Distinct roles of excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex in the expression and reconsolidation of methamphetamine-associated memory in male mice.

Methamphetamine, a commonly abused drug, is known for its high relapse rate. The persistence of addictive memories associated with methamphetamine poses a significant challenge in preventing relapse. Memory retrieval and subsequent reconsolidation provide an opportunity to disrupt addictive memories. However, the key node in the brain network involved in methamphetamine-associated memory retrieval has not been clearly defined. In this study, using the conditioned place preference in male mice, whole brain c-FOS mapping and functional connectivity analysis, together with chemogenetic manipulations of neural circuits, we identified the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) as a critical hub that integrates inputs from the retrosplenial cortex and the ventral tegmental area to support both the expression and reconsolidation of methamphetamine-associated memory during its retrieval. Surprisingly, with further cell-type specific analysis and manipulation, we also observed that methamphetamine-associated memory retrieval activated inhibitory neurons in the mPFC to facilitate memory reconsolidation, while suppressing excitatory neurons to aid memory expression. These findings provide novel insights into the neural circuits and cellular mechanisms involved in the retrieval process of addictive memories. They suggest that targeting the balance between excitation and inhibition in the mPFC during memory retrieval could be a promising treatment strategy to prevent relapse in methamphetamine addiction.

Psychological distress and aggression among adolescents with internet gaming disorder symptoms.

The present study aimed to investigate the current situation of internet gaming disorder (IGD) in Chinese adolescents and explore the impact of IGD-related factors on adolescent aggression. We hypothesized that IGD symptoms in adolescents would be associated with aggressive behavior and that risk factors for IGD symptoms could increase the aggressive tendencies of adolescents. To verify the above hypothesis, a cross-sectional survey of junior and senior high school students from southern, southwestern, central, and eastern China was conducted. A total of 9306 valid questionnaires were collected. The results showed that the prevalence of IGD symptoms was 1.78 % among Chinese adolescents. The adolescents in the disordered gamer group had the most severe IGD symptoms, with the highest levels of psychological distress and aggression. Interestingly, adolescents in the casual gamer group had the lowest psychological distress and aggression scores. Linear regression analysis further showed that higher levels of aggression were significantly associated with male sex, younger age, more severe psychological distress and IGD symptoms, and more violent game exposure. Our results suggested that excessive online gaming not only contributes to psychological distress in adolescents but also increases their levels of aggressive behavior. Apart from male sex and younger age, severe IGD symptoms and psychological distress are the most important predictors of the development of aggressive behavior.

Prevalence and risk factors of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among Chinese health care workers following the COVID-19 pandemic.

In December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appeared in Wuhan (Hubei, China) and subsequently swept the globe. In addition to the risk of infection, there is a strong possibility that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be a secondary effect of the pandemic. Health care workers (HCWs) participating in the pandemic are highly exposed to and may bear the brunt out of stressful or traumatic events. In this cross-sectional study, we assessed the morbidity and risk factors of PTSD symptoms among Chinese HCWs. A total of 457 HCWs were recruited from March 15, 2020, to Mach 22, 2020, including HCWs in Wuhan and Hubei Province (excluding Wuhan), the areas first and most seriously impacted by COVID-19. The morbidity of PTSD symptoms was assessed by the Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). The risk factors for PTSD symptoms were explored by means of logistic regression analysis. Over 40% of the respondents experienced PTSD symptoms more than one month after the COVID-19 outbreak, and this proportion increased to 57.7% in Wuhan HCWs, especially females and HCWs on the frontline. Thus, rapid mental health assessment and effective psychological interventions need to be developed for frontline HCWs to prevent long-term PTSD-related disabilities. Moreover, Negative coping style and neuroticism personality may be regarded as high risk factors for PTSD symptoms. Improving individual coping strategies to enhance resilience should be the focus of further preventive intervention strategies.

Sleep Deprivation Impairs Learning-Induced Increase in Hippocampal Sharp Wave Ripples and Associated Spike Dynamics during Recovery Sleep.

Sleep deprivation (SD) causes deficits in off-line memory consolidation, but the underlying network oscillation mechanisms remain unclear. Hippocampal sharp wave ripple (SWR) oscillations play a critical role in off-line memory consolidation. Therefore, we trained mice to learn a hippocampus-dependent trace eyeblink conditioning (tEBC) task and explored the influence of 1.5-h postlearning SD on hippocampal SWRs and related spike dynamics during recovery sleep. We found an increase in hippocampal SWRs during postlearning sleep, which predicted the consolidation of tEBC in conditioned mice. In contrast, sleep-deprived mice showed a loss of tEBC learning-induced increase in hippocampal SWRs during recovery sleep. Moreover, the sleep-deprived mice exhibited weaker reactivation of tEBC learning-associated pyramidal cells in hippocampal SWRs during recovery sleep. In line with these findings, tEBC consolidation was impaired in sleep-deprived mice. Furthermore, sleep-deprived mice showed augmented fast excitation from pyramidal cells to interneurons and enhanced participation of interneurons in hippocampal SWRs during recovery sleep. Among various interneurons, parvalbumin-expressing interneurons specifically exhibited overexcitation during hippocampal SWRs. Our findings suggest that altered hippocampal SWRs and associated spike dynamics during recovery sleep may be candidate network oscillation mechanisms underlying SD-induced memory deficits.

