Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric validation of point-of-care outcome assessment tools in Chinese palliative care clinical practice.

BACKGROUND: A standardized national approach to routinely assessing palliative care patients helps improve patient outcomes. However, a quality improvement program-based on person centered outcomes within palliative care is lacking in Mainland China. The well-established Australian Palliative Care Outcome Collaboration (PCOC) national model improves palliative care quality. This study aimed to culturally adapt and validate three measures that form part of the PCOC program for palliative care clinical practice in China: The PCOC Symptom Assessment Scale (PCOC SAS), Palliative Care Problem Severity Scale (PCPSS), Palliative Care Phase. METHODS: A study was conducted on cross-cultural adaptation and validation of PCOC SAS, PCPSS and Palliative Care Phase, involving translation methods, cognitive interviewing, and psychometric testing through paired assessments. RESULTS: Cross-cultural adaptation highlighted the need to strengthen the link between the patient's care plan and the outcome measures to improve outcomes, and the concept of distress in PCOC SAS. Analysis of 368 paired assessments (n = 135 inpatients, 22 clinicians) demonstrated that the PCOC SAS and PCPSS had good and acceptable coherence (Cronbach's a = 0.85, 0.75 respectively). Palliative Care Phase detected patients' urgent needs. PCOC SAS and PCPSS showed fair discriminant and concurrent validity. Inter-rater reliability was fair for Palliative Care Phase (k = 0.31) and PCPSS (k = 0.23-0.30), except for PCPSS-pain, which was moderate (k = 0.53). CONCLUSIONS: The Chinese version of PCOC SAS, PCPSS, and Palliative Care Phase can be used to assess outcomes as part of routine clinical practice in Mainland China. Comprehensive clinical education regarding the assessment tools is necessary to help improve the inter-rater reliability.

Rehabilitation exercises for kidney transplant recipients in an organ transplant ward: a best practice implementation project.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Kidney transplantation is an effective treatment for end-stage kidney disease. Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are prone to experiencing reduced physical function, depression, fatigue, and lack of exercise motivation due to their sedentary lifestyle before surgery. Exercise is an effective intervention for KTRs, but it has not been properly implemented in many practice settings. This project aimed to promote evidence-based exercises as part of KTRs' rehabilitation to improve their health outcomes. METHODS: This project was informed by the JBI Evidence Implementation Framework. The project was conducted in the organ transplant ward of a tertiary comprehensive hospital in Changsha, China. Based on a summary of best evidence, 12 audit criteria were developed for the baseline and follow-up audits involving 30 patients and 20 nursing staff. The JBI Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System (PACES) and Getting Research into Practice (GRiP) tool were used to identify barriers and facilitators and develop targeted strategies to improve issues. RESULTS: Compared with the baseline audit, significant improvements were achieved in most of the criteria in the follow-up audit, with 9 of the 12 criteria reaching 100% compliance. Notably, the 6-minute walk distance test results were significantly higher, while the Self-Rating Depression Scale and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale scores were significantly lower (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This project demonstrates that evidence-based practice can improve the clinical practice of rehabilitation exercises for KTRs. The GRiP strategies proved to be extremely useful, notably, the formulation of a standardized rehabilitation exercise protocol, training, and enhancement of the exercising environment. Head nurses' leadership and decision-making also played an important role in the success of this project. SPANISH ABSTRACT: http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A180.

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Advance care planning (ACP) is designed to ensure that patients lacking autonomous decision-making capacity receive medical services in accordance with their expectations and preferences. Individuals with advanced cancer are a crucial target for ACP implementation. However, the current practice of ACP in this group in China is suboptimal, demanding high-quality implementation evidence to strengthen ACP in the clinical practice of patients with advanced cancer. The existing literature can be summarized into 27 pieces of evidence across 7 dimensions, including initiation time, intervention content, intervention providers, intervention modalities, communication skills, outcome indicators, and environmental support. The aforementioned evidence could provide crucial support for improving ACP implementation for patients with advanced cancer. Subsequent research efforts should integrate patient preferences and explore the most suitable implementation strategies for ACP in the Chinese population with advanced cancer, considering diverse aspects such as traditional culture, ACP education and training, legislative support, and healthcare system refinement.

