An efficient multi-level pre-processing algorithm for the enhancement of dermoscopy images in melanoma detection.

In this paper, a multi-level algorithm for pre-processing of dermoscopy images is proposed, which helps in improving the quality of the raw images, making it suitable for skin lesion detection. This multi-level pre-processing method has a positive impact on automated skin lesion segmentation using Regularized Extreme Learning Machine. Raw images are subjected to de-noising, illumination correction, contrast enhancement, sharpening, reflection removal, and virtual shaving before the skin lesion segmentation. The Non-Local Means (NLM) filter with lowest Blind Reference less Image Spatial Quality Evaluator (BRISQUE) score exhibits better de-noising of dermoscopy images. To suppress uneven illumination, gamma correction is subjected to the denoised image. The Robust Image Contrast Enhancement (RICE) algorithm is used for contrast enhancement, and produces enhanced images with better structural preservation and negligible loss of information. Unsharp masking for sharpening exhibits low BRISQUE scores for better sharpening of fine details in an image. Output images produced by the phase congruency-based method in virtual shaving show high similarity with ground truth images as the hair is removed completely from the input images. Obtained scores at each stage of pre-processing framework show that the performance is superior compared to all the existing methods, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in terms of uniform contrast, preservation of information content, removal of undesired information, and elimination of artifacts in melanoma images. The output of the proposed system is assessed qualitatively and quantitatively with and without pre-processing of dermoscopy images. From the overall evaluation results, it is found that the segmentation of skin lesion is more efficient using Regularized Extreme Learning Machine if the multi-level pre-processing steps are used in proper sequence.

Electroretinographic findings in retinal vasculitis.

AIM: To describe and correlate electroretinographic responses with clinical and angiographic findings in retinal vasculitis (RV). METHODS: Medical records of patients with diagnosis of RV at a tertiary eye centre from December 2017 to May 2021 were reviewed. Cases in which fluorescein angiography (FFA) and full field electroretinography (ffERG) were done within 1 month were included. FFAs were graded according to the Angiography Scoring for Uveitis Working Group from 0 to 40, where 0 is normal. A novel ffERG grading system was implemented where individual waves were graded for timing and amplitude and general ffERG score was determined with 6 being a perfect score. RESULTS: 20 patients (34 eyes) were included. Mean age was 43.9±19.8 years; 70% were female. Median best-corrected visual acuity was 0.8 (0.08-1). Mean FFA score was 12.6±6.5. Median general ffERG score was 5 (0-6). 68% and 91% of eyes had responses with general ffERG scores ≥5 and 4, respectively. Flicker timing was most commonly affected.FFA scores weakly correlated with delayed photopic cone b-wave and flicker timing (p=0.03 and 0.016, respectively). Vitreous haze moderately correlated with delayed cone b-wave timing (p<0.001), delayed flicker timing (p=0.002) and weakly correlated with lower flicker amplitude (p=0.03). Underlying systemic disease was associated with poor ffERG responses. CONCLUSION: In this study, RV was not frequently associated with severe global retinal dysfunction Higher FFA scores, and vitreous haze grading were weakly, but significantly, correlated with cone-generated ffERG responses.

Hybrid multi-kernel SVM algorithm for detection of microaneurysm in color fundus images.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a chronic disease that may cause vision loss in diabetic patients. Microaneurysms which are characterized by small red spots on the retina due to fluid or blood leakage from the weak capillary wall often occur during the early stage of DR, making screening at this stage is essential. In this paper, an automatic screening system for early detection of DR in retinal images is developed using a combined shape and texture features. Due to minimum number of hand-crafted features, the computational burden is much reduced. The proposed hybrid multi-kernel support vector machine classifier is constructed by learning a kernel model formed as a combination of the base kernels. This approach outperforms the recent deep learning techniques in terms of the evaluation metrics. The efficiency of the proposed scheme is experimentally validated on three public datasets - Retinopathy Online Challenge, DIARETdB1, MESSIDOR, and AGAR300 (developed for this study). Studies reveal that the proposed model produced the best results of 0.503 in ROC dataset, 0.481 in DIARETdB1, and 0.464 in the MESSIDOR dataset in terms of FROC score. The AGAR300 database outperforms the existing MA detection algorithm in terms of FROC, AUC, F1 score, precision, sensitivity, and specificity which guarantees the robustness of this system.

[Analysis for the breast cancer screening among urban population in Hebei province, 2018-2019].

From 2018 to 2019, 3 453 cases of high-risk population were screened by the Cancer Screening Program in Urban China (CanSPUC) in Hebei Province, with the age of (53.94±8.00). 147 and 686 cases of breast cancer positive and suspicious positive patients were found, with the positive rate and suspicious positive rate of 4.26% and 19.87% respectively. The suspicious positive rate of 45-49 years old age group was the highest (28.32%), and the positive rate of over 70 years old age group was the highest (7.32%). The positive detection rate of mammography combined with ultrasound was 5.16%, which was higher than that of ultrasound alone (2.46%) (χ²=30.28,P<0.001) or mammography alone (3.06%) (χ²=14.56,P<0.001).

Cardiovascular Risk Prediction using JBS3 Tool: A Kerala based Study.

BACKGROUND: Accuracy of Joint British Society calculator3 (JBS3) cardiovascular (CV) risk assessment tool may vary across the Indian states, which is not verified in south Indian, Kerala based population. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the traditional risk factors (TRFs) based CV risk estimation done in Kerala based population. METHODS: This cross-sectional study uses details of 977 subjects aged between 30 and 80 years, recorded from the medical archives of clinical locations at Ernakulum district, in Kerala. The risk categories used are Low (<7.5%), Intermediate (≥7.5% and <20%), and High (≥20%) 10-year risk classifications. The lifetime classifications are Low lifetime (≤39%) and High lifetime (≥40%) are used. The study evaluated using statistical analysis; the Chi-square test was used for dependent and categorical CV risk variable comparisons. A multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis for the 10-year risk and odds logistic regression analysis for the lifetime risk model identified the significant risk variables. RESULTS: The mean age of the study population is 52.56±11.43 years. With 39.1% in low, 25.0% in intermediate, and 35.9% has high 10-year risk. Low lifetime risk with 41.1%, the high lifetime risk has 58.9% subjects. The intermediate 10-year risk category shows the highest reclassifications to High lifetime risk. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistics indicates a good model fit. CONCLUSION: Timely interventions using risk predictions can aid in appropriate therapeutic and lifestyle modifications useful for primary prevention. Precaution to avoid short-term incidences and reclassifications to a high lifetime risk can reduce the CVD related mortality rates.

[Association between brain glucose metabolism and cardiac dysfunction in patients with ischemic heart disease undergoing (18)F-FDG PET/CT imaging].

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between the brain glucose metabolism and left ventricular function parameters, and to explore the cerebral glucose metabolism reduction regions in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD). Methods: A total of 110 consecutive IHD patients who underwent gated (99)Tc(m)-sestamibi (MIBI) SPECT/CT myocardial perfusion imaging, gated (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT myocardial and brain glucose metabolic imaging within three days in Beijing Anzhen Hospital from April 2016 to October 2017, were enrolled in this study. Left ventricular functional parameters of SPECT/CT and PET/CT including end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were analyzed by QGS software. Viable myocardium and myocardial infarction region were determined by 17-segment and 5 score system, and the ratio of viable myocardium and scar myocardium was calculated. According to the range of viable myocardium, the patients were divided into viable myocardium<10% group (n=44), viable myocardium 10%-<20% group (n=36) and viable myocardium≥20% group (n=30). Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the range of viable myocardium and scar myocardium and the level of cerebral glucose metabolism. Brain glucose metabolism determined by the mean of standardized uptake value (SUV(mean)) was analyzed by SPM. The ratio of SUV(mean) in whole brain and SUV(mean) in cerebellum were calculated, namely taget/background ratio (TBR). Differences in cerebral glucose metabolism among various groups were analyzed by SPM. Results: There were 101 males, and age was (57±10) years in this cohort. The extent of viable myocardium and the extent of scar, LVEF evaluated by SPECT/CT and PET/CT were significantly correlated with TBR (r=0.280, r=-0.329, r=0.188, r=0.215 respectively,all P<0.05). TBR value was significantly lower in viable myocardium<10% group, compared with viable myocardium 10%-<20% group (1.25±0.97 vs. 1.32±0.17, P<0.05) and viable myocardium≥20% group (1.25±0.97 vs. 1.34±0.16, P<0.05). Furthermore, in comparison with viable myocardium≥20% group, the hypo-metabolic regions of viable myocardium<10% group were located in the precuneus, frontal lobe, postcentral gyrus, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and so on. Conclusions: There is a correlation between impaired left ventricular function and brain glucose metabolism in IHD patients. In IHD patients with low myocardial viability, the level of glucose metabolism in the whole brain is decreased, especially in the brain functional areas related to cognitive function.

