Modulation of Preactivation of PPAR- β

The aim of this study is to investigate the neuroprotective effects and relevant mechanism of GW0742, an agonist of PPAR-β, after global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (GCIRI) in rats. The rats showed memory and cognitive impairment and cytomorphological change in the hippocampus neurons following GCIRI. These effects were significantly improved by pretreatment with GW0742 in the dose-dependent manner. The expressions of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were increased after GCIRI, while the increases in these proinflammatory cytokines by GCIRI were inhibited by GW0742 pretreatment. Similarly, GW0742 pretreatment also improved the GCIRI-induced decrease in the expression of IL-10, which can act as an inhibitory cytokine to reduce cerebral ischemic injury. For another, NF-κB p65 expression was significantly increased in hippocampal neurons with apparent nuclear translocation after global cerebral IRI, and these phenomena were also largely attenuated by GW0742 pretreatment. Moreover, the mRNA and protein expressions of PPAR-β were significantly decreased in GCIRI + GW0742 groups when compared with those in GCIRI group. Our data suggests that the PPAR-β agonist GW0742 can exert significant neuroprotective effect against GCIRI in rats via PPAR-β activation and its anti-inflammation effect mediated by the inhibition of expression and activation of NF-κB in the hippocampus

An analysis of microbiota-targeted therapies in patients with avian influenza virus subtype H7N9 infection

BACKGROUND: Selective prophylactic decontamination of the digestive tract is a strategy for the prevention of secondary nosocomial infection in patients with avian influenza virus subtype H7N9 infection. Our aim was to summarize the effectiveness of these therapies in re-establishing a stable and diverse microbial community, and reducing secondary infections. METHODS: Comprehensive therapies were dependent on the individual clinical situation of subjects, and were divided into antiviral treatment, microbiota-targeted therapies, including pro- or pre-biotics and antibiotic usage, and immunotherapy. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) were used for real-time monitoring of the predominant intestinal microbiome during treatment. Clinical information about secondary infection was confirmed by analyzing pathogens isolated from clinical specimens. RESULTS: Different antibiotics had similar effects on the gut microbiome, with a marked decrease and slow recovery of the Bifidobacterium population. Interestingly, most fecal microbial DGGE profiles showed the relative stability of communities under the continual suppression of the same antibiotics, and significant changes when new antibiotics were introduced. Moreover, we found no marked increase in C-reactive protein, and no cases of bacteremia or pneumonia, caused by probiotic use in the patients, which confirmed that the probiotics used in this study were safe for use in patients with H7N9 infection. Approximately 72% of those who subsequently suffered exogenous respiratory infection by Candida species or multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae were older than 60 years. The combination of probiotics and prebiotics with antibiotics seemed to fail in these patients. CONCLUSIONS: Elderly patients infected with the influenza A (H7N9) virus are considered a high-risk group for developing secondary bacterial infection. Microbiota restoration treatment reduced the incidence of enterogenous secondary infection, but not exogenous respiratory infection. The prophylactic effects of microbiota restoration strategies for secondary infection were unsatisfactory in elderly and critically ill patients

(Strong) multidesignated verifiers signatures secure against rogue key attack

Designated verifier signatures (DVS) allow a signer to create a signature whose validity can only be verified by a specific entity chosen by the signer. In addition, the chosen entity, known as the designated verifier, cannot convince any body that the signature is created by the signer. Multidesignated verifiers signatures (MDVS) are a natural extension of DVS in which the signer can choose multiple designated verifiers. DVS and MDVS are useful primitives in electronic voting and contract signing. In this paper, we investigate various aspects of MDVS and make two contributions. Firstly, we revisit the notion of unforgeability under rogue key attack on MDVS. In this attack scenario, a malicious designated verifier tries to forge a signature that passes through the verification of another honest designated verifier. A common counter-measure involves making the knowledge of secret key assumption in which an adversary is required to produce a proof-of-knowledge of the secret key. We strengthened the existing security model to capture this attack and propose a new construction that does not rely on the knowledge of secret key assumption. Secondly, we propose a generic construction of strong MDVS

Effects of statins on the development of sepsis and organ dysfunction in hospitalized older patients in China

This study aimed to evaluate the protective role of statins on the development of sepsis and infection-related organ dysfunction and mortality in a hospitalized older Chinese population with bacterial infections. In this retrospective cohort study, 257 older patients with bacterial infection were divided into two groups: a statin group, those who had received statin therapy for ≥1 month before admission and continued receiving statin during hospitalization; and a non-statin group, those who had never received statin or used statin for <1 month prior to admission. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk and protective factors for severe sepsis. A significantly lower incidence of organ dysfunction was found in the statin group, as compared with the non-statin group (13.3% vs 31.1%, respectively; p = 0.002), corresponding to adjusted rates ratio of 0.32 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.13–0.75; p = 0.009). No significant difference was found between statin and non-statin groups in 30-day sepsis-related mortality (4.4% vs 10.2%, respectively; p = 0.109), incidence of intensive care unit admission (13.3% vs 16.8%, respectively; p = 0.469), or length of hospital stay (20.5 vs 25.9 days, respectively; p = 0.61). Statins significantly reduced the development of sepsis and infection-related organ dysfunction in hospitalized older Chinese patients but did not reduce 30-day mortality, ICU admission incidence, or length of hospital stay. Keywords: Mortality, Organ dysfunction, Older adults, Sepsis, Statin

