Habitual Sleep Quality Moderated the Effects of Sleep Deprivation on EmotionRegulation by Third-Person Self Talk: Event-Related Potential (ERP) andBehavioral Findings

The current study investigated the impact of sleep deprivation (SD) on the use of third-person self-talk, a relatively effort-less strategy, to regulate emotion. Twenty-four participants (age = 22.75 2.68, 54.17% male, 33.33% good sleepers) com-pleted a cue-picture ERP paradigm after normal sleep and SD conditions, in which they viewed negative or neutral stimuliand reflected on their feelings using either the pronoun I or their name (third-person). We calculated post-instruction latepositive potential (LPP) that has been found sensitive to emotion regulation strategies and closely related to amygdalaactivity. While poor sleepers showed greater LPP amplitudes overall, F(1,7) = 17.50, p = .004, SD only increased the LPPfor negative picture trials among good sleepers but not poor sleepers, F(1,7) = 5.37, p = .054, suggesting that the effect ofSD on emotion regulation using third-person self talk was moderated by habitual sleep quality

Tumor necrosis factor alpha gene expression and the response to interferon in chronic hepatitis C

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a cytokine with pleiotropic properties that is induced in a variety of pathological situations including viral infections. In this work, we analyzed the expression of TNF-alpha gene in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Serum TNF-alpha levels were found to be elevated in all chronic hepatitis C patients including those cases presenting sustained biochemical remission of the disease after interferon therapy. Untreated patients with chronic hepatitis C showed increased TNF-alpha messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in the liver and mononuclear cells as compared with healthy controls. After completion of treatment with interferon, patients experiencing sustained complete response showed values of TNF-alpha mRNA, both in the liver and in peripheral mononuclear cells, within the normal range, significantly lower than patients who did not respond to interferon and than those with complete response who relapsed after interferon withdrawal. Pretreatment values of TNF-alpha mRNA were lower in long-term responders to interferon than in cases who failed to respond to the treatment. Values of TNF-alpha mRNA in the liver or in mononuclear cells were higher in specimens with positive hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA than in those samples where the virus was undetectable. Neither the intensity of the liver damage nor the amount of HCV RNA in serum or in cells showed correlation with the levels of TNF-alpha transcripts in peripheral mononuclear cells but it was found that high TNF-alpha values were associated with genotype 1b. In conclusion, there is an enhanced expression of TNF-alpha in HCV infection. High levels of this cytokine may play a role in the resistance to interferon therapy

Association of Genetic Variants Related to Combined Exposure to Higher Body Mass Index and Waist-to-Hip Ratio on Lifelong Cardiovascular Risk in UK Biobank

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the individual and combined association of body mass index (BMI) and 7 waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) risk using genetic scores of the 8 obesity measurements as proxies. DESIGN: A 2×2 factorial analysis approach was applied, with participants divided into four groups of lifetime exposure to low BMI and WHR, high BMI, high WHR, and high BMI and WHR based on weighted genetic risk scores. The difference in CVD risk across groups was evaluated using multivariable logistic regression. SETTING: Cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 408,003 participants were included from the prospective observational UK Biobank study. RESULTS: A total of 58,429 of CVD events were recorded. Compared to the low BMI and WHR genetic scores group, higher BMI or higher WHR genetic scores were associated with an increase in CVD risk (high BMI: odds ratio (OR), 1.07; 95%CI, 1.04-1.10; high WHR: OR, 1.12; 95%CI, 1.09-1.16). A weak additive effect on CVD risk was found between BMI and WHR (high BMI and WHR: OR, 1.16; 95%CI, 1.12-1.19). Subgroup analysis showed similar patterns between different sex, age (<65, ≥65 years old), smoking status, Townsend deprivation index, fasting glucose level and medication uses, but lower systolic blood pressure was associated with higher CVD risk in obese participants. CONCLUSIONS: High BMI or WHR were associated with increased CVD risk, and their effects are weakly additive. Even though there were overlapping of effect, both BMI and WHR are important in assessing the CVD risk in the general population

Shotgun metagenome data of a defined mock community using Oxford Nanopore, PacBio and Illumina technologies.