Shared decision-making training embedded in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education: A scoping review.

OBJECTIVE: This review mapped the published literature on shared decision-making (SDM) training embedded in undergraduate and/or postgraduate medical education. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review following the framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley. We searched ten databases and Google Scholar and manual searched reference list in included articles. Two researchers independently screened articles and extracted data. A narrative synthesis was used for data analysis. RESULTS: This review identified 27 studies describing 25 unique SDM programs. Most programs integrated SDM training in undergraduate education, encompassing an overview of SDM theories and enhancing skills through role-plays. The programs duration ranged from one to 24 h. Overall, they improved students' SDM knowledge, attitude, confidence and skills, but the impact for students on patients is unclear due to lack of long-term follow-up. CONCLUSION: The current SDM programs appear to be effectiveness in achieving short-term SDM-related outcomes. These programs were heterogeneous in their content, duration and delivery. Future research should concentrate on exploring the long-term impact of SDM programs, particularly students' application of SDM practices and patient outcomes. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Embedding SDM training in undergraduate and/or postgraduate medical education may be a practical and effective solution for current barriers to the widespread adoption of SDM.

Split application of polymer-coated urea combined with common urea improved nitrogen efficiency without sacrificing wheat yield and benefits while saving 20% nitrogen input.

Controlled-release nitrogen fertilizer (CRNF) has been expected to save labor input, reduce environmental pollution, and increase yield in crop production. However, the economic feasibility is still controversial due to its high cost. To clarify the suitable application strategy of CRNF in promoting the yield, nitrogen use efficiency and income on wheat grown in paddy soil, four equal N patterns were designed in 2017-2021 with polymer-coated urea (PCU) and common urea as material, including PCU applied once pre-sowing (M1), PCU applied 60% at pre-sowing and 40% at re-greening (M2), 30% PCU and 30% urea applied at pre-sowing, 20% PCU and 20% urea applied at re-greening (M3), and urea applied at four stage (CK, Basal:tillering:jointing:booting=50%:10%:20%:20%). In addition, M4-M6, which reduced N by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively based on M3, were designed in 2019-2021 to explore their potential for N-saving and efficiency-improving. The results showed that, compared with CK, M1 did not significantly reduce yield, but decreased the average N recovery efficiency (NRE) and benefits by 1.63% and 357.71 CNY ha-1 in the four years, respectively. M2 and M3 promoted tiller-earing, delayed the decrease of leaf area index (LAI) at milk-ripening stage, and increased dry matter accumulation post-anthesis, thereby jointly increasing spike number and grain weight of wheat, which significantly increased yield and NRE compared with CK in 2017-2021. Due to the savings in N fertilizer costs, M3 achieved the highest economic benefits. With the 20% N reduction, M5 increased NRE by 16.95% on average while decreasing yield and net benefit by only 6.39% and 7.40% respectively, compared with M3. Although NRE could continue to increase, but the yield and benefits rapidly decreased after N reduction exceeds 20%. These results demonstrate that twice-split application of PCU combined with urea is conducive to achieving a joint increase in yield, NRE, and benefits. More importantly, it can also significantly improve the NRE without losing yield and benefits while saving 20% N input.

Eutypellaolides A-J, Sesquiterpene diversity expansion of the polar fungus Eutypella sp. D-1.

Eight new 12,8-eudesmanolide sesquiterpenes, eutypellaolides A-H (1-8), and two new eudesmane-type sesquiterpenes, eutypellaolides I-J (9-10), along with four known 12,8-eudesmanolide compounds 11-14, were isolated from the culture extract of the polar fungus Eutypella sp. D-1 by one strain many compounds (OSMAC) approach. The structures of these compounds were determined through comprehensive spectroscopic data and experimental and calculated ECD analysis. Antibacterial, immunosuppressive, and PTP1B inhibition activities of these compounds were evaluated. Compounds 1 and 11 exhibited strong inhibitory activities against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, with each showing an MIC value of 2 µg/mL. Compound 9 displayed weak immunosuppressive activity against ConA-induced T-cell proliferation with an inhibitory rate of 61.7% at a concentration of 19.8 µM. Compounds 5, 11, and 14 exhibited weak PTP1B inhibition activities with IC50 values of 44.8, 43.2, and 49.5 µM, respectively.

