Programmable spin and transport of a living shrimp egg through photoacoustic pressure.

In the fields of biomedicine and microfluidics, the non-contact capture, manipulation, and spin of micro-particles hold great importance. In this study, we propose a programmable non-contact manipulation technique that utilizes photoacoustic effect to spin and transport living shrimp eggs. By directing a modulated pulsed laser toward a liquid-covered stainless-steel membrane, we can excite patterned Lamb waves within the membrane. These Lamb waves occur at the interface between the membrane and the liquid, enabling the manipulation of nearby particles. Experimental results demonstrate the successful capture, spin, and transport of shrimp eggs in diameter of 220 µm over a distance of about 5 mm. Calculations indicate that the acoustic radiation force and torque generated by our photoacoustic manipulation system are more than 299.5 nN and 41.0 nN·mm, respectively. The system surpasses traditional optical tweezers in terms of force and traditional acoustic tweezers in terms of flexibility. Consequently, this non-contact manipulation system significantly expands the possibilities for applications in various fields, including embryo screening, cell manipulation, and microfluidics.

Programmable photoacoustic patterning of microparticles in air.

Optical and acoustic tweezers, despite operating on different physical principles, offer non-contact manipulation of microscopic and mesoscopic objects, making them essential in fields like cell biology, medicine, and nanotechnology. The advantages and limitations of optical and acoustic manipulation complement each other, particularly in terms of trapping size, force intensity, and flexibility. We use photoacoustic effects to generate localized Lamb wave fields capable of mapping arbitrary laser pattern shapes. By using localized Lamb waves to vibrate the surface of the multilayer membrane, we can pattern tens of thousands of microscopic particles into the desired pattern simultaneously. Moreover, by quickly and successively adjusting the laser shape, microparticles flow dynamically along the corresponding elastic wave fields, creating a frame-by-frame animation. Our approach merges the programmable adaptability of optical tweezers with the potent manipulation capabilities of acoustic waves, paving the way for wave-based manipulation techniques, such as microparticle assembly, biological synthesis, and microsystems.

Sleep deprivation during pregnancy leads to poor fetal outcomes in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Sleep deprivation is a common problem during pregnancy, but its impact on the fetus remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the effect of sleep deprivation during pregnancy on fetal outcomes and its mechanism in Sprague-Dawley rats. Sleep deprivation was performed from gestational day(GD) 1-19 using a multiplatform method for 18 h/day. Rats were sacrificed on GD20, and their blood and placentas were collected. Fetal and placental parameters were ascertained. Melatonin, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone were also measured in serum. The levels of arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AANAT) and two melatonin receptors MT1 and MT2, in placental tissues were detected by western blotting. The inflammatory status and oxidative stress in serum and placentas were investigated. Miscarriage and intrauterine growth restriction were observed in the sleep deprivation group. Sleep deprivation resulted in an increased fetal absorption rate, while fetal weight, crown-rump length and placental weight were reduced. Placental histopathology showed that the labyrinth ratio in the sleep deprivation group was significantly reduced, with hypoplastic villi and obviously decreased blood vessels. Sleep deprivation decreased melatonin in serum and the expression of AANAT, MT1 and MT2 in placental tissues, elevated the oxidative stress products 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and malondialdehyde(MDA) in serum and 4-hydroxynonenal (4HNE) in the placenta, and decreased the antioxidants superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in serum. Serum proinflammatory cytokines including interleukin-1-beta (IL-1ß), interleukin-6 (IL-6), necrotizing factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interleukin-8(IL-8), were all elevated by sleep deprivation, and the inflammatory regulatory factor nuclear factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65) in the placenta was enhanced when examined by immunohistochemistry. Corticosterone levels were comparable between the two groups, although ACTH levels were elevated significantly in the sleep deprivation group. Our study revealed that sleep deprivation during pregnancy can adversely impact fetal outcomes. Melatonin may play an important role in this pathology through the oxido-inflammatory process.

