Two new species of marine flatworm from southern China facilitate determination of the phylogenetic position of the genus Nerpa Marcus, 1948 and the histochemical structure of the nervous system in the genus Paucumara Sluys, 1989 (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Maricola).

Two new species of flatworm, collected from a beach at eastern Shenzhen, China, were studied through an integrative approach by combining morphological, histological, histochemical (acetylcholinesterase, AChE), and molecular (18S r- DNA) data. These species belong to two genera of marine triclads, previously unrecorded from China, viz. Nerpa Marcus, 1948 and Paucumara Sluys, 1989.        Nerpa fistulata Wang Chen, sp. nov. is characterized by: transparent body; principally pentamerous intestine with three distinct commissures; two very large, prepharyngeal testis follicles; a semi-circular lens in each eye cup; a penis papilla provided with a chitinized, pointed stylet; lateral bursae communicating with the oviduct and opening ventrally to the exterior via a duct. Phylogenetically N. fistulata groups with one member of the family Bdellouridae. This new, Chinese species of Nerpa introduces a major geographic disjunction, as the type species N. evelinae was described from the bay of Santos, Brazil, so that the genus is now known from both Atlantic as well as Pacific coasts.        The species Paucumara falcata Wang Li, sp. nov. is characterized by: three distinct pale yellow transverse pigmentation bands on its dorsal side, between which some snowflake-like specks are randomly distributed, and a brown transverse band anteriorly to the eyes; 8-11 testicular follicles on either side of the body, the follicles extending from immediately behind the ovaries to half-way along the pharyngeal pocket; a musculo-parenchymatic organ with a sclerotic, curved tip projecting from the anterior wall of the male atrium, ventrally to the root of the penis papilla. Phylogenetically P. falcata groups with its congener P. trigonocephala, with the genus Paucumara forming the sister taxon of the genus Ectoplana. Comparison of the nerve structure of P. falcata, as revealed by AChE histochemistry, with that of eight other species of triclad suggested that the nervous system of marine planarians is simpler than that of species of freshwater planarians, but revealed also that the nerve structure is rather variable among species.        The copulatory position exhibited by two partners in Paucumara falcata is remarkable in that they intertwine, with their heads pointing downwards and the tails pointing upwards, the entire process lasting about 10 min. Such a copulatory position has never before been reported for triclad flatworms.

Behavioral and Accumbal Responses During an Affective Go/No-Go Task Predict Adherence to Injectable Naltrexone Treatment in Opioid Use Disorder.

Adherence is a major factor in the effectiveness of the injectable extended-release naltrexone as a relapse prevention treatment in opioid use disorder. We examined the value of a variant of the Go/No-go paradigm in predicting extended-release naltrexone adherence in 27 detoxified opioid use disorder patients who were offered up to 3 monthly extended-release naltrexone injections. Before extended-release naltrexone, participants performed a Go/No-go task that comprised positively valenced Go trials and negatively valenced No-go trials during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Errors of commission and neural responses to the No-go vs Go trials were independent variables. Adherence, operationalized as the completion of all 3 extended-release naltrexone injections, was the outcome variable. Fewer errors of commission and greater left accumbal response during the No-go vs Go trials predicted better adherence. These findings support the clinical potential of the behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of response inhibition in the prediction of extended-release naltrexone treatment outcomes in opioid use disorder.

FGFR1 is an independent prognostic factor and can be regulated by miR-497 in gastric cancer progression

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) has been reported in gastric cancer to be a prognostic factor. However, miR-497-targeted FGFR1 has not been explored in the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer. The present study intended to revalidate the prognostic significance of FGFR1 in patients with gastric cancer, and the mechanism of miR-497-regulated FGFR1 was investigated in gastric cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis. The messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels were assayed by RT-qPCR and western blotting, respectively. The targeted genes were predicted by a bioinformatics algorithm and confirmed by a dual luciferase reporter assay. Cell proliferation was analyzed by CCK-8 assay. Annexin V-FITC/PI staining was used to evaluate the apoptosis in AGS and SGC-7901 cells. FGFR1 was frequently up-regulated in gastric cancer tissues and associated with poor overall survival in patients with gastric cancer. Interestingly, FGFR1 loss-of-function resulted in a significant growth inhibition and apoptosis in AGS and SGC-7901 cells. In addition, we found that miR-497 was inhibited in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines, while overexpression of miR-497 could suppress proliferation and induce apoptosis in AGS and SGC-7901 cells. Importantly, bioinformatics analysis and experimental data suggested that FGFR1 was a direct target of miR-497, which could inhibit FGFR1 expression when transfected with miR-497 mimics. Furthermore, we found that overexpression of FGFR1 reversed the growth inhibition and apoptosis of miR-497 mimics in AGS and SGC-7901 cells. These findings suggested that overexpression of miR-497 inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in gastric cancer through the suppression of FGFR1.