Relative Estimate of Revised Cardiovascular Risk Combining Traditional and Non-traditional Image-based CV Markers: A Kerala Based Study.

BACKGROUND: Non-traditional image markers can improve the traditional cardiovascular risk estimation, is untested in Kerala based participants. OBJECTIVE: To identify the relationship between the 'Modified CV risk' categories with traditional and non-traditional image-based risk markers. The correlation and improvement in reclassification, achieved by pooling atherosclerotic non-traditional markers with Intermediate (≥7.5% and <20%) and High (≥20%) 10-year participants is evaluated. METHODS: The cross-sectional study with 594 participants has the ultrasound measurements recorded from the medical archives of clinical locations at Ernakulum district, Kerala. With carotid Intima-Media Thickness (cIMT) measurement, the Plaque (cP) complexity was computed using selected plaque characteristics to compute the carotid Total Plaque Risk Score (cTPRS) for superior risk tagging. Statistical analysis was done using RStudio, the classification accuracy was verified using the decision tree algorithm. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was (58.14±10.05) years. The mean cIMT was (0.956±0.302) mm, with 65.6% plaque incidence. With 94.90% variability around its mean, the Multinomial Logistic Regression model identifies cIMT and cTPRS, age, diabetics, Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH), Hypertension treatment, the presence of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) as significant (p<0.05). cIMT and cP were found significant for 'Intermediate High', 'High' and 'Very High' 'Modified CV risk' categories. However, age, diabetes, gender and use of hypertension treatment are significant for the 'Intermediate' 'Modified CV risk' category. The overall performance of the MLR model was 80.5%. The classification accuracy verified using the decision tree algorithm has 78.7% accuracy. CONCLUSION: The use of atherosclerotic markers shows a significant correlation suitable for a nextlevel reclassification of the traditional CV risk.

Effect of celecoxib on protein expression of FAK and Cx43 in DMBA induced rat tongue carcinoma cells.

OBJECTIVE: The pathogenesis of tongue cancer (TA) has not been fully illustrated. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is correlated with the precancerous lesion of oral cavity mucosa and malignant transformation. The focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and gap junction protein connexin 43 (Cx43) are involved in the occurrence and progression of tumors. This study aimed to investigate the effect of celecoxib on the proliferation, malignant transformation, and expression of FAK and Cx43 proteins. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Healthy male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (4 months old) were divided into control, model and celecoxib group. 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) was used to generate tongue mucosal carcinoma, coupled with celecoxib intervention. At 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks after induction, the rat survival status, the tumor formation rate and the tongue tissue morphology were observed. Meanwhile, the expression of FAK and Cx43 was also evaluated by using immunohistochemistry (IHC). RESULTS: Tumor occurrence rates after induction were 0, 26.67%, 66.67%, and 80% at 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks, respectively. The celecoxib treatment decreased such rats to 0, 0, 0, and 13.33%, respectively (p<0.05 compared to model group). No significant change was observed in control group, whilst model group had mild to severe hyperplasia and squamous carcinoma with elongated time. Celecoxib treatment significantly improved the tissue morphology (p<0.05). The model group also had elevated FAK and depressed Cx43 protein expression (p<0.05). With elongated time, the FAK expression was further increased whilst Cx43 protein was depressed (p<0.05 compared to model group). CONCLUSIONS: The focal application of celecoxib effectively inhibited the DMBA-induced rat TA, possibly via regulating FAK and CX43 protein expression, and inhibiting oral epidermal hyperplasia.

MiR-302 a/b/c suppresses tumor angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting MACC1.

