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Losing an only child (Shidu) is a grievous traumatic event that may affect brain structure, even if it does not lead to psychiatric disorders. However, longitudinal changes in brain structure and their relationship to subclinical psychiatric symptoms (SPS) have not been well investigated in Shidu parents without any psychiatric disorders (SDNP). This study aimed to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal changes in cortical thickness and surface area in SDNP, and to explore their relationship with SPS. A total of 50 SDNP and 40 matched healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. All participants underwent structural MRI scans and clinical assessment at baseline and at the 5-year follow-up. Differences in brain structural phenotypes (cortical thickness, surface area, and their annual rate of change) between the SDNP and HC groups were compared using FreeSurfer. Correlations between significant brain structural phenotypes and SPS in the SDNP group were evaluated using multiple linear regressions. The SDNP group showed a smaller surface area in the left inferior parietal cortex than the HC group at baseline and follow-up. The SDNP group showed slower rates of cortical thinning and surface area loss in several brain regions than the HC group from baseline to follow-up. Moreover, slower rates of cortical thinning in the left insula, superior frontal cortex, and superior temporal cortex were associated with greater reductions in avoidance, depression, and trauma re-experiencing symptoms scores over time in the SDNP group, respectively. Shidu trauma-induced structural abnormalities in the inferior parietal cortex may persist over time and be independent of the severity of psychiatric symptoms. The expansion of prefrontal, temporal, and insular cortex implicated in emotional regulation may contribute to improvements in psychiatric symptoms in Shidu parents. This study focused on longitudinal changes in cortical thickness and surface area and their relationship with subclinical psychiatric symptoms in Shidu parents without any psychiatric disorders. Shidu trauma-induced structural abnormalities in the inferior parietal cortex may persist over time and be independent of the severity of psychiatric symptoms. The expansion of prefrontal, temporal, and insular cortex implicated in emotional regulation may contribute to improvements in psychiatric symptoms in Shidu parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-cell transcriptomics is rapidly advancing our understanding of the composition of complex tissues and biological cells, and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) holds great potential for identifying and characterizing the cell composition of complex tissues. Cell type identification by analyzing scRNA-seq data is mostly limited by time-consuming and irreproducible manual annotation. As scRNA-seq technology scales to thousands of cells per experiment, the exponential increase in the number of cell samples makes manual annotation more difficult. On the other hand, the sparsity of gene transcriptome data remains a major challenge. This paper applied the idea of the transformer to single-cell classification tasks based on scRNA-seq data. We propose scTransSort, a cell-type annotation method pretrained with single-cell transcriptomics data. The scTransSort incorporates a method of representing genes as gene expression embedding blocks to reduce the sparsity of data used for cell type identification and reduce the computational complexity. The feature of scTransSort is that its implementation of intelligent information extraction for unordered data, automatically extracting valid features of cell types without the need for manually labeled features and additional references. In experiments on cells from 35 human and 26 mouse tissues, scTransSort successfully elucidated its high accuracy and high performance for cell type identification, and demonstrated its own high robustness and generalization ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Our study explored the executive function deficits(EFD) after trauma exposed. • The adult who has lost their only child is a special type of trauma. • The results of the excessive connection between the anterior insula and DMN might contribute to EFD after trauma exposed. There is increasing evidence that major trauma can adversely affect the brain and cognition. In some cases, trauma may lead to deficits in executive function (EF). The anterior insula may be a causal outflow hub acting to coordinate EF-related brain networks. To clarify the neural underpinnings of EF deficits (EFD) after trauma, we performed a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) study of anterior insular subnetworks in adults who have lost their only child. A total of 167 participants completed various psychological and cognitive assessments to assess EF-related deficits. Correlations were computed between abnormal connectivity and cognitive/post-traumatic stress symptoms. The results showed abnormal anterior insular subregion connectivity in the default mode network (DMN), prefrontal lobe, and cerebellum lobe in participants with EFD. No correlation was found between abnormal connectivity and cognitive/post-traumatic stress symptoms in participants with EFD. These results suggest that excessive connections between the insula and DMN could contribute to EFD after trauma. Overall, this study provides novel references into the neural mechanisms of EF status after trauma exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Protein–polysaccharide gels have significant and unique properties in food formulations. However, they are susceptible to environmental influences like heat and pH. The present work investigated the effects of acid and alkali treatments on the gel properties and microstructural changes of whey protein isolate (WPI) high acyl gellan gum (HG). RESULTS: The results showed that the pH had a strong effect on the gel hardness, water‐holding capacity (WHC), free sulfhydryl groups (‐SH), and other properties of the composite gel. The hardness reached a maximum level of 282.50 g and the best WHC was 98.33% at pH 7, indicating that a suitable pH could promote this cross‐linking between the WPI and HG molecules. The rheological analysis demonstrated that the pH affected the gel formation time. Meanwhile, the gel formation time reached a maximum at pH 7, and the gel's storage modulus G′ value was the largest in the final state. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results showed that pH affected the interaction between WPI and HG. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis also indicated that the composite gel formed a three‐dimensional network structure at pH 7–9. CONCLUSION: These results could broaden the application of protein‐polysaccharide gels in food and delivery systems. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Shidu parents who lost their only child are more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). • This is the first study on gray and white matter differences and associations between persistence and remission of PTSD in Chinese Shidu parents. • Differences were observed in gray and white matter between persistence and remission of PTSD in the early stages of trauma. • Some specific gray and white matter abnormalities were often present simultaneously in P-PTSD, which may contribute to distinguish persistence and remission of PTSD to some extent. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common mental health disorders among Shidu parents. Identification of gray and white matter differences between persistence of PTSD (P-PTSD) and remission of PTSD (R-PTSD) is crucial to determine their prognosis. A total of 37 Shidu parents with PTSD were followed for five years. Surface-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging were carried out to analyze the differences in gray and white matter between P-PTSD and R-PTSD. Finally, 30 patients with PTSD were enrolled, including 12 with P-PTSD and 18 with R-PTSD. Compared with patients with R-PTSD, patients with P-PTSD exhibited lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in Cluster 1 (including body of the corpus callosum, superior longitudinal fasciculus, corticospinal tract) and Cluster 2 (including inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, splenium of the corpus callosum) in the left cerebral hemisphere and higher cortical thickness in the right lateral occipital cortex (LOC). In patients with P-PTSD, FA values of Cluster 2 were negatively correlated with cortical thickness of the right LOC. These results suggest that among Shidu parents, differences were observed in gray and white matter between P-PTSD and R-PTSD. Moreover, some certain gray and white matter abnormalities were often present simultaneously in P-PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study showed potential threats to cognitive integrity from trauma exposure, effects on brain functionl. • This study captures the characteristic changes of DC and FC of EFD after traumatic exposure at the individual levell. • The characteristic changes of brain network have high accuracy in the classification of EFD at the individual level. Losing an only child is undoubtedly a huge blow that can adversely affect the prefrontal lobe, a highly sensitive brain region. Neuropsychological evidence emphasizes that executive function (EF) is closely related to the optimal functioning of the frontal cortex. However, the characteristics and potential mechanisms underlying changes in executive function following the huge shock of losing an only child remain insufficiently studied and understood. In this study, we performed degree centrality (DC) and functional connectivity (FC) analyses to explore the organization of the executive function deficits (EFD) network among adults who have lost their only child. In addition, we performed correlation analyses to establish an association between abnormal DC and FC values and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Finally, we used support vector machine analyses to assess the accuracy of abnormal DC and FC values in distinguishing adults with EFD who have lost their only child from those without EFD. Our findings revealed increased DC in the left superior frontal gyrus and right angular gyrus (ANG), whereas decreased DC in the left superior occipital gyrus among adults with EFD. Further FC analysis revealed that the altered FC primarily involved the prefrontal and temporal lobes and cerebellum. Notably, the altered FC between the right ANG and left inferior temporal gyrus exhibited a negative correlation with irritability symptoms (R = -0.047, p = 0.003) in the EFD group. A combined model incorporating altered DC and FC values enabled the classification of 96.69% of adults with EFD, with a sensitivity of 0.8837 and specificity of 0.9558. These findings provide valuable insights into the neural mechanisms underlying distinct EF statuses following trauma exposure, distinguishing adults with and without EFD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]