Stages of readiness for advance care planning: Systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence rates and associated factors.

BACKGROUND: Advance care planning has been widely recommended to respect the medical care preferences of patients in the final stages of life. However, uptake of advance care planning in healthcare settings remains suboptimal. It may be beneficial to take into account individuals' readiness for advance care planning based on the stages to change identified in the Transtheoretical Model. OBJECTIVE: To identify the measurements used to assess readiness of advance care planning based on the Transtheoretical Model, to pool the prevalence of readiness stages, and to summarize the factors affecting people's readiness for advance care planning. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: We systematically searched the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and Web of Science for relevant studies from inception to February 2023. A random effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence. And a narrative review on the factors associated with stages of readiness was conducted. RESULTS: This meta-analysis included 25 studies involving a total of 4237 individuals. The precontemplation stage was the most commonly identified stage of readiness among advance care planning behaviors (26-72 %). The prevalence of readiness stages for advance care planning varied among different types of behavior. The behavior of "talking to health care proxy/family/loved ones about thoughts on quality versus quantity of life" had the highest level of readiness among all listed behaviors, followed by "talking to health care proxy/family/loved ones about living will", "signing a health care proxy form" and "signing a living will", "signing an advance directive", as well as "talking to doctors about living will". Regarding to influencing factors, a majority of sociodemographic and clinical factors did not show consistent associations with readiness, but some studies did suggest potential links with age, health status, countries, type of assessment, core structures of the Transtheoretical Model, and intervention modalities. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of individuals were unaware of advance care planning. There is an urgent need to promote readiness for such planning. Starting with preliminary activities such as "talking to health care proxy/family/loved ones about thoughts on quality versus quantity of life" can help initiate advance care planning. Better integration of the Transtheoretical Model and interventions into the research of advance care planning readiness are needed. REGISTRATION: Not registered.

Screening instruments for early identification of unmet palliative care needs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The early detection of individuals who require palliative care is essential for the timely initiation of palliative care services. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to (1) Identify the screening instruments used by health professionals to promote early identification of patients who may benefit from palliative care; and (2) Assess the psychometric properties and clinical performance of the instruments. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, CNKI and Wanfang from inception to May 2023. We used the COnsensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement INstruments to assess the methodological quality of the development process for the instruments. The clinical performance of the instruments was assessed by narrative summary or meta-analysis. Subgroup analyses were conducted where necessary. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias assessment tool. RESULTS: We included 31 studies that involved seven instruments. Thirteen studies reported the development and validation process of these instruments and 18 studies related to assessment of clinical performance of these instruments. The content validity of the instruments was doubtful or inadequate because of very low to moderate quality evidence. The pooled sensitivity (Se) ranged from 60.0% to 73.8%, with high heterogeneity (I2 of 88.15% to 99.36%). The pooled specificity (Sp) ranges from 70.4% to 90.2%, with high heterogeneity (I2 of 96.81% to 99.94%). The Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT) had better performance in hospitals than in general practice settings (Se=79.8% vs 45.3%, p=0.004; Sp=59.1% vs 97.0%, p=0.000). CONCLUSION: The clinical performance of existing instruments in identifying patients with palliative care needs early ranged from poor to reasonable. The SPICT is used most commonly, has better clinical performance than other instruments but performs better in hospital settings than in general practice settings.

The fate of nitrogen from different sources in a rice-wheat rotation system - A 15N labeling study.

