Impact of metacognition on attitudes toward epilepsy in medical students.

PURPOSE: This study evaluated medical students' knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy and the influence of metacognition thereon. METHOD: Valid questionnaires were administered to medical students including undergraduate, professional postgraduate, and standardized residency training students (N = 503). The questionnaire had 4 parts: demographic information, knowledge of epilepsy, attitudes toward epilepsy, and metacognitive assessment. The Chinese Public Attitudes Toward Epilepsy scale and 30-Item Metacognition Questionnaire were used to assess attitudes and metacognition, respectively. RESULTS: Almost all participants had heard of epilepsy; 38.8% had witnessed a seizure and 25% were acquainted with a person with epilepsy. The proportion of correct answers to epilepsy-related knowledge ranged from 40.6% (Putting an object into the mouth of a person experiencing an epileptic seizure) to 97% (Convulsion is a symptom of epilepsy). However, knowledge of epilepsy was not able to affect attitudes toward epilepsy. Age, years of clinical experience, having witnessed a seizure, positive belief of worry, and need to control thinking were correlated with the different domains of attitude toward epilepsy. When participants were divided into 2 groups-i.e., those with high and low knowledge of epilepsy, participants in the former group who had a positive belief of worry or had not witnessed any seizures were more likely to have negative attitudes toward epilepsy. CONCLUSION: Medical students showed good awareness of the etiology and symptoms of epilepsy. Overall, attitudes toward epilepsy were negative. A positive belief of worry was associated with a more negative attitude toward epilepsy among respondents with greater knowledge of epilepsy.

Involvement of a catalase gene in lignin catalysis and immune defense against pathogenic fungus in Coptotermes formosanus: a potential new target for termite control.

BACKGROUND: Detoxifying enzymes are likely involved in lignin feeding and immune defense mechanisms within termites, rendering them potential targets for biological control. However, investigations into the dual functionality of termite detoxification enzymes in vivo have not been documented. RESULTS: In this study, the complete cDNA of the catalase gene (Cfcat) derived from Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki was amplified. CFCAT comprises an open reading frame spanning 1527 bp, encoding a 508-amino acid sequence. The highest expression was observed in the epidermal tissues (including the fat body and hemolymph) followed by the foregut/salivary gland. Furthermore, we confirmed the catalase activity of the recombinant Cfcat protein. Using RNA interference (RNAi) technology, the importance of Cfcat in the lignin-feeding of C. formosanus was demonstrated, and the role of Cfcat in innate immunity was investigated. Survival assays showed that Cfcat RNAi significantly increased the susceptibility of C. formosanus to Metarhizium anisopliae. Irrespective of the infection status, Cfcat inhibition had a significant impact on multiple factors of humoral and intestinal immunity in C. formosanus. Notably, Cfcat RNAi exhibited a more pronounced immunosuppressive effect on humoral immunity than on intestinal immunity. CONCLUSION: Cfcat plays an important role in the regulation of innate immunity and lignin feeding in C. formosanus. Cfcat RNAi can weaken the immune response of termites against M. anisopliae, which may aid the biocontrol efficiency of M. anisopliae against C. formosanus. This study provides a theoretical basis and technical reference for the development of a novel biocontrol strategy targeting detoxifying enzymes of termites. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Biological Function and Mechanism of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells-packed Poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) Scaffolds for Peripheral Nerve Injury: The Involvement of miR-21-Notch Signaling Pathway.

Ununited peripheral nerves represent attractive site for connectivity with neuroprostheses because their predictable internal topography allows precise sorting of motor and sensory signals. Also transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) is increasingly recognized as an effective method of restore the peripheral nervous system injury due to its neuron-directed differentiation potential. This study was to evaluate the in vivo performance of BMSCs-packed Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) scaffolds across a critical nerve conduction gap and examine the potential mechanism by which BMSCs-packed PEDOT scaffolds mediate peripheral nerve regeneration in rat model of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) deletion. In this study, rat models of 8 mm-RLN deletion were randomly divided into three groups and respectively received transplantation of autologous nerve or PEDOT scaffolds or BMSCspacked PEDOT scaffolds. After transplantation, neurological function was assessed by laryngeal electromyography. BMSCs-directed neuron differentiation was induced and confirmed by the upregulation of 6 nerve cell markers. Expression level of miRs, Notch signals and 6 nerve cell markers in nerve grafts or cells were determined by quantitative real-time PCR or western blot analysis. The results showed that BMSCs-packed PEDOT scaffolds transplantation significantly improved neurological function compared with PEDOT scaffolds alone. Regenerative nerve of BMSCs-packed PEDOT scaffolds showed higher expression level of miR-21 and Notch signals (Hes-1 and Notch intracellular domain (NICD)) than PEDOT alone. We found that the expression levels of miR-21, Hes-1 and NICD are increased with timecourse of neuron-directed differentiation stimulating of BMSCs. Meanwhile, both miR-21 overexpression and Notch pathway activation promote the expression of 6 nerve cell markers in BMSCs-directed neuron, whereas the inactivation of Notch pathway abrogates miR-21-inudced upregulation of 6 nerve cell markers. Moreover, knock-down of miR-21 suppresses the pro-neural restoration action of BMSCs-packed PEDOT scaffolds. In summary, our data suggested that BMSCs-packed PEDOT effectively repairs recurrent laryngeal nerve injury and the potential mechanism is miR-21- mediated Notch signal activation.

De novo transcriptome sequencing of Cryptotermes domesticus and comparative analysis of gene expression in response to different wood species.

The drywood termite Cryptotermes domesticus is an important worldwide pest with limited genomic resources that causes substantial damage to dry timber and structural lumber. Here, we performed transcriptome sequencing for Cr. domesticus pseudergate using Illumina paired-end sequencing technology. A total of 108,745,470 clean reads were collected and assembled into 302,979 contigs with an average length of 648bp and an N50 length of 893bp. A total of 185,248 unigenes and 100,680 proteins were identified among the assembled contigs. Of these, there were 152,317 (50.27%) contigs with significant similarity to publicly available databases. To understand how the termites respond to phylogenetically diverse wood species, variations in gene expression were examined among pseudergates feeding on three wood species from different plant families, Casuarina equisetifolia (CE), Koompassia excelsa (KE) and Myristica sp. (MS). A total of 417 (118 up-regulated/299 down-regulated), 599 (148 up-regulated/451 down-regulated) and 505 (223 up-regulated/282 down-regulated) differentially expressed genes were detected in KE vs. CE, KE vs. MS and CE vs. MS, respectively. Digital gene expression analysis indicated that different wood species played an important role in the expression of termite genes, such as genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, and proteins with catalytic activity and hydrolase activity. Additionally, the genes encoding cellulase were identified and analyzed. This study provides the first primary transcriptome of Cr. domesticus and lays a foundation for future functional genomics studies in the feeding responses.