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Background In this study, we aimed to analyze the pharmacological mechanism of Gleditsiae Spina in the treatment of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) based on network pharmacology and in vitro experiments. Methods The main active ingredients of Gleditsiae Spina were identified by high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, and ADME screening was performed. The component targets of Gleditsiae Spina were screened using the pharmMapper platform, and differentially expressed genes in normal and HGSC tissues were identified through GEO database. Thereafter, Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used to construct the network of "active ingredient-targets," and the BioGenet database was used for protein-protein interaction analysis. Furthermore, the protein-protein interaction network was established, and the potential protein function module was mined. Biological processes and pathways were analyzed through gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis. Results The core active ingredients of Gleditsiae Spina for regulating HGSC included luteolin, genistein, D-(+)-tryptophan, ursolic acid, and berberine. The ideal targets were HPSE, PI3KCA, AKT1, and CTNNB1. The prediction results were verified by molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, and western blot analysis. Conclusions This study revealed the mechanism of Gleditsiae Spina for the treatment of HGSC based on multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-channels. It also provides a theoretical basis for the prevention of ovarian cancer and its treatment using traditional Chinese medicine in the future.

Background: Metronomic chemotherapy (MC) strategy has been used in breast cancer for more than a decade since it was first proposed. The purpose of this study is to systematically evaluate its efficacy and safety for breast cancer patients at various stages, as well as to clarify the most effective medication strategy when applying MC and discover its most sensitive subpopulation in breast cancer patients. Method: We will systematically retrieve random controlled trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of MC in breast cancer on PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and web of science to perform this network meta-analysis. Markov chain Monte Carlo method based on Bayesian Theory will be used to conduct network meta-analysis and the efficacy and safety will be ranked by combining direct and indirect evidence in mixed treatment comparisons. We will assess the quality of literatures with the Cochrane Risk Bias Assessment Tool and assess the strength of the evidence using the GRADE methodology. Data analysis will be completed with the WinBUGS, R, Stata and RevMan softwares. Results and conclusion: Through the analysis, we can obtain the ranking of efficacy and safety in different MC strategy, and reveal the specific breast cancer groups that are more sensitive to MC. We access the effectiveness by disease free survival, progress free survival, time to progress, objective response rate, and overall survival, and measure the toxicity by dose-limiting toxicity. The result of our study could provide evidence for clinicians to make a better choice when they consider MC. Inplasy registration number: INPLASY202140142.

To develop prediction models for the chance of successful external cephalic version (ECV) and delivery outcome. This is a single-center retrospective study including 350 pregnant women with a singleton non-cephalic pregnancy at or after 36 weeks of gestational age. We selected 22 factors for ECV prediction and 21 for delivery outcome after successful ECV prediction as candidate predictors. Multivariable logistic regression with a stepwise backward selection procedure was used to construct a prediction model for the chance of successful ECV and the other for the delivery outcome. The discrimination and calibration of the models were assessed and internal validation was done with bootstrapping. ECV was successfully performed in 232 cases (66.3%) among 343 women. Eight predictive factors were identified to be associated with a successful ECV: Gestational week at ECV

In living cells, the exceptionally high local concentration of macromolecules, or "locally crowded environment," could affect many aspects of cellular function. Exploration of the locally crowded environment can improve the understanding of living cells and advance the study of artificial cells. In this paper, nanoclay combined with gene templates is used to simulate the locally crowded environment in a cell-free system, ultimately to explore its effects on protein expression. The adsorption effect can immobilize the plasmid on the nanoclay surface, thereby achieving a higher local concentration in the cell-free system. A closer proximity of genes could result in an increase in the protein production of cell-free systems by 1.75 times. Besides, the kinetics of the nanoclay in the cell-free system was analyzed, and the results showed that the genetic transcription level involved in cell-free reactions was significantly improved. This study confirms that a locally crowded environment created by the nanoclay can achieve high protein expression in a cell-free system and help promote the process of transcription and translation. Application of the nanoclay in the cell-free system demonstrates the significance of applying nanomaterials in biological and biomedical fields and provides technical support for the study of the locally crowded environment.

