Utilizing Centromedian Thalamus Connectivity to Personalize Noninvasive Neuromodulation Targets.

Introduction: The centromedian nucleus (CM) of the thalamus is essential for arousal, attention, sensory processing, and motor control. Neuromodulation targeting CM dysfunction has shown efficacy in various neurological disorders. However, its individualized precise transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) remains unreported.

Modulation effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on target and indirect target nodes in patients with major depressive disorder.

Clinical studies intensively highlight two critical brain regions, i,e, dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (target node) and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) (indirect target node) for the treatment of neuroimaging-guided repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, it remains unclear whether the clinical rTMS treatment could modulate the activity of the target and indirect target nodes in MDD patients. We aim to identify the rTMS-induced alteration of brain local and functional connectivity (FC) activities in the target and indirect target nodes.

Long-term exposure to PM chemical constituents and diabesity: evidence from a multi-center cohort study in China.

Background: Long-term exposure to PM is known to increase the risks for diabetes and obesity, but its effects on their coexistence, termed diabesity, remain uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the associations of long-term exposure to PM and its chemical constituents with the risks for diabesity, diabetes, and obesity.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used the baseline data of a multi-center cohort, consisting of three provincially representative cohorts comprising a total of 134,403 participants from the eastern (Fujian Province), central (Hubei Province), and western (Yunnan Province) regions of China.

Utilizing fMRI to Guide TMS Targets: the Reliability and Sensitivity of fMRI Metrics at 3 T and 1.5 T.

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) system with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging-guided (fMRI) individualized treatment protocol for major depressive disorder, which employs resting state-fMRI (RS-fMRI) functional connectivity (FC) to pinpoint the target individually to increase the accuracy and effeteness of the stimulation. Furthermore, task activation-guided TMS, as well as the use of RS-fMRI local metrics for targeted the specific abnormal brain regions, are considered a precise scheme for TMS targeting. Since 1.

The impact of the embryo banking on the cumulative live birth rate in women with poor ovarian response according to the Bologna criteria.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of embryo banking on the cumulative live birth rate (CLBR) and the time to live birth (TTLB) in poor ovarian responders (POR) according to the Bologna criteria.

Methods: A total of 276 infertile women undergoing IVF with POR were included in this retrospective study. They were divided into two groups with ( = 121) or without ( = 155) embryo banking at the discretion of the attending physicians.

Visible Light-Induced Cascade Sulfonylation/Cyclization to Produce Quinoline-2,4-Diones under Metal-Free Conditions.

A general visible light-induced sulfonylation/cyclization to produce quinoline-2,4-diones was achieved under photocatalyst-free conditions. The reactions were performed at room temperature, and various substituents (halogen, alkyl, aryl) and substituted products were obtained with 29 examples within 2 h. Large-scale synthesis and derivatization study via carbonyl reduction to produce easily modified hydroxyl groups and convenient -Ts deprotection showed the potential utility of this strategy.

Environmental determinants of childhood obesity: a meta-analysis.

Background: The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity has contributed to the growing global burden of chronic diseases over the life course, which has been largely attributed to obesogenic environments. This giant-scale review was done to translate existing obesogenic environmental studies into evidence-based governance for fighting childhood obesity and promoting life-course health.

Methods: Following a standard strategy of literature search and inclusion, all obesogenic environmental studies, published since the inception of the electronic databases, were reviewed to identify the evidence on associations with childhood obesity of 16 obesogenic environmental factors, including 10 built environmental factors or indices (ie, land-use mix, street connectivity, residential density, speed limit, urban sprawl, and access to green space, public transport, bike lanes, sidewalks, and neighbourhood aesthetics) and six food environmental factors (ie, access to convenience stores, supermarkets, grocery stores, full-service restaurants, fast-food restaurants, and fruit and vegetable markets).

Associations and pathways between residential greenness and metabolic syndromes in Fujian Province.

Background: Greenness exposure is beneficial to human health, but its potential mechanisms through which the risk for metabolic syndrome (MetS) could be reduced have been poorly studied. We aimed to estimate the greenness-MetS association in southeast China and investigate the independent and joint mediation effects of physical activity (PA), body mass index (BMI), and air pollutants on the association.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the 38,288 adults based on the Fujian Behavior and Disease Surveillance (FBDS), established in 2018.

Low-frequency rTMS targeting individual self-initiated finger-tapping task activation modulates the amplitude of local neural activity in the putamen.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been used in the clinical treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). Most of rTMS studies on PD used high-frequency stimulation; however, excessive nonvoluntary movement may represent abnormally cortical excitability, which is likely to be suppressed by low-frequency rTMS. Decreased neural activity in the basal ganglia on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a characteristic of PD.

Test-retest reliability of peak location in the sensorimotor network of resting state fMRI for potential rTMS targets.

