Potential correlations between asymmetric disruption of functional connectivity and metabolism in major depressive disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research has suggested a connection between major depressive disorder (MDD) and certain comorbidities, including gastrointestinal issues, thyroid dysfunctions, and glycolipid metabolism abnormalities. However, the relationships between these factors and asymmetrical alterations in functional connectivity (FC) in adults with MDD remain unclear. METHOD: We conducted a study on a cohort of 42 MDD patients and 42 healthy controls (HCs). Participants underwent comprehensive clinical assessments, including evaluations of blood lipids and thyroid hormone levels, as well as resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (Rs-fMRI) scans. Data analysis involved correlation analysis to compute the parameter of asymmetry (PAS) for the entire brain's functional connectome. We then examined the interrelationships between abnormal PAS regions in the brain, thyroid hormone levels, and blood lipid levels. RESULTS: The third-generation ultra-sensitive thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH3UL) level was found to be significantly lower in MDD patients compared to HCs. The PAS score of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) decreased, while the bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (Bi-PCC) PAS increased in MDD patients relative to HCs. Notably, the PAS score of the left IFG negatively correlated with both TSH and total cholesterol (CHOL) levels. However, these correlations lose significance after the Bonferroni correction. CONCLUSION: MDD patients demonstrated abnormal asymmetry in resting-state FC (Rs-FC) within the fronto-limbic system, which may be associated with CHOL and thyroid hormone levels.

Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in sensory-motor networks and limbic system as a potential predictor of treatment response in patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Previous investigations have revealed substantial differences in neuroimaging characteristics between healthy controls (HCs) and individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SCZ). However, we are not entirely sure how brain activity links to symptoms in schizophrenia, and there is a need for reliable brain imaging markers for treatment prediction. METHODS: In this longitudinal study, we examined 56 individuals diagnosed with 56 SCZ and 51 HCs. The SCZ patients underwent a three-month course of antipsychotic treatment. We employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) along with fractional Amplitude of Low Frequency Fluctuations (fALFF) and support vector regression (SVR) methods for data acquisition and subsequent analysis. RESULTS: In this study, we initially noted lower fALFF values in the right postcentral/precentral gyrus and left postcentral gyrus, coupled with higher fALFF values in the left hippocampus and right putamen in SCZ patients compared to the HCs at baseline. However, when comparing fALFF values in brain regions with abnormal baseline fALFF values for SCZ patients who completed the follow-up, no significant differences in fALFF values were observed after 3 months of treatment compared to baseline data. The fALFF values in the right postcentral/precentral gyrus and left postcentral gyrus, and the left postcentral gyrus were useful in predicting treatment effects. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that reduced fALFF values in the sensory-motor networks and increased fALFF values in the limbic system may constitute distinctive neurobiological features in SCZ patients. These findings may serve as potential neuroimaging markers for the prognosis of SCZ patients.

Differences in fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) and cognitive function between untreated major depressive disorder and schizophrenia with depressive mood patients.

BACKGROUND: Distinguishing untreated major depressive disorder without medication (MDD) from schizophrenia with depressed mood (SZDM) poses a clinical challenge. This study aims to investigate differences in fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) and cognition in untreated MDD and SZDM patients. METHODS: The study included 42 untreated MDD cases, 30 SZDM patients, and 46 healthy controls (HC). Cognitive assessment utilized the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans were conducted, and data were processed using fALFF in slow-4 and slow-5 bands. RESULTS: Significant fALFF changes were observed in four brain regions across MDD, SZDM, and HC groups for both slow-4 and slow-5 fALFF. Compared to SZDM, the MDD group showed increased slow-5 fALFF in the right gyrus rectus (RGR). Relative to HC, SZDM exhibited decreased slow-5 fALFF in the left gyrus rectus (LGR) and increased slow-5 fALFF in the right putamen. Changes in slow-5 fALFF in both RGR and LGR were negatively correlated with RBANS scores. No significant correlations were found between remaining fALFF (slow-4 and slow-5 bands) and RBANS scores in MDD or SZDM groups. CONCLUSIONS: Alterations in slow-5 fALFF in RGR may serve as potential biomarkers for distinguishing MDD from SZDM, providing preliminary insights into the neural mechanisms of cognitive function in schizophrenia.

