The role of the immune system in early-onset schizophrenia: identifying immune characteristic genes and cells from peripheral blood.

BACKGROUND: Early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) is a type of schizophrenia (SCZ) with an age of onset of < 18 years. An abnormal inflammatory immune system may be involved in the occurrence and development of SCZ. We aimed to identify the immune characteristic genes and cells involved in EOS and to further explore the pathogenesis of EOS from the perspective of immunology. METHODS: We obtained microarray data from a whole-genome mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs); 19 patients with EOS (age range: 14.79 ± 1.90) and 18 healthy controls (HC) (age range: 15.67 ± 2.40) were involved. We screened for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using the Limma software package and modular genes using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). In addition, to identify immune characteristic genes and cells, we performed enrichment analysis, immune infiltration analysis, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis; we also used a random forest (RF), a support vector machine (SVM), and the LASSO-Cox algorithm. RESULTS: We selected the following immune characteristic genes: CCL8, PSMD1, AVPR1B and SEMG1. We employed a RF, a SVM, and the LASSO-Cox algorithm. We identified the following immune characteristic cells: activated mast cells, CD4+ memory resting T cells, resting mast cells, neutrophils and CD4+ memory activated T cells. In addition, the AUC values of the immune characteristic genes and cells were all > 0.7. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that immune system function is altered in SCZ. In addition, CCL8, PSMD1, AVPR1B and SEMG1 may regulate peripheral immune cells in EOS. Further, immune characteristic genes and cells are expected to be diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets of SCZ.

Plasma levels of hydrogen sulfide and homocysteine correlate with the efficacy of antidepressant agents and serve as potential diagnostic and therapeutic markers.

OBJECTIVE: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is associated with depressive-like behavior in rodents. We undertook cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of plasma levels of H2S and its substrate homocysteine (Hcy) in depression and assessed the association of both parameters with psychopathology and cognitive function. METHODS: Forty-one patients suffering from depression (PSDs) and 48 healthy volunteers were recruited. PSDs were treated for 8 weeks. Analyzable data were collected from all participants for assessment of their psychopathology and cognitive function. Plasma was collected for determination of levels of H2S and Hcy, and data were correlated to determine their potential as plasma biomarkers. RESULTS: Cross-sectional analyses revealed PSDs to have a low plasma H2S level and high Hcy level. Longitudinal analyses revealed that 8 weeks of treatment reversed the changes in plasma levels of H2S and Hcy in PSDs. Plasma levels of H2S and Hcy were associated with psychopathology and cognitive function in depression. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for a combination of plasma levels of H2S and Hcy and expression of the TNF gene (i.e., H2S-Hcy-TNF) was 0.848 for diagnosing depression and 0.977 for predicting the efficacy of antidepressant agents. CONCLUSION: Plasma levels of H2S and Hcy reflect changes in psychopathology and cognitive function in depression and H2S-Hcy-TNF has the potential to diagnose depression and predict the efficacy of antidepressant medications.

Urine Metabolic Profiling for Rapid Lung Cancer Screening: A Strategy Combining Rh-Doped SrTiO3-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry and Machine Learning.

Lung cancer ranks among the cancers with the highest global incidence rates and mortality. Swift and extensive screening is crucial for the early-stage diagnosis of lung cancer. Laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) possesses clear advantages over traditional analytical methods for large-scale analysis due to its unique features, such as simple sample processing, rapid speed, and high-throughput performance. As n-type semiconductors, titanate-based perovskite materials can generate charge carriers under ultraviolet light irradiation, providing the capability for use as an LDI-MS substrate. In this study, we employ Rh-doped SrTiO3 (STO/Rh)-assisted LDI-MS combined with machine learning to establish a method for urine-based lung cancer screening. We directly analyzed urine metabolites from lung cancer patients (LCs), pneumonia patients (PNs), and healthy controls (HCs) without employing any pretreatment. Through the integration of machine learning, LCs are successfully distinguished from HCs and PNs, achieving impressive area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.940 for LCs vs HCs and 0.864 for LCs vs PNs. Furthermore, we identified 10 metabolites with significantly altered levels in LCs, leading to the discovery of related pathways through metabolic enrichment analysis. These results suggest the potential of this method for rapidly distinguishing LCs in clinical applications and promoting precision medicine.

Robust Ru-VO2 Bifunctional Catalysts for All-pH Overall Water Splitting.

