Social defeat stress induces liver injury by modulating endoplasmic reticulum stress in C57BL/6J mice.

Social defeat stress is associated with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, inflammation and apoptosis. ER stress is thought to contribute to many lifestyle diseases such as liver injury, cardiovascular dysfunction and depression. We investigated the expression of the ER stress markers RNA-dependent protein kinase-like ER kinase (PERK), eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) and C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), as well as inflammatory and apoptotic factors, to assess how social defeat stress induces liver injury. Furthermore, we evaluated the effects of the ER stress inhibitor phenylbutyric acid (PBA) and ER stress inducer thapsigargin (TG) on liver injury. Adult mice were divided into the control, social defeat, social defeat + PBA, TG, PBA and TG + PBA groups. The social defeat and social defeat + PBA groups were simultaneously exposed to social defeat stress for 10 days. The social defeat + PBA, TG, PBA and TG + PBA groups were treated with PBA or TG via intraperitoneal injections. PBA was injected 1 h before the TG injection into the TG + PBA group. Liver samples from six groups of mice were analyzed by histological analysis and western blotting. Social defeat stress promoted ER stress, increased the expression of inflammatory factors and induced apoptosis in the liver of socially defeated mice, which was reversed by PBA. Moreover, ER stress induces TG-induced liver injury by initiating ER stress. Social defeat stress initiates ER stress, promotes the expression of inflammatory and apoptotic factors, and induces liver injury. PBA suppresses liver injury caused by social defeat stress and TG treatment.

Minor stroke patients with mild-moderate diastolic blood pressure derive greater benefit from dual antiplatelet therapy.

Not only systolic blood pressure (SBP) but also diastolic blood pressure (DBP) increases the risk of recurrence in the short- or long-term outcomes of stroke. The interaction between DBP and antiplatelet treatment for China stroke patients is unclear. This multicenter, observational cohort study included 2976 minor ischemic stroke patients. Patients accepted single antiplatelet therapy (SAPT) or dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after arrival, and baseline DBP levels were trichotomized into <90 mmHg, 90-110 mmHg and ≥110 mmHg. We explore the interaction effect between antiplatelet therapy and DBP on 90-days composite vascular events. A total of 257 (8.6%) patients reached a composite vascular event during follow-up. The interaction term between DBP levels and treatment group (SAPT vs. DAPT) was significant (P for interaction = 0.013). DAPT's adjusted HR for composite events in patients with DBP between 90 and 110 mmHg was 0.56 (95% confidence interval, 0.36 0.88; P = 0.011) and DBP ≥ 110 mmHg was 4.35 (95% confidence interval, 1.11-19.94; P = 0.046). The association between treatment and DBP was still consistent after propensity score matching of the baseline characteristics. The interaction term of DBP × treatment was not significant for the safety outcomes of severe bleeding (P for interaction = 0.301) or hemorrhage stroke (P for interaction = 0.831). In this cohort study based on the real world, patients with a DBP between 90 and 110 mmHg received a greater benefit from 90 days of DAPT than those with lower and higher baseline DBP. REGISTRATION: ( https://www.chictr.org.cn ; Unique identifier: ChiCTR1900025214).

Recombinant Salmonella gallinarum (S. gallinarum) Vaccine Candidate Expressing Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli Type I Fimbriae Provides Protections against APEC O78 and O161 Serogroups and S. gallinarum Infection.

