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1.
Skin Res Technol ; 30(7): e13781, 2024 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38932454

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Reports suggest that lipid profiles may be linked to the likelihood of developing skin cancer, yet the exact causal relationship is still unknown. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the connection between lipidome and skin cancers, as well as investigate any possible mediators. METHODS: A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was conducted on 179 lipidomes and each skin cancer based on a genome-wide association study (GWAS), including melanoma, basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Then, Bayesian weighted MR was performed to verify the analysis results of two-sample MR. Moreover, a two-step MR was employed to investigate the impact of TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK)-mediated lipidome on skin cancer rates. RESULTS: MR analysis identified higher genetically predicted phosphatidylcholine (PC) (17:0_18:2) could reduce the risk of skin tumors, including BCC (OR = 0.9149, 95% CI: 0.8667-0.9658), SCC (OR = 0.9343, 95% CI: 0.9087-0.9606) and melanoma (OR = 0.9982, 95% CI: 0.9966-0.9997). The proportion of PC (17:0_18:2) predicted by TWEAK-mediated genetic prediction was 6.6 % in BCC and 7.6% in SCC. The causal relationship between PC (17:0_18:2) and melanoma was not mediated by TWEAK. CONCLUSION: This study identified a negative causal relationship between PC (17:0_18:2) and keratinocyte carcinomas, a small part of which was mediated by TWEAK, and most of the remaining mediating factors are still unclear. Further research on other risk factors is needed in the future.


Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Basal Cell , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell , Cytokine TWEAK , Keratinocytes , Lipidomics , Mendelian Randomization Analysis , Skin Neoplasms , Humans , Skin Neoplasms/genetics , Skin Neoplasms/metabolism , Cytokine TWEAK/genetics , Cytokine TWEAK/metabolism , Keratinocytes/metabolism , Carcinoma, Basal Cell/genetics , Carcinoma, Basal Cell/metabolism , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/genetics , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/metabolism , Genome-Wide Association Study , Melanoma/genetics , Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide , Genetic Predisposition to Disease/genetics , Bayes Theorem
2.
Sci Rep ; 14(1): 14113, 2024 06 19.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38898266

ABSTRACT

Skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) is a highly malignant form of skin cancer, known for its unfavorable prognosis and elevated mortality rate. RARRES1, a gene responsive to retinoic acid receptors, displays varied functions in various cancer types. However, the specific role and underlying mechanisms of RARRES1 in SKCM are still unclear. GSE15605 was utilized to analyze the expression of RARRES1 in SKCM. Subsequently, the TCGA and GEO databases were employed to investigate the relationships between RARRES1 and clinicopathological parameters, as well as the prognostic implications and diagnostic efficacy of RARRES1 in SKCM. GO, KEGG, and GSEA analyses were conducted to explore the potential functions of RARRES1. Furthermore, the associations between RARRES1 and immune infiltration were examined. Genomic alterations and promoter methylation levels of RARRES1 in SKCM were assessed using cBioPortal, UALCAN, and the GEO database. Finally, RARRES1 expression in SKCM was validated through immunohistochemistry, and its functional role in SKCM progression was elucidated via in vivo and in vitro experiments. We found that RARRES1 was downregulated in SKCM compared with normal tissues, and this low expression was associated with worse clinicopathological features and poor prognosis of SKCM. The diagnostic efficacy of RARRES1, as determined by ROC analysis, was 0.732. Through GO, KEGG, and GSEA enrichment analysis, we identified 30 correlated genes and pathways that were mainly enriched in the tumor immune microenvironment, proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy. Additionally, RARRES1 expression was found to be positively related to the infiltration of various immune cells in SKCM, particularly macrophages and T helper cells, among others. Analysis of genomic alterations and promoter methylation revealed that shallow deletion and hypermethylation of the RARRES1 promoter could lead to reduced RARRES1 expression. IHC validation confirmed the downregulation of RARRES1 in SKCM. Moreover, overexpression of RARRES1 inhibited the proliferation and migration of A375 cells, promoted apoptosis, and inhibited autophagic flux. In the mouse xenograft model, RARRES1 overexpression also suppressed SKCM tumor growth. Collectively, these findings suggest that RARRES1 may function as a suppressor and could potentially serve as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for SKCM.


