Conversion therapy for advanced penile cancer with tislelizumab combined with chemotherapy: A case report and review of literature.

BACKGROUND: Locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma with unresectable inguinal lymph node metastasis has a poor prognosis, and surgical treatment alone offers limited benefits. Effective conversion therapy regimens are urgently needed. CASE SUMMARY: We describe a locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma patient with bulky, fixed inguinal lymph node metastasis complicated with genital skin ulcers who underwent inguinal lymph node dissection and achieved a pathological complete response with conversion therapy comprising immunotherapy plus chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: For unresectable locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma, neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy is a potential treatment approach. Biomarkers of immunotherapy efficacy need to be explored, and clinical trials are needed to test these strategies.

[Changes of histology and ultrastructure of otopoint "Stomach" area in rabbits with chronic gastritis].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the histological and ultrastructural changes of the otopoint "Stomach" (MA-IC) area in chronic gastritis rabbits so as to provide a foundation for auricular acupoint diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: A total of 20 New Zealand rabbits (half male and half female) were randomly and equally divided into control and model groups. The chronic gastritis model was established by gavage of 5% sodium salicylate each day for 5 weeks, while the rabbits of the control group received gavage of clear water at the same volume. Morphological changes of the tissues of gastric mucosa, otopoint "Stomach" and auricular control point were observed under light microscope after staining with hematoxylin-eosin (H.E.), and given scores (0-3 points) according to the levels of inflammatory cells. The ultrastructural changes of the otopoint "Stomach" tissue were observed under transmission electronic microscope (TEM). RESULTS: H.E. staining revealed smoothness of the gastric smooth muscle with no or a few of inflammatory cells in the control group, and appearance of gastric mucosal hemorrhage and erosion, slightly disordered epithelial glands and infiltration of a large number of lymphocytes in the mucosal layer with some clustered lymphocyte aggregation foci in the model group. The pathological score of gastric mucous in the model group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.01). Under light microscope, no obvious changes were observed in the skin of the otopoint "Stomach" of the control group and the control point of the model group, whereas hyperplasia and abscission in the epidermic cuticle and spinous layer and basal layer, dermal tissue and inflammatory cell infiltration were observed in the otopoint "Stomach" of the model group. Results of TEM observation showed no significant changes in the ultrastructure of the otopoint "Stomach" in the control group, and swollen and vacuolated epidermal keratinocyte mitochondria, reduced keratin filament aggregation, widened local cell space, unclear desmosome structure, activation of the dermal fibroblasts, and an increase of the myelinated nerve mitochondria in the "Stomach" region in the model group. CONCLUSION: The otopoint "Stomach" tissue has structural damage and hyperplasia in chronic gastritis rabbits, suggesting a special correlation between the otopoint "Stomach" and gastric tissue, hence, providing a morphological basis for otopoint diagnosis and treatment.

Characteristics of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process under the combined actions of intracellular and extracellular polyphosphate.

The characteristics of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process under the combined actions of intracellular and extracellular polyphosphate (polyP) were investigated with the 31P Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and the fractionation extracting the loosely-bound and tightly-bound extracellular polymer substances (i.e., LB-EPS and TB-EPS) and bacterial cells in EBPR sludge. The hydrolysis/synthesis of extracellular and intracellular polyP was a key step of the phosphate migration and transformation in EBPR sludge. The orthophosphate (orthoP) produced from the intracellular and extracellular polyP anaerobic-hydrolysis was partially accumulated in the bacterial cells and TB-EPS, and then the accumulated orthoP was main composition for these polyP aerobic-synthesis. Importantly, the anaerobic-hydrolysis enhancement of intracellular and extracellular ployP could promote EBPR sludge to absorb volatile fatty acids (VFAs) followed by being transformed into intracellular poly-hydroxy-alkanoates (PHAs). The mechanism for VFAs passing through the LB-EPS and TB-EPS should be an anion-exchange action between orthoP and VFAs. The orthoP accumulation in the TB-EPS kept an orthoP concentration gradient among the TB-EPS, LB-EPS and bulk solution, driving orthoP and VFAs migrations. The orthoP accumulation in the bacterial cells could keep an orthoP concentration difference between the cell-membrane two sides of phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAOs) to promote VFAs passing through the cell membrane considered as an anion exchange membrane. The intracellular PHAs continuously hydrolyzed accompanied with the average chain-length increases of the extracellular and intracellular polyP during the whole aerobic stage. Additionally, the energy of the extracellular polyP synthesized in situ should came from the intracellular PHAs hydrolysis.

Clinical characteristics and prognosis of community-acquired pneumonia in autoimmune disease-induced immunocompromised host: A retrospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in autoimmune diseases (AID)-induced immunocompromised host (ICH) had a high incidence and poor prognosis. However, only a few studies had determined the clinical characteristics of these patients. Our study was to explore the characteristics and predictors of mortality in CAP patients accompanied with AID-induced ICH. METHODS: From 2013 to 2018, a total of 94 CAP patients accompanied with AID-induced ICH, admitted to Emergency Department of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, were enrolled in this study. Clinical data and the risk regression estimates of repeated predictors were evaluated by generalized estimating equations (GEEs) analysis. An open-cohort approach was used to classify patient's outcomes into the survival or non-survival group. RESULTS: The hospital mortality of patients with CAP occurring in AID-induced ICH was 60.64%. No significant differences were found with respect to clinical symptoms and lung images between survival and non-survival groups, while renal insufficiency and dysfunction of coagulation had higher proportions in non-survival patients (P<0.05). Both noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) were performed more frequently in non-survival group (P< 0.05). By the multivariate GEEs analysis, the repeated measured longitudinal indices of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (odds ratio [OR]=1.055, 95% confidence interval [95%CI] 1.025-1.086), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (OR=1.004, 95%CI 1.002-1.006) and serum creatinine (sCr) (OR=1.018, 95%CI 1.008-1.028), were associated with a higher risk of mortality. CONCLUSION: The CAP patients in AID-induced ICH had a high mortality. A significant relationship was demonstrated between the factors of NLR, LDH, sCr and mortality risk in these patients.

[Distribution and environmental characteristics of the spawning grounds of Scomberomorus niphonius in the coastal waters of Yellow Sea, China]. / é»„æµ·è¿‘å²¸æµ·åŸŸè“ç‚¹é©¬é²›äº§åµåœºåˆ†å¸ƒåŠå ¶çŽ¯å¢ƒç‰¹å¾.

Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) is one of the main economic fish species in the Yellow Sea. To understand its spawning habitat and population dynamics in the early stage, we examined the distribution and environmental characteristics of spawning ground of Japanese Spanish mackerel using their egg survey data collecting in 2015 (late May) and 2017 (late May) in the coastal waters of Yellow Sea. The generalized additive model (GAM) with the Tweedie distribution was used to analyze the distribution and environmental characteristics of its spawning ground. The results showed that egg distribution was significantly related to the location (i.e., latitude and longitude), water depth, and sea surface temperature (SST), but not related to sea surface salinity (SSS). The optimal range of depth and SST were 15-30 m and 16-20 ℃, respectively. The mackerel spawning ground mainly distributed in the region Shidao fishing ground (area near 36°30' N,121°48' E) and Haizhou Bay (33°30'-36° N,119°30'-121°30' E). There were some clear inter-annual differences in the distribution of mackerel spawning ground, with the spawning ground tending to northward in the year with higher sea temperature. Therefore, it is necessary to manage and protect the above spawning ground (especially the Haizhou Bay), establishing the corresponding ecological protection and restoration strategy, to realize sustainable exploitation of mackerel fisheries resources in the Yellow Sea.

Comparison and optimization of extraction protocol for intracellular phosphorus and its polyphosphate in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) sludge.

