Publications by authors named "Xinbei Li"

Carbon emission research based on input-output tables (IOTs) has received attention, but data quality issues persist due to inconsistencies between the sectoral scopes of energy statistics and IOTs. Specifically, China's official energy data are reported at the industry level, whereas IOTs are organized by product sectors. Valid IOT-based environmental models require consistent transformation from industry-level to product-level emissions.

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Small noncoding RNAs (sncRNAs) can regulate gene expression by guiding the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) to targeted transcripts for translational repression and/or target destabilization. Here, we present a robust benchtop protocol, termed CIMERA-seq, for the unambiguous profiling of sncRNA:target RNA interactions in a genome-wide and cell-type-selective manner. We describe steps for in vivo crosslinking and harvesting tissue, immunoprecipitation and covalent ligation of sncRNAs to target RNAs within the RISC, and sequencing of the resulting chimeric sncRNA:target RNA interactions.

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Background: Although depression symptoms are commonly reported in patients with subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI), their impact on brain functions remains largely unknown, with diagnoses mainly dependent on behavioral assessments.

Methods: In this study, we analyzed resting-state fMRI data from a cohort of 34 svMCI patients, comprising 18 patients with depression symptoms (svMCI+D) and 16 patients without (svMCI-D), along with 34 normal controls (NC). The study used the fraction of the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), resting-state functional connectivity, correlation analyses, and support vector machine (SVM) techniques.

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Small noncoding RNAs (sncRNAs) regulate biological processes by impacting post-transcriptional gene expression through repressing the translation and levels of targeted transcripts. Despite the clear biological importance of sncRNAs, approaches to unambiguously define genome-wide sncRNA:target RNA interactions remain challenging and not widely adopted. We present CIMERA-seq, a robust strategy incorporating covalent ligation of sncRNAs to their target RNAs within the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) and direct detection of in vivo interactions by sequencing of the resulting chimeric RNAs.

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Early diagnosis of subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI) is clinically essential because it is the most reversible subtype of all cognitive impairments. Since structural alterations of hippocampal sub-regions have been well studied in neurodegenerative diseases with pathophysiological cognitive impairments, we were eager to determine whether there is a selective vulnerability of hippocampal sub-fields in patients with svMCI. Our study included 34 svMCI patients and 34 normal controls (NCs), with analysis of T1 images and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores.

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Article Synopsis
  • Abnormal growth of neurons and synapses is linked to the lack of Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), but the reasons for increased synaptic protein production aren't fully understood.
  • Researchers found that levels of the let-7 microRNA family decrease in FMRP-deficient mice, and this downregulation is no longer triggered by neural activity.
  • Restoring let-7 levels in the brain of neonatal mice reversed symptoms of FMRP deficiency, suggesting that targeting let-7 may be a potential strategy for therapy and diagnosis of related disorders.
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An understanding of the in vivo gene regulatory interactions of small noncoding RNAs (sncRNAs), such as microRNAs (miRNAs), with their target RNAs has been advanced in recent years by biochemical approaches which use cross-linking followed by ligation to capture sncRNA:target RNA interactions through the formation of chimeric RNAs and subsequent sequencing libraries. While datasets from chimeric RNA sequencing provide genome-wide and substantially less ambiguous input than miRNA prediction software, distilling this data into meaningful and actionable information requires additional analyses and may dissuade investigators lacking a computational background. This report provides a tutorial to support entry-level computational biologists in installing and applying a recent open-source software tool: Small Chimeric RNA Analysis Pipeline (SCRAP).

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Postpartum depression (PPD) is a common public health concern. A wide range of functional abnormalities in various brain regions have been reported in fMRI studies on PPD, however, a consistent functional changing pattern is still lacking. Herein, we obtained functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data from 52 patients with PPD and 24 healthy postpartum women (HPW).

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Neuropathic pain is a chronic condition arising from damage to somatosensory pathways that results in pathological hypersensitivity. Persistent pain can be viewed as a consequence of maladaptive plasticity which, like most enduring forms of cellular plasticity, requires altered expression of specific gene programs. Control of gene expression at the level of protein synthesis is broadly utilized to directly modulate changes in activity and responsiveness in nociceptive pathways and provides an effective mechanism for compartmentalized regulation of the proteome in peripheral nerves through local translation.

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Article Synopsis
  • Acupuncture has shown effectiveness in improving cognitive function and memory in patients with amnesic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), but the specific neural mechanisms behind this remain unclear.
  • A study involving 46 aMCI patients compared the effects of real acupuncture to sham acupuncture over eight weeks, using fMRI to observe changes in brain activity and connectivity.
  • Results indicated that real acupuncture increased brain activity in the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and improved connectivity related to cognitive function, suggesting acupuncture could be a beneficial complementary treatment for aMCI.
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The effectiveness of different countermeasures to economic crisis from the public health emergency is still inadequately understood. We establish an illustrative scenario, specifying the shocks of COVID-19 pandemic and countermeasures applying a general equilibrium model to analyze the effectiveness of countermeasures with a particular focus on trade-offs in the impacts of monetary and fiscal policies. We find that both monetary and fiscal countermeasures could effectively mitigate the economic damages to GDP and employment.

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In this paper, the application of 3-dimensional (3D) functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) in the diagnosis of the 5 lumbar (L5) nerve root compression and brain functional areas in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH) was analyzed. The traditional fast independent component analysis (Fast ICA) algorithm was optimized based on the modified whitening matrix to establish a new type of Modified-Fast ICA (M-Fast ICA) algorithm that was compared with the introduced traditional Fast ICA and ICA. M-Fast ICA was applied to the 3D FMRI diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) evaluation of 65 patients with L5 nerve root pain due to LDH (group A) and 50 healthy volunteers (group B).

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Single-molecule fluorescence hybridization (smFISH) allows spatial mapping of gene expression. This protocol presents advances in smFISH fidelity and flexibility in intact murine sensory nervous system tissue. An approach using RNAscope probes allows multiplexing, enhanced target specificity, and immunohistochemistry compatibility.

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An appreciation for the complex interactions between the NF-κB transcription factor and the Lin28 RNA binding protein/let-7 microRNA pathways has grown substantially over the past decade. Both the NF-κB and Lin28/let-7 pathways are master regulators impacting cell survival, growth and proliferation, and an understanding of how interfaces between these pathways participate in governing pluripotency, progenitor differentiation, and neuroplastic responses remains an emerging area of research. In this review, we provide a concise summary of the respective pathways and focus on the function of signaling interactions at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels.

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N 6-Methyladenosine (m6A) is a dynamic mRNA modification which regulates protein expression in various posttranscriptional levels. Functional studies of m6A in nervous system have focused on its writers and erasers so far, whether and how m6A readers mediate m6A functions through recognizing and binding their target mRNA remains poorly understood. Here, we find that the expression of axon guidance receptor Robo3.

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Purposes: Chlorotoxin can specifically bind to matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2), which are overexpressed in the glioma. In this work, radiosynthesis of [F]-fluoropropionyl-chlorotoxin ([F]-FP-chlorotoxin) as a novel PET tracer was investigated, and biodistribution in vivo and PET imaging were performed in the C6 glioma model.

Procedures: [F]-FP-chlorotoxin was prepared from the reaction of chlorotoxin with [F]-NFB (4-nitrophenyl 2-[F]-fluoropropionate), which was synthesized from multistep reactions.

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Glioma is the most common primary intracranial tumor. Molecular neuropathology was introduced into the new 2016 WHO classification of brain tumor. Among the molecular biomarkers, Ki-67 antigen is the most important one, which reflects the proliferation rate and invasive ability of tumor cells.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores the effectiveness of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in assessing gliomas, focusing on tumor grade, IDH-1 mutation status, and proliferation rate.
  • A total of 52 patients with confirmed gliomas underwent DKI and DTI scans, measuring various metrics including mean kurtosis (MK), axial kurtosis (Ka), and mean diffusivity (MD), with results highlighting significant differences between high-grade gliomas (HGGs) and low-grade gliomas (LGGs).
  • DKI demonstrated superior diagnostic capabilities compared to DTI, particularly with metrics like Ka and MK, which could help predict glioma grading, tumor proliferation, and IDH-1 mutation status.
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Background And Purpose: Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) is a new diffusion MRI technique that has rarely been applied for glioma grading. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of NODDI in tumour parenchyma (TP) and peritumoural area (PT) for grading gliomas and detecting isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 () mutation status.

Methods: Forty-two patients (male: 23, female: 19, mean age: 44.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to investigate the causes of motor asymmetry in patients with Wilson's disease (WD) using functional MRI techniques.
  • Fifty WD patients and 20 healthy controls underwent brain imaging to analyze various neurological symptoms and their relationship with brain structure and function.
  • Results showed significant asymmetry in motor symptoms and brain fiber projections, suggesting that the unevenness in these projections may be a key factor behind the motor asymmetry observed in WD patients.
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Background: Previous studies have indicated that neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) could be used as a biomarker for detecting microstructural changes of brain.

Purpose: To quantitatively evaluate the changes in basal ganglia (BG) and thalamus in Wilson's disease (WD) by NODDI and assess the correlation between parameters and disease severity.

Study Type: Prospective case-control study.

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