White Matter Abnormalities in Major Depression: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics and Rumination Study

Increasing evidence indicates that major depressive disorder (MDD) is usually accompanied by altered white matter in the prefrontal cortex, the parietal lobe and the limbic system. As a behavioral abnormity of MDD, rumination has been believed to be a substantial indicator of the mental state of the depressive state. So far, however, no report that we are aware of has evaluated the relationship between white matter alterations and the ruminative state. In this study, we first explored the altered white matter using a tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) method based on diffusion tensor imaging of 19 healthy and 16 depressive subjects. We then investigated correlations between the altered white matter microstructure in the identified altered regions and the severity of ruminations measured by the ruminative response scale. Our results demonstrated altered white matter microstructure in circuits connecting the prefrontal lobe, the parietal lobe and the limbic system (p<0.005, uncorrected), findings which support previous research. More importantly, the result also indicated that a greater alteration in the white matter is associated with a more ruminative state (p<0.05, Bonferroni corrected). The detected abnormalities in the white matter should be interpreted cautiously because of the small sample size in this study. This finding supports the psychometric significance of white matter deficits in MDD

Integrative analysis of chloroplast genome, chemicals, and illustrations in Bencao literature provides insights into the medicinal value of Peucedanum huangshanense

The genus Peucedanum L. (Apiaceae) is a large group comprising more than 120 species distributed worldwide. Many plants of the genus Peucedanum have been studied and used in traditional Chinese medicine. In 2020, a new species, Peucedanum huangshanense Lu Q. Huang, H. S. Peng &amp; S. S. Chu, was found in the Huangshan Mountains of Anhui Province, China. However, little is known about its medicinal properties. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore the potential medicinal value of P. huangshanense and its relationship with other Peucedanum species. Through textual research on illustrations of Qianhu in Bencao literature, it can be inferred that at least five species of genus Peucedanum have been used in Chinese medicine. Therefore, we chose these five species of Peucedanum and P. huangshanense together for subsequent research. We conducted morphological, chloroplast genome, and chemical analyses of six Peucedanum species, including the newly discovered P. huangshanense. The chloroplast genomes of Peucedanum showed a typical tetrad structure, and the gene structure and content were similar and conservative. There were significant differences in genome size and the expansion of the inverted repeat boundary. Through nucleotide polymorphism analysis, we screened 14 hotspot mutation regions that have the potential to be used as specific molecular markers for the taxonomy of Peucedanum. Our results showed an inversion of the trnD-trnY-trnE gene in the P. huangshanense chloroplast genome, which can be developed as a specific molecular marker for species identification. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the phylogenetic trees had high support and resolution, which strongly supports the view that Peucedanum is not a monophyletic group. P. huangshanense had the closest genetic relationship to P. ampliatum K. T. Fu, followed by P. harry-smithii Fedde ex Wolff. Furthermore, the main coumarins of P. huangshanense were most similar to those of P. japonicum Thunb. and P. harry-smithii. In summary, our research lays a foundation for the systematic classification of Peucedanum and sheds light on the medicinal value of P. huangshanense

Circular RNAs in extracellular vesicles: Promising candidate biomarkers for schizophrenia

As one of common and severe mental illnesses, schizophrenia is difficult to be diagnosed exactly. Both its pathogenesis and the causes of its development are still uncertain because of its etiology complexity. At present, the diagnosis of schizophrenia is mainly based on the patient’s symptoms and signs, lacking reliable biomarkers that can be used for diagnosis. Circular RNAs in extracellular vesicles (EV circRNAs) can be used as promising candidate biomarkers for schizophrenia and other diseases, for they are not only high stability and disease specificity, but also are rich in contents and easy to be detected. The review is to focus on the research progress of the correlation between circRNAs and schizophrenia, and then to explores the possibility of EV circRNAs as new biomarkers for the schizophrenia diagnosis

Paleoproteomic evidence reveals dairying supported prehistoric occupation of the highland Tibetan Plateau

The extreme environments of the Tibetan Plateau offer considerable challenges to human survival, demanding novel adaptations. While the role of biological and agricultural adaptations in enabling early human colonization of the plateau has been widely discussed, the contribution of pastoralism is less well understood, especially the dairy pastoralism that has historically been central to Tibetan diets. Here, we analyze ancient proteins from the dental calculus (n = 40) of all human individuals with sufficient calculus preservation from the interior plateau. Our paleoproteomic results demonstrate that dairy pastoralism began on the highland plateau by ~3500 years ago. Patterns of milk protein recovery point to the importance of dairy for individuals who lived in agriculturally poor regions above 3700 m above sea level. Our study suggests that dairy was a critical cultural adaptation that supported expansion of early pastoralists into the region’s vast, non-arable highlands, opening the Tibetan Plateau up to widespread, permanent human occupation