Intracellular polyphosphate (poly-P) plays important roles in Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process, but an effective and reliable protocol for extracting intracellular P and its poly-P in EBPR sludge without hydrolysis of poly-P has not been setup yet. In the study, it was revealed that the severe hydrolysis of intracellular poly-P occurred during the different extraction processes, such as acid (i.e., HClO4, H2SO4 and HCl), basic (i.e., NaOH and KOH) and freezing-grind (under different solid-liquid ratios), but it did not occur during ultrasonic extraction process. The optimal extraction process of the ultrasonic protocol was 10 w/mL of ultrasonic power density and 15 min of ultrasonic time, when the extraction efficiency of intracellular P was 88.24 ±â€¯1.56%. In addition, the extraction efficiency of intracellular P could be furtherly improved by that the 0.75 mol/L LiCl solution was used to resuspend the bacterial cell before ultrasonic extraction (i.e., LiCl-ultrasonic protocol). The ultrasonic protocol was more suitable to extract the intracellular P and its poly-P of EBPR sludge than the other 4 protocols (i.e., PCA-NaOH, EDTA-NaOH, freezing-grind and LiCl-ultrasonic), which had the technical characteristics of (i) with relatively high extraction efficiency of intracellular P, (ii) without hydrolysis of intracellular poly-P, (iii) with weak noise signal in 31P NMR spectrum and (iv) with simple extraction process and short extraction time. It was founded by the ultrasonic protocol that there was the high content (82.88%-89.79% of intracellular P content) of intracellular poly-P with long average chain length (376.4-383.2) in the EBPR sludges. Importantly, it was confirmed that the EBPR process was related to the combined action of extracellular and intracellular poly-P using a new fractionation method of P in EBPR sludge, which included the ultrasonic protocol at high power density for extracting the intracellular P and its poly-P.

Relationship between PPARα mRNA expression and mitochondrial respiratory function and ultrastructure of the skeletal muscle of patients with COPD.

Peripheral muscle dysfunction is an important complication in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between the levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) mRNA expression and the respiratory function and ultrastructure of mitochondria in the vastus lateralis of patients with COPD. Vastus lateralis biopsies were performed on 14 patients with COPD and 6 control subjects with normal lung function. PPARα mRNA levels in the muscle tissue were detected by real-time PCR. A Clark oxygen electrode was used to assess mitochondrial respiratory function. Mitochondrial number, fractional area in skeletal muscle cross-sections, and Z-line width were observed via transmission electron microscopy. The PPARα mRNA expression was significantly lower in COPD patients with low body mass index (BMIL) than in both COPD patients with normal body mass index (BMIN) and controls. Mitochondrial respiratory function (assessed by respiratory control ratio) was impaired in COPD patients, particularly in BMIL. Compared with that in the control group, mitochondrial number and fractional area were lower in the BMIL group, but were maintained in the BMIN group. Further, the Z-line became narrow in the BMIL group. PPARα mRNA expression was positively related to mitochondrial respiratory function and volume density. In COPD patients with BMIN, mitochondria volume density was maintained, while respiratory function decreased, whereas both volume density and respiratory function decreased in COPD patients with BMIL. PPARα mRNA expression levels are associated with decreased mitochondrial respiratory function and volume density, which may contribute to muscle dysfunction in COPD patients.

Serodiagnosis of trichinellosis by ELISA using recombinant nudix hydrolase of Trichinella spiralis

Trichinella spiralis nudix hydrolase (TsNd) gene encoding a 46 kDa protein was expressed in Escherichia coli and the potential of recombinant TsNd protein (rTsNd) as an antigen for the serodiagnosis of trichinellosis was investigated by ELISA and compared with those of ELISA with T. spiralis muscle larval excretory–secretory (ES) antigens. The sensitivity of both ELISA was 100% (30/30), for the detection of anti-Trichinella IgG antibodies in sera of the experimentally infected mice, and the specificity of rTsNd-ELISA and ES-ELISA was 100% (54/54) and 98% (53/54), respectively (P>0.05). Serum anti-Trichinella antibodies were firstly detected by rTsNd-ELISA at 14 days post infection (dpi), then continued to increase with a detection rate of 100% at 36 dpi. The anti-Trichinella antibody levels at different times after infection were statistically different (P<0.05). The results showed that the rTsNd might be a potential candidate antigen for specific serodiagnosis of trichinellosis. But, it needs to be further evaluated with sera of the patients with trichinellosis and other helminthiasis.

Effect of salicylic acid on Fusarium graminearum, the major causal agent of fusarium head blight in wheat.