Investigation for Anxiety and Depression Situation in Couples Receiving in vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET) with Donor Sperm and Associated Influencing Factors.

Background: This study aimed to explore the current situation of anxiety and depression on day of transfer in couples receiving in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) with donor sperm and analyze its influencing factors. Methods: This study selected 187 IVF-ET administered couples who received donor sperm from our Hospital from August 2021 to July 2022. On the day of IVF-ET with donor sperm transplantation, patients were investigated with general data questionnaire, self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) to analyze their anxiety and depression scores and their influencing factors. Results: Scores of anxiety and depression on the day of transplantation in patients receiving IVF-ET with donor sperm were 43.98±6.80 and 46.03±10.61 respectively, which were higher compared to levels of Chinese health norm (P<0.05). The anxiety score of patients' spouses was 41.23±6.69 and depression score was 44.23±11.65, which were higher compared to levels of Chinese health norm (P<0.05). Score of anxiety and depression of women was significantly higher compared to those of their spouse (P<0.05). Anxiety and depression scores of women in non-pregnant group were significantly higher compared to those in pregnant group (P<0.05). Regression analysis showed that education level and annual family income were influencing factors of anxiety and depression scores of IVF-ET with donor sperm couples on the day of transfer, and number of eggs taken and transfer times were influencing factors of depression scores of IVF-ET with donor sperm patients on the day of transfer. Conclusion: Psychological state of couples receiving IVF-ET with donor sperm was significantly affected, especially in female side. Medical staff should focus on patients with low education level, low family income, and more times of transfer and egg retrieval, and take targeted intervention measures to keep them in good psychological state, which is conducive to improving pregnancy outcome.

Kneading-Dough-Inspired Quickly Dispersing of Hydrophobic Particles into Aqueous Solutions for Designing Functional Hydrogels.

Hydrogels containing hydrophobic materials have attracted great attention for their potential applications in drug delivery and biosensors. This work presents a kneading-dough-inspired method for dispersing hydrophobic particles (HPs) into water. The kneading process can quickly mix HPs with polyethyleneimine (PEI) polymer solution to form "dough", which facilitates the formation of stable suspensions in aqueous solutions. Combining with photo or thermal curing processes, one type of HPs incorporated PEI-polyacrylamide (PEI/PAM) composite hydrogel exhibiting good self-healing ability, tunable mechanical property is synthesized. The incorporating of HPs into the gel network results in the decrease in the swelling ratio, as well as the enhancement of the compressive modulus by more than five times. Moreover, the stable mechanism of polyethyleneimine-modified particles has been investigated using surface force apparatus, where the pure repulsion during approaching contributes to the good stability of the suspension. The stabilization time of the suspension is dependent on the molecular weight of PEI: the higher the molecular weight is, the better the stability of the suspension will be. Overall, this work demonstrates a useful strategy to introduce HPs into functional hydrogel networks. Future research can be focused on understanding the strengthening mechanism of HPs in the gel networks.

Research Note: A novel peptide-based ELISA for efficient detection of antibody against chicken infectious anemia virus.

Chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV) is the pathogen of chicken infectious anemia. Currently, due to the lack of effective diagnostics technology and prevention approach, CIAV has spread globally and caused huge economic losses to poultry industry. In this study, a novel peptide-based ELISA (pELISA) for efficient detection of antibody against CIAV was developed. The peptide (25CRLRRRYKFRHRRRQRYRRRAF45) used in pELISA was highly conserved in VP1 protein of different CIAV isolates. The specificity and reproducibility showed that the pELISA only reacted with sera against CIAV, not with sera against other pathogens tested, and the CV of the intra-/inter-assay of the pELISA was 6.8 to 9.22%. Moreover, the comparison assay using 56 clinical samples showed that the positive rate of the pELISA and the commercial ELISA kit (IDEXX) was 85.7 and 80.4%, respectively. The pELISA generated here provides a rapid and efficient serological detection method for diagnosis of CIAV infection and evaluation of the efficacy of CIAV vaccination.