High loss and low nitrogen (N) efficiency in agricultural production is severe. Also, ammonia volatilization and N leaching aggravated environmental pollution. The eutrophication of surface water and the emissions of N2O increased, hence green fertilization management urgently needs to be rationalized. Coordinating N supply from different sources has been shown to reduce environmental pollution. Therefore, this study was dedicated to clarifying the transport of N sources in the rice-wheat rotation system. The stable isotope tracer technology was used to label fertilizer (F), soil (T), and straw (J) with 15N, respectively. The utilization of N by crops (the N ratio in organs), as well as the residual N in soil and loss status, were measured. According to the potential of response to N, all the wheat cultivars were divided into groups with high (HNV) and low efficiency (LNV). The N contribution ratio showed that 43.28%~45.70% of total N accumulation was from T, while 30.11%~41.73% and 13.82%~24.19% came from F and J. The trend in soil N residue (T > F > J) was consistent with the above, while it was the opposite in N loss (T< F< J). The seasonal effectiveness showed that T achieved the highest N utilization efficiency (31.83%~44.69%), followed by F (21.05%~39.18%) and J (11.02%~16.91%). The post-season sustainability showed that T decreased the most in soil N residue (2.08%~12.53%), and F decreased the most in N accumulation (9.64%~18.13%). However, J showed an increase in N recovery rate (2.87%~5.89%). N translocation and distribution showed that N from different sources in grains was significantly higher than that in stems, glumes, and leaves. The ratio of HNV (75.14%~79.62%) was higher than that of LNV (71.90%~74.59%) in grain, while it was the opposite in other organs. Plant N accumulation, soil N supply, and straw N transformation were determined jointly by the three N sources, thus reducing N loss and N2O production. Therefore, the results will highlight the insights for constructing local N and emission reduction models.

Novel Canthin-6-one Derivatives: Design, Synthesis, and Their Antiproliferative Activities via Inducing Apoptosis, Deoxyribonucleic Acid Damage, and Ferroptosis.

A series of novel canthin-6-one (CO) derivatives (8a-l) were designed and synthesized by introducing different amide side chains at the C-2 position, and their water solubility, antiproliferative activity, and preliminary mechanism were investigated. Most compounds displayed high cytotoxicity exhibiting low-micromolar IC50 values against four human cancer cell lines, especially HT29 cells. Meanwhile, the water solubility of active CO derivatives was significantly improved. Among these compounds, compound 8h with the N-methyl piperazine group exhibiting the highest antiproliferative capability with an IC50 value of 1.0 µM against HT29 cells, which was 8.6-fold lower than that of CO. Furthermore, 8h could upregulate the levels of reactive oxygen species, leading to mitochondrial damage. In addition, 8h could promote cell apoptosis and DNA damage by regulating the expression of apoptosis-associated proteins (Bcl-2 and cleaved-caspase 3) and the DNA damage-associated protein (H2AX). Most importantly, 8h also exerted ferroptosis by reducing the GSH level and GPX4 expression as well as increasing the lipid peroxidation level. Thus, the novel CO derivative 8h with N-methylpiperazine represents a promising anticancer candidate and warrants a more intensive study.

A longitudinal resource for population neuroscience of school-age children and adolescents in China.

During the past decade, cognitive neuroscience has been calling for population diversity to address the challenge of validity and generalizability, ushering in a new era of population neuroscience. The developing Chinese Color Nest Project (devCCNP, 2013-2022), the first ten-year stage of the lifespan CCNP (2013-2032), is a two-stages project focusing on brain-mind development. The project aims to create and share a large-scale, longitudinal and multimodal dataset of typically developing children and adolescents (ages 6.0-17.9 at enrolment) in the Chinese population. The devCCNP houses not only phenotypes measured by demographic, biophysical, psychological and behavioural, cognitive, affective, and ocular-tracking assessments but also neurotypes measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain morphometry, resting-state function, naturalistic viewing function and diffusion structure. This Data Descriptor introduces the first data release of devCCNP including a total of 864 visits from 479 participants. Herein, we provided details of the experimental design, sampling strategies, and technical validation of the devCCNP resource. We demonstrate and discuss the potential of a multicohort longitudinal design to depict normative brain growth curves from the perspective of developmental population neuroscience. The devCCNP resource is shared as part of the "Chinese Data-sharing Warehouse for In-vivo Imaging Brain" in the Chinese Color Nest Project (CCNP) - Lifespan Brain-Mind Development Data Community ( https://ccnp.scidb.cn ) at the Science Data Bank.

