Modulation of audiovisual integration in the left and right sides: effects of side and spatial coherency.

BACKGROUND: Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we aimed to investigate audiovisual integration neural mechanisms during a letter identification task in the left and right sides. Unimodal (A,V) and bimodal (AV) stimuli were presented on either side, with ERPs from unimodal (A,V) stimuli on the same side being compared to those from simultaneous bimodal stimuli (AV). Non-zero results of the AV-(A + V) difference waveforms indicated audiovisual integration on the left/right side. RESULTS: When spatially coherent AV stimuli were presented on the right side, two significant ERP components in the integrated differential wave were noted. The N134 and N262, present in the first 300 ms of the AV-(A + V) integration difference wave, indicated significant audiovisual integration effects. However, when these stimuli were presented on the left side, there were no significant integration components. This audiovisual integration difference may stem from left/right asymmetry of cerebral hemisphere language processing. CONCLUSIONS: Audiovisual letter information presented on the right side was easier to integrate, process, and represent. Additionally, only one significant integrative component peaked at 140 ms in the parietal cortex for spatially non-coherent AV stimuli and provided audiovisual multisensory integration, which could be attributed to some integrative neural processes that depend on the spatial congruity of the auditory and visual stimuli.

[Comparison of two superparamagnetic purification magnetic beads-based screening and enrichment techniques for isolating cell-free fetal DNA from maternal plasma for non-invasive prenatal screening].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficiency of modified enrichment method for cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) through purified superparamagnetic beads during non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). METHODS: A total of 26 252 pregnant women undergoing NIPT at the Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital of Haidian District from December 2017 to September 2022 were recruited and randomly assigned into the conventional group (n = 10 573) and the modified enrichment group (n = 15 679), who were then subjected to the screening and enrichment of the cffDNA using a conventional and a modified technique, respectively. High-risk pregnant women detected by NIPT were subjected to invasive prenatal diagnosis. All women were followed up for their pregnancy outcomes, and the detection efficacy of the two methods was compared in terms of fragment size, concentration of cffDNA, duplicate detection rate, and indices of clinical laboratory tests. RESULTS: The fragment size of the main peak of the cell-free DNA library of the modified enrichment group was significantly lower than that of the conventional group [267 (264, 269) bp vs. 294 (292, 296) bp, P < 0.01], while the concentration of cffDNA was significantly higher [21.86% (17.61%, 26.36%) vs. 9.08% (6.87%, 11.87%), P < 0.01]. In addition, the duplicate detection rate (0.740% vs. 2.02%, X2 = 83.90, P < 0.01) and detection failure rate (0.006% vs. 0.057%, P < 0.05) in the modified enrichment group were significantly lower than those of the conventional group. The combined positive predictive value (PPV) in both high-risk (64.3% vs. 76.1%) and low-risk (35.3% vs. 45.5%) pregnant women from the modified enrichment group was slightly lower than those from the conventional group, though no significant difference was detected. There was one false negative case for trisomy 21 among the high-risk pregnant women from the conventional group, and no false negative case was found in the modified enrichment group. CONCLUSION: The modified technique to screen and enrich the cffDNA has significantly enhanced the relative concentration of cffDNA and reduced the failure and duplication detection rate of NIPT, which has significantly reduced the incidence of false negative cases due to the low concentration of cffDNA, and greatly increased the overall detection efficacy of NIPT.

Inhibiting Voltage Decay in Li-Rich Layered Oxide Cathode: From O3-Type to O2-Type Structural Design.

Li-rich layered oxide (LRLO) cathodes have been regarded as promising candidates for next-generation Li-ion batteries due to their exceptionally high energy density, which combines cationic and anionic redox activities. However, continuous voltage decay during cycling remains the primary obstacle for practical applications, which has yet to be fundamentally addressed. It is widely acknowledged that voltage decay originates from the irreversible migration of transition metal ions, which usually further exacerbates structural evolution and aggravates the irreversible oxygen redox reactions. Recently, constructing O2-type structure has been considered one of the most promising approaches for inhibiting voltage decay. In this review, the relationship between voltage decay and structural evolution is systematically elucidated. Strategies to suppress voltage decay are systematically summarized. Additionally, the design of O2-type structure and the corresponding mechanism of suppressing voltage decay are comprehensively discussed. Unfortunately, the reported O2-type LRLO cathodes still exhibit partially disordered structure with extended cycles. Herein, the factors that may cause the irreversible transition metal migrations in O2-type LRLO materials are also explored, while the perspectives and challenges for designing high-performance O2-type LRLO cathodes without voltage decay are proposed.

