Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are paroxysmal behaviors that resemble epileptic seizures but lack abnormal electrical activity. Recent studies suggest aberrant functional connectivity ...involving specific brain regions in PNES. Little is known, however, about alterations of topological organization of whole-brain functional and structural connectivity networks in PNES. We constructed functional connectivity networks from resting-state functional MRI signal correlations and structural connectivity networks from diffusion tensor imaging tractography in 17 PNES patients and 20 healthy controls. Graph theoretical analysis was employed to compute network properties. Moreover, we investigated the relationship between functional and structural connectivity networks. We found that PNES patients exhibited altered small-worldness in both functional and structural networks and shifted towards a more regular (lattice-like) organization, which could serve as a potential imaging biomarker for PNES. In addition, many regional characteristics were altered in structural connectivity network, involving attention, sensorimotor, subcortical and default-mode networks. These regions with altered nodal characteristics likely reflect disease-specific pathophysiology in PNES. Importantly, the coupling strength of functional-structural connectivity was decreased and exhibited high sensitivity and specificity to differentiate PNES patients from healthy controls, suggesting that the decoupling strength of functional-structural connectivity might be an important characteristic reflecting the mechanisms of PNES. This is the first study to explore the altered topological organization in PNES combining functional and structural connectivity networks, providing a new way to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of PNES.
The human brain is a large-scale integrated network in the functional and structural domain. Graph theoretical analysis provides a novel framework for analysing such complex networks. While previous ...neuroimaging studies have uncovered abnormalities in several specific brain networks in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy characterized by tonic-clonic seizures, little is known about changes in whole-brain functional and structural connectivity networks. Regarding functional and structural connectivity, networks are intimately related and share common small-world topological features. We predict that patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy would exhibit a decoupling between functional and structural networks. In this study, 26 patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy characterized by tonic-clonic seizures and 26 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging signal correlations and diffusion tensor image tractography were used to generate functional and structural connectivity networks. Graph theoretical analysis revealed that the patients lost optimal topological organization in both functional and structural connectivity networks. Moreover, the patients showed significant increases in nodal topological characteristics in several cortical and subcortical regions, including mesial frontal cortex, putamen, thalamus and amygdala relative to controls, supporting the hypothesis that regions playing important roles in the pathogenesis of epilepsy may display abnormal hub properties in network analysis. Relative to controls, patients showed further decreases in nodal topological characteristics in areas of the default mode network, such as the posterior cingulate gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus. Most importantly, the degree of coupling between functional and structural connectivity networks was decreased, and exhibited a negative correlation with epilepsy duration in patients. Our findings suggest that the decoupling of functional and structural connectivity may reflect the progress of long-term impairment in idiopathic generalized epilepsy, and may be used as a potential biomarker to detect subtle brain abnormalities in epilepsy. Overall, our results demonstrate for the first time that idiopathic generalized epilepsy is reflected in a disrupted topological organization in large-scale brain functional and structural networks, thus providing valuable information for better understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of generalized tonic-clonic seizures.
Tetraplosphaeriaceae (Pleosporales, Ascomycota) is a family with many saprobes recorded from various hosts, especially bamboo and grasses. During a taxonomic investigation of microfungi in tropical ...and subtropical forest regions of Guizhou, Hainan and Yunnan provinces, China, several plant samples were collected and examined for fungi. Four newly discovered species are described based on morphology and evolutionary relationships with their allies inferred from phylogenetic analyses derived from a combined dataset of LSU, ITS, SSU, and
DNA sequence data. Detailed illustrations, descriptions and taxonomic notes are provided for each species. The four new species of Tetraplosphaeriaceae reported herein are
,
,
, and
. A checklist of Tetraplosphaeriaceae species with available details on their ecology is also provided.
During an investigation of lignicolous freshwater fungi in the Tibetan Plateau, three
taxa were collected from freshwater habitats in Xizang, China. The new species possess polyblastic, sympodial, ...denticles conidiogenous cells and fusiform, septate, with or without sheath conidial, that fit within the generic concept of
, and multi-gene phylogeny placed these species within
. Detailed morphological observations clearly demarcate three of these from extant species and are hence described as new taxa. The multi-gene phylogeny of the combined LSU,
1-α, and ITS sequence data to infer phylogenetic relationships and discuss phylogenetic affinities with morphologically similar species. Based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses, three new species
,
, and
are introduced. Details of asexual morphs are described, and justifications for establishing these new species are also provided in this study.
During the investigation of lignicolous freshwater fungi in the Tibetan Plateau habitat, fifteen collections were isolated from submerged decaying wood. Fungal characteristics are commonly found as ...punctiform or powdery colonies with dark pigmented and muriform conidia. Multigene phylogenetic analyses of combined ITS, LSU, SSU and
DNA sequences showed that they belong to three families in Pleosporales. Among them,
,
,
and
are established as new species.
,
and
are reported as new records on the freshwater habitats in Tibetan Plateau, China. The morphological descriptions and illustrations of the new collections are provided.
