INOS ablation promotes corneal wound healing via activation of Akt signaling.

Corneal injury leads to impaired normal structure of the cornea. Improving the wound healing process in epithelial cells significantly contributes to ocular damage treatments. Here, we aimed to investigate the potential mechanisms of nitric oxide (NO) and its mediator, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), in the process of corneal wound healing. We established a corneal injury model of iNOS-/- mice, and treated human corneal epithelial cell lines (HCE-2) with the iNOS inhibitor L-INL, with or without NO replenishment by supplying sodium nitroferricyanide dihydrate (SNP). Our findings showed that inhibition of NO/iNOS accelerated corneal repair, enhanced uPAR (a receptor protein indicating the migration ability), and improved epithelial cell migration. Furthermore, NO/iNOS ablation activated Akt phosphorylation, reduced neutrophil marker protein MPO expression, and downregulated the transcription of inflammation cytokines CXCL-1, CXCL-2, IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF-α. However, the protective effects of NO/iNOS inhibition are significantly reduced by NO replenishment when treated with SNP. Therefore, we confirmed that inhibiting NO/iNOS improved the corneal wound healing by facilitating epithelial cell migration and reducing inflammatory reactions, which might be related to the activation of the Akt signaling pathway.

Retinal and choroidal structure and vascularity in Chinese emmetropic and myopic children.

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the structural features of the retinal and choroidal regions and their correlations with ocular biometric and vascular parameters in Chinese children using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). METHODS: A total of 159 children, 6-13 years of age, were included in this prospective study. The sample consisted of 55 emmetropes (spherical equivalent ≤ +0.75 and > -0.50 D), 53 low-moderate myopes (≤ -0.50 to > -6.00 D) and 51 high myopes without pathological changes (≤ -6.00 D). Optical coherence biometry was used to measure axial length (AL) and anterior segment parameters. Swept-source optical coherence tomography/OCTA was used to assess the macular structures and vascular characteristics in a 6 × 6 mm region centred on the macula. RESULTS: In a comprehensive analysis adjusting for age, sex, AL, macular blood perfusion, intraocular pressure and anterior segment parameters, retinal thickness (RT) showed a significant positive association with deep retinal vascular density and superficial retinal vascular density in the foveal area, but not with AL. Moreover, RT exhibited a significant negative association with AL in the parafoveal and perifoveal regions. Further, a significant positive correlation was observed between choroidal thickness and both choroidal vascular volume and choriocapillaris perfusion area, along with a negative correlation with AL across the entire macular region. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the thickness of retina and choroid in Chinese children was not only associated with AL but also showed dynamic properties such as the blood perfusion of the retina and choroid, particularly in the foveal area.

Morphological characteristics of the foveal avascular zone in pathological myopia and its relationship with macular structure and microcirculation.

PURPOSE: To explore the characteristics of macular structure, microcirculation, and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) morphology in pathological myopia and to research the associations between these factors and pathological myopia. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study. The study included 103 eyes with non-high myopia and 206 eyes with high myopia (139 with simple high myopia and 67 with pathological myopia). Macular structural and microcirculation parameters were determined using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). The FAZ morphological parameters were measured manually using Image J software. Correlations between pathological myopia and various factors were analyzed. RESULTS: Patients with pathological myopia had a thinner retinal thickness (RT) and choroidal thickness (CT) and a lower retinal superficial vascular density (SVD), retinal deep vascular complex density (DVD), choriocapillaris perfusion area (CCPA), and choroidal vascularity index (CVI) (all P < 0.05). Patients with pathological myopia had a larger FAZ area, perimeter, major axis, minor axis, acircularity index (AI), and lower circularity index (CI) (all P < 0.01). The axial length (AL), the major axis of the superficial FAZ, CI, and AI were significantly correlated with myopia severity (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with pathological myopia exhibited worse macular microcirculation and thinner macular retina and choroid. The FAZ in pathological myopia was larger and more irregular. The AL, CI, and AI were significantly associated with myopia severity. Thus, CI and AI might serve as new indicators for monitoring the progression of myopia. Further investigations should be performed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: ChiCTR2100046590.