Salicylic acid (SA) is one of the key signal molecules in regulating plant resistance to diverse pathogens. In Arabidopsis thaliana, it is predominantly associated with resistance against biotrophic and hemibiotrophic pathogens, and triggering systemic acquired resistance. In contrast, the effect of SA on the defence efficiency of wheat against fusarium head blight (FHB) and its causal agent, Fusarium graminearum, is still poorly understood. Here we show that the F. graminearum mycelial growth and conidia germination were significantly inhibited, and eventually halted in the presence of increasing concentration of SA in both liquid and solid media. Addition of SA also significantly reduced the production of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON). However the inhibitory effect of SA required acidic growth conditions to be observed while basic conditions allowed F. graminearum to use SA as a carbon source. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis confirmed the capacity of F. graminearum to metabolize SA. To better understand the effect of SA on F. graminearum mycelial growth, we have compared the expression profiles of SA-treated and untreated F. graminearum liquid cultures after 8 and 24 h of treatment, using an F. graminearum custom-commercial microarray. The microarray analysis suggested that F. graminearum can metabolize SA through either the catechol or gentisate pathways that are present in some fungal species. Inoculation of F. graminearum conidia in a SA-containing solution has led to reduced FHB symptoms in the very susceptible Triticum aestivum cv. Roblin. In contrast, no inhibition was observed when SA and conidia were inoculated sequentially. The expression patterns for the wheat PR1, NPR1, Pdf1.2, and PR4 genes, a group of indicator genes for the defence response, suggested that SA-induced resistance contributed little to the reduction of symptoms in our assay conditions. Our results demonstrate that, although F. graminearum has the capacity to metabolize SA, SA has a significant and direct impact on F. graminearum through a reduction in efficiency of germination and growth at higher concentrations.

REST: a toolkit for resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data processing.

Resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) has been drawing more and more attention in recent years. However, a publicly available, systematically integrated and easy-to-use tool for RS-fMRI data processing is still lacking. We developed a toolkit for the analysis of RS-fMRI data, namely the RESting-state fMRI data analysis Toolkit (REST). REST was developed in MATLAB with graphical user interface (GUI). After data preprocessing with SPM or AFNI, a few analytic methods can be performed in REST, including functional connectivity analysis based on linear correlation, regional homogeneity, amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), and fractional ALFF. A few additional functions were implemented in REST, including a DICOM sorter, linear trend removal, bandpass filtering, time course extraction, regression of covariates, image calculator, statistical analysis, and slice viewer (for result visualization, multiple comparison correction, etc.). REST is an open-source package and is freely available at http://www.restfmri.net.

Abnormal spontaneous brain activity in medication-naïve ADHD children: a resting state fMRI study.

Abnormal baseline brain functional connectivity in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been revealed in a number of studies by using resting-state functional MRI (rfMRI). The aim of this study was to investigate the spontaneous frontal activities in medication-naïve ADHD boys using the rfMRI derived index, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF). In total 17 ADHD boys and 17 matched controls were recruited to undergo rfMRI scan on a 3.0T MRI system. For each subject, six oblique slices covering the frontal areas were acquired with a rapid sampling rate (TR=400ms). Functional images were processed in AFNI for calculation of ALFF and then group comparison was performed using voxel-based t-test. With a corrected threshold of p<0.05 determined by AlphaSim, we found that in comparison with controls, ADHD patients demonstrated higher ALFF values in the left superior frontal gyrus and sensorimotor cortex (SMC), and lower ALFF values in the bilateral anterior, middle cingulate and the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG). Significant correlations were found between patients' WSCT measures and the peak ALFF located in the right MFG (r=0.69, p=0.02), and the left SMC (r=0.65, p=0.03). Our results revealed abnormal frontal activities at resting state associated with underlying physiopathology of ADHD, and suggested the ALFF analysis to be a potential approach in further exploration of this disorder.

Decreased regional homogeneity in major depression as revealed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: Functional imaging studies indicate abnormal activities in cortico-limbic network in depression during either task or resting state. The present work was to explore the abnormal spontaneous activity shown with regional homogeneity (ReHo) in depression by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). METHODS: Using fMRI, the differences of regional brain activity were measured in resting state in depressed vs. healthy participants. Sixteen participants firstly diagnosed with major depressive disorder and 16 controls were scanned during resting state. A novel method based on ReHo was used to detect spontaneous hemodynamic responses across the whole brain. RESULTS: ReHo in the left thalamus, left temporal lobe, left cerebellar posterior lobe, and the bilateral occipital lobe was found to be significantly decreased in depression compared to healthy controls in resting state of depression. CONCLUSIONS: Abnormal spontaneous activity exists in the left thalamus, left temporal lobe, left cerebellar posterior lobe, and the bilateral occipital lobe. And the ReHo may be a potential reference in understanding the distinct brain activity in resting state of depression.