FGFR1 is an independent prognostic factor and can be regulated by miR-497 in gastric cancer progression.

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) has been reported in gastric cancer to be a prognostic factor. However, miR-497-targeted FGFR1 has not been explored in the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer. The present study intended to revalidate the prognostic significance of FGFR1 in patients with gastric cancer, and the mechanism of miR-497-regulated FGFR1 was investigated in gastric cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis. The messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels were assayed by RT-qPCR and western blotting, respectively. The targeted genes were predicted by a bioinformatics algorithm and confirmed by a dual luciferase reporter assay. Cell proliferation was analyzed by CCK-8 assay. Annexin V-FITC/PI staining was used to evaluate the apoptosis in AGS and SGC-7901 cells. FGFR1 was frequently up-regulated in gastric cancer tissues and associated with poor overall survival in patients with gastric cancer. Interestingly, FGFR1 loss-of-function resulted in a significant growth inhibition and apoptosis in AGS and SGC-7901 cells. In addition, we found that miR-497 was inhibited in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines, while overexpression of miR-497 could suppress proliferation and induce apoptosis in AGS and SGC-7901 cells. Importantly, bioinformatics analysis and experimental data suggested that FGFR1 was a direct target of miR-497, which could inhibit FGFR1 expression when transfected with miR-497 mimics. Furthermore, we found that overexpression of FGFR1 reversed the growth inhibition and apoptosis of miR-497 mimics in AGS and SGC-7901 cells. These findings suggested that overexpression of miR-497 inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in gastric cancer through the suppression of FGFR1.

The Importance of Relevant Emotional Arousal in the Efficacy of Pictorial Health Warnings for Cigarettes.

INTRODUCTION: Warning labels for cigarettes proposed by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were rejected by the courts partly because they were thought to be emotionally evocative but have no educational value. To address this issue, we compared three types of smoking warnings: (1) FDA-proposed warnings with pictures illustrating the smoking hazards; (2) warnings with the same text information paired with equally aversive but smoking-irrelevant images; and (3) text-only warnings. METHODS: Smokers recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. They reported how many cigarettes they smoked per day (CPD) during the past week and then viewed eight different warnings. After viewing each warning, they rated its believability and perceived ability to motivate quitting. One week later, 62.3% of participants again reported CPD during the past week, rated how the warnings they viewed the week before changed their feeling about smoking, rated their intention to quit in the next 30 days, and recalled as much as they could about each of the warnings they viewed. RESULTS: Compared to the irrelevant image and text-only warnings, FDA warnings were seen as more believable and able to motivate quitting and at the follow-up, produced lower CPD, worse feeling about smoking, and more memory for warning information, controlling for age and baseline CPD. CONCLUSIONS: Emotionally evocative warning images are not effective in communicating the risks of smoking, unless they pertain to smoking-related hazards. In future versions of warning labels, pictorial contents should be pretested for the ability to enhance the health-hazard message. IMPLICATIONS: Our study shows that contrary to court opinions, FDA-proposed pictorial warnings for cigarettes are more effective in communicating smoking-related hazards than warnings that merely contain emotionally aversive but smoking-irrelevant images. The suggestion that FDA's proposed warnings employed emotionally arousing pictures with no information value was not supported. Pictures that illustrate the risk carry information that enhances the persuasiveness of the warning. The congruence between pictures and text should be a criterion for selecting warning images in the future.

Type 2 immunity-dependent reduction of segmented filamentous bacteria in mice infected with the helminthic parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis.

BACKGROUND: Dynamic interactions between the host and gastrointestinal microbiota play an important role for local and systemic immune homeostasis. Helminthic parasites modulate the host immune response, resulting in protection against autoimmune disease but also increased susceptibility to pathogen infection. The underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. RESULTS: We showed that the type 2 immune response to enteric Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infection in mice was associated with altered intestinal mucin and AMP expression and shifts in microbiota composition. Most strikingly, infection reduced concentrations of intestinal segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB), known inducers of T helper 17 cells, and IL-17-associated gene expression. Infected mice deficient in IL-13 or STAT6 did not reduce SFB or IL-17, and exogenous IL-25 replicated the effects of parasite infection in wild type mice. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that parasite infection acts through host type 2 immunity to reduce intestinal SFB and expression of IL-17, providing an example of a microbiota-dependent immune modulation by parasites.