Fishes' skeletal muscles are crucial for swimming and are differentiated into slow-twitch muscles (SM) and fast-twitch muscles (FM) based on physiological and metabolic properties. Consequently, ...mitochondrial characteristics (number and morphology) adapt to each fiber type's specific functional needs. However, the mechanisms governing mitochondrial adaptation to the specific bioenergetic requirements of each fiber type in teleosts remain unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the mitochondrial differences and mitochondrial homeostasis status (including biogenesis, autophagy, fission, and fusion) between SM and FM in teleosts using
as a representative model. Our findings reveal that SM mitochondria are more numerous and larger compared to FM. To adapt to the increased mitochondrial number and size, SM exhibit elevated mitochondrial biogenesis and dynamics (fission/fusion), yet show no differences in mitochondrial autophagy. Our study provides insights into the adaptive mechanisms shaping mitochondrial characteristics in teleost muscles. The abundance and elongation of mitochondria in SM are maintained through elevated mitochondrial biogenesis, fusion, and fission, suggesting an adaptive response to fulfill the bioenergetic demands of SM that rely extensively on OXPHOS in teleosts. Our findings enhance our understanding of mitochondrial adaptations in diverse muscle types among teleosts and shed light on the evolutionary strategies of bioenergetics in fishes.
Clownfish can be an excellent research model for investigating the socially-controlled sexual development of sequential hermaphrodite teleosts. However, the molecular cascades underlying the social ...cues that orchestrate the sexual development process remain poorly understood. Here, we performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis of gonads from females, males, and nonbreeders of Amphiprion clarkii, which constitute a complete social group, allowing us to investigate the molecular regulatory network under social control. Our analysis highlighted that the gonads of nonbreeders and males exhibited high similarities but were far from females, both in global transcriptomic profiles and histological characteristics, and identified numerous candidate genes involved in sexual development, some well-known and some novel. Significant upregulation of cyp19a1a, foxl2, nr5a1a, wnt4a, hsd3b7, and pgr in females provides strong evidence for the importance of steroidogenesis in ovarian development and maintenance, with cyp19a1a playing a central role. Amh and sox8 are two potential key factors that may regulate testicular tissue development in early and late stages, respectively, as they are expressed at higher levels in males than in females, but with slightly different expression timings. Unlike previous descriptions in other fishes, the unique expression pattern of dmrt1 in A. clarkii implied its potential function in both male and female gonads, and we speculated that it might play promoting roles in the early development of both testicular and ovarian tissues.
The skeletal muscles of teleost fish encompass heterogeneous muscle types, termed slow-twitch muscle (SM) and fast-twitch muscle (FM), characterized by distinct morphological, anatomical, ...histological, biochemical, and physiological attributes, driving different swimming behaviors. Despite the central role of metabolism in regulating skeletal muscle types and functions, comprehensive metabolomics investigations focusing on the metabolic differences between these muscle types are lacking. To reveal the differences in metabolic characteristics between the SM and FM of teleost, we conducted an untargeted metabolomics analysis using Pseudocaranx dentex as a representative model and identified 411 differential metabolites (DFMs), of which 345 exhibited higher contents in SM and 66 in FM. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that these DFMs were enriched in the metabolic processes of lipids, amino acids, carbohydrates, purines, and vitamins, suggesting that there were significant differences between the SM and FM in multiple metabolic pathways, especially in the metabolism of energy substances. Furthermore, an integrative analysis of metabolite contents, enzymatic activity assays, and gene expression levels involved in ATP-PCr phosphate, anaerobic glycolysis, and aerobic oxidative energy systems was performed to explore the potential regulatory mechanisms of energy metabolism differences. The results unveiled a set of differential metabolites, enzymes, and genes between the SM and FM, providing compelling molecular evidence of the FM achieving a higher anaerobic energy supply capacity through the ATP-PCr phosphate and glycolysis energy systems, while the SM obtains greater energy supply capacity via aerobic oxidation. These findings significantly advance our understanding of the metabolic profiles and related regulatory mechanisms of skeletal muscles, thereby expanding the knowledge of metabolic physiology and ecological adaptation in teleost fish.
