Association Between HTRA1, GAS6 and IFNGR2 Gene Polymorphisms and Stroke Susceptibility in the Chinese Han Population.

Background: Stroke has a high disability rate, and 30% of stroke cases have an unknown cause. Accurate diagnosis and treatment of stroke requires consideration of several rare heritable and non-heritable factors. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the impacts of three genetic polymorphisms (rs369149111 in HTRA1, rs1803628 in GAS6 and rs9808753 in IFNGR2) on stroke susceptibility among the Chinese Han population. Methods: Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 623 stroke cases and 572 healthy controls were genotyped by the Agena MassARRAY platform. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by logistic regression analysis to evaluate the associations of three SNPs with stroke susceptibility. Additionally, SNP-SNP interactions were analyzed by multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR). Results: As demonstrated by the overall analysis, rs9808753 in IFNGR2 (allele: OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.06-1.47, p = 0.007; homozygous: OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.14-2.23, p = 0.007; dominant: OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.02-1.67, p = 0.032; recessive: OR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.05-1.91, p = 0.022; additive: OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.07-1.48, p = 0.007) was associated with an increased susceptibility to stroke. Besides, stratification analysis suggested that rs9808753 was associated with an increased risk of stroke in subgroup aged ≤ 64 years, males and drinkers (p < 0.05). And rs1803628 in GAS6 was significantly associated with an increased susceptibility to stroke in non-smokers (p < 0.05). Conclusion: A risk-increasing effect of IFNGR2 rs980875 on stroke was detected in this study, which further broadens the understanding of the relationship between genetic polymorphisms and stroke susceptibility.

Association of CASZ1 genetic variants with stroke risk in the Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a heterogeneous disease with multiple etiologies, placing a heavy burden on the world. Our purpose was to clarify the association between CASZ1 genetic variants and stroke risk in the Chinese population. METHODS: The Agena MassARRAY platform effectively genotyped three single nucleotide polymorphisms of CASZ1 in recruited 591 stroke patients and 553 healthy controls. Logistic regression genetic models were employed to evaluate the relationship between CASZ1 polymorphisms and stroke risk through odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Then, the interaction between CASZ1 variants was detected by multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR). Moreover, functional enrichment analyses of the CASZ1 gene were performed by Metascape. RESULTS: In this study, CASZ1 rs4845941 and rs778228 were significantly associated with an increased risk of stroke. In particular, the gender-stratified analysis also showed that rs778228 of CASZ1 had an association with higher stroke risk in females. The relationship between stroke susceptibility and the interaction models of rs4845941, rs778228, and rs17035539 forecasted by MDR were analyzed to improve the ability to predict stroke risk. Furthermore, we found CASZ1 and related genes might facilitate the occurrence of stroke. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that CASZ1 genetic variants (rs4845941 and rs778228) contribute to the occurrence of stroke in the Chinese population, and therefore has important implications for treating and preventing stroke.

CYP1B1 Genetic Variants (rs10916 and rs2855658) Are Associated with Increased Risk of Ischemic Stroke in Chinese Han Population.

INTRODUCTION: Ischemic stroke (IS) is an extremely complex disease caused by the combined action of multiple environmental and genetic factors. CYP1B1 is a member of the cytochrome P450 protein family, and it is an important human drug-metabolizing enzymes. We aimed to explore the association between CYP1B1 genetic variants and IS risk in Chinese Han population. METHODS: We recruited 1,150 participants to conduct a "case-control" study. The assessment of association between candidate CYP1B1 genetic variants (rs2855658, rs10916, rs162560, rs2567206) and IS risk was performed by SNPStats online software. In addition, false-positive report probability analysis was used to detect whether the positive findings were just chance or noteworthy observations. Finally, the interaction of candidate SNPs in IS risk was evaluated by multifactor dimensionality reduction. RESULTS: The results showed that CYP1B1-rs2855658 was a risk factor for IS among ≥60-year-old (dominant: p = 0.034; overdominant: p = 0.026), smoking (heterozygote: p = 0.009; dominant: p = 0.004; overdominant: p = 0.012; log-additive: p = 0.003), and drinking participants (homozygous: p = 0.036; dominant: p = 0.019; recessive: p = 0.012; log-additive: p = 0.006). CYP1B1-rs10916 also was a risk factor for IS patients among ≥60-year-old (heterozygote: p = 0.047; overdominant: p = 0.048), smoking (dominant: p = 0.050; overdominant: p = 0.049), and drinking participants (dominant: p = 0.019; overdominant: p = 0.038; log-additive: p = 0.013). CONCLUSION: CYP1B1-rs10916 and CYP1B1-rs2855658 can increase the IS risk in Chinese Han population who are ≥60 years old, smoking, or drinking alcohol.

Manipulation of Skyrmion Motion Dynamics for Logical Device Application Mediated by Inhomogeneous Magnetic Anisotropy.

Magnetic skyrmions are promising potential information carriers for future spintronic devices owing to their nanoscale size, non-volatility and high mobility. In this work, we demonstrate the controlled manipulation of skyrmion motion and its implementation in a new concept of racetrack logical device by introducing an inhomogeneous perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) via micromagnetic simulation. Here, the inhomogeneous PMA can be introduced by a capping nano-island that serves as a tunable potential barriers/well which can effectively modulate the size and shape of isolated skyrmion. Using the inhomogeneous PMA in skyrmion-based racetrack enables the manipulation of skyrmion motion behaviors, for instance, blocking, trapping or allowing passing the injected skyrmion. In addition, the skyrmion trapping operation can be further exploited in developing special designed racetrack devices with logic AND and NOT, wherein a set of logic AND operations can be realized via skyrmion-skyrmion repulsion between two skyrmions. These results indicate an effective method for tailoring the skyrmion structures and motion behaviors by using inhomogeneous PMA, which further provide a new pathway to all-electric skyrmion-based memory and logic devices.

Using Participatory Design Methods to Explore Changes in the Self-Efficacy of Students with Visual Impairments After Playing Exergames.

Objective: To explore changes in task/scheduling self-efficacy in children with visual impairments after playing exergames, using the participatory design (PD) method to guide students with visual impairments to engage in the design and test of exergames. Materials and Methods: A pre-/post-test was used with two experimental groups (nine high school students with visual impairments aged 18-21, nine junior high school students with visual impairments aged 14-17). Data were analyzed by an independent-/paired-sample t-test to assess changes in task/scheduling self-efficacy of different groups after gameplay. Data of three dimensions (psychological emotion, physical activity, and social interaction) were collected through texts, participative observations, live notetaking, and video recordings. These dimensions provide opportunities for children with visual impairments to improve their self-efficacy. Results: Exergames helped children with visual impairments to improve their task and scheduling self-efficacy. It confirmed that exergames can be useful to promote their psychological emotion, enhance levels of positive physical activity, and increase social opportunities to improve self-efficacy. Conclusion: Participants of various ages who engaged in exergames reported an improvement in both task and scheduling self-efficacy in terms of psychological emotion, physical activity, and social interaction. The PD approach may be useful in the design of products for people with visual impairments and may ultimately be helpful in supporting the social and physical needs of people with disabilities.

Sirt1 activator SRT2104 protects against oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation-induced injury via regulating microglia polarization by modulating Sirt1/NF-κB pathway.

Cerebral ischemic/reperfusion injury is the most common neurological disorder and the second leading cause of death worldwide. Modulating microglia polarization from pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype to anti-inflammatory M2 state has been suggested as a potential therapeutic approach in the treatment of this injury. SRT2104, a novel activator of histone deacetylase Sirtuin-1 (Sirt1), has recently been shown to have anti-inflammation properties. However, the effect of SRT2104 on cerebral ischemic/reperfusion injury has not been elucidated. Here, we found that SRT2104 inhibited neuron and microglia death directly and indirectly through microglia condition medium from an oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) -induced cell injury models. Moreover, SRT2104 treatment modulated the microglia polarization shift from the M1 phenotype and skewed toward the M2 phenotype. Additionally, we found that SRT2104 could significant inhibit the activation of NF-κB and enhanced Sirt1 expression in microglia. Mechanism studies using the BV2 microglial cell line confirmed that knockdown Sirt1 significantly reduced the effect of SRT2104 on the activation of NF-κB pathway and microglial phenotype shift. Altogether, our result shows SRT2104 protect OGD/R-induced injury through shifting microglia phenotype, which may have potential in further studies as a novel neuroprotective agent for cerebral ischemic/reperfusion injury therapy.

Controllable entanglement preparations between atoms in spatially-separated cavities via quantum Zeno dynamics.

By using quantum Zeno dynamics, we propose a controllable approach to deterministically generate tripartite GHZ states for three atoms trapped in spatially separated cavities. The nearest-neighbored cavities are connected via optical fibers and the atoms trapped in two ends are tunably driven. The generation of the GHZ state can be implemented by only one step manipulation, and the EPR entanglement between the atoms in two ends can be further realized deterministically by Von Neumann measurement on the middle atom. Note that the duration of the quantum Zeno dynamics is controllable by switching on/off the applied external classical drivings and the desirable tripartite GHZ state will no longer evolve once it is generated. The robustness of the proposal is numerically demonstrated by considering various decoherence factors, including atomic spontaneous emissions, cavity decays and fiber photon leakages, etc. Our proposal can be directly generalized to generate multipartite entanglement by still driving the atoms in two ends.