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) is one of the leading pathogens that cause devastating economic losses to the poultry industry. Type I fimbriae are essential adhesion factors of APEC, which can be targeted and developed as a vaccine candidate against multiple APEC serogroups due to their excellent immunogenicity and high homology. In this study, the recombinant strain SG102 was developed by expressing the APEC type I fimbriae gene cluster (fim) on the cell surface of an avirulent Salmonella gallinarum (S. gallinarum) vector strain using a chromosome-plasmid-balanced lethal system. The expression of APEC type I fimbriae was verified by erythrocyte hemagglutination assays and antigen-antibody agglutination tests. In vitro, the level of the SG102 strain adhering to leghorn male hepatoma (LMH) cells was significantly higher than that of the empty plasmid control strain, SG101. At two weeks after oral immunization, the SG102 strain remained detectable in the livers, spleens, and ceca of SG102-immunized chickens, while the SG101 strain was eliminated in SG101-immunized chickens. At 14 days after the secondary immunization with 5 × 109 CFU of the SG102 strain orally, highly antigen-specific humoral and mucosal immune responses against APEC type I fimbriae protein were detected in SG102-immunized chickens, with IgG and secretory IgA (sIgA) concentrations of 221.50 µg/mL and 1.68 µg/mL, respectively. The survival rates of SG102-immunized chickens were 65% (13/20) and 60% (12/20) after challenge with 50 LD50 doses of APEC virulent strains O78 and O161 serogroups, respectively. By contrast, 95% (19/20) and 100% (20/20) of SG101-immunized chickens died in challenge studies involving APEC O78 and O161 infections, respectively. In addition, the SG102 strain effectively provided protection against lethal challenges from the virulent S. gallinarum strain. These results demonstrate that the SG102 strain, which expresses APEC type I fimbriae, is a promising vaccine candidate against APEC O78 and O161 serogroups as well as S. gallinarum infections.

Association of serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor level and early response to antipsychotic drug in first-episode patients with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the role of Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the psychotic symptoms in first-episode patients with schizophrenia and whether BDNF levels were associated with the improvement of psychotic symptoms after risperidone treatment. METHODS: 89 schizophrenia patients and 90 healthy controls were recruited, the schizophrenia patients were assigned into early response or early non-response groups at 2 weeks based on improvement in the positive and negative symptoms scale (PANSS) total score. All patients were treated with risperidone for 2 weeks, their serum BDNF levels were compared at baseline and after 2 weeks treatment. RESULTS: We found that patients had lower BDNF levels, compared to controls at baseline. After 2 weeks of treatment of risperidone, BDNF levels were significantly increased and psychotic symptoms were decreased in early response group. Correlation analysis showed that the change of BDNF levels after treatment was correlated with the change of PANSS total score. Further regression analysis showed that the change in BDNF levels was an independent predictor for the improvement in psychotic symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings reveal that the level of BDNF was lower in first-episode schizophrenic patients, moreover, the changes in serum BDNF levels may have a predictive effect on the early improvement in psychotic symptoms in the first 2 weeks.

Dual Versus Mono Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients with Acute Mild-to-Moderate Stroke: A Multicentre Perspective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between different antiplatelet therapy regimens and the functional outcomes and bleeding complications among mild-to-moderate ischaemic stroke patients based on real-world data. METHODS: We used data from the SEACOAST trial (Safety and efficacy of aspirin-clopidogrel in acute noncardiogenic minor ischaemic stroke) to analyse the data of patients with mild-to-moderate stroke within 72 h after onset who were treated with aspirin or clopidogrel alone or a combination of clopidogrel and aspirin from September 2019 to November 2021. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance the differences between groups. We performed an analysis to evaluate the association of different antiplatelet regimens and 90-day disability, which was defined as a modified Rankin Scale score ≥2, as well as disability ascribed to index or recurrent stroke by the local investigator. In terms of safety, we then compared the bleeding events between the two groups. RESULTS: A total of 2822 mild-to-moderate ischaemic stroke patients were treated with either clopidogrel plus aspirin (n = 1726, 61.2%) or aspirin/clopidogrel (n = 1096, 38.8%). Of 1726 patients in the dual antiplatelet group, 1350 (78.5%) received less than or equal to 30 days of combined therapy. At 90 days, 433 (15.3%) patients were disabled. Patients who received combined therapy had a lower overall disability rate (13.7% versus 17.9%; OR 0.78 (0.6-1.01); P = 0.064). However, investigators found that index stroke was the reason for significantly fewer patients in the dual antiplatelet group having disability (8.4% versus 12%; OR, 0.72 (0.52-0.98); P = 0.038). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of moderate to severe bleeding complications between the dual and mono antiplatelet drug regimens (0.4% versus 0.2%; HR 1.5 (0.25, 8.98); P = 0.657). CONCLUSION: Aspirin plus clopidogrel was associated with a reduction in the incidence of disability attributed to index stroke. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of moderate to severe bleeding complications between the two antiplatelet drug regimens. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR1900025214.

The Neural Response Process of Cognitive Decision Making: An ERP Study.