The present study sought to determine if the positive association between positive emotions and life satisfaction can be understood as a function of hope in Chinese. Consistent with the broaden-and...

The present study is the first to empirically test a hierarchical, positive-oriented model of the self and its relationship to second language (L2) achievement motivation, and compare it in three different cultural contexts of Japan, the United States, and Taiwan. Based on the L2 self-model (Lake, 2016), three levels of constructs were developed: Global Self (i.e., Flourishing, Curiosity, and Hope); Positive L2 domain self (i.e., interested-in-L2 self, harmonious passion for L2 learning, and mastery L2 goal orientation); and L2 Motivational Variables (i.e., reading, speaking and listening self-efficacy). A total of 667 students participated in this study, including 181 first-year college students in Japan, 159 high school students in Taiwan, and 327 community college students in the United States. All the participants were learning L2 in school. Results showed that the measures of positive global self, L2 domain self, and L2 motivational self all had a stronger relationship within their respective levels, and progressively weaker relationships as level of generality/specificity became more distal. Furthermore, the relationships among measures varied in the differing cultural contexts with the Japan-based student participants relatively lower on all measures. Implications for teacher educators in the L2 context have been discussed.

Background: SARS-COV-2 is a new virus responsible for the outbreak of respiratory illness known as Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Mycoplasma is an uncommon co-infected pathogen with SARS-COV-2 and has not been reported yet. Besides, Computed Tomography (CT), used as an accessory examination, may play a more significant role this time.Case presentation: A 49-year-old female presented with cough, expectoration and chest congestion followed by elevated CRP and ESR. CT images showed ground-glass opacities in bilateral lower lobes and patchy and striate shadow in right upper lobe. IgM antibody of Mycoplasma pneumoniae was positive and RT-PCR outcome of sputum was positive for the SARS-COV-2 nucleic acid. Her diagnosis of COVID-19 was made on the basis of laboratory results, chest CT images, clinical manifestations and epidemiologic characteristics. She was treated with combination therapy for 17 days following which she showed marked recovery.Conclusion: Co-infection of SARS-COV-2 and Mycoplasma in COVID-19 patients appears to be uncommon. Computed tomography is an acceptive way to make primary diagnosis and treatment for patients as soon as possible. Combination therapy of antiviral, anti-inflammatory, traditional Chinese medical herbal and supportive care may be a reference for further progress.

Due to the heterogeneity of a tumor, the tumor vascular interruption-based therapy has become an ideal treatment strategy. Herein, artificial nanoplatelets are reported to induce selective thrombosis in tumor vessels, which can achieve rapid and large-scale necrosis of tumor cells. For one, the nanoplatelets are exploited to specially release thrombin into target regions without affecting the established coagulation factors system. For another, the thrombin elicits vascular infarction to provide tumor-ablation effects. More importantly, the size-dependent effect of nanoplatelets (with diameters of 200, 400, and 800 nm) in vivo on blocking the tumor vessels is evaluated. The results show that the nanoplatelets from nanometer to submicron have achieved different biodistribution and therapeutic effects through the vascular transport. Notably, 400 nm scale nanoplatelets can induce thrombosis in tumor vessels and achieve 83% of the tumor elimination rate, thus manifesting the effectiveness of anti-tumor strategy compared with the other two scales of nanoplatelets (200 and 800 nm). These findings highlight the need of concern about nanoparticle size, providing a promising strategy for the future design of advanced vascular targeting reagents and the clinical translation of tumor vascular interruption-based therapy.

The fit between a pupil and his or her classmates in the negative mood means that the mood is similarly high or low in the pupil and classmates. This fit is likely to impede depression (in terms of depressive symptoms) and sustain creativity in the pupil, according to ecological or person-environment fit theory. Such possibilities, nevertheless, are suspicious in light of some counterarguments and findings. To examine the possibilities, the present study employed survey data on 632 middle-school pupils in Guangzhou, China. Results about the effects of the fit on depression and creativity support the possibilities. Essentially, although the negative mood of the pupil and his or her classmates had adverse effects, the fit in the mood tended to mitigate the adversity. The results imply a greater need for preventing depression and raising creativity in the pupil with a lower fit to his or her classmates.