Designing robust bifunctional catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction in all-pH conditions for overall water splitting (OWS) is an effective way to achieve sustainable development. Herein, a composite Ru-VO2 containing Ru-doped VO2 and Ru nanoparticles (NPs) is synthesized, and it shows a high OWS performance in full-pH range due to their synergist effect. In particular, the OER mass activities of Ru-VO2 at 1.53 V (vs RHE) in acidic, alkaline, and PBS solutions are ≈65, 36, and 235 times of commercial RuO2 in the same conditions. The "Ru-VO2 || Ru-VO2 " two-electrode electrolyzer only needs a voltage of 1.515 V (at 10 mA cm-2 ) in acidic water splitting, which can operate stably for 125 h at 10 mA cm-2 without significant voltage decay. In situ Raman spectra and in situ differential electrochemical mass spectrometry prove that the OER of Ru-VO2 in acid follows the adsorption evolution mechanism. Density functional theory calculations further reveal the synergistic effect between Ru NP and Ru-doped VO2 , which breaks the hydrogen bond network formed by *OH adsorbed on the Ru single-atom site, and thereby significantly enhances the OER activity. This work provides new insights into the design of novel bifunctional pH-universal catalysts for OWS.

Construction of Single-Atom Catalysts for N, O Synergistic Coordination and Application to Electrocatalytic O2 Reduction.

Replacing expensive platinum oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts with atomically dispersed single-atom catalysts is an effective way to improve the energy conversion efficiency of fuel cells. Herein, a series of single-atom catalysts, TM-N2O2Cx (TM=Sc-Zn) with TM-N2O2 active units, were designed, and their catalytic performance for electrocatalytic O2 reduction was investigated based on density functional theory. The results show that TM-N2O2Cx exhibits excellent catalytic activity and stability in acidic media. The eight catalysts (TM=Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) are all 4e- reaction paths, among which Sc-N2O2Cx, Ti-N2O2Cx, and V-N2O2Cx follow dissociative mechanisms and the rest are consistent with associative mechanisms. In particular, Co-N2O2Cx and Ni-N2O2Cx enable a smooth reduction in O2 at small overpotentials (0.44 V and 0.49 V, respectively). Furthermore, a linear relationship between the adsorption free energies of the ORR oxygen-containing intermediates was evident, leading to the development of a volcano plot for the purpose of screening exceptional catalysts for ORR. This research will offer a novel strategy for the design and fabrication of exceptionally efficient non-precious metal catalysts on an atomic scale.

The role of Class â ¡ KNOX family in controlling compound leaf patterning in Medicago truncatula.

Compound leaf development requires the coordination of genetic factors, hormones, and other signals. In this study, we explored the functions of Class Ⅱ KNOTTED-like homeobox (KNOXII) genes in the model leguminous plant Medicago truncatula. Phenotypic and genetic analyses suggest that MtKNOX4, 5 are able to repress leaflet formation, while MtKNOX3, 9, 10 are not involved in this developmental process. Further investigations have shown that MtKNOX4 represses the CK signal transduction, which is downstream of MtKNOXⅠ-mediated CK biosynthesis. Additionally, two boundary genes, FUSED COMPOUND LEAF1 (orthologue of Arabidopsis Class M KNOX) and NO APICAL MERISTEM (orthologue of Arabidopsis CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON), are necessary for MtKNOX4-mediated compound leaf formation. These findings suggest, that among the members of MtKNOXⅡ, MtKNOX4 plays a crucial role in integrating the CK pathway and boundary regulators, providing new insights into the roles of MtKNOXⅡ in regulating the elaboration of compound leaves in M. truncatula.