Alterations in regional homogeneity of baseline brain activity in pediatric temporal lobe epilepsy.

Recent findings on intracortical EEG measurements show that the synchrony of localized neuronal networks is altered in epileptogenesis, leading to generalized seizure activity via connector hubs in the neuronal networks. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals has demonstrated localized signal synchrony and disease-related alterations in a number of instances. We wanted to find out whether the ReHo of resting-state activity can be used to detect regional signal synchrony alterations in children with non-lesional temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Twenty-one TLE patients were compared with age and gender-matched healthy controls. Significantly increased ReHo was discovered in the posterior cingulate gyrus and the right medial temporal lobe of the patients, and they also had significantly decreased ReHo in the cerebellum compared with the healthy controls. However, the alterations in ReHo differed between the patients with normal and abnormal interictal EEGs, the latter showing significantly increased ReHo in the right fusiform gyrus and significantly decreased ReHo in the right medial frontal gyrus relative to the controls, while those with normal EEGs had significantly increased ReHo in the right inferior temporal gyrus and the left posterior cingulate gyrus. We conclude that altered BOLD signal synchrony can be detected in the cerebral and cerebellar cortices of children with TLE even in the absence of interictal EEG abnormalities.

Genome-wide identification and evaluation of novel internal control genes for Q-PCR based transcript normalization in wheat.

To accurately quantify gene expression using quantitative PCR amplification, it is vital that one or more ideal internal control genes are used to normalize the samples to be compared. Ideally, the expression level of those internal control genes should vary as little as possible between tissues, developmental stages and environmental conditions. In this study, 32 candidate genes for internal control were obtained from the analysis of nine independent experiments which included 333 Affymetrix GeneChip Wheat Genome arrays. Expression levels of the selected genes were then evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR with cDNA samples from different tissues, stages of development and environmental conditions. Finally, fifteen novel internal control genes were selected and their respective expression profiles were compared using NormFinder, geNorm, Pearson correlation coefficients and the twofold-change method. The novel internal control genes from this study were compared with thirteen traditional ones for their expression stability. It was observed that seven of the novel internal control genes were better than the traditional ones in expression stability under all the tested cDNA samples. Among the traditional internal control genes, the elongation factor 1-alpha exhibited strong expression stability, whereas the 18S rRNA, Alpha-tubulin, Actin and GAPDH genes had very poor expression stability in the range of wheat samples tested. Therefore, the use of the novel internal control genes for normalization should improve the accuracy and validity of gene expression analysis.

WITHDRAWN: Spontaneous brain activity in medication-naive ADHD boys revealed by ALFF analysis.

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Default mode network as revealed with multiple methods for resting-state functional MRI analysis.

Recently, human brain activity during a resting-state has attracted increasing attention. Several studies have found that there are two networks: the default mode network and its anti-correlation network. Some studies have subsequently showed that the functions of brain areas within the default mode network are crucial in human mental activity. To further discern the brain default mode network as well as its anti-correlation network during resting-state, we used three methods to analyze resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data; regional homogeneity analysis, linear correlation and independent component analysis, on four groups of dataset. Our results showed the existence of these two networks prominently and consistently during a resting- and conscious-state across the three methods. This consistency was exhibited in four independent groups of normal adults. Moreover, the current results provided evidences that the brain areas within the two anti-correlated networks are highly integrated at both the intra- and inter-regional level.

An improved approach to detection of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) for resting-state fMRI: fractional ALFF.

