Video_1_Vibrotactile enhancement in hand rehabilitation has a reinforcing effect on sensorimotor brain activities.mp4

ObjectiveStroke patients often suffer from hand dysfunction or loss of tactile perception, which in turn interferes with hand rehabilitation. Tactile-enhanced multi-sensory feedback rehabilitation is an approach worth considering, but its effectiveness has not been well studied. By using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to analyze the causal activity patterns in the sensorimotor cortex, the present study aims to investigate the cortical hemodynamic effects of hand rehabilitation training when tactile stimulation is applied, and to provide a basis for rehabilitation program development.MethodsA vibrotactile enhanced pneumatically actuated hand rehabilitation device was tested on the less-preferred hand of 14 healthy right-handed subjects. The training tasks consisted of move hand and observe video (MO), move hand and vibration stimulation (MV), move hand, observe video, and vibration stimulation (MOV), and a contrast resting task. Region of interest (ROI), a laterality index (LI), and causal brain network analysis methods were used to explore the brain’s cortical blood flow response to a multi-sensory feedback rehabilitation task from multiple perspectives.Results(1) A more pronounced contralateral activation in the right-brain region occurred under the MOV stimulation. Rehabilitation tasks containing vibrotactile enhancement (MV and MOV) had significantly more oxyhemoglobin than the MO task at 5 s after the task starts, indicating faster contralateral activation in sensorimotor brain regions. (2) Five significant lateralized channel connections were generated under the MV and MOV tasks (p ConclusionVibrotactile cutaneous stimulation as a tactile enhancement can produce a stronger stimulation of the brain’s sensorimotor brain areas, promoting the establishment of neural pathways, and causing a richer effect between the left and right cerebral hemispheres. The combination of kinesthetic, vibrotactile, and visual stimulation can achieve a more prominent training efficiency from the perspective of functional cerebral hemodynamics.</p

Data_Sheet_2_Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease causally affects the brain cortical structure: a Mendelian randomization study.xlsx

BackgroundReduced brain volume, impaired cognition, and possibly a range of psychoneurological disorders have been reported in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, no underlying cause has been specified. Here, Mendelian randomization (MR) was employed to determine the causative NAFLD effects on cortical structure.MethodsWe used pooled-level data from FinnGen’s published genome-wide association study (GWAS) of NAFLD (1908 cases and 340,591 healthy controls), as well as published GWAS with NAFLD activity score (NAS) and fibrosis stage-associated SNPs as genetic tools, in addition to the Enigma Consortium data from 51,665 patients, were used to assess genetic susceptibility in relation to changes with cortical thickness (TH) and surface area (SA). A main estimate was made by means of inverse variance weighted (IVW), while heterogeneity and pleiotropy were detected using MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier to perform a two-sample MR analysis.ResultsAt the global level, NAFLD reduced SA (beta = −586.72 mm2, se = 217.73, p = 0.007) and several changes in the cortical structure of the cerebral gyrus were found, with no detectable pleiotropy.ConclusionNAFLD causally affects cortical structures, which supports the presence of an intricate liver–brain axis.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease causally affects the brain cortical structure: a Mendelian randomization study.docx

BackgroundReduced brain volume, impaired cognition, and possibly a range of psychoneurological disorders have been reported in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, no underlying cause has been specified. Here, Mendelian randomization (MR) was employed to determine the causative NAFLD effects on cortical structure.MethodsWe used pooled-level data from FinnGen’s published genome-wide association study (GWAS) of NAFLD (1908 cases and 340,591 healthy controls), as well as published GWAS with NAFLD activity score (NAS) and fibrosis stage-associated SNPs as genetic tools, in addition to the Enigma Consortium data from 51,665 patients, were used to assess genetic susceptibility in relation to changes with cortical thickness (TH) and surface area (SA). A main estimate was made by means of inverse variance weighted (IVW), while heterogeneity and pleiotropy were detected using MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier to perform a two-sample MR analysis.ResultsAt the global level, NAFLD reduced SA (beta = −586.72 mm2, se = 217.73, p = 0.007) and several changes in the cortical structure of the cerebral gyrus were found, with no detectable pleiotropy.ConclusionNAFLD causally affects cortical structures, which supports the presence of an intricate liver–brain axis.</p

High-Throughput Microdissection for Next-Generation Sequencing

<div><p>Precision medicine promises to enhance patient treatment through the use of emerging molecular technologies, including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. However, current tools in surgical pathology lack the capability to efficiently isolate specific cell populations in complex tissues/tumors, which can confound molecular results. Expression microdissection (xMD) is an immuno-based cell/subcellular isolation tool that procures targets of interest from a cytological or histological specimen. In this study, we demonstrate the accuracy and precision of xMD by rapidly isolating immunostained targets, including cytokeratin AE1/AE3, p53, and estrogen receptor (ER) positive cells and nuclei from tissue sections. Other targets procured included green fluorescent protein (GFP) expressing fibroblasts, <i>in situ</i> hybridization positive Epstein-Barr virus nuclei, and silver stained fungi. In order to assess the effect on molecular data, xMD was utilized to isolate specific targets from a mixed population of cells where the targets constituted only 5% of the sample. Target enrichment from this admixed cell population prior to next-generation sequencing (NGS) produced a minimum 13-fold increase in mutation allele frequency detection. These data suggest a role for xMD in a wide range of molecular pathology studies, as well as in the clinical workflow for samples where tumor cell enrichment is needed, or for those with a relative paucity of target cells.</p></div

xMD improves depth of NGS coverage in admixed cell cytospins.

<p>(A) Schematic image of the NGS workflow. xMD isolated targets were compared to manual macrodissection via NGS (B) Select variant evaluation of the 95% lymphoma (ST486)/5% lung carcinoma (A549) cell line specimens comparing manual macrodissection to xMD enrichment (C) Select variant evaluation of the 95% lymphoma (ST486)/5% melanoma (UACC.62) cell line specimens comparing manual macrodissection to xMD enrichment. ND = not detectable.</p

xMD application: Global epithelial microdissection.

<p>(A) a 1.25X digital image of the whole normal intestine specimen immunostained with cytokeratin AE1/AE3⁺ (B) a 1.25X digital image of the whole tissue following xMD, highlighting the degree of stained tissue procurement (C) a 1.25X digital image of the stained tissue bound to the xMD film (D-F) images of the before and after slide and film of the same specimen at higher (5x) magnification.</p

xMD applications: Nuclear and novel stain-based microdissection.

<p>(A) IHC stained p53⁺ nuclei from a section of metastatic colon carcinoma (B) IHC stained ER⁺ nuclei from a section of breast carcinoma (C) IHC stained GFP⁺ cells from a culture slide (D) EBER⁺ cells after EBV-EBER <i>in situ</i> hybridization (E) captured GMS⁺ <i>Aspergillus</i> fungal organisms.</p

xMD impact on NGS data quality for highly penetrant disease variants.

<p>xMD impact on NGS data quality for highly penetrant disease variants.</p

Potential impact of manual dissection versus xMD on NGS data.

<p>Potential impact of manual dissection versus xMD on NGS data.</p