Plasma exosomes lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network construction and its diagnostic efficacy identification in first-episode schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: The exosomal lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks in first episode schizophrenia (FOS) have not reported yet. This study examined the lncRNA, miRNA and mRNA expression level in exosome derived from first episode schizophrenia (FOS) patients, and explored the the potential of exosomes as biomarkers for schizophrenia. METHODS: We recruited 10 FOS patients and healthy controls (HCs) respectively, examined the lncRNA, miRNA and mRNA expression level of plasma exosome by high throughput sequencing, constructed lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network, and performed correlation analysis, GO and KEGG pathway analysis, PPI network construction and ROC analysis. RESULTS: There were 746 differently expressed lncRNA, 22 differently expressed miRNA, and 2637 differently expressed mRNA in plasma exosome in FOS compared with HCs. Then we constructed ceRNA network consisting of 8 down-regulated lncRNA, 7 up-regulated miRNA and 65 down-regulated mRNA, and 1 up-regulated lncRNA, 1 down-regulated miRNA and 4 up-regulated mRNA. The expression level of 1 lncRNA and 7 mRNA in exosomal network were correlated with PANSS score. GO and KEGG pathway analysis showed that 4 up-regulated mRNAs were enriched in neuropsychiatric system function. Down-regulated mRNA EZH2 and SIRT1 were identified as hub gene. Finally, we detected the ROC curve of ENSG00000251562, miR-26a-5p, EZH2, miR-22-3p, SIRT1, ENSG00000251562-miR-26a-5p-EZH2, ENSG00000251562-miR-22-3p-SIRT1, and found that the AUC of ceRNA network was higher than lncRNA, miRNA and mRNA alone. CONCLUSION: We constructed the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network in exosome derived from FOS plasma, and found that lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network has potential as biomarkers for FOS.

Literacy acquisition facilitates inversion effects for faces with full-, low-, and high-spatial frequency: evidence from illiterate and literate adults.

Previous studies have found that literacy acquisition modulates configural face processing (i.e., holistic and second-order configural processing). However, it remains unclear how literacy acquisition impacts the configural processing indexed by the inversion effect of normal or filtered faces. We asked Chinese illiterate and literate adults to judge whether two sequentially-presented stimuli, including faces, houses (experiment 1), and high- or low-pass filtered faces (experiment 2) were identical. Literate adults outperformed illiterate controls in the upright face and house conditions (experiment 1) and the upright high- and low-pass filtered conditions (experiment 2) but not in the inverted conditions. Notably, the size of an inversion effect (i.e., subtracting inverted accuracy from upright accuracy) was greater among literate adults than that among illiterate adults in both experiments. These findings support that literacy acquisition promotes configural face processing.

Processing objects of perceptual expertise: Differential interhemispheric transmission efficiency but similar transmission direction advantages.

Faces and Chinese characters are both objects of perceptual expertise. In this study, we investigated the characteristics of interhemispheric transmission times (IHTTs) in both transmission direction and transmission efficiency during the processing of objects of perceptual expertise. A total of 112 participants engaged in a divided visual field paradigm for faces, Chinese characters, and houses in both upright and inverted orientations. The N170 amplitudes elicited by the objects of perceptual expertise (faces and Chinese characters) involved in this study were larger than those elicited by the non-perceptual expertise objects (houses). We used the latencies of the N170 component of the event-related potential (ERP) recorded in the left and right hemispheres to calculate the IHTTs. For all objects, the N170-related IHTTs from the right to the left hemispheres were shorter than those in the opposite direction. Essentially, the N170-related IHTTs for faces were shorter, that is, more efficient than those for Chinese characters and houses. This result indicates that the IHTTs during perceptual expertise and non-perceptual expertise object processing share a common transmission direction advantage, but transmission efficiency is face-specific.

The development of processing second-order spatial relations of faces in Chinese preschoolers.

Second-order relational information processing is the perception of the relative distance between facial features. Previous studies ignored the effect of different spatial manipulations on second-order sensitivity in face processing, and little is known about its developmental trajectory in East Asian populations, who have stronger holistic face processing than Western populations. We addressed these gaps in the literature through an experiment with four groups of Chinese preschool children (aged 3-6 years; n = 157) and a group of adults (n = 25). The participants were presented with face pairs displaying features with various spatial distance manipulations (Change 1: changes in the spacing between eyes; Change 2: nose-mouth spacing changes; Change 3: a combination of Changes 1 and 2) using a simultaneous two-alternative forced-choice task. Second-order sensitivity was already present in 3-year-old children across all manipulations and became more pronounced in 4-year-old children. Second-order sensitivity to the spatial distance between the eyes (i.e., Changes 1 and 3) among 4-year-olds was higher than that of 3-year-olds and was similar to that of adults, suggesting a key increase of this sensitivity from 3 to 4 years of age. Regarding the Change 2 condition, preschoolers aged 5 and 6 years had higher sensitivity than 3-year-olds; however, all preschoolers' sensitivity was inferior to that of adults. These findings show that the development of Chinese preschoolers' sensitivity for detecting spatial relations between the eyes might be faster than that for detecting nose-mouth spacing, supporting the importance of eyes in face processing.

Alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist PHA-543613 improves memory deficits in presenilin 1 and presenilin 2 conditional double knockout mice.

Cholinergic system dysfunction has been considered as a critical feature of neurodegenerative progression in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7-nAChRs) are widely expressed in the hippocampus cortex and play an important role in memory formation, considered as potential therapeutic agents targets. However, underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Here, we combine behavioral, molecular biological methods with in vitro slice and in vivo multichannel electrophysiological recording techniques to investigate the molecular, cellular synaptic and neuronal mechanisms of activating α7-nAChR by PHA-543613 (a selective α7-nAChR agonist), which influences the impaired cognitive function using presenilin 1 (PS1) and presenilin 2 (PS2) conditional double knockout (cDKO) mice. Our results demonstrated that PHA-543613 treatment significantly improved the impaired hippocampus-related memory via recovering the reduced the hippocampal synaptic protein levels of α7-nAChR, NMADAR and AMPAR, thereby restoring the impaired post-tetanic potentiation (PTP), long-term potentiation (LTP), activation of molecular signaling pathway for neuronal protection, theta power and strength of theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) at hippocampus in 6-month-old cDKO mice. For the first time, we systematically reveal the mechanisms by which PHA-543613 improves memory deficits at different levels. Therefore, our findings may be significant for the development of therapeutic strategies for AD.

The role of hippocampal CaMKII in resilience to trauma-related psychopathology.

Traumatic stress exposure can form persistent trauma-related memories. However, only a minority of individuals develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms upon exposure. We employed a rat model of PTSD, which enables differentiating between exposed-affected and exposed-unaffected individuals. Two weeks after the end of exposure, male rats were tested behaviorally, following an exposure to a trauma reminder, identifying them as trauma 'affected' or 'unaffected.' In light of the established role of hippocampal synaptic plasticity in stress and the essential role of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) in hippocampal based synaptic plasticity, we pharmacologically inhibited CaMKII or knocked-down (kd) αCaMKII (in two separate experiments) in the dorsal dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (dDG) following exposure to the same trauma paradigm. Both manipulations brought down the prevalence of 'affected' individuals in the trauma-exposed population. A day after the last behavioral test, long-term potentiation (LTP) was examined in the dDG as a measure of synaptic plasticity. Trauma exposure reduced the ability to induce LTP, whereas, contrary to expectation, αCaMKII-kd reversed this effect. Further examination revealed that reducing αCaMKII expression enables the formation of αCaMKII-independent LTP, which may enable increased resilience in the face of a traumatic experience. The current findings further emphasize the pivotal role dDG has in stress resilience.

Unraveling the Synergistic Reaction and the Deactivation Mechanism for the Catalytic Degradation of Double Components of Sulfur-Containing VOCs over ZSM-5-Based Materials.

The competitive adsorption behavior, the synergistic catalytic reaction, and deactivation mechanisms under double components of sulfur-containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a bridge to solve their actual pollution problems. However, they are still unknown. Herein, simultaneous catalytic decomposition of methyl mercaptan (CH3SH) and ethyl mercaptan (C2H5SH) is investigated over lanthanum (La)-modified ZSM-5, and kinetic and thermodynamic results confirm a great difference in the adsorption property and catalytic transformation behavior. Meanwhile, the new synergistic reaction and deactivation mechanisms are revealed at the molecular level by combining with in situ diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (in situ DRIFTS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The CH3CH2* and SH* groups are presented in decomposing C2H5SH, while the new species of CH2*, active H* and S*, instead of CH3* and SH*, are proved as the key elementary groups in decomposing CH3SH. The competitive recombining of SH* in C2H5SH with highly active H* in dimethyl sulfide (CH3SCH3), an intermediate in decomposing CH3SH, would aggravate the deposition of carbon and sulfur. La/ZSM-5 exhibits potential environmental application due to the excellent stability of 200 h and water resistance. This work gives an understanding of the adsorption, catalysis, reaction, and deactivation mechanisms for decomposing double components of sulfur-containing VOCs.

Facile Chemical Vapor Modification Strategy to Construct Surface Cyano-Rich Polymer Carbon Nitrides for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic H2 Evolution.