Palliative care needs and specialist services post stroke: national population-based study.

OBJECTIVES: (1) To compare palliative care needs of patients admitted primarily with stroke and (2) to determine how the care needs of these patients affect their use of different types of specialist palliative care services. METHODS: Observational study based on point-of-care data from the Australian Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to explore the association between patients' palliative care needs and use of community versus inpatient specialist palliative care services. RESULTS: The majority of patients who had a stroke in this study population had mild or no symptom distress, but experienced a high degree of functional impairment and needed substantial help with basic tasks of daily living. A lower Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status score (OR=1.82, 95% CI 1.06 to 3.13) and occurrence of an 'unstable' palliative care phase (OR=28.34, 95% CI 9.03 to 88.94) were associated with use of inpatient versus community palliative care, but otherwise, no clear association was observed between the majority of symptoms and use of different care services. CONCLUSIONS: Many people with stroke could potentially have been cared for and could have experienced the terminal phases of their condition in a community setting if more community support services were available for their families.

Elder fish means more microplastics? Alaska pollock microplastic story in the Bering Sea.

Marine microplastics are an increasingly big concern. We analyze the occurrence of microplastics in Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) across 2+ to 12+ ages sampled from the Bering Sea. Results show that 85% of the fish have ingested microplastics and elder fish ingest more with over a third of microplastics in the 100- to 500-micrometer size range, indicating the prevalence of microplastics in Alaska pollock distributed in the Bering Sea. A positive linear relationship is obtained between fish age and microplastic size. Meanwhile, the number of polymer types increases in elder fish. The link between microplastic characteristics in Alaska pollock and the surrounding seawater suggests an extended spatial impact of microplastics. The impact of age-related microplastic ingestion on the population quality of Alaska pollock is still unknown. Therefore, we need to further investigate the potential impact of microplastics on marine organisms and the marine ecosystem, taking age as an important factor.

The influence of conceptual concreteness on the reading acquisition and integration of novel words into semantic memory via thematic relations.

Plenty of studies have been conducted to reveal neurocognitive underpinnings of conceptual representation. Compared with that of concrete concepts, the neurocognitive correlates of abstract concepts remain elusive. The current study aimed to investigate the influence of conceptual concreteness on the reading acquisition and integration of novel words into semantic memory. We constructed two-sentence contexts in which two-character pseudowords were embedded as novel words. Participants read the contexts to infer the meaning of novel words which were either concrete or abstract, and then performed a lexical decision task and a cued-recall memory task. In lexical decision task, primed by the learned novel words, their corresponding concepts, thematically related or unrelated words as well as unlearned pseudowords were judged whether they were words or not. In memory task, participants were presented with the novel words and asked to write down their meaning. The contextual reading and memory test can demonstrate the modulation of conceptual concreteness on novel word learning and the lexical decision task can reveal whether concrete and abstract novel words are integrated into semantic memory similarly or not. During contextual reading, abstract novel words presented for the first time elicited a larger N400 than concrete ones. In memory task, the meaning of concrete novel words was recollected better than abstract novel words. These results indicate that abstract novel words are more difficult to acquire during contextual reading, and to retain afterwards. For lexical decision task behavioral and ERPs were graded, with the longest reaction time, the lowest accuracy and the largest N400s for the unrelated words, then the thematically related words and finally the corresponding concepts of the novel words, regardless of conceptual concreteness. The results suggest that both concrete and abstract novel words can be integrated into semantic memory via thematic relations. These findings are discussed in terms of differential representational framework which posits that concrete words connect with each other via semantic similarities, and abstract ones via thematic relations.

The impact of death attitudes on death education needs among medical and nursing students.