Image characteristics and main types of abnormal branching of fetal pulmonary artery in prenatal echocardiography - a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the image characteristics and main types of abnormal branching of fetal pulmonary artery in prenatal echocardiography. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 41 cases diagnosed with abnormal branching of fetal pulmonary artery by prenatal echocardiography was made. The image characteristics of the abnormalities, their combination with intra- or extra-cardiac malformations and chromosomal anomalies were analyzed. RESULTS: The results of prenatal echocardiography showed that, among the 41 cases, 1) 4 cases were with anomalous origin of single pulmonary artery, 8 cases with pulmonary artery agenesis, 9 cases with pulmonary artery sling; 20 cases with crossed pulmonary arteries. 2) 11 cases were complicated with intracardiac malformations and 10 with extracardiac malformations. 3) Only 7 case underwent chromosomal examination and 1 tested abnormal. 4) Pregnancy outcomes: 25 fetuses were born and their abnormalities confirmed by echocardiography (MRI or surgery) to be consistent with prenatal ultrasound diagnosis; 16 cases had their pregnancy terminated due to their combination with other severe malformations, which were confirmed by pathological anatomy after induced abortion. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal echocardiography can provide detailed images for the diagnosis of abnormal branching of fetal pulmonary artery, which can be complicated by intra- and extracardiac malformations and chromosomal anomalies and should be alerted.

Risk factors of developing psychological problems among frontline healthcare professionals working in the COVID-19 pandemic era: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: This study sought to evaluate the risk factors behind developing psychological problems as per specific mental health assessment instruments. This study focuses specifically on frontline healthcare professionals of the COVID-19 pandemic era, and evaluated the psychological assessment of frontline healthcare professionals. METHODS: Studies reporting on the psychological assessment of frontline healthcare professionals were retrieved from the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Ovid, EBSCO, and Cochrane Library databases. The recommended method was used to assess the risk of bias of the included studies. The random-effects method was applied when significant heterogeneity was observed. RESULTS: The combined results from the 20 included articles indicated that frontline healthcare professionals had a higher risk of developing anxiety in comparison with non-frontline healthcare workers, with similar levels of depression scoring were observed. Healthcare providers aged > 40 years had a lower probability of developing anxiety and seemed to experience minimal depression. Conversely, frontline workers had a higher incidence of anxiety than that of depression. Being single (not in a relationship) could influence the PHQ-9 scores instead of those concerning the GAD-7. The gender gap was not proven to be significantly wide between healthcare professionals with or without anxiety; however, being male was proven to be positively correlated with depression. CONCLUSION: In general, the risk factors for susceptibility to psychological problems among frontline healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic concerned those of a lower age, being single, being male, and being engage in frontline healthcare work.

Automatic depression diagnosis through hybrid EEG and near-infrared spectroscopy features using support vector machine.

Depression is a common mental disorder that seriously affects patients' social function and daily life. Its accurate diagnosis remains a big challenge in depression treatment. In this study, we used electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and measured the whole brain EEG signals and forehead hemodynamic signals from 25 depression patients and 30 healthy subjects during the resting state. On one hand, we explored the EEG brain functional network properties, and found that the clustering coefficient and local efficiency of the delta and theta bands in patients were significantly higher than those in normal subjects. On the other hand, we extracted brain network properties, asymmetry, and brain oxygen entropy as alternative features, used a data-driven automated method to select features, and established a support vector machine model for automatic depression classification. The results showed the classification accuracy was 81.8% when using EEG features alone and increased to 92.7% when using hybrid EEG and fNIRS features. The brain network local efficiency in the delta band, hemispheric asymmetry in the theta band and brain oxygen sample entropy features differed significantly between the two groups (p < 0.05) and showed high depression distinguishing ability indicating that they may be effective biological markers for identifying depression. EEG, fNIRS and machine learning constitute an effective method for classifying depression at the individual level.

Deviant spontaneous neural activity as a potential early-response predictor for therapeutic interventions in patients with schizophrenia.