Cognitive decision has the basic characteristics of risk avoidance and benefit seeking. To explore the neural response process of cognitive decision making, we asked 32 undergraduates to make a decision on whether to accept a specific treatment option with a certain cure rate and a certain risk rate while recording their electrical brain responses. The results showed that more participants chose the treatment option with a high cure rate and moderate or low risk. Compared with low and high risk, medium risk produced greater N1 and smaller P300. Low risk produced larger LPP than the moderate risk in the left hemisphere. The right prefrontal region appeared to have a smaller LPP for low risk than for high risk. The results suggest that individuals prioritize risk when making cognitive decisions. In addition, in medium-risk conditions, solution integration is more difficult. The effect of benefit size appears at the late stage of cognitive decision making and adjusts the effect of risk. These results support the satisfaction principle of decision making.

Triglyceride-glucose index, symptomatic intracranial artery stenosis and recurrence risk in minor stroke patients with hypertension.

BACKGROUND: The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, a simple measure of insulin resistance, is associated with intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS) and stroke. In hypertensive populations, this association may be pronounced. The aim was to investigate the relationship between TyG and symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis (sICAS) and recurrence risk in ischemic stroke patients with hypertension. METHODS: This prospective, multicenter cohort study included patients with acute minor ischemic stroke with a preadmission diagnosis of hypertension from September 2019 to November 2021 with a 3-month follow-up. The presence of sICAS was determined by a combination of clinical manifestations, the location of the infarction, and the corresponding artery with moderate-to-severe stenosis. ICAS burden was determined by the degree and number of ICAS occurrences. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) and triglyceride (TG) were measured to calculate TyG. The main outcome was ischemic stroke recurrence during the 90-day follow-up. Multivariate regression models were used to explore the association of TyG, sICAS, and ICAS burden with stroke recurrence. RESULTS: There were 1281 patients with a mean age of 61.6 ± 11.6 years; 70.1% were male, and 26.4% were diagnosed with sICAS. There were 117 patients who experienced stroke recurrence during follow-up. Patients were categorized according to quartiles of TyG. After adjusting for confounders, the risk of sICAS was greater (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.04-2.43, p = 0.033) and the risk of stroke recurrence was significantly higher (HR 2.02, 95% CI 1.07-3.84, p = 0.025) in the fourth TyG quartile than in the first quartile. The restricted cubic spline (RCS) plot revealed a linear relationship between TyG and sICAS, and the threshold value for TyG was 8.4. Patients were then dichotomized into low and high TyG groups by the threshold. Patients with high TyG combined with sICAS had a higher risk of recurrence (HR 2.54, 95% CI 1.39-4.65) than patients with low TyG without sICAS. An interaction effect on stroke recurrence between TyG and sICAS was found (p = 0.043). CONCLUSION: TyG is a significant risk factor for sICAS in hypertensive patients, and there is a synergistic effect of sICAS and higher TyG on ischemic stroke recurrence. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: The study was registered on 16 August 2019 at https://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=41160 (No. ChiCTR1900025214).

Examining the extraction of parafoveal semantic information in Tibetan.

This study conducted two experiments to investigate the extraction of semantic preview information from the parafovea in Tibetan reading. In Experiment 1, a single-factor (preview type: identical vs. semantically related vs. unrelated) within-subject experimental design was used to investigate whether there is a parafoveal semantic preview effect (SPE) in Tibetan reading. Experiment 2 used a 2 (contextual constraint: high vs. low) × 3 (preview type: identical vs. semantically related vs. unrelated) within-subject experimental design to investigate the influence of contextual constraint on the parafoveal semantic preview effect in Tibetan reading. Supporting the E-Z reader model, the experimental results showed that in Tibetan reading, readers could not obtain semantic preview information from the parafovea, and contextual constraint did not influence this process. However, comparing high- and low-constrained contexts, the latter might be more conducive to extracting semantic preview information from the parafovea.

The Adjustment of Complexity on Sarcasm Processing in Chinese: Evidence from Reading Time Indicators.

