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Backgrounds: Depression is among the most frequent psychiatric comorbid conditions in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, pharmacotherapy for depressive disorders in AD is still a big challenge；current antidepressants used clinically, such as monoamine antidepressants, have shown only modest or little clinical benefits. Here we investigated the mechanism of the interactions between depression and AD, which we believe would aid in the development of pharmacological therapeutics for the comorbidity of depression and AD. Methods: Female APP/PS1/Tau triple transgenic (3×Tg-AD) mice at 20 months of age and age- and gender-matched wild-type (WT) mice were used. The shuttle-box passive avoidance test (PAT), the open field test (OFT), and the tail suspension test (TST) were implemented to assess behavioral changes. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was used to detect the level of neurotransmitters related to depression in the hippocampus of mice. The data was identified by orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). The expression of relative receptors was detected using Western blot. Results: Compared to WT, 3×Tg-AD mice displayed significant cognitive impairment in the PAT and depression-like behavior in the OFT and TST. They also showed significant decreases in the levels of L-tyrosine, norepinephrine, vanillylmandelic acid, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and acetylcholine, in contrast to significant increases in 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, L-histidine, L-glutamine, and L-arginine in the hippocampus. The expression of the alpha 1a adrenergic receptor (ADRA1A), serotonin 1A receptor (5HT1A), and γ-aminobutyric acid A receptor subunit alpha-2 (GABRA2) was significantly downregulated in the hippocampus of 3×Tg-AD mice, while histamine H3 receptor (H3R) expression was significantly upregulated. In addition, the ratio of phosphorylated cAMP-response element-binding protein (pCREB) and CREB was significantly decreased in the hippocampus relative to WT. Conclusions: We demonstrated in the present study that aged female 3×Tg-AD mice showed depression-like behavior accompanied with cognitive dysfunction. The complex and diverse mechanism appears not only relevant to the imbalance of multiple neurotransmitter pathways, including the transmitters and receptors of the monoaminergic, GABAergic, histaminergic, and cholinergic systems, but also related to the changes in L-arginine and CREB signaling molecules.

The detection method of characteristic spectrum for reference samples was established by preparing 15 batches of the reference samples of Huagan Decoction, and the peak attribution and the similarity range in the characteristic spectrum were clarified. The ranges of paste-forming rate, content, and transfer rate of the index components including geniposide, paeonol, and paeoniflorin were analyzed. The key quality attribute of the reference samples of Huagan Decoction was defined. The results showed that the 15 batches of the reference samples of Huagan Decoction had good similarities in the characteristic spectrum, which were all higher than 0.9. According to the information of characteristic peak, there were 18 characteristic peaks in the whole prescription, including seven common characteristic peaks from green tangerine peel and dried tangerine peel, four characteristic peaks from tree peony root bark(three of them were common characteristic peaks from tree peony root bark and red peony root), five characteristic peaks from cape jasmine fruit, one characteristic peak from paniculate bolbostemma, and one characteristic peak from oriental waterplantain rhizome.The paste-forming rate of the 15 batches of reference samples was 14.73%-18.83%. The content of geniposide was 1.68%-2.87%, with the average transfer rate of 70.05%±11.13%. The content of paeonol was 0.10%-0.16%, with the average transfer rate of 9.38%±1.78%. The content of paeoniflorin was 1.94%-2.74%, with the average transfer rate of 36.69%±4.63%. This study analyzed the quality value transfer of the reference samples of Huagan Decoction by the evaluation mode of combining the characteristic spectrum, the paste-forming rate, and the content of index components. The findings of this study initially established a stable and feasible standard decoction evaluation method and provided references for the quality control and the subsequent development of relevant preparations of Huagan Decoction.

Five matrine-type alkaloids (1‒5) including two new compounds (1 and 3) and a new natural product (2) were isolated from the roots of Sophora tonkinesis. Their structures were identified by extensive spectroscopic analysis (UV, IR, HRESIMS and NMR). The absolute configurations of 2 and 3 were determined by X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1‒5 were evaluated their activity against inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 levels on LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages, and compound 1 showed the most significant activity, potent than that of matrine, the representative ingredient from Sophora plants.

