Using Deep-Learning-Based Artificial Intelligence Technique to Automatically Evaluate the Collateral Status of Multiphase CTA in Acute Ischemic Stroke.

BACKGROUND: Collateral status is an important predictor for the outcome of acute ischemic stroke with large vessel occlusion. Multiphase computed-tomography angiography (mCTA) is useful to evaluate the collateral status, but visual evaluation of this examination is time-consuming. This study aims to use an artificial intelligence (AI) technique to develop an automatic AI prediction model for the collateral status of mCTA. METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled subjects with acute ischemic stroke receiving endovascular thrombectomy between January 2015 and June 2020 in a tertiary referral hospital. The demographic data and images of mCTA were collected. The collateral status of all mCTA was visually evaluated. Images at the basal ganglion and supraganglion levels of mCTA were selected to produce AI models using the convolutional neural network (CNN) technique to automatically predict the collateral status of mCTA. RESULTS: A total of 82 subjects were enrolled. There were 57 cases randomly selected for the training group and 25 cases for the validation group. In the training group, there were 40 cases with a positive collateral result (good or intermediate) and 17 cases with a negative collateral result (poor). In the validation group, there were 21 cases with a positive collateral result and 4 cases with a negative collateral result. During training for the CNN prediction model, the accuracy of the training group could reach 0.999 ± 0.015, whereas the prediction model had a performance of 0.746 ± 0.008 accuracy on the validation group. The area under the ROC curve was 0.7. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the application of the AI model derived from mCTA images to automatically evaluate the collateral status is feasible.

Clostridium butyricum alleviates LPS-induced acute immune stress in goats by regulating bacterial communities and blood metabolites.

The mitigation and prevention of acute immune stress are essential for livestock production. Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) has shown positive effects in stabilizing intestinal microbiota disorders, improving immune function and inhibiting disease development, but its effects on ruminants are unclear. Therefore, the current trial hypothesized that C. butyricum could improve goats' immune function and antioxidant capacity by regulating bacterial communities and blood metabolism and effectively alleviating the acute immune stress induced by Lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Sixteen healthy goats were fed C. butyricum for 70 days, and the goats were challenged with LPS on day 71. Blood and feces were collected at 0 h and 6 h after the challenge to evaluate the effects of C. butyricum on their intestinal microbiota, immune function, antioxidant function, and plasma metabolites. The results showed that C. butyricum had no significant effect on plasma biochemical parameters at the beginning of the LPS challenge. However, supplementation with C. butyricum increased plasma levels of IgA, IgG, T-SOD, and T-AOC (P < 0.05), but TNF-α, IL-6, and MDA were decreased (P < 0.05). In contrast, IL-10 showed an increasing trend (P < 0.10). Rectal microbiota analysis showed that C. butyricum significantly increased the relative abundance of Epsilonbacteraeota at the phylum level of goats; at the genus level, the relative abundances of Campylobacter and Anaerorhabdus]_furcosa_group were also significantly increased (P < 0.05). Christensenellaceae_R-7_group as the dominant microbiota also showed a significant increase in their abundance values, while Clostridium and Lachnospiraceae_UCG-001 were significantly lower (P < 0.05). When the LPS challenge continued up to 6 h, dietary supplementation with C. butyricum still resulted in significantly higher plasma concentrations of IgA, IL-10, and T-SOD in goats than in the control group, reducing TNF-α levels (P < 0.05). In addition, plasma levels of T-CHOL and LDL were significantly reduced, and the expression of d-proline was significantly upregulated according to metabolomic analysis (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation with C. butyricum helped optimize the expression of bacterial communities and plasma metabolites to enhance the ability of goats to alleviate acute immune stress.

Clostridium butyricum improves the intestinal health of goats by regulating the intestinal microbial community.

