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Background: Migraine is a complex disorder characterized by debilitating headaches. Despite its prevalence, its pathophysiology remains unknown, with subsequent gaps in diagnosis and treatment. We combined machine learning with connectivity analysis and applied a whole-brain network approach to identify potential targets for migraine diagnosis and treatment. Methods: Baseline anatomical T1 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), resting-state functional MRI(rfMRI), and diffusion weighted scans were obtained from 31 patients with migraine, and 17 controls. A recently developed machine learning technique, Hollow Tree Super (HoTS) was used to classify subjects into diagnostic groups based on functional connectivity (FC) and derive networks and parcels contributing to the model. PageRank centrality analysis was also performed on the structural connectome to identify changes in hubness. Results: Our model attained an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) of 0.68, which rose to 0.86 following hyperparameter tuning. FC of the language network was most predictive of the model's classification, though patients with migraine also demonstrated differences in the accessory language, visual and medial temporal regions. Several analogous regions in the right hemisphere demonstrated changes in PageRank centrality, suggesting possible compensation. Conclusions: Although our small sample size demands caution, our preliminary findings demonstrate the utility of our method in providing a network-based perspective to diagnosis and treatment of migraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The typical imaging findings of hairy polyps have been described mostly in case reports. This study was conducted to describe the CT and MRI features of hairy polyps and their common associated abnormalities. Methods: Medical records of 14 patients with pathological diagnosis of hairy polyps were collected for this study. For each patient, the medical records, including demographics, clinical manifestations, and imaging findings were reviewed. Results: The female-to-male ratio was 3.7:1. The age at first episode varied from birth to 2.7 years. The masses were derived from the back side of the soft palate in seven (50.0%) cases, from the lateral pharyngeal wall in four (28.6%) cases, from the soft palate in one (7.1%) case, from the nasal vestibule in one (7.1%) case, and from the parapharyngeal space in one (7.1%) case. A total of 11 (78.6%) cases presented with pedicled masses containing fat and a central core of soft tissue, there were 3 (21.4%) cases whose imaging findings were atypical, and there were 6 (42.9%) patients who had other pathologies. Conclusions: Hairy polyps typically presented as pedicled masses containing fat and a central core of soft tissue, but sometimes their imaging findings can be atypical and they can be associated with other congenital abnormalities. CT and MRI are reliable methods for the diagnosis of hairy polyps and their associated abnormalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have found that lncRNA polymorphisms are associated with the prognosis of gastric cancer (GC), but the specific roles of many lncRNA polymorphism sites in gastric cancer are still unclear. Our study aims to deeply explore the relationship between genetic polymorphism of lncRNA and the prognosis of GC. Methods: The genotypes of candidate SNP locus were detected by Sequenom Mass ARRAY SNP. We deeply analyzed the association of lncRNA polymorphisms with GC prognosis by univariate and multivariate Cox regression, stratified analysis, conjoint analysis, and log-rank test. Results: We found that mutations at rs2579878 and rs10036719 loci reduced the risk of poor prognosis of GC. Stratified analysis showed that rs2795025, rs10036719, and rs12516079 polymorphisms were all associated with tumor prognosis. In addition, conjoint analyses showed that the interaction between these two polymorphic sites (rs2795025 and rs12516079) could increase the risk of poor prognosis. Multivariate analysis also found that the AG/AA genotype of rs10036719 and AG genotype of rs12516079 were independent prognostic factors. Moreover, the high expression of both CCDC26 and LINC02122 were shown to be associated with the poor survival status of GC patients. Conclusions: We find that the genetic polymorphism of lncRNA plays a role in the development of GC and is closely related to the survival time of patients. It could serve as a predictor of the prognosis of GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germination of aged seeds may be associated with specific metabolic changes. The objective of this study was to examine physiological and metabolic alterations before and after germination of control and aged oat (Avena sativa) seeds. The activity of antioxidant enzymes and the level of storage compounds were measured in the embryo and endosperm at 0, 4, 16, and 32 h of imbibition for control seeds and 0, 4, 16, 32, and 60 h of imbibition for medium vigor seeds after artificially accelerated aging; metabolomic changes were determined in embryos at 16 and 32 h of seed imbibition. In aged oat seeds, superoxide dismutase activity and catalase activity increased in the late imbibition stage. The content of soluble sugars decreased significantly in the later stages of imbibition, while the content of proteins increased in 32 h of seed imbibition eventually producing mannitol and proline. The mobilization of fat in deteriorated seeds was mainly through the sphingolipid metabolic pathway generated by cell growth‐promoting dihydrosphingosine‐1‐phosphate. Ascorbic acid, avenanthramide and proline levels increased significantly at 60 h of imbibition, playing an important role in the germination of aged oat seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germination