Subject(s)
Biomarkers, Tumor , Computational Biology , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic , Melanoma, Cutaneous Malignant , Melanoma , Skin Neoplasms , Humans , Melanoma/genetics , Melanoma/metabolism , Melanoma/pathology , Skin Neoplasms/genetics , Skin Neoplasms/pathology , Skin Neoplasms/metabolism , Biomarkers, Tumor/metabolism , Biomarkers, Tumor/genetics , Computational Biology/methods , Animals , Cell Line, Tumor , Mice , Prognosis , DNA Methylation , Female , Cell Proliferation , Male , Tumor Microenvironment/genetics , Promoter Regions, Genetic , Middle Aged , Apoptosis/genetics , Membrane Proteins
3.
Article in Chinese | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38858120

ABSTRACT

NUT Carcinoma(NC) is a rare malignant tumor of unknown origin, which is highly aggressive. It is characterized by chromosome rearrangement accompanied by NUTM1 gene. The pathological manifestations were sudden and focal squamous in poorly differentiated or undifferentiated carcinoma. NUTM1gene rearrangement can be used to diagnose NC. The prognosis of NUT cancer is poor. Clinically, there is no established treatment plan. treatment options mainly comprise surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. A 74-year-old patient with NC of the nasal cavity and sinuses was reported. Her clinical presentation was right nasal congestion with facial swelling. Sinus CT and MRI showed soft tissue density in the right nasal cavity and maxillary sinus with bone destruction. After admission, the patient underwent nasal endoscopic biopsy, and the postoperative pathological FISH staining showed BRD4/NUT fusion t(15, 19). The tumor was significantly reduced after two courses of sequential chemoradiotherapy. Two months later, the patient underwent a partial maxillary resection due to the rapid regrowth of sinusoidal mass, invading the hard palate. The patient died 2 months after surgery due to multiple organ failure resulted from tumor metastasis, with a survival time of 11 months. The clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of this case were reported and related literature was reviewed.


Subject(s)
Nasal Cavity , Nose Neoplasms , Humans , Aged , Female , Nasal Cavity/pathology , Nose Neoplasms/therapy , Neoplasm Proteins/genetics , Nuclear Proteins/genetics , Oncogene Proteins, Fusion/genetics , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/pathology , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/therapy , Fatal Outcome , Carcinoma
4.
Microorganisms ; 12(6)2024 May 31.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38930504

ABSTRACT

This study extensively analyzed the bacterial information of biofilms and activated sludge in oxic reactors of full-scale moving bed biofilm reactor-integrated fixed-film activated sludge (MBBR-IFAS) systems. The bacterial communities of biofilms and activated sludge differed statistically (R = 0.624, p < 0.01). The denitrifying genera Ignavibacterium, Phaeodactylibacter, Terrimonas, and Arcobacter were more abundant in activated sludge (p < 0.05), while comammox Nitrospira was more abundant in biofilms (p < 0.05), with an average relative abundance of 8.13%. Nitrospira and Nitrosomonas had weak co-occurrence relationships with other genera in the MBBR-IFAS systems. Potential function analysis revealed no differences in pathways at levels 1 and 2 based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) between biofilms and activated sludge. However, in terms of pathways at level 3, biofilms had more potential in 26 pathways, including various organic biodegradation and membrane and signal transportation pathways. In comparison, activated sludge had more potential in only five pathways, including glycan biosynthesis and metabolism. With respect to nitrogen metabolism, biofilms had greater potential for nitrification (ammonia oxidation) (M00528), and complete nitrification (comammox) (M00804) concretely accounted for methane/ammonia monooxygenase (K10944, K10945, and K10946) and hydroxylamine dehydrogenase (K10535). This study provides a theoretical basis for MBBR-IFAS systems from the perspective of microorganisms.

5.
Immun Inflamm Dis ; 12(6): e1309, 2024 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38860765

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Astragaloside IV (AS-IV) is the most active monomer in the traditional Chinese herbal medicine Radix Astragali, which has a wide range of antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antifibrosis pharmacological effects, and shows protective effects in acute lung injury. METHODS: This study utilized the immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, western blot, and hematoxylin and eosin staining methods to investigate the mechanism of AS-IV in reducing viral pneumonia caused by influenza A virus in A549 cells and BALB/c mice. RESULTS: The results showed that AS-IV suppressed reactive oxygen species production in influenza virus-infected A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner, and subsequently inhibited the activation of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 inflammasome and Caspase-1, decreased interleukin (IL) -1ß and IL-18 secretion. In BALB/c mice infected with Poly (I:C), oral administration of AS-IV can significantly reduce Poly (I:C)-induced acute pneumonia and lung pathological injury. CONCLUSIONS: AS-IV alleviates the inflammatory response induced by influenza virus in vitro and lung flammation and structural damage caused by poly (I:C) in vivo.


