Oxytocin is a well-known neurohypophysial hormone that plays an important role in behavioral anxiety and nociception. Two major forms of long-term potentiation, presynaptic LTP (pre-LTP) and ...postsynaptic LTP (post-LTP), have been characterized in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Both pre-LTP and post-LTP contribute to chronic-pain-related anxiety and behavioral sensitization. The roles of oxytocin in the ACC have not been studied. Here, we find that microinjections of oxytocin into the ACC attenuate nociceptive responses and anxiety-like behavioral responses in animals with neuropathic pain. Application of oxytocin selectively blocks the maintenance of pre-LTP but not post-LTP. In addition, oxytocin enhances inhibitory transmission and excites ACC interneurons. Similar results are obtained by using selective optical stimulation of oxytocin-containing projecting terminals in the ACC in animals with neuropathic pain. Our results demonstrate that oxytocin acts on central synapses and reduces chronic-pain-induced anxiety by reducing pre-LTP.
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•Oxytocin microinjected into ACC attenuates injury-related pain and anxiety responses•Oxytocin blocks the maintenance of pre-LTP, but not post-LTP•Oxytocin depolarizes the interneurons and decreases the ratio of E/I transmission•Activation of PVN-ACC pathway blocks pre-LTP and has analgesic and anxiolytic effects
Li et al. report that microinjection of oxytocin into the ACC attenuates nerve-injury-induced nociceptive and anxiety behavioral responses. They show that oxytocin blocks the maintenance of pre-LTP and potentiates inhibitory transmission. Optical activation of endogenous oxytocin release in the ACC blocks pre-LTP and produces analgesic and anxiolytic effects.
Purpose/Significance In recent years, challenges such as pandemics, wars, and natural disasters have posed numerous threats to China's food security. As the core of future agricultural productivity ...improvement, the importance of the seed industry has been continuously emphasized by the government. To facilitate preservation and utilization, scholars have integrated and digitized a vast amount of germplasm resources. However, the current platforms of crop germplasm resource knowledge services still suffer from issues such as diverse and fragmented large-scale heterogeneous data sources, lack of interconnection among data, and insufficient exploration of the data, thereby falling short of achieving intelligent and semantic research on germplasm resources. Therefore, this article aims to propose an effective method for knowledge organization and semantic association to meet the growing demand for intelligent knowledge services from users. The proposed method is to provide insights into the development of germp
Objective To investigate the intestinal mucosal function and the correlation between intestinal mucosal function and clinical indexes in elderly patients with acute exacerbation of moderate-to-severe ...chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （AECOPD）. Methods A total of 200 elderly patients with AECOPD were recruited in the study group, and 150 age- and sex-matched elderly patients with stable moderate and severe COPD were assigned into the control group. The clinical pulmonary infection score （CPIS） was assessed in the study group. The nutritional status was evaluated between two groups. Blood samples of all patients were collected for testing. The intestinal fatty acid binding protein （I-FBAP）, D-lactic acid, brain natriuretic peptide （BNP） and blood gas indexes were detected and compared between two groups. The correlation between I-FBAP, D-lactic acid, CPIS, BNP and blood gas indexes was analyzed. Results In the study group, the contents of I-FBAP, plasma D-lactic acid, BNP and PaCO2, and the incidence rate o
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a key cortical region that plays an important role in pain perception and emotional functions. Previous studies of the ACC projections have been collected ...primarily from monkeys, rabbits and rats. Due to technological advances, such as gene manipulation, recent progress has been made in our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the ACC-related chronic pain and emotion is mainly obtained from adult mice. Few anatomic studies have examined the whole-brain projections of the ACC in adult mice. In the present study, we examined the continuous axonal outputs of the ACC in the whole brain of adult male mice. We used the virus anterograde tracing technique and an ultrahigh-speed imaging method of Volumetric Imaging with Synchronized on-the-fly-scan and Readout (VISoR). We created a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of mouse brains. We found that the ACC projected ipsilaterally primarily to the caudate putamen (CPu), ventral thalamic nucleus, zona incerta (ZI), periaqueductal gray (PAG), superior colliculus (SC), interpolar spinal trigeminal nucleus (Sp5I), and dorsal medullary reticular nucleus (MdD). The ACC also projected to contralateral brain regions, including the ACC, reuniens thalamic nucleus (Re), PAG, Sp5I, and MdD. Our results provide a whole-brain mapping of efferent projections from the ACC in adult male mice, and these findings are critical for future studies of the molecular and synaptic mechanisms of the ACC and its related network in mouse models of brain diseases.