of aged seeds may be associated with specific metabolic changes. The objective of this study was to examine physiological and metabolic alterations before and after germination of control and aged oat (Avena sativa) seeds. The activity of antioxidant enzymes and the level of storage compounds were measured in the embryo and endosperm at 0, 4, 16, and 32 h of imbibition for control seeds and 0, 4, 16, 32, and 60 h of imbibition for medium vigor seeds after artificially accelerated aging; metabolomic changes were determined in embryos at 16 and 32 h of seed imbibition. In aged oat seeds, superoxide dismutase activity and catalase activity increased in the late imbibition stage. The content of soluble sugars decreased significantly in the later stages of imbibition, while the content of proteins increased in 32 h of seed imbibition eventually producing mannitol and proline. The mobilization of fat in deteriorated seeds was mainly through the sphingolipid metabolic pathway generated by cell growth‐promoting dihydrosphingosine‐1‐phosphate. Ascorbic acid, avenanthramide and proline levels increased significantly at 60 h of imbibition, playing an important role in the germination of aged oat seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extracellular space (ECS) in the brain provides an extrasynaptic transfer channel among neurons, axons and glial cells. It is particularly important in the early stage after birth, when angiogenesis is not yet complete and the ECS may provide the main pathway for metabolite transport. However, the characteristics of extracellular transport remain unclear. In this study, a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method was used to perform real-time visualization and quantification of diffusion in the brain ECS of infant (postnatal day 10 (P10)) and adult rats. Using a modified diffusion equation and the linear relationship between the signal intensity and the gadolinium-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) concentration, diffusion parameters were obtained; these parameters include the effective diffusion coefficient (D*), clearance rate (k'), tortuosity (λ) and the volume fraction of distribution (Vd%). There were significant differences in the diffusion parameters between P10 and adult rats. This finding provides a reference for future treatment of brain diseases using drugs administered via interstitial pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel MIL-101(Fe)/ZnCrZr-LBMO heterojunction was successfully constructed and used for the removal of ciprofloxacin (CIP) in this work. The MIL-101(Fe)/ZnCrZr-LBMO composite exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic degradation activity, with reaction rates approximately 3.4 and 3.1 times faster than those observed with pristine MIL-101(Fe) and ZnCrZr-LBMO, respectively. The effect of different amounts of ZnCrZr-LBMO, sample pH, CIP concentration, inorganic cations, and anions on CIP removal was investigated, and the possible intermediates and degradation pathways of CIP were speculated. The·O2− radicals dominated CIP degradation, with minor contributions from 1O2, h+, and ·OH radicals. The composite exhibited high removal rates for CIP (94.7%), ofloxacin (86.8%), and tetracycline (96.3%), respectively, within 60 min of light irradiation, and excellent reusability, retaining over 85.1% CIP degradation rate after five cycles. Our work provides a new reference to construct highly efficient and easily recyclable MIL-101(Fe)/ZnCrZr-LBMO photocatalysts for the removal of antibiotic pollutants, promising advancements in real water treatment applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layered bimetallic oxide composite films (ZnCr-Zr-LBMO/PANCMA) were constructed with high photocatalytical performance and reusability and applied for highly efficient removal of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) from real water samples. [Display omitted] • Novel Zr-doped layered bimetallic oxide (Zr-LBMO) composite film was prepared. • Zr-LBMO film can be highly useful in the photocatalytical degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC). • Zr-LBMO film exhibited superior photocatalytical degradation performance and excellent reuse stability. • The degradation pathway and mechanism of TC were explored. To fabricate novel photocatalytic materials is critical to the removal of emerging pharmaceutical pollutants from water samples. However, the photocatalytic materials still face the challenges of degradation performance and reusability. Here, layered bimetallic oxide (LBMO) composites were constructed by using hydrothermal synthesis method of layered double hydroxides (LDH) as precursors, and the LBMO films were prepared by dispersing the LBMO composites in poly(acrylonitrile-co-maleic acid) (PANCMA) solution. The obtained LBMO/PANCMA films exhibited high removal efficiency and good reusability for tetracycline (TC) degradation. Under the optimal conditions, the removal rate of LBMO/PANCMA composite film (20 mg) for TC (20 μg/mL) was 99.34 % within 40 min of light exposure, and retain above 85 % of removal rate even after 10 consecutive uses. Moreover, the possible TC degradation pathways were deduced by analyzing the TC degradation intermediates with LC-MS method, and the toxicity evolution of the TC degradation products was appraised by using density functional theoretical (DFT) method. This study provides a simple and feasible synthesis strategy for membrane-based photocatalytical materials to remove environmental pollutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background : Communicating bronchopulmonary foregut malformation is a rare anomaly characterized by a patent congenital communication between the esophagus or stomach and an isolated portion of the respiratory system. An esophagogram is taken as the gold