Objective: Previous studies have established significant differences in the neuroimaging characteristics between healthy controls (HCs) and patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). However, the relationship between homotopic connectivity and clinical features in patients with SCZ is not yet fully understood. Furthermore, there are currently no established neuroimaging biomarkers available for the diagnosis of SCZ or for predicting early treatment response. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between regional homogeneity and specific clinical features in SCZ patients. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal investigation involving 56 patients with SCZ and 51 HCs. The SCZ patients underwent a 3-month antipsychotic treatment. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), regional homogeneity (ReHo), support vector machine (SVM), and support vector regression (SVR) were used for data acquisition and analysis. Results: In comparison to HCs, individuals with SCZ demonstrated reduced ReHo values in the right postcentral/precentral gyrus, left postcentral/inferior parietal gyrus, left middle/inferior occipital gyrus, and right middle temporal/inferior occipital gyrus, and increased ReHo values in the right putamen. It is noteworthy that there was decreased ReHo values in the right inferior parietal gyrus after treatment compared to baseline data. Conclusion: The observed decrease in ReHo values in the sensorimotor network and increase in ReHo values in the right putamen may represent distinctive neurobiological characteristics of patients with SCZ, as well as a potential neuroimaging biomarker for distinguishing between patients with SCZ and HCs. Furthermore, ReHo values in the sensorimotor network and right putamen may serve as predictive indicators for early treatment response in patients with SCZ.

Differences and correlations of biochemical index levels in patients with bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder during a stable period.

The differences and correlation of biochemical indexes between bipolar disorder (BPD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) in stable stage were analyzed and discussed. Patients diagnosed with BPD and MDD in the Third People's Hospital of Foshan from January 2019 to December 2021 were selected as the research subjects, with 200 cases in each. Fasting serum was collected from patients and then detected regarding TC, TG, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), aspartate aminotransferase, lactic dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB, urea, creatinine, uric acid, alanine aminotransferase, glucose (GLU), hemoglobin A1c, prolactin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, homocysteine. The results showed that the mean age and serum LDL, GLU, and HbAc1 levels of the MDD group were significantly higher than those of the BPD group (P < .05), while there was no significant difference in other indexes (P > .05). The prevalence of BPD was significantly negatively correlated with patient age (r = -0.164, P = .020), LDL (r = -0.150, P = .034), GLU (r = -0.140, P = .048), and HbAc1 (r = -0.215, P = .002) (P < .05). There were no significant differences in serum Hcy and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels between the BPD and MDD groups. The age, fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, and LDL of BPD patients were negatively correlated with their incidence.

Amygdala signal abnormality and cognitive impairment in drug-naïve schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Recently studies had showed that the amygdala may take part in the cognitive impairment in schizophrenia (SC). However, the mechanism is still unclear, so we explored the relationship between the amygdala resting state magnetic resonance imaging (rsMRI) signal and cognitive function, to provide a reference for the follow-up study. METHODS: We collected 59 drug-naïve SCs and 46 healthy controls (HCs) from the Third People's Hospital of Foshan. The rsMRI technique and automatic segmentation tool were used to extract the volume and functional indicators of the SC's amygdala. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess the severity of the disease, and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) was used to assess cognitive function. Pearson correlation analysis was used to compare the relationship between the structural and functional indicators of the amygdala and PANSS and RBANS. RESULTS: (1) There was no significant difference between SC and HC in age, gender and years of education. Compared with HC, the PANSS score of SC increased and the RBANS score decreased significantly. Meanwhile, the left amygdala volume decreased (t=-3.675, p < 0.001), and the Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (FALFF) values of bilateral amygdala increased (tL=3.916, p < 0.001; tR=3.131, p = 0.002). (2) The volumes of the left amygdala were negatively correlated with the PANSS score (rL=-0.243, p = 0.039). While the FALFF values of the bilateral amygdala were positively correlated with the PANSS score (rL=0.257, p = 0.026; rR=0.259, p = 0.026). Bilateral amygdala volumes and FALFF values were positively correlated (rL=0.445, p < 0.001; rR=0.326, p = 0.006) and negatively correlated with RBANS score (rL=-0.284, p = 0.014; rR=-0.272, p = 0.020), respectively. CONCLUSION: The abnormal volume and function of the amygdala play important roles in the disease process of SC, and are closely related to cognitive impairment.

Disrupted interhemispheric coordination of sensory-motor networks and insula in major depressive disorder.