Subject(s)
Caspase 1 , Mice, Inbred BALB C , NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein , Orthomyxoviridae Infections , Reactive Oxygen Species , Saponins , Signal Transduction , Triterpenes , Animals , Saponins/pharmacology , Triterpenes/pharmacology , Triterpenes/therapeutic use , Mice , Signal Transduction/drug effects , Humans , Reactive Oxygen Species/metabolism , A549 Cells , Caspase 1/metabolism , Orthomyxoviridae Infections/drug therapy , Orthomyxoviridae Infections/immunology , Orthomyxoviridae Infections/virology , NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein/metabolism , Inflammation/drug therapy , Influenza A virus/drug effects , Anti-Inflammatory Agents/pharmacology , Anti-Inflammatory Agents/therapeutic use
6.
PLoS Comput Biol ; 20(6): e1011882, 2024 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38838038

ABSTRACT

In embryonic development and organogenesis, cells sharing identical genetic codes acquire diverse gene expression states in a highly reproducible spatial distribution, crucial for multicellular formation and quantifiable through positional information. To understand the spontaneous growth of complexity, we constructed a one-dimensional division-decision model, simulating the growth of cells with identical genetic networks from a single cell. Our findings highlight the pivotal role of cell division in providing positional cues, escorting the system toward states rich in information. Moreover, we pinpointed lateral inhibition as a critical mechanism translating spatial contacts into gene expression. Our model demonstrates that the spatial arrangement resulting from cell division, combined with cell lineages, imparts positional information, specifying multiple cell states with increased complexity-illustrated through examples in C.elegans. This study constitutes a foundational step in comprehending developmental intricacies, paving the way for future quantitative formulations to construct synthetic multicellular patterns.


Subject(s)
Gene Regulatory Networks , Models, Biological , Animals , Gene Regulatory Networks/genetics , Caenorhabditis elegans/genetics , Caenorhabditis elegans/embryology , Caenorhabditis elegans/growth & development , Cell Division/physiology , Cell Division/genetics , Computational Biology , Embryonic Development/physiology , Embryonic Development/genetics , Cell Lineage , Computer Simulation , Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental/genetics
7.
BMC Med Educ ; 24(1): 596, 2024 May 30.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38816806

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The shortage of pathologists in Germany, coupled with an aging workforce, requires innovative approaches to attract medical students to the field. Medical education must address different learning styles to ensure that all students are successful. METHODS: The pilot project "Practical Pathology" aims to enhance students' understanding of pathology by providing hands-on experience in macroscopic gross analysis through the use of tumor dummies built from scratch. RESULTS: An evaluation survey, completed by 63 participating students provided positive feedback on the course methodology, its relevance to understanding the pathology workflow, and its improvement over traditional teaching methods. The majority of students recognized the importance of hands-on training in medical education. Students with previous work experience rated the impact of the course on knowledge acquisition even more positively. CONCLUSION: The course improved students' understanding of pathological processes and potential sources of clinical-pathological misunderstanding. An increase in motivation for a potential career in the field of pathology was observed in a minority of students, although this exceeded the percentage of pathologists in the total medical workforce.


Subject(s)
Pathology , Students, Medical , Humans , Pilot Projects , Students, Medical/psychology , Pathology/education , Germany , Clinical Competence , Neoplasms/pathology , Education, Medical, Undergraduate , Teaching , Curriculum , Pathologists/education , Male , Female
8.
Front Microbiol ; 15: 1373119, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38694801

ABSTRACT

An innovative inbuilt moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) was created to protect fish from nitrogen in a household aquarium. During the 90 experimental days, the ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) concentration in the aquarium with the inbuilt MBBR was always below 0.5 mg/L, which would not threaten the fish. Concurrently, nitrite and nitrate nitrogen concentrations were always below 0.05 mg/L and 4.5 mg/L, respectively. However, the blank contrast aquarium accumulated 1.985 mg/L NH4+-N on the 16th day, which caused the fish to die. The suspended biofilms could achieve the specific NH4+-N removal rate of 45.43 g/m3/d. Biofilms presented sparsely with filamentous structures and showed certain degrees of roughness. The bacterial communities of the suspended biofilms and the sediment were statistically different (p < 0.05), reflected in denitrifying and nitrifying bacteria. In particular, the relative abundance of Nitrospira reached 1.4%, while the genus was barely found in sediments. The suspended biofilms showed potentials for nitrification function with the predicted sequence numbers of ammonia monooxygenase [1.14.99.39] and hydroxylamine dehydrogenase [EC:1.7.2.6] of 220 and 221, while the values of the sediment were only 5 and 1. This study created an efficient NH4+-N removal inbuilt MBBR for household aquariums and explored its mechanism to afford a basis for its utilization.

