Abnormal functional network of the thalamic subregions in adult patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The thalamus plays an important role in pathological mechanisms underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). As the thalamus is a heterogeneous brain region, functional connectivity (FC) between thalamic subregions and other brain regions is worth investigating in OCD. In addition, the relationship between abnormal FC and clinical symptoms is still unclear.

Prenatal immune activation induces age-related alterations in rat offspring: Effects upon NMDA receptors and behaviors.

Prenatal exposure to polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid (poly I:C) results in psychotic-like behavior in mature rat offspring as well as enduring modifications of glutamatergic excitatory synaptic transmission. However, little is known about the dynamic behavioral and glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor changes in rat offspring following poly I:C treatment of pregnant dams. In this study, poly I:C was administered to rats intravenously at a dose of 10 mg/kg on gestational day 9 in order to assess changes in behavior and NMDA receptors in offspring over time.

Red blood cell distribution width for predicting significant liver inflammation in patients with autoimmune hepatitis.

Background: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) was reported to be associated with the severity of liver diseases. We aimed to investigate the association between RDW and severity of liver inflammation in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH).

Patients And Methods: Ninety-two consecutive AIH patients who underwent liver biopsy during 2016-2017 were included.

Metagenomic insights into effects of wheat straw compost fertiliser application on microbial community composition and function in tobacco rhizosphere soil.

The application of fertilisers incorporated with plant residues improves nutrient availability in soils, which shifts the microbial community structure and favours plant growth. To understand the impact of wheat straw compost fertiliser on soil properties and microbial community structure, tobacco planting soils were treated with four different fertilisers using varied amounts of straw compost fertiliser and a no fertiliser control (CK). Results showed that different fertilisers affected available soil nutrient contents differently.

Performance of a depth encoding PET detector module using light sharing and single-ended readout with SiPMs.

Detectors with depth encoding capability, good energy resolution and good timing resolution are required to develop high performance whole body and total body PET scanners. In this work, an 8  ×  8 LYSO array with crystal size of 3  ×  3  ×  20 mm was fabricated by using coupling materials that included 5 mm optical glue, 9 mm triangle ESR reflector and 6 mm rectangle ESR reflector from the top to the bottom in between adjacent crystals in one direction. The LYSO array was single-ended read out by an 8  ×  8 SiPM array with one-to-one coupling.

Common and Specific Functional Activity Features in Schizophrenia, Major Depressive Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder.

Schizophrenia (SZ), major depressive disorder (MDD), and bipolar disorder (BD) are serious mental disorders with distinct diagnostic criteria. They share common clinical and biological features. However, there are still only few studies on the common and specific brain imaging changes associated with the three mental disorders.

Age-related changes in neuroinflammation and prepulse inhibition in offspring of rats treated with Poly I:C in early gestation.

Background: Maternal immune activation (MIA) during gestation can increase the later risk of schizophrenia in adult offspring. Neuroinflammation is believed to underlie this process. Postmortem brain studies have found changes in the neuroimmune systems of patients with schizophrenia.

Myosin-X Silencing in the Trabecular Meshwork Suggests a Role for Tunneling Nanotubes in Outflow Regulation.

Purpose: The actin cytoskeleton plays a key role in outflow regulation through the trabecular meshwork (TM). Although actin stress fibers are a target of glaucoma therapies, the role of other actin cellular structures is unclear. Myosin-X (Myo10) is an actin-binding protein that is involved in tunneling nanotube (TNT) and filopodia formation.

Effects of sodium nitroprusside in the acute dizocilpine (MK-801) animal model of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia treatment remains a major challenge, especially the associated cognitive impairments, as these are not consistently alleviated by conventional antipsychotics. Recent animal and clinical studies suggest that the nitric oxide (NO) donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) reduces the psychiatric symptoms and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. The present study was designed to investigate the efficacy of SNP against schizophrenia-like behavioral and cognitive deficits in the dizocilpine (MK-801) rat model.

Integrative analyses of major histocompatibility complex loci in the genome-wide association studies of major depressive disorder.