OBJECTIVE: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a hypervascularized tumor. Aberrant angiogenesis is the main cause, which results in cancer growth and progression. It has been showed that microRNA-302 cluster (miR-302) may be associated with angiogenesis. Here, we aimed to identify the role of miR-302a/b/c in the regulation of cell angiogenesis in HCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: MRNA expression of miR-302a/b/c and MACC1 was detected by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). The protein of MACC1 was measured using Western blot. Cells proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities were investigated via Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay or transwell assay, respectively. Tube formatting assays were used to explore the tube formation capacity. The interaction among miR-302a/b/c was analyzed by luciferase assay. RESULTS: The expression of miR-302a/b/c was greatly reduced while MACC1 expression, whether mRNA or protein was conspicuously elevated in HCC tissues and cells. Then, functional experiment results showed miR-302a/b/c overexpression and MACC1 down-regulation inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion ability, and tube formation capacity of HUVECs. In addition, we detected that miR-302a/b/c directly targeted MACC1 and suppressed MACC1 expression, and miR-302a/b/c could suppress tumor angiogenesis in HCC by targeting MACC1. CONCLUSIONS: MiR-302a/b/c may function as a potential suppressor of tumor angiogenesis in HCC by targeting MACC1, indicating a promising target for HCC therapy.

MicroRNA-577 promotes the sensitivity of chronic myeloid leukemia cells to imatinib by targeting NUP160.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of microRNA-577 on the drug sensitivity of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and the underlying mechanism. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of microRNA-577 in peripheral blood of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Meanwhile, the expression of microRNA-577 was detected in CML cell line after imatinib treatment. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and flow cytometry assay were applied to verify the effect of microRNA-577 on cell proliferation and cycle. NUP160 was identified as a target gene of microRNA-577 by dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. Cell reverse test was performed to figure out whether microRNA-577 can enhance the sensitivity of CML to imatinib. RESULTS: QRT-PCR results revealed that microRNA-577 level was notably decreased in peripheral blood of patients with CML, and microRNA-577 could inhibit the proliferation and cycle of CML cells. In addition, the result of dual-luciferase reporting assay indicated that microRNA-577 had a binding relationship with NUP160, and up-regulation of microRNA-577 in CML cell lines reduced the expression of NUP160, and vice versa. Lastly, cell reverse experiments confirmed that microRNA-577 can alleviate the resistance of CML to imatinib. CONCLUSIONS: We found that microRNA-577 promotes the sensitivity of chronic myeloid leukemia cells to imatinib by down-regulating the expression of NUP160.

Genome-wide identification and comparison of mRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs in porcine intramuscular, subcutaneous, retroperitoneal and mesenteric adipose tissues.

Many types of RNAs, including messenger RNAs (mRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs), play crucial roles in regulating fat cell differentiation and tissue development. However, the expression profiles of these RNAs in different adipose tissues are still largely unknown. To shed light on this issue, we performed a transcriptome analysis of mRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs obtained from intramuscular adipose tissue, subcutaneous adipose tissue, retroperitoneal adipose tissue and mesenteric adipose tissue of Chinese Erhualian pigs. A number of differentially expressed mRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs were identified among the four adipose tissues. Tissue-specific analysis indicated that circRNAs exhibited the highest tissue specificity among mRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs, whereas intramuscular adipose tissue had the most tissue-specific genes among the four adipose tissues. Gene Ontology analysis showed that differentially expressed mRNAs among groups were involved mainly in lipid metabolism and immune inflammatory response processes. Furthermore, the co-expression network construction of mRNAs-lncRNAs revealed that several important lncRNAs, such as MSTRG.426159 and MSTRG.604206, might associate with lipid metabolic process. Taken together, these data provide a genome-wide resource of mRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs potentially involved in porcine fat metabolism, thus improving understanding of their function in diverse adipose tissues.

[Differences of brain functional alterations between subtypes of Cushing's syndrome patients].

