Meta-analyses of epigenetic age acceleration and GrimAge components of schizophrenia or first-episode psychosis.

Schizophrenia is a common chronic psychiatric disorder that causes age-related dysfunction. The life expectancy in patients with schizophrenia is ≥10 years shorter than that in the general population because of the higher risk of other diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases. Aging studies based on DNA methylation status have received considerable attention.

Drug-target identification in COVID-19 disease mechanisms using computational systems biology approaches.

Introduction: The COVID-19 Disease Map project is a large-scale community effort uniting 277 scientists from 130 Institutions around the globe. We use high-quality, mechanistic content describing SARS-CoV-2-host interactions and develop interoperable bioinformatic pipelines for novel target identification and drug repurposing.

Methods: Extensive community work allowed an impressive step forward in building interfaces between Systems Biology tools and platforms.

Switching from weak to strong cortical attachment of microtubules accounts for the transition from nuclear centration to spindle elongation in metazoans.

The centrosome is a major microtubule organizing center in animal cells. The position of the centrosomes inside the cell is important for cell functions such as cell cycle, and thus should be tightly regulated. Theoretical models based on the forces generated along the microtubules have been proposed to account for the dynamic movements of the centrosomes during the cell cycle.

Structural alterations in the amygdala and impaired social incentive learning in a mouse model of a genetic variant associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Copy number variants (CNVs) are robustly associated with psychiatric disorders and their dimensions and changes in brain structures and behavior. However, as CNVs contain many genes, the precise gene-phenotype relationship remains unclear. Although various volumetric alterations in the brains of 22q11.

Intercellular interaction mechanisms promote diversity in intracellular ATP concentration in Escherichia coli populations.

In fluctuating environments, many microorganisms acquire phenotypic heterogeneity as a survival tactic to increase the likelihood of survival of the overall population. One example of this interindividual heterogeneity is the diversity of ATP concentration among members of Escherichia coli populations under glucose deprivation. Despite the importance of such environmentally driven phenotypic heterogeneity, how the differences in intracellular ATP concentration emerge among individual E.

Advanced paternal age diversifies individual trajectories of vocalization patterns in neonatal mice.

Infant crying is a communicative behavior impaired in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Because advanced paternal age is a risk factor for NDDs, we performed computational approaches to evaluate how paternal age affected vocal communication and body weight development in C57BL/6 mouse offspring from young and aged fathers. Analyses of ultrasonic vocalization (USV) consisting of syllables showed that advanced paternal age reduced the number and duration of syllables, altered the syllable composition, and caused lower body weight gain in pups.

Tbx1, a gene encoded in 22q11.2 copy number variant, is a link between alterations in fimbria myelination and cognitive speed in mice.

Copy number variants (CNVs) have provided a reliable entry point to identify the structural correlates of atypical cognitive development. Hemizygous deletion of human chromosome 22q11.2 is associated with impaired cognitive function; however, the mechanisms by which the CNVs contribute to cognitive deficits via diverse structural alterations in the brain remain unclear.

COVID19 Disease Map, a computational knowledge repository of virus-host interaction mechanisms.

We need to effectively combine the knowledge from surging literature with complex datasets to propose mechanistic models of SARS-CoV-2 infection, improving data interpretation and predicting key targets of intervention. Here, we describe a large-scale community effort to build an open access, interoperable and computable repository of COVID-19 molecular mechanisms. The COVID-19 Disease Map (C19DMap) is a graphical, interactive representation of disease-relevant molecular mechanisms linking many knowledge sources.

Computational identification of variables in neonatal vocalizations predictive for postpubertal social behaviors in a mouse model of 16p11.2 deletion.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often signaled by atypical cries during infancy. Copy number variants (CNVs) provide genetically identifiable cases of ASD, but how early atypical cries predict a later onset of ASD among CNV carriers is not understood in humans. Genetic mouse models of CNVs have provided a reliable tool to experimentally isolate the impact of CNVs and identify early predictors for later abnormalities in behaviors relevant to ASD.

Involvement of Pattern Recognition Receptors in the Direct Influence of Bacterial Components and Standard Antiacne Compounds on Human Sebaceous Gland Cells.

Introduction: Pattern recognition receptors are involved in innate and adaptive immunity by detecting microbial components. Bacteria have been accused to play a role in inflammatory acne. We investigated the potential involvement of Toll-like receptor (TLR)2, TLR4, TLR6, and CD14 in the direct influence of bacterial components and standard antiacne compounds on human sebocytes.

