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The default mode network (DMN) lies towards the heteromodal end of the principal gradient of intrinsic connectivity, maximally separated from the sensory‐motor cortex. It supports memory‐based cognition, including the capacity to retrieve conceptual and evaluative information from sensory inputs, and to generate meaningful states internally; however, the functional organisation of DMN that can support these distinct modes of retrieval remains unclear. We used fMRI to examine whether activation within subsystems of DMN differed as a function of retrieval demands, or the type of association to be retrieved, or both. In a picture association task, participants retrieved semantic associations that were either contextual or emotional in nature. Participants were asked to avoid generating episodic associations. In the generate phase, these associations were retrieved from a novel picture, while in the switch phase, participants retrieved a new association for the same image. Semantic context and emotion trials were associated with dissociable DMN subnetworks, indicating that a key dimension of DMN organisation relates to the type of association being accessed. The frontotemporal and medial temporal DMN showed a preference for emotional and semantic contextual associations, respectively. Relative to the generate phase, the switch phase recruited clusters closer to the heteromodal apex of the principal gradient—a cortical hierarchy separating unimodal and heteromodal regions. There were no differences in this effect between association types. Instead, memory switching was associated with a distinct subnetwork associated with controlled internal cognition. These findings delineate distinct patterns of DMN recruitment for different kinds of associations yet common responses across tasks that reflect retrieval demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports two accidents caused by defective Takata airbags ruptured, which led to the deaths of the drivers. This is the first public report on the deaths caused by Takata airbags in China. Determine the relationship between the driver death and airbag rupture through autopsy indings and vehicle inspection. Due to defects in the design of Takata's inflator, moist air was permitted to slowly enter the inflator, resulting the PSAN slowly degraded physically. The damaged propellant burned more rapidly than intended and overpressurized the inflator's steel housing, causing fragmentation and flying debris at high speed, killing or injuring vehicle occupants. To date, there are still tens of millions of defective Takata airbags that have not been recalled for repair, posing safety risks. This article suggests taking preventive measures to avoid the occurrence of similar accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While reading, our mind can wander to unrelated autobiographical information, creating a perceptually decoupled state detrimental to narrative comprehension. To understand how this mind-wandering state emerges, we asked whether retrieving autobiographical content necessitates functional disengagement from visual input. In Experiment 1, brain activity was recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in an experimental situation mimicking naturally occurring mind-wandering, allowing us to precisely delineate neural regions involved in memory and reading. Individuals read expository texts and ignored personally relevant autobiographical memories, as well as the opposite situation. Medial regions of the default mode network (DMN) were recruited during memory retrieval. In contrast, left temporal and lateral prefrontal regions of the DMN, as well as ventral visual cortex, were recruited when reading for comprehension. Experiment two used functional connectivity both at rest and during tasks to establish that (i) DMN regions linked to memory are more functionally decoupled from regions of ventral visual cortex than regions in the same network engaged when reading; and (ii) individuals with more self-generated mental contents and poorer comprehension, while reading in the lab, showed more decoupling between visually connected DMN sites important for reading and primary visual cortex. A similar pattern of connectivity was found in Experiment 1, with greater coupling between this DMN site and visual cortex when participants reported greater focus on reading in the face of conflict from autobiographical memory cues; moreover, the retrieval of personally relevant memories increased the decoupling of these sites. These converging data suggest we lose track of the narrative when our minds wander because generating autobiographical mental content relies on cortical regions within the DMN which are functionally decoupled from ventral visual regions engaged during reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Objective Methods Results Conclusion The clivus is trapezoidal in shape with uneven bone structure, the optimal number and position of screws for clival fixation are not clear. Therefore, this study aims to explore the optimization clival screw fixation method for occipitocervical instability using finite element analysis.Seven finite element models were developed to evaluate biomechanical properties of clival screw fixation for treating occipitocervical stability, including (i) one clival screw fixation A1 and A2 models; (ii) two clival screws fixation B1 