Associated factors of periodontitis and predicted study among young man in China: a population-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Periodontitis represents the foremost oral condition in young men, strongly correlated with socioeconomic elements and oral health behaviors. This research aimed to assess the prevalence of periodontitis and associated associations with socio-demographics and oral health practices for subsequent Hazard Ratio (HR) estimation. METHODS: A total of 46,476 young men were recruited to the study between August 2022 and October 2023. A questionnaire on socio-demographic factors and oral health-related behaviors related to periodontitis was completed. The standard procedure was used for oral examination. Logistic regression and hazard ratios were used to estimate the influencing factors, whereas the nomogram was used to predict the risk of periodontitis in young men. RESULTS: A total of 46,476 young men were surveyed and completed the questionnaire. The overall prevalence of periodontitis among young men was 1.74%. Out of these, 1.7% had mild periodontitis and 0.6% had moderate periodontitis. Age and dental calculus were important factors in the periodontal health of young men. This nomogram, which includes 7 easily obtainable clinical characteristics routinely collected during periodontitis risk assessment, provides clinicians with a user-friendly tool to assess the risk of periodontal disease in young men. CONCLUSIONS: Regular dental prophylaxis is crucial for young men to maintain their gingival health and prevent the onset of periodontitis. Dental calculus plays a prominent role in this matter, as it serves as a significant contributing factor.

Case report: A rare case of omental extrarenal rhabdoid tumor and review of the literature.

Extrarenal rhabdoid tumor of the greater omentum is extremely rare, with only sporadic reports and limited documentation of its ultrasonographic findings. Here, we report a case of an extrarenal rhabdoid tumor of the greater omentum in a 16-year-old girl and review the relevant literature. It was found that the disease mainly occurred in female children and adolescents, and mainly manifested as lower abdominal pain and a large abdominal cystic or solid hemorrhagic mass. The clinical characteristics include a high degree of malignancy and mortality. Ultrasound shows some malignant features, but it is not specific; thus, it is easy to be misdiagnosed in the clinic.

Genome-Wide Analysis of MYB Gene Family in Chrysanthemum ×morifolium Provides Insights into Flower Color Regulation.

MYBs constitute the second largest transcription factor (TF) superfamily in flowering plants with substantial structural and functional diversity, which have been brought into focus because they affect flower colors by regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis. Up to now, the genomic data of several Chrysanthemum species have been released, which provides us with abundant genomic resources for revealing the evolution of the MYB gene family in Chrysanthemum species. In the present study, comparative analyses of the MYB gene family in six representative species, including C. lavandulifolium, C. seticuspe, C. ×morifolium, Helianthus annuus, Lactuca sativa, and Arabidopsis thaliana, were performed. A total of 1104 MYBs, which were classified into four subfamilies and 35 lineages, were identified in the three Chrysanthemum species (C. lavandulifolium, C. seticuspe, and C. ×morifolium). We found that whole-genome duplication and tandem duplication are the main duplication mechanisms that drove the occurrence of duplicates in CmMYBs (particularly in the R2R3-MYB subfamily) during the evolution of the cultivated chrysanthemums. Sequence structure and selective pressure analyses of the MYB gene family revealed that some of R2R3-MYBs were subjected to positive selection, which are mostly located on the distal telomere segments of the chromosomes and contain motifs 7 and 8. In addition, the gene expression analysis of CmMYBs in different organs and at various capitulum developmental stages of C. ×morifolium indicated that CmMYBS2, CmMYB96, and CmMYB109 might be the negative regulators for anthocyanin biosynthesis. Our results provide the phylogenetic context for research on the genetic and functional evolution of the MYB gene family in Chrysanthemum species and deepen our understanding of the regulatory mechanism of MYB TFs on the flower color of C. ×morifolium.

cla-miR164-NO APICAL MERISTEM (ClNAM) regulates the inflorescence architecture development of Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium.

Chrysanthemum × morifolium has great ornamental and economic value on account of its exquisite capitulum. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the corolla morphology of the capitulum. Such an approach cannot explain the variable inflorescence architecture of the chrysanthemum. Previous research from our group has shown that NO APICAL MERISTEM (ClNAM) is likely to function as a hub gene in capitulum architecture in the early development stage. In the present study, ClNAM was used to investigate the function of these boundary genes in the capitulum architecture of Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium, a closely related species of C. × morifolium in the genus. Modification of ClNAM in C. lavandulifolium resulted in an advanced initiation of the floral primordium at the capitulum. As a result, the receptacle morphology was altered and the number of florets decreased. The ray floret corolla was shortened, but the disc floret was elongated. The number of capitula increased significantly, arranged in more densely compounded corymbose synflorescences. The yeast and luciferase reporter system revealed that ClAP1, ClRCD2, and ClLBD18 target and activate ClNAM. Subsequently, ClNAM targets and activates ClCUC2a/c, which regulates the initiation of floral and inflorescence in C. lavandulifolium. ClNAM was also targeted and cleaved by cla-miR164 in this process. In conclusion, this study established a boundary gene regulatory network with cla-miR164-ClNAM as the hub. This network not only influences the architecture of capitulum, but also affects compound corymbose synflorescences of the C. lavandulifolium. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms regulating inflorescence architecture in chrysanthemum.