Relationship between the structure and microcirculation of the optic disc region and myopic traction maculopathy in highly myopic eyes.

PURPOSE: To explore the characteristics and influencing factors structural and microcirculatory of optic disc and peripapillary tissue in eyes with myopia traction maculopathy (MTM). METHODS: There were 100 eyes from 77 patients in this study. We used 1:1 matching axial length in myopic eyes. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of MTM. Fundus structure parameters were obtained by swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT), and the optic disc microcirculation parameters were obtained by OCT angiography (OCTA). RESULTS: MTM group were older (P = 0.001) and had poorer Best-corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) (P = 0.011), the optic disc-fovea distance (DFD) was longer (P < 0.019), optic disc tilt was greater (P < 0.001), area of peripapillary atrophy (PPA) was larger (P < 0.001), and PPA/optical disc area (ONH) was higher (P < 0.001). The peripapillary scleral thickness (PST) was lower in the MTM group (P < 0.001). The mean peripapillary choroidal thickness (PCT) (P < 0.001) and PCT in the 10 orientations were significantly lower in the MTM group than in the NMTM group (all P < 0.01). Vascular density in the nasosuperior (NS) region of the optic disc was significantly lower in the MTM group (P = 0.037). The generalized estimating equation suggested that PPA area (P = 0.028), mean PCT (P = 0.008), superior PCT (P = 0.027), inferonasal PCT (P = 0.040), temporoinferior PCT (P = 0.013), and PST (P = 0.046) correlated with MTM. Age, axial length, optic disc tilt, PPA area, mean PCT, and optic disc central zone (0-2 mm) vascular density (all P < 0.05) were significantly correlated with PST. CONCLUSIONS: The enlarged PPA area and thinner PCT and PST in eyes with MTM are more significant. Lower PST in high myopia was related to abnormalities of PCT and microcirculation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trial Registration number: ChiCTR2100046590.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates: the natural biopolyester for future medical innovations.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a family of natural microbial biopolyesters with the same basic chemical structure and diverse side chain groups. Based on their excellent biodegradability, biocompatibility, thermoplastic properties and diversity, PHAs are highly promising medical biomaterials and elements of medical devices for applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery. However, due to the high cost of biotechnological production, most PHAs have yet to be applied in the clinic and have only been studied at laboratory scale. This review focuses on the biosynthesis, diversity, physical properties, biodegradability and biosafety of PHAs. We also discuss optimization strategies for improved microbial production of commercial PHAs via novel synthetic biology tools. Moreover, we also systematically summarize various medical devices based on PHAs and related design approaches for medical applications, including tissue repair and drug delivery. The main degradation product of PHAs, 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB), is recognized as a new functional molecule for cancer therapy and immune regulation. Although PHAs still account for only a small percentage of medical polymers, up-and-coming novel medical PHA devices will enter the clinical translation stage in the next few years.

Dynamic variation of nutrient absorption, metabolomic and transcriptomic indexes of soybean (Glycine max) seedlings under phosphorus deficiency.

The dynamic trajectory of metabolites and gene expression related to phosphorus absorption and utilization in soybean seedling roots were determined under short- and long-term phosphorus deficiency stress. The metabolome results showed that TCA and GS/GOGAT cycles were enhanced after 2 days of phosphorus deficiency stress; however, they were inhibited after 15 days. GC-TOF-MS showed that phosphorus deficiency increased the accumulation of amino acids significantly after 2 days, whereas organic acids and lipid substances increased significantly after 15 days. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed that transcriptional levels of five key genes related to phosphorus activation and phosphorus starvation signal transduction increased continuously with phosphorus deficiency. The expression of GmPHT1 and GmSPX triggered the phosphorus starvation signal pathway and induced the expression of the GmPS and GmPAP genes to enhance the synthesis and secretion of organophosphorus hydrolase and organic acid in soybean roots under phosphorus deficiency. The phospholipid metabolism was enhanced significantly after 15 days of stress and when GmSQD, a crucial enzyme in lipid biosynthesis, was up-regulated. Thus, we propose that future investigations on stress caused by phosphorus deficiency should include more organs obtained at different developmental stages.