[Enrichment of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and Antibiotic Resistance Genes by Sulfamethoxazole in the Biological Treatment System of Mariculture Wastewater].

Although antibiotics are heavily used in mariculture, only a small portion of the added antibiotics is absorbed. Little is known about the response process of antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and antibiotic resistance genes to antibiotic-containing wastewater entering a wastewater treatment system. In this study, an anoxic/aerobic moving bed biofilm reactor (A/O-MBBR) was used to treat marine aquaculture wastewater containing sulfamethoxazole (SMX). The antibiotics and resistance genes in the reactor were then evaluated under selective SMX pressure, and the changing abundance patterns and the response of microbial communities and cultivable resistant bacterial populations were further explored. The results show that with an influent SMX concentration of 500 µg ·L-1 and a hydraulic retention time of 8 h, SMX had a slight effect on the removal rate of NH4+-N and NO2--N, following which the performance gradually recovered. During this stage, SMX removal reached approximately 32%, with more than 78% of SMX removed from the hypoxic zone. The resistance gene was more significantly enriched in the hypoxic zone than in the aerobic zone. In the hypoxic zone, the absolute abundance of gene sul1 increased by 2.43 log, whereas that of gene sul2 increased by 1.71 log. In the region, the absolute abundance of sul1 increased by 1.17 log, whereas that of sul2 increased by 0.91 log. Resistant plate culture and high-throughput sequencing showed that the genus Pseudoalteromonas was the most dominant culturable resistant bacteria in the reactor. The genus Pseudomonas predominated in the uncultured resistant bacteria in the reactor. This study showed that marine aquaculture wastewater containing SMX promotes the enrichment of resistance genes, causing the abundance of some resistant bacteria to increase significantly.

Long non­coding RNA ASAP1­IT1 suppresses ovarian cancer progression by regulating Hippo/YAP signaling.

Long non­coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non­protein coding transcripts that are involved in the regulation of gene expression in mammalian cells. Transcriptional co­activator Yes associated protein 1 (YAP1) plays a key role in the progression of ovarian cancer. However, the regulation of Hippo/YAP signaling in ovarian cancer remains elusive. In the present study, the expression levels of lncRNA ASAP1­IT1 were investigated. The analysis indicated that lncRNA ASAP1­IT1 expression was downregulated in ovarian tumor samples and ovarian cancer cells. The overexpression of ASAP1­IT1 inhibited ovarian cancer cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that miR­2278, a previously reported upregulated miRNA in ovarian tumors, may bind to ASAP1­IT1. Dual luciferase assay confirmed the direct regulatory association between ASAP1­IT1 and miR­2278. In addition, the data demonstrated that large tumor suppressor 2 (LATS2) was a target gene of miR­2278, whose expression was upregulated by ASAP1­IT1 in ovarian cancer cells. By regulating the expression of LATS2, ASAP1­IT1 induced the downregulation of YAP1 expression in ovarian cancer cells. Moreover, the silencing of LATS2 attenuated the inhibition of cell proliferation and the apoptosis induced by ASAP1­IT1 overexpression in ovarian cancer cells. The association among the expression levels of ASAP1­IT1, miR­2278 and LATS2 was observed in specimens obtained from patients with ovarian cancer. Taken together, the data presented herein demonstrate that ASAP1­IT1 functions as a potential tumor suppressor lncRNA by upregulating LATS2 expression in ovarian cancer.

LncRNA ANRIL Regulates Ovarian Cancer Progression and Tumor Stem Cell-Like Characteristics via miR-324-5p/Ran Axis.

OBJECTIVE: Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) ANRIL is emerging as a crucial role in ovarian cancer progression and prognosis. However, the precise molecular mechanism of ANRIL on ovarian cancer is not known. Thus, we aim to study the underlying mechanism of ANRIL on the action. METHODS: The MTT assay assessed cell viability. Cell migration and invasion were determined using the wound healing assay, Transwell migration, and invasion assay. The relationships of ANRIL, miR-324-5p, and RAN were evaluated using luciferase activity assay and RNA pull-down assay. Cancer stem cell was identified by flow cytometry. Sphere formation assay was conducted to determine the stem-like properties. Xenograft tumor was established to assess tumor growth in vivo. qRT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect gene expression. RESULTS: ANRIL was elevated while miR-324-5p was decreased in ovarian cancer tissues and cells. Besides, downregulated ANRIL enhanced miR-324-5p expression, and the luciferase reporting experiment and RNA pull-down assay showed the binding interaction between ANRIL and miR-324-5p. miR-324-5p directly targeted Ran and negatively modulated the expression of Ran. Besides, Ran was promoted by overexpressed ANRIL, which was reversed by overexpression of miR-324-5p. Furthermore, decreased ANRIL and increased miR-324-5p suppressed tumor growth, migration capacity, drug resistance, and alleviated stem-like characteristics in vitro and in vivo. Ran mediated the regulation of ANRIL on cell viability, stem-like properties, and drug resistance of ovarian cancer cells. CONCLUSION: The ANRIL/miR-324-5p/Ran axis regulated ovarian cancer development, making the axis meaningful targets for ovarian cancer therapy.