9.
Biomolecules ; 14(5)2024 Apr 29.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38785939

ABSTRACT

Myocardial infarction (MI), including ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI) and non-ST-segment elevation MI (NSTEMI), is still a leading cause of death worldwide. Metabolomics technology was used to explore differential metabolites (DMs) as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of STEMI and NSTEMI. In the study, 2531 metabolites, including 1925 DMs, were discovered. In the selected 27 DMs, 14 were successfully verified in a new cohort, and the AUC values were all above 0.8. There were 10 in STEMI group, namely L-aspartic acid, L-acetylcarnitine, acetylglycine, decanoylcarnitine, hydroxyphenyllactic acid, ferulic acid, itaconic acid, lauroylcarnitine, myristoylcarnitine, and cis-4-hydroxy-D-proline, and 5 in NSTEMI group, namely L-aspartic acid, arachidonic acid, palmitoleic acid, D-aspartic acid, and palmitelaidic acid. These 14 DMs may be developed as biomarkers for the early diagnosis of MI with high sensitivity and specificity. These findings have particularly important clinical significance for NSTEMI patients because these patients have no typical ECG changes.


Subject(s)
Biomarkers , Metabolomics , Myocardial Infarction , Biomarkers/metabolism , Humans , Metabolomics/methods , Male , Middle Aged , Female , Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis , Myocardial Infarction/metabolism , Aged , ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis , ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction/metabolism , Non-ST Elevated Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis , Non-ST Elevated Myocardial Infarction/metabolism , Metabolome
10.
Plant Foods Hum Nutr ; 79(2): 308-315, 2024 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38639852

ABSTRACT

In food industry, the characteristics of food substrate could be improved through its bidirectional solid-state fermentation (BSF) by fungi, because the functional components were produced during BSF. Six edible fungi were selected for BSF to study their effects on highland barley properties, such as functional components, antioxidant activity, and texture characteristics. After BSF, the triterpenes content in Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma leucocontextum samples increased by 76.57 and 205.98%, respectively, and the flavonoids content increased by 62.40% (Phellinus igniarius). Protein content in all tests increased significantly, with a maximal increase of 406.11% (P. igniarius). Proportion of indispensable amino acids increased significantly, with the maximum increase of 28.22%. Lysine content increased largest by 437.34% to 3.310 mg/g (Flammulina velutipes). For antioxidant activity, ABTS radical scavenging activity showed the maximal improvement, with an increase of 1268.95%. Low-field NMR results indicated a changed water status of highland barley after fermentation, which could result in changes in texture characteristics of highland barley. Texture analysis showed that the hardness and chewiness of the fermented product decreased markedly especially in Ganoderma lucidum sample with a decrease of 77.96% and 58.60%, respectively. The decrease indicated a significant improvement in the taste of highland barley. The results showed that BSF is an effective technology to increase the quality of highland barley and provide a new direction for the production of functional foods.


Subject(s)
Antioxidants , Fermentation , Ganoderma , Hordeum , Hordeum/chemistry , Antioxidants/analysis , Antioxidants/metabolism , Ganoderma/chemistry , Ganoderma/metabolism , Flavonoids/analysis , Amino Acids/analysis , Amino Acids/metabolism , Flammulina/chemistry , Flammulina/metabolism , Reishi/metabolism , Reishi/chemistry , Food Handling/methods
11.
Elife ; 122024 Apr 23.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38652107

