OCT4B1 Regulates the Cellular Stress Response of Human Dental Pulp Cells with Inflammation

Introduction. Infection and apoptosis are combined triggers for inflammation in dental tissues. Octamer-binding transcription factor 4-B1 (OCT4B1), a novel spliced variant of OCT4 family, could respond to the cellular stress and possess antiapoptotic property. However, its specific role in dental pulpitis remains unknown. Methods. To investigate the effect of OCT4B1 on inflammation of dental pulp cells (DPCs), its expression in inflamed dental pulp tissues and DPCs was examined by in situ hybridization, real-time PCR, and FISH assay. OCT4B1 overexpressed DPCs model was established, confirmed by western blot and immunofluorescence staining, and then stimulated with Lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Apoptotic rate was determined by Hoechst/PI staining and FACS. Cell survival rate was calculated by CCK8 assay. Results. In situ hybridization, real-time PCR, and FISH assay revealed that OCT4B1 was extensively expressed in inflamed dental pulp tissues and DPCs with LPS stimulation. Western blot and immunofluorescence staining showed the expression of OCT4B1 and OCT4B increased after OCT4B1 transfection. Hoechst/PI staining and FACS demonstrated that less red/blue fluorescence was detected and apoptotic percentage decreased (3.45%) after transfection. CCK8 demonstrated that the survival rate of pCDH-OCT4B1-flag cells increased. Conclusions. OCT4B1 plays an essential role in inflammation and apoptosis of DPCs. OCT4B might operate synergistically with OCT4B1 to reduce apoptosis

Rumor Detection on Social Media with Bi-Directional Graph Convolutional Networks

Social media has been developing rapidly in public due to its nature of spreading new information, which leads to rumors being circulated. Meanwhile, detecting rumors from such massive information in social media is becoming an arduous challenge. Therefore, some deep learning methods are applied to discover rumors through the way they spread, such as Recursive Neural Network (RvNN) and so on. However, these deep learning methods only take into account the patterns of deep propagation but ignore the structures of wide dispersion in rumor detection. Actually, propagation and dispersion are two crucial characteristics of rumors. In this paper, we propose a novel bi-directional graph model, named Bi-Directional Graph Convolutional Networks (Bi-GCN), to explore both characteristics by operating on both top-down and bottom-up propagation of rumors. It leverages a GCN with a top-down directed graph of rumor spreading to learn the patterns of rumor propagation, and a GCN with an opposite directed graph of rumor diffusion to capture the structures of rumor dispersion. Moreover, the information from the source post is involved in each layer of GCN to enhance the influences from the roots of rumors. Encouraging empirical results on several benchmarks confirm the superiority of the proposed method over the state-of-the-art approaches.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, AAAI 202

Effect of preemptive local injection of ropivocaine with dexmedetomidine on mirror pain in rats and its mechanism

AbstractObjectiveTo observe the effect of preemptive local injection of ropivocaine with dexmedetomidine on activation of glial cells and on the mirror pain in rats and its mechanism.MethodsA total of 48 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (weighing 180 g–220 g) were included in the study and randomized into 3 groups, Group S, Group R, and Group RD1. A rat model of persistent postoperative pain evoked by skin/muscle incision and retraction was established in the three groups. Before procedures and nerve extraction, Group S (n = 16) was injected 0.9% saline locally; Group R (n = 16) was injected 0.5% ropivocaine locally, and Group RD1 (n = 16) was injected 0.5% ropivocaine in combined with 1 μg dexmedetomidine locally. After the model being established in the three groups, 8 rats were used for behavior test until 28 d, and dorsal root ganglions (DRGs) of the other 8 rats were harvested on the 3rd day after surgery. Immunofluorescent and transmission electron microscopy were used to observe the activation of glial cells in DRG, and the behavior test results in the three groups were compared.ResultsThe results showed that mechanical pain threshold in ipsilateral hind-paws of the Group S, Group R, Group RD1 animals dropped to (3.640 ± 1.963) g, (5.827 ± 1.204) g, (7.482) ± 1.412 g at 3 d respectively; while in contralateral paws dropped to (7.100 ± 1.789) g, (17.687 ± 1.112) g, (16.213 ± 1.345) g on the 3 d respectively. Immunofluorescent showed that the glial cells were activated in bilateral side DRG after surgery in 3 groups, but ipsilateral paws expressed more active glial cells than contralateral paws. Transmission electron microscopy showed that mitochondria swelling/vacuolization and lysosomes were more obvious in ipsilateral paws than contralateral paws, but Group RD1 formula could reduce glial cells activity, mitochondria swelling/vacuolization and the amount of lysosomes.ConclusionsLocal injection of ropivocaine and/or dexmedetomidine can effectively inhibit the activation of glial cells in DRG, mitigate the pathological changes of neuron in DRG and reduce mirror image pain

Mycobacteria Infection in Incomplete Transverse Myelitis Is Refractory to Steroids: A Pilot Study

Incomplete transverse myelitis (ITM) of unknown origin is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. This prospective, open-label study was undertaken to determine whether antituberculous treatment (ATT) might help patients with ITM whose condition continues to deteriorate despite receiving IV methylprednisolone treatment. The study consisted of 67 patients with steroid-refractory ITM in whom Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) was suspected clinically and in whom other known causes of myelopathy were excluded. The study occurred from January 2003 to June 2010. Patients underwent trial chemotherapy with ATT. Efficacy was assessed by the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) scoring system, the Barthel Index (BI) and the Hauser Ambulation Index (AI) at baseline, 12 months, and 24 months, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Of the 67 patients enrolled, 51 were assessed and 16 withdrew. At 24 months, 49 patients experienced benefits as indicated by significantly increased ASIA and BI scores. The Hauser AI index also improved with markedly decreased abnormal signals in spinal cord MRI over time. The results from this prospective study provide beneficial clinical and MRI data on the efficacy of ATT in ITM patients and suggests mycobacteria may be an important and neglected cause of myelitis

Coherence-protected Quantum Gate by Continuous Dynamical Decoupling in Diamond

To implement reliable quantum information processing, quantum gates have to be protected together with the qubits from decoherence. Here we demonstrate experimentally on nitrogen-vacancy system that by using continuous wave dynamical decoupling method, not only the coherence time is prolonged by about 20 times, but also the quantum gates is protected for the duration of controlling time. This protocol shares the merits of retaining the superiority of prolonging the coherence time and at the same time easily combining with quantum logic tasks. It is expected to be useful in task where duration of quantum controlling exceeds far beyond the dephasing time.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure