Analysis of the differences in physicochemical properties, volatile compounds, and microbial community structure of pit mud in different time spaces.

Pit mud (PM) is among the key factors determining the quality of Nongxiangxing baijiu, a Chinese liquor. Microorganisms present inside PM are crucial for the unique taste and flavor of this liquor. In this study, headspace solid-phase microextraction was used in combination with gas chromatography and high-throughput sequencing to determine the volatile compounds and microbial community structure of 10- and 40-year PM samples from different spaces. The basic physicochemical properties of the PM were also determined. LEfSe and RDA were used to systematically study the PM in different time spaces. The physicochemical properties and ester content of the 40-year PM were higher than those of the 10-year PM, but the spatial distribution of the two years PM samples exhibited no consistency, except in terms of pH, available phosphorus content, and ester content. In all samples, 29 phyla, 276 families, and 540 genera of bacteria, including four dominant phyla and 20 dominant genera, as well as eight phyla, 24 families, and 34 genera of archaea, including four dominant phyla and seven dominant genera, were identified. The LEfSe analysis yielded 18 differential bacteria and five differential archaea. According to the RDA, the physicochemical properties and ethyl caproate, ethyl octanoate, hexanoic acid, and octanoic acid positively correlated with the differential microorganisms of the 40-year PM, whereas negatively correlated with the differential microorganisms of the 10-year PM. Thus, we inferred that Caproiciproducens, norank_f__Caloramatoraceae, and Methanobrevibacter play a dominant and indispensable role in the PM. This study systematically unveils the differences that affect the quality of PM in different time spaces and offers a theoretical basis for improving the declining PM, promoting PM aging, maintaining cellars, and cultivating an artificial PM at a later stage.

Anomaly Detection Method for Lithium-Ion Battery Cells Based on Time Series Decomposition and Improved Manhattan Distance Algorithm.

Abnormalities in individual lithium-ion batteries can cause the entire battery pack to fail, thereby the operation of electric vehicles is affected and safety accidents even occur in severe cases. Therefore, timely and accurate detection of abnormal monomers can prevent safety accidents and reduce property losses. In this paper, a battery cell anomaly detection method is proposed based on time series decomposition and an improved Manhattan distance algorithm for actual operating data of electric vehicles. First, time series decomposition is performed on the voltage data of all battery cells in the battery pack to obtain the voltage trend component of each cell. Then, the improved Manhattan distance algorithm is utilized to calculate and compare the Manhattan distance values between adjacent cell trend components, to determine the abnormal cells inside the battery pack. Furthermore, the Manhattan distance values at the same sampling moment are calculated within the data sequence to detect the specific time when the abnormal cells malfunction. The data analysis and experimental verification results based on actual vehicle operating conditions indicate that this method can accurately identify an abnormal cell within the battery pack and diagnose the specific moment of abnormality in the battery cell at an early stage of failure, with good robustness.

FBN1 knockout promotes cervical artery dissection by inducing N-glycosylation alternation of extracellular matrix proteins in rat VSMCs.

FBN1 mutation promotes the degeneration of microfibril structures and extracellular matrix (ECM) integrity in the tunica media of the aorta in Marfan syndrome. However, whether FBN1 modulates cervical artery dissection (CAD) development and the potential molecular mechanisms of abnormal FBN1 in CAD remains elusive. In this study, FBN1 deficiency participated in the development of CAD and influenced the proliferation, apoptosis, and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells. FBN1 knockout induced alternations in mRNA levels of the transcriptome, protein expression of the proteome, and abundance of N-glycosylation of the N-glycoproteome. Comprehensive analysis of multiple omics showed up-regulation in mRNA levels of ECM proteins; yet, both the ECM protein levels and relative abundance of N-glycosylation were decreased. Moreover, we performed in vivo experiments to confirm the altered glycosylation of proteins in vascular smooth muscle cells. In conclusion, FBN1 deletion in vascular smooth muscle cells can result in altered N-glycosylation of ECM protein, which were critical for the stability of ECM and the process of CAD. This may open the way for a novel therapeutic strategy to treat people with CAD.