and B2 models; (iii) three clival screws fixation C1 and C2 models; (iv) four clival screws fixation D1 model. Loads of 1.5 Nm were applied to the model fRoM different directions to induce flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation movements.The regular triangle C1 type three clival screws fixation exhibited great stability, with RoM of 4.20° in flexion, 5.80° in extension, 0.85° in lateral bending, and 1.60° in axial rotation. The peak stress on the internal fixation devices were relatively low, with maximum screw stress of 194 MPa in flexion, 276 MPa in extension, 180 MPa in lateral bending, and 213 MPa in axial rotation; the maximum plate stress were 126, 554, 426, and 378 MPa, respectively. The areas with higher stress were mainly concentrated at the robust neck section of the plate.The triangular configuration of three clival screws fixation represented the optimized anterior occipitocervical fixation method through the clivus, offering superior biomechanical stability, lower stress on the devices and dispersed stress distribution in the occipitocervical region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Radioresistance is a vital obstacle for the prognosis of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), but the underlying mechanism is still unknown. Here, we explored the role of the NRF2/KEAP1 pathway in radioresistance of NPC cell lines. Materials and Methods: We selected NPC cell lines CNE-1 and CNE-2, treated them with ionization, and subsequently determined the levels of NRF2, KEAP1, antioxidant enzymes, and ROS. We then evaluated the effect of NRF2 or KEAP1 inhibition on cell proliferation, colony formation, and radiosensitivity in CNE2 cells. Results: We discovered that the NRF2/KEAP1 signaling pathway can be activated by radiotherapy in NPC cells, while NRF2 knockdown enhances the sensitivity of CNE-2 cells to radiation treatment. In contrast, the silencing of KEAP1 inhibits the sensitivity of CNE-2 cells to radiation treatment. Conclusion: Our results suggest that NRF2/KEAP1 signaling may serve as an essential regulator of the radioresistance of NPC and may be applied as a novel therapeutic approach for the sensitization of NPC to radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prior studies have shown strong pairwise relationships between neuroticism, peer attachment, and depression but very little was found on the questions of how neuroticism is associated with depression through secure peer attachment, and what role individual difference played in these relations (i.e., the moderating mechanism of being visually impaired or not). Objective: The present study investigated the relationship between neuroticism and depression with secure peer attachment as the mediator and being visually impaired or not as the moderator among visually impaired and sighted adolescents. Methods: The sample consisted of 67 visually impaired adolescents from a special education school, and 160 sighted adolescents from an elementary school and a middle school in Guangzhou, China. All of the adolescents completed a battery of questionnaires that measured secure peer attachment, neuroticism, and depression. Results: The results suggested that neuroticism and depression were negatively associated with secure peer attachment. Moreover, it was found that secure peer attachment partially mediated the relationship between neuroticism and depression and that this link was stronger in visually impaired adolescents than in sighted adolescents. Conclusions: The findings highlighted the importance of secure peer attachment for visually impaired adolescents, and results were interpreted in terms of implications for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined whether and how the variety of episodic contexts influences the integration of novel words into semantic network via thematic and taxonomic relations in a semantic priming task with event-related potential (ERP) technique. The novel words were acquired from discourses containing either single or multiple episodes. We found that corresponding concepts, targets thematic-related to learning episodes (Experiment 1) and taxonomic-related targets (Experiment 2) elicited semantic-priming N400s/LPCs effects compared to the unrelated targets in both conditions, whereas the targets thematic-related to unlearned episodes (Experiment 1) and feature-related targets (Experiment 2) elicited semantic-priming N400s/LPCs effects only in the multiple episodic condition. These results indicated that only the novel words learned from variable episodes could successfully prime thematically related words in unlearned episodes and feature-related words. Our findings suggest that the variety of episodic contexts contributes to establishing more stable and richer semantic representations of the novel words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increase in the number of traffic accidents and enhanced attention to the rule of law, technical appraisement to reconstruct traffic accidents is attracting increasing attention. Accident videos are important aspects in identification; however, we cannot reconstruct an accident scene onsite using video for many reasons. In this paper, we introduce a computer-based virtual reality method that can digitally reconstruct a traffic accident. This method employs accident videos to perform a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of accident scenes. Using