This study investigated the relationship among parent and peer attachments, dispositional mindfulness, and psychological distress, and tested the mediating role of dispositional mindfulness between attachments and psychological distress. A sample of 938 Chinese secondary school students participated in the study. Results showed that: (a) both attachments and dispositional mindfulness were negatively associated with psychological distress; (b) dispositional mindfulness could partially mediate the relations between attachments and psychological distress; (c) the mediation effect from parent attachment through mindfulness to psychological distress was stronger than that from peer attachment. The results suggest that attachment, especially parent attachment, is helpful in enhancing students’ dispositional mindfulness, which in turn reduces psychological distress in secondary school students. Some implications about how to enhance attachment and reduce psychological distress through mindfulness were discussed.

By using a person-centered approach (i.e., latent profile analysis), this study examined possible groupings of adolescents as reflected by their parent and peer attachment scores in a sample of 941 adolescents in mainland China. The results showed that four groups with distinct parent and peer attachment profiles were identified, with different combinations of secure and insecure parent and peer attachments. The groups of adolescents as defined by these profiles were compared on positive psychological traits (resiliency, hope, and optimism), life satisfaction, psychological distress, and gender ratios. The findings showed that the adolescents with different profiles of parent and peer attachments significantly differed on positive psychological traits, life satisfaction, psychological distress, and gender ratios. The findings suggest that parent and peer attachments do not always go together, and adolescents may have different combinations of parent and peer attachments. These results should be taken into consideration in future studies concerning the impact of attachment on adolescents.

To understand the substitution effects of 2-hydroxymethyl pyridine on the reaction equilibrium, the interactions between a series of 2-hydroxymethyl pyridine derivatives and diperoxovanadium(V) complex [OV(O2)2(D2O)]−/[OV(O2)2(HOD)]− in solution were explored by the combined use of multinuclear (1H, 13C, and 51V) magnetic resonance together with HSQC in 0.15 mol L−1 NaCl ionic medium for mimicking the physiological conditions. Some direct NMR data are given for the first time. The relative reactivity among the 2-hydroxymethyl pyridine ligands is 2-hydroxymethyl pyridine (1) > 2-methoxymethyl pyridine (2) > 2-ethoxymethyl pyridine (3) > 2-propoxymethyl pyridine (4). The competitive coordination results in the formation of a series of new seven-coordinate diperoxovanadium species [OV(O2)2L]– (L = 1, 2, 3, and 4). The results of density functional calculations indicated that steric effects play an important role in these reactions, providing a reasonable explanation on the relative reactivity of the 2-hydroxymethyl pyridine derivative.

In the present study, we examined the role of ethnoracial discrimination, social support (viz., family & friends), and hope (viz., agency & pathways) in accounting for negative psychological adjust...

In order to improve the dynamic walking performance of quadruped robot, a control method of optimizing feet forces distribution based on virtual model is proposed. In the supporting phase, the virtual model control method is applied to solve the virtual force of the torso. Combined with the gravity of the center of mass (CoM), the distribution problem between the virtual force of the CoM and the feet forces of the supporting legs is transformed into a quadratic programming (QP) problem, which is solved by Gurobi to realize the optimal distribution of the feet forces. Similarly, the virtual force of the swinging leg is solved by using the virtual model, and the joints torques of the robot’s swinging legs are obtained by combining the inverse dynamics feedforward of the swinging legs. Through the simulation of quadruped robot’s trot gait walking by webots and vs2019, it is verified that this method can stabilize the robot’s attitude angles and body speeds near the target values. Compared with the feet forces distribution method that abandons the lateral force control, the application of this method makes the fluctuation range of the attitude angles of the robot and the ground reaction forces (GRFs) of the supporting legs smaller. It is proved that this control method can effectively improve the walking stability and robustness of the quadruped robot.