BACKGROUND: Medical and nursing students will play an essential role in delivering palliative care in the future. Death education is important in preparing them for future palliative care, however, little is known about students education needs and how death attitudes affect such needs in Mainland China. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this survey was to investigate the death education needs of medical and nursing students and to evaluate the impact of death attitudes on death education needs. DESIGN: Multi-center, cross-sectional survey. SETTINGS: Fourteen medical and nursing colleges & universities in Hunan, Sichuan, Liaoning, Guangdong, Shandong, and Shanxi provinces in China. PARTICIPANTS: The sample included 1044 medical and nursing students from six provinces. METHODS: In this multi-center cross-sectional study, all data were collected through an online questionnaire that included demographic information and questions on death-related experiences. In addition, the Death Attitude Profile-Revised and the Death Education Needs Scale were used to evaluate students' death attitudes and death education needs , respectively. RESULTS: The students had a mean death education needs score of 38.85 ± 7.25 (range: 10-50), yet only 20.9 % of them had received palliative care-related training. Being female (B:3.869, 95 % CI:2.849-4.889), fear of death (B:0.119, 95 % CI:0.005-0.232), and neutral acceptance (B:0.787, 95 % CI:0.638-0.936) were associated with higher death education needs, while death avoidance (B: -0.226, 95 % CI: -0.368 ~ -0.083), approach acceptance (B: -0.126, 95 % CI: -0.215 ~ -0.036), and escape acceptance (B: -0.198, 95 % CI: -0.322 ~ -0.073) were associated with lower death education needs. CONCLUSIONS: The high level of death education needs and low training rate in palliative care among medical and nursing students in mainland China indicates a gap that needs to be addressed. Students' death education needs were affected by gender and death attitudes, which provides implications for the future development of palliative care training models.

Comparative transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis revealed molecular mechanism of two wheat near-isogenic lines response to nitrogen application.

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient element required for plant growth, and the development of wheat varieties with high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is an urgent need for sustainable crop production. However, the molecular mechanism of NUE between diverse wheat varieties in response to N application remains unclear. To reveal the possible molecular mechanisms underlying this complex phenomenon, we investigated the transcriptional and metabolic changes of flag leaves of two wheat near-isogenic lines (NILs) differing in NUE under two N fertilizer treatments. Comparative transcriptome analysis indicated that the expression levels of the genes responsible for carbon and nitrogen metabolism were significantly higher in high-NUE wheat. The metabolome comparison revealed that the activity of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle was enhanced in high-NUE wheat, while reduced in low-NUE wheat after the N fertilizer application. Additionally, amino acid metabolism increased in both wheat NILs but more increased in high-NUE wheat. In summary, more upregulated transcripts and metabolites were identified in high-NUE wheat, and this study provides valuable new insights for improving NUE in wheat.

Obeticholic acid protects against methamphetamine-induced anxiety-like behavior by ameliorating microbiota-mediated intestinal barrier impairment.

Methamphetamine (Meth) abuse can cause severe anxiety disorder and interfere with gut homeostasis. Obeticholic acid (OCA) has emerged as a protective agent against diet-related anxiety that improves gut homeostasis. The potential for OCA to ameliorate Meth-induced anxiety, and the microbial mechanisms involved, remain obscure. Here, C57/BL6 mice were intraperitoneally injected with Meth (15 mg/kg) to induce anxiety-like behavior. 16 S rRNA sequence analysis and fecal microbiome transplantation (FMT) were used to profile the gut microbiome and evaluate its effects, respectively. Orally administered OCA was investigated for protection against Meth-induced anxiety. Results indicated that Meth mediated anxiety-like behavior, aroused hippocampal neuroinflammation through activation of the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway, weakened intestinal barrier and disturbed the gut microbiome. Specifically, abundance of anxiety-related Rikenella was increased. FMT from Meth-administrated mice also weakened intestinal barrier and elevated serum LPS, inducing hippocampal neuroinflammation and anxiety-like behavior in recipient mice. Finally, OCA pretreatment ameliorated Meth-induced impairment of gut homeostasis by reshaping the microbial composition and improving the intestinal barrier. Meth-induced anxiety-like behavior and hippocampal neuroinflammation were also ameliorated by OCA pretreatment. These preliminary findings reveal the crucial role of gut microbiota in Meth-induced anxiety-like behavior and neuroinflammation, highlighting OCA as a potential candidate for the prevention of Meth-induced anxiety.