It is controversial whether sarcasm processing should go through literal meaning processing. There is also a lack of eye movement evidence for Chinese sarcasm processing. In this study, we used eye movement experiments to explore the processing differences between sarcastic and literal meaning in Chinese text and whether this was regulated by sentence complexity. We manipulated the variables of complexity and literality. We recorded 33 participants' eye movements when they were reading Chinese text and the results were analyzed by a linear mixed model. We found that, in the early stage of processing, there was no difference between the processing time of the sarcastic meaning and the literal meaning of simple remarks, whereas for complex remarks, the time needed to process the sarcastic meaning was longer than that needed to process the literal meaning. In the later stage of processing, regardless of complexity, the processing time of the sarcastic meaning was longer than that of the literal meaning. These results suggest that sarcastic speech processing in Chinese is influenced by literal meaning, and the effect of literal meaning on sarcastic remarks is regulated by complexity. Sarcastic meaning was expressed differently in different stages of processing. These results support the hierarchical salience hypothesis of the serial modular model.

Effects of syllable boundaries in Tibetan reading.

Interword spaces exist in the texts of many languages that use alphabetic writing systems. In most cases, interword spaces, as a kind of word boundary information, play an important role in the reading process of readers. Tibetan also uses alphabetic writing, its text has no spaces between words as word boundary markers. Instead, there are intersyllable tshegs (" "), which are superscript dots. Interword spaces play an important role in reading as word boundary information. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate the role of tshegs and what effect replacing tshegs with spaces will have on Tibetan reading. To answer these questions, Experiment 1 was conducted in which 72 Tibetan undergraduates read three-syllable-boundary conditions (normal, spaced, and untsheged). However, in Experiment 1, because we performed the experimental operations of deleting tshegs and replacing tshegs, the spatial information distribution of Tibetan sentences under different operating conditions was different, which may have a certain potential impact on the experimental results. To rule out the underlying confounding factor, in Experiment 2, 58 undergraduates read sentences for both untsheged and alternating-color conditions. Overall, the global and local analyses revealed that tshegs, spaces, and alternating-color markers as syllable boundaries can help readers segment syllables in Tibetan reading. In Tibetan reading, both spaces and tshegs are effective visual syllable segmentation cues, and spaces are more effective visual syllable segmentation cues than tshegs.

Safety and protective effects of an avirulent Salmonella Gallinarum isolate as a vaccine candidate against Salmonella Gallinarum infections in young chickens.

Fowl typhoid is an important disease of chickens and turkeys, which is caused by Salmonella Gallinarum (S. Gallinarum). Vaccines with high levels of protective effects against fowl typhoid need to be developed for the poultry industry. In this study, a S. Gallinarum strain, named SG01, was isolated from a poultry farm in Mashan region of Wuxi City, China, and identified through biochemical tests and specific PCR amplifications. Then, safety evaluations of the SG01 strain were performed in young chickens. No clinical symptom including depression and diarrhea and gross lesion involved in the cardiac nodule, hepatic necrotic lesion and splenic necrotic lesion, was determined on fifteen-day-old chickens after immunization with 1 × 1010 CFU of the SG01 strain through the oral route. However, diarrhea symptoms and hepatic lesions were identified from chickens immunized with the commercial vaccine strain SG9R by the same dose and route. At 14 days post inoculation, SG01 strain was eliminated in the liver and spleen from SG01-immunized chickens, while the SG9R strain still could be identified from SG9R-immunized chickens. After challenge with the virulent S. Gallinarum strain, significant reduction of the morbidity rate was found in the SG01 immunized group (20 %) compared to the challenge group (100 %) according to signs scoring systems for clinical symptoms and gross lesions. Additionally, immunization with the SG01 strain could provide more than 8 weeks of protection periods against fowl typhoid. These results demonstrate the SG01 strain is avirulent to young chickens and might be safer compared to the SG9R strain. In addition, SG01 strain is a potential vaccine candidate against fowl typhoid in young chickens.

Effects of sleep insufficiency on spatial working memory in low-pressure and hypoxic environments.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effects of sleep insufficiency on spatial working memory in low-pressure and hypoxic environments. METHODS: We selected 58 insufficient sleepers and 27 normal sleepers among the college students living in high-altitude areas for a long time to receive a spatial 2-back working memory task, while collecting behavioral and electroencephalograph data. We adopted an independent sample t-test and repeated measures analysis of variance to compare the differences in response time and accuracy, P2 and late positive potential components, and theta band energy values in the spatial working memory task between insufficient and normal sleepers. RESULTS: We found no significant differences in response time and accuracy between the insufficient sleep group and the normal sleep group; however, the P2 peak value and the early theta band energy value were higher in the insufficient sleep group than in the normal sleep group. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the spatial working memory ability of individuals with sleep insufficiency was weakened under low-pressure and low-oxygen environment.