This study examined variables in three domains (personal, parent support, and peer support) for their relationships with the resilience of academically gifted students in the Chinese cultural and educational environment. The participants were 484 academically gifted students in two highly competitive secondary schools (so-called “key” schools) in a metropolitan city in southern China. The constructs measured in the personal domain were resilience, hope, creativity, and curiosity. The constructs measured in the domain of parent support were parent trust, parent communication, and parent alienation. The constructs measured in the peer support domain were peer trust, peer communication, and peer alienation. Three nested regression models showed that the personal constructs (hope, creativity, and curiosity) were all related to the resilience of the academically gifted students. Parent support variables did not exhibit predictive effects over and above that of the personal constructs, but peer support variables did show additional predictive effects over and beyond personal variables and parent support variables. Explanations and implications were discussed for the findings, and some limitations of the study were also discussed.

Additional file 1. Additional figures and tables.

The psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Body Image Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (C-BI-AAQ) and its short form (C-BI-AAQ-5) were examined with a sample of Chinese undergraduates (n =1,068, 52.6% female). The factor structure, measurement reliability, measurement invariance across gender, and latent gender mean difference of the two scales were explored. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of the C-BI-AAQ and the C-BI-AAQ-5. The original one-factor structure was replicated for both the C-BI-AAQ and the C-BI-AAQ-5. Both the C-BI-AAQ and C-BI-AAQ-5 showed good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity (e.g., relationship patterns in the expected directions with theoretically similar psychological flexibility, and with theoretically dissimilar body dissatisfaction, and psychological distress). The C-BI-AAQ-5 was shown to be equivalent to the C-BI-AAQ. Furthermore, strict measurement invariance across gender was confirmed for both the C-BI-AAQ and C-BI-AAQ-5, and latent mean difference tests showed that men had higher levels of body image flexibility than women. Thus, both the C-BI-AAQ and C-BI-AAQ-5 appear to be psychometrically sound instruments for use in the Chinese young adult population. In addition, body image flexibility measured by both the C-BI-AAQ and the C-BI-AAQ-5 fully mediated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and psychological distress.

As the most sustainable means of modern transportation, modern railway is approaching a new era of intelligence. A major part of this momentum is the autonomous driving of railway vehicles to enable energy efficiency and safety. The derivation of an energy-optimal solution to the intelligent train driving problem in an efficient fashion, however, proves to be a significant challenge due to the high dimension, nonlinearity, complex constraints, time-varying characteristics as well as the limited computing power of onboard computers. This paper proposes a human experience driven fuzzy strategy tree framework for online generation of the energy optimized driving solution for railway trains. Starting from the frequent driving patterns of human drivers, we propose a fuzzy strategy tree structure to effectively encode the driving strategy for different working conditions. The strategy tree is built with an error driven Ripple Down Rules (RDR) method through trip simulations. The genetic algorithm is exploited to optimize the strategy parameters. We also incorporate fuzzy inference methods to handle the uncertainty of a trip. An onboard automatic controller searches the fuzzy strategy tree according to the route information to identify an optimized driving strategy for detailed control operations. Such hybrid techniques make it feasible to identify and apply the best practices of human drivers under a computation-efficient framework. The proposed techniques are validated by field test on commercial trains and enable an energy saving of over 10%.