ABSTRACT

Organisms utilize gene regulatory networks (GRN) to make fate decisions, but the regulatory mechanisms of transcription factors (TF) in GRNs are exceedingly intricate. A longstanding question in this field is how these tangled interactions synergistically contribute to decision-making procedures. To comprehensively understand the role of regulatory logic in cell fate decisions, we constructed a logic-incorporated GRN model and examined its behavior under two distinct driving forces (noise-driven and signal-driven). Under the noise-driven mode, we distilled the relationship among fate bias, regulatory logic, and noise profile. Under the signal-driven mode, we bridged regulatory logic and progression-accuracy trade-off, and uncovered distinctive trajectories of reprogramming influenced by logic motifs. In differentiation, we characterized a special logic-dependent priming stage by the solution landscape. Finally, we applied our findings to decipher three biological instances: hematopoiesis, embryogenesis, and trans-differentiation. Orthogonal to the classical analysis of expression profile, we harnessed noise patterns to construct the GRN corresponding to fate transition. Our work presents a generalizable framework for top-down fate-decision studies and a practical approach to the taxonomy of cell fate decisions.


Subject(s)
Cell Differentiation , Gene Regulatory Networks , Cell Differentiation/genetics , Animals , Hematopoiesis/genetics , Transcription Factors/metabolism , Transcription Factors/genetics , Embryonic Development/genetics , Cell Transdifferentiation/genetics , Humans
12.
ACS Omega ; 9(12): 13704-13713, 2024 Mar 26.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38559999

ABSTRACT

The integration of low-dimensional nanomaterials with microscale architectures in flexible pressure sensors has garnered significant interest due to their outstanding performance in healthcare monitoring. However, achieving high sensitivity across different magnitudes of external pressure remains a critical challenge. Herein, we present a high-performance flexible pressure sensor crafted from biomimetic hibiscus flower microstructures coated with silver nanowires. When compared with a flat electrode, these microstructures as electrodes display significantly enhanced sensitivity and an extended stimulus-response range. Furthermore, we utilized an ionic gel film as the dielectric layer, resulting in an enhancement of the overall performance of the flexible pressure sensor through an increase in interfacial capacitance. Consequently, the capacitive pressure sensor exhibits an extraordinary ultrahigh sensitivity of 48.57 [Kpa]-1 within the pressure range of 0-1 Kpa, 15.24 [Kpa]-1 within the pressure range of 1-30 Kpa, and 3.74 [Kpa]-1 within the pressure range of 30-120 Kpa, accompanied by a rapid response time (<58 ms). The exceptional performance of our flexible pressure sensor serves as a foundation for its numerous applications in healthcare monitoring. Notably, the flexible pressure sensor excels not only in detecting subtle physiological signals such as finger and wrist pulse signals, vocal cord vibrations, and breathing intensity but also demonstrates excellent performance in monitoring higher pressures, such as plantar pressure. We foresee that this flexible pressure sensor possesses significant potential in the field of wearable electronics.

13.
iScience ; 27(3): 109155, 2024 Mar 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38425845

ABSTRACT

Although the impact of sleep loss on social behaviors has been widely observed in recent years, the mechanisms underpinning these impacts remain unclear. In this study, we explored the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on reciprocity behavior as well as its underlying psychological and neuroimaging mechanisms by combining sleep manipulation, an interpersonal interactive game, computational modeling and neuroimaging. Our results suggested that after sleep deprivation, individuals showed reduced reciprocity behavior, mainly due to their reduced weights on communal concern when making social decisions. At neural level, we demonstrated that sleep deprivation's effects were observed in the precuneus (hyperactivity) and temporoparietal junction, dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (both hypoactivity), and reduced reciprocity was also accounted for by increased precuneus-thalamus connectivity and DLPFC-thalamus connectivity. Our findings contributed to the understanding of the psychological and neuroimaging bases underlying the deleterious impact of sleep deprivation on social behaviors.

14.
Ann Med ; 56(1): 2314236, 2024 Dec.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38442299

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The burden of carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacteria (CRGNB) among solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients has not been systematically explored. Here, we discern the risk factors associated with CRGNB infection and colonization in SOT recipients. METHODS: This study included observational studies conducted among CRGNB-infected SOT patients, which reported risk factors associated with mortality, infection or colonization. Relevant records will be searched in PubMed, Embase and Web of Science for the period from the time of database construction to 1 March 2023. RESULTS: A total of 23 studies with 13,511 participants were included, enabling the assessment of 27 potential risk factors. The pooled prevalence of 1-year mortality among SOT recipients with CRGNB was 44.5%. Prolonged mechanical ventilation, combined transplantation, reoperation and pre-transplantation CRGNB colonization are salient contributors to the occurrence of CRGNB infections in SOT recipients. Renal replacement therapy, post-LT CRGNB colonization, pre-LT liver disease and model for end-stage liver disease score increased the risk of infection. Re-transplantation, carbapenem use before transplantation and ureteral stent utilization increaesd risk of CRGNB colonization. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that SOT recipients with CRGNB infections had a higher mortality risk. Invasive procedure may be the main factor contribute to CRGNB infection.