The surface grafting of electro-negative cyano groups on polymer carbon nitrides (PCNs) is an effective way to tail their electronic structure. Despite the significant progress in the synthesis of cyano group-enriched PCN, developing a simple and efficient method remains challenging. Here, a facile strategy was developed for fabricating surface cyano-rich PCN (PCN-DM) with a porous structure via chemical vapor modification using diaminomaleonitrile. The cyano groups of diaminomaleonitrile substituted the amino groups on PCN surface via a deamination. The hydrogen production rate of the PCN-DM was approximately 17 times higher than that of pristine PCN. This significant increase in photocatalytic performance could be assigned to the fusion of cyano groups in the surface of PCN, forming new gap states that broadened the visible-light harvesting and accelerated charge separation for photoredox reactions. This study unveils a promising approach for incorporating functional units in the design of novel photocatalysts for efficient hydrogen production.

Developmental trajectories of expert perception processing of Chinese characters in primary school children.

Previous studies have demonstrated that inversion effect and left-side bias are stable expertise markers in Chinese character processing among adults. However, it is less clear how these markers develop early on (i.e., among primary school students). Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the development of the two markers by comparing primary school-aged students of three age groups (Grade 1, Grade 3, and Grade 5) and adults in tests of inversion effect (Experiment 1) and left-sided bias effect (Experiment 2). The results replicated that both effects during Chinese character processing were present among adults. However, more importantly, the effects were different among primary school-aged students in different grades: the inversion effect was found as early as in Grade 1, but the left-side bias effect did not emerge in Grade 1 and as approximated that of adults until Grade 3. The study suggested a potential dissociation in developing different aspects of expertise during Chinese character processing in early childhood.

Design, semi-synthesis and bioactivity evaluation of novel podophyllotoxin derivatives as potent anti-tumor agents.

In this study, a series of potential candidate molecules with excellent antitumor activity targeting tubulin and PTEN/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway was synthesized by modifying the molecule structure of podophyllotoxin (PPT) at the C-4 position via a structure-guided drug design approach. MTT assay results indicated that compound 12c had stronger anti-proliferative activities against HGC-27, MCF-7 and H460 cell lines than etoposide (VP-16), especially for HGC-27 (12c: IC50 = 0.89 ± 0.023 µM; PPT: IC50 = 6.54 ± 0.69 µM, VP-16: IC50 = 2.66 ± 0.28 µM) with lower affect in healthy human cells (293 T and GES-1). Further pharmacological analysis exhibited that 12c could bind the tubulin at the colchicine site and disrupt the dynamic equilibrium of microtubules. Moreover, 12c also suppressed the expressions/activities of matrix metalloprotease (MMP)-2, vimentin and up-regulation E-cadherin suggesting that 12c could block the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The increased cell survival and invasion/migration were associated with the inactivation of PTEN/PI3K/Akt, 12c could regulate this pathway and cascade influence on the mitochondrial pathway, eventually, leading to the cell apoptosis. Thus, 12c may have the potential to become a candidate molecule in gastric cancer clinical treatment.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Features on Deep Learning Algorithm for the Diagnosis of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

The objective of this research was to investigate the application values of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of the deep learning-based image super-resolution reconstruction algorithm optimized convolutional neural network (OPCNN) algorithm in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) lesion diagnosis. A total of 54 patients with NPC were selected as research objects. Based on the traditional CNN structure, OPCNN was proposed. Besides, MRI processed by the traditional CNN model and the U-net network model was introduced to be analyzed and compared with its algorithm. The used assessment parameters included volume transfer constant (K trans), rate constant (K ep), volume fraction (V e), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). The results showed that the values of Dice coefficient, peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), and structural similarity (SSIM) of the OPCNN algorithm were significantly higher than those of the traditional CNN model and the U-net network model. Meanwhile, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). K trans, K ep, and V e in tumor lesions were significantly higher than those in the healthy side, while the ADC was significantly lower than that in the healthy side (P < 0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of dynamic contrast-enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) in the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma staging were slightly higher than those in T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). The diagnostic sensitivity of DCE-MRI was more than 85%, its diagnostic specificity was more than 75%, and its diagnostic accuracy was more than 90%. The AUC area of NPC diagnosed by combination of the three was significantly different from that diagnosed by single T2WI, DWI, and DCE-MRI (P < 0.05). The diagnostic accuracy of MRI based on the OPCNN algorithm for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (93.2%) was significantly higher than that of single MRI (76.4%). In summary, the OPCNN algorithm proposed in this study could improve the quality of MRI images, and the effect was better than the traditional deep learning model, which had the value of clinical promotion. The application value of DCE-MRI in the diagnosis of pathogenic lesions of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was better than conventional MRI. The combined application of T2WI, DWI, and DCE-MRI in the screening of nasopharyngeal carcinoma lesions could greatly improve the diagnostic accuracy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Profiling of Urine Carbonyl Metabolic Fingerprints in Bladder Cancer Based on Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometry.

The diagnosis of bladder cancer (BC) is currently based on cystoscopy, which is invasive and expensive. Here, we describe a noninvasive profiling method for carbonyl metabolic fingerprints in BC, which is based on a desorption, separation, and ionization mass spectrometry (DSI-MS) platform with N,N-dimethylethylenediamine (DMED) as a differential labeling reagent. The DSI-MS platform avoids the interferences from intra- and/or intersamples. Additionally, the DMED derivatization increases detection sensitivity and distinguishes carboxyl, aldehyde, and ketone groups in untreated urine samples. Carbonyl metabolic fingerprints of urine from 41 BC patients and 41 controls were portrayed and 9 potential biomarkers were identified. The mechanisms of the regulations of these biomarkers have been tentatively discussed. A logistic regression (LR) machine learning algorithm was applied to discriminate BC from controls, and an accuracy of 85% was achieved. We believe that the method proposed here may pave the way toward the point-of-care diagnosis of BC in a patient-friendly manner.

The Left-Side Bias Is Reduced to Other-Race Faces in Caucasian Individuals.

One stable marker of face perception appears to be left-side bias, the tendency to rely more on information conveyed by the left side of the face than the right. Previous studies have shown that left-side bias is influenced by familiarity and prior experience with face stimuli. Since other-race facial recognition is characterized by reduced familiarity, in contrast to own-race facial recognition, the phenomenon of left-side bias is expected to be weaker for other-race faces. Among Chinese participants, face inversion has been found to eliminate the left-side bias associated with own-race faces. Therefore, it is of interest to know whether face inversion influences left-side bias for non-Chinese research participants and can be generalized across own- and other-race faces. This study assessed 65 Caucasian participants using upright and inverted chimeric Caucasian and Asian faces in an identity similarity-judgment task. Although a significant left-side bias was observed for upright own-race faces, this bias was eliminated by facial inversion, indicating that such a bias depends on the applicability of configural processing strategies. For other-race faces, there was no left-side bias in the upright condition. Interestingly, the inverted presentation yielded a right-side bias. These results show that while left-side bias is affected by familiarity differences between own- and other-race faces, it is a universal phenomenon for upright faces. Inverted presentation strongly reduces left-side bias and may even cause it to revert to right-side bias, suggesting that left-side bias depends on configural face processing.

Enhanced Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Nucleus Accumbens in First-Episode, Medication-Naïve Patients With Early Onset Schizophrenia.

There is abundant evidence that early onset schizophrenia (EOS) is associated with abnormalities in widespread regions, including the cortical, striatal, and limbic areas. As a main component of the ventral striatum, the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is implicated in the pathology of schizophrenia. However, functional connection patterns of NAc in patients with schizophrenia, especially EOS, are seldom explored. A total of 78 first-episode, medication-naïve patients with EOS and 90 healthy controls were recruited in the present study, and resting-state, seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analyses were performed to investigate temporal correlations between NAc and the rest of the brain in the two groups. Additionally, correlation analyses were done between regions showing group differences in NAc functional integration and clinical features of EOS. Group comparison found enhanced FC of the NAc in the EOS group relative to the HCs with increased FC in the right superior temporal gyrus and left superior parietal gyrus with the left NAc region of interest (ROI) and elevated FC in left middle occipital gyrus with the right NAc ROI. No significant associations were found between FC strength and symptom severity as well as the age of the patients. Our findings reveal abnormally enhanced FC of the NAc with regions located in the temporal, parietal, and occipital areas, which were implicated in auditory/visual processing, sensorimotor integration, and cognitive functions. The results suggest disturbed relationships between regions subserving reward, salience processing, and regions subserving sensory processing as well as cognitive functions, which may deepen our understanding of the role of NAc in the pathology of EOS.