The neural dynamic mechanisms of asymmetric switch costs in a combined Stroop-task-switching paradigm

Switch costs have been constantly found asymmetrical when switching between two tasks of unequal dominance. We used a combined Stroop-task-switching paradigm and recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) signals to explore the neural mechanism underlying the phenomenon of asymmetrical switch costs. The results revealed that a fronto-central N2 component demonstrated greater negativity in word switch (cW) trials relative to word repeat (wW) trials, and both First P3 and P3b components over the parieto-central region exhibited greater positivity in color switch (wC) trials relative to color repeat (cC) trials, whereas a contrasting switch-related fronto-central SP effect was found to have an opposite pattern for each task. Moreover, the time-frequency analysis showed a right-frontal lower alpha band (9-11 Hz) modulation in the word task, whereas a fronto-central upper alpha band (11-13 Hz) modulation was exclusively found in the color task. These results provide evidence for dissociable neural processes, which are related to inhibitory control and endogenous control, contributing to the generation of asymmetrical switch costs

Dietary compounds in modulation of gut microbiota-derived metabolites

Gut microbiota, a group of microorganisms that live in the gastrointestinal tract, plays important roles in health and disease. One mechanism that gut microbiota in modulation of the functions of hosts is achieved through synthesizing and releasing a series of metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids. In recent years, increasing evidence has indicated that dietary compounds can interact with gut microbiota. On one hand, dietary compounds can modulate the composition and function of gut microbiota; on the other hand, gut microbiota can metabolize the dietary compounds. Although there are several reviews on gut microbiota and diets, there is no focused review on the effects of dietary compounds on gut microbiota-derived metabolites. In this review, we first briefly discussed the types of gut microbiota metabolites, their origins, and the reasons that dietary compounds can interact with gut microbiota. Then, focusing on gut microbiota-derived compounds, we discussed the effects of dietary compounds on gut microbiota-derived compounds and the following effects on health. Furthermore, we give our perspectives on the research direction of the related research fields. Understanding the roles of dietary compounds on gut microbiota-derived metabolites will expand our knowledge of how diets affect the host health and disease, thus eventually enable the personalized diets and nutrients

Research on the Intelligent Safety Monitoring System of Pipeline Corrosion in Acidic Oil and Gas Fields—II

AbstractAll kinds of corrosion monitoring techniques have their own advantages and obvious disadvantages when applied in acidic oil and gas fields. According to the characteristics of various technologies, an intelligent safety monitoring system was established based on electrochemical noise probe with galvanic corrosion probe, electrochemical hydrogen permeation probe and electric resistance probe. This paper presents the development of monitoring unit, system integration, and field test and data analysis. The results demonstrate that electrochemical noise not only determines the occurrence of corrosion, but also shows the characteristic of localized corrosion clearly; electrochemical hydrogen permeation technique reveals several advantages in the monitoring progress including simplicity, high sensitivity and high reliability, while the improved electric resistance probe shows a better environmental suitability. The accuracy and reliability of corrosion monitoring has been greatly increased by this integrated technique which can achieve the consistency and complementation of much information

Excess Folic Acid Supplementation Before and During Pregnancy and Lactation Activates Fos Gene Expression and Alters Behaviors in Male Mouse Offspring

Periconceptional folic acid (FA) supplementation is recommended to prevent neural tube defects and other birth defects. After 20 years mandate food fortification with FA, serum concentration of folate and unmetabolized FA increased significantly in the North American population. But whether excess FA intake impairs neurodevelopment and behavior is still controversial. Here, we treated mice with approximately 2.5-fold (moderate dose of FA, MFA) or 10-fold (high dose of FA, HFA) the dietary requirement of FA 1 week before mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation, and examined behaviors in adult male offspring using open field test, three-chamber sociability and social novelty test, elevated plus maze, rotarod and Morris water maze. We found that early life MFA supplementation increased long-term body weight gain in adults, elevated anxiety-like behavior, and impaired social preference, motor learning and spatial learning ability without modifying motor ability and spatial memory. In contrast, HFA supplementation only induced mild behavioral abnormality. RNA sequencing revealed that FA supplementation altered the expression of brain genes at weaning, among which Fos and related genes were significantly up-regulated in MFA mice compared with control and HFA mice. Quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blots confirmed the increase of these genes. Our results suggested that FA supplementation during early life stage affected gene expression in weaning mice, and exhibited long-term impairments in adult behaviors in a dose-sensitive manner

Abnormal Entropy Modulation of the EEG Signal in Patients With Schizophrenia During the Auditory Paired-Stimulus Paradigm