Macroscale Thalamic Functional Organization Disturbances and Underlying Core Cytoarchitecture in Early-Onset Schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Schizophrenia is a polygenetic mental disorder with heterogeneous positive and negative symptom constellations, and is associated with abnormal cortical connectivity. The thalamus has a coordinative role in cortical function and is key to the development of the cerebral cortex. Conversely, altered functional organization of the thalamus might relate to overarching cortical disruptions in schizophrenia, anchored in development. STUDY DESIGN: Here, we contrasted resting-state fMRI in 86 antipsychotic-naive first-episode early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) patients and 91 typically developing controls to study whether macroscale thalamic organization is altered in EOS. Employing dimensional reduction techniques on thalamocortical functional connectome (FC), we derived lateral-medial and anterior-posterior thalamic functional axes. STUDY RESULTS: We observed increased segregation of macroscale thalamic functional organization in EOS patients, which was related to altered thalamocortical interactions both in unimodal and transmodal networks. Using an ex vivo approximation of core-matrix cell distribution, we found that core cells particularly underlie the macroscale abnormalities in EOS patients. Moreover, the disruptions were associated with schizophrenia-related gene expression maps. Behavioral and disorder decoding analyses indicated that the macroscale hierarchy disturbances might perturb both perceptual and abstract cognitive functions and contribute to negative syndromes in patients. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide mechanistic evidence for disrupted thalamocortical system in schizophrenia, suggesting a unitary pathophysiological framework.

Thinning of the Lamina Cribrosa and Deep Layer Microvascular Dropout in Patients With Open Angle Glaucoma and High Myopia.

PRCIS: Lamina cribrosa (LC) thinning (thickness of ≤128.00 µm) helps to distinguish open angle glaucoma from high myopia, which was associated with the presence of microvasculature dropout and elevated intraocular pressure. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors associated with LC thickness in highly myopic eyes with and without open angle glaucoma. METHODS: In total, 240 highly myopic eyes with γ-zones (194 eyes without and 46 eyes with open angle glaucoma) were examined, and the LC center, externally oblique border, an abrupt change of scleral curvature (scleral step), deep layer microvasculature dropout and global retinal nerve fiber layer thickness were investigated on optical coherence tomography and optical coherence tomography angiography. RESULTS: LC were thinner in highly myopic open angle glaucoma compared with high myopia alone (107.76±9.86 vs. 137.07±18.51 µm, P <0.001), which was associated with deep layer microvasculature dropout and elevated intraocular pressure. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for detecting open angle glaucoma from the LC thickness was 0.964, which was statistically higher ( P <0.05) than from the global retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (0.921) and vertical cup-to-disc ratio (0.902). A LC thickness cutoff value of 128 µm provided 100% sensitivity for detecting open angle glaucoma with 84% specificity. CONCLUSIONS: Highly myopic eyes with open angle glaucoma appear to have a thinner LC, which was associated with elevated intraocular pressure and deep layer microvasculature dropout. LC thinning (≤128.00 µm) helps distinguish open angle glaucoma from high myopia with an abnormal retinal nerve fiber layer thickness distribution and unclear shallow disc cupping.

Cerebello-cerebral resting-state functional connectivity in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive motor and nonmotor deficits concomitant with degenerative pathophysiological changes within the cerebellum. The cerebellum is topographically organized into cerebello-cerebral circuits that create distinct functional networks regulating movement, cognition, and affect. SCA3-associated motor and nonmotor symptoms are possibly related not only to intracerebellar changes but also to disruption of the connectivity within these cerebello-cerebral circuits. However, to date, no comprehensive investigation of cerebello-cerebral connectivity in SCA3 has been conducted. The present study aimed to identify cerebello-cerebral functional connectivity alterations and associations with downstream clinical phenotypes and upstream topographic markers of cerebellar neurodegeneration in patients with SCA3. This study included 45 patients with SCA3 and 49 healthy controls. Voxel-based morphometry and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed to characterize the cerebellar atrophy and to examine the cerebello-cerebral functional connectivity patterns. Structural MRI confirmed widespread gray matter atrophy in the motor and cognitive cerebellum of patients with SCA3. We found reduced functional connectivity between the cerebellum and the cerebral cortical networks, including the somatomotor, frontoparietal, and default networks; however, increased connectivity was observed between the cerebellum and the dorsal attention network. These abnormal patterns correlated with the CAG repeat expansion and deficits in global cognition. Our results indicate the contribution of cerebello-cerebral networks to the motor and cognitive impairments in patients with SCA3 and reveal that such alterations occur in association with cerebellar atrophy. These findings add important insights into our understanding of the role of the cerebellum in SCA3.

Investigation on nutritional health knowledge among regular unpaid blood donors in Zhoushan City / 预防医学

Objective @#To investigate the awareness of nutritional health knowledge regular unpaid blood donors in Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, so as to provide insights into nutrition and health education among unpaid blood donors.@*Methods@#The regular unpaid blood donors were sampled using a convenient sampling method from Zhoushan Central Blood Station from January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. The nutritional health knowledge was investigated using the Chinese Nutrition Health Knowledge Questionnaire for Adults compiled by Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the awareness and source of nutritional health knowledge was descriptively analyzed.@*Results@#Totally 526 questionnaires were allocated, and 502 valid questionnaires were recovered, with an effective recovery rate of 95.44%. The respondents included 240 men (47.81%) and 262 women (52.19%), and included 343 individuals at ages of 18 to 44 years (68.33%), and 159 individuals at ages of 45 years and older (31.67%). The overall awareness of nutritional health knowledge was 14.54% among regular unpaid blood donors in Zhoushan City, and a higher awareness was seen among female regular unpaid blood donors (17.56%) than among males (11.25%) (P<0.05), while the awareness of nutritional health knowledge was significantly higher among respondents at ages of 18 to 44 years than among those at ages of 45 years and older (16.91% vs. 9.43%, P<0.05). The awareness of nutritional health knowledge was significantly higher among respondents with an educational level of junior college and above than among those with an educational level of high school/technical secondary school/technical school (17.24% vs. 12.22%, P<0.05), and the awareness was significantly higher among respondents with healthcare-related occupations than among those with other occupations (16.44% vs. 14.22%, P<0.05). Wechat, Weibo, Tik Tok and Kuaishou were main routes to obtain nutritional health knowledge (83.86%).@*Conclusions@#The awareness of nutritional health knowledge is low among regular unpaid blood donors in Zhoushan City. Men, middle-aged and elderly residents and residents with a low educational level are targets that should be given a high priority for nutritional health education, and new media may be fully utilized for nutritional health education.

Assessment of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in patients with high myopia.

BACKGROUND: Previous reports have suggested that inflammation levels play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of high myopia (HM). This study aimed to investigate the relationship between HM and systemic inflammation using the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR). METHODS: Overall, 100 age- and sex-matched participants were recruited for the study, including 50 participants each in the non-HM (NHM) and HM groups. Ocular examinations and blood tests were performed. The NLR and PLR values were calculated from complete blood counts. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and optimal cut-off values were used to determine the optimal values of the NLR and PLR to distinguish between the HM and NHM groups. RESULTS: The values of NLR and PLR were significantly elevated in the HM group compared with those in the NHM group (P < 0.001 and P = 0.010, respectively). Axial length (AL) was significantly correlated with the NLR (r = 0.367, P < 0.001) and PLR (r = 0.262, P = 0.009). In the ROC analysis, the NLR value to distinguish between the HM and NHM groups was 0.728; the best cut-off value was 2.68, with 76% sensitivity and 62% specificity. The PLR value to distinguish between the HM and NHM groups was 0.650; the best cut-off value was 139.69, with 52% sensitivity and 76% specificity. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicate that the development of HM may be associated with systemic inflammation measured using the NLR and PLR. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered on December 28, 2021 ( http://www.chictr.org.cn ; ChiCTR2100054834).