Background
Studies examining weight change patterns and depression are scarce and report inconsistent findings. This study—aimed to elucidate the association between weight change patterns and the ...risk of depression in a large, representative sample of US adults.
Methods
Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005–2018 was analyzed. Five weight change groups were categorized: stable normal, weight loss, weight gain, maximum overweight, and stable obesity. Depression was ascertained using the validated Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and depression was defined as PHQ score ≥ 10.
Results
A total of 17,556 participants were included. Compared with participants who maintained normal weight, stable obesity participants had increased risks of depression across adulthood from age 25 years to 10 years before the survey (OR = 1.61, 95% CI =1.23 to 2.11), in the 10 years period before the survey (OR = 2.15, 95% CI =1.71 to 2.70), and from age 25 years to survey (OR = 1.88, 95% CI =1.44 to 2.44). Weight gain was associated with an increased risk of depression from age 25 years to 10 years before the survey (OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.41 to 2.04), in the 10 years period before the survey (OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.35 to 2.21), and for the period from age 25 years to survey (OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.49 to 2.24). In the stratified analyses, we found statistically significant interactions with sex.
Conclusion
Our study suggested that stable obesity and weight gain across adulthood were associated with increased risks of depression.
As the world’s rarest ape, the main threat facing Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) is habitat degradation and loss caused by human disturbances. The insufficient area and continuous human ...disturbance in most of the existing habitats can hardly maintain the future recovery and development of the gibbon population. A large area of secondary tropical montane rainforest in recovery was retained in Bawangling National Nature Reserve after disturbance. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the recovery of these secondary forests for the protection and restoration of Hainan gibbon habitat. To explore the recovery of secondary tropical rainforests after different disturbances, and whether they have the potential to serve as the future habitats for Hainan gibbon, we calculated four dynamic indexes (including recruitment rate, mortality/loss rate, relative growth rate and turnover rate) of abundance and basal area for the total community and for food plants of Hainan gibbon based on data from two censuses of secondary forests recovered nearly 45 years after different disturbances (clear-cutting and selective-logging) and old-growth forest of tropical montane rainforest. The results are as follows: (1) There were no significant differences in recruitment rates, mortality rates and turnover rates of abundance and basal area between recovered clear-cutting forests, selectively logged forests and old-growth forests. (2) Abundance, basal area and species of small (1 < DBH ≤ 10 cm) and medium (10 ≤ DBH < 30 cm) food plants in the two disturbed forests were higher, while those of large food plants (DBH ≥ 30 cm) in the two forests were lower than in old-growth forests. (3) For the common food species occurring in all three kinds of communities, the relative growth rate of most small trees in clear-cutting forest was higher than that of old-growth forest. Our research demonstrates that the lack of large food plants is the key limiting factor for the development of the secondary mountain rainforest as habitats for Hainan gibbon at present. However, it has great potential to transform into suitable habitats through targeted restoration and management due to the high recruitment rate and relative growth rate of the small- and medium-sized food plants.
Group therapy is an effective form of psychotherapy. It is usually organised and led by a professional psychotherapist. In group therapy, a group of people come together to explore and work with each ...other's problems. The method of group therapy for treating schizophrenia is gradually being widely used in China and foreign countries. The present study summarizes the advantages of group therapy for treating schizophrenia, reviews the existing methods of group therapy for treating schizophrenia in China and foreign countries, analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different treatment methods in group therapy, and summarizes the types and usage proportions of group therapy for treating schizophrenia in China and foreign countries. At present, group therapy for treating schizophrenia still has certain limitations both in China and foreign countries. The present study suggest that China and foreign countries can learn from each other and make group therapy more effective in treating schizophrenia.