Recent European genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed strong statistical correlations between MDD and numerous zero-to-high linked variants in the genomic region containing major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes (MHC region), but the underlying biological mechanisms are still unclear. To better understand the roles of this genomic region in the neurobiology of MDD, we applied a convergent functional genomics approach to integrate GWAS data of MDD relevant biological phenotypes, gene-expression analyses results obtained from brain samples, and genetic analyses of independent Chinese MDD samples. We observed that independent MDD risk variants in the MHC region were also significantly associated with the relevant biological phenotypes in the predicted directions, including the emotional and cognitive-related phenotypes.

Performance of long rectangular semi-monolithic scintillator PET detectors.

Purpose: High-sensitivity and high-resolution depth-encoding positron emission tomography (PET) detectors are required to simultaneously improve the sensitivity and spatial resolution of a PET scanner so that the quantitative accuracy of PET studies can be improved. The semi-monolithic scintillator PET detector has the advantage of measuring the depth of interaction with single-ended readout as compared to the traditional pixelated scintillator detector, and significantly reducing the edge effect that deteriorates the spatial resolution at edges of the detector as compared to the monolithic scintillator detector if a long rectangular semi-monolithic detector is used. In this work, depth-encoding PET detector modules were built by using long rectangular semi-monolithic scintillators and single-ended readout by silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays.

Artifact correction in low-dose dental CT imaging using Wasserstein generative adversarial networks.

Purpose: In recent years, health risks concerning high-dose x-ray radiation have become a major concern in dental computed tomography (CT) examinations. Therefore, adopting low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) technology has become a major focus in the CT imaging field. One of these LDCT technologies is downsampling data acquisition during low-dose x-ray imaging processes.

Low-Dose Computed Tomography Image Super-Resolution Reconstruction via Random Forests.

Aiming at reducing computed tomography (CT) scan radiation while ensuring CT image quality, a new low-dose CT super-resolution reconstruction method based on combining a random forest with coupled dictionary learning is proposed. The random forest classifier finds the optimal solution of the mapping relationship between low-dose CT (LDCT) images and high-dose CT (HDCT) images and then completes CT image reconstruction by coupled dictionary learning. An iterative method is developed to improve robustness, the important coefficients for the tree structure are discussed and the optimal solutions are reported.

Comparison of the long-term efficacy of tenofovir and entecavir in nucleos(t)ide analogue-naïve HBeAg-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B: A large, multicentre, randomized controlled trials.

Objective: We conducted this study to compare the efficacy and safety of entecavir and tenofovir in the treatment of treatment-naïve HBV e antigen (HBeAg)-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) for 144 weeks.

Methods: A total of 320 treatment-naïve HBeAg-positive CHB patients who received randomly a single regimen of either entecavir capsule (ETV) (n = 160) or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate capsule (TDF) (n = 160) for 144 weeks were consecutively enrolled from 14 tertiary hospitals or university hospitals in China between January 2012 and December 2014.

Results: Two groups showed no difference in baseline characteristics.

Ribosomal protein L6 (RPL6) is recruited to DNA damage sites in a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-dependent manner and regulates the DNA damage response.

Ribosomal proteins are the building blocks of ribosome biogenesis. Beyond their known participation in ribosome assembly, the ribosome-independent functions of ribosomal proteins are largely unknown. Here, using immunoprecipitation, subcellular fractionation, His-ubiquitin pulldown, and immunofluorescence microscopy assays, along with siRNA-based knockdown approaches, we demonstrate that ribosomal protein L6 (RPL6) directly interacts with histone H2A and is involved in the DNA damage response (DDR).

Sofosbuvir-velpatasvir for treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in Asia: a single-arm, open-label, phase 3 trial.

Background: Treatment with combined sofosbuvir and velpatasvir has resulted in high sustained virological response rates in patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) with genotypes 1-6 in clinical trials and real-world settings, but its efficacy and safety has not been assessed in Asia, a region with diverse HCV genotypes.