Selecting Monoclonal Cell Lineages from Somatic Reprogramming Using Robotic-Based Spatial-Restricting Structured Flow.

Somatic cell reprogramming generates induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which serve as a crucial source of seed cells for personalized disease modeling and treatment in regenerative medicine. However, the process of reprogramming often causes substantial lineage manipulations, thereby increasing cellular heterogeneity. As a consequence, the process of harvesting monoclonal iPSCs is labor-intensive and leads to decreased reproducibility. Here, we report the first in-house developed robotic platform that uses a pin-tip-based micro-structure to manipulate radial shear flow for automated monoclonal iPSC colony selection (~1 s) in a non-invasive and label-free manner, which includes tasks for somatic cell reprogramming culturing, medium changes; time-lapse-based high-content imaging; and iPSCs monoclonal colony detection, selection, and expansion. Throughput-wise, this automated robotic system can perform approximately 24 somatic cell reprogramming tasks within 50 days in parallel via a scheduling program. Moreover, thanks to a dual flow-based iPSC selection process, the purity of iPSCs was enhanced, while simultaneously eliminating the need for single-cell subcloning. These iPSCs generated via the dual processing robotic approach demonstrated a purity 3.7 times greater than that of the conventional manual methods. In addition, the automatically produced human iPSCs exhibited typical pluripotent transcriptional profiles, differentiation potential, and karyotypes. In conclusion, this robotic method could offer a promising solution for the automated isolation or purification of lineage-specific cells derived from iPSCs, thereby accelerating the development of personalized medicines.

Enhanced glycolysis in the myometrium with ectopic endometrium of patients with adenomyosis: a preliminary study.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the glycolytic activity of adenomyosis, which is characterized by malignant biological behaviors including abnormal cell proliferation, migration, invasion, cell regulation, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. METHODS: From January 2021 to August 2022, a total of 15 patients who underwent total hysterectomy for adenomyosis and 14 patients who had non-endometrial diseases, specifically with cervical squamous intraepithelial neoplasia and uterine myoma, were included in this study. Myometrium with ectopic endometrium from patients with adenomyosis while normal myometrium from patients in the control group were collected. All samples were confirmed by a histopathological examination. The samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), real-time quantitative PCR, NAD+/NADH assay kit as well as the glucose and lactate assay kits. RESULTS: Endometrial stroma and glands could be observed within the myometrium of patients in the adenomyosis group. We found that the mRNA expressions of HK1, PFKFB3, glyceraldehyde-3-phospate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), PKM2, and PDHA as well as the protein expressions of PFKFB3 were elevated in ectopic endometrial tissues of the adenomyosis group as compared to normal myometrium of the control group. The level of fructose 1,6-diphosphate was increased while NAD + and NAD+/NADH ratio were decreased compared with the control group. Besides, increased glucose consumption and lactate production were observed in myometrium with ectopic endometrium. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that altered glycolytic phenotype of the myometrium with ectopic endometrium in women with adenomyosis may contribute the development of adenomyosis.

The spatiotemporal trend of human brucellosis in China and driving factors using interpretability analysis.

Human brucellosis has reemerged in China, with a distinct change in its geographical distribution. The incidence of human brucellosis has significantly risen in inland regions of China. To gain insights into epidemic characteristics and identify factors influencing the geographic spread of human brucellosis, our study utilized the Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm and interpretable machine learning techniques. The results showed a consistent upward trend in the incidence of human brucellosis, with a significant increase of 8.20% from 2004 to 2021 (95% CI: 1.70, 15.10). The northern region continued to face a serious human situation, with a gradual upward trend. Meanwhile, the western and southern regions have experienced a gradual spread of human brucellosis, encompassing all regions of China over the past decade. Further analysis using Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) demonstrated that higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and increased funding for education have the potential to reduce the spread. Conversely, the expansion of human brucellosis showed a positive correlation with bed availability per 1000 individuals, humidity, railway mileage, and GDP. These findings strongly suggest that socioeconomic factors play a more significant role in the spread of human brucellosis than other factors.