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Previous studies in small samples have identified inconsistent cortical abnormalities in major depressive disorder (MDD). Despite genetic influences on MDD and the brain, it is unclear how genetic risk for MDD is translated into spatially patterned cortical vulnerability. Here, we initially examined voxel-wise differences in cortical function and structure using the largest multi-modal MRI data from 1660 MDD patients and 1341 controls. Combined with the Allen Human Brain Atlas, we then adopted transcription-neuroimaging spatial correlation and the newly developed ensemble-based gene category enrichment analysis to identify gene categories with expression related to cortical changes in MDD. Results showed that patients had relatively circumscribed impairments in local functional properties and broadly distributed disruptions in global functional connectivity, consistently characterized by hyper-function in associative areas and hypo-function in primary regions. Moreover, the local functional alterations were correlated with genes enriched for biological functions related to MDD in general (e.g., endoplasmic reticulum stress, mitogen-activated protein kinase, histone acetylation, and DNA methylation); and the global functional connectivity changes were associated with not only MDD-general, but also brain-relevant genes (e.g., neuron, synapse, axon, glial cell, and neurotransmitters). Our findings may provide important insights into the transcriptomic signatures of regional cortical vulnerability to MDD. Our combined large-scale neuroimaging and brain transcriptome study demonstrates genetic substrates underlying cortical functional abnormalities in depression, suggesting transcriptomic decoding of regional cortical vulnerability to depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African swine fever virus (ASFV), a highly virulent double-stranded DNA virus, poses a significant threat to global pig farming, with mortality rates in domestic pigs reaching up to 100%. Originating in Kenya in 1921, ASFV has since proliferated to Western Europe, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and most recently China in 2018, resulting in substantial global agricultural losses. Antigenic epitopes, recognized by the immune system's T cells and B cells, are pivotal in antiviral immune responses. The identification and characterization of these antigenic epitopes can offer invaluable insights into the immune response against ASFV and aid in the development of innovative immunotherapeutic strategies. Vaccine adjuvants, substances that amplify the body's specific immune response to antigens, also play a crucial role. This review provides an overview of the progress in studying T/B-cell epitopes in ASFV proteins and ASFV vaccine adjuvants, highlighting their role in the immune response and potential use in new vaccine development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral microbes mediate the production of nitric oxide (NO) through the denitrification pathway. This study aimed to investigate the association between oral microbial nitrate metabolism and prognosis in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients., Methods: This prospective, observational, single-center cohort study included 124 AIS patients admitted within 24 hours of symptom onset, with 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure data. Oral swabs were collected within 24 hours. Hypertensive AIS patients were stratified by the coefficient of variation (CV) of 24-hour systolic blood pressure. Microbial composition was analyzed using LEfSe and PICRUSt2 for bacterial and functional pathway identification., Results: Significant differences in oral microbiota composition were observed between hypertensive AIS patients with varying CVs. Lower CV groups showed enrichment of nitrate-reducing bacteria and "Denitrification, nitrate => nitrogen" pathways. The TAX score of oral nitrate-reducing bacteria, derived from LASSO modeling, independently correlated with 90-day modified Rankin Scale scores, serving as an independent risk factor for poor prognosis. Mediation analyses suggested indirect that the TAX score not only directly influences outcomes but also indirectly affects them by modulating 24-hour systolic blood pressure CV., Conclusions: AIS patients with comorbid hypertension and higher systolic blood pressure CV exhibited reduced oral nitrate-reducing bacteria, potentially worsening outcomes., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)., (© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.)

Objective: Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) stands as the most prevalent form of spinal cord injury, frequently prompting various changes in both the brain and spinal cord. However, the precise nature of these changes within the brains and spinal cords of CSM patients experiencing hand clumsiness (HCL) symptoms has remained elusive. The authors aimed to scrutinize these alterations and explore potential links between these changes and the onset of HCL symptoms., Methods: Using the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) scale, the authors classified CSM patients into two groups: those without HCL and those with HCL. The authors performed voxel-wise z-score transformation amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (zALFF) and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) evaluations in the brain. Additionally, they used the Spinal Cord Toolbox to calculate the fractional anisotropy (FA) of spinal cord tracts. The analysis also encompassed an examination of the correlation of these measures with improvements in mJOA scores., Results: Significant disparities in zALFF values surfaced in the right calcarine, right cuneus, right precuneus, right middle occipital gyrus (MOG), right superior occipital gyrus (SOG), and right superior parietal gyrus (SPG) between healthy controls (HC), patients without HCL, and patients with HCL, primarily within the visual cortex. In the patient group, patients with HCL displayed reduced FC between the right calcarine, right MOG, right SOG, right SPG, right SFG, bilateral MFG, and left median cingulate and paracingulate gyri when compared with patients without HCL. Moreover, significant differences in FA values of the corticospinal tract (CST) and reticulospinal tract (REST) at the C2 level emerged among HC, patients without HCL, and patients with HCL. Notably, zALFF, FC, and FA values in specific brain regions and spinal cord tracts exhibited correlations with mJOA upper-extremity scores. Additionally, FA values of the CST and REST correlated with zALFF values in the right calcarine, right MOG, right SOG, and right SPG., Conclusions: Alterations within brain regions associated with the visual cortex, the fronto-parietal-occipital attention network, and spinal cord pathways appear to play a substantial role in the emergence and progression of HCL symptoms. Furthermore, the existence of a potential connection between the spinal cord and the brain suggests that this link might be related to the clinical symptoms of CSM.