Objective: Prior researches have identified distinct differences in neuroimaging characteristics between healthy controls (HCs) and patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the correlations between homotopic connectivity and clinical characteristics in patients with MDD have yet to be fully understood. The present study aimed to investigate common and unique patterns of homotopic connectivity and their relationships with clinical characteristics in patients with MDD. Methods: We recruited 42 patients diagnosed with MDD and 42 HCs. We collected a range of clinical variables, as well as exploratory eye movement (EEM), event-related potentials (ERPs) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data. The data were analyzed using correlation analysis, support vector machine (SVM), and voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC). Results: Compared with HCs, patients with MDD showed decreased VMHC in the insula, and increased VMHC in the cerebellum 8/vermis 8/vermis 9 and superior/middle occipital gyrus. SVM analysis using VMHC values in the cerebellum 8/vermis 8/vermis 9 and insula, or VMHC values in the superior/middle occipital gyrus and insula as inputs can distinguish HCs and patients with MDD with high accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that decreased VMHC in the insula and increased VMHC values in the sensory-motor networks may be a distinctive neurobiological feature for patients with MDD, which could potentially serve as imaging markers to discriminate HCs and patients with MDD.

Single-cell and spatial transcriptome analyses revealed cell heterogeneity and immune environment alternations in metastatic axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Tumor heterogeneity plays essential roles in developing cancer therapies, including therapies for breast cancer (BC). In addition, it is also very important to understand the relationships between tumor microenvironments and the systematic immune environment. METHODS: Here, we performed single-cell, VDJ sequencing and spatial transcriptome analyses on tumor and adjacent normal tissue as well as axillar lymph nodes (LNs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 8 BC patients. RESULTS: We found that myeloid cells exhibited environment-dependent plasticity, where a group of macrophages with both M1 and M2 signatures possessed high tumor specificity spatially and was associated with worse patient survival. Cytotoxic T cells in tumor sites evolved in a separate path from those in the circulatory system. T cell receptor (TCR) repertoires in metastatic LNs showed significant higher consistency with TCRs in tumor than those in nonmetastatic LNs and PBMCs, suggesting the existence of common neo-antigens across metastatic LNs and primary tumor cites. In addition, the immune environment in metastatic LNs had transformed into a tumor-like status, where pro-inflammatory macrophages and exhausted T cells were upregulated, accompanied by a decrease in B cells and neutrophils. Finally, cell interactions showed that cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) contributed most to shaping the immune-suppressive microenvironment, while CD8+ cells were the most signal-responsive cells. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed the cell structures of both micro- and macroenvironments, revealed how different cells diverged in related contexts as well as their prognostic capacities, and displayed a landscape of cell interactions with spatial information.

Observational study on obesity: Insights from middle-aged and elderly college staff in Beijing.

Obesity poses a serious global public health challenge, particularly among middle-aged, and elderly college staff. This study aims to explore the associated factors of obesity by analyzing the metabolic indicators of 1756 university staff from Minzu University of China, Beijing. Venous blood samples were collected, and blood metabolic indicators were analyzed. The results indicate that middle-aged faculty members are more susceptible to obesity compared to their younger counterparts. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that BMI values increase with age (B = 0.074, P < .001), uric acid (B = 0.008, P < .001), alanine transaminase (B = 0.043, P < .001), low-density lipoprotein (B = 1.941, P < .001), triglycerides (B = 0.544, P < .001), total cholesterol (TC, B = -1.582, P < .001), and other factors, while decreasing with the increase of high-density lipoprotein (B = -1.493, P < .001). In light of these findings, it is recommended that middle-aged and elderly college staff undergo regular blood indicator checks and enhance weight management to mitigate the risk of obesity and promote their overall health.

Orbital teratoma in the foetus: a rare case without proptosis.

BACKGROUND: Congenital orbital teratoma is relatively rare, and few reports of prenatal ultrasound findings in such cases have been published. CASE PRESENTATION: A rare case of congenital orbital teratoma at 24 + 2 weeks of gestation was previously diagnosed as microphthalmia, noting how orbital teratoma without proptosis is different from microphthalmia, retinoblastoma and intracranial teratoma. Ultrasound examination, analysis of gross specimens, and histopathological evaluation confirmed the diagnosis of orbital teratoma. CONCLUSION: Prenatal ultrasound examination is useful for diagnosis and differential diagnosis of congenital orbital teratoma.

Botulinum Toxin Type A Possibly Affects Cav3.2 Calcium Channel Subunit in Rats with Spinal Cord Injury-Induced Muscle Spasticity.