Advances in sequencing-based studies of microDNA and ecDNA: Databases, identification methods, and integration with single-cell analysis.

Extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) is a class of circular DNA molecules that originate from genomic DNA but are separate from chromosomes. They are common in various organisms, with sizes ranging from a few hundred to millions of base pairs. A special type of large extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) is prevalent in cancer cells. Research on ecDNA has significantly contributed to our comprehension of cancer development, progression, evolution, and drug resistance. The use of next-generation (NGS) and third-generation sequencing (TGS) techniques to identify eccDNAs throughout the genome has become a trend in current research. Here, we briefly review current advances in the biological mechanisms and applications of two distinct types of eccDNAs: microDNA and ecDNA. In addition to presenting available identification tools based on sequencing data, we summarize the most recent efforts to integrate ecDNA with single-cell analysis and put forth suggestions to promote the process.

Circlehunter: a tool to identify extrachromosomal circular DNA from ATAC-Seq data.

In cancer, extrachromosomal circular DNA (ecDNA), or megabase-pair amplified circular DNA, plays an essential role in intercellular heterogeneity and tumor cell revolution because of its non-Mendelian inheritance. We developed circlehunter ( https://github.com/suda-huanglab/circlehunter ), a tool for identifying ecDNA from ATAC-Seq data using the enhanced chromatin accessibility of ecDNA. Using simulated data, we showed that circlehunter has an F1 score of 0.93 at 30× local depth and read lengths as short as 35 bp. Based on 1312 ecDNAs predicted from 94 publicly available datasets of ATAC-Seq assays, we found 37 oncogenes contained in these ecDNAs with amplification characteristics. In small cell lung cancer cell lines, ecDNA containing MYC leads to amplification of MYC and cis-regulates the expression of NEUROD1, resulting in an expression pattern consistent with the NEUROD1 high expression subtype and sensitive to Aurora kinase inhibitors. This showcases that circlehunter could serve as a valuable pipeline for the investigation of tumorigenesis.

Antinociceptive effects of bupivacaine injected within the internal abdominis rectus sheath in standing healthy horses.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a regional anesthetic technique for blocking the abdominal midline in horses. STUDY DESIGN: Anatomical description and prospective, crossover, placebo-controlled, blinded study. ANIMALS: Adult horses; two cadavers, six healthy animals. METHODS: In stage 1, 0.5% methylene blue with 0.25% bupivacaine (0.5 mL kg-1) was injected using ultrasonography into the internal rectus abdominis sheath (RAS) of two cadavers with a one-point or two-point technique. The dye spread was described after the dissection of the abdomens. In stage 2, each horse was injected with 1 mL kg-1 of 0.9% NaCl (treatment PT) or 0.2% bupivacaine (treatment BT) using a two-point technique. The abdominal midline mechanical nociceptive threshold (MNT) was measured with a 1 mm blunted probe tip and results analyzed with mixed-effect anova. Signs of pelvic limb weakness were recorded. RESULTS: The cadaver dissections showed staining of the ventral branches from the eleventh thoracic (T11) to the second lumbar (L2) nerve with the one-point technique and T9-L2 with the two-point technique. Baseline MNTs were, mean ± standard deviation, 12.6 ± 1.6 N and 12.4 ± 2.4 N in treatments PT and BT, respectively. MNT increased to 18.9 ± 5.8 N (p = 0.010) at 30 minutes, and MNT was between 9.4 ± 2.0 and 15.3 ± 3.4 N from 1 to 8 hours (p > 0.521) in treatment PT. MNTs in treatment BT were 21.1 ± 5.9 to 25.0 ± 0.1 N from 30 minutes to 8 hours (p < 0.001). MNTs after the RAS injections were higher in treatment BT than PT (p = 0.007). No pelvic limb weakness was observed. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Antinociception of at least 8 hours without pelvic limb weakness was observed in the abdominal midline in standing horses after the RAS block. Further investigations are necessary to evaluate suitability for ventral celiotomies.