Are bilingualism and/or biculturalism good for a person’s positive well being? A growing number of studies have shown different positive outcomes of being exposed to two cultures or speaking two languages respectively, but the benefits of being both bilingual and bicultural have rarely been investigated theoretically or empirically. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the main beneficial outcomes of bilingualism and biculturalism, and to integrate these benefits into a new conceptual framework: Positive Bilingualism and Biculturalism GEAR model. The GEAR model suggests that the beneficial outcomes of bilingualism and biculturalism can be systematically classified into four positive dimensions (psychological Growth; cognitive Exploration; linguistic Awareness; and social Reinforcement), in which there are dynamic interactions among these four dimensions. The hypothetical GEAR model provides an intricate theoretical approach to understand the potential benefits to an individual of experiencing more than one language and one culture in their life. The proposed model in this research offers a systematic framework for conducting future research to examine whether bilingualism and biculturalism accrue benefits to the individual.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common joint diseases worldwide and the focus is shifting to disease prevention and the pharmaceutical and surgical treatment of early OA. However, at present few have proven ability to block or delay the progression of OA. Nevertheless, M2 macrophages present an anti-inflammatory function and promote cartilage repair, thereby alleviating OA in mice. However, it is a significant challenge to regulate the helpful secretion of M2 macrophages on demand toward disease-modifying osteoarthritis therapeutics. Here, artificial M2 macrophage (AM2M) with yolk-shell structure was proposed and fabricated to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of M2 macrophages in the treatment of OA. AM2M was composed of macrophage membrane as "shell" and inflammation-responsive nanogel as "yolk". The nanogel was prepared via physical interaction of gelatin and chondroitin sulfate (ChS) through ionic bond and hydrogen bond, achieving burst release to down-regulate inflammation during acute flares and sustainable release to repair cartilage during low inflammatory activity. Furthermore, AM2M exhibited the targeting and long-term residence in the inflamed area and blocked the immune stimulation of macrophages by ChS. Therefore, our fabrication provided a new insight that artificial M2 macrophages are expected to break a vicious and self-perpetuating cycle of OA.

Background Nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-PTX) has exhibited clinical efficacy in breast cancer treatment, but toxicities can be yielded more at the same time. We did this meta-analysis aiming to unambiguously compare nab-PTX with conventional solvent-based paclitaxel in breast cancer patients of all stages. Method Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Science and Technology Periodical database, and WangFang database were searched for head-to-head randomized controlled trials of nab-PTX and solvent-based paclitaxel in breast cancer. Other sources will also be searched like Google Scholar and gray literatures. Two researchers will independently search the database and extract data from the articles. Risk of bias will be assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool. Objective tumor response rate, chemotherapy completion rate after 4 or 6 cycles, and toxicity will be primary outcomes. Disease control rate, overall survival, and progression-free survival/disease-free survival will be included in secondary outcomes. Risk ratio with 95% confidence interval was used for dichotomous variables while hazard ratio was used for time-to-event outcomes. The following 3 data sets will all be considered when synthesizing the data: intention-to-treat population, those who actually received taxanes treatment, and those who were actually assessed. All the analyses were done using Review Manager Software 5.3. Any disagreements in study selection, data collection, and analysis will be resolved by a third investigator. Results and conclusion This study is aim to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nab-PTX compared with PTX in breast cancer treatment as well as to find the best dose or schedule and identify the benefit population. This meta-analysis could provide evidence for clinicians to make a better choice between nab-PTX and PTX in different specific contexts. Prospero registration number CRD42019117912.

This study contributes to the limited research assessing how constructs (e.g., grit) from Positive Psychology (PosPsy) can contribute to better understanding motivation for learning a second language (L2). A total number of 441 Japanese female university students enrolled in English language classes participated in this study. Results showed that a positive global self-construct (i.e., grit), positive L2 domain self-constructs (i.e., grit for L2 learning and interested L2 self) and positive L2 motivational constructs (i.e., L2 reading and listening self-efficacy) and negative L2 motivational variables (i.e., L2 reading and listening anxiety) can be reliably measured with self-report scales with female Japanese students and how the relationship strength among variables followed the predicted order. This paper contributes by introducing new concepts from PosPsy to motivation in L2 learning and offers validation evidence that scales can be created to measure selected constructs from PosPsy that augment L2 motivation studies.

Supplemental material, Supplemental_material for Applicability of the Ego-Resilience Scale (ER89) in the Chinese Cultural Context: A Validation Study by Xinjie Chen, Jinbo He and Xitao Fan in Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment

Supplemental material, MPX882272 Supplemental Material for Reduced regional activity and functional connectivity within sensorimotor network in Parkinson’s patients with restless legs syndrome by Zhe Li, Jun Chen, Yuwan Lin, Miaomiao Zhou, Qiaodi Cai, Xinchun Li, Zhuohua Wu, Xinjie Chen, Xinling Yang, Xiaoqin Zhu, Jianjun Lu, Li Zhang, Bo Liu, Xiaodong Luo and Pingyi Xu in Molecular Pain