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord injury (SCI) often causes muscle spasticity, which can be inhibited by using calcium channel blocker. Botulinum toxin type A (BoT-A) shows therapeutic efficacy on spasticity and may exert inhibitory effects on the calcium channel. METHODS: A rat model with muscle spasticity was established after SCI via contusion and compression. Different concentrations (0, 1, 3 and 6 U/kg) of BoT-A Botox were injected in the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles of the right hindlimb in the muscle spasticity model. The changes of muscle spasticity and calcium level in EDL muscles were measured after the establishment of SCI-induced spasticity. Cav3.2 calcium channel subunit and its mutant (M1560V) were analyzed using Western blot before (input) or after immunoprecipitation with anti-FLAG antibody, and their currents were measured in motoneurons by using whole-cell voltage clamp recordings. RESULTS: SCI induced muscle spasticity, whereas calcium level in EDL muscles and expression of Cav3.2 was increased in the SCI model when compared with the sham group (p < 0.05). BoT-A Botox treatment significantly reduced muscle spasticity and calcium level in EDL muscles and Cav3.2 expression in a dose-dependent way (p < 0.05). The ratio of biotinylated to total Cav3.2 was reduced in the mutant (M1560V) of Cav3.2 and lower than that in the wild Cav3.2. BoT-A Botox intervention also reduced the current values of calcium channel and the ratio in a dose-dependent way (p < 0.05). DISCUSSION: BoT-A Botox possibly attenuates SCI-induced muscle spasticity by affecting the expression of Cav3.2 calcium channel subunit in the rat models. There may be multiple mechanisms for the function of BoT-A Botox. Further work is needed to be done to address these issues.

Prussian blue nanoparticles with peroxidase-mimicking properties in a dual immunoassays for glycocholic acid.

Prussian Blue nanoparticles (PBNPs) were utilized in a lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) and in an indirect competitive nanozyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA), respectively, for their intense blue color and peroxidase (POx) -like activity. The PBNPs with good POx-like activity was linked to the antibody. Under the optimal parameters, both the PBNP-icELISA and PBNP-LFA perform very well. The icELISA has an IC50 value of 190 ng/mL, the working range extends from 29 to 1200 ng/mL, and the limit of detection is 22 ng/mL. The visual cut-off limit is 10 ng/mL. The dual immunoassay was used to quantify glycocholic acid in spiked human urine. Excellent recoveries and correlation between the two methods were observed.

Bifunctional Hybrid Enzyme-Catalytic Metal Organic Framework Reactors for α-Glucosidase Inhibitor Screening.

The screening strategy based on α-glucosidase inhibition has been widely employed for the discovery of antidiabetic drugs, but it still faces some challenges in practical applications, such as poor stability of enzyme, high consumption of test compounds, low sensitivity of screening methods and so on. In this work, a bifunctional hybrid enzyme-catalytic metal organic framework reactor (GAA@GOx@Cu-MOF) with a flower-shaped globular structure was innovatively prepared via self-assembling of α-glucosidase (GAA), glucose oxidase (GOx), Cu2+, and 4,4'-bipyridine. It was found that GAA@GOx@Cu-MOF not only enjoyed merits of high stability, selectivity, and sensitivity but also possessed the character of assembly line work, with about 4.58 times enhanced enzyme activity compared with the free enzyme system. Based on the above characteristics, a highly sensitive screening of GAA inhibitors could be achieved with the detection limit of 7.05 nM for acarbose. Furthermore, the proposed method was successfully applied to the screening of oleanolic acid derivatives as potential antidiabetic drugs. Therefore, it was expected that this work could provide new insights and inspirations for the screening of clinical antidiabetic drugs and for further exploration of functional MOF composites.

Identification of candidate genes and miRNAs associated with neuropathic pain induced by spared nerve injury.

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a complex, chronic pain condition caused by injury or dysfunction affecting the somatosensory nervous system. This study aimed to identify crucial genes and miRNAs involved in NP. Microarray data (access number GSE91396) were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Murine RNA­seq samples from three brain regions [nucleus accumbens, (NAc); medial prefrontal cortex, (mPFC) and periaqueductal gray, (PAG)]were compared between the spared nerve injury (SNI) model and a sham surgery. After data normalization, differentially expressed RNAs were screened using the limma package and functional enrichment analysis was performed with Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. The microRNA (miRNA/miR)­mRNA regulatory network and miRNA­target gene­pathway regulatory network were constructed using Cytoscape software. A total of 2,776 differentially expressed RNAs (219 miRNAs and 2,557 mRNAs) were identified in the SNI model compared with the sham surgery group. A total of two important modules (red and turquoise module) were found to be related to NP using weighed gene co­expression network analysis (WGCNA) for the 2,325 common differentially expressed RNAs in three brain regions. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the miRNA­mRNA regulatory network were significantly enriched in 21 Gene Ontology terms and five pathways. A total of four important DEGs (CXCR2, IL12B, TNFSF8 and GRK1) and five miRNAs (miR­208a­5p, miR­7688­3p, miR­344f­3p, miR­135b­3p and miR­135a­2­3p) were revealed according to the miRNA­target gene­pathway regulatory network to be related to NP. Four important DEGs (CXCR2, IL12B, TNFSF8 and GRK1) and five miRNAs (miR­208a­5p, miR­7688­3p, miR­344f­3p, miR­135b­3p and miR­135a­2­3p) were differentially expressed in SNI, indicating their plausible roles in NP pathogenesis.