Subject(s)
End Stage Liver Disease , Organ Transplantation , Adult , Humans , Severity of Illness Index , Gram-Negative Bacteria , Carbapenems/therapeutic use , Organ Transplantation/adverse effects , Observational Studies as Topic
15.
Cognition ; 245: 105738, 2024 04.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38340529

ABSTRACT

Humans express volition by making voluntary choices which, relative to forced choices, can motivate cognitive performance in a variety of tasks. However, a task that requires the generation of motor responses on the basis of external sensory stimulation involves complex underlying cognitive processes, e.g., pre-response processing, response selection, and response execution. The present study investigated how these underlying processes are facilitated by voluntary choice-making. In five experiments, participants were free or forced to choose a task-irrelevant picture from two alternatives, and then completed a conflict task, i.e., Flanker, Stroop, Simon, Stroop-Simon, or Flanker-Simon task, where the conflict effect could occur at different processing levels. Results consistently showed that responses in all tasks were generally faster after voluntary (vs. forced) choices. Importantly, the conflict effect at the response-execution level (i.e., the Simon effect), but not the conflict effect at the pre-response and response-selection levels (i.e., the Flanker and Stroop effects), was reduced by the voluntary choice-making. Model fitting revealed that the peak amplitude of automatic motor activations in the response-execution conflict was smaller after voluntary (vs. forced) choices. These findings suggest that volition motivates subsequent cognitive performance at the response-execution level by attenuating task-irrelevant motor activations.


Subject(s)
Cognition , Volition , Humans , Reaction Time/physiology , Stroop Test , Cognition/physiology
16.
Skin Res Technol ; 30(3): e13629, 2024 Mar.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38407525

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Although many studies have investigated the association between psoriasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the causal relationship between psoriasis and COPD is still unknown. METHODS: We employed bidirectional Mendelian randomization to investigate the causal relationship between psoriasis and COPD. Genetic instruments for exposure were selected from two distinct genome-wide association study databases. Single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with exposures at the genome-wide significance level (p < 5 × 10^-8 ) and exhibiting low linkage disequilibrium (r^2  < 0.001) were chosen as instrumental variables. Causality was assessed using multiple MR methods, including Inverse-Variance Weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, Weighted Median, Simple Mode, and Weighted Mode. A significance level of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Heterogeneity was examined using Cochran's Q test, and MR-Egger regression was employed to detect pleiotropy. The robustness and reliability of the results were further evaluated through leave-one-out analysis. RESULTS: We found a positive causal association between psoriasis and COPD [IVW: odds ratio (OR): 1.0006; p = 0.0056]. Heterogeneity and pleiotropy have not been discovered, so the results of the study are reliable. In the reverse analysis, no causal association between CPOD and psoriasis was found. CONCLUSION: Our findings revealed that psoriasis was associated with an elevated risk of COPD. However, no causal association between COPD and psoriasis was identified in our study.


Subject(s)
Psoriasis , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive , Humans , Genome-Wide Association Study , Mendelian Randomization Analysis , Reproducibility of Results , Psoriasis/epidemiology , Psoriasis/genetics , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/epidemiology , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/genetics
17.
Nat Commun ; 15(1): 68, 2024 01 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38167846

ABSTRACT

Receiving a favor from another person may induce a negative feeling of indebtedness for the beneficiary. In this study, we explore these hidden costs by developing and validating a conceptual model of indebtedness across three studies that combine a large-scale online questionnaire, an interpersonal game, computational modeling, and neuroimaging. Our model captures how individuals perceive the altruistic and strategic intentions of the benefactor. These inferences produce distinct feelings of guilt and obligation that together comprise indebtedness and motivate reciprocity. Perceived altruistic intentions convey care and communal concern and are associated with activity in insula, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, while inferred strategic intentions convey expectations of future reciprocity and are associated with activation in temporal parietal junction and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. We further develop a neural utility model of indebtedness using multivariate patterns of brain activity that captures the tradeoff between these feelings and reliably predicts reciprocity behavior.