Efficient Degradation of Congo Red in Water by UV-Vis Driven CoMoO4/PDS Photo-Fenton System.

In order to improve the catalytic activity of cobalt molybdate (CoMoO4), a PDS-activated and UV-vis assisted system was constructed. CoMoO4 was prepared by coprecipitation and calcination, and characterized by XRD, FTIR, Raman, SEM, TEM, XPS, TGA Zeta potential, BET, and UV-Vis DRS. The results showed that the morphology of the CoMoO4 nanolumps consisted of stacked nanosheets. XRD indicated the monoclinic structures with C2/m (C32h, #12) space group, which belong to α-CoMoO4, and both Co2+ and Mo6+ ions occupy distorted octahedral sites. The pH of the isoelectric point (pHIEP) of CMO-8 at pH = 4.88 and the band gap of CoMoO4 was 1.92 eV. The catalytic activity of CoMoO4 was evaluated by photo-Fenton degradation of Congo red (CR). The catalytic performance was affected by calcination temperature, catalyst dosage, PDS dosage, and pH. Under the best conditions (0.8 g/L CMO-8, PDS 1 mL), the degradation efficiency of CR was 96.972%. The excellent catalytic activity of CoMoO4 was attributed to the synergistic effect of photo catalysis and CoMoO4-activated PDS degradation. The capture experiments and the ESR showed that superoxide radical (·O2-), singlet oxygen (1O2), hole (h+), sulfate (SO4-·), and hydroxyl (·OH-) were the main free radicals leading to the degradation of CR. The results can provide valuable information and support for the design and application of high-efficiency transition metal oxide catalysts.

Identification of ceRNA regulatory network in acute pancreatitis and acute recurrent pancreatitis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to find differentially expressed long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs) and mRNAs and related signaling pathways, contributing to understanding the molecular mechanism of acute recurrent pancreatitis (ARP). METHODS: First, peripheral whole blood samples from five acute pancreatitis (AP) patients, five ARP patients and five healthy individuals ( N ) were collected for RNA sequencing. Second, differentially/specifically expressed lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs were identified in AP vs. N , ARP vs. N and ARP. Third, the ceRNA (lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA) networks of common/specifical lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs were constructed in AP vs. N , ARP vs. N and ARP. Finally, functional analysis of common mRNAs in AP vs. N and ARP vs. N was performed. RESULTS: A total of 315 common lncRNAs, 12 common miRNAs and 909 common mRNAs were identified between AP and ARP. Ninety-four specifically expressed lncRNAs, one specifically expressed miRNAs and 286 specifically expressed mRNAs were found in ARP. Some interaction pairs were identified in AP and ARP, such as LUCAT1/NEAT1-hsa-miR-16-2-3p-HK2, CHRM3-AS2-hsa-miR-122-5p/hsa-miR-145-3p-DBH/CACNA1C, CHRM3-AS2-hsa-miR-200a-3p-PDGFD, RBM26-AS1-hsa-miR-200b-3p-FHIT and LINC00891/KTN1-AS1-hsa-miR-143-3p-tyrosine kinase (TXK). ASAP1-IT2/DGCR9-hsa-miR-342-5p-ABCC5/MAP2K6 was the only one specific interaction pair identified in ARP. Four significantly enriched signaling pathways were identified in AP vs. N and ARP vs. N , including amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism (involved NPL and HK2), MAPK signaling pathway (involved CACNA1C and PDGFD), metabolic pathways (involved DBH and FHIT) and leukocyte transendothelial migration (involved TXK). CONCLUSION: The identified altered lncRNAs, miRNAs, mRNAs and related signaling pathways may be involved in the AP development and recurrence.

Improved direct compression properties of Gardeniae fructus water extract powders via fluid bed-mediated surface engineering.