We examined the role of basic psychological needs as a mediator of the association between future orientation and depressive symptoms in a sample of 202 (159 female and 43 male) multiethnoracial adults. Multiple mediation analysis with 10,000 bootstraps was conducted to test for mediation. The association between future orientation and depressive symptoms was found to be accounted for by dimensions of basic psychological needs. Specifically, future orientation was negatively related to depressive symptoms through positive associations involving autonomy and competence, but not relatedness. The present findings are the first to not only point to the importance of examining future orientation in understanding depressive symptoms in multiethnoracial adults, but they are also the first to suggest possible mechanisms by which believing in a changeable future might foster stronger satisfaction of basic psychological needs, especially autonomy and competence, that might help multiethnoracials garner greater protection when encountering stressful situations in their lives.

Lithium metal anodes can largely enhance the energy density of rechargeable batteries because of the high theoretical capacity and the high negative potential. However, the problem of lithium dendrite formation and low Coulombic efficiency (CE) during electrochemical cycling must be solved before lithium anodes can be widely deployed. Herein, a new atomic layer deposition (ALD) chemistry to realize the low-temperature synthesis of homogeneous and stoichiometric lithium fluoride (LiF) is reported, which then for the first time, as far as we know, is deposited directly onto lithium metal. The LiF preparation is performed at 150 °C yielding 0.8 A/cycle. The LiF films are found to be crystalline, highly conformal, and stoichiometric with purity levels >99%. Nanoindentation measurements demonstrate the LiF achieving a shear modulus of 58 GPa, 7 times higher than the sufficient value to resist lithium dendrites. When used as the protective coating on lithium, it enables a stable Coulombic efficiency as high as 99.5% for over 170 cycles, about 4 times longer than that of bare lithium anodes. The remarkable battery performance is attributed to the nanosized LiF that serves two critical functions simultaneously: (1) the high dielectric value creates a uniform current distribution for excellent lithium stripping/plating and ultrahigh mechanical strength to suppress lithium dendrites; (2) the great stability and electrolyte isolation by the pure LiF on lithium prevents parasitic reactions for a much improved CE. This new ALD chemistry for conformal LiF not only offers a promising avenue to implement lithium metal anodes for high-capacity batteries but also paves the way for future studies to investigate failure and evolution mechanisms of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) using our LiF on anodes such as graphite, silicon, and lithium.

To date, although there have been several systematic reviews about the relationship between overweight/obesity and academic performance, none of the reviews were conducted quantitatively, thus the extent overweight/obesity is related to academic performance still remains unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to quantitatively review the scientific evidence on the association between body mass index (BMI) and academic performance.A systematic review of articles examining such relationship was undertaken using four databases, namely, PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCOhost and ProQuest Dissertations Theses Global. The search period covered the research literature up to July 2017.Data from 60 selected studies (involving 164,049 participants) were extracted and analysed following procedures for meta-analysis.Sixty studies met all inclusion criteria and were included. Using a random-effects meta-analysis model, a weak negative correlation between BMI and academic achievement (r = -.111; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -.155 to -.067; P .01) was revealed. After conducting a series of moderator analyses, such a relationship was found to be significantly moderated by regions and students' study grades.BMI is weakly and negatively associated with academic achievement. For a better understanding of such a relationship, future studies are needed to explore whether there is a causal relationship and also explore whether there are other factors that potentially moderate such a relationship.

Objective This study aims to investigate the possible cause of a prenatal case of hemivertebrae with a 7q terminal deletion. Case Report This case describes a fetus with hemivertebrae in thoracic vertebrae as the sole antenatal sonographic finding. Genetic testing was performed in order to find more information after the abnormal ultrasound finding. The array-based comparative genomic hybridization results showed that the fetus had approximately 6.4 Mb deletion of 7q36. We discussed the two genes (SHH and HLXB9) that may be associated with hemivertebrae in the deletion region and reviewed several literatures about 7q36 deletion. Conclusion Our results suggest that the phenotype of hemivertebra in our case may be related to the deletion of 7q36.