Assessment of macular structures and vascular characteristics in highly myopic anisometropia using swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the macular structures and vascular characteristics of more myopic (MM) and contralateral eyes with highly myopic anisometropia. Methods: Comprehensive ophthalmic examinations were performed for 33 patients with highly myopic anisometropia. Macular structures (total retinal layer [TRL], ganglion cell and inner plexiform layer [GCIPL], inner nuclear layer [INL], outer retinal layer [ORL], nerve fiber layer [NFL], choroidal layer [CHL]) and vascular characteristics (superficial vascular complex density [SVD], deep vascular complex density [DVD], choriocapillaris perfusion area [CCPA]) were assessed using swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA). Macular structures and vascular characteristics of each subregion were compared to those of the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS). Results: With highly myopic anisometropia, the thicknesses of the TRL, GCIPL, INL, and ORL in MM eyes were smaller than those in contralateral eyes in at least one quadrant of the perifoveal and parafoveal circles (all p < 0.05), with no changes in the foveal and temporal quadrants of perifoveal regions (all p > 0.05). A thicker NFL (p = 0.018) was found in MM eyes than in contralateral eyes in the superior perifoveal quadrant. The CHL (all p < 0.05) in MM eyes was thinner in all regions than in the contralateral eyes according to the ETDRS. There were no statistical differences in the SVD, DVD, and CCPA of MM and contralateral eyes (all p > 0.05). Conclusion: All retinal layers, except the NFL, tended to be thinner in all subregions, except the temporal perifoveal and foveal quadrants in MM eyes, and choroidal thickness was thinned in all areas.

Study on the process of medical waste disinfection by microwave technology.

Microwave sterilization technology is an environmentally friendly non-incineration disposal method for medical waste. The core sterilization technology of "microwave sterilization, steam makes the system heat up quickly" was adopted to build a microwave sterilization screw conveyor system that can continuously and dynamically type microwave sterilization. The platinum resistance temperature sensor is used to measure the temperature of the steam at the outlet of the system and the temperature of the material at the outlet. The microwave sterilization process for medical waste was studied on the microwave sterilization test platform, and the influence and regularity of three factors on the microwave sterilization effect were explored and the microwave sterilization process was optimized using the orthogonal test method. Bacillus subtilis var. black spore (ATCC 9372) was used as the detection object of microwave sterilization effect, and the sterilization rate was calculated by the total number of colonies after culture. The results show that, microwave sterilization time has the greatest influence on sterilization effect, the greater the microwave power, the longer the sterilization time, the higher the water content, the higher the sterilization rate. The orthogonal test results show that the optimal process parameters of the microwave sterilization system are the microwave power of 22 kW, the sterilization time of 480 s, and the moisture content of 90%, the sterilization rate is 99.9996%, the sterilization effect is good. When the microwave power is 25 kW or 28 kW, the sterilization time is 480 s or 600 s, and the water content is 90%, the sterilization rate is 100%. Considering the germicidal effect, equipment cost, saving power consumption, shortening the germicidal process time and other comprehensive factors, this process parameter can obtain the best benefit. It can be seen that the use of microwave sterilization technology to treat medical waste is fast and efficient, and does not produce dioxins and other harmful substances, safe and environmental protection, simple operation, excellent sterilization effect.

The influence of freeway curve characteristics on drivers' speed perception accuracy.

Owing to the complicated geometric conditions and increasingly diversified driving environment, freeway curves have become a road section with frequent serious accidents. To ensure safe driving on curves, drivers must first perceive the movement condition and the vehicle's position, and accurately evaluate the characteristics of the road to make the right speed choice. In this process, the perception of speed plays a crucial role. The present study aims to investigate the driver's speed perception characteristics with respect to freeway curves to better understand the driver speed selection mechanism. We first construct six three-dimensional (3D) virtual highway models, which are consistent with the geometric lines and traffic engineering instruments of real freeways. A virtual simulation test is then conducted in a highly immersive environment. After the completion of the simulation experiment, we conduct a field verification experiment, test the actual driving speed and perceived speed of drivers in the same place as the simulation experiment, and verify the effectiveness of the simulation method. Finally, 25 3D curve models of four different types are constructed, and the influence of curve characteristics (e.g., curve radius, curve combination, tangent length between curves) on drivers' speed perception accuracy are tested on the simulation platform. The results show that the driver's perceived speed is lower than the real speed when driving on curves, and the tangent-to-spiral (TS) point is the section where the driver's speed is most underestimated. Radius was the most important factor affecting driver's speed perception, but the tangent length between curves also had a lesser influence. However, the curve combination had no effect on it. Our findings can help researchers and road designers understand the reasons for drivers' speed choice, thus promoting drivers' safety on freeway curves.

