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Probiotic Bacillus licheniformis DSMZ 28710 improves sow milk microbiota and enhances piglet health outcomes
Cooperative integration of spatially resolved multi-omics data with COSMOS
Large emissions of CO2 and CH4 due to active-layer warming in Arctic tundra
Effects of ketamine and propofol on muscarinic plateau potentials in rat neocortical pyramidal cells
Propofol and ketamine are widely used general anaesthetics, but have different effects on consciousness: propofol gives a deeply unconscious state, with little or no dream reports, whereas vivid dreams are often reported after ketamine anaesthesia. Ketamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, while propofol is a γ-aminobutyric-acid (GABAA) receptor positive allosteric modulator, but these mechanisms do not fully explain how these drugs alter consciousness. Most previous in vitro studies of cellular mechanisms of anaesthetics have used brain slices or neurons in a nearly “comatose” state, because no “arousing” neuromodulators were added. Here we tested mechanisms of anaesthetics in rat medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) slices after bath-applying the cholinergic agonist muscarine to partly mimic an “aroused-like” state, using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from layer 2/3 pyramidal cells (L2/3PCs). According to leading theories of access consciousness and working memory, L2/3PCs are particularly important for these cognitive functions. We found that muscarine induced long-lasting depolarising plateau potentials (PPs) and spiking following brief depolarising current injections in the L2/3PCs. After 2 hours of pre-incubation with ketamine or propofol, the muscarine-induced PPs were altered in seemingly different ways: 3 μM propofol reduced the PPs and (significantly) spiking, whereas 20 μM ketamine seemed to enhance PPs and spiking (non-significantly). Brief wash-in of these drug concentrations failed to induce such effects, probably due to insufficient equilibration by diffusion in the slices. In contrast, pre-incubation with a high dose (100 μM) of ketamine suppressed the PPs and spiking. We discuss whether the apparently different effects on PPs may possibly be related to contrasting clinical effects: ketamine causing atypical anaesthesia with vivid, “psychedelic” dreaming while propofol causes less dreaming.
Moral disengagement as mediator and guilt as moderator between cyber moral literacy and cyberbullying among late adolescents
Research on wear and grinding models of high-speed turnouts based on semi-Hertz contact
High-speed FSO-5G wireless communication system with enhanced loss compensation using high-power EDFA
Light turns tiny crystals into force sensors
Effects of seven days’ fasting on physical performance and metabolic adaptation during exercise in humans
AbstractHumans have, throughout history, faced periods of starvation necessitating increased physical effort to gather food. To explore adaptations in muscle function, 13 participants (7 males and 6 females) fasted for seven days. They lost 4.6 ± 0.3 kg lean and 1.4 ± 0.1 kg fat mass. Maximal isometric and isokinetic strength remained unchanged, while peak oxygen uptake decreased by 13%. Muscle glycogen was halved, while expression of electron transport chain proteins was unchanged. Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) expression increased 13-fold, accompanied by inhibitory pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphorylation, reduced carbohydrate oxidation and decreased exercise endurance capacity. Fasting had no impact on 5’ AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity, challenging its proposed role in muscle protein degradation. The participants maintained muscle strength and oxidative enzymes in skeletal muscle during fasting but carbohydrate oxidation and high-intensity endurance capacity were reduced.
Quantum memory at nonzero temperature in a thermodynamically trivial system
Conversational repairs on Reddit: Widely initiated but often uncompleted
Conversational repair has been proposed as a universal system for maintaining mutual understanding during social interactions. The repair system has been studied extensively in offline synchronous interactions (e.g., face-to-face, phone calls) and has been observed across cultures and languages. However, the prevalence of conversational repairs is unclear in online asynchronous text-based interactions. Online interactions are increasingly important for public deliberation, and it is therefore important to understand how conversational repairs manifest in different online contexts. To address this gap, we conducted two analyses of Other-initiated repairs in 25 English-language Reddit communities (subreddits), covering a diverse range of topics and communication norms. Analysis 1 examines the frequency of repair initiations across subreddits, finding them to be widespread (in every subreddit) and frequent (58.48% of interactions experience a repair initiation). Analysis 2 examines the emergence of repairs, finding that a repair initiation becomes increasingly likely the longer a comments thread progresses (Median time-to-repair = 6 turns). These results suggest that the prevalence and emergence of repair initiations in online interactions are comparable to offline contexts. However, we also find 44.80% of initiations receive no reply, precluding the possibility of a repair completion. Thus, conservatively, nearly half of the repair initiations in our data went uncompleted. This suggests that the online medium alters the way initiations are completed compared to offline interactions. We discuss the implications of this finding and avenues for future research.
Weakly supervised deep learning-based classification for histopathology of gliomas: a single center experience
Factor associated with and risk of cardiovascular disease in people with uncontrolled hypertension
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Eco-reliable operation based on clean environmental condition for the grid-connected renewable energy hubs with heat pump and hydrogen, thermal and compressed air storage systems
Blobby is a synaptic active zone assembly protein required for memory in Drosophila
AbstractAt presynaptic active zones (AZs), scaffold proteins are critical for coordinating synaptic vesicle release and forming essential nanoarchitectures. However, regulatory principles steering AZ scaffold assembly, function, and plasticity remain insufficiently understood. We here identify an additional Drosophila AZ protein, “Blobby”, essential for proper AZ nano-organization. Blobby biochemically associates with the ELKS family AZ scaffold protein Bruchpilot (BRP) and integrates into newly forming AZs. Loss of Blobby results in fewer AZs forming, ectopic AZ scaffold protein accumulations (“blobs”) and disrupts nanoscale architecture of the BRP-AZ scaffold. Functionally, blobby mutants show diminished evoked synaptic currents due to reduced synaptic vesicle release probability and fewer functional release sites. Blobby is also present in adult brain synapses, and post-developmental knockdown of Blobby in the mushroom body impairs olfactory aversive memory consolidation. Thus, our analysis identifies an additional layer of AZ regulation critical for developmental AZ assembly but also for AZ-mediated plasticity controlling behavior.
Distorting crack-front geometry for enhanced toughness by manipulating bioinspired heterogeneