiguously in previous studies. DESIGN: A semi-experimental study. METHODS: In the study, 90 eligible patients were recruited and separated into three groups randomly, which were the control group, intervention group A (behaviour and chronotherapy intervention) and intervention group B (behaviour intervention). At 6 and 12 months after the study, the intervention groups were measured 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. RESULTS: There were significant differences in ambulatory blood pressure monitoring parameters of the two intervention groups at different measurement times, and there were interaction between measurement time and different groups. The number of patients with dipper increased and reverse dipper decreased in group A as the intervention applied. There were statistical differences between two groups. The number of patients with morning surge in group A decreased more, and there were statistical differences between two groups at six months after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The behaviour and chronotherapy intervention based on the patients' ambulatory blood pressure monitoring can control casual blood pressure much better and last longer, which can also improve patients' indexes of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring better than behaviour intervention only. The behaviour and chronotherapy intervention can increase patients' nocturnal blood pressure drop, increase the number of patients with dipper and decrease reverse dipper, and improve blood pressure surge in the morning. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses can use continuous nursing intervention guided by chronotherapeutics to help improve hypertension of older patients better in the community.

Effect on blood pressure of a continued nursing intervention using chronotherapeutics for adult Chinese hypertensive patients.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: (1) To explore the effect of continued nursing intervention on hypertensive patients based on chronotherapeutics. (2) To identify the factors affecting hypertensive patients' compliance to the chronotherapeutics-oriented nursing interventions. BACKGROUND: Chronotherapy provides a means of individual treatment for hypertension according to the circadian blood-pressure profile of each patient and constitutes a new option in optimising blood-pressure control and reducing risk from hypertension. DESIGN: Experimental study. METHODS: All participants enrolled were randomly divided into the intervention group and the control group and they all took antihypertensive medicine prescribed by their doctors under ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. According to individual ambulatory blood pressure monitoring measures, interventions were implemented. RESULTS: (1) There were significant differences in blood pressure and compliance to chronotherapeutics between the two groups before and after the intervention. (2) Single variant and multiple factors analysis revealed different characteristics influencing chronotherapeutic compliance of hypertensive patients. CONCLUSIONS: Under ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, continued nursing intervention for hypertensive patients guided by chronotherapeutics could effectively improve blood-pressure control and chronotherapeutic compliance. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Health care providers who deal with Chinese hypertensive patients can improve patients' therapeutic compliance and blood pressure control guided by chronotherapeutics. According to different influencing factors on patients' chronotherapeutic compliance nurses should pay more attention to those whose compliance might be worse.

Investigation of the alterations in cellular electrophysiology underlying ventricular arrhythmia in dogs with the multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS)-specific cellular electrophysiological changes have so far not been reported and it seemed unlikely that they were related to arrhythmogenesis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twelve dogs, weight 12 +/- 2 kg, were divided into a control group (n = 6) and an MODS group (n = 6). MODS lasting for 72 h was induced by the 'two-hit' method in 6 dogs. Ventricular myocytes were enzymatically isolated. Early afterdepolarizations (EADs), action potential duration (APD) and L-type calcium currents (ICa,L) were assessed. Sinus arrhythmias in all MODS dogs (100%; 6 of 6) and premature ventricular beats in 4 MODS dogs (66%; 4 of 6) were recorded, while no arrhythmias were found in the control animals. The prolongation of the APD was associated with a decreased ICa,L, and frequently provoked EADs were the typical electrophysiological alterations in the myocytes of MODS dogs. The action potential prolongation was shortened, the ICa,L blocked and EAD suppressed by using verapamil (100 micromol/l) in the myocytes of MODS dogs (66%; 4 of 6). CONCLUSION: The changes in cellular electrophysiology within 72 h in the heart of MODS dogs are APD prolongation, markedly decreased ICa,L as well as frequently provoked EAD, the most common types of arrhythmia being sinus arrhythmia and premature ventricular beats. This study suggests that verapamil appears to be an effective agent in reversing alterations in cellular electrophysiology at the early stage of MODS.

[Expression of truncated fragment of human OPG in CHO-DHFR- cells and its bioactivity characterization].

AIM: To obtain high level expression of recombinant human truncated osteoprotegerin (TOPG) with higher bioactivity in CHO-DHFR(-) cells. METHODS: The recombinant vector pcDNA3.1/DHFR-TOPG was constructed and transfected into CHO-DHFR(-) cells by the directions of LipofectAMINE 2000 for stable expression. The stable expression cell strains were screened by selective medium IMDM with 50 mL/L FCS, then serially passed in methotraxate (MTX) for gene amplification. The expression were analyzed by ELISA and RT-PCR. At last, the bioactivity analysis was performed in vitro. RESULTS: The expression level of recombinant truncated human OPG was up to 6 mg/L x 72 h, and it had significant suppression effect on the formation of OLC (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Recombinant truncated human OPG has high expression and bioactivity. The results make it possible for further studying and clinical implying of OPG.

[Studies on chemical constituents of Sorbaria sorbifolia].

OBJECTIVE: To study the chemical constituents in the medicative part of Sorbaria sorbifolia. METHOD: By means of silica gel re-chromatography and thin layer chromatography, chemical constituents from the CHCl3 and EtOAc extract of the medicative part of S. sorbifolia were studied and their structures were identified by their physical-chemical constants, spectral analysis and comparison with the authorized samples. RESULTS: Eight compounds were obtained and identified as follows: noreugenin (I), wogonin (II), 5,7,3',4'-tetrahydroxy-3-methoxyflavone (III), protocatechuic acid (IV), benzoic acid (V), p-hydroxy benzoic acid (VI), emodin (VII) and daucosterol (VIII). CONCLUSION: All of the compounds were isolated from this genus for the first time.