A working memory model based on recurrent neural networks using reinforcement learning.

Numerous electrophysiological experiments have reported that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is involved in the process of working memory. PFC neurons continue firing to maintain stimulus information in the delay period without external stimuli in working memory tasks. Further findings indicate that while the activity of single neurons exhibits strong temporal and spatial dynamics (heterogeneity), the activity of population neurons can encode spatiotemporal information of stimuli stably and reliably.

Dopamine-Mediated Major Depressive Disorder in the Neural Circuit of Ventral Tegmental Area-Nucleus Accumbens-Medial Prefrontal Cortex: From Biological Evidence to Computational Models.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious psychiatric disorder, with an increasing incidence in recent years. The abnormal dopaminergic pathways of the midbrain cortical and limbic system are the key pathological regions of MDD, particularly the ventral tegmental area- nucleus accumbens- medial prefrontal cortex (VTA-NAc-mPFC) neural circuit. MDD usually occurs with the dysfunction of dopaminergic neurons in VTA, which decreases the dopamine concentration and metabolic rate in NAc/mPFC brain regions.

Serum Intestinal Metabolites are Raised in Patients with Psoriasis and Metabolic Syndrome.

Purpose: Psoriasis is an immune-mediated chronic inflammatory disease. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is characterized by central obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes and insulin resistance (IR). Increasing evidence indicates that psoriasis is associated with MetS.

The Haoqin-Huaban formula alleviates UVB-induced skin damage through HOXA11-AS-mediated stabilization of EZH2.

Exposure of skin to ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation induces oxidative damage, immune suppression, inflammation, and skin cancer. Recently, an increase in the use of traditional Chinese medicine decoction with antioxidant properties has emerged as protection for skin tissues against UVB-induced damage. The aim of this study was to investigate mechanisms of the protective effect of the Haoqin-Huaban formula (HQHB) on UVB-induced skin damage.

[Expert consensus on Tongsaimai Tablets/Capsules in treatment of peripheral vascular diseases in clinical practice].

Tongsaimai Tablets/Capsules are composed of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos, Angelicae Sinensis Radix, Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix, Codonopsis Radix, Dendrobii Caulis, Astragali Radix, Scrophulariae Radix, and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, and are effective in promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, supplementing Qi, and nourishing Yin. It is widely used in the treatment of peripheral vascular diseases. With 40 years of clinical application, it has accumulated substantial research data and application experience.

Modeling the grid cell activity on non-horizontal surfaces based on oscillatory interference modulated by gravity.

Internal representation of the space is a fundamental and crucial function of the animal's brain. Grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex are thought to provide an environment-invariant metric system for the navigation of the animal. Most experimental and theoretical studies have focused on the horizontal planar codes of grid cell, while how this metric coordinate system is configured in the actual three-dimensional space remains unclear.

Energy features in spontaneous up and down oscillations.

Spontaneous brain activities consume most of the brain's energy. So if we want to understand how the brain operates, we must take into account these spontaneous activities. Up and down transitions of membrane potentials are considered to be one of significant spontaneous activities.

"Efficacy and safety of Liangxue Jiedu decoction for the treatment of progressive psoriasis vulgaris: a multicenter, randomized, controlled study".

Objective: To determine the clinical efficacy and safety of Liangxue Jiedu decoction (LJD) for the treatment of progressive psoriasis vulgaris and to provide the basis for the development of a standardized treatment protocol for psoriasis vulgaris.

Methods: In this multicenter, randomized, controlled study, patients with blood-heat type psoriasis were randomly assigned to receive either Chinese herbal medicine (LJD; treatment group) or Western Medicine (cetirizine hydrochloride, vitamin C, and vitamin B complex; control group). Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores were calculated in addition to the number of patients who achieved ≥ 50% or ≥ 75% improvement in PASI score from baseline.

Effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine plus narrow-band medium-wave ultraviolet B radiation on moderate-to-severe psoriasis vulgaris in a case series.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapy combined with ultraviolet B light therapy in the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis.

Methods: Patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis (skin lesion area > 10% of the body surface area) for 2 consecutive years were treated with TCM (oral and external use of herbal medicines, acupuncture, and herbal bathing) and narrow-band medium-wave ultraviolet B light treatment for 12 weeks. The treatment effect was evaluated based on the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI), the achievement of a 50% reduction in the PASI (PASI50), the achievement of a 75% reduction in the PASI (PASI75), pruritus score, Dermatology Life Quality Index, and safety.