The small-eared shrew genus Cryptotis is the third largest in the family Soricidae and occurs in North, Central, and northern South America. In Mexico and Central and South America, most species inhabit geographically isolated moist, montane habitats at middle and high elevations in a typical sky-island pattern. The 49 recognized species have been partitioned into as many as six species groups based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies. The relationships among these species groups are poorly resolved, and their evolutionary histories, including migration patterns and locomotor adaptations, remain unclear. Herein, we provide a new phylogeny incorporating complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) and supermatrix approach. We compared different evolutionary scenarios using approximately unbiased (AU), Kishino-Hasegawa (KH), and Shimodaira-Hasegawa (SH) statistical tests. The phylogenetic hypothesis based on mitogenomes revealed novel relationships supporting a basal position for the Cryptotis parvus-group in the genus, and a close relationship between C. gracilis and one clade of the C. thomasi-group. The former relationship is consistent with the least derived humerus morphology and northern distribution of the species. The latter relationship implies multiple migrations between Central and South America. The lack of fine resolution for the species group relationships may be due partly to the lack of taxon sampling. In contrast, multi-approach analyses suggest that the unresolved relationships may be a result of rapid diversification during the early stages of Cryptotis evolution.

Pelvic fracture urethral injury (PFUI) is the major etiological factor of neurological erectile dysfunction (NED). We reported a patient whose Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) score was 7 (severe ED) and experienced a failed treatment of Tadalafil. NED was the final diagnosis made by examinations such as nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT), penile cavernous contrast and three-dimensional reconstruction and the penial dorsal nerve somatosensory evoked potential. Percutaneous cavernous nerve electro-stimulation was used as treatment for NED. After three courses of treatment, the IIEF-5 score was up to 18 points and the level of erection hardness was between grade III and IV. We concluded that percutaneous cavernous nerve electro-stimulation will be a new strategy to treat patients with NED with PFUI history. How to Cite This: Hu Q, Wang WZ, Lu BD, Lou G. Percutaneous cavernous nerve electro-stimulation for treatment of erectile dysfunction. Biomedica; 36 (4): 334-8. Doi: https://doi.org/10.51441/BioMedica/5-76.

Parallel imaging and compressed sensing (PICS) may accelerate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition with advanced reconstruction algorithms from under-sampled data set. However, bias field effects are often present in reconstructed MRI images due to hardware limitation and object property, which might lead to reconstruction imperfection with conventional PICS reconstruction due to altered image sparsity. In this paper, the MR signal bias field effects is modeled, and it was found that the bias field effects would induce reconstruction artifacts in the low-signal-intensity area. Then it was proposed to add a bias correction step into the PICS reconstruction framework to improve the reconstruction, and the proposed method was evaluated the proposed method via both simulation and in vivo study. It was then shown that the proposed method leads to improved image reconstruction in the low-signal-intensity area, with little extra computational effort needed compared to standard PICS reconstruction. This method could be readily extended to other signal processing area where the signal inhomogeneity problem is present and signal sparsity is exploited.

The application of resting state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) was widely performed using standard statistical tests, however, the machine learning (ML) approach has not yet been investigated in PD using RS-fMRI. In current study, we utilized the mean regional amplitude values as the features in patients with PD (n = 72) and in healthy controls (HC, n = 89). The t-test and linear support vector machine were employed to select the features and make prediction, respectively. Three frequency bins (Slow-5: 0.0107–0.0286 Hz; Slow-4: 0.0286–0.0821 Hz; conventional: 0.01–0.08 Hz) were analyzed. Our results showed that the Slow-4 may provide important information than Slow-5 in PD, and it had almost identical classification performance compared with the Combined (Slow-5 and Slow-4) and conventional frequency bands. Similar with previous neuroimaging studies in PD, the discriminative regions were mainly included the disrupted motor system, aberrant visual cortex, dysfunction of paralimbic/limbic and basal ganglia networks. The lateral parietal lobe, such as right inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and supramarginal gyrus (SMG), was detected as the discriminative features exclusively in Slow-4. Our findings, at the first time, indicated that the ML approach is a promising choice for detecting abnormal regions in PD, and a multi-frequency scheme would provide us more specific information.