Subject(s)
Emotions , Guilt , Humans , Prefrontal Cortex/diagnostic imaging , Prefrontal Cortex/physiology , Altruism , Intention , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods
18.
Psychol Res ; 88(2): 404-416, 2024 Mar.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37498337

ABSTRACT

Reward motivates goal-directed behaviors, leading to faster reaction time (RT) and lower error rate in searching for a target in the reward condition than in the no-reward condition in target-discrimination tasks. However, it is unclear how reward influences target detection in which participants are required to judge whether a predesignated target is present or absent. Here, we asked participants to complete a target-detection search task in which the color of the search array indicated the reward availability of the current trial. Correct and faster (than a baseline) responses would be rewarded if the search array had the reward-related color. In Experiments 1A and 1B, the target was presented in 50% of the trials. Experiment 1B had the same design as Experiment 1A, except that different baselines were set for the target-present and target-absent conditions. In Experiment 2, the proportion of target presence was manipulated to be high (80%), moderate (50%), or low (20%) in different blocks of stimuli. Results showed that, across all the experiments, participants responded faster and made fewer errors in the reward than in the no-reward condition when the target was present. However, this facilitatory effect was reversed when the target was absent, showcasing a reward-induced interference. The signal detection analysis suggested that reward biased the report criterion to the "yes" response. These findings demonstrate that the impact of reward on goal-directed behavior can be detrimental and reward prolongs the search process by rendering participants reluctant to say "no" in visual search termination.


Subject(s)
Reward , Humans , Reaction Time/physiology
19.
Psychon Bull Rev ; 31(1): 340-352, 2024 Feb.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37620630

ABSTRACT

It has been shown that cognitive performance could be improved by expressing volition (e.g., making voluntary choices), which necessarily involves the execution of action through a certain effector. However, it is unclear if the benefit of expressing volition can generalize across different effectors. In the present study, participants made a choice between two pictures either voluntarily or forcibly, and subsequently completed a visual search task with the chosen picture as a task-irrelevant background. The effector for choosing a picture could be the hand (pressing a key), foot (pedaling), mouth (commanding), or eye (gazing), whereas the effector for responding to the search target was always the hand. Results showed that participants responded faster and had a more liberal response criterion in the search task after a voluntary choice (vs. a forced choice). Importantly, the improved performance was observed regardless of which effector was used in making the choice, and regardless of whether the effector for making choices was the same as or different from the effector for responding to the search target. Eye-movement data for oculomotor choice showed that the main contributor to the facilitatory effect of voluntary choice was the post-search time in the visual search task (i.e., the time spent on processes after the target was found, such as response selection and execution). These results suggest that the expression of volition may involve the motor control system in which the effector-general, high-level processing of the goal of the voluntary action plays a key role.


Subject(s)
Motivation , Volition , Humans , Volition/physiology , Eye Movements , Psychomotor Performance/physiology
20.
Neuroimage ; 285: 120468, 2024 Jan.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38042393

ABSTRACT

When confronted with injustice, individuals often intervene as third parties to restore justice by either punishing the perpetrator or helping the victim, even at their own expense. However, little is known about how individual differences in third-party intervention propensity are related to inter-individual variability in intrinsic brain connectivity patterns and how these associations vary between help and punishment intervention. To address these questions, we employed a novel behavioral paradigm in combination with resting-state fMRI and inter-subject representational similarity analysis (IS-RSA). Participants acted as third-party bystanders and needed to decide whether to maintain the status quo or intervene by either helping the disadvantaged recipient (Help condition) or punishing the proposer (Punish condition) at a specific cost. Our analyses focused on three brain networks proposed in the third-party punishment (TPP) model: the salience (e.g., dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, dACC), central executive (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dlPFC), and default mode (e.g., dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, dmPFC; temporoparietal junction, TPJ) networks. IS-RSA showed that individual differences in resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) patterns within these networks were associated with the general third-party intervention propensity. Moreover, rs-FC patterns of the right dlPFC and right TPJ were more strongly associated with individual differences in the helping propensity rather than the punishment propensity, whereas the opposite pattern was observed for the dmPFC. Post-hoc predictive modeling confirmed the predictive power of rs-FC in these regions for intervention propensity across individuals. Collectively, these findings shed light on the shared and distinct roles of key regions in TPP brain networks at rest in accounting for individual variations in justice-restoring intervention behaviors.


Subject(s)
Brain , Prefrontal Cortex , Humans , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Prefrontal Cortex/diagnostic imaging , Brain Mapping , Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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