A cortical model with multi-layers to study visual attentional modulation of neurons at the synaptic level.

Visual attention is a selective process of visual information and improves perceptual performance by modulating activities of neurons in the visual system. It has been reported that attention increased firing rates of neurons, reduced their response variability and improved reliability of coding relevant stimuli. Recent neurophysiological studies demonstrated that attention also enhanced the synaptic efficacy between neurons mediated through NMDA and AMPA receptors.

The place cell activity is information-efficient constrained by energy.

Spatial representation is a crucial function of animal's brain. However, there is still no uniform explanation of how the spatial code is formed in different dimensional spaces to date. The main reason why place cell exhibits unique activity pattern is that the animal needs to retrieve and process spatial information.

Multidisciplinary approach to scheduling surgery for diabetic foot: a case report.

Background: The treatment of diabetic foot ulcers in this case is complex and multidisciplinary, and an interdisciplinary team is extremely beneficial.

Case Presentation: We performed the intervention on an old type 2 diabetes patient with poor health, whose left toes were severely necrotic. Surgery, including debridement and patella truncation, had positive effects on lower extremity circulation, infection control, cavity treatment, bone destruction, surgical debridement, recovery of foot function, and nursing.

Lower Limb Nonhealing Ulcers Associated With Chronic Diabetes: A Case Series.

Introduction: Chronic, nonhealing skin ulcers of the lower limbs associated with diabetes pose a clinical challenge as their treatment requires more sophisticated and delicate approaches than in patients without diabetes.

Objective: Herein, the authors demonstrate and discuss the implementation of their use of topical traditional Chinese medicines in several sample cases of lower limb nonhealing ulcers in patients with diabetes.

Materials And Methods: A series of diabetic ulcer cases were treated with various approaches.

An Energy Model of Place Cell Network in Three Dimensional Space.

Place cells are important elements in the spatial representation system of the brain. A considerable amount of experimental data and classical models are achieved in this area. However, an important question has not been addressed, which is how the three dimensional space is represented by the place cells.

Intrinsic sodium currents and excitatory synaptic transmission influence spontaneous firing in up and down activities.

Periodic up and down transitions of membrane potentials are considered to be a significant spontaneous activity. These kinds of oscillations always accompany with some spontaneous firing in up state. Our previous theoretical studies mainly looked at the subthreshold up and down transitions and characteristics of up and down dynamics.

Neural Energy Supply-Consumption Properties Based on Hodgkin-Huxley Model.

Electrical activity is the foundation of the neural system. Coding theories that describe neural electrical activity by the roles of action potential timing or frequency have been thoroughly studied. However, an alternative method to study coding questions is the energy method, which is more global and economical.

Synchronous transitions of up and down states in a network model based on stimulations.

The phenomenon of spontaneous periodic up and down transitions is considered to be a significant characteristic of slow oscillations. Our previous theoretical studies have shown that the single neuron and network model can both exhibit spontaneous up and down transitions. Another characteristic of up and down dynamics is the synchronicity.

Neurodynamics of up and down transitions in a single neuron.

Recent experimental studies have revealed that up and down transitions exist in membrane potential of neurons. This paper focuses on the neurodynamical research of these transitions in a single neuron since it is the basic to study the transitions in the neural network for further work. The results show there exists two stable levels in the neuron called up and down states.

Changes in Bacterial Profiles and Antibiotic Sensitivity Before and After Wound Bed Preparation for Diabetic Foot Ulcers.

We aimed to investigate the characteristics of bacterial profiles and antibiotic sensitivity in diabetic foot ulcers before and after wound bed preparation. This study involved 423 diabetic patients with Wagner grades 1 to 4 foot ulcers. Secretion culture was performed before wound bed preparation.

Roles of the co-culture of human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells with rat pancreatic cells in the treatment of rats with diabetes mellitus.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the roles of the co-culture of human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) with rat pancreatic cells in the treatment of rats with diabetes mellitus. hUC-MSCs were isolated and passaged, followed by Transwell co-culture with rat pancreatic cells. The induced islet-like cell clusters were transplanted into the renal capsule in rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes mellitus.