The silver butter catfish (Schilbe intermedius) is widely distributed across African river systems. To date, information on its mitochondrial genetic diversity, population structure, and historical demography are not well-established. Herein, we combined newly generated mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COI) subunit I gene sequences with previously published COI sequences in the global databases to reconstruct its phylogeography, population genetic structure, and historical demography. Results from the mtDNA phylogeography and species delimitation tests (Cluster algorithm – Species Identifier, Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery and Poison Tree Process model) revealed that S. intermedius comprises at least seven geographically defined matrilines. Although the overall haplotype diversity of S. intermedius was high (h = 0.90), results showed that East (Kenya) and West (Nigeria) African populations had low levels of haplotype diversity (h = ~0.40). In addition, population genetic polymorphism and historical demographics showed that S. intermedius populations in both East and West Africa underwent severe contractions as a result of biogeographic influences. The patterns of genetic diversity and population structure were consistent with adaptive responses to historical biogeographic factors and contemporary environmental variations across African river systems. This is suggestive of the influence of historical biogeographic factors and climatic conditions on population divergence of S. intermedius across African river systems. Given our discovery of previously underappreciated diversity within S. intermedius, we recommend that this species be considered for increased conservation and management.

One new alkaloid, 6, 7-dimethoxyisoquinoline

This article describes "the national comprehensive governance for epilepsy prevention and control in China" as an example of a strategic working program for the prevention and control of epilepsy at a national level. The comprehensive governance includes 10 key elements: epilepsy centers' consortium and three tier diagnosis/treatment network; rural and urban community projects on epilepsy care; awareness, publicity, and education; big data platform; development of telemedicine; team and capacity building; strengthening epilepsy research; developing and strengthening partnership; coordination with government; and international collaboration.

China faces the greatest challenge from stroke in the world. According to results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, there were 3.94 million new stroke cases, 28.76 million prevalent cases and 2.19 million deaths due to stroke in China in 2019. Furthermore, stroke is also the leading cause of disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) in China, the number of DALYs reached 45.9 million in 2019. Several recent large-scale epidemiological surveys have updated the data on pre-existing conditions contributed to stroke. The age-adjusted prevalence of overweight among Chinese adults aged 18–69 years was 34.4%, and the prevalence of obesity was 16.8% in 2018. 50.9% of Chinese adults ≥18 years of age without history of hypertension had prehypertension in 2018. The weighted prevalence of hypertension in adults was 27.5% in 2018. The weighted prevalence of total diabetes and pre-diabetes diagnosed by the American Diabetes Association criteria were 12.8% and 35.2%, respectively, among Chinese adults ≥18 years of age in 2017. The weighted atrial fibrillation prevalence was 1.8% among Chinese adults ≥45 years of age and equates to being present in an estimated 7.9 million people in China. Data from 1672 tertiary public hospitals in the Hospital Quality Monitoring System (HQMS) showed that 3 411 168 stroke cases were admitted during 2019. Of those, 2 818 875 (82.6%) were ischaemic strokes (ISs), 485 474 (14.2%) were intracerebral haemorrhages (ICHs), 106 819 (3.1%) were subarachnoid haemorrhages (SAHs). The average age was 66 years old, and 59.6% were male. A total of 1379 (

Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), Sorghum mosaic virus (SrMV), Sugarcane streak mosaic virus (SCSMV), Sugarcane yellow leaf virus (SCYLV), and Sugarcane bacilliform virus (SCBV) are the major viruses infecting sugarcane worldwide. This study proposed a multiplex reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) assay for the simultaneous detection and identification of these sugarcane viruses. Results showed that five primer pairs amplified their respective target viruses, indicating the assay specificity. The sensitivity of the assay was similar to or 10–100-folds lower than that of singleplex RT–PCR for detecting SCMV or the four other viruses, respectively. When detecting the five viruses in field sugarcane samples, the detection results of multiplex RT–PCR were approximately identical to those of singleplex RT–PCR, thereby indicating the relative reliability of the former. The proposed multiplex RT–PCR can simultaneously detect SCMV, SrMV, SCSMV, SCYLV, and SCBV in sugarcane, making it a suitable, efficient, and practical detection method for sugarcane viruses.