Objective: Hoffmann's sign testing is a commonly used physical examination in clinical practice for patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). However, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying its occurrence and development have not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore whether a positive Hoffmann's sign (PHS) in CSM patients is associated with spinal cord and brain remodeling and to identify potential neuroimaging biomarkers with diagnostic value., Methods: Seventy-six patients with CSM and 40 sex- and age-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent multimodal MRI. Based on the results of the Hoffmann's sign examination, patients were divided into two groups: those with a PHS (n = 38) and those with a negative Hoffmann's sign (NHS; n = 38). Quantification of spinal cord and brain structural and functional parameters of the participants was performed using various methods, including functional connectivity analysis, voxel-based morphometry, and atlas-based analysis based on functional MRI and structural MRI data. Furthermore, this study conducted a correlation analysis between neuroimaging metrics and neurological function and utilized a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm for the classification of PHS and NHS., Results: In comparison with the NHS and HC groups, PHS patients exhibited significant reductions in the cross-sectional area and fractional anisotropy (FA) of the lateral corticospinal tract (CST), reticulospinal tract (RST), and fasciculus cuneatus, concomitant with bilateral reductions in the volume of the lateral pallidum. The functional connectivity analysis indicated a reduction in functional connectivity between the left lateral pallidum and the right angular gyrus in the PHS group. The correlation analysis indicated a significant positive association between the CST and RST FA and the volume of the left lateral pallidum in PHS patients. Furthermore, all three variables exhibited a positive correlation with the patients' motor function. Finally, using multimodal neuroimaging metrics in conjunction with the SVM algorithm, PHS and NHS were classified with an accuracy rate of 85.53%., Conclusions: This research revealed a correlation between structural damage to the pallidum and RST and the presence of Hoffmann's sign as well as the motor function in patients with CSM. Features based on neuroimaging indicators have the potential to serve as biomarkers for assessing the extent of neuronal damage in CSM patients.

Background and Hypothesis: Neuroimaging studies investigating the neural substrates of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in schizophrenia have yielded mixed results, which may be reconciled by network localization. We sought to examine whether AVH-state and AVH-trait brain alterations in schizophrenia localize to common or distinct networks., Study Design: We initially identified AVH-state and AVH-trait brain alterations in schizophrenia reported in 48 previous studies. By integrating these affected brain locations with large-scale discovery and validation resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets, we then leveraged novel functional connectivity network mapping to construct AVH-state and AVH-trait dysfunctional networks., Study Results: The neuroanatomically heterogeneous AVH-state and AVH-trait brain alterations in schizophrenia localized to distinct and specific networks. The AVH-state dysfunctional network comprised a broadly distributed set of brain regions mainly involving the auditory, salience, basal ganglia, language, and sensorimotor networks. Contrastingly, the AVH-trait dysfunctional network manifested as a pattern of circumscribed brain regions principally implicating the caudate and inferior frontal gyrus. Additionally, the AVH-state dysfunctional network aligned with the neuromodulation targets for effective treatment of AVH, indicating possible clinical relevance., Conclusions: Apart from unifying the seemingly irreproducible neuroimaging results across prior AVH studies, our findings suggest different neural mechanisms underlying AVH state and trait in schizophrenia from a network perspective and more broadly may inform future neuromodulation treatment for AVH., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Since the large-scale outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED) in 2010, caused by the genotype 2 (G2) variant of the porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV), pig farms in China, even those vaccinated with the G2b vaccine, have experienced infections from the G2a variant, leading to significant economic losses. This study successfully isolated the G2a strain DY2020 from positive small intestine contents (SICs) by blind passage on Vero cells for four generations. The SICs were taken from Daye, Hubei Province, China. The biological characteristics were identified by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The growth kinetics of the strain on Vero cells were detected by TCID 50 , and the virus titre could reach 10 7.35 TCID 50 ml -1 (SD: 5.07×10 6 ). The pathogenicity towards colostrum-deprived piglets was conducted by assessing faecal viral shedding, morphometric analysis of intestinal lesions, and immunohistochemical staining. The results showed that DY2020 was highly virulent to colostrum-deprived piglets, with severe watery diarrhoea and other clinical symptoms appeared at 6 h post-infection (h p.i.), and all died within 30 h. Pathological tissue examination results showed that the lesions mainly occurred in the intestines of piglets, causing pathological changes such as shortening of intestinal villi. In summary, the discovery of the G2a strain DY2020 in this study is of great significance for understanding Hubei PEDV and provides an important theoretical basis for the development of new efficient PEDV vaccines.