Heterozygosity of murine Crkl does not recapitulate behavioral dimensions of human 22q11.2 hemizygosity.

Deletions in 22q11.2 human chromosome are known to be associated with psychiatric disorders, such as intellectual disability, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, and anxiety disorders. This copy number variation includes a 3.

Presynaptic Vesicle Protein SEPTIN5 Regulates the Degradation of APP C-Terminal Fragments and the Levels of Aβ.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by aberrant amyloid-β (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated tau aggregation. We have previously investigated the involvement of SEPTIN family members in AD-related cellular processes and discovered a role for SEPTIN8 in the sorting and accumulation of β-secretase. Here, we elucidated the potential role of SEPTIN5, an interaction partner of SEPTIN8, in the cellular processes relevant for AD, including amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing and the generation of Aβ.

Cellular thermogenesis compensates environmental temperature fluctuations for maintaining intracellular temperature.

Temperature governs states and dynamics of all biological molecules, and several cellular processes are often heat sources and/or sinks. Technical achievement of intracellular thermometry enables us to measure intracellular temperature, and it can offer novel perspectives in biology and medicine. However, little is known that changes of intracellular temperature throughout the cell-cycle and the manner of which cells regulates their thermogenesis in response to fluctuation of the environmental temperature.

Ankle-foot orthosis with dorsiflexion resistance using spring-cam mechanism increases knee flexion in the swing phase during walking in stroke patients with hemiplegia.

Background: Ankle-foot orthoses with plantarflexion resistance (AFO-Ps) improve knee flexion in the stance phase on the paretic side in patients with hemiparesis. However, AFO-Ps decrease ankle power generation in the late stance phase and do not improve the knee flexion in the swing phase based on insufficient push-off at the late stance, resulting in lower toe clearance.

Research Question: This study sought to investigate the effect of an AFO with dorsiflexion resistance, which was implemented by our developed device with spring-cam mechanism attached to the AFO-P (Gait Solution; Pacific Supply Co.

Maternal approach behaviors toward neonatal calls are impaired by mother's experiences of raising pups with a risk gene variant for autism.

How the intrinsic sequence structure of neonatal mouse pup ultrasonic vocalization (USV) and maternal experiences determine maternal behaviors in mice is poorly understood. Our previous work showed that pups with a Tbx1 heterozygous (HT) mutation, a genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), emit altered call sequences that do not induce maternal approach behaviors in C57BL6/J mothers. Here, we tested how maternal approach behaviors induced by wild-type and HT USVs are influenced by the mother's experience in raising pups of these two genotypes.

Identification of a master transcription factor and a regulatory mechanism for desiccation tolerance in the anhydrobiotic cell line Pv11.

Water is essential for living organisms. Terrestrial organisms are incessantly exposed to the stress of losing water, desiccation stress. Avoiding the mortality caused by desiccation stress, many organisms acquired molecular mechanisms to tolerate desiccation.

XitoSBML: A Modeling Tool for Creating Spatial Systems Biology Markup Language Models From Microscopic Images.

XitoSBML is a software tool designed to create an SBML (Systems Biology Markup Language) Level 3 Version 1 document from microscopic cellular images. It is implemented as an ImageJ plug-in and is designed to create spatial models that reflect the three-dimensional cellular geometry. With XitoSBML, users can perform spatial model simulations based on realistic cellular geometry by using SBML-supported software tools, including simulators such as Virtual Cell and Spatial Simulator.

Predicting the future direction of cell movement with convolutional neural networks.

Image-based deep learning systems, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), have recently been applied to cell classification, producing impressive results; however, application of CNNs has been confined to classification of the current cell state from the image. Here, we focused on cell movement where current and/or past cell shape can influence the future cell movement. We demonstrate that CNNs prospectively predicted the future direction of cell movement with high accuracy from a single image patch of a cell at a certain time.

Neurobiological perspective of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

22q11.2 deletion syndrome is characterised by a well defined microdeletion that is associated with a high risk of neuropsychiatric disorders, including intellectual disability, schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, anxiety disorders, seizures and epilepsy, and early-onset Parkinson's disease. Preclinical and clinical data reveal substantial variability of the neuropsychiatric phenotype despite the shared underlying deletion in this genetic model.