Most stroke repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) studies have used hand motor hotspots as rTMS stimulation targets; in addition, recent studies demonstrated that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task activation could be used to determine suitable targets due to its ability to reveal individualized precise and stronger functional connectivity with motor-related brain regions. However, rTMS is unlikely to elicit motor evoked potentials in the affected hemisphere, nor would activity be detected when stroke patients with severe hemiplegia perform an fMRI motor task using the affected limbs. The current study proposed that the peak voxel in the resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) motor network determined by independent component analysis (ICA) could be a potential stimulation target.

ciRS-7 Enhances the Progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma through miR-944/NOX4 Pathway.

Recently, increasing numbers of non-coding RNA have been uncovered in research. As a new class of non-coding RNA, circular RNA has been identified to be involved in various diseases including many cancers. The circular RNA ciRS-7 is reported to play critical roles in tumorigenesis.

Default mode network mediates low-frequency fluctuations in brain activity and behavior during sustained attention.

The low-frequency (<0.1 Hz) fluctuation in sustained attention attracts enormous interest in cognitive neuroscience and clinical research since it always leads to cognitive and behavioral lapses. What is the source of the spontaneous fluctuation in sustained attention in neural activity, and how does the neural fluctuation relate to behavioral fluctuation? Here, we address these questions by collecting and analyzing two independent fMRI and behavior datasets.

The Location Reliability of the Resting-State fMRI FC of Emotional Regions Towards rTMS Therapy.

Resting-state magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) studies indicated that the repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) exerts antidepression effect through the functional connectivity (FC) of the DLPFC with the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC), pregneual ACC (pgACC), or nucleus accumbens (NAc). It is proposed that the FC-guided individualized precise stimulation on the DLPFC would be more effective. The current study systematically investigated the reliability of the RS-fMRI FC location as well as the FC strength with multiple potential factors.

Multivalent Metal Ion Cross-Linked Lignocellulosic Nanopaper with Excellent Water Resistance and Optical Performance.

Cellulose nanopaper is an attractive film material exhibiting huge potential in various fields, while its terrible water stability greatly hinders practical applications. Previous efforts on addressing this issue usually sacrifice the sustainability or material performance of film. In this study, we report a high-performing lignocellulosic nanopaper with superior water resistance and excellent optical properties.

Cytokeratin 18 can help predict liver fibrosis in HCV infected patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: To investigate the predictive values of cytokeratin 18 for liver fibrosis in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: 252 HCV-infected patients with T2DM between January 2012 and August 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Pearson/spearman correlation analysis was used to detect the correlation in the entire cohort.

Urban sprawl and childhood obesity.

Urban sprawl is thought to be a risk factor for childhood obesity primarily because the physical environment it creates discourages children's physical activity while encouraging their sedentary behavior. However, there has not been any review on the association between urban sprawl and childhood obesity. This study filled this research gap by comprehensively reviewing literature focusing on associations between urban sprawl and weight-related behaviors and outcomes among children and adolescents.

State-of-the-art of measures of the obesogenic environment for children.

Various measures of the obesogenic environment have been proposed and used in childhood obesity research. The variety of measures poses methodological challenges to designing new research because methodological characteristics integral to developing the measures vary across studies. A systematic review has been conducted to examine the associations between different levels of obesogenic environmental measures (objective or perceived) and childhood obesity.

Neighbourhood speed limit and childhood obesity.

As an important factor for neighbourhood walkability, the speed limit in the neighbourhood may influence children's physical activity (PA) outdoors, especially active transport, and further their weight status. This review aimed to systematically evaluate the association between neighbourhood speed limit and obesity-related behaviours and outcomes among children and adolescents. PubMed, Embase and Web of Science were systematically searched for relevant studies published from the inception of the database to 1 January 2019.

Geographic clustering and region-specific determinants of obesity in the Netherlands.

As a leading cause of morbidity and premature mortality, obesity has become a major global public health problem. It is therefore important to investigate the spatial variation of obesity prevalence and its associations with environmental and behavioral factors (e.g.

Neighbourhood residential density and childhood obesity.

Residential density is considered an important attribute of the built environment that may be relevant to childhood obesity. However, findings remain inconclusive, and there are no reviews yet on the association between residential density and childhood obesity. This study aimed to systematically review the associations between residential density and weight-related behaviours and outcomes.

Smoking Cessation With 20 Hz Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) Applied to Two Brain Regions: A Pilot Study.

Chronic smoking impairs brain functions in the prefrontal cortex and the projecting meso-cortical limbic system. The purpose of this pilot study is to examine whether modulating the frontal brain activity using high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can improve smoking cessation and to explore the changing pattern of the brain activity after treatment. Fourteen treatment-seeking smokers were offered a program involving 10 days of rTMS treatment with a follow-up for another 25 days.

Associations of brain entropy (BEN) to cerebral blood flow and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in the resting brain.

Entropy is a fundamental trait of human brain. Using fMRI-based brain entropy (BEN) mapping, interesting findings have been increasingly revealed in normal brain and neuropsychiatric disorders. As BEN is still relatively new, an often-raised question is how much new information can this measure tell about the brain compared to other more established brain activity measures.