Vitamin D and focal brain atrophy in PD with non-dementia: a VBM study.

Background: The status of vitamin D has been proposed to have an impact on cognition. Gray matter volume (GMV) is a potential marker of cognitive function. We investigated whether lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was associated with reduced cerebral GMV in Parkinson's disease with non-dementia (PDND) patients.

Tunable wave localization at the Dirac frequency in a metallic photonic crystal cavity.

In this study, the two-dimensional (2D) triangular lattice metallic photonic crystals (PCs) in visible and infrared bands have been utilized to achieve light confinement at the Dirac frequency. Distinct from the traditional bandgap or total internal reflection cavity modes, the unique photonic localization mechanism leads to an unusual algebraic decay of state and a unique frequency located beyond any bandgaps. This investigation delves into the band structure analysis of 2D metallic PCs, specifically focusing on their distinctive features, such as photonic bandgaps and Dirac cones.

Experimental evidence on the feasibility of employing a replica symmetry breaking classification random laser.

Replica symmetry breaking (RSB) has been introduced in a random laser to investigate the interactions between disorder and fluctuations. In this work, the dynamic difference between four non-energy transfer and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-assisted random laser systems is investigated based on RSB. It is found that FRET is one of the key factors influencing RSB, and it is demonstrated that RSB in a random laser is not robust.

Optimized DOX Drug Deliveries via Chitosan-Mediated Nanoparticles and Stimuli Responses in Cancer Chemotherapy: A Review.

Chitosan nanoparticles (NPs) serve as useful multidrug delivery carriers in cancer chemotherapy. Chitosan has considerable potential in drug delivery systems (DDSs) for targeting tumor cells. Doxorubicin (DOX) has limited application due to its resistance and lack of specificity.

Association of Cortical Gyrification With Imaging and Serum Biomarkers in Patients With Parkinson Disease.

Background And Objectives: Pathologic progression across the cortex is a key feature of Parkinson disease (PD). Cortical gyrification is a morphologic feature of human cerebral cortex that is tightly linked to the integrity of underlying axonal connectivity. Monitoring cortical gyrification reductions may provide a sensitive marker of progression through structural connectivity, preceding the progressive stages of PD pathology.

The complex interplay of hypoxia and sleep disturbance in gray matter structure alterations in obstructive sleep apnea patients.

Background: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) characteristically leads to nocturnal hypoxia and sleep disturbance. Despite clear evidence of OSA-induced cognitive impairments, the literature offers no consensus on the relationship between these pathophysiological processes and brain structure alterations in patients.

Objective: This study leverages the robust technique of structural equation modeling to investigate how hypoxia and sleep disturbance exert differential effects on gray matter structures.

Cortical thinning in male obstructive sleep apnoea patients with excessive daytime sleepiness.

Background And Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnoea is associated with excessive daytime sleepiness due to sleep fragmentation and hypoxemia, both of which can lead to abnormal brain morphology. However, the pattern of brain structural changes associated with excessive daytime sleepiness is still unclear. This study aims to investigate the effects of excessive daytime sleepiness on cortical thickness in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea.

Tunable replica symmetry breaking in random laser.

Replica symmetry breaking (RSB) has been widely recognized as a statistical analysis approach to understand the disorder and nonlinear interactions in complex systems ranging from atoms to the cosmic scale. However, it is challenging to analyze the nonlinear optical characteristics of random laser (RL) in disordered gain medium via RSB due to the lack of a general RSB-based statistical analysis framework. In this work, we report the tunable RSB in polymer fiber RL, where the effects of temperature and different structures on RSB are investigated experimentally and theoretically.

Differences in eccentricity for sound-induced flash illusion in four visual fields.

A sound-induced flash illusion (SiFI) is a multisensory illusion dominated by auditory stimuli, in which the individual perceives that the number of visual flashes is equal to the number of auditory stimuli when visual flashes are presented along with an unequal number of auditory stimuli. Although the mechanisms underlying fission and fusion illusions have been documented, there is not yet a consensus on how they vary according to the different eccentricities. In the present study, by incorporating the classic SiFI paradigm into four different eccentricities, we aimed to investigate whether the SiFI varies under the different eccentricities.

Machine Learning Models for Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease Using Multiple Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging Features.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop machine learning models for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) using multiple structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features and validate their performance.

Methods: Brain structural MRI scans of 60 patients with PD and 56 normal controls (NCs) were enrolled as development dataset and 69 patients with PD and 71 NCs from Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) dataset as independent test dataset. First, multiple structural MRI features were extracted from cerebellar, subcortical, and cortical regions of the brain.

Egg White Peptides Increased the Membrane Liquid-Ordered Phase of Giant Unilamellar Vesicles: Visualization, Localization, and Phase Regulation Mechanism.

Cell membranes are heterogeneous and consist of liquid-ordered (Lo) and liquid-disordered (Ld) phases due to phase separation. Membrane regulation of egg white peptides (LCAY and QVPLW) was confirmed in our previous study. However, the underlying mechanism of phase regulation by the peptides has not been elucidated.

Long-term training reduces the responses to the sound-induced flash illusion.

The sound-induced flash illusion (SiFI) is a robust auditory-dominated multisensory integration phenomenon that is used as a reliable indicator to assess multisensory integration. Previous studies have indicated that the SiFI effect is correlated with perceptual sensitivity. However, to date, there is no consensus regarding how it corresponds to sensitivity with long-term training.