Glia maturation factor-β (GMFB) is considered to be a growth and differentiation factor for both glia and neurons. GMFB has been found to be upregulated in several neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration conditions. It may function by mediating apoptosis and by modulating the expression of superoxide dismutase, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and neurotrophin. In this review, we mainly discussed the role of GMFB in several neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. On review of the literature, we propose that GMFB may be a promising therapeutic target for neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.

Supplemental material for The subjective well-being of academically gifted students in the Chinese cultural context by Xinjie Chen, Xitao Fan, Hoi Yan Cheung and Joseph Wu in School Psychology International

This paper considers the post-J test inference in non-nested linear regression models. Post-J test inference means that the inference problem is considered by taking the first stage J test into account. We first propose a post-J test estimator and derive its asymptotic distribution. We then consider the test problem of the unknown parameters, and a Wald statistic based on the post-J test estimator is proposed. A simulation study shows that the proposed Wald statistic works perfectly as well as the two-stage test from the view of the empirical size and power in large-sample cases, and when the sample size is small, it is even better. As a result, the new Wald statistic can be used directly to test the hypotheses on the unknown parameters in non-nested linear regression models.

Under general parametric models, Claeskens and Hjort (J Am Stat Assoc 98:900–916, 2003) proposed a focused information criterion for model selection which emphasizes the accuracy of estimation for particular parameters of interest. This paper extends their framework to include a semi-parametric varying-coefficient partially linear model when covariates in both the parametric and the non-parametric parts are subject to measurement errors. We allow the covariance matrices of the measurement errors to be unknown and be estimated by replicated observations. Also, we derive the asymptotic properties of the frequentist model average estimator for the model in consideration, which generalizes the results obtained by Wang et al. (Electron J Stat 6:1017–1039, 2012). In addition to asymptotic properties, finite sample performance of the proposed methods are examined in a simulation study, and a data set obtained from Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (CSFII) is considered.

While positive correlation between fracture toughness and H/E and H3/E2 has been reported for some ceramic coatings, we outline an argument that such correlation cannot be true in general, especially for nanolayer and nanocomposite coatings that present multiple interfaces to impede crack growth. Literature data are presented to support this argument.

The generation of disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS cell) lines from patients with incurable diseases is a promising approach for studying disease mechanisms and for drug screening. Such innovation enables us to obtain autologous cell sources for regenerative medicine. Herein, we report the generation and characterization of iPS cells from the fibroblasts of patients with a family history of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD); these fibroblasts were obtained from patients at 22 gestational weeks of age and exhibit exon duplication from exons 16 to 42. The DMD-iPS cells were generated by the ectopic expression of four transcription factors: OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and c-MYC; the DMD-iPS cells expressed several pluripotency markers and could be differentiated into various somatic cell types both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, DMD-iPSCs showed the differentiation potential to neuronal lineage. Thus, DMD-iPS cells are expected to serve as an in vitro disease model system, which will lay a foundation for the production of autologous cell therapies that avoid immune rejection and enable the correction of gene defects prior to tissue reconstitution.

Linear mixed-effects models are a powerful tool for the analysis of longitudinal data. The aim of this paper is to study model averaging for linear mixed-effects models. The asymptotic distribution of the frequentist model average estimator is derived, and a confidence interval procedure with an actual coverage probability that tends to the nominal level in large samples is developed. The two confidence intervals based on the model averaging and based on the full model are shown to be asymptotically equivalent. A simulation study shows good finite sample performance of the model average estimators.

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from disease patients are an invaluable resource for biomedical research and may provide a source for replacement therapies. In this study, we have generated iPS cells from Asian patients with chronic degenerative diseases of the nervous system, including spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Parkinson disease (PD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by transduction with four factors (KLF4, SOX2, OCT4 and c-MYC). All of the iPS cells showed pluripotency similar to that of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and were able to differentiate into various somatic cell types in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the iPS cells also can be committed to differentiate into neural cells, the cell type that is affected in chronic degenerative diseases. Therefore, the patient-specific iPS cells we generated offer a cellular model in which to investigate disease mechanisms, discover and test novel drugs and develop new therapies for chronic neurodegenerative diseases.