Biodiversity plays a fundamental role in provisioning and regulating forest ecosystem functions and services. Above‐ground (plants) and below‐ground (soil microbes) biodiversity could have ...asynchronous change paces to human‐driven land‐use impacts. Yet, we know very little how they affect the provision of multiple forest functions related to carbon accumulation, water retention capacity and nutrient cycling simultaneously (i.e. ecosystem multifunctionality; EMF). We used a dataset of 22,000 temperate forest trees from 260 plots within 11 permanent forest sites in Northeastern China, which are recovering from three post‐logging disturbances. We assessed the direct and mediating effects of multiple attributes of plant biodiversity (taxonomic, phylogenetic, functional and stand structure) and soil biodiversity (bacteria and fungi) on EMF under the three disturbance levels. We found the highest EMF in highly disturbed rather than undisturbed mature forests. Plant taxonomic, phylogenetic, functional and stand structural diversity had both positive and negative effects on EMF, depending on how the EMF index was quantified, whereas soil microbial diversity exhibited a consistent positive impact. Biodiversity indices explained on average 45% (26%–58%) of the variation in EMF, whereas climate and disturbance together explained on average 7% (0.4%–15%). Our result highlighted that the tremendous effect of biodiversity on EMF, largely overpassing those of both climate and disturbance. While above‐ (β = 0.02–0.19) and below‐ground (β = 0.16–0.26) biodiversity had direct positive effects on EMF, their opposite mediating effects (β = −0.22 vs. β = 0.35 respectively) played as divergent pathways to human disturbance impacts on EMF. Our study sheds light on the need for integrative frameworks simultaneously considering above‐ and below‐ground attributes to grasp the global picture of biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning and services. Suitable management interventions could maintain both plant and soil microbial biodiversity, and thus guarantee a long‐term functioning and provisioning of ecosystem services in an increasing disturbance frequency world.
Higher EMF was found in disturbed forests rather than relatively undisturbed mature forests. Above‐and below‐ground biodiversity had direct positive effects on EMF, their opposite mediating effects played as divergent pathways to human disturbance impacts on EMF.
Abstract
Background
Neuro-Behçet's disease (NBD), characterized by isolated intracranial hypertension, is a rarely encountered condition, especially in children. In this study, we describe the ...treatment of a pediatric patient with NBD, who exhibited isolated intracranial pressure elevation as indicated by the initial manifestation of diplopia and physical examination finding of papilledema.
Case presentation
An 8-year-old boy was admitted to the hospital with a confirmed diagnosis of Behçet's disease (BD) over eight months. The patient also presented with the symptom of diplopia for three days. The evaluation of the patient’s nervous system did not reveal any apparent abnormalities. The measurement of cerebrospinal fluid pressure yielded a reading of 470 mm H
2
O. The examination of the fundus indicated papilledema, and imaging scans revealed evidence of focal demyelination. The symptoms of the child showed alleviation after the administration of mannitol, methylprednisolone, and azathioprine. Furthermore, this study involved a comprehensive analysis of 18 cases of NBD with isolated intracranial hypertension, comprising one case reported herein and 17 cases from the literature review. Three cases were children, and an equal distribution of males and females 9:9 was noted. The average age at the onset of symptoms was 24.7 years (8-38 years). Headache (90%) was the most commonly reported clinical manifestation, followed by blurred vision or diplopia (80%). The ocular manifestations included papilledema (100%), abducent nerve paralysis (20%) and local eye hemorrhages in the retina (30%). Notably, 88.9% of these ocular manifestations were relieved or cured after treatment.
Conclusion
This study presents the first reported case of NBD with isolated intracranial hypertension in the pediatric population of China. In a child with Bechet's disease presenting with features of raised intracranial pressure, it is important to be aware of neuro Bechet's presenting with intracranial hypertension without other neurological abnormalities. This will help make early diagnosis, institute treatment and prevent sequelae resulting from untreated raised intracranial pressure.
The morphology of nanomaterials may affect their interaction with biomacromolecules such as proteins. Previous work has studied the size-dependent binding of pristine nC60 to bovine/human serum ...albumin using the fluorometric method and found that the fluorescence inner filter effect might affect this interaction. However, if it is necessary to accurately calculate and obtain binding information, the fluorescence inner filter effect should not be ignored. This work aimed to further investigate the effect of the fluorescence inner filter on the interaction between pristine nC60 with different particle sizes (140–160, 120–140, 90–110, 50–70, and 30–50 nm) and bovine serum albumin for a more accurate comprehension of the binding of pristine nC60 to bovine serum albumin. The nC60 nanoparticles with different size distributions used in the experiments were obtained by the solvent displacement and centrifugation method. UV-Vis spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to study the binding of nC60 with different size distributions to bovine serum albumin (BSA) before and after eliminating the fluorescence inner filter effect. The results showed that the fluorescence inner filter effect had an influence on the interaction between nC60 and proteins to some extent, and still did not change the rule of the size-dependent binding of nC60 nanoparticles to BSA. Further studies on the binding parameters (binding constants and the number of binding sites) between them were performed, and the effect of the binding on BSA structures and conformation were also speculated.