Clostridium butyricum, as a probiotic with a variety of active products, has been widely used to improve the intestinal health of humans and animals. Previous studies had demonstrated that Clostridium butyricum exhibited potential protective and positive effects in human disease research and animal production by producing a variety of beneficial substances, such as intestinal inflammation, the intestinal epithelial barrier, metabolic diseases, and regulation of the gut microbiota. Therefore, we hypothesized that dietary Clostridium butyricum supplementation could improve gut health in fattening goats by modulating gut microbiota. However, it is unclear whether Clostridium butyricum can reach the intestine through the rumen, so 15 healthy Albas goats were selected and randomly divided into 3 treatments with 5 replicates in each group. The groups were divided as follows: control group (CON: basal diet), rumen-protected Clostridium butyricum group (RPCB: basal diet plus 1.0 × 109 CFU/kg Clostridium butyricum coated with hydrogenated fat), and Clostridium butyricum group (CB: basal diet plus 1.0 × 109 CFU/kg Clostridium butyricum). The experiment was slaughtered after a 70-day growth test, and the jejunal mucosa and intestinal contents of the goats were collected to determine tight junction proteins related genes expression and 16S rDNA microbial sequencing analysis to evaluate the intestine health. The results showed that dietary supplementation with Clostridium butyricum significantly increased the expression of the Claudin-4 gene of the jejunal mucosa (P < 0.05) and had a trend toward a significant increase in the Occludin gene (0.05 < P < 0.10). However, Clostridium butyricum had no significant effect on the expression of intestinal inflammatory factors (P > 0.10). In addition, the relative fractionation of Clostridium and Clostridiaceae_unclassified in the gut microbiota at the genus level decreased significantly compared with controls (P < 0.05). The results of the analysis of the level of Clostridium species showed that Clostridium butyricum only existed in the treatment group. And the correlation results showed that Occludin and Claudin-4 genes were positively correlated with Sharppea and Clostridium butyricum, and negatively correlated with Clostridium (P < 0.05). Supplementing Clostridium butyricum in the diet did not significantly affect the intestinal immune function of goats, while regulation of the intestinal microbiota was associated with improving the intestinal epithelial barrier.

Prediction of Cognitive Degeneration in Parkinson's Disease Patients Using a Machine Learning Method.

This study developed a predictive model for cognitive degeneration in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) using a machine learning method. The clinical data, plasma biomarkers, and neuropsychological test results of patients with PD were collected and utilized as model predictors. Machine learning methods comprising support vector machines (SVMs) and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to obtain a cognitive classification model. Using 32 comprehensive predictive parameters, the PCA-SVM classifier reached 92.3% accuracy and 0.929 area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Furthermore, the accuracy could be increased to 100% and the AUC to 1.0 in a PCA-SVM model using only 13 carefully chosen features.

Mixed oats and alfalfa improved the antioxidant activity of mutton and the performance of goats by affecting intestinal microbiota.

Oat hay and alfalfa hay are important roughage resources in livestock production. However, the effect of the mixture of oat hay and alfalfa hay on the meat quality of Albas goats is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of feeding different proportions of oat hay and alfalfa hay on the growth performance and meat quality of Albas goats. Therefore, 32 goats were fed for 70 days and randomly divided into four treatment groups on the principle of similar weight: whole oat group (OAT), oat alfalfa ratio 3:7 group (OA73), oat alfalfa ratio 7:3 group (OA37) and whole alfalfa group (Alfalfa), with eight goats in each group. Daily feed intake records, feces, feed samples, and rumen fluid collection were made throughout the trial. The goats were weighed on the last day of the trial, and four goats per group were randomly selected for slaughter. Cecum contents, meat samples, and hot carcass weight were collected, and data were recorded. Furthermore, the relationship between the rumen and cecal microbes on performance and meat quality was clarified by analyzing the rumen and hindgut microbiomes. The results showed that feeding alfalfa could significantly reduce the daily weight gain of fattening goats. Compared with the highest group (OA37), the daily weight gain decreased by 19.21%. Although there was no significant change in feed intake in the four treatments, the feed conversion rate of the alfalfa group significantly decreased by 30.24-36.47% compared to the other groups. However, with the increased alfalfa content, MDA decreased significantly, T-AOC was up-regulated, and the antioxidant activity of the fattened goat meat fed with the high alfalfa group was significantly higher than that of the low alfalfa group. Notably, the abundance of Bacteroidales_unclassified and Clostridium were strongly correlated with T-AOC and MDA. Therefore, increasing the proportion of alfalfa in the diet can affect the antioxidant activity of goat meat by improving the gut microbiota, while an oat-hay mixture can improve the growth performance of livestock.