video screenshots, it constructs a model of humans and vehicles in 3D space to achieve the goal of dynamic restoration. The results indicate that this method has relatively high accuracy, requires little time and is easy to use. In this paper, we analyse the sources of errors for this method and summarize the application conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most prevalent bone malignancy in childhood and adolescence, with highly aggressive and early systemic metastases. Here, we reported that celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor in the NSAID class, exhibits strong antitumor activity in dose dependent manner in two OS cell lines-143B and U2OS. We showed that celecoxib inhibits OS cell growth, causes G0/G1-phase arrest, modulates apoptosis and autophagy and reduces migration in OS cells. In addition, the results of fluorescent mitochondrial probe JC-1 test indicated that the mitochondrial pathway mediates celecoxib-induced apoptosis. Significantly, the autophagy inhibitor CQ combined with celecoxib causes greater cell proliferation inhibition and apoptosis. Pharmacologic inhibition of autophagy with another potent autophagy inhibitor SAR405 also enhances celecoxib-mediated suppression of cell viability. These results were confirmed with shRNAs targeting the autophagy-related gene Atg5. In OS tumor xenografts in vivo, celecoxib also presents antitumor activity. Taken together, our results shed light on the function and mechanism of antitumor action of celecoxib for treatment of OS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Schlafen (slfn) gene family members express broadly, but the research has mainly focused on human slfn (h-slfn) and mouse slfn (m-slfn). The slfn members can be divided into three groups, and each group has its own characteristics and functions. Although the effects of slfns are still poorly understood, it has been confirmed that slfns are involved in the defense of immune system and regulate immune cells' proliferation and differentiation. In some malignant tumors, the slfn proteins can inhibit the growth and invasion of cancer cells, promote cancer cells sensibility to chemotherapeutics, and can be a promising new therapeutic target. In addition, the slfn proteins also disturb replication and virulence of viruses. In this review, we summarize the characteristics of the Schlafen family's structures and functions with the aim to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of slfns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three experiments were carried out to investigate whether the the kinship concept had spatial representations along up-down (Experiment 1), left-right (Experiment 2), and front-back (Experiment 3) orientation. Participants identified the letter P or Q after judging whether kinship words were elder or junior terms. The results showed that participants responded faster to letters placed at the top, right side, and front following elder terms, and faster at the bottom, left side, and back following junior terms. The regression results further confirmed that these shifts of attention along up-down, right-left, and front-back dimensions in external space were uniquely attributed to the power construct embedded in the kinship concept, but not number or time. The results provide evidence for the multiple spatial representations in power, and can be explained by the theoretical construct of structural mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study used the event-related potential technique to investigate the nature of linguistic effect on color perception. Four types of stimuli based on hue differences between a target color and a preceding color were used: zero hue step within-category color (0- WC); one hue step within-category color (1- WC); one hue step between-category color (1- BC); and two hue step between-category color (2- BC). The ERP results showed no significant effect of stimulus type in the 100-200 ms time window. However, in the 200-350 ms time window, ERP responses to 1- WC target color overlapped with that to 0- WC target color for right visual field ( RVF) but not left visual field ( LVF) presentation. For the 1- BC condition, ERP amplitudes were comparable in the two visual fields, both being significantly different from the 0- WC condition. The 2- BC condition showed the same pattern as the 1- BC condition. These results suggest that the categorical perception of color in RVF is due to linguistic suppression on within-category color discrimination but not between-category color enhancement, and that the effect is independent of early perceptual processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oyster is a low-carbon animal food enriched with protein, glycogen, and trace minerals. Nano-nutrients are increasingly perceived as an unignorable part of foods. Here, simulated gastrointestinal digestion released a considerable amount of nanoparticulate nutrients from raw and cooked oysters. They were identified as glycogen monomers with size of 20–40 nm and their aggregates, as well as 6 nm-sized bare cores of ferritin containing iron and zinc (4:1, w /w). FITC-labeling and flow cytometry unveiled the efficient uptake of oyster glycogen by polarized Caco-2 cells via macropinocytosis and receptor-mediated endocytosis. Calcein-fluorescence-quenching assay revealed divalent-metal-transporter-1- and macropinocytosis-mediated enterocyte iron absorption from