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We proposed a brain‐to‐brain interface (B2BI) that enabled effective control of mouse turning behavior by human mind using an implantable, ultra‐flexible neural probe. The neural probe was capable of writing in neural signals to the mouse brain, with effective electrical stimulation observed at a low current of 5 μA. Additionally, a wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) device was developed for the remote transmission of human brain signals, which were decoded by the canonical correlation analysis (CCA) method with an accuracy rate of up to 98.6%. These results demonstrate the potential of B2BI technology to enable communication and control between humans and animals. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aberrant DNA damage of germ cells, which impairs spermatogenesis and lowers fertility, is an important factor contributing to male infertility. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a significant role in the expression and regulation of multiple genes during spermatogenesis. Our previous study found much lower miR-424 (murine homologue miR-322) levels in the seminal plasma of infertile patients with high DFI(DNA Fragmentation Index)than in the fertile group. However, the mechanism by which miR-322 regulates germ cells during spermatogenesis remains unknown. Methods: In this study, we successfully established a GC-2 cell model of miR-322 downregulation resulting in impaired spermatogenesis. And the cell viability were measured using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8; Dojindo, Japan) and MTT (Sigma Aldrich, USA). Immunofluorescence assay was used to detect cell damage and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins were measured using real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis. Target genes were predicted and verified by online database retrieval and Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. Results: We observed evident decreases in the cell viability of GC-2 cells along with remarkable increases in apoptosis after miR-322 inhibition. While the expression of apoptosis-related genes, including Bax and caspases 3, 9, and 8 greatly increased in GC-2 cells after miR-322 downregulation, that of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 gene decreased. Ddx3x was found to be the direct target of miR-322. MiR-424 was then detected in the seminal plasma of infertile patients with high DFI(DNA Fragmentation Index); this miRNA was down-regulated but Ddx3x was upregulated in the infertile group. Conclusion: MiR-322 plays a key role in promoting GC-2 cell apoptosis by directly regulating Ddx3x expression. MiR-424 downregulation in infertile men may induce spermatogenic cell apoptosis and sperm DNA damage by directly acting on the target gene locus Ddx3x, resulting in male infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-volatile compounds in Chinese soy sauce (CSS) and Japanese soy sauce (JSS) were qualitatively and quantitatively identified by amino acid analyser and gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry combined with derivatization method (DER-GC-MS). Forty-nine compounds were identified, including 19 amino acids, 8 sugars, 6 sugar alcohols, 8 organic acids and 8 others. Six groups of taste compounds were added to the water at natural concentration in soy sauce were able to reconstitute taste models of CSS and JSS, with no remarkable differences from the soy sauce taste profiles. Through three different rounds of omission tests, it was clear that the recombination models of 10 and 11 key compounds could simulate the typical taste characteristics of CSS and JSS, respectively, with the shared compounds NaCl, glutamate, lysine, isoleucine, leucine, lactic acid, citric acid, and > 500 Da components. This study provided an important theoretical basis for the in-depth research on the soy sauce flavor., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)