Three-Dimensional Organization of Chicken Genome Provides Insights into Genetic Adaptation to Extreme Environments

The high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) technique is widely used to study the functional roles of the three-dimensional (3D) architecture of genomes. However, the knowledge of the 3D genome structure and its dynamics during extreme environmental adaptations remains poor. Here, we characterized 3D genome architectures using the Hi-C technique for chicken liver cells. Upon comparing Lindian chicken (LDC) liver cells with Wenchang chicken (WCC) liver cells, we discovered that environmental adaptation contributed to the switching of A/B compartments, the reorganization of topologically associated domains (TADs), and TAD boundaries in both liver cells. In addition, the analysis of the switching of A/B compartments revealed that the switched compartmental genes (SCGs) were strongly associated with extreme environment adaption-related pathways, including tight junction, notch signaling pathway, vascular smooth muscle contraction, and the RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway. The findings of this study advanced our understanding of the evolutionary role of chicken 3D genome architecture and its significance in genome activity and transcriptional regulation

Effects of cyclic heat stress on the phenotypic response, meat quality and muscle glycolysis of breasts and thighs of yellow-feather broilers

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of cyclic heat stress on phenotypic response, meat quality and muscle glycolysis of broiler. One hundred and eighty 35-day-old male Xueshan broilers with similar BW were randomly selected and exposed to either thermal neutral (TN; 23 °C, 55–60% RH, n = 6) or heat stress conditions (CHS; cyclic temperatures of 35 °C from 10:00 to 18:00, 32 °C from 18:00 to 20:00, 28 °C from 20:00 to 08:00, and 32 °C from 08:00 to 10:00 at 40–45% RH, n = 6) for 7 days. Relative to broilers under thermoneutral conditions, broilers subjected to cyclic heat stress had an overall increase in rectal temperature and respiration rate (p < .001, p < .001, respectively), and a reduced body weight, average daily gain, average feed intake and feed conversion ratio (p = .001, p < .001, p < .001, p = .002, respectively). A higher L* value was obtained from both the breast and thigh muscle of broilers under high temperatures (p = .022 and p = .009, respectively). Furthermore, the thigh muscle of broilers exposed to high temperatures showed a higher hexokinase activity than that of broilers exposed to thermal neutral conditions (p = .014). The results indicate that cyclic heat stress significantly lowers Xueshan broiler production performance and meat quality but has no significant effect on the chemical composition and glycolytic process of the meat.Highlights Cyclic heat stress decreases body weight, average daily weight gain, average feed intake and feed conversion ratio in yellow-feather broilers. Cyclic heat stress decreases the weight, physicochemical characteristics of breast and thigh meat in yellow-feather broilers. Cyclic heat stress increases hexokinase activity to mobilize more glucose to supply the energy for aerobic metabolism in yellow-feather broilers

Effects of dietary supplemented of γ-amino butyric acid on growth performance, blood biochemical indices and intestinal morphology of yellow-feathered broilers exposed to a high temperature environment

This experiment was conducted to study the effects of γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) on growth performance, blood biochemical indices and intestinal morphology of yellow-feathered broilers exposed to a high temperature environment. One hundred and forty four, 28-day-old male yellow-feathered broilers were separated into 2 groups with 6 replicates and 12 birds per replicate. The two experimental groups included: control group, which fed the basal diet, and GABA supplemented group, which fed the basal diet supplemented with 100 mg/kg GABA. After 7 days of feeding experimental diet at 26 °C, birds were fed the experimental diet and exposed to a high temperature environment at 35 °C and 60% RH for 14 days. Results revealed that average daily gain (ADG, p = .004) and average daily feed intake (ADFI, p = .003) of the GABA group were higher than control group, feed: gain ratio (F/G; p = .023) and mortality (p = .042) were lower than control group. The serum levels of glucose (GLU; p = .016), total cholesterol (T-CHO; p = .001), and low density lipoprotein (LDL; p = .001) as well as the activities of aspartate-aminotransferase (AST; p = .008), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; p = .042) and creatine kinase (CK; p = .032) of the GABA group were lower than control group, while villus length (p = .016) of jejunum was higher than control group. In conclusion, adding 100 mg/kg GABA to diet can improve growth performance, reduce serum intracellular enzyme activities, protect the organs and intestinal morphology of yellow-feathered broilers exposed to a high temperature environment during 36-49 days of age.Highlights GABA improves growth performance of yellow-feathered broilers exposed to a high temperature environment. GABA protects the intestine of yellow-feathered broilers exposed to a high temperature environment