Background Restless legs syndrome is an important sleep disturbance in Parkinson’s disease. Restless legs syndrome causes an urge to move the legs accompanying sensations which can be difficult to describe but include aching, burning, tingling, or crawling. However, the underlying pathophysiology of restless legs syndrome in Parkinson’s disease remains unknown and no imaging investigation has been conducted to explore its mechanism to date. Objective This study is to investigate the brain functional changes in Parkinson’s disease with restless legs syndrome (PD-RLS+) patients using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Methods Data of functional magnetic resonance imaging were collected from 14 PD-RLS+ patients, 20 Parkinson’s disease without restless legs syndrome (PD-RLS−) patients, as well as 19 normal controls during restless legs syndrome-free periods. Intraregional brain activity was evaluated by regional homogeneity method and compared between each pair of the three groups. Area with significantly altered regional homogeneity between two patient groups was further selected as seed in subsequent functional connectivity analysis. Correlations between clinical variables and the altered regional homogeneity and functional connectivity were then assessed in patient groups. Results Compared with PD-RLS−, PD-RLS+ had much reduced brain activity in the right precentral gyrus, which was negatively associated with restless legs scores in Parkinson’s disease patients. Comparison between PD-RLS+ and normal controls revealed that brain activities were increased in the left brainstem and reduced in the left lingual, fusiform and inferior occipital gyri, middle cingulate and paracingulate gyri, and supplement motor area. Further functional connectivity analysis between right precentral gyrus and left postcentral/precentral gyri decreased dramatically within PD-RLS+ patients, which were also negatively correlated with restless legs symptoms in patient groups. Conclusion PD-RLS+ patients showed diminished regional homogeneity and functional connectivity within the precentral and postcentral gyri, which implies that the functional abnormalities in sensorimotor network may disrupt the lateral pain pathway, contributing to restless legs syndrome symptoms in Parkinson’s disease patients. This may provide imaging evidence to explore the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease-related restless legs syndrome.

A simple monoculture system, combined with a chemically defined medium containing hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and G5 supplement, was used to induce rhesus monkey embryonic stem cells (rESC) directly into neuroepithelial (NE) cells. Under these conditions, the generation of NE cells did not require the formation of embryoid bodies or co-culture with other cell types. The NE cells could further develop to generate neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. These results demonstrate a simple approach to obtain enriched and expandable populations of neural progenitors. Importantly, unlike other systems, the neural progenitors obtained using this approach may possess the potential to differentiate into various regional neural cells. Finally, the results suggest that the time-dependent shift in the differentiation potential of the rESC-derived neural progenitors in vitro reflects the developmental events that occur during neurogenesis in vivo. Thus, this system can be used to study the mechanisms of cell fate specification during non-human primate neurogenesis.

The oocyte plays a key role in reprogramming the epigenetic status of donor cell nuclei, and the absence of reprogramming elements in the cytoplasm or aberrant accumulation of proteins can trigger the abnormal development of nuclear transfer (NT) embryos. Previous studies have demonstrated the relationship between oocyte morphology and both embryo development and pregnancy outcome. In the present study, we compared the morphology of oocytes with subsequent development of human somatic cell NT (SCNT) embryos.Piezo-assisted SCNT technology was used to produce reconstructed embryos, with almost 92% of oocytes reconstructed successfully. Depending on their morphologies, we separated metaphase II oocytes into four grades according to criteria which assess oocyte morphology, first polar body and perivitelline space, and especially, cytoplasm granula distribution.Embryos from oocytes of Grades A and B could develop to the blastocyst stage with similar development efficiency for every developmental stage. However, embryos from Grade C oocytes arrested at or before the 8-cell stage then degraded, and the donor cell genome could not be activated and reprogrammed in such oocytes. For Grade D oocytes, cleavage was not observed in the reconstructed embryos, suggesting that the oocytes themselves have no developmental potential.Our study revealed that different levels of developmental competence of SCNT embryos resulting from different oocyte reprogramming potentials associated with different morphologies. The results suggest that effective methods for improving oocyte quality should be studied, and that human SCNT efficiency would be increased following simple assessment of established oocyte morphology criterion.