standard for diagnosis. Compared with esophagography, computed tomography (CT) is more widely used and easily obtained, but CT findings have been described as nonspecific. Purpose: To describe CT findings in 18 patients with communicating bronchopulmonary foregut malformation to assist with early diagnosis. Material and methods: A retrospective review of 18 patients who had proven communicating bronchopulmonary foregut malformation between January 2006 and December 2021 was conducted. For each patient, the medical records, including demographics, clinical manifestations, upper gastrointestinal radiography, magnetic resonance imaging and CT findings, were reviewed. Results: Among the 18 patients, there were 8 males. The right to left ratio was 3.5:1. An entire lung was involved in 10 patients, a lobe or a segment was involved in 7 patients and an ectopic lesion was located in the right neck in 1 patient. The isolated lung may arise from the upper esophagus, mid-esophagus, lower esophagus or stomach, which were detected in 1, 3, 13, and 1 patient, respectively. On chest CT, an extra bronchus which did not arise from the trachea was detected in 14 patients. Contrast-enhanced chest CT was performed in 17 patients, the isolated lung receiving its blood supply from the pulmonary artery in 13 patients, the systemic artery in 11 patients and both pulmonary and systemic arteries in 7 patients. Conclusions: The presence of an extra bronchus, which does not arise from the trachea, highly suggests the diagnosis of communicating bronchopulmonary foregut malformation. Contrast-enhanced chest CT can provide accurate information regarding the airways, lung parenchyma and vascular structures that is useful to plan surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed vigor is an important index to evaluate seed quality in plant species. How to evaluate seed vigor quickly and accurately has always been a serious problem in the seed research field. As a new physical testing method, multispectral technology has many advantages such as high sensitivity and accuracy, nondestructive and rapid application having advantageous prospects in seed quality evaluation. In this study, the morphological and spectral information of 19 wavelengths (365, 405, 430, 450, 470, 490, 515, 540, 570, 590, 630, 645, 660, 690, 780, 850, 880, 940, 970 nm) of alfalfa seeds with different level of maturity and different harvest periods (years), representing different vigor levels and age of seed, were collected by using multispectral imaging. Five multivariate analysis methods including principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF) and normalized canonical discriminant analysis (nCDA) were used to distinguish and predict their vigor. The results showed that LDA model had the best effect, with an average accuracy of 92.9% for seed samples of different maturity and 97.8% for seed samples of different harvest years, and the average sensitivity, specificity and precision of LDA model could reach more than 90%. The average accuracy of nCDA in identifying dead seeds with no vigor reached 93.3%. In identifying the seeds with high vigor and predicting the germination percentage of alfalfa seeds, it could reach 95.7%. In summary, the use of Multispectral Imaging and multivariate analysis in this experiment can accurately evaluate and predict the seed vigor, seed viability and seed germination percentages of alfalfa, providing important technical methods and ideas for rapid non-destructive testing of seed quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have suggested that there is an association between air pollutants and circulatory and respiratory diseases; however, relatively few have analyzed the association between air pollutants and outpatient visits based on the mortality, hospitalization rates, etc., especially in areas with relatively good air quality. Therefore, we conducted this study to research the association between air pollutants and outpatient visits in Fuzhou, China.Methods: We used a generalized linear Poisson model to study the association between air pollution and outpatient visits for respiratory and circulatory diseases from 2016 to 2018 in Fuzhou, China.Results: In the single pollutant model, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) had a significant effect. For lag day 0 to lag day 5, the effect decreased with every 10 μg/L increase in NO2. The daily maximum 8-h mean ozone (O3-8h) and upper respiratory outpatient visits were positively associated during the cold period [lag2, excess risk (ER) (95% confidence interval (CI)): 1.68% (0.44-2.94%)], while O3-8h and respiratory disease were positively associated during the warm period [lag5, ER (95% CI): 1.10% (0.11-2.10%) and lag4, ER (95% CI): 1.02% (0.032-2.02%)]. Similarly, particulate matter (PM) with an average aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 μm (PM10) and lower respiratory diseases were positively associated during the warm period [lag0, ER (95% CI): 1.68% (0.44-2.94%)]. When the concentration of O3-8h was higher than 100 μg/L, there was a positive effect on circulatory [lag5, ER (95% CI): 2.83% (0.65-5.06%)], respiratory [lag5, ER (95% CI): 2.47% (0.85-4.11%)] and upper respiratory [lag5, ER (95% CI): 3.06% (1.38-4.77%)] outpatient visits. The variation in O3-8h changed slightly when we adjusted for other air pollutants, and after adjusting for O3-8h, the ERs of the other air pollutants changed slightly. After adjusting for PM with an average aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5), the ERs of the other air pollutants increased, and after adjusting for NO2, the ER of PM decreased.Conclusion: Exposure to ambient NO2, O3, PM2.5 and PM10 was associated with an increase in respiratory and circulatory system-related outpatient visits in Fuzhou, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]