The complexity change in brain activity in schizophrenia is an interesting topic clinically. Schizophrenia patients exhibit abnormal task-related modulation of complexity, following entropy of electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis. However, complexity modulation in schizophrenia patients during the sensory gating (SG) task, remains unknown. In this study, the classical auditory paired-stimulus paradigm was introduced to investigate SG, and EEG data were recorded from 55 normal controls and 61 schizophrenia patients. Fuzzy entropy (FuzzyEn) was used to explore the complexity of brain activity under the conditions of baseline (BL) and the auditory paired-stimulus paradigm (S1 and S2). Generally, schizophrenia patients showed significantly higher FuzzyEn values in the frontal and occipital regions of interest (ROIs). Relative to the BL condition, the normalized values of FuzzyEn of normal controls were decreased greatly in condition S1 and showed less variance in condition S2. Schizophrenia patients showed a smaller decrease in the normalized values in condition S1. Moreover, schizophrenia patients showed significant diminution in the suppression ratios of FuzzyEn, attributed to the higher FuzzyEn values in condition S1. These results suggested that entropy modulation during the process of sensory information and SG was obvious in normal controls and significantly deficient in schizophrenia patients. Additionally, the FuzzyEn values measured in the frontal ROI were positively correlated with positive scores of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), indicating that frontal entropy was a potential indicator in evaluating the clinical symptoms. However, negative associations were found between the FuzzyEn values of occipital ROIs and general and total scores of PANSS, likely reflecting the compensation effect in visual processing. Thus, our findings provided a deeper understanding of the deficits in sensory information processing and SG, which contribute to cognitive deficits and symptoms in patients with schizophrenia

Unique genotype-phenotype correlations within LAMA2-related limb girdle muscular dystrophy in Chinese patients

BackgroundLAMA2-related limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD R23) is rare. The detailed clinical phenotypes and genetic information associated with LGMD R23 are unknown.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cross-sectional and longitudinal study on 19 LGMD R23 patients.ResultsNormal early motor development was observed in 84.2% patients. Mild orthopedic complications were observed in 42.1% patients. 36.8% patients had seizures, which is unusually frequent in LGMD. Epilepsy was eventually diagnosed in 26.3% patients. 46.7% patients presented with motor neuropathy. Genetic analysis identified 29 pathogenic variants, with missense and frameshift variants being the most common. The mutant sites were mainly distributed in the N-terminal and G-like domains of laminin. The missense variants are distributed near the N-terminus (exons 3–11), whereas frameshift variants are distributed in exons 12–65. Five patients were diagnosed with epilepsy and all of them harbor at least one missense variants in exon 4. 71.4% variants of patients with motor neuropathy located in the LN domain.ConclusionsMissense variants in exon 4 maybe correlated with epilepsy and variants in the LN domain maybe correlated with motor neuropathy in Chinese patients. Our study expands the clinical and genetic spectrum caused by LAMA2 variations and provides novel genotype-phenotype correlations of LGMD R23

The potential of liquid marbles for biomedical applications: a critical review

Liquid marbles (LM) are freestanding droplets covered by micro/nanoparti- cles with hydrophobic/hydrophilic properties, which can be manipulated as a soft solid. The phenomenon that generates these soft structures is regarded as a different method to generate a superhydrophobic behavior in the liquid/ solid interface without modifying the surface. Several applications for the LM have been reported in very different fields, however the developments for bio- medical applications are very recent. At first, the LM properties are reviewed, namely shell structure, LM shape, evaporation, floatability and robustness. The different strategies for LM manipulation are also described, which make use of magnetic, electrostatic and gravitational forces, ultraviolet and infrared radiation, and approaches that induce LM self-propulsion. Then, very distinc- tive applications for LM in the biomedical field are presented, namely for diagnostic assays, cell culture, drug screening and cryopreservation of mam- malian cells. Finally, a critical outlook about the unexplored potential of LM for biomedical applications is presented, suggesting possible advances on this emergent scientific area. The authors acknowledge funding from the European Research Council grant agreement ERC-2012-ADG 20120216-321266 for project ComplexiTE. N. M. Oliveira acknowledges the financial support from Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology - FCT (Grant SFRH/BD/73172/2010), from the financial program POPH/FSE from QREN.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reduction of Mitoferrin Results in Abnormal Development and Extended Lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans

Iron is essential for organisms. It is mainly utilized in mitochondria for biosynthesis of iron-sulfur clusters, hemes and other cofactors. Mitoferrin 1 and mitoferrin 2, two homologues proteins belonging to the mitochondrial solute carrier family, are required for iron delivery into mitochondria. Mitoferrin 1 is highly expressed in developing erythrocytes which consume a large amount of iron during hemoglobinization. Mitoferrin 2 is ubiquitously expressed, whose functions are less known. Zebrafish with mitoferrin 1 mutation show profound hypochromic anaemia and erythroid maturation arrests, and yeast with defects in MRS3/4, the counterparts of mitoferrin 1/2, has low mitochondrial iron levels and grows poorly by iron depletion. Mitoferrin 1 expression is up-regulated in yeast and mouse models of Fiedreich's ataxia disease and in human cell culture models of Parkinson disease, suggesting its involvement in the pathogenesis of diseases with mitochondrial iron accumulation. In this study we found that reduced mitoferrin levels in C. elegans by RNAi treatment causes pleiotropic phenotypes such as small body size, reduced fecundity, slow movement and increased sensitivity to paraquat. Despite these abnormities, lifespan was increased by 50% to 80% in N2 wild type strain, and in further studies using the RNAi sensitive strain eri-1, more than doubled lifespan was observed. The pathways or mechanisms responsible for the lifespan extension and other phenotypes of mitoferrin RNAi worms are worth further study, which may contribute to our understanding of aging mechanisms and the pathogenesis of iron disorder related diseases