Egg White-Derived Peptides QVPLW and LCAY Inhibit the Activity of Angiotensin I-Converting Enzyme in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells by Suppressing Its Recruitment into Lipid Rafts.

As a membrane protein, the activity of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) can be modulated via regulation of its localization in the cell membrane with food-derived peptides. This study aimed to explore the effect of egg white peptides on the cell membrane localization and activity of ACE in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. ACE activity was found to be related to lipid rafts by using methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD).

Characterization of resistant starch nanoparticles prepared via debranching and nanoprecipitation.

Cyperus esculentus starch was treated by pullulanase debranching and nanoprecipitation to prepare resistant starch nanoparticles. Amylose contents, rheological properties of debranched starch and the size, crystalline structure, resistant starch contents of the prepared starch nanoparticles were investigated. The results of amylose contents showed that enzymatic hydrolysis 4 h was the most appropriate enzymatic hydrolysis time.

Patterns of Sulcal depth and cortical thickness in Parkinson's disease.

Previous voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and cortical thickness (CT) studies on Parkinson's disease (PD) have mainly reported the gray matter size reduction, whereas the shape of cortical surface can also change in PD patients. For the first time, we analyzed sulcal depth (SD) patterns in PD patients by using whole brain region of interest (ROI)-based approach. In a cross-sectional study, high-resolution brain structural MRI images were collected from 60 PD patients without dementia and 56 age-and sex-matched healthy controls (HC).

Influence of esterification and ultrasound treatment on formation and properties of starch nanoparticles and their impact as a filler on chitosan based films characteristics.

Starch nanoparticles were prepared by citrate esterification and ultrasound treatment. With the increase of ultrasonic treatment time, the mean size and PDI of the particles decreased gradually, when the ultrasonic treatment time was 5 min, the prepared starch nanoparticles had a mean size and PDI of 352.8 nm and 0.

Abnormal Topological Organization of Sulcal Depth-Based Structural Covariance Networks in Parkinson's Disease.

Recent research on Parkinson's disease (PD) has demonstrated the topological abnormalities of structural covariance networks (SCNs) using various morphometric features from structural magnetic resonance images (sMRI). However, the sulcal depth (SD)-based SCNs have not been investigated. In this study, we used SD to investigate the topological alterations of SCNs in 60 PD patients and 56 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC).

Construction and Application of Membrane-Bound Angiotensin-I Converting Enzyme System: A New Approach for the Evaluation of Angiotensin-I Converting Enzyme Inhibitory Peptides.

The effect of the plasma membrane on the activity of angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) plays a crucial role in the evaluation of food-derived ACE inhibitory peptides, although these peptides are commonly evaluated in the system with ACE in its free state. In this study, we constructed an in vitro membrane-bound ACE C domain system to simulate the presence of the plasma membrane. The resultant and suggested that the presence of the membrane reduced the affinity between ACE C domain and hippuryl-histidyl-leucine, while it increased the reaction velocity.

Detecting Abnormal Brain Regions in Schizophrenia Using Structural MRI via Machine Learning.

Utilizing neuroimaging and machine learning (ML) to differentiate schizophrenia (SZ) patients from normal controls (NCs) and for detecting abnormal brain regions in schizophrenia has several benefits and can provide a reference for the clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia. In this study, structural magnetic resonance images (sMRIs) from SZ patients and NCs were used for discriminative analysis. This study proposed an ML framework based on coarse-to-fine feature selection.

Cortical complexity and gyrification patterns in Parkinson's disease.

This study aimed to investigate the cortical complexity and gyrification patterns in Parkinson's disease (PD) using local fractional dimension (LFD) and local gyrification index (LGI), respectively. In a cross-sectional study, LFD and LGI in 60 PD patients without dementia and 56 healthy controls (HC) were investigated using brain structural MRI data. LFD and LGI were estimated using the Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) and statistically analyzed between groups on a vertex level using statistical parametric mapping 12 (SPM12).

Effect of green tea consumption on human brain function in resting-state functional MRI.

Background And Objectives: Green tea is reported to have wide benefits on psychological states and cognitive functions. Studies that focus on the underlying neural mechanisms of green tea are limited to its single composition while people usually benefit from green tea water that contains various composition. In this study, we examined the human brain activity changes after drinking natural green tea by using regional homogeneity and functional connectivity based on the resting-state functional MRI technique.

Effects of Polypropylene Fibre and Strain Rate on Dynamic Compressive Behaviour of Concrete.

This paper presents an experimental study on the dynamic compressive behaviour of polypropylene (PP) fibre reinforced concrete under various strain rates using split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) equipment. The effects of PP fibre content and strain rate on the dynamic compressive stress-strain relationship and failure patterns were estimated. The results indicated that the addition of PP fibre enhanced the dynamic compressive properties of concrete mixtures although it resulted in a significant reduction in workability and a slight decrease in static compressive strength.

Stability of blueberry anthocyanin, anthocyanidin and pyranoanthocyanidin pigments and their inhibitory effects and mechanisms in human cervical cancer HeLa cells.

Anthocyan-rich foods have attracted lots of attention because of their potential biological and pharmacological applications. Anthocyanins richly exist in blueberry fruits and have been proved to possess various bioactive properties. Despite the potential application of anthocyanins in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, their use is limited because of their relative instability.