Pre-treatment Resting-State Functional MR Imaging Predicts the Long-Term Clinical Outcome After Short-Term Paroxtine Treatment in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Background: The chronic phase of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the limited effectiveness of existing treatments creates the need for the development of potential biomarkers to predict response to antidepressant medication at an early stage. However, findings at present focus on acute therapeutic effect without following-up the long-term clinical outcome of PTSD. So far, studies predicting the long-term clinical outcome of short-term treatment based on both pre-treatment and post-treatment functional MRI in PTSD remains limited.Methods: Twenty-two PTSD patients were scanned using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) before and after 12 weeks of treatment with paroxetine. Twenty patients were followed up using the same psychopathological assessments 2 years after they underwent the second MRI scan. Based on clinical outcome, the follow-up patients were divided into those with remitted PTSD or persistent PTSD. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and degree centrality (DC) derived from pre-treatment and post-treatment rs-fMRI were used as classification features in a support vector machine (SVM) classifier.Results: Prediction of long-term clinical outcome by combined ALFF and DC features derived from pre-treatment rs-fMRI yielded an accuracy rate of 72.5% (p < 0.005). The most informative voxels for outcome prediction were mainly located in the precuneus, superior temporal area, insula, dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, frontal orbital cortex, supplementary motor area, lingual gyrus, and cerebellum. Long-term outcome could not be successfully classified by post-treatment imaging features with accuracy rates <50%.Conclusions: Combined information from ALFF and DC from rs-fMRI data before treatment could predict the long-term clinical outcome of PTSD, which is critical for defining potential biomarkers to customize PTSD treatment and improve the prognosis

Comparison Between Flat and Round Peaches, Genomic Evidences of Heterozygosity Events

Bud sports occur in many plant species, including fruit trees. Although they are correlated with genetic variance in somatic cells, the mechanisms responsible for bud sports are mostly unknown. In this study, a peach bud sport whose fruit shape was transformed to round from flat was identified by next generation sequencing (NGS), and we provide evidence that a long loss of heterozygosity (LOH) event may be responsible for this alteration in fruit shape. Moreover, compared to the reference genome, we identified 237,476 high quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the wild-type and bud sport genomes. Using this SNP set, a long LOH event was identified at the distal end of scaffold Pp06 of the bud sport genome. Haplotypes from 155 additional peach accessions were phased, suggesting that the homozygous distal end of scaffold Pp06 of the bud sport was likely derived from only one haplotype of the wild-type flat peach. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 127 peach accessions was conducted to associate a SNP found at 26,924,482 bp of scaffold Pp06 to differences in fruit shape. All accessions with round-shaped fruit were found to have an A/A genotype, while those with A/T, or T/T genotypes had flat-shaped fruits. Finally, we also found that 236 peach accessions and 141 Prunus species with round-type fruit were found to have an A/A genotype at this SNP, while 22 flat peach accessions had an A/T genotype. Taken together, our results suggest that genes flanking this A/T polymorphism, and haplotyped carrying the T allele may determine flat fruit shape in this population. Furthermore, the LOH event resulting in the loss of the haplotype carrying the T allele may therefore be responsible for fruit shape alteration in wild-type flat peach

Alterations in microRNA-124 and AMPA receptors contribute to social behavioral deficits in frontotemporal dementia

Many neurodegenerative diseases, such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), are associated with behavioral deficits, but the anatomical and molecular bases remain poorly understood. Here we show that forebrain-specific expression of FTD-associated mutant CHMP2B causes several age-dependent neurodegenerative phenotypes, including social behavioral impairments. The social deficits were accompanied by a change in AMPA receptor (AMPAR) composition, leading to imbalance between Ca2+-permeable and -impermeable AMPARs. Expression of most AMPAR subunits was regulated by the brain-enriched microRNA (miR-124), whose abundance was markedly decreased in the superficial layers of cerebral cortex of FTD mice. We found similar changes in miR-124 and AMPAR levels in the frontal cortex and iPSC-derived neurons of subjects with behavioral variant FTD. Moreover, miR-124 expression in the medial prefrontal cortex decreased AMPAR levels and partially rescued behavioral deficits. Knockdown of Gria2 also alleviated social impairments in FTD mice. Our results identify a novel mechanism involving miR-124 and AMAPRs in regulating social behavior in FTD and suggest a potential therapeutic avenue