Eye Movement Control in Tibetan Reading: The Roles of Word Length and Frequency.

We investigated the effects of word length and frequency on eye movement control during Tibetan reading through two experiments. A preliminary experiment examined the predictive effect of word length and frequency on fixation duration and landing position using multiple linear regression analysis. In the formal experiment, we manipulated the length and frequency of target words simultaneously to investigate the effects of word length and frequency on fixation duration and landing position in Tibetan reading. In this study, we found that: (1) there were significant word-length and word-frequency effects affecting all lexical processing in Tibetan reading; (2) there are preferred viewing locations in Tibetan reading; specifically, for short words, it is the end, whereas for long words, it spans from the center to the beginning of the word; (3) word frequency does not affect preferred viewing location in Tibetan reading; (4) the preferred viewing position and the interaction of word length and viewing position found in this study supported the "strategy-tactics" approach.

Quantitative analysis of facial symmetry by using three-dimensional technology.

BACKGROUND: Facial symmetry is becoming increasingly important in today's orthodontic treatment. But the asymmetrical boundary is not clearly demarcated. Stereophotogrammetry has a clear advantage in measuring facial asymmetry. The aim of this study was to quantify the facial asymmetry by three-dimensional (3D) technology as well as to study whether the evaluation by non-experts about facial asymmetry was consistent with the analysis by 3D technology. METHODS: The facial symmetry of 330 patients was evaluated by 10 non-experts. 3D facial images were taken using 3dMD stereophotogrammetry equipment. The original face and its mirror shell were divided into 7 regions and the surface matching was measured in the whole face and all regional areas. The degree of symmetry was calculated by the software 3-matic STL 9.0. The difference between the two groups was analyzed by Independent-Samples T Test and the diagnostic efficiency of symmetry degree was analyzed by ROC curve analysis. The consistency between the symmetric degree and the result of evaluation was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. RESULTS: The ROC analysis revealed significant diagnostic values in the determination of the facial asymmetry of lip, chin, cheek and lateral mandible areas. The cut-off values of symmetry degree were between 60 and 80%. The evaluation was middle correlation with the symmetric degree of the whole face. CONCLUSIONS: The chin and lateral mandible contribute most significantly to the facial symmetry. The objective measurement of facial symmetry, 3D technology, is reliable.

miR-9-5p promotes myogenic differentiation via the Dlx3/Myf5 axis.

MicroRNAs play an important role in myogenic differentiation, they bind to target genes and regulate muscle formation. We previously found that miR-9-5p, which is related to bone formation, was increased over time during the process of myogenic differentiation. However, the mechanism by which miR-9-5p regulates myogenic differentiation remains largely unknown. In the present study, we first examined myotube formation and miR-9-5p, myogenesis-related genes including Dlx3, Myod1, Mef2c, Desmin, MyoG and Myf5 expression under myogenic induction. Then, we detected the expression of myogenic transcription factors after overexpression or knockdown of miR-9-5p or Dlx3 in the mouse premyoblast cell line C2C12 by qPCR, western blot and myotube formation under myogenic induction. A luciferase assay was performed to confirm the regulatory relationships between not only miR-9-5p and Dlx3 but also Dlx3 and its downstream gene, Myf5, which is an essential transcription factor of myogenic differentiation. The results showed that miR-9-5p promoted myogenic differentiation by increasing myogenic transcription factor expression and promoting myotube formation, but Dlx3 exerted the opposite effect. Moreover, the luciferase assay showed that miR-9-5p bound to the 3'UTR of Dlx3 and downregulated Dlx3 expression. Dlx3 in turn suppressed Myf5 expression by binding to the Myf5 promoter, ultimately inhibiting the process of myogenic differentiation. In conclusion, the miR-9-5p/Dlx3/Myf5 axis is a novel pathway for the regulation of myogenic differentiation, and can be a potential target to treat the diseases related to muscle dysfunction.

Low doses of niclosamide and quinacrine combination yields synergistic effect in melanoma via activating autophagy-mediated p53-dependent apoptosis.

Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive, malignant, and drug-resistant tumor. It lacks an efficient treatment approach. In this study, we developed a novel anti-melanoma strategy by using anti-tapeworm drug niclosamide and anti-malarial drug quinacrine, and investigated the molecular mechanism by in vitro and in vivo assays. Meanwhile, other types of tumor cells, immortalized epithelial cells and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were used to evaluate the universal role of anti-cancer and safety of the strategy. The results showed, briefly, an exposure to niclosamide and quinacrine led to an increased apoptosis-related protein p53, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved PARP and autophagy-related protein LC3B expression, and a decreased expression of autophagy-related protein p62, finally leading to cell apoptosis and autophage. After inhibiting autophagy by Baf-A1, flow cytometry and western blot showed that the expression of apoptosis-related proteins was down-regulated and the number of apoptotic cells decreased. Subsequently, in the siRNA-mediated p53 knockdown cells, the expression of apoptosis-related proteins and the number of apoptotic cells were also reduced, while the expression of autophagy-related proteins including LC3B, p62 did not change significantly. To sum up, we developed a new, safe strategy for melanoma treatment by using low doses of niclosamide and quinacrine to treat melanoma; and found a novel mechanism by which the combination application of low doses of niclosamide and quinacrine exerts an efficient anti-melanoma effect through activation of autophagy-mediated p53-dependent apoptosis. The novel strategy was verified to exert a universal anti-cancer role in other types of cancer.

LncRNA Opa interacting protein 5-antisense RNA 1 (OIP5-AS1) promotes the migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through targeting miR-147a/insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) pathway in cervical cancer tissues and cell model.

BACKGROUND: Two factors involved in regulation, long noncoding RNA Opa interacting protein 5-antisense RNA 1 (lncRNA OIP5-AS1) and microRNA-147a, were found in cervical cancer. Therefore, the investigation of the specific regulation of miR-147a by OIP5-AS1 was performed in cervical cancer. METHOD: The cervical cancer tissues were collected from patients with cervical cancer (n = 50). The expression of OIP5-AS1, miR-147a, proteins in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCT) or western blotting. Cell motility and the relationship between OIP5-AS1 and miR-147a were detected or analyzed by wound healing test, Transwell assay, dual-luciferase reporter assay, RNA binding protein immunoprecipitation assay or Pearson correlation in OIP5-AS1, or miR-147a over-expressed and/or suppressed cervical cancer cells. RESULTS: OIP5-AS1 showed the high-expression and miR-147a showed the low-expression in tumor tissues collected from patients with cervical cancer and cell lines Hela, CaSki, Siha, and ME-180. The low-expression of OIP5-AS1 suppressed the motility of Caski cells, as well as up-regulated the level of E-cadherin, which a key protein in EMT. There were targeting sites between miR-147a and OIP5-AS1. OIP5-AS1 induced the down-regulation of miR-147a, so miR-147a was inversely correlated with OIP5-AS1. The down-regulation of miR-147a increased IGF1R and E-cadherin, and these increases were alleviated by OIP5-AS1 knockdown. CONCLUSION: LncRNA OIP5-AS1 promotes the migration, invasion and EMT of cervical cancer cells via targeting miR-147a/IGF1R pathway.

Streptococcus mutans-associated bacteria in dental plaque of severe early childhood caries.