oyster ferritin. Zinquin-fluorescence flow cytometry and ex-vivo mouse ileal loop experiments demonstrated the ready intestinal zinc absorption from oyster ferritin via macropinocytosis, as well as the good resistance of oyster ferritin to phytate's inhibition on zinc absorption. Overall, our results offer a new insight into the digestive and chemical properties of oysters. [Display omitted] • Nanostructured glycogen and zinc-enriched ferritin existed in oyster digests. • Efficient uptake of oyster glycogen by polarized Caco-2 cells via endocytosis. • Nanostructured iron and zinc were present in cage-shaped oyster ferritin. • Oyster ferritin could efficiently deliver nanosized iron and zinc to the intestinal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predictive processing in parietal, temporal, frontal, and sensory cortex allows us to anticipate future meanings to maximize the efficiency of language comprehension, with the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) thought to be situated towards the top of a predictive hierarchy. Although the regions underpinning this fundamental brain function are well-documented, it remains unclear how they interact to achieve efficient comprehension. To this end we recorded functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 22 participants (11 males) while they comprehended sentences presented part-by-part, in which we manipulated the constraint provided by sentential contexts on upcoming semantic information. Using this paradigm, we examined the connectivity patterns of bilateral TPJ and IFG during anticipatory phases (i.e., before the onset of targets) and integration phases (i.e., after the onset of targets). When upcoming semantic content was highly predictable in strong-constraint contexts, both left TPJ and bilateral IFG showed stronger visual coupling, while right TPJ showed stronger connectivity with regions within control, default mode, and visual networks, including IFG, parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulate, and fusiform gyrus. These connectivity patterns were weaker when predicted semantic content appeared, in line with predictive coding theory. Conversely, for less predictable content, these connectivity patterns were stronger during the integration phase. Overall, these results suggest that both top-down semantic prediction and bottom-up integration during predictive processing are supported by flexible coupling of frontoparietal regions with control, memory, and sensory systems. Significance Statement Recent work has revealed the neural basis of predictive language comprehension. However, it remains unclear how brain regions change their connectivity in a dynamic fashion to support comprehension in highly predictive and less predictive contexts. Here, we show that stronger frontoparietal connectivity with cognitive control, memory, and sensory areas supports top-down prediction generation in strong-constraint contexts; these connectivity patterns are reduced when the anticipated information appears. This pattern is reversed when upcoming sensory input is unpredictable; connectivity is stronger after word inputs have been presented, allowing semantic integration with preceding low-constraint context. Our findings suggest that both top-down semantic prediction and bottom-up semantic integration in language comprehension rely upon diverse functional coupling of higher-order frontoparietal regions with other brain systems., (Copyright © 2024 He et al.)

The default mode network (DMN) typically deactivates to external tasks, yet supports semantic cognition. It comprises medial temporal (MT), core, and frontotemporal (FT) subsystems, but its functional organization is unclear: the requirement for perceptual coupling versus decoupling, input modality (visual/verbal), type of information (social/spatial), and control demands all potentially affect its recruitment. We examined the effect of these factors on activation and deactivation of DMN subsystems during semantic cognition, across four task-based human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets, and localized these responses in whole-brain state space defined by gradients of intrinsic connectivity. FT showed activation consistent with a central role across domains, tasks, and modalities, although it was most responsive to abstract, verbal tasks; this subsystem uniquely showed more "tuned" states characterized by increases in both activation and deactivation when semantic retrieval demands were higher. MT also activated to both perceptually coupled (scenes) and decoupled (autobiographical memory) tasks and showed stronger responses to picture associations, consistent with a role in scene construction. Core DMN consistently showed deactivation, especially to externally oriented tasks. These diverse contributions of DMN subsystems to semantic cognition were related to their location on intrinsic connectivity gradients: activation was closer to the sensory-motor cortex than deactivation, particularly for FT and MT, while activation for core DMN was distant from both visual cortex and cognitive control. These results reveal distinctive yet complementary DMN responses: MT and FT support different memory-based representations that are accessed externally and internally, while deactivation in core DMN is associated with demanding, external semantic tasks., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2024 Shao et al.)

Chemoresistance is an obstacle of improving pancreatic cancer (PC) prognosis. However, the biological function of ISG15 in PC and whether it correlates with the resistance to chemotherapy are still unknown. Here, we aimed to reveal the clinical significance of ISG15 in PC and its regulatory mechanism in cancer progression and resistance to therapy. The level of ISG15, a protein involved in post-translational modifications, is elevated in PC tissues. Clinically, higher ISG15 expression correlates with higher PC grades, stronger resistance to treatment and poorer prognosis. Moreover, ISG15 promotes the proliferation, migration, invasion, colony formation of PC cells and resistance to Gemcitabine, a classic chemotherapeutics for PC, both in vitro and in vivo . ISG15 promotes progression and resistance to therapy in PC cells by binding to ATG7, reducing its degradation, and thereby leading to enhanced autophagy in PC cells. ISG15 may be used as both a potential diagnosis marker and sensitizer for chemotherapeutics such as Gemcitabine during PC intervention., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists., (© The author(s).)

Background: Breast cancer poses severe threats to human health as radioresistance becomes increasingly prevalent. The mechanisms of radioresistance are hard to expound completely. This study aims to explore proteomic changes of radioresistance, which will help elucidate the potential mechanisms responsible for breast cancer radioresistance and explore potential therapeutic targets., Methods: A radioresistant breast cancer cell line was established by repeated irradiation. Liquid Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS) was used to quantify protein expression. Proteomic changes associated with radioresistance were evaluated by proteomic analysis. Further, cell radioresistance and several identified proteins were verified in in vitro experiments., Results: In the study, more than 3000 proteins were detected, 243 of which were identified as up-regulated proteins and another 633 as down-regulated proteins. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis indicated that these proteins were mainly expressed in the lysosome and ribosome, associated with coenzyme binding and the structural constituent of the ribosome, involved in mitotic cytokinesis and ribonucleoprotein complex biogenesis. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis indicated that many biological processes were extensively altered, particularly spliceosome and thermogenesis. It is worth noting that the functions and pathways related to ribosomes were significantly enriched, therefore ribosomal proteins ( RPL6 and RPS13 ) were identified through western blot and highly expressed in relatively radiosensitive cells. Additionally, several identified proteins, including S100A4 , RanBP9 , and ISG15 , were also verified to be differentially expressed in different radiosensitive cells., Conclusions: Our results provide a framework for further studies into the mechanisms of radioresistance and serve as a basis to construct a predictive model of radioresistance in breast cancer. Ribosome may participate in the radioresistance of breast cancer, which provides new insights into the proteomic characteristics of the mechanisms of radioresistance., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.)

Background/aim: Surgical treatment for spinal deformity aims to correct malformation, release the nerves, and reconstruct spinal stability. To explore and develop a new improved spinal correction system (ISCS) for clinical application, we studied the stability and biomechanical characteristics of the ISCS through finite element analysis and comparison of the ISCS with the pedicle screw and rod system (PSRS)., Patients and Methods: Using L1-L3 CT image data of a normal adult male lumbar spine for establishment of L1-L3 finite element model, we established posterior internal fixation models for a comparative finite element analysis of PSRS and ISCS. An axial load of 500 N and a moment of 10 N•m were applied to L1 to simulate flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation. Stress distribution characteristics, load sharing, strain bending stiffness and strain angle change of the models were measured., Results: In flection and extension directions, the maximum stress of the L2 vertebral body and the L1/2 and L2/3 discs in PSRS was less than that of ISCS. In lateral bending and axial rotation directions, the maximum stress between PSRS and ISCS was similar. However, the stress shielding rate of L2, L1/2, and L2/3 intervertebral discs in ISCS was significantly lower than that of PSRS. We also found that both models had similar angular displacement and maximum displacement in lateral bending direction, but PSRS had a lower angular displacement and maximum displacement in flection and extension directions. Finally, we showed that PSRS had similar angular displacement and a lower maximum displacement compared with ISCS in axial rotation, whereas ISCS had lower bending stiffness than PSRS in different directions., Conclusion: ISCS can effectively fix spinal deformities compared to PSRS. ISCS provides a new option for orthopedic surgery treatment of scoliosis and, therefore, warrants further clinical studies in patients with other