Data-knowledge co-driven innovations in engineering and management.

Modern intelligent engineering and management scenarios require advanced data utilization methodologies. Here, we propose and discuss data-knowledge co-driven innovations that could address emerging challenges, and we advocate for the adoption of interdisciplinary methodologies in numerous engineering and management applications.

Association of Cancer History with Lifetime Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: The literature presents conflicting results regarding the potential protective effect of prevalent cancer on the development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Objective: Association between cancer and subsequent risk of dementia and/or AD was reported previously, but survival bias has been of concern. Here, we aimed to calculate the lifetime risk of dementia and AD and evaluate the association of cancer history with these two conditions.

Hair color, family history of melanoma, and the risk of Parkinson's disease: An analysis update.

Background: A shared biological component between melanoma and Parkinson's disease (PD) has been suggested. Yet, epidemiological evidence is scarce.

Objective: To examine the association of hair color and family history of melanoma, two strong predictors of melanoma risk, with the occurrence of PD.

Fas gene dosage tunes the extent of lymphoproliferation and T cell differentiation in lupus.

Sle1 and Fas are two lupus susceptibility loci that lead to manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus. To evaluate the dosage effects of Fas in determining cellular and serological phenotypes associated with lupus, we developed a new C57BL/6 (B6) congenic lupus strain, B6.Sle1/Sle1.

Peripheral MC1R Activation Modulates Immune Responses and is Neuroprotective in a Mouse Model of Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) is a key pigmentation gene, and loss-of-function of MC1R variants that produce red hair may be associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). We previously reported compromised dopaminergic neuron survival in Mc1r mutant mice and dopaminergic neuroprotective effects of local injection of a MC1R agonist to the brain or a systemically administered MC1R agonist with appreciable central nervous system (CNS) permeability. Beyond melanocytes and dopaminergic neurons, MC1R is expressed in other peripheral tissues and cell types, including immune cells.

A multi-scale unified model of human mobility in urban agglomerations.

Understanding human mobility patterns is vital for the coordinated development of cities in urban agglomerations. Existing mobility models can capture single-scale travel behavior within or between cities, but the unified modeling of multi-scale human mobility in urban agglomerations is still analytically and computationally intractable. In this study, by simulating people's mental representations of physical space, we decompose and model the human travel choice process as a cascaded multi-class classification problem.

Autonomic function and motor subtypes in Parkinson's disease: a multicentre cross-sectional study.

Autonomic symptoms (AS) are critical in Parkinson's disease (PD). We aimed to determine the relative significance of clinical factors allowing predictions about incidence of AS, and examine AS profiles among PD patients by motor subtype and its relation to AS. The cross-sectional data of a multicentre sample, including 714 PD patients and 194 healthy controls from Parkinson's Progression Marker Initiative study and Pingchan granule study were analyzed, stratified by PD subtypes [postural instability and gait disturbances (PIGD), tremor dominant (TD), and indeterminate] and domain autonomic dysfunction.

Understanding common human driving semantics for autonomous vehicles.

Autonomous vehicles will share roads with human-driven vehicles until the transition to fully autonomous transport systems is complete. The critical challenge of improving mutual understanding between both vehicle types cannot be addressed only by feeding extensive driving data into data-driven models but by enabling autonomous vehicles to understand and apply common driving behaviors analogous to human drivers. Therefore, we designed and conducted two electroencephalography experiments for comparing the cerebral activities of human linguistics and driving understanding.

Peripheral MC1R activation modulates immune responses and is neuroprotective in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

Background: Melanocortin 1 receptor () is a key pigmentation gene, and loss-of-function of variants that produce red hair may be associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). We previously reported compromised dopaminergic neuron survival in mutant mice and dopaminergic neuroprotective effects of local injection of a MC1R agonist to the brain or a systemically administered MC1R agonist with appreciable CNS permeability. Beyond melanocytes and dopaminergic neurons, MC1R is expressed in other peripheral tissues and cell types, including immune cells.

DOPA pheomelanin is increased in nigral neuromelanin of Parkinson's disease.

Neuromelanin (NM) in dopaminergic neurons of human substantia nigra (SN) has a melanic component that consists of pheomelanin and eumelanin moieties and has been proposed as a key factor contributing to dopaminergic neuron vulnerability in Parkinson's disease (PD). While eumelanin is considered as an antioxidant, pheomelanin and related oxidative stress are associated with compromised drug and metal ion binding and melanoma risk. Using postmortem SN from patients with PD or Alzheimer's disease (AD) and unaffected controls, we identified increased L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) pheomelanin and increased ratios of dopamine (DA) pheomelanin markers to DA in PD SN compared to controls.

Oncogenic induces microglial proliferation through extracellular signal-regulated kinase and neuronal death through c-Jun N-terminal kinase.

Activating V600E in v-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B (BRAF) is a common driver mutation in cancers of multiple tissue origins, including melanoma and glioma. BRAF has also been implicated in neurodegeneration. The present study aims to characterize BRAF during cell death and proliferation of three major cell types of the central nervous system: neurons, astrocytes, and microglia.

