The effects of apoptosis vulnerability markers on the myocardium in depression after myocardial infarction

Background : There is an increased incidence of major depressive disorder (MDD) in individuals after myocardial infarction (MI), but the pathophysiological processes mediating this association are unclear. Our previous study demonstrated an increase in pro-apoptotic pathways in the myocardium and hippocampus in MDD, which was reversed by venlafaxine. This study aimed to attempt to confirm the effects of apoptosis vulnerability markers on the myocardium in a model of depression after myocardial infarction. Methods : Rats were divided into four groups: sham (N = 8), depression (N = 8, chronic mild unpredictable stress and separation were used in the depression group), MI (N = 13) and post-MI depression (N = 7). The rats in all four groups underwent the same open field and sucrose preference behavioral tests. Evan Blue staining was used to determine the area at risk of myocardial infarction in the left ventricle, and 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (1.5% TTC) dye was used to detect the size of the myocardial infarction. The expression of bax and bcl-2 protein in the myocardium was investigated by immunohistochemistry, and the mRNA expression of bax, bcl-2 and caspase-3 in the myocardium was investigated by real time RT-PCR. Apoptosis was estimated in the myocardium by measuring the Bax:Bcl-2 ratio. Results : In the depression and post-MI depression rats, there were significantly decreased movements and total sucrose consumption, modeling behavioral deficits and an anhedonic-like state. In terms of myocardial infarction size, no difference was seen between the MI and post-MI depression groups. There was an up-regulated Bax:Bcl-2 ratio in the depression, MI and post-MI depression groups. Furthermore, in the latter group, there was a greater up-regulated Bax:Bcl-2 ratio. However, caspase-3 did not differ among the four groups. Conclusions : These results of this animal model suggest that active pro-apoptotic pathways may be involved in the nexus between myocardial infarction and depression. This mechanism may be germane to understanding this relationship in humans

What Makes Good In-context Demonstrations for Code Intelligence Tasks with LLMs?

Pre-trained models of source code have gained widespread popularity in many code intelligence tasks. Recently, with the scaling of the model and corpus size, large language models have shown the ability of in-context learning (ICL). ICL employs task instructions and a few examples as demonstrations, and then inputs the demonstrations to the language models for making predictions. This new learning paradigm is training-free and has shown impressive performance in various natural language processing and code intelligence tasks. However, the performance of ICL heavily relies on the quality of demonstrations, e.g., the selected examples. It is important to systematically investigate how to construct a good demonstration for code-related tasks. In this paper, we empirically explore the impact of three key factors on the performance of ICL in code intelligence tasks: the selection, order, and number of demonstration examples. We conduct extensive experiments on three code intelligence tasks including code summarization, bug fixing, and program synthesis. Our experimental results demonstrate that all the above three factors dramatically impact the performance of ICL in code intelligence tasks. Additionally, we summarize our findings and provide takeaway suggestions on how to construct effective demonstrations, taking into account these three perspectives. We also show that a carefully-designed demonstration based on our findings can lead to substantial improvements over widely-used demonstration construction methods, e.g., improving BLEU-4, EM, and EM by at least 9.90%, 175.96%, and 50.81% on code summarization, bug fixing, and program synthesis, respectivelyComment: This paper is accepted by ASE 202

EFFECT OF KANGFUXIN LIQUID ON INTESTINAL BARRIER IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH MECHANICAL VENTILATION IN THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

Background:Kangfuxin Liquid is extracted from America periplaneta, which is effective for treating gastrointestinal ulcers and repairing gastrointestinal mucosal tissue. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of Kangfuxin Liquid on improving intestinal barrier dysfunction in elderly patients using mechanical ventilation and effectively restraining the concentration of D-lactate. Materials and Methods: Elderly patients with mechanical ventilation were selected, and divided into “control” and “treatment” groups by using a random number table. Patients in both groups were given conventional treatment. Patients in “treatment group” additionally received Kangfuxin Liquid. At baseline and at 3, 7days following treatment, recordings for the concentration of D-lactate, intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) and bowel sounds were conducted. The duration of mechanical ventilation, the time of stay in ICU and the mortality rate during 28 days were recorded. Results: At baseline, there were no significant differences in the terms of the concentrations of D-lactate, IAP and bowel sounds in the two groups (P>0.05). At 3 and 7days following treatment, the concentration of D-lactate, IAP and bowel sounds in the “treatment group” were better than those in the “control group”. The differences were statistically significant (

Earliest ceramic drainage system and the formation of hydro-sociality in monsoonal East Asia

The earliest ceramic drainage system unearthed at the Pingliangtai site on the Central Plains of China represents an unprecedented social and environmental manipulation as societies faced surging environmental crises in the Late Holocene East Asian Monsoon region. Here we present results of excavation and a geoarchaeological survey of the water-management infrastructures and environment which reveal the operation and maintenance of a well-planned and regulated two-tiered drainage system. Rather than a ‘centralized hierarchy’, the drainage activities were mainly practised at household and communal levels, through which Pingliangtai society was drawn to more pragmatic aspects of social governance. Through their emphasis on spatial uniformity, cooperation in public affairs, and a series of technological innovations, water management at Pingliangtai gravitated to collective shared interest as the society responded to recurrent environmental contingencies. Such a pragmatic focus on public affairs constituted a previously unrecognized, alternative pathway to the development of power structure and social governance on the Central Plains regimes in late Neolithic and later times

Effect of DBP inhibition on vascular calcification in chronic uremic rats

Objective To evaluate the effect of D-site binding protein （DBP） inhibition on vascular calcification in chronic uremic rats. Methods GSE146638 was downloaded from the public database （Gene Expression Omnibus， GEO）， and a total of 10 samples from rat of mRNA expression profiles were included in this study. DESeq2 was used to analyze the differentially expressed genes in the aortic smooth muscle between the control and chronic uremic rat model groups. RT-qPCR was employed to detect the expression levels of SLC22A2， ATF3， DBP and SMPD3. Male SD rats were randomly divided into four groups. In the blank group， no treatment was given. In the model group， chronic uremic rat models were established by nephrectomy of 2/3 of bilateral kidneys， and the surviving rats were fed with 8-week high phosphorus diet to induce vascular calcification. In the negative control lentivirus group （shNC group）， the rats were injected with negative control lentivirus for 4 weeks after establishing the vascular calcification uremic rat models. In the small interfering DBP group （shDBP group）， the rats were treated with siDBP lentivirus for 4 weeks after the establishment of vascular calcification uremic rat models. After corresponding interventions， the rat weight was measured， and serum creatinine， serum phosphorus， serum calcium and urea nitrogen levels were detected among four groups. Immunohistochemical staining and HE staining of the thoracic aorta tissues were used to evaluate the degree of injury. RT-qPCR and western blot were adopted to quantitatively measure the relative expression levels of Runt-related transcription factor 2 （RUNX2） and DBP. Results Compared with the control group， the rat weight was significantly less， whereas the serum creatinine levels were significantly higher in the model， shNC and shDBP groups （all P < 0.05）. In the model group， the thoracic aortic vascular wall was thickened， and the expression levels of RUNX2 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen （PCNA） were up-regulated. Compared with the model group， the serum creatinine level was declined， the expression levels of RUNX2 mRNA and protein in the thoracic aorta were down-regulated （all P < 0.05）， the expression level of PCNA in the thoracic aorta was down-regulated and the thoracic aortic vascular wall thickening was mitigated. Conclusion Inhibition of DBP may suppress vascular calcification and alleviate uremia-associated symptoms in chronic uremic rat models by down-regulating the expression levels of RUNX2 mRNA and protein in the aorta