Gut Microbiota-Immune System Interactions in Health and Neurodegenerative Diseases: Insights into Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Applications.

The human body contains approximately 100 trillion microorganisms, predominantly within the gastrointestinal tract, collectively called the gut microbiota. Investigations have revealed the bidirectional communication between the gut microbiota and the brain, characterized as the "microbiota-gut-brain axis." This axis represents an important regulator of brain development and function, immune system development, and nutrient metabolism, making it a target for efforts to alleviate the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs).

Patterns of enhancement in paretic shoulder kinematics after stroke with musical cueing.

Musical cueing has been widely utilised in post-stroke motor rehabilitation; however, the kinematic evidence on the effects of musical cueing is sparse. Further, the element-specific effects of musical cueing on upper-limb movements have rarely been investigated. This study aimed to kinematically quantify the effects of no auditory, rhythmic auditory, and melodic auditory cueing on shoulder abduction, holding, and adduction in patients who had experienced hemiparetic stroke.

A Hybrid Speller Design Using Eye Tracking and SSVEP Brain-Computer Interface.

Steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) have been extensively utilized to develop brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) due to the advantages of robustness, large number of commands, high classification accuracies, and information transfer rates (ITRs). However, the use of several simultaneous flickering stimuli often causes high levels of user discomfort, tiredness, annoyingness, and fatigue. Here we propose to design a stimuli-responsive hybrid speller by using electroencephalography (EEG) and video-based eye-tracking to increase user comfortability levels when presented with large numbers of simultaneously flickering stimuli.

An objective index to estimate the survival rate of primary blast lung injury.

To supply proper treatments to the primary blast lung injury (PBLI) patients, it is important to estimate the severity of the primary blast lung injury in accordance with the blast conditions. In this study, a blast-induced mechanical parameter (first principal stress) of lung was calculated using a finite element thorax model and the correlation between the survival rate of the subjects with blast-induced lung damage and an objective index that was related to the first principal stress of the lung model. This study propose the objective index for the estimation of the degree of PBLI.

Clitocybin A, a novel isoindolinone, from the mushroom Clitocybe aurantiaca, inhibits cell proliferation through G1 phase arrest by regulating the PI3K/Akt cascade in vascular smooth muscle cells.

Abnormal proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of vascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, and restenosis. Clitocybin A, a novel isoindolinone, isolated from the culture broth of mushroom Clitocybe aurantiaca has been reported to possess free radical scavenging activity. However, the antiproliferative effects of clitocybin A on VSMCs are unknown.

Clitocybin B inhibits rat aortic smooth muscle cell proliferation through suppressing PDGF-Rβ phosphorylation.

The increased proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in the arterial wall is a critical pathogenic factor for vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and restenosis after angioplasty. Clitocybin B was reported to have either a potent free radical scavenging effect or effects that were isolated from the culture broth of mushroom Clitocybe aurantiaca. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of clitocybin B on VSMC proliferation and its possible molecular mechanism.