Objective: To compare the differences of brain functional damage of subtypes of patients with Cushing's syndrome (CS). Methods: A total of 11 adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-dependent CS patients and 29 ACTH-independent CS patients were recruited from Chinese PLA General Hospital between September 2015 and March 2017 with confirmed CS. The psychiatric scales and brain task functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were evaluated. Results: A total of 40 patients (34 females, 6 males) with a mean age of (39.20±12.10) years and a median education level of 12 (9, 16) years were enrolled. ACTH-dependent patients had significantly worse performance than the ACTH-independent patients in response to the depression evaluation (64.6±6.1 vs 56.2±12.8, P=0.008), positive emotion (17.8±4.2 vs 24.3±7.2, P=0.008) and CS life quality [31(29,33) vs 42(29,51), P=0.040]. In the reaction to positive target pictures, ACTH-dependent CS patients showed stronger activation in left superior temporal gyrus compared with patients in ACTH-independent group, while the activation degree of their bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, bilateralsuperior frontal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus was much worse. In the reactions to negative target pictures, ACTH-dependent CS patients had weaker activation in bilateral cerebellum, left superior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, left precuneus and right postcentral gyrus, compared with patients in the ACTH-independent CS group (P<0.01, AlphaSim corrected). The activation degree of some regions whose brain function was different between the two groups was correlated to the cortisol level, ACTH level, 24 h urinary free cortisol (UFC) level, depression evaluation and negative emotion assessment (all P<0.05). Conclusions: The severity of the depression and the life quality of patients in ACTH-dependent group are worse than ACTH-independent CS patients. The brain function of ACTH-dependent CS patients is much weaker.

Photodynamic Therapy-Induced Macular Hole.

A 72-year-old female with neovascular macular degeneration refractory to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injections underwent photodynamic therapy and subsequently developed a macular hole (MH) associated with vitreomacular traction. After a period of observation, the MH enlarged. Pars plana vitrectomy was performed, and the MH was closed successfully. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2018;49:270-272.].

Alleviation of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli challenge by recombinant Lactobacillus plantarum expressing a FaeG- and DC-targeting peptide fusion protein.

FaeG is the major subunit of K88 fimbriae. These cell surface attachments are considered to be the major virulence factor of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), which causes diarrhoea in piglets. The use of dendritic cell-targeting peptide (DCpep) has been demonstrated to be an effective approach to enhance the immunity of vaccines. Lactobacillus plantarum is an attractive candidate for oral vaccination owing to its beneficial effects and safety. In this study, L. plantarum was employed to deliver a FaeG-DCpep fusion antigen, and the immune response in mice was evaluated. The synthesis of FaeG-DCpep dramatically increased the adhesion of recombinant L. plantarum (RLP) to IPEC-J2 cell surfaces, resulting in direct competition between L. plantarum and ETEC during adhesion assays. Significantly higher levels of body weight gain, sera immunoglobulin G and intestinal immunoglobulin A were observed in BALB/c mice immunised with RLP. In addition, the number of CD19+ B cells and CD11c+DC cells and the expression levels of several cytokines in the spleen and lymph nodes increased significantly compared to non-immunised mice. The oral administration of RLP also alleviated the symptoms of ETEC challenge, as shown by haematoxylin-eosin staining, indicating that RLP may be an efficient vaccine candidate.

Mechanism of the high coagulation state of breast cancer tissue factor.

OBJECTIVE: We conducted this study to analyze the mechanism behind the high coagulation state induced by circulating plasma microparticle tissue factor (MP-TF) in patients with breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 87 cases of breast cancer patients (10 cases of TNM stage I, 16 cases of II, 32 cases of III, 29 cases of IV; 8 cases of pathological type in situ carcinoma, 15 cases of ductal carcinoma, 64 cases of invasive cancer) were used as the observation group and 20 cases of benign breast lesions were used as the control group to compare MP-TF levels of plasma and coagulation parameters including prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (FIB) and D-dimer body (D-D) level and NF-κB signaling pathway index including P50, p65, TAK1 and IκBα levels. RESULTS: The plasma MP-TF level in the observation group was significantly higher than that in control group, and the level of MP-TF in the observation group increased with an increase in depth of TNM stage and tumor invasion; differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). In the observation group, the plasma PT and APTT were shortened, and the levels of FIB and D-D were increased; the differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). In the observation group, the levels of P50, p65, TAK1, IκBαin circulating blood were higher than those in control group; the differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). After the Pearson test, the plasma levels of MP-TF in patients with breast cancer were negatively correlated with PT and APTT, and positively correlated with FIB, D-D values and the levels of p50, p65, TAK1 and IκBα (4 p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: MP-TF can lead to high blood coagulation in patients with breast cancer through the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway, which may become a new target for the intervention of the disease.