Metagenomic sequence data from defined mock communities is crucial for the assessment of sequencing platform performance and downstream analyses, including assembly, binning and taxonomic assignment. We report a comparison of shotgun metagenome sequencing and assembly metrics of a defined microbial mock community using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION, PacBio and Illumina sequencing platforms. Our synthetic microbial community BMock12 consists of 12 bacterial strains with genome sizes spanning 3.2-7.2 Mbp, 40-73% GC content, and 1.5-7.3% repeats. Size selection of both PacBio and ONT sequencing libraries prior to sequencing was essential to yield comparable relative abundances of organisms among all sequencing technologies. While the Illumina-based metagenome assembly yielded good coverage with few misassemblies, contiguity was greatly improved by both, Illumina + ONT and Illumina + PacBio hybrid assemblies but increased misassemblies, most notably in genomes with high sequence similarity to each other. Our resulting datasets allow evaluation and benchmarking of bioinformatics software on Illumina, PacBio and ONT platforms in parallel

Merkel Cell Polyomavirus Small T Antigen Promotes Pro-Glycolytic Metabolic Perturbations Required for Transformation

An accurate analytic model describing the microscopic mechanism of high-harmonic generation (HHG) in solids is derived. Extensive first-principles simulations within a time-dependent density-functional framework corroborate the conclusions of the model. Our results reveal that (i) the emitted HHG spectra are highly anisotropic and laser-polarization dependent even for cubic crystals; (ii) the harmonic emission is enhanced by the inhomogeneity of the electron-nuclei potential; the yield is increased for heavier atoms; and (iii) the cutoff photon energy is driver-wavelength independent. Moreover, we show that it is possible to predict the laser polarization for optimal HHG in bulk crystals solely from the knowledge of their electronic band structure. Our results pave the way to better control and optimize HHG in solids by engineering their band structure

Domiciliary transcutaneous electrical stimulation in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea and limited adherence to continuous positive airway pressure therapy: a single-centre, open-label, randomised, controlled phase III trial

Background: Hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HNS) for obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a novel way to manage the condition. We hypothesised that in patients with OSA and limited adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, domiciliary transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TESLA) would control sleep apnoea and provide health benefits. Methods: We undertook a single-centre, open-label, randomised, controlled phase III trial in patients with OSA (apnoea-hypopnoea-index [AHI] 5-35 h-1), a BMI of 18.5-32 kg∗m-2, and a documented lack of adherence to CPAP therapy (<4 h∗night-1) at Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (hospital), UK. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) using minimisation (gender and OSA severity) to receive TESLA or usual care (CPAP) for at least 3 months; sleep study analysis was provided without knowledge of the assignment arm. The primary outcome was change in AHI at 3-months. The primary outcome and safety were analysed in the intention-to-treat population. Data are reported as median (interquartile range), unless otherwise explained. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03160456. Findings: Between 6 June 2018 and 7 February 2023, 56 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned (29 patients in the intervention group and 27 in the usual care group). Patients were followed up for a median of 3.0 months (IQR 3.0; 10.0). The groups were similar in terms of age (55.8 (48.2; 66.0) vs 59.3 (47.8; 64.4) years), gender (male:female, 19:10 vs 18:9) and BMI (28.7 (26.4; 31.9) vs 28.4 (24.4; 31.9) kg∗m-2). The unadjusted group difference in the Δ AHI was -11.5 (95% CI -20.7; -2.3) h-1 (p = 0.016). Adjusted for the baseline value, the difference was Δ AHI -7.0 (-15.7; 1.8) h-1 (p = 0.12), in favour of the intervention. Minor adverse events were found in one of the participants who developed mild headaches related to the intervention. Interpretation: Domiciliary TESLA can be used safely and effectively in OSA patients with poor adherence to CPAP, with favourable impact on sleepiness and sleep fragmentation. Despite pandemic-related limitations of the amended protocol this trial provides the evidence that TESLA improves clinically meaningful outcomes over the observed follow up period, and the transcutaneous approach is likely to offer an affordable alternative for responders to electrical stimulation in clinical practice. Funding: British Lung Foundation, United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration-registered King's Clinical Trials Unit at King's Health Partners. Keywords: CPAP; Genioglossus; Hypoglossal nerve stimulation; Non-CPAP therapy