Abstract
Background
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The pathogenesis of NAFLD involves multiple biological ...changes, including insulin resistance, oxidative stress, inflammation, as well as genetic and environmental factors. Liraglutide has been used to control blood sugar. But the impact of liraglutide on T2DM-associated NAFLD remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the impact and potential molecular mechanisms of inhibiting ferroptosis for liraglutide improves T2DM-associated NAFLD.
Methods
Mice were fed on high-fat-diet and injected with streptozotocin to mimic T2DM-associated NAFLD and gene expression in liver was analysed by RNA-seq. The fast blood glucose was measured during the period of liraglutide and ferrostatin-1 administration. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to evaluate the pathological changes in the liver. The occurrence of hepatic ferroptosis was measured by lipid peroxidation in vivo. The mechanism of liraglutide inhibition ferroptosis was investigated by in vitro cell culture.
Results
Liraglutide not only improved glucose metabolism, but also ameliorated tissue damage in the livers. Transcriptomic analysis indicated that liraglutide regulates lipid metabolism related signaling including AMPK and ACC. Furthermore, ferroptosis inhibitor rather than other cell death inhibitors rescued liver cell viability in the presence of high glucose. Mechanistically, liraglutide-induced activation of AMPK phosphorylated ACC, while AMPK inhibitor compound C blocked the liraglutide-mediated suppression of ferroptosis. Moreover, ferroptosis inhibitor restored liver function in T2DM mice in vivo.
Conclusions
These findings indicate that liraglutide ameliorates the T2DM-associated NAFLD, which possibly through the activation of AMPK/ACC pathway and inhibition of ferroptosis.
Metabolic reprogramming is one of the hallmarks of tumor. Growing evidence suggests metabolic changes that support oncogenic progression may cause selective vulnerabilities that can be exploited for ...cancer treatment. Increasing demands for certain nutrients under genetic determination or environmental challenge enhance dependency of tumor cells on specific nutrient, which could be therapeutically developed through targeting such nutrient dependency. Various nutrients including several amino acids and glucose have been found to induce dependency in genetic alteration- or context-dependent manners. In this review, we discuss the extensively studied nutrient dependency and the biological mechanisms behind such vulnerabilities. Besides, existing applications and strategies to target nutrient dependency in different cancer types, accompanied with remaining challenges to further exploit these metabolic vulnerabilities to improve cancer therapies, are reviewed.
The use of smartphone‐based analysis systems has been increasing over the past few decades. Among the important reasons for its popularity are its ubiquity, increasing computing power, relatively low ...cost, and capability to acquire and process data simultaneously in a point‐of‐need fashion. Furthermore, smartphones are equipped with various sensors, especially a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. The high sensitivity of the CMOS sensor allows smartphones to be used as a colorimeter, fluorimeter, and spectrometer, constituting the essential part of point‐of‐care testing contributing to E‐health and beyond. However, despite its myriads of merits, smartphone‐based diagnostic devices still face many challenges, including high susceptibility to illumination conditions, difficulty in adapter uniformization, low interphone repeatability, and et al. These problems may hinder smartphone‐enabled diagnosis from passing the FDA regulations of medical devices. This review discusses the design and application of current smartphone‐based diagnostic devices and highlights challenges associated with existent methods and perspectives on how to deal with those challenges from engineering aspects on constant color signal acquisition, including smartphone adapter design, color space transformation, machine learning classification, and color correction.
This review discusses the design and application of current smartphone‐based diagnostic devices and highlights challenges associated with existent methods and perspectives on how to deal with those challenges from engineering aspects on the constant color signal acquisition, including smartphone adapter design, color space transformation, machine learning classification, and color correction.
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