spinal deformities., (Copyright © 2021 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Repair of damaged DNA induced by radiation plays an important role in the development of radioresistance, which greatly restricts patients' benefit from radiotherapy. However, the relation between radioresistance development and DNA double-strand break repair pathways (mainly non-homologous end joining and homologous recombination) and how these pathways contribute to radioresistance are unclear. Here, we established a radioresistant breast cancer cell line by repeated ionizing radiation and studied the alteration in DNA repair capacity. Compared with parental sham-treated cells, radioresistant breast cancer cells present elevated radioresistance, enhanced malignancy, increased expression of Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM), and increased DNA damage repair efficiency, as reflected by accelerated γ-H2AX kinetic. These defects can be reversed by ATM inhibition or ATM knockdown, indicating a potential link between ATM, DNA repair pathway and radiosensitivity. We propose that cancer cells develop elevated radioresistance through enhanced DNA damage repair efficiency mediated by increased ATM expression. Our work might provide a new evidence supporting the potential of ATM as a potential target of cancer therapy., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists., (© The author(s).)

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal diseases, characterized by early metastasis and high mortality. Subunits of the SWI/SNF complex have been identified in many studies as the regulators of tumor progression, but the role of SMARCAD1, one member of the SWI/SNF family, in pancreatic cancer has not been elucidated. Based on analysis of GEO database and immunohistochemical detection of patient-derived pancreatic cancer tissues, we found that SMARCAD1 is more highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissues and that its expression level negatively correlates with patients' survival time. With further investigation, it shows that SMARCAD1 promotes the proliferation, migration, invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. Mechanistically, we first demonstrate that SMARCAD1 induces EMT via activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in pancreatic cancer. Our results provide the role and potential mechanism of SMARCAD1 in pancreatic cancer, which may prove useful marker for diagnostic or therapeutic applications of PC disease., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Neutrophils are the most important component of the innate immune system. Mechanistic understanding of the mechanism underlying neutrophil differentiation remains elusive. Using genome-wide RNA-seq, we identified genes whose expression is dramatically up-regulated during neutrophil differentiation. Among them is nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat and pyrindomain-containing receptor 12 (NLRP12), which plays a role in immune inflammatory responses. Genetic ablation of NLRP12 suppresses NF-κB inducing kinase (NIK) stabilization, RelB nuclear translocation and neutrophil differentiation in vitro. At a mechanistic level, NLRP12 inhibits the activity of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2), relieves ERK1/2 suppression of NIK protein levels. Thus, NLRP12 enhances noncanonical NF-κB signaling through inhibition of ERK1/2 signaling, thereby promoting neutrophil differentiation., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

The current study examined whether thematic relations of the novel words could be acquired via descriptive episodes, and if yes, whether it could be generalized to thematically related words in a different scenario. In Experiment 1, a lexical decision task was used where the novel words served as primes for target words in four conditions: (1) corresponding concepts of the novel words, (2) thematically related words in the same episodes as that in learning condition, (3) thematically related words in different episodes, or (4) unrelated words served as targets. Event related potentials elicited by the targets revealed that compared to the unrelated words, the corresponding concepts and thematically related words in the same episodes elicited smaller N400s with a frontal-central distribution, whereas the thematically related words in different episodes elicited an enhanced late positive component. Experiment 2 further showed a priming effect of the corresponding concepts on the thematically related words in the same episodes as well as in a different episode, indicating that the absence of a priming effect of the learned novel words on the thematically related words in different episode could not be attributed to inappropriate selection of thematically related words in the two conditions. These results indicate that only the corresponding concepts and the thematically related words in the learning episodes were successfully primed, whereas the thematic association between the novel words and the thematically related words in different scenarios could only be recognized in a late processing stage. Our findings suggest that thematic knowledge of novel words is organized via separate scenarios, which are represented in a clustered manner in the semantic network.