Direct compression (DC) attracts increasing attention for tablet manufacturing; however, its application in medicinal plant tablets is still extremely limited. In this work, eight kinds of the Gardeniae fructus water extract powder (GF)-based composite particles (CPs) were prepared with different cohesive surface engineering materials, including dextran, inulin, hypromellose, and povidone, alone or in combination with mannitol and colloidal silica. Their physical properties and compacting parameters were characterized comprehensively. All the CPs showed marked improvement in tabletability, which is about 2-4 times higher than that of GF and physical mixtures (PMs). Specifically, the CPs showed a 7.45-26.48 times higher hardness (Ha) value and a 1.26-2.74 times higher cohesiveness (Co) value than PMs. In addition, all the CPs (angle of repose being from 34.27° to 38.46°) showed better flowability than PMs (35.49° to 53.53°) and GF (51.86°). These results demonstrated that (i) fluid-bed coating was not a simple process of superposition and transmission of the physical properties of raw materials; and (ii) all the surface engineering materials studied could improve the DC properties of problematic GF to some degree. As a whole, through the design of fluid-bed coating CPs, qualified tablets with high GF loadings (up to 93%) were produced via DC.

Application of Multi-Scale Fusion Attention U-Net to Segment the Thyroid Gland on Localized Computed Tomography Images for Radiotherapy.

Objective: To explore the performance of Multi-scale Fusion Attention U-Net (MSFA-U-Net) in thyroid gland segmentation on localized computed tomography (CT) images for radiotherapy. Methods: We selected localized radiotherapeutic CT images from 80 patients with breast cancer or head and neck tumors; label images were manually delineated by experienced radiologists. The data set was randomly divided into the training set (n = 60), the validation set (n = 10), and the test set (n = 10). We expanded the data in the training set and evaluated the performance of the MSFA-U-Net model using the evaluation indices Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), Jaccard similarity coefficient (JSC), positive predictive value (PPV), sensitivity (SE), and Hausdorff distance (HD). Results: For the MSFA-U-Net model, the DSC, JSC, PPV, SE, and HD values of the segmented thyroid gland in the test set were 0.90 ± 0.09, 0.82± 0.11, 0.91 ± 0.09, 0.90 ± 0.11, and 2.39 ± 0.54, respectively. Compared with U-Net, HRNet, and Attention U-Net, MSFA-U-Net increased DSC by 0.04, 0.06, and 0.04, respectively; increased JSC by 0.05, 0.08, and 0.04, respectively; increased SE by 0.04, 0.11, and 0.09, respectively; and reduced HD by 0.21, 0.20, and 0.06, respectively. The test set image results showed that the thyroid edges segmented by the MSFA-U-Net model were closer to the standard thyroid edges delineated by the experts than were those segmented by the other three models. Moreover, the edges were smoother, over-anti-noise interference was stronger, and oversegmentation and undersegmentation were reduced. Conclusion: The MSFA-U-Net model could meet basic clinical requirements and improve the efficiency of physicians' clinical work.

Effects of Ambidextrous Leadership on Employees' Work Behavior: The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment.

The complexity of today's organizational environment increasingly requires leaders to think in a dynamic and flexible way to resolve contradictory issues. This study explored and compared the effects of servant leadership and authoritarian leadership on employees' work behavior from the perspectives of ambidextrous leadership theory and social exchange theory, and further examined the mediating role of psychological empowerment. In this study, 315 employees from state-owned communication companies in Shandong and Zhejiang Provinces in China were selected as subjects, and path analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that servant leadership positively predicted organizational citizenship behavior and task performance. While authoritarian leadership negatively predicted organizational citizenship behavior and positively predicted task performance, psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between the two leadership styles and organizational citizenship behavior and task performance. Moreover, psychological empowerment and organizational citizenship behavior played a multiple mediating role between the two leadership styles and task performance. The theoretical implications of these findings for advancing the ambidextrous leadership theory in Chinese organizational contexts and practical approaches for corporate managers to effectively use ambidextrous leadership style were discussed.

