Mismatch negativity in chronic tension-type headache with and without medication-overuse

Abstract Background: It is unknown if medication-overuse headache, clinically similar to chronic tension-type headache, has pre-attentive problems which may be related to pain or substance abuse. Methods: Auditory frequency deviance elicited mismatch negativity was recorded from 22 patients with chronic tension-type headache, 26 with medication-overuse headache from underlying chronic tension-type headache and 41 healthy volunteers as controls. Their depression and anxiety scores were noted. Results: There were no signifi cant differences in the N1 latency or amplitude to both standard and deviant stimuli for the different groups. However, the latency and amplitude of mismatch negativity were signifi cantly shortened and reduced at Fz, Cz, and Pz in medication-overuse headache as compared to chronic tension-type headache and normal subjects. Anxiety levels were elevated in chronic tensiontype headache and medication-overuse headache subjects compared to healthy controls but were not correlated with mismatch negativity latency or amplitude in a given group. Conclusions: In medication-overuse headache subjects, the shortened mismatch negativity latency indicates quick involuntary attention switching to auditory change, while its reduced amplitude indicates poor accuracy in discriminating early stimuli, which may be related to medication overuse rather than to the head pain experienced

Arabidopsis AAR2, a conserved splicing factor in eukaryotes, acts in microRNA biogenesis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential role in plant growth and development, and as such, their biogenesis is fine-tuned via regulation of the core microprocessor components. Here, we report that Arabidopsis AAR2, a homolog of a U5 snRNP assembly factor in yeast and humans, not only acts in splicing but also promotes miRNA biogenesis. AAR2 interacts with the microprocessor component hyponastic leaves 1 (HYL1) in the cytoplasm, nucleus, and dicing bodies. In aar2 mutants, abundance of nonphosphorylated HYL1, the active form of HYL1, and the number of HYL1-labeled dicing bodies are reduced. Primary miRNA (pri-miRNA) accumulation is compromised despite normal promoter activities of MIR genes in aar2 mutants. RNA decay assays show that the aar2-1 mutation leads to faster degradation of pri-miRNAs in a HYL1-dependent manner, which reveals a previously unknown and negative role of HYL1 in miRNA biogenesis. Taken together, our findings reveal a dual role of AAR2 in miRNA biogenesis and pre-messenger RNA splicing.Fil: Fan, Lusheng. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Gao, Bin. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Xu, Ye. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Flynn, Nora. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Le, Brandon. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: You, Chenjiang. Fudan University; ChinaFil: Li, Shaofang. Fudan University; ChinaFil: Achkar, Natalia Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Manavella, Pablo Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Yang, Zhenbiao. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Chen, Xuemei. University of California; Estados Unido

Sirtuin 6 maintains epithelial STAT6 activity to support intestinal tuft cell development and type 2 immunity

Dynamic regulation of intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) differentiation is crucial for both homeostasis and the response to helminth infection. SIRT6 belongs to the NAD+-dependent deacetylases and has established diverse roles in aging, metabolism and disease. Here, we report that IEC Sirt6 deletion leads to impaired tuft cell development and type 2 immunity in response to helminth infection, thereby resulting in compromised worm expulsion. Conversely, after helminth infection, IEC SIRT6 transgenic mice exhibit enhanced epithelial remodeling process and more efficient worm clearance. Mechanistically, Sirt6 ablation causes elevated Socs3 expression, and subsequently attenuated tyrosine 641 phosphorylation of STAT6 in IECs. Notably, intestinal epithelial overexpression of constitutively activated STAT6 (STAT6vt) in mice is sufficient to induce the expansion of tuft and goblet cell linage. Furthermore, epithelial STAT6vt overexpression remarkedly reverses the defects in intestinal epithelial remodeling caused by Sirt6 ablation. Our results reveal a novel function of SIRT6 in regulating intestinal epithelial remodeling and mucosal type 2 immunity in response to helminth infection

Broadside-Coupled Microstrip Lines as Low Loss Metamaterial for Microwave Circuit Design

The entire microwave theory is based on Maxwells equations, whereas the entire electronic circuit theory is based on Kirchhoffs electrical current and voltage laws. In this paper, we show that the traditional microwave design methodology can be simplified based on a broadside-coupled microstrip line as a low loss metamaterial. That is, Kirchhoffs laws are still valid in the microwave spectrum for narrowband signals around various designated frequencies. The invented low loss metamaterial has been theoretically analyzed, simulated, and experimentally verified in both time and frequency domains. It is shown that the phase velocity of a sinusoidal wave propagating on the low loss metamaterial can approach infinity, resulting in time-space shrink to a singularity as seen from the propagating wave perspective.Funding Agencies|Faculty of Science and Engineering at Linkoping University, Sweden; China Scholarship Council [201706075057]</p

Personality trait correlates of color preference in schizophrenia

Background: The goal of the present study was to evaluate the color preferences of patients with schizophrenia and their correlations with personality traits. Methodology: Sixty-three patients with schizophrenia and 59 healthy volunteers were asked to undertake the color preference and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) tests. Results: The healthy volunteers showed a greater preference for green but a lesser one for brown compared to the patients with schizophrenia. Patients scored higher than the healthy volunteers on the ZKPQ Neuroticism-Anxiety and Activity scales. Moreover, in patients, black preference ranking was associated with the Neuroticism-Anxiety, whereas pink and orange preferences were negatively associated with Activity; white preference correlated negatively with Sociability. Conclusions: Patients with schizophrenia preferred green less but brown more, and displayed their personality correlates of these color preferences. These findings are suggesting that patients with schizophrenia should be encouraged to be more exposed to bright colors such as green and white, and less to dark colors such as black, during therapy and rehabilitation sessions

Synthesis and Electrochemical Properties of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 Cathode Materials with Cr3+ and F− Composite Doping for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract A Cr3+ and F− composite-doped LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode material was synthesized by the solid-state method, and the influence of the doping amount on the material’s physical and electrochemical properties was investigated. The structure and morphology of the cathode material were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, and HRTEM, and the results revealed that the sample exhibited clear spinel features. No Cr3+ and F− impurity phases were found, and the spinel structure became more stable. The results of the charge/discharge tests, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) test results suggested that LiCr0.05Ni0.475Mn1.475O3.95F0.05 in which the Cr3+ and F− doping amounts were both 0.05, had the optimal electrochemical properties, with discharge rates of 0.1, 0.5, 2, 5, and 10 C and specific capacities of 134.18, 128.70, 123.62, 119.63, and 97.68 mAh g−1 , respectively. After 50 cycles at a rate of 2 C, LiCr0.05Ni0.475Mn1.475O3.95F0.05 showed extremely good cycling performance, with a discharge specific capacity of 121.02 mAh g−1 and a capacity retention rate of 97.9%. EIS test revealed that the doping clearly decreased the charge-transfer resistance

Synthesis of Spherical Silver-coated Li4Ti5O12 Anode Material by a Sol-Gel-assisted Hydrothermal Method

Abstract ᅟ Ag-coated spherical Li4Ti5O12 composite was successfully synthesized via a sol-gel-assisted hydrothermal method using an ethylene glycol and silver nitrate mixture as the precursor, and the influence of the Ag coating contents on the electrochemical properties of its was extensively investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the Ag coating does not change the spinel structure of Li4Ti5O12. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analyses demonstrated that the excellent electrical conductivity of the Li4Ti5O12/Ag resulted from the presence of the highly conducting silver coating layer. Additionally, the nano-thick silver layer, which was uniformly coated on the particles, significantly improved this material’s rate capability. As a consequence, the silver-coated micron-sized spherial Li4Ti5O12 exhibited excellent electrochemical performance. Thus, with an appropriate silver content of 5 wt.%, the Li4Ti5O12/Ag delivered the highest capacity of 186.34 mAh g−1 at 0.5C, which is higher than that of other samples, and maintained 92.69% of its initial capacity at 5C after 100 cycles. Even at 10C after 100 cycles, it still had a capacity retention of 89.17%, demonstrating remarkable cycling stability. Trial registration ISRCTN NARL-D-17-0056

Identification of Gene and MicroRNA Signatures for Oral Cancer Developed from Oral Leukoplakia

In clinic, oral leukoplakia (OLK) may develop into oral cancer. However, the mechanism underlying this transformation is still unclear. In this work, we present a new pipeline to identify oral cancer related genes and microRNAs (miRNAs) by integrating both gene and miRNA expression profiles. In particular, we find some network modules as well as their miRNA regulators that play important roles in the development of OLK to oral cancer. Among these network modules, 91.67% of genes and 37.5% of miRNAs have been previously reported to be related to oral cancer in literature. The promising results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed approach