Validation of the bodily expressive action stimulus test among Chinese adults and children

The bodily expressive action stimulus test (BEAST) is developed to provide a set of standardized emotional stimuli for experimental investigations of emotion and attention, and the consistency has been validated in adult populations abroad. However, the consistency of this test in the Chinese population is unclear. To this end, 42 images of each category of emotion (happiness, sadness, fear, and anger) were selected from 254 images of the original stimulus set to further examine the consistency of the BEAST in Chinese population. Thirty-one Chinese college students and 41 Chinese preschool children participated in this study. All of them were asked to complete an emotion recognition and judgment task. Results showed that adults had a high degree of consistency in rating these pictures, while the children's consistency was at a medium level. For adults, sadness was the easiest to recognize, followed by fear and anger, while happiness was the hardest to recognize. For children, fear was the easiest to recognize, anger and sadness were second, and happiness was also the hardest to recognize. At the same time, adults were more accurate in identifying happiness and sadness than children. For adults, they were more likely to confuse positive emotions with negative emotions. They tended to mistake sadness, fear, and anger for happiness. For children, they were more likely to identify sadness as fear and happiness. They also tended to recognize anger as fear. These results indicate that the recognition performance of BEAST images for Chinese and Western adults are roughly the same, however, in the same cultural context, the recognition performance of adults and children are very different, and generally the recognition accuracy rate of adults is higher than that of children

Joint intention understanding in children with autism spectrum disorder

This study examined the ability of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to generate joint intention-based action prediction in a joint action task. Children were presented with a series of videos in which two actors either played with blocks based on joint intention (social condition) or played with blocks independently (nonsocial condition). In the familiarization stage, two actors demonstrated how they played with blocks three times. In the test stage, one actor left the scene, and another actor grasped a block and asked where she should place it. Children's gaze behavior was assessed by an eye tracker. After watching videos, children were asked to answer two questions: an action prediction question and an intention understanding question. The results showed that in the implicit eye movement task, children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children exhibited location-based anticipatory gaze under both conditions. However, in terms of explicit behavioral responses, TD children showed higher accuracy in response to action prediction questions and intention understanding questions than children with ASD in the social condition, while no significant group difference was found in the nonsocial condition. These results indicate that children with ASD have difficulty understanding joint intention and that their action prediction is primarily driven by bottom-up sensory inputs

A comparison of different methods for preserving plant molecular materials and the effect of degraded DNA on ddRAD sequencing

Obtaining high-quality plant materials for experiments is challenging for many research projects. Therefore, it is of special importance to determine the best method for preserving biological macromolecules like DNA, which degrade over time. Although some research has demonstrated that DNA degradation has little effect on traditional molecular markers, the effects of DNA degradation on ddRAD-seq, a popular reduced-representation sequencing technology, have not been adequately investigated. In this study, we first chose six woody bamboo species (Bambusoideae, Poaceae) to explore appropriate methods for preserving molecular materials with two DNA extraction approaches. Then we sequenced twenty-one bamboos and examined the effects of DNA quality on data generation using the ddRAD-seq technique (MiddRAD-seq). Finally, we reconstructed phylogenies of twenty woody bamboo species. We found that the integrity of dry-powdered DNA was preserved longer than that of TE-dissolved DNA, regardless of whether the DNA was extracted by a modified CTAB protocol or DNAsecure plant kit. The ddRAD-seq data were robust, except when DNA was severely degraded. In addition, we resolved the phylogenetic positions of the sampled Phyllostachys spp. Our results suggest that dry-powdered DNA is the most appropriate preservation method for plant molecular materials. Furthermore, a moderate level of DNA degradation has little effect on reduced representation sequencing techniques represented by ddRAD-seq. Keywords: Molecular materials, DNA extraction and preservation, DNA quality, ddRAD-seq, Bamboo, Phylogen

Evaluation of Sarcopenia in Elderly Women of China

Background: Sarcopenia is a continuous process defined as a decline in both muscle mass and strength, which is a common phenomenon among elders and has been linked to multiple adverse clinical consequences. Varieties of factors contribute to the occurrence of sarcopenia. In the present study, we aim to observe the prevalence of sarcopenia in elderly women of China, and examine the effects of aging on the body composition change in China older women. Methods: 177 participants included 35.6% young women and 44.4% elderly women took part in this study between February 2015 and August 2015. All volunteers took dual energy X-ray absorptiometry tests for body composition assessment and physical-performance tests for physical function assessment. Results: Elderly women had greater total fat mass (25.2 ± 6.9 vs 22.5 ± 5.9, P = 0.008) and percentage fat mass (45.1 ± 7.3 vs 41.7 ± 5.5, P < 0.001) than those in the young women. However, appendicular lean mass (ALM) and ALM/Height2 did not show statistical significance between young and older women. In spite of an equal muscle mass between two groups, the muscle strength (hand-grip strength, HGS) and physical function decline were more rapidly developed in elderly women, compared with their young counterparts. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that both aging and menopause contributes to the decline of muscle strength and physical function rather primarily than the loss of muscle mass in the process of sarcopenia in Chinese older women. Hand-grip strength criteria is more sensitive to diagnose sarcopenia in elderly women of China