Resveratrol reversed ambient particulate matter exposure-perturbed oscillations of hepatic glucose metabolism by regulating SIRT1 in mice.

Much evidence has shown that ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure is associated with abnormal glucose metabolism, but the underlying mechanism has not yet been fully characterized. Circadian disruption has adverse effects on glucose metabolism. In this study, we investigated the effects of long-term ambient PM exposure on the hepatic circadian clock and the expression rhythm of genes associated with hepatic glucose metabolism in mice. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to filtered air (FA), ambient PM, or ambient PM plus resveratrol (RES). After 15 weeks (12 h per day, 7 days per week) of exposure, glucose homeostasis, the rhythmic expression of clock genes, and genes associated with hepatic glucose metabolism were determined. Our results found that PM exposure induced glucose metabolism disorder and perturbed the rhythmic mRNA expression of core clock genes and their target genes involved in hepatic glucose metabolism. Mechanistic investigations demonstrated that ambient PM exposure markedly altered the expression patterns of BMAL1, clock, and SIRT1 in vivo. Simultaneously, we demonstrated that RES (an activator of SIRT1) changed the expression pattern of SIRT1, thereby reversing the rhythm misalignment of BMAL1 and clock and hepatic glucose metabolism disorder induced by ambient PM exposure. In addition, PM2.5 exposure perturbed the rhythmic protein expression of BMAL1, clock, and SIRT1 in L-02 cells. Simultaneously, we demonstrated that RES restored the SIRT1 circadian rhythm, which reversed the rhythm misalignment of BMAL1 and clock in L-02 cells induced by PM2.5 exposure. Taken together, our results suggested that long-term ambient PM exposure perturbed the hepatic core circadian clock rhythm and caused glucose metabolism disorder, which could be reversed by RES supplementation. Our study offers a potential application of RES for combating circadian misalignment-related metabolic diseases.

Semantic Activation in Badminton Action Processing and Its Modulation by Action Duration: An ERP Study.

Action processing is crucial for sports activities. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study investigated whether semantics were activated in action processing and, if so, whether semantic activation was modulated by action duration. Badminton athletes were recruited to finish a lexical decision task following an action-semantic priming paradigm, in which short (400 ms) or long (1000 ms) action videos served as primes, and semantically congruent or incongruent action words served as targets. The ERP results showed a P300 effect, that is, larger P300 amplitudes were observed for targets primed by semantically incongruent action videos than for targets primed by semantically congruent action videos, only when the action videos were long and not when the action videos were short. Moreover, a late positive component (LPC) was only sensitive to action duration, showing that the targets primed by long action videos elicited larger LPC amplitudes compared to the targets primed by short action videos. These results suggested that semantics could be activated in action processing and that semantic activation was modulated by action duration, supporting a link between the language system and action processing.

High-performance electromagnetic wave absorption in cobalt sulfide flower-like nanospheres.

A heterophase cobalt sulfide absorbing material with petal-like surface structure was prepared by a simple hydrothermal method. The cobalt sulfide sample with the optimal microwave absorption capacity was achieved through regulating the reaction temperature. By regulating the reaction temperature to 200 °C, the optimal reflection loss was -48.4 dB at 16.8 GHz with filler loading of 50%, and the effective absorption bandwidth was 4.3 GHz at Ku band corresponding to a thickness of only 1.5 mm. The petal-like surface structure of cobalt sulfide gradually disappears as the reaction temperature rises, and the reduction of specific surface area has a negative effect on the microwave absorption capacity of the sample. Meanwhile, by adjusting the sample thickness from 1.5 to 5.0 mm, the effective absorption bandwidth could cover almost the whole test frequency range. The results show that the cobalt sulfide absorbing material with regulated reaction temperature has a strong electromagnetic wave absorption ability, light weight, thin thickness and simple synthesis, which is a promising microwave absorbing material for actual application.