Improvements on multiple direct compaction properties of three powders prepared from Puerariae Lobatae Radix using surface and texture modification: Comparison of microcrystalline cellulose and two nano-silicas.

It has been reported that hydrophilic nano-silica (N) markedly improved direct compaction (DC) properties of Zingiberis Rhizoma alcoholic extract. This study aims to examine the broader scope and generality of the previous work by investigating (i) three powders, i.e., the directly pulverized product, ethanol extract, and water extract prepared from the same medicinal herb-Puerariae Lobatae Radix (named DP, EE, and WE) and (ii) the effects on their DC properties of co-processing with N, hydrophobic nano-silica (BN), or microcrystalline cellulose (C). Unexpectedly, C provided the best improvement on tabletability for WE, while N for both DP and EE. More importantly, only N could move all parent powders to a regime suitable for DC, and BN rather than C enabled parent WE to be directly compressed. Typically, 6/9 N-modified powders simultaneously met the requirements of DC on bulk density, flowability, and tablet tensile strength (σt). Principal component analysis indicated that DC properties were mainly governed by flowability and texture properties. The partial least-squares regression model revealed that flowability, texture parameters, and deformation behavior of powders were dominating factors impacting tablet σt and solid fraction. Overall, the findings are promising for the manufacture of high drug loading tablets of herbs by DC.

CD4+ T Cells Promote IgG Production in MHC-Independent and ICAM-1-Dependent Manners in Pristane-Induced Lupus Mice.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by autoantibody production and chronic inflammation. The etiology and pathogenesis of SLE are complicated in which dysfunction of CD4+ T cells is largely engaged. In this study, we investigated the manners of CD4+ T cells in antibody production in a lupus-like mouse model through peritoneal injection of pristane reagent. With the increase in total IgG/IgM and autoantibody production after 6 months, CD4+ T cells exhibited activated phenotypes with the elevated CD44, ICOS, OX40, and PD-1 expression. Pristane injection induced the increase in IgM levels in both wild-type and T cell-deficient TCRα -/- mice whereas IgG, IgG1, and IgG2a production was impaired. When adoptively transferring CD4+ T cells into T cell-deficient mice or coculturing CD4+ T cells and B cells in vitro, it was found that CD4+ T cells derived from pristane-treated mice could help the production of total IgG as well as IgG1/IgG2a in a more efficient manner both in vivo and in vitro. While MHC was dispensable for IgG production, ICAM-1 likely functioned as an attenuating factor for IgG production. Our study thus reveals that CD4+ T cells in pristane-treated mice play important roles in IgG production, which implies the critical roles in the induction of pathological autoantibodies in MHC-independent and ICAM-1-dependent manners.

Mice lacking the proton channel Hv1 exhibit sex-specific differences in glucose homeostasis.

Sex as a physiologic factor has a strong association with the features of metabolic syndrome. Our previous study showed that loss of the voltage-gated proton channel Hv1 inhibits insulin secretion and leads to hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance in male mice. However, there are significant differences in blood glucose between male and female Hv1-knockout (KO) mice. Here, we investigated the differences in glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity between male and female KO mice and how sex steroids contribute to these differences. We found that the fasting blood glucose in female KO mice was visibly lower than that in male KO mice, which was accompanied by hypotestosteronemia. KO mice in both sexes exhibited higher expression of gluconeogenesis-related genes in liver compared with WT mice. Also, the livers from KO males displayed a decrease in glycolysis-related gene expression and an increase in gluconeogenesis-related gene expression compared with KO females. Furthermore, exogenous testosterone supplementation decreased blood glucose levels in male KO mice, as well as enhancing insulin signaling. Taken together, our data demonstrate that knockout of Hv1 results in higher blood glucose levels in male than female mice, despite a decreased insulin secretion in both sexes. This sex-related difference in glucose homeostasis is associated with the glucose metabolism in liver tissue, likely due to the physiological levels of testosterone in KO male mice.