Inhibition of proliferation and migration of melanoma cells by ketoconazole and Ganoderma immunomodulatory proteins.

Ketoconazole, an antifungal agent, has been used to inhibit hormone synthesis in types of prostate and breast cancer. Immunomodulatory proteins of Ganoderma microsporum (GMI) inhibit the tumor necrosis factor-α- and epidermal growth factor-induced metastatic ability of lung cancer cells. Cutaneous malignant melanoma is a highly invasive and metastatic skin cancer. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is limited understanding regarding the effects of ketoconazole and GMI on melanoma. The current study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effects of GMI combined with ketoconazole on melanoma survival and metastasis. The effects of GMI combined with ketoconazole on the viability, migration and protein expression of melanoma cells were determined by MTT assay, Boyden chamber assay and western blot analysis, respectively. The expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) was investigated by enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay. The present results indicate that ketoconazole enhances the GMI-induced decrease in proliferation and migration of A375.S2 melanoma cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Ketoconazole was identified to reduce the level of GMI-induced phosphorylated-adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (p-AMPK)-α and autophagy; however, ketoconazole did not affect p-AMPK-ß levels in A375.S2 cells. In addition, ketoconazole and dorsomorphin dihydrochloride, an AMPK inhibitor, were revealed to reduce MCP-1 secretion in A375.S2 cells. In summary, the present study revealed that ketoconazole enhances GMI-inhibited proliferation and migration of A375.S2 melanoma cancer cells, and inhibits the secretion of MCP-1.

Ganoderma immunomodulatory protein and chidamide down-regulate integrin-related signaling pathway result in migration inhibition and apoptosis induction.

BACKGROUND: In terms of melanoma, recent advances have been made in target therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors, but durable remission is rare. Ganoderma immunomodulatory proteins (GMI) induce a cytotoxic effect in cancer cells via autophagy. However, the role of GMI in melanoma is not clear. PURPOSE: The aims of this study are to investigate the inhibiting effects of GMI combined with chidamide on survival and metastases of melanoma cells via integrin-related signaling pathway and to propose strategies for combining GMI and chidamide using animal model. METHODS: Cell viability was measured by cell CCK-8. The activities of apoptosis- and migration-related proteins were detected on Western blot. Flow cytometry was used to analyze cell cycle distribution and sub-G1 fraction in treated melanoma cells. To evaluate the activity of combination GMI and chidamide treatment, an in vivo anti-tumor metastasis study was performed. RESULTS: GMI combined with chidamide additively induced apoptosis. GMI inhibited the expressions of Integrin α5, αV, ß1, and ß3. The level of p-FAK was inhibited by GMI. Combination treatment of GMI and chidamide decreased survivin and increased cleaved caspase-7 and LC3 II/I. Integrin-αV overexpression activated p-FAK pathways in A375.S2 cells. GMI significantly inhibited cell growth and migration of A375.S2 cells on wound healing assay. In vivo, GMI combined with chidamide suppressed distal tumor metastasis. CONCLUSION: GMI inhibits the migration and growth of melanoma cells via integrin-related signaling pathway. GMI and chidamide induces apoptosis. In vivo, GMI and chidamide additively reduce distant metastases. GMI and chidamide are potential immunotherapeutic adjuvant for metastatic melanoma.