Identification of a novel eighteen-gene signature of recurrent metastasis neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma is the most common malignant tumor in childhood, and metastases occur in more than 30% patients. Recurrent metastasis is the main cause of poor prognosis and high mortality in neuroblastoma. In this regard, there is still a lack of sufficient biomarkers and effective therapies. Therefore, we performed a multi-omics analysis of neuroblastoma patients from Therapeutically Applicable Research To Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET). With clinical relapse site information, tumor samples derived from the primary site were divided into recurrent metastasis and primary tumor groups. The initial gene signature was obtained by comparing RNA-Seq and copy number variation differences. Survival data was used to further filter prognosis-related genes. This 18-gene signature consists of three clusters: tumor suppression, cell proliferation, and immunity. A super enhancer is involved in the enhanced expression of NCAPG in cluster2 together with IRF3. Based on the gene signature expression in primary neuroblastoma, it is possible to predict tumor metastasis before it occurs. According to the anticancer drug dataset of Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC), vinorelbine and docetaxel were predicted to have high sensitivity against recurrent metastatic neuroblastoma. In conclusion, our study offers a novel metastasis biomarker and helps understand the mechanisms of tumor recurrent metastasis. KEY MESSAGES: We identified a novel eighteen-gene signature of recurrent metastasis neuroblastoma and build risk and classification models. We dissected the regulatory role of NCAPG in signatures. We found immune exhaustion and immunosuppression in recurrent metastasis neuroblastoma. Vinorelbine and docetaxel were predicted to have high sensitivity against recurrent metastatic neuroblastoma.

Deep medullary veins: a promising neuroimaging marker for mild cognitive impairment in outpatients.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Mild cognitive impairment is an age-dependent pre-dementia state caused by varied reasons. Early detection of MCI helps handle dementia. Vascular factors are vital for the occurrence of MCI. This study investigates the correlation between deep medullary veins and multi-dimensional cognitive outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 73 participants with MCI and 32 controls were enrolled. Minimum Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment were used to examine the global cognitive function, and different cognitive domains were measured by specific neuropsychological tests. MRI was used to assess the visibility of the DMV and other neuroimage markers. RESULTS: DMV score was statistically significantly higher in the MCI group compared with the control group (P = 0.009) and independently related to MCI (P = 0.007). Linear regression analysis verified that DMV score was linearly related to global cognition, memory, attention, and executive function after adjusting for cerebrovascular risk factors. CONCLUSION: DMV score was independently related to the onset of MCI, and correlates with overall cognition, memory, attention, and executive function in outpatients.

CIDP-like autoimmune nodopathy complicated with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis: a case study and literature review.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the role of neurofascin186 (NF186) in the pathogenesis of the concurrent focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in CIDP-like autoimmune nodopathy patients. METHODS: We presented a case of CIDP-like autoimmune nodopathy complicated with FSGS. We measured NF186 antibodies by cell-binding assay (CBA) method. We performed immunofluorescence analysis in the renal cryosection samples from a patient with minimal nephropathy with rabbit anti-NF186 antibody or NF186 antibody positive human serum. Then we performed western blotting of recombinant NF186 protein and component of NF186 including Ig and FNIII domains incubating with human serum and corresponding rabbit polyclonal antibody. Cases of CIDP complicated with FSGS were searched form PubMed and reviewed. RESULTS: We reported a 66-year-old Chinese woman with CIDP-like autoimmune nodopathy and concurrent FSGS. Her NF186 antibody was positive. The fluorescent signal for NF186 was detected in the renal tissue sections of the patient with minimal nephropathy. The staining for NF186 matched the podocyte spatially. In western blotting analysis, patients had antibodies in their serum recognizing the NF186 protein and their antibodies recognized the Ig domain of NF186. 3 cases of CIDP-like autoimmune nodopathy with positive NF186 antibody and FSGS have been reported. All these patients were responsive to corticosteroids rather than the intravenous immunoglobulin, in terms of both the neuropathy and renal disease. CONCLUSIONS: NF186 was probably a targeted antigen in the pathogenesis of concurrent FSGS in CIDP-like autoimmune nodopathy with positive NF186 antibody. CIDP-like autoimmune nodopathy with positive NF186 antibody and FSGS is a rare entity, which may be responsive to corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressant.

Clinical and prognostic features of Heidenhain variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: A retrospective case series study.

BACKGROUND: Heidenhain variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) remains a diagnostic challenge in clinical practice. We aimed to describe the clinical and prognostic features of Heidenhain cases, through a case series study. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the definite or probable CJD cases admitted to two tertiary referral university hospitals over a decade to identify Heidenhain cases and investigated their survival status by telephone follow-up. Their clinical characteristics, neuroimaging features, electroencephalography (EEG) results, cerebrospinal fluid profiles, and PRNP gene mutations were also analyzed. RESULTS: Of a total of 85 CJD cases, 20 (24%) Heidenhain cases (11 women [55%]; median age, 64 years [range, 44-72 years]) were identified. The median survival time was 22 weeks (range, 5-155 weeks). The median duration of isolated visual symptoms was 3 weeks (range, 1-12 weeks). The most common early visual symptom was blurred vision (16/20, 80%), followed by diplopia (6/20, 30%). The prevalence significantly increased for complex visual hallucination (p = 0.005) and cortical blindness (p = 0.046) as the disease progressed. The positive rate of serial magnetic resonance images (20/20, 100%) was higher than that of serial EEGs (16/20, 80%). Two patients (2/10, 20%) had pathogenic PRNP mutations, E196A and T188K, respectively. Heidenhain cases with PRNP mutations had significantly longer survival time than those without PRNP mutations (p = 0.047). CONCLUSIONS: Besides blurred vision (80%), diplopia (30%) was also a frequent early visual symptom among Heidenhain cases. Heidenhain phenotype can occur in genetic CJD cases. PRNP mutation status might be an important prognostic factor for Heidenhain cases.

Human induced pluripotent stem cells derived from a patient with a mutation of FBN1c.1858C > T (p. Pro620Ser).

Mutation of FBN1 has certain relation with the incidence of cranial cervical artery dissection. Our study reprogrammed human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of a patient with a mutation of FBN1c.1858C > T (p. Pro620Ser). The generated iPSCs express pluripotent cell markers with no mycoplasma contamination. Besides, it has normal karyotype and could differentiate into mesoderm, endoderm and neuronal layers. We also identified it has the same specific mutation with our patient.

A Clustering-Enhanced Memetic Algorithm for the Quadratic Minimum Spanning Tree Problem.

The quadratic minimum spanning tree problem (QMSTP) is a spanning tree optimization problem that considers the interaction cost between pairs of edges arising from a number of practical scenarios. This problem is NP-hard, and therefore there is not a known polynomial time approach to solve it. To find a close-to-optimal solution to the problem in a reasonable time, we present for the first time a clustering-enhanced memetic algorithm (CMA) that combines four components, i.e., (i) population initialization with clustering mechanism, (ii) a tabu-based nearby exploration phase to search nearby local optima in a restricted area, (iii) a three-parent combination operator to generate promising offspring solutions, and (iv) a mutation operator using Lévy distribution to prevent the population from premature. Computational experiments are carried on 36 benchmark instances from 3 standard sets, and the results show that the proposed algorithm is competitive with the state-of-the-art approaches. In particular, it reports improved upper bounds for the 25 most challenging instances with unproven optimal solutions, while matching the best-known results for all but 2 of the remaining instances. Additional analysis highlights the contribution of the clustering mechanism and combination operator to the performance of the algorithm.

Rhythmic Component Analysis Tool (RCAT): A Precise, Efficient and User-Friendly Tool for Circadian Clock Genes Analysis.

High-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and real-time circadian dynamics reporting systems produce large amounts of experimental data on RNA and protein levels in the field of circadian rhythm and therefore require statistical knowledge and computational skills for quantitative analysis. Although there are many software applications that can process these data, they are often difficult to use and computationally inefficient. Hence, a convenient, user-friendly tool that can accurately acquire rhythmic components (period, amplitude, and phase) of circadian clock genes is necessary. Here, we develop a new analysis tool named rhythmic component analysis tool (RCAT), which has an easily understood interface featuring a one-button operation, that presents all results as tables and images and automatically saves them as CSV files. We use the relative amplitude error (RAE), widely-adopted criteria on the circadian research field to estimate the quality of results. To illustrate the analytical ability of the RCAT under different situations, we generate four groups of time-series data by CircaInSilico (a web server for generating synthetic genome biology data to benchmark statistical methods for studying biological rhythms) with different collection intervals and amplitude ranges and use RCAT to analyze them. To demonstrate the effectiveness of RCAT, we analyze two sets of case studies with time-series data: one set uses microarray and RNA-Seq data from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) repository to identify core clock genes (CCGs) with significant periodicity in the liver, and the other set uses real-time fluorescence reporting data collected by Lumicycle® (a commonly-used luminometer) to calculate the precise period, amplitude and phase. In these examples, most cycling samples are successfully detected by the RCAT within a short collection time, and accurate rhythmic components are also successfully computed. These results indicate that RCAT improves flexibility and convenience in periodic oscillation data analysis. RCAT, is freely available at: https://github.com/lzbbest/Rhythmic-Component-Analysis-Tool/releases . It, as a cross-platform software, can be run not only on Linux, but also on Win10, Win8 and Win7.

The Degree of Plasma Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein Level Decrease Is Related to Clinical Outcomes for Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the decrease of plasma oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) levels and clinical outcomes in patients with acute atherosclerosis-related ischemic stroke. METHODS: We recruited acute ischemic stroke patients within 3 days of onset consecutively. Plasma oxLDL levels were measured on the second day after admission and before discharge (10-14 days after stroke onset). Initial stroke severity was assessed by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores, and infarct volume was measured using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) by the ITK-SNAP software. Clinical outcomes were evaluated by DWI volumes in the acute phase, neurological improvement at discharge, and favorable functional prognosis at 90 days. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association between oxLDL level decrease and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: 207 patients were enrolled in this study. Compared with the mild decrease of the oxLDL level group, patients with a significant decrease of the oxLDL level group were more likely to have a higher ratio of neurological improvement at discharge (55.07% vs. 14.49%, p < 0.01) and favorable functional prognosis at 90 days (91.30% vs. 55.07%, p < 0.01). In multivariable logistic regression, the degree of oxLDL level decrease was related to neurological improvement at discharge and favorable functional prognosis at 90 days (p < 0.01). Patients with significant decrease were more likely to have neurological improvement at discharge (OR = 7.92, 95% CI, 3.14-19.98, and p < 0.01) and favorable functional prognosis at 90 days (OR = 7.46, 95% CI, 2.40-23.23, and p < 0.01) compared to patients with mild decrease of oxLDL level. The DWI volumes in patients with different oxLDL level decrease groups had no statistical difference (p = 0.41), and the Spearman's rho between oxLDL level decrease and DWI infarct volumes was -0.03, but no statistical difference (p = 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: The degree of oxLDL level decrease is related to neurological improvement at discharge and favorable functional prognosis at 90 days for patients with acute atherosclerosis-related ischemic stroke, but not with infarct volume in the acute phase.