Investigation of Macular Structural and Microcirculatory Characteristics of Posterior Staphyloma in High Myopic Eyes by Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography.

Purpose: To investigate the characteristics of macular structures and microcirculation of posterior staphyloma (PS) and explored factors related to PS in eyes with high myopia. Methods: There were 114 eyes of 82 patients in this study. Using 1:1 matching of the axial length of myopic eyes, patients were divided into no PS (NPS) and PS groups. Comprehensive ophthalmic examinations were performed on all patients. Structural parameters were acquired using swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT). OCT angiography (OCTA) was used to measure the microcirculation parameters. Generalized estimated equation and linear correlation analysis were used for the statistical analysis. Results: Patients with PS had a thinner retinal thickness (RT) and choroid thickness (CT) (all p < 0.05) in the measurement areas and a significantly lower subfoveal scleral thickness (SFST) (p < 0.001) than those without PS. Retinal deep vascular complex density (DVD) (all p < 0.05) and choriocapillaris perfusion area (CCPA) (all p < 0.001) were significantly lower in the measurement areas of the PS group than in those of the NPS group. There was no significant difference in the retinal superficial vascular density between the two groups. Generalized estimating equation indicated that SFST (B = 0.079, p = 0.001), parafoveal RT (B = -0.162, p = 0.041), foveal CT (B = 0.292, p = 0.013), parafoveal CT (B = -0.157, p = 0.023), foveal CCPA (B = 0.691, p = 0.003) and parafoveal CCPA (B = -0.026, p = 0.004) were significantly correlated with PS. Age (r = -0.323, p = 0.001), spherical equivalent refraction (SER) (r = 0.289, p = 0.004), subfoveal CT (r = 0.398, p < 0.001), foveal DVD (r = 0.346, p < 0.001), foveal CT (r = 0.429, p < 0.001), and foveal CCPA (r = 0.387, p < 0.001) were strongly correlated with SFST. Conclusions: The macular structures and microcirculation in the PS group were different from those in the NPS group. SFST, CT, and CCPA were significantly correlated with PS. Lower SFST in PS was correlated with abnormalities of CT and microcirculation.

The novel HLA-A*31:191 allele was identified in a Chinese platelet donor.

HLA-A*31:191 differs from HLA-A*31:01:02:01 by one single nucleotide substitution at nucleotide 74.

Tracking Positive and Negative Symptom Improvement in First-Episode Schizophrenia Treated with Risperidone Using Individual-Level Functional Connectivity.

Background: To improve treatment outcomes of patients with schizophrenia, research efforts have focused on identifying brain-based markers of treatment response. Personal characteristics regarding disease-related behaviors likely stem from interindividual variability in the organization of brain functional systems. This study aimed to track dimension-specific changes in psychotic symptoms following risperidone treatment using individual-level functional connectivity (FC). Methods: A reliable cortical parcellation approach that accounts for individual heterogeneity in cortical functional anatomy was used to localize functional regions in a longitudinal cohort consisting of 42, drug-naive, first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients at baseline and after 8 weeks of risperidone treatment. FC was calculated in individually specified brain regions and used to predict the baseline severity and improvement of positive and negative symptoms in FES. Results: Distinct sets of individual-specific FC were separately associated with the positive and negative symptom burden at baseline, which could be used to track the corresponding symptom resolution in FES patients following risperidone treatment. Between-network connections of the fronto-parietal network (FPN) contributed the most to predicting the positive symptom domain. A combination of between-network connections of the default mode network, FPN, and within-network connections of the FPN contributed markedly to the prediction model of negative symptoms. Conclusion: This novel study, which accounts for individual brain variation, takes a step toward establishing individual-specific theranostic biomarkers in schizophrenia. Impact statement This study revealed a theranostic marker for personalized medicine in schizophrenia and may aid in circuit-specific therapies for this disorder.

Marine-Derived Collagen as Biomaterials for Human Health.

Collagen is a kind of biocompatible protein material, which is widely used in medical tissue engineering, drug delivery, cosmetics, food and other fields. Because of its wide source, low extraction cost and good physical and chemical properties, it has attracted the attention of many researchers in recent years. However, the application of collagen derived from terrestrial organisms is limited due to the existence of diseases, religious beliefs and other problems. Therefore, exploring a wider range of sources of collagen has become one of the main topics for researchers. Marine-derived collagen (MDC) stands out because it comes from a variety of sources and avoids issues such as religion. On the one hand, this paper summarized the sources, extraction methods and characteristics of MDC, and on the other hand, it summarized the application of MDC in the above fields. And on the basis of the review, we found that MDC can not only be extracted from marine organisms, but also from the wastes of some marine organisms, such as fish scales. This makes further use of seafood resources and increases the application prospect of MDC.

Extraction of causal relations based on SBEL and BERT model.

Extraction of causal relations between biomedical entities in the form of Biological Expression Language (BEL) poses a new challenge to the community of biomedical text mining due to the complexity of BEL statements. We propose a simplified form of BEL statements [Simplified Biological Expression Language (SBEL)] to facilitate BEL extraction and employ BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformers) to improve the performance of causal relation extraction (RE). On the one hand, BEL statement extraction is transformed into the extraction of an intermediate form-SBEL statement, which is then further decomposed into two subtasks: entity RE and entity function detection. On the other hand, we use a powerful pretrained BERT model to both extract entity relations and detect entity functions, aiming to improve the performance of two subtasks. Entity relations and functions are then combined into SBEL statements and finally merged into BEL statements. Experimental results on the BioCreative-V Track 4 corpus demonstrate that our method achieves the state-of-the-art performance in BEL statement extraction with F1 scores of 54.8% in Stage 2 evaluation and of 30.1% in Stage 1 evaluation, respectively. Database URL: https://github.com/grapeff/SBEL_datasets.

Individual-specific functional connectome biomarkers predict schizophrenia positive symptoms during adolescent brain maturation.

Even with an overarching functional dysconnectivity model of adolescent-onset schizophrenia (AOS), there have been no functional connectome (FC) biomarkers identified for predicting patients' specific symptom domains. Adolescence is a period of dramatic brain maturation, with substantial interindividual variability in brain anatomy. However, existing group-level hypotheses of AOS lack precision in terms of neuroanatomical boundaries. This study aimed to identify individual-specific FC biomarkers associated with schizophrenic symptom manifestation during adolescent brain maturation. We used a reliable individual-level cortical parcellation approach to map functional brain regions in each subject, that were then used to identify FC biomarkers for predicting dimension-specific psychotic symptoms in 30 antipsychotic-naïve first-episode AOS patients (recruited sample of 39). Age-related changes in biomarker expression were compared between these patients and 31 healthy controls. Moreover, 29 antipsychotic-naïve first-episode AOS patients (analyzed sample of 25) were recruited from another center to test the generalizability of the prediction model. Individual-specific FC biomarkers could significantly and better predict AOS positive-dimension symptoms with a relatively stronger generalizability than at the group level. Specifically, positive symptom domains were estimated based on connections between the frontoparietal control network (FPN) and salience network and within FPN. Consistent with the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia, the FPN-SN connection exhibited aberrant age-associated alteration in AOS. The individual-level findings reveal reproducible FPN-based FC biomarkers associated with AOS positive symptom domains, and highlight the importance of accounting for individual variation in the study of adolescent-onset disorders.