Most of the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies demonstrated the correlations between spatially distinct brain areas from the perspective of functional connectivity or functional integration. The functional connectivity approaches do not directly provide information of the amplitude of brain activity of each brain region within a network. Alternatively, an index named amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) of the resting-state fMRI signal has been suggested to reflect the intensity of regional spontaneous brain activity. However, it has been indicated that the ALFF is also sensitive to the physiological noise. The current study proposed a fractional ALFF (fALFF) approach, i.e., the ratio of power spectrum of low-frequency (0.01-0.08 Hz) to that of the entire frequency range and this approach was tested in two groups of resting-state fMRI data. The results showed that the brain areas within the default mode network including posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, medial prefrontal cortex and bilateral inferior parietal lobule had significantly higher fALFF than the other brain areas. This pattern was consistent with previous neuroimaging results. The non-specific signal components in the cistern areas in resting-state fMRI were significantly suppressed, indicating that the fALFF approach improved the sensitivity and specificity in detecting spontaneous brain activities. Its mechanism and sensitivity to abnormal brain activity should be evaluated in the future studies.

Molecular evolution of dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor genes in wild emmer wheat and its ecological association.

BACKGROUND: alpha-Amylase inhibitors are attractive candidates for the control of seed weevils, as these insects are highly dependent on starch as an energy source. In this study, we aimed to reveal the structure and diversity of dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor genes in wild emmer wheat from Israel and to elucidate the relationship between the emmer wheat genes and ecological factors using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. Another objective of this study was to find out whether there were any correlations between SNPs in functional protein-coding genes and the environment. RESULTS: The influence of ecological factors on the genetic structure of dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor genes was evaluated by specific SNP markers. A total of 244 dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor genes were obtained from 13 accessions in 10 populations. Seventy-five polymorphic positions and 74 haplotypes were defined by sequence analysis. Sixteen out of the 75 SNP markers were designed to detect SNP variations in wild emmer wheat accessions from different populations in Israel. The proportion of polymorphic loci P (5%), the expected heterozygosity He, and Shannon's information index in the 16 populations were 0.887, 0.404, and 0.589, respectively. The populations of wild emmer wheat showed great diversity in gene loci both between and within populations. Based on the SNP marker data, the genetic distance of pair-wise comparisons of the 16 populations displayed a sharp genetic differentiation over long geographic distances. The values of P, He, and Shannon's information index were negatively correlated with three climatic moisture factors, whereas the same values were positively correlated by Spearman rank correlation coefficients' analysis with some of the other ecological factors. CONCLUSION: The populations of wild emmer wheat showed a wide range of diversity in dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitors, both between and within populations. We suggested that SNP markers are useful for the estimation of genetic diversity of functional genes in wild emmer wheat. These results show significant correlations between SNPs in the alpha-amylase inhibitor genes and ecological factors affecting diversity. Ecological factors, singly or in combination, explained a significant proportion of the variations in the SNPs, and the SNPs could be classified into several categories as ecogeographical predictors. It was suggested that the SNPs in the alpha-amylase inhibitor genes have been subjected to natural selection, and ecological factors had an important evolutionary influence on gene differentiation at specific loci.

Amplitude of low frequency fluctuation within visual areas revealed by resting-state functional MRI.

Most studies of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have applied the temporal correlation in the time courses to investigate the functional connectivity between brain regions. Alternatively, the power of low frequency fluctuation (LFF) may also be used as a biomarker to assess spontaneous activity. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate whether the amplitude of the LFF (ALFF) relates to cerebral physiological states. Ten healthy subjects underwent four resting-state fMRI scanning sessions, two for eyes-open (EO) and two for eyes-closed (EC) conditions, with two sets of parameters (TR=400 ms and 2 s, respectively). After data preprocessing, ALFF was obtained by calculating the square root of the power spectrum in the frequency range of 0.01-0.08 Hz. Our results showed that the ALFF in EO was significantly higher than that in EC (P<0.05, corrected) in the bilateral visual cortices. Furthermore, the ALFF in EO was significantly reduced in the right paracentral lobule (PCL) than in EC (P<0.05, corrected). Region of interest (ROI) analysis showed that the ALFF differences between EO and EC were consistent for each subject. In contrast, no significant ALFF differences were found between EO and EC (P<0.381) in the posterior cingulate cortex. All these results agree well with previous studies comparing EO and EC states. Our finding of the distinct ALFF difference between EO and EC in the visual cortex implies that the ALFF may be a novel biomarker for physiological states of the brain.