The insufficiency of freshwater supplies has posed a serious threat to sustainable socioeconomic growth, and seawater desalination is considered to be the most promising solution to alleviate such ...pressure. Currently, 2D carbon membranes are identified as deserving candidates due to their high permeability and multiple tunable properties. However, they remain challenging to systematically uncover the potential relationships between structures and properties in various 2D carbon materials. For this, a machine learning (ML) model based on feature datasets of 2D carbon materials effecting desalination properties is trained. The results suggest that structures with a maximum pore size of 10–12 atoms and atomic densities between 0.28 and 0.41 are more likely to achieve high properties. Cml‐MOR based on MOR‐type mordenite zeolite for validation is selected. Further, Cml‐MOR is demonstrated to feature remarkable salt ion adsorption. The effective water flux of Cml‐MOR is 113.51 L cm−2 day−1 MPa−1, and the salt rejection at 110 MPa can reach 98.9%. This work is expected to apply this efficient method to investigate the structure and properties of 2D carbon membranes with great structural diversity; this will attract more people to focus on them and explore their important potential for practical applications.
2D carbon materials enjoy popularity among scholars regarding their superior physical and chemical properties, but they are still limited by multiple structural factors. This article explains the potential correlation between desalination membrane structure and performance through machine learning and shows that adjusting the atom amount of maximum pore and atomic density is more likely to achieve satisfactory properties.
Male infertility has become a worldwide public health problem. However, the effect of low body mass index (BMI) is still controversial.
Relevant articles in Pubmed, Embase, Web of science, and ...Wanfang database published until September 2017 were searched without language restriction. We performed a meta-analysis about low BMI and semen parameters containing total sperm count, concentration, semen volume, and sperm motility (overall and progressive), including 709 men with low BMI and 14,622 men with normal BMI.
Thirteen studies were included in this meta-analysis and a total of 15,331 individuals were accumulated. We pooled data from these articles and found standardized weighted mean differences in semen parameters (total sperm count and semen volume) showed significant difference between low BMI and normal BMI.
This systematic review with meta-analysis has confirmed that there was a relationship between low BMI and semen quality, which suggesting low BMI may be a harmful factor of male infertility. Yet lacking of the raw data may influence the accuracy of the results. Further researches are needed to identify the role of underweight in male sterility.
Crop consumptive water use is recognized as a key element to understand regional water management performance. This study documents an attempt to apply a regional evapotranspiration model（SEBAL） and ...crop information for assessment of regional crop（summer maize and winter wheat） actual evapotranspiration（ET a） in Huang-Huai-Hai（3H） Plain, China. The average seasonal ET a of summer maize and winter wheat were 354.8 and 521.5 mm respectively in 3H Plain. A high-ET a belt of summer maize occurs in piedmont plain, while a low ET a area was found in the hill-irrigable land and dry land area. For winter wheat, a high-ET a area was located in the middle part of 3H Plain, including low plain-hydropenia irrigable land and dry land, hill-irrigable land and dry land, and basin-irrigable land and dry land. Spatial analysis demonstrated a linear relationship between crop ET a, normalized difference vegetation index（NDVI）, and the land surface temperature（LST）. A stronger relationship between ET a and NDVI was found in the metaphase and last phase than other crop growing phase, as indicated by higher correlation coefficient values. Additionally, higher correlation coefficients were detected between ET a and LST than that between ET a and NDVI, and this significant relationship ran through the entire crop growing season. ET a in the summer maize growing season showed a significant relationship with longitude, while ET a in the winter wheat growing season showed a significant relationship with latitude. The results of this study will serve as baseline information for water resources management of 3H Plain.
High-throughput next-generation sequencing (HT-NGS) has the potential to detect a large variety of pathogens; however, the application of HT-NGS in lung transplant (LTx) recipients remains limited. ...We aimed to evaluate the value of HT-NGS for pathogen detection and diagnosis of pulmonary infection during early-stage post-lung transplantation.
In this retrospective study, we enrolled 51 LTx recipients who underwent lung transplantation between January 2020 and December 2020. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples were collected for the detection of pathogens using both HT-NGS and conventional microbiological testing. The detection of pathogens and diagnostic performance of HT-NGS were compared with that of conventional methods.
HT-NGS provided a higher positive rate of pathogen detection than conventional microbiological testing (88.24% vs. 76.47%). The most common bacteria detected via HT-NGS during early-stage post-lung transplantation were Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas and Klebsiella, while all fungi were Candida and all viruses were Herpesvirus. Uncommon pathogens, including Strongyloides, Legionella, and Mycobacterium abscesses were identified by HT-NGS. The sensitivity of HT-NGS for diagnosing pulmonary infection was significantly higher than that of conventional microbiological testing (97.14% vs. 68.57%; P < 0.001). For three LTx recipients, treatment regimens were adjusted according to the results of HT-NGS, leading to a complete recovery.
HT-NGS is a highly sensitive technique for pathogen detection, which may provide diagnostic advantages, especially in LTx recipients, contributing to the optimization of treatment regimens against pulmonary infection during early-stage post-lung transplantation.
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