The new therapeutic agents, such as molecular targeted agents and immuno‐oncology therapies, appear more likely to induce multiple toxicities at different grades than dose‐limiting toxicities defined ...in traditional dose‐finding trials. In addition, it is often challenging to make adaptive decisions on dose escalation and de‐escalation on time because of the fast accrual rate and/or the late‐onset toxicity outcomes, causing the potential suspension of the enrollment and the delay of the trials. To address these issues, we propose a time‐to‐event Bayesian optimal interval design to accelerate the dose‐finding process utilizing toxicity grades based on both cumulative and pending toxicity outcomes. The proposed design, named “TITE‐gBOIN” design, is a nonparametric and model‐assisted design and has the virtues of robustness, simplicity and straightforward to implement in actual oncology dose‐finding trials. A simulation study shows that the TITE‐gBOIN design has a higher probability of selecting the MTDs correctly and allocating more patients to the MTDs across various realistic settings while reducing the trial duration significantly, therefore can accelerate early‐stage dose‐finding trials.
The brain is approximately 75% water. Therefore, insufficient water intake may affect the cognitive performance of humans. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of water restriction and ...supplementation on cognitive performances and mood, and the optimum amount of water to alleviate the detrimental effects of dehydration, among young adults. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 76 young, healthy adults aged 18–23 years old from Baoding, China. After fasting overnight for 12 h, at 8:00 a.m. of day 2, the osmolality of the first morning urine and blood, cognitive performance, and mood were measured as a baseline test. After water restriction for 24 h, at 8:00 a.m. of day 3, the same indexes were measured as a dehydration test. Participants were randomly assigned into four groups: water supplementation group (WS group) 1, 2, or 3 (given 1000, 500, or 200 mL purified water), and the no water supplementation group (NW group). Furthermore, participants were instructed to drink all the water within 10 min. Ninety minutes later, the same measurements were performed as a rehydration test. Compared with the baseline test, participants were all in dehydration and their scores on the portrait memory test, vigor, and self-esteem decreased (34 vs. 27, p < 0.001; 11.8 vs. 9.2, p < 0.001; 7.8 vs. 6.4, p < 0.001). Fatigue and TMD (total mood disturbance) increased (3.6 vs. 4.8, p = 0.004; 95.7 vs. 101.8, p < 0.001) in the dehydration test. Significant interactions between time and volume were found in hydration status, fatigue, vigor, TMD, symbol search test, and operation span test (F = 6.302, p = 0.001; F = 3.118, p = 0.029; F = 2.849, p = 0.043; F = 2.859, p = 0.043; F = 3.463, p = 0.021) when comparing the rehydration and dehydration test. Furthermore, the hydration status was better in WS group 1 compared to WS group 2; the fatigue and TMD scores decreased, and the symbol search test and operation span test scores increased, only in WS group 1 and WS group 2 (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between them (p > 0.05). Dehydration impaired episodic memory and mood. Water supplementation improved processing speed, working memory, and mood, and 1000 mL was the optimum volume.
The body's water and sodium balances are tightly regulated and monitored by the brain. Few studies have explored the relationship between water and salt intake, and whether sodium intake with ...different levels of fluid intake leads to changes in hydration status remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to determine the patterns of water intake and hydration status among young adults with different levels of daily salt intakes. Participants' total drinking fluids and water from food were determined by a 7-day 24-h fluid intake questionnaire for 7 days (from Day 1 to Day 7) and duplicate portion method (Day 5, Day 6 and Day 7). Urine of 24 h for 3 days (Day 5, Day 6 and Day 7) was collected and tested for the osmolality, the urine-specific gravity (USG), the concentrations of electrolytes, pH, creatinine, uric acid and the urea. The fasting blood samples for 1 day (Day 6) were collected and measured for the osmolality and the concentrations of electrolytes. The salt intakes of the participants were evaluated from the concentrations of Na of 24 h urine of 3 days (Day 5, Day 6 and Day 7). Participants were divided into four groups according to the quartile of salt intake, including the low salt intake (LS
), LS
, high salt intake (HS
) and HS
groups. In total, 156 participants (including 80 male and 76 female young adults) completed the study. The salt intakes were 7.6, 10.9, 14.7 and 22.4 g among participants in the four groups (LS
, LS
, HS
and HS
groups, respectively), which differed significantly in all groups (
= 252.020; all
< 0.05). Compared to the LS
and LS
groups, the HS
group had 310-381, 250-358 and 382-655 mL more amounts of water from the total water intake (TWI), total drinking fluids and water from food (all
< 0.05), respectively. Participants in the HS
group had 384-403, 129-228 and 81-114 mL more in the water, water from dishes and staple foods, respectively, than those in the groups of LS
and LS
(
< 0.05). The HS
group excreted 386-793 mL more urine than those in the groups of LS
and LS
(
< 0.05). However, regarding urine osmolality, the percentage of participants with optimal hydration status decreased from 41.0% in LS
and LS
to 25.6% in the HS
group (
0.05). Participants with higher salt intake had higher TWI, total drinking fluids and water from food. Nevertheless, they had inferior hydration status. A reduction in salt intake should be encouraged among young adults to maintain optimal hydration status.
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