Isolation and Molecular Characteristics of a CIAV Isolate From Pigeons, China.

Chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV) mainly infects chickens and causes immunosuppression. In this study, a CIAV isolate, designated as Pigeon-CIAV-1906, was efficiently isolated from two sick pigeons by inoculating the samples into MSB1 cells. The genome of Pigeon-CIAV-1906 was amplified by PCR and analyzed. The genome size of Pigeon-CIAV-1906 was 2,298 bp with the highest homology (99.5%) to Jilin strain (JL14023) and the lowest homology (91.5%) to Brazil strain (KY024579), which phylogenetically clustered into Group A. Notably, several amino acids such as 139K and 394Q related with high virulence were found in the VP1 of Pigeon-CIAV-1906. The isolation of Pigeon-CIAV-1906 and its molecular characteristics provide evidence for the cross-transmission of CIAV from chicken to pigeon and give novel insights into the molecular epidemiology of CIAV.

BODIPY-Appended Pt(II) Complexes with High Toxicities and Anti-chemoresistance Performances in a Cisplatin Resistant In Vivo Model.

Two novel fluorophore (BODIPY)-bearing complexes, pyriplatin (mCBP) and pyrimidine-chelated cisplatin (dCBP), were synthesized and characterized. The additional BODIPY-pyridine/pyridimine motifs of the two Pt(II) complexes resulted in stronger interactions with DNA in comparison with those of cisplatin. mCBP and cisplatin caused relative decreases in life span and body length in a cisplatin resistant in vivo model, N2 (wild-type) Caenorhabditis elegans. In contrast, dCBP resulted in a dramatic reduction in the two physiological parameters in N2 C. elegans, indicating high toxicity and sensitivity. The resistance factors (RF) of cisplatin, mCBP, and dCBP were determined to be 2.46, 1.04, and 0.91, respectively. The increasing RF folds for mCBP and dCBP against cisplatin were 2.36 and 2.70, respectively. This suggested they were featured with improved anti-chemoresistance capabilities. It is noteworthy that dCBP showed lowest lethal concentration (LC50) values of 0.56 and 0.61 mM in cisplatin resistant and sensitive in vivo models, respectively. Upregulation of several evolutionary conservation genes that regulate cisplatin chemoresistance through cisplatin effluxing, the DNA damage response, the unfolded protein response, and detoxification (asna-1, parp-1, enpl-1, and skn-1) was observed upon exposure to cisplatin but not to mCBP and dCBP. This could explain the improved anti-chemoresistance performances of synthesized Pt(II) complexes.

Photo-labeling neurons in the Drosophila brain.

Many genetically encoded tools, including large collections of GAL4 transgenic lines, can be used to visualize neurons of the Drosophila melanogaster brain. However, identifying transgenic lines that are expressed sparsely enough to label individual neurons, or groups of neurons that innervate a particular brain region, remains technically challenging. Here, we provide a detailed procedure in which we used broadly expressed transgenic lines and two-photon microscopy to photo-label neurons with specificity, thereby permitting their morphological characterization. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Li et al. (2020).