The Relationship Between ADAMTS13 Activity and Overall Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Burden: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on CSVD.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association between plasma von Willebrand factor (VWF) level, ADAMTS13 activity, and neuroimaging features of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), including the CSVD neuroimaging markers and the overall CSVD burden. Methods: CSVD patients admitted to our hospital from 2016 to 2020 were recruited. Plasma VWF level and ADAMTS13 activity were measured. The overall effect of CSVD on the brain was described as a validated CSVD score. We evaluated the association between VWF levels, ADAMTS13 activity, and the increasing severity of CSVD score by the logistic regression model. Results: We enrolled 296 patients into this study. The mean age of the sample was 69.0 years (SD 7.0). The mean VWF level was 1.31 IU/mL, and the ADAMTS13 activity was 88.01 (SD 10.57). In multivariate regression analysis, lower ADAMTS13 activity and higher VWF level was related to white matter hyperintensity (WMH) [ß = -7.31; 95% confidence interval (CI) (-9.40, -4.93); p<0.01; ß = 0.17; 95% confidence interval (0.11, 0.23); p<0.01], subcortical infarction (SI) [(ß = -9.22; 95% CI (-11.37, -7.06); p<0.01); ß = 0.21; 95% confidence interval (0.15, 0.27); p<0.01] independently, but not cerebral microbleed (CMB) [(ß = -2.3; 95% CI (-4.95, 0.05); p = 0.22); ß = 0.02; 95% confidence interval (-0.05, 0.08); p = 0.63]. Furthermore, ADAMTS13 activity was independently negatively correlated with the overall CSVD burden (odd ratio = 21.33; 95% CI (17.46, 54.60); p < 0.01) after adjustment for age, history of hypertension, and current smoking. Conclusions: Reducing ADAMTS13 activity change is related to white matter hyperintensity, subcortical infarction, but not with cerebral microhemorrhage. In addition, ADAMTS13 may have played an essential role in the progression of CSVD.

Insulin Resistance is Significantly Related with Worse Clinical Outcomes in Non-Diabetic Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients Treated with Intravenous Thrombolysis.

OBJECTIVES: to investigate the relationship between insulin resistance (IR) and clinical outcomes in non-diabetic ischemic stroke patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis. METHODS: We recruited non-diabetic ischemic stroke patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis prospectively. IR was defined as homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance index ≥2.80. Initial stroke severity was assessed using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores, and infarct volume was measured using DWI. Clinical outcomes were evaluated by neurological improvement and hemorrhagic transformation at 24 hours, and favorable functional prognosis at 90 days. RESULTS: 232 patients were enrolled into this study. IR group was 67 patients, non-IR group was 165 patients. Compared with the non-IR group, the probability of neurological improvement at 24 h ours and favorable functional outcome at 90 days in IR group were all significantly lower (41.79% vs 63.03%, p<0.01; 73.13% vs 89.09%, p<0.01 respectively), whereas the ratio of hemorrhagic transformation was much higher (16.42% vs 4.85%, p<0.01). In multivariable logistic regression, IR was negatively associated with neurological improvement and favorable functional prognosis (OR=0.39, 95%CI, 0.20-0.76, p<0.01; OR= 0.26, 95%CI, 0.07-0.91, p=0.04, respectively), but was positively correlated with hemorrhagic transformation (OR=4.07, 95%CI, 1.13-14.59, p=0.03) after adjusting traditional risk factors. We analyzed 108 infarct volume data further, the median of volume in IR group was 2.27 cm3, higher than that in non-IR group (1.96 cm3), but no statistical difference (p=0.65). CONCLUSIONS: In non-diabetic ischemic stroke patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis, IR was related with worse clinical outcomes, but not with infarct volume.

Effects of home-based telerehabilitation in patients with stroke: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of a 12-week home-based motor training telerehabilitation program in patients with subcortical stroke by combining motor function assessments and multimodality MRI analysis methods. METHODS: Fifty-two patients with stroke and hemiplegia were randomly assigned to either a home-based motor training telerehabilitation (TR) group or a conventional rehabilitation (CR) group for 12 weeks. The Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) for upper and lower extremities and the modified Barthel Index were used as primary outcomes. The secondary outcomes included resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the bilateral M1 areas, gray matter volumes of the primary motor cortex (M1) areas, and white matter integrity of the corticospinal tract. Analysis of covariance was applied to examine the effects of the home-based motor training TR program on neural function recovery and brain plasticity. RESULTS: Compared with the CR group, the TR group showed significant improvement in the FMA (p = 0.011) and significantly increased M1-M1 rsFC (p = 0.031) at the end of the rehabilitation. The M1-M1 rsFC change was significantly positively correlated with the FMA change in the TR group (p = 0.018). CONCLUSION: This study showed a beneficial effect of the home-based motor training telerehabilitation program on motor function in patients with stroke, which was accompanied by enhanced interhemispheric functional connectivity of the M1 areas. We inferred that it is feasible, safe, and efficacious for patients with stroke to receive professional rehabilitation training at home. The combined use of imaging biomarkers should be encouraged in motor training clinical studies in patients with stroke. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class II evidence that for patients with stroke with hemiplegia, home-based telerehabilitation compared to conventional rehabilitation significantly improves some motor function tests.

ADAMTS13: An Emerging Target in Stroke Therapy.

Thrombosis is the predominant underlying mechanism of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Though thrombolysis with tPA has been proven to be effective in treating AIS within the time window, the majority of AIS patients fail to receive tPA due to various reasons. Current medical therapies for AIS have limited efficacy and pose a risk of intracerebral hemorrhage. ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease with a thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13) is a metalloprotease that effectively breaks down the von Willebrand Factor (VWF), a key factor in thrombus formation. Previous studies have proven that dysfunction of ADAMTS13 is associated with many diseases. Recently, ADAMTS13 has been reported to be closely related to stroke. In this review, we briefly described the structure of ADAMTS13 and its role in thrombosis, inflammation, as well as angiogenesis. We then focused on the relationship between ADAMTS13 and AIS, ranging from ischemic stroke occurrence, to AIS treatment and prognosis. Based on research findings from in vitro, animal, and clinical studies, we propose that ADAMTS13 is a potential biomarker to guide appropriate treatment for ischemic stroke and a promising therapeutic agent for tPA resistant thrombi.

Impact of periventricular hyperintensities and cystatin C on different cognitive domains in the population of non-demented elderly Chinese.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of periventricular hyperintensities and serum cystatin C on mild cognitive impairment to provide a basis for the investigation of the pathogenesis. METHOD: 286 patients enrolled the study and underwent an examination in Shanghai Fifth People's Hospital from June 2017 to June 2018. The participants' cognitive function was evaluated by different cognitive domains using of mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA), auditory verbal learning test, Huashan version (AVLT-H), digit span test (DST), symbol digit modalities test (SDMT), trail making test (TMT) and verbal fluency test (VFT). We measured the levels of serum cystatin C at the department of clinical laboratory in Shanghai Fifth People's Hospital and each subject took an MRI examination in the Department of Radiology of Shanghai Fifth People's Hospital. Multivariate linear regression analyses were used to assess the relationship of cognitive score and the level of cystatin C and periventricular hyperintensities severity. All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS system. RESULTS: Among 286 eligible participants, 203 (71.0%) were enrolled to further analysis, including 69 male and 134 female (Mean age 67.93 ±â€¯6.19 years). Significant predictors of severe periventricular hyperintensities (PVH) were older age and hypertension. Significant predictors of severe deep white matter hyperintensities (DWMH) were older age only. PVH severity was independently associated with mild cognitive impairment and that the primary impairment was executive function and processing speed. DWMH had no significant effect on cognitive function. Cystatin C only affected the overall cognitive level, and the relationship with WMH severity was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that in the chinese non-demented elderly, the severity of PVH was independent and significant associated with mild cognitive impairment and that the primary impairment was executive capacity and processing speed, while cystatin C may be an independent risk factor for overall cognitive impairment.