Sugarcane is an important sugar and energy crop worldwide. It utilises highly efficient C4 photosynthesis and accumulates sucrose in its culms. The sucrose content in sugarcane culms is a quantitative trait controlled by multiple genes. The regulatory mechanism underlying the maximum sucrose level in sugarcane culms remains unclear. We used transcriptome sequences to identify the potential regulatory genes involved in sucrose accumulation in Saccarum officinarum L. cv. Badila. The sucrose accumulating internodes at the elongation and mature growth stage and the immature internodes with low sucrose content at the mature stage were used for RNA sequencing. The obtained differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to sucrose accumulation were analysed. Results showed that the transcripts encoding invertase (beta-fructofuranosidase, EC: 3.2.1.26) which catalyses sucrose hydrolysis and 6-phosphofructokinase (PFK, EC: 2.7.1.11), a key glycolysis regulatory enzyme, were downregulated in the high sucrose accumulation internodes. The transcripts encoding key enzymes for ABA, gibberellin and ethylene synthesis were also downregulated during sucrose accumulation. Furthermore, regulated protein kinase, transcription factor and sugar transporter genes were also obtained. This research can clarify the molecular regulation network of sucrose accumulation in sugarcane.

Hexokinase (HXK) catalyses hexose phosphorylation and senses glucose signalling to control carbon partition in plants. In sugarcane, HXK is involved in regulating source/sink carbon balance. However, the characteristics of sugarcane HXK genes remain unclear. This study revealed that the full-length cDNA sequence of the HXK gene ShHXK8 cloned from sugarcane mature leaves contains a 1560 bp open reading frame and encodes a putative protein of 519 amino acids. Amongst HXKs from monocot and dicot subjected to phylogenetic analysis, ShHXK8 was clustered into a monocot-specific group with OsHXK7, SbHXK8 and ZmHXK1. Gene expression analysis in Saccharum spp. hybrid ROC22 plants showed that ShHXK8 was expressed in leaves and stalks and expressed highly in mature leaves and young internodes. The difference in the expression of ShHXK8 was compared in high-sugar-content (HSC) and low-sugar-content (LSC) Saccharum officinarum plants. The expression of ShHXK8 in the leaves and internodes 3–24 of HSC plants was lower than that of LSC plants. The expression of ShHXK8 in the internodes 1–2 of HSC plants was higher than that of LSC plants. ShHXK8–GFP fusion was located in the cytosol by transiently expressing the corresponding vectors in rice mesophyll protoplasts. ShHXK8 might function as a cytoplasmic hexokinase involved in hexose metabolism in sugarcane mature leaves and young internodes.

Background: Phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) belongs to the lipid transfer glycoprotein family. Studies have shown that it is closely related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD); however, the exact effect and mechanism remain unknown. Objective: To observe the effect of PLTP overexpression on behavioral dysfunction and the related mechanisms in APP/PS1/Tau triple transgenic (3×Tg-AD) mice. Methods: AAV-PLTP-EGFP was injected into the lateral ventricle to induce PLTP overexpression. The memory of 3×Tg-AD mice and wild type (WT) mice aged 10 months were assessed using Morris water maze (MWM) and shuttle-box passive avoidance test (PAT). Western blotting and ELISA assays were used to quantify the protein contents. Hematoxylin and eosin, Nissl, and immunochemistry staining were utilized in observing the pathological changes in the brain. Results: 3×Tg-AD mice displayed cognitive impairment in WMW and PAT, which was ameliorated by PLTP overexpression. The histopathological hallmarks of AD, senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, were observed in 3×Tg-AD mice and were improved by PLTP overexpression. Besides, the increase of amyloid-β42 (Aβ42) and Aβ40 were found in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of 3×Tg-AD mice and reversed by PLTP overexpression through inhibiting APP and PS1. PLTP overexpression also reversed tau phosphorylation at the Ser404, Thr231 and Ser199 of the hippocampus in 3×Tg-AD mice. Furthermore, PLTP overexpression induced the glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) inactivation via upregulating GSK3β (pSer9). Conclusion: These results suggest that PLTP overexpression has neuroprotective effects. These effects are possibly achieved through the inhibition of the Aβ production and tau phosphorylation, which is related to GSK3β inactivation.

Three new sesquiterpene lactones, named scabertopinolides H - J (

The value evaluation of endangered species can provide important supports for policy-making in biodiversity conservation. We evaluated the stakeholders' preference and willingness to pay (WTP) from the perspective of stakeholders by the choice experiment method (CEM) and discussed the ecological compensation mechanism, with濒危物种价值评估可为生物多样性保护提供重要的政策支撑。本文以国家二级重点保护植物翅果油树为例,从利益相关者视角作为切入点,基于选择实验法评价其偏好和支付意愿(WTP),进而探讨生态补偿机制。基于管理部门、企业和农户三方利益相关者的利益诉求,分析确定了5个翅果油树的物种属性,即种植面积、产品分类、树苗品种、保护投入和农户收益。运用随机参数Logit模型分析了利益相关者对不同物种属性变量的偏好和支付意愿。结果表明: 受访者对“保护增加投入”偏好最强和支付意愿最高,每户为331.00 yuan·a

To analyze the basic characteristics and related factors of ED.Using the self-designed National Key Collaboration Platform for Impotence Disease Research, we enrolled 297 ED males at the urological clinic of the Second Hospital of Zhejiang University of Chinese Medicine from January 2015 to August 2018, and analyzed their basic characteristics, IIEF-5 scores, and erection hardness grades based on the Erectile Hardness Grading Scale.The patients were aged 21－81 years, 41.4% at the age of 31－40 years, 81.5% with a disease course of less than 5 years, 56.9% with mild ED, and 44.8% with grade-3 erectile hardness. The IIEF-5 scores were significantly lower in the patients over 60 years old than in those aged 31－40 years (13.82±5.36 vs 8.50±4.99, P0.05), in those with a disease course of5 years than in those with a disease course of10 years (P0.05), and in those with a poor than in those with a loving relationship (P0.05), but showed no statistically significant difference among those with different marital status (P0.05).The severity of ED is related to age, course of disease and mutual affection between the partners, but not to marital status.

A new type of photo-induced supramolecular polymer was fabricated by host-guest interaction from a phototrigger containing building block. A dibenzo-24-crown-8 (DB24C8) macrocycle and dibenzylammonium (DBA) site containing linear monomer was designed and synthesized. The coumarin, as a photocleavable protector, was introduced to the terminal of the monomer. When exposed to the UV light, the coumarin unit would be cleavaged and the monomer without terminal coumarin can self-assemble into supramolecular polymers via the host-guest interaction between DB24C8 moieties and DBA units. Increasing the concentration of the monomer, the supramolecular polymers will convert to supramolecular organogel by cross-linking with each other.

Sugarcane streak mosaic virus (SCSMV, genus Poacevirus) causes sugarcane mosaic disease and leads to considerable economic losses. However, current methods for SCSMV diagnosis are limited. In this study, a novel isothermal assay was established on the basis of reverse transcription–recombinase polymerase amplification (RT-RPA) and evaluated in terms of its ability to detect SCSMV. The established RT-RPA assay with high specificity and reliability was 100-fold more sensitive than the RT-polymerase chain reaction. The evaluation of the temperature limit revealed that the assay had a flexible reaction temperature (26–46 °C), thereby indicating that the reaction mixture can be incubated with simple heating equipment, ambient temperature, or even human body heat. Time limit assessment results revealed that SCSMV can be detected in 5 min at 38 °C and in 20 min at 26 °C, thereby suggesting that the assay was rapid for SCSMV detection. Overall, the RT-RPA assay was specific, sensitive, reliable, and rapid for SCSMV detection, with a flexible and easily reachable reaction temperature. Thus, it can be an ideal method for SCSMV detection in sugarcane.