The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Patients With COVID-19: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: As a public health emergency of international concern, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a tremendous impact on patients' psychological health. However, studies on psychological interventions in patients with COVID-19 are relatively rare. Objectives: This study examined the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in relieving patients' psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods: Ninety-three eligible participants selected by cluster sampling were randomized to an intervention group (N = 47) and a control group (N = 46). Participants in the control group received routine treatment according to the Chinese Management Guidelines for COVID-19, while participants in the intervention group received routine treatment with additional CBT. The Chinese Version of Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) was used to evaluate depression, anxiety, and stress for all participants at baseline and post-intervention. Two-sided t-test, and proportion tests were used to examine the differences between the intervention and control group for each DASS-21 indicator. Univariate linear regression was used to examine the association between chronic disease status and change in each DASS-21 indicator after intervention. Two-way scatter plots were generated to show the association of the length of hospital stay and the changes of each DASS-21 indicator by intervention and control groups. Results: Significant decreases in means were found for scales of depression, anxiety, stress and total DASS-21 in both intervention (p < 0.001) and control group (p = 0.001), with participants in the intervention group having a bigger reduction in means. After the intervention, more participants in the intervention group had no depression or anxiety symptoms than in the control group, but no statistical differences were found (p > 0.05). Compared with participants with chronic disease, participants with no chronic disease had a significantly larger reduction of total DASS-21 scale (coefficient = -4.74, 95% CI: -9.31; -0.17).The length of hospital stay was significantly associated with a greater increase in anxiety scale in the intervention group (p = 0.005), whilst no significant association was found in the control group (p = 0.29). Conclusions: The patients with COVID-19 experienced high levels of anxiety, depression and stress. Our study result highlights the effectiveness of CBT in improving the psychological health among patients with COVID-19, also suggests that CBT should be focused on patients with chronic disease and those who have longer hospital stays. These results have important implications in clinical practice in improving psychological health in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Trial Registration: ISRCTN68675756. Available at: http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN68675756.

Visual Input into the Drosophila melanogaster Mushroom Body.

The patterns of neuronal connectivity underlying multisensory integration, a fundamental property of many brains, remain poorly characterized. The Drosophila melanogaster mushroom body-an associative center-is an ideal system to investigate how different sensory channels converge in higher order brain centers. The neurons connecting the mushroom body to the olfactory system have been described in great detail, but input from other sensory systems remains poorly defined. Here, we use a range of anatomical and genetic techniques to identify two types of input neuron that connect visual processing centers-the lobula and the posterior lateral protocerebrum-to the dorsal accessory calyx of the mushroom body. Together with previous work that described a pathway conveying visual information from the medulla to the ventral accessory calyx of the mushroom body, our study defines a second, parallel pathway that is anatomically poised to convey information from the visual system to the dorsal accessory calyx.

Elastin is a key factor of tumor development in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common cancer and a leading cause of death worldwide. Extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins regulate tumor growth and development in CRC. Elastin (ELN) is a component of ECM proteins involved in the tumor microenvironment. However, the role of ELN in CRC remains unclear. METHODS: In this study, we analyzed ELN gene expression in tumors from CRC patients and adjacent non-tumor colon tissues and healthy controls from two existing microarray datasets. ELN protein was measured in human normal colon cells and colon cancer epithelial cells and tumor development was assessed in colon epithelial cells cultured in medium with or without ELN peptide on plates coated with ELN recombinant protein. Control plates were coated with PBS only. RESULTS: We found ELN gene expression was increased in tumors from CRC patients compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues and healthy controls. ELN protein was increased in cancer cells compared to normal colon epithelial cells. Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-ß) was a key cytokine to induce production of ECM proteins, but it did not induce ELN expression in colon cancer cells. Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) gene expression was increased, but that of MMP12 (elastase) did not change between CRC patients and control. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 3 (TIMP3) gene expression was decreased in colon tissues from CRC patients compared to healthy controls. However, MMP9, MMP12 and TIMP3 proteins were increased in colon cancer cells. ELN recombinant protein increased proliferation and wound healing in colon cancer epithelial cells. This had further increased in cancer cells incubated in plates coated with recombinant ELN coated plate and in culture media containing ELN peptide. A potential mechanism was that ELN induced epithelial mesenchymal transition with increased alpha-smooth muscle actin and vimentin proteins but decreased E-cadherin protein. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) mRNA was also increased in CRC patients compared to controls. ELN recombinant protein induced further increases in TNF protein in mouse bone marrow derived macrophages after lipopolysaccharide stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest ELN regulates tumor development and the microenvironment in CRC.