BACKGROUND: Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) is a potential pathogenic bacteria of dental caries. However, the level of S. mutans is low in some children with severe early childhood caries (SECC). AIM: To evaluate the effect of S. mutans level on dental microbiome and cariogenesis. METHODS: The oral microbiota was compared between caries-free group (CF) and SECC group.16S rRNA gene sequencing was used for S. mutans level bacterial community analysis. The candidate bacteria that were closely related with S. mutans abundance were identified and confirmed by absolute quantitative real-time PCR in clinical dental plaque samples from CF and SECC groups. RESULTS: Through in-depth analysis of dental plaque microorganism, Leptotrichia, Selenomonas and Prevotella_7 were found in the S. mutans-low group (p < 0.05) and Porphyromonas, Selenomonas_3 were found in the S. mutans-high group (p < 0.05). Through quantitative real-time PCR, Leptotrichia, Selenomonas and Prevotella_7 were identified as the potential biomarkers of SECC when S. mutans was at a low level. CONCLUSION: Leptotrichia, Selenomonas and Prevotella_7 are identified as potential biomarkers in SECC with a low abundance or without S. mutans. Our study may shed light on the understanding of caries occurrence in SECC with low abundance of S. mutans. ABBREVIATIONS: S. mutans, Streptococcus mutans; CF, caries-free; SECC, severe early childhood caries; ECC, early childhood caries; rRNA, ribosome RNA; qPCR, Quantitative real-time PCR; OTUs, operational taxonomic units; ANOVA, analysis of variance; LDA, Linear discriminant analysis; LEfSe, Linear discriminant analysis effect size; COG, Groups of proteins; NMDS, Non-MetricMulti-Dimensional Scaling; IL-1ß, interleukin -1ß; IL-6, interleukin-6; IL-8, interleukin-8; IL-10, interleukin-10.

The Mechanism of Word Satiation in Tibetan Reading: Evidence from Eye Movements.

Two eye-tracking experiments were used to investigate the mechanism of word satiation in Tibetan reading. The results revealed that, at a low repetition level, gaze duration and total fixation duration in the semantically unrelated condition were significantly longer than in the semantically related condition; at a medium repetition level, reaction time in the semantically related condition was significantly longer than in the semantically unrelated condition; at a high repetition level, the total fixation duration and reaction time in the semantically related condition were significantly longer than in the semantically unrelated condition. However, fixation duration and reaction time showed no significant difference between the similar and dissimilar orthography at any repetition level. These findings imply that there are semantic priming effects in Tibetan reading at a low repetition level, but semantic satiation effects at greater repetition levels, which occur in the late stage of lexical processing.

A Novel Lipid Prognostic Signature of ADCY2, LIPE, and OLR1 in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Clinically, aberrant lipid metabolism is responsible for overweight and/or obesity. Overweight is considered as an independent factor of cancer risk in 2019. Therefore, lipid metabolic reprogramming is an emerging hallmark of malignancy. It is an urgent need to comprehensively understand the relationship among lipid metabolism and HNSCC and identify a valuable biomarker for predicting prognosis of HNSCC patients. Three new findings were found in this study. Firstly, we identified the lipid-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by using the GEO microarrays and TCGA dataset. A novel lipid-related mRNA prognostic signature (LRPS, consisting of ADCY2, LIPE and OLR1) was developed, which could predict the survival and prognosis of HNSCC patients as an independent effective prognostic factor. Secondly, we found that the LRPS could indicate the type of infiltrated immune cells in HNSCC tumor microenvironment. Thirdly, we verified that the LPPS score could interpret the TP53 status of HNSCC. Our new findings indicated that LRPS has a potential to be a promising indicator of overall survival, TP53 status, and immune characteristics in HNSCC, and perhaps can monitor and guide the treatment efficacy and prognosis of HNSCC in the future. BACKGROUND: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is characterized by a high frequency of lymph node metastasis and a high mortality. Lipid metabolic reprogramming is an emerging carcinogen as its role in fulfilling cancer growth and spread. However, little is known about the correlation between lipid metabolism and HNSCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Expressions of lipid-related genes were obtained from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene expression Omnibus (GEO) databases for differential and functional analyses. A total number of 498 patients from TCGA with complete information were included to identify a lipid-related prognostic signature (LRPS), based on ADCY2, LIPE, and OLR1, by using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. LRPS-high and LRPS-low groups were accordingly divided to pathway and cell enrichment analyses. RESULTS: LRS-low patients had a better overall survival and relapse - free survival than LRS-high ones in HNSCC. The LRPS-high group was significantly related to perineural invasion of cancer, cancer-related pathways, high TP53 mutation rate, high proportion of natural killer T cells (NKT), dendritic cells, monocytes, Treg, and M1 and M2 macrophage infiltration in HNSCC tumor tissues. Conversely, the LRPS-low group correlated with DNA damage-related and T-cell-regulated pathways, low frequency of mutated TP53, and high infiltration of B cells and CD4+ effector cells including Th1 and Th2. CONCLUSION: LRPS has a potential to be a promising indicator of overall survival, prognosis, TP53 status, and immune characteristics in HNSCC.