Traditional Chinese medicine Pingchan granule for motor symptoms and functions in Parkinson's disease: A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Background: Pingchan granule (PCG) is a traditional Chinese medicine for Parkinson's disease (PD).

Hypothesis/purpose: This was the first study aiming to evaluate the efficacy and safety of PCG for motor symptoms, gait impairments and quality of life in PD.

Study Design And Methods: In this multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 292 participants were included and followed for 9 months, randomly assigned at a 1:1 ratio to receive PCG or placebo.

Transcriptome Profiling of A549 Xenografts of Nonsmall-cell Lung Cancer Treated with Qing-Re-Huo-Xue Formula.

Lung cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors, and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 85% of all lung cancer cases. Chinese herbal formula Qing-Re-Huo-Xue (QRHXF) has shown antitumor effects in the NSCLC xenograft mouse model of Lewis cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the antitumor effects of QRHXF remain unknown.

Melanocortin 1 receptor activation protects against alpha-synuclein pathologies in models of Parkinson's disease.

Background: Epidemiological studies suggest a link between the melanoma-related pigmentation gene melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) and risk of Parkinson's disease (PD). We previously showed that MC1R signaling can facilitate nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuron survival. The present study investigates the neuroprotective potential of MC1R against neurotoxicity induced by alpha-synuclein (αSyn), a key player in PD genetics and pathogenesis.

Exploring impacts of COVID-19 on city-wide taxi and ride-sourcing markets: Evidence from Ningbo, China.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has brought enormous impacts and changes to human mobility. To better understand and quantify the impacts of COVID-19 on city-wide ride-sourcing and taxi markets, we present exploratory evidence on the factors such as coronavirus cases related attributes, policy-related attributes, operational status of transportation, socio-economic status related variables, demographics related variables, and other factors. Based on 5-month real-world ride-sourcing and taxi datasets in Ningbo, China, including 37-million trips, we study the temporal variations of drivers' working characteristics and productivity of ride-sourcing and taxi fleets.

Parkinson's disease and cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of over 17 million participants.

Objective: To systematically review and qualitatively evaluate epidemiological evidence on associations between Parkinson's disease (PD) and cancer via meta-analysis.

Data Sources: MEDLINE via PubMed, Web of Science and EMBASE, until March 2021.

Study Selection: Included were publications that (1) were original epidemiological studies on PD and cancer; (2) reported risk estimates; (3) were in English.

Association of caffeine and related analytes with resistance to Parkinson disease among mutation carriers: A metabolomic study.

Objective: To identify markers of resistance to developing Parkinson disease (PD) among mutation carriers (+), we carried out metabolomic profiling in individuals with PD and unaffected controls (UC), with and without the mutation.

Methods: Plasma from 368 patients with PD and UC in the LRRK2 Cohort Consortium (LCC), comprising 118 +/PD+, 115 +/UC, 70 -/PD+, and 65 /UC, and CSF available from 68 of them, were analyzed by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. For 282 analytes quantified in plasma and CSF, we assessed differences among the 4 groups and interactions between and PD status, using analysis of covariance models adjusted by age, study site cohort, and sex, with value corrections for multiple comparisons.

Does Serum Urate Change as Parkinson's Disease Progresses?

Higher serum urate concentration is associated with decreased risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) as well as slower disease progression, but its relationship with severity of PD remains unclear. This study investigated whether changes in serum urate concentration over 5 years were associated with disease progression assessed by MDS-UPDRS Part III score, Hoehn and Yahr stage, or DaTscan imaging. Average serum urate concentration was stable over time and change in serum urate concentration did not correlate with worsening of measures of PD progression.

Association Between Parkinson's Disease and Melanoma: Putting the Pieces Together.

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) generally have reduced risk of developing many types of cancers, except melanoma-a malignant tumor of melanin-producing cells in the skin. For decades, a large number of epidemiological studies have reported that the occurrence of melanoma is higher than expected among subjects with PD, and the occurrence of PD is reciprocally higher than expected among patients with melanoma. More recent epidemiological studies further indicated a bidirectional association, not only in the patients themselves but also in their relatives.

Frequency-dependent exacerbation of Alzheimer's disease neuropathophysiology.

Neuronal activity patterns are disrupted in neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). One example is disruption of corticothalamic slow oscillations responsible for sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Slow waves are periodic oscillations in neuronal activity occurring at frequencies of <1 Hz.

Higher urate in LRRK2 mutation carriers resistant to Parkinson disease.

Objective: LRRK2 mutations, the most common genetic cause of Parkinson disease (PD), display incomplete penetrance, indicating the importance of other genetic and environmental influences on disease pathogenesis in LRRK2 mutation carriers. The present study investigates whether urate, an antioxidant, Nrf2 activator, and inverse risk factor for idiopathic PD, is one such candidate biomarker of PD risk modulation in pathogenic LRRK2 mutation carriers.

Methods: Banked plasma samples or urate levels were obtained for 3 cohorts of age- and sex-matched subjects with and without a known LRRK2 mutation in PD and unaffected controls to conduct a pilot study of 192 subjects from the LRRK2 Cohort Consortium (LCC) and 2 validation studies of 380 additional subjects from the LCC and 922 subjects from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative.