Case report: Pediatric intraventricular Rosai-Dorfman disease: clinical insights and surgical strategies in a decade-long observational study and literature review.

Background: Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD), or sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy (SHML), is a rare benign disorder characterized by the proliferation of histiocytes of uncertain origin. Central nervous system (CNS) involvement, particularly intraventricular, is exceptionally rare and poses significant diagnostic challenges due to its non-specific clinical and radiographic presentation. This study aims to present a case of intraventricular RDD and review existing literature on its clinical features, treatment strategies, and prognosis.

On efficient expanding training datasets of breast tumor ultrasound segmentation model.

Automatic segmentation of breast tumor ultrasound images can provide doctors with objective and efficient references for lesions and regions of interest. Both dataset optimization and model structure optimization are crucial for achieving optimal image segmentation performance, and it can be challenging to satisfy the clinical needs solely through model structure enhancements in the context of insufficient breast tumor ultrasound datasets for model training. While significant research has focused on enhancing the architecture of deep learning models to improve tumor segmentation performance, there is a relative paucity of work dedicated to dataset augmentation.

Intraspecific alternative phenotypes contribute to variation in species' strategies for growth.

Ecologists have historically sought to identify the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of local species diversity. High-dimensional trait-based relationships, such as alternative phenotypes, have been hypothesized as important for maintaining species diversity such that phenotypically dissimilar individuals compete less for resources but have similar performance in a given environment. The presence of alternative phenotypes has primarily been investigated at the community level, despite the importance of intraspecific variation to diversity maintenance.

Neural stem cell-derived exosomes regulate cell proliferation, migration, and cell death of brain microvascular endothelial cells via the miR-9/Hes1 axis under hypoxia.

Background: Our previous study found that mouse embryonic neural stem cell (NSC)-derived exosomes (EXOs) regulated NSC differentiation via the miR-9/Hes1 axis. However, the effects of EXOs on brain microvascular endothelial cell (BMEC) dysfunction via the miR-9/Hes1 axis remain unknown. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine the effects of EXOs on BMEC proliferation, migration, and death via the miR-9/Hes1 axis.

HS inhibits LiCl/pilocarpine-induced seizures and promotes neuroprotection by regulating TRPV2 expression via the AC3/cAMP/PKA pathway.

It is widely acknowledged that epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent and atypical neuronal discharges, resulting in transient dysfunction within the brain. The protective role of hydrogen sulfide (HS) in epilepsy has been elucidated by recent studies, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. To investigate this, the concentration of HS was measured by spectrophotometry and a fluorescent probe in LiCl/Pilocarpine (LiCl/Pilo)-induced seizures in rats.

Reusable Solid-form Phase-Selective Organogelators for Rapid and Efficient Remediation of Crude Oil Spill.

Phase-selective organogelators (PSOGs) are considered as a prospective tool for their application in oil spill remediation. However, the number of reports on the PSOGs that can be used in powder form for prompt phase-selective gelation of crude oils is still limited. In this study, a series of compounds with l-mandelic acid as the scaffold bearing different amino acid fragments have been prepared.

Photocontrolled chiroptical switch based on the self-assembly of azobenzene-bridged bis-tryptophan enantiomers.

Chirality dynamic tuning plays fundamental roles in chemistry, material science and biological system. Herein, a pair of azobenzene-bridged bis-tryptophan enantiomers (Azo-di-d/l-Trp) were designed and synthesized via simple reactions. With the fuel of glucono-δ-lactone (GdL), releasing protons during its hydrolysis, the alkaline solution of Azo-di-d/l-Trp gradually self-assembled into contrast chiral helical structures and displayed magnitude and mirror image of circular dichroism (CD) signals.

Statistical Information Affects Spoken Word Recognition of Tone Languages in Stutterers: Evidence From an Auditory-Perceptual Gating Study.

Purpose: Previous studies have shown that individuals who stutter exhibit abnormal speech perception in addition to disfluent production as compared with their nonstuttering peers. This study investigated whether adult Chinese-speaking stutterers are still able to use knowledge of statistical regularities embedded in their native language to recognize spoken words and, if so, how much acoustic information is needed to trigger this information.

Method: Seventeen stutterers and 20 typical, nonstuttering controls participated in a gating experiment.

Tone Deafness in Music Does Not Preclude Distributional Learning of Nonnative Tonal Languages in Individuals With Congenital Amusia.

Purpose: Previous studies have shown that individuals with congenital amusia exhibit deficient pitch processing across music and language domains. This study investigated whether adult Chinese-speaking listeners with amusia were still able to learn Thai lexical tones based on stimulus frequency of statistical distribution via distributional learning, despite their degraded lexical tone perception.

Method: Following a pretest-training-posttest design, 21 amusics and 23 typical, musically intact listeners were assigned into bimodal and unimodal distribution conditions.

Distributional learning of musical pitch despite tone deafness in individuals with congenital amusia.

Congenital amusia is an innate and lifelong deficit of music processing. This study investigated whether adult listeners with amusia were still able to learn pitch-related musical chords based on stimulus frequency of statistical distribution, i.e.

Dehydrogenative Synthesis of Quinolines and Quinazolines via Ligand-Free Cobalt-Catalyzed Cyclization of 2-Aminoaryl Alcohols with Ketones or Nitriles.

We present a convenient and efficient protocol to synthesize quinolines and quinazolines in one pot under mild conditions. A variety of substituted quinolines were synthesized in good to excellent yields (up to 97% yield) from the dehydrogenative cyclizations of 2-aminoaryl alcohols and ketones catalyzed by readily available Co(OAc)·4HO. This cobalt catalytic system also showed high activity in the reactions of 2-aminobenzyl alcohols with nitriles, affording various quinazoline derivatives (up to 95% yield).