An interval-possibilistic basic-flexible programming method for air quality management of municipal energy system through introducing electric vehicles.

Contradictions of sustainable transportation development and environmental issues have been aggravated significantly and been one of the major concerns for energy systems planning and management. A heavy emphasis is placed on stimulation of electric vehicles (EVs) to handle these problems associated with various complexities and uncertainties in municipal energy system (MES). In this study, an interval-possibilistic basic-flexible programming (IPBFP) method is proposed for planning MES of Qingdao, where uncertainties expressed as interval-flexible variables and interval-possibilistic parameters can be effectively reflected. Support vector regression (SVR) is used for predicting electricity demand of the city under various scenarios. Solutions of EVs stimulation levels and satisfaction levels in association with flexible constraints and predetermined necessity degrees are analyzed, which can help identify the optimized energy-supply patterns that could plunk for improvement of air quality and hedge against violation of soft constraints. Results disclose that largely developing EVs can help facilitate the city's energy system with an environment-effective way. However, compared to the rapid growth of transportation, the EVs' contribution of improving the city's air quality is limited. It is desired that, to achieve an environmentally sustainable MES, more concerns should be focused on the integration of increasing renewable energy resources, stimulating EVs as well as improving energy transmission, transport and storage.

Resting-state brain alteration after a single dose of SSRI administration predicts 8-week remission of patients with major depressive disorder.

BACKGROUND: The present study investigated alteration of brain resting-state activity induced by antidepressant treatment and attempted to investigate whether treatment efficacy can be predicted at an early stage of pharmacological treatment. METHOD: Forty-eight first-episode medication-free patients diagnosed with major depression received treatment with escitalopram. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was administered prior to treatment, 5 h after the first dose, during the course of pharmacological treatment (week 4) and at endpoint (week 8). Resting-state activity was evaluated in the course of the 8-week treatment and in relation to clinical improvement. RESULTS: Escitalopram dynamically modified resting-state activity in depression during the treatment. After 5 h the antidepressant induced a significant decrease in the signal in the occipital cortex and an increase in the dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices and middle cingulate cortex. Furthermore, while remitters demonstrated more obvious changes following treatment, these were more modest in non-responders suggesting possible tonic and dynamic differences in the serotonergic system. Changes after 5 h in the caudate, occipital and temporal cortices were the best predictor of clinical remission at endpoint. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed the possibility of using the measurement of resting-state neural changes a few hours after acute administration of antidepressant to identify individuals likely to remit after a few weeks of treatment.

Chronic alcohol administration affects purine nucleotide catabolism in vivo.

AIMS: To investigate the relationship between chronic alcohol administration and purine nucleotide metabolism in vivo. MAIN METHODS: Rat models of alcohol dependence and withdrawal were used. The concentrations of uric acid (UAC), urea nitrogen (UREA), creatinine (CREA), and beta-2-microglobulin (ß2-M) and creatinine clearance rate (CCR) in plasma were measured. The PLC method was used to detect the absolute content of purine nucleotides in different tissues. Enzymatic activities of adenosine deaminase (ADA), xanthine oxidase (XO), ribose 5-phosphate pyrophosphokinase (RPPPK), glutamine phosphoribosylpyrophosphate amidotransferase (GPRPPAT), hypoxanthine-guanine phosphate ribose transferase (HGPRT), and adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) in the tissues were analyzed. Real-time PCR was used to determine the relative level of ADA and XO. KEY FINDINGS: The renal function of rats with alcohol dependence was normal. Further, the content of purine nucleotides (GMP, AMP, GTP, and ATP) in tissues of the rats was decreased, which indicated that the increased uric acid should be derived from the decomposition of nucleotides in vivo. The activity of XO and ADA increased, and their mRNA expression was enhanced in the alcohol dependence group, but there was no significant difference in the activity of RPPPK and GPRPPAT in the liver, small intestine, and muscle; furthermore, no significant difference in the activity of HGPRT and APRT was observed in the brain. SIGNIFICANCE: These results indicate that chronic alcohol administration might enhance the catabolism of purine nucleotides in tissues by inducing gene expression of ADA and XO, leading to elevation of plasma uric acid levels.