Deconvolution of single-cell multi-omics layers reveals regulatory heterogeneity

Heterogeneity in gene expression and epigenetic states exists across individual cells. Here, the authors develop scCAT-seq, a technique for simultaneously performing ATAC-seq and RNA-seq within the same single cell

Impact of neuraminidase inhibitors on influenza A(H1N1)pdm09‐related pneumonia: an individual participant data meta‐analysis

BACKGROUND: The impact of neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs) on influenza‐related pneumonia (IRP) is not established. Our objective was to investigate the association between NAI treatment and IRP incidence and outcomes in patients hospitalised with A(H1N1)pdm09 virus infection. METHODS: A worldwide meta‐analysis of individual participant data from 20 634 hospitalised patients with laboratory‐confirmed A(H1N1)pdm09 (n = 20 021) or clinically diagnosed (n = 613) ‘pandemic influenza’. The primary outcome was radiologically confirmed IRP. Odds ratios (OR) were estimated using generalised linear mixed modelling, adjusting for NAI treatment propensity, antibiotics and corticosteroids. RESULTS: Of 20 634 included participants, 5978 (29·0%) had IRP; conversely, 3349 (16·2%) had confirmed the absence of radiographic pneumonia (the comparator). Early NAI treatment (within 2 days of symptom onset) versus no NAI was not significantly associated with IRP [adj. OR 0·83 (95% CI 0·64–1·06; P = 0·136)]. Among the 5978 patients with IRP, early NAI treatment versus none did not impact on mortality [adj. OR = 0·72 (0·44–1·17; P = 0·180)] or likelihood of requiring ventilatory support [adj. OR = 1·17 (0·71–1·92; P = 0·537)], but early treatment versus later significantly reduced mortality [adj. OR = 0·70 (0·55–0·88; P = 0·003)] and likelihood of requiring ventilatory support [adj. OR = 0·68 (0·54–0·85; P = 0·001)]. CONCLUSIONS: Early NAI treatment of patients hospitalised with A(H1N1)pdm09 virus infection versus no treatment did not reduce the likelihood of IRP. However, in patients who developed IRP, early NAI treatment versus later reduced the likelihood of mortality and needing ventilatory support

FIGURE 6 in Two new species of the pseudoscorpion subfamily Lamprochernetinae Beier, 1932 from Guizhou, China (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae)

FIGURE 6. Megachernes biyunensis sp. nov., holotype female (A–F, H–I), paratype male (G): A, Carapace, dorsal view; B, Left pedipalp, dorsal view; C, Left chelal fingers, lateral view; D, Left chelicerae, dorsal view; E, Genital area of female, ventral view; F, Left leg I, lateral view; G, Genital area of male, ventral view; H, Left leg IV, lateral view; I, Tarsus of left leg IV, lateral view.Published as part of Xu, Hongru, Gao, Zhizhong & Zhang, Feng, 2022, Two new species of the pseudoscorpion subfamily Lamprochernetinae Beier, 1932 from Guizhou, China (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae), pp. 581-592 in Zootaxa 5105 (4) on page 588, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5105.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/633389

FIGURE 7 in Two new species of the pseudoscorpion subfamily Lamprochernetinae Beier, 1932 from Guizhou, China (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae)

FIGURE 7. Megachernes biyunensis sp. nov., holotype female: A, Left pedipalp, ventral view; B, Galea; C, Rallum; D, Left chelicerae, dorsal view; E, Left chelal fingers, lateral view; F, Genital area of female; G, Left leg I, lateral view; H, Spermathecae; I, Left leg IV, lateral view; J, Tarsus of left leg IV, lateral view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (G, I); 0.2 mm (A, D–F, J); 0.1 mm (B, C, H).Published as part of Xu, Hongru, Gao, Zhizhong & Zhang, Feng, 2022, Two new species of the pseudoscorpion subfamily Lamprochernetinae Beier, 1932 from Guizhou, China (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae), pp. 581-592 in Zootaxa 5105 (4) on page 589, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5105.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/633389

FIGURE 5 in Two new species of the pseudoscorpion subfamily Lamprochernetinae Beier, 1932 from Guizhou, China (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae)

FIGURE 5. Megachernes biyunensis sp. nov., A, Female habitus, dorsal view; B, Male habitus, dorsal view.Published as part of Xu, Hongru, Gao, Zhizhong & Zhang, Feng, 2022, Two new species of the pseudoscorpion subfamily Lamprochernetinae Beier, 1932 from Guizhou, China (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae), pp. 581-592 in Zootaxa 5105 (4) on page 587, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5105.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/633389