Identification of Biomarkers Related to Neuropathic Pain Induced by Peripheral Nerve Injury.

Our study aimed to explore the molecular mechanisms and novel target genes of neuropathic pain via bioinformatics analysis. Gene expression profiling of GSE30691 which was consisted of sciatic nerve lesion and sham control samples at 3 days, 7 days, 21 days, and 40 days (D3, D7, D21, and D40) after injury were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified for all the four time points. Overlapped DEGs for all the four time points were used for functional and weighted co-expression modular analysis. Afterwards, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was analyzed by MCODE (Molecular Complex Detection) and BiNGO. Pathway network was constructed according to the enriched pathways of PPI network and relevant pathways selected from the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database. There were 355 overlapped DEGs for all the four time points. Two co-expression modules had significant positive correlations with disease. The top ten hub DEGs in the PPI network were Fos, Tp53, Csk, Map2k2, Stat3, Ccl2, Pxn, Tgfb1, Notch1, and Prkacb. Fos, Dusp1, Tp53, Tgfb1, and Map2k2 participated in MAPK signaling pathway, while Csk participated in chemokine signaling pathway. The expressions of Fos, Tp53, Csk, and Map2k2 were significantly increased at D3. Tp53, Csk, and Map2k2 continued overexpressing until at D7, and an elevated tendency in Csk expression could be observed until at D21. The expression of Fos reached up to the highest at D40. Fos, Tp53, Csk, and Map2k2 might be the potential biomarkers related to neuropathic pain.

Ultrasensitive detection of H. pylori in human feces based on immunomagnetic bead capture and fluorescent quantum dots.

Given that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) generally infects people in early childhood and that such persons when not treated with antibiotics remain infected for the rest of their lives, it is quite important to detect H. pylori in children, and convenient to do so using non-invasive methods. Stool antigen tests constitute such an effective non-invasive method. In the current work, a novel fecal test was developed to detect H. pylori based on immunomagnetic beads (IMBs) with monoclonal antibodies sensitively recognizing and capturing the H. pylori, coupled with a polyclonal antibody-conjugating quantum dot probe, and ultrasensitive detection was achieved by using a fluorescence spectrometer. The detection method took 120 min to perform, and showed a limit of detection of 102 CFU mL-1 and a linear range of 10 to 106 CFU mL-1 (R2 = 0.9962). Most importantly, this method can be effectively applied to real samples. This study provided a novel method for the non-invasive detection of the fecal antigen H. pylori.

Probabilistic Prediction of Strength and Fracture Toughness Scatters for Ceramics Using Normal Distribution.

Tensile strength ft and fracture toughness KIC of ceramic are not deterministic properties or fixed values, but fluctuate within certain ranges. A nonlinear elastic fracture mechanics model was developed in this study and combined with the common normal distribution to predict ceramic's ft and KIC with consideration of their scatters in a statistical sense. In the model, the relative characteristic crack size a*ch/G (characteristic crack size a*ch, average grain size G) was determined based on the fracture measurements on five types of ceramics with different G from 2 to 20 µm in the reference (Usami S, et al., Eng. Fract Mech. 1986, 23, 745). The combined application of the model and normal distribution has two functions: (i) probabilistic ft and KIC can be derived from seemingly randomly varied fracture tests on small ceramic specimens containing different initial defects/cracks, and (ii) with ft or KIC values (corresponding mean and standard deviation), fracture strength of heterogeneous samples with and without cracks can be predicted by considering scatter described by specified reliability. For the fine ceramics, the predicted results containing the mean and the upper and lower bounds with 96% reliability gained with the model, match very well with the experimental results (a, σN).