Methods: In this single-arm, open-label, phase 3 trial, we recruited patients from 38 sites across China, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia, who were chronically infected with HCV genotypes 1-6, and were HCV treatment-naive or treatment-experienced, either without cirrhosis or with compensated cirrhosis. Patients self-administered a combined sofosbuvir (400 mg) and velpatasvir (100 mg) tablet once daily for 12 weeks.

Diagnostic value of alpha-fetoprotein combined with neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: To investigate the diagnostic performance of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as well as their combinations with other markers.

Methods: Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), AFP and levels as well as the numbers of neutrophils and lymphocytes of all enrolled patients were collected. The NLR was calculated by dividing the number of neutrophils by the number of lymphocytes.

Abnormal Dynamic Functional Network Connectivity and Graph Theoretical Analysis in Major Depressive Disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex mood disorder characterized by persistent and overwhelming depression. Previous studies have identified abnormalities in large scale functional brain networks in MDD, yet most of them were based on static functional connectivity. By contrast, here we explored disrupted topological organization of dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC) in MDD based on graph theory.

A Schizophrenia-Related Genetic-Brain-Cognition Pathway Revealed in a Large Chinese Population.

Background: In the past decades, substantial effort has been made to explore the genetic influence on brain structural/functional abnormalities in schizophrenia, as well as cognitive impairments. In this work, we aimed to extend previous studies to explore the internal mediation pathway among genetic factor, brain features and cognitive scores in a large Chinese dataset.

Methods: Gray matter (GM) volume, fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), and 4522 schizophrenia-susceptible single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) from 905 Chinese subjects were jointly analyzed, to investigate the multimodal association.

Aberrant Dynamic Functional Network Connectivity and Graph Properties in Major Depressive Disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex mood disorder characterized by persistent and overwhelming depression. Previous studies have identified abnormalities in large scale functional brain networks in MDD, yet most of them were based on static functional connectivity. In contrast, here we explored disrupted topological organization of dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC) in MDD based on graph theory.

Genetic association and meta-analysis of a schizophrenia GWAS variant rs10489202 in East Asian populations.

Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) suggest that rs10489202 in the intron of MPC2 (mitochondrial pyruvate carrier 2) is a risk locus for schizophrenia in Han Chinese populations. To validate this discovery, we conducted a replication analysis in an independent case-control sample of Han Chinese ancestry (437 cases and 2031 controls), followed by a meta-analytic investigation in multiple East Asian samples. In the replication analysis, rs10489202 showed marginal association with schizophrenia (two-tailed P = 0.

Early predictors of acute hepatitis B progression to liver failure.

Background And Aims: 1~4% of acute hepatitis B (AHB) cases in adults progresses to acute liver failure (ALF).The predictors of ALF and prognosis for patients with ALF are not clear. This study investigated some of predictive and prognostic factors for AHB progression to ALF.

Performance Comparison of Different Readouts for Position-Sensitive Solid-State Photomultiplier Arrays.

A thorough comparison of five different readouts for reading out a 2 × 2 array of 5 mm × 5 mm position-sensitive solid-state photomultipliers (PS-SSPM) was undertaken. The five readouts include reading out the 20 signals (16 position and 4 timing) individually, two signal multiplexing readouts, and two position decoding readouts. Flood histogram quality, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and energy resolution were compared at different bias voltage (27.

Linked 4-Way Multimodal Brain Differences in Schizophrenia in a Large Chinese Han Population.

Multimodal fusion has been regarded as a promising tool to discover covarying patterns of multiple imaging types impaired in brain diseases, such as schizophrenia (SZ). In this article, we aim to investigate the covarying abnormalities underlying SZ in a large Chinese Han population (307 SZs, 298 healthy controls [HCs]). Four types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features, including regional homogeneity (ReHo) from resting-state functional MRI, gray matter volume (GM) from structural MRI, fractional anisotropy (FA) from diffusion MRI, and functional network connectivity (FNC) resulted from group independent component analysis, were jointly analyzed by a data-driven multivariate fusion method.