Encoding category-level and context-specific phonological information at different stages: An EEG study of Mandarin third-tone sandhi word production.

Pronunciation of words or morphemes may vary systematically in different phonological contexts, but it remains unclear how different levels of phonological information are encoded in speech production. In this study, we investigated the online planning process of Mandarin Tone 3 (T3) sandhi, a case of phonological alternation whereby a low-dipping tone (T3) changes to a Tone 2 (T2)-like rising tone when followed by another T3. To examine the time course of the encoding of the abstract category-level (underlying form) and context-specific phonological form (surface form) of T3, we conducted an electroencephalographic (EEG) study with a phonologically-primed picture naming task and examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to the stimulus onset as well as speech response onset.

Modelling representations in speech normalization of prosodic cues.

The lack of invariance problem in speech perception refers to a fundamental problem of how listeners deal with differences of speech sounds produced by various speakers. The current study is the first to test the contributions of mentally stored distributional information in normalization of prosodic cues. This study starts out by modelling distributions of acoustic cues from a speech corpus.

The Effects of Training Variability and Pitch Aptitude on the Overnight Consolidation of Lexical Tones.

Purpose: Although variability of training materials has the potential to benefit the learning of lexical tones, the benefit is contingent on an individual's pitch aptitude. Previous studies did not segregate immediate learning and consolidation after an overnight interval, and little is known about how pitch aptitude differences affect consolidation. This study examined whether pitch aptitude predicts overnight consolidation of Cantonese level tones through high-variability (HV) and low-variability (LV) training.

The effects of alphabetic literacy, linguistic-processing demand and tone type on the dichotic listening of lexical tones.

Brain lateralization of lexical tone processing remains a matter of debate. In this study we used a dichotic listening paradigm to examine the influences of the knowledge of (a romanization writing system which provides explicit Cantonese tone markers), linguistic-processing demand and tone type on the ear preference pattern of native tone processing in Hong Kong Cantonese speakers. While participants with little knowledge of showed a previously reported left-ear advantage (LEA), those with a good level of expertise exhibited either a right-ear advantage or bilateral processing during lexical tone identification and contour tone discrimination, respectively.

Impaired Categorical Perception of Speech Sounds Under the Backward Masking Condition in Adults Who Stutter.

Purpose: Evidence increasingly indicates that people with developmental stuttering have auditory perception deficits. Our previous research has indicated similar but slower performance in categorical perception of the speech sounds under the quiet condition in children who stutter and adults who stutter (AWS) compared with their typically fluent counterparts. We hypothesized that the quiet condition may not be sufficiently sensitive to reveal subtle perceptual deficiencies in people who stutter.

Effects of fire disturbance on species and functional compositions vary with tree sizes in a tropical dry forest.

Background: Disturbances are crucial in determining forest biodiversity, dynamics, and ecosystem functions. Surface fire is a significant disturbance in tropical forests, but research on the effect of surface fire on structuring species and functional composition in a community through time remains scarce. Using a 20-year dataset of tree demography in a seasonal evergreen tropical forest in Thailand, we specifically addressed two essential questions: (1) What is the pattern of temporal turnover in species and functional composition in a community with frequent fire disturbance? (2) How did the temporal turnover vary with tree size?

Methods: We analyzed species compositional and functional temporal turnovers in four different tree size classes among five tree censuses.

The Perception of Lexical Tone and Intonation in Whispered Speech by Mandarin-Speaking Congenital Amusics.

Purpose: A fundamental feature of human speech is variation, including the manner of phonation, as exemplified in the case of whispered speech. In this study, we employed whispered speech to examine an unresolved issue about congenital amusia, a neurodevelopmental disorder of musical pitch processing, which also affects speech pitch processing such as lexical tone and intonation perception. The controversy concerns whether amusia is a pitch-processing disorder or can affect speech processing beyond pitch.

YB-1 Recruits Drosha to Promote Splicing of to Mediate the Proangiogenic Effects of HS.

The genes targeted by miRNAs have been well studied. However, little is known about the feedback mechanisms to control the biosynthesis of miRNAs that are essential for the miRNA feedback networks in the cells. In this present study, we aimed at examining how hydrogen sulfide (HS) promotes angiogenesis by regulating biosynthesis.

Trans-anethole attenuates diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis through suppressing TGF-β-mediated fibrosis.

Background: Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) is the most severe type of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and one of the most common chronic liver diseases, leading to the increased risk of liver failure, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Trans-anethole was reported to have anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity and anti-diabetic activities. However, its role in NASH remains unknown.

Neural responses in novice learners' perceptual learning and generalization of lexical tones: The effect of training variability.

The acoustics of lexical tones are highly variable across talkers, and require second-language (L2) learners' flexibility in accommodating talker-specific tonal variations for successful learning. This study investigated how tone training with high vs. low talker-variability modulated novice learners' neural responses to non-native tones.

Early Auditory Event-Related Potentials Are Modulated by Alphabetic Literacy Skills in Logographic Chinese Readers.

The acquisition of an alphabetic orthography transforms speech processing in the human brain. Behavioral evidence shows that phonological awareness as assessed by meta-phonological tasks like phoneme judgment, is enhanced by alphabetic literacy acquisition. The current study investigates the time-course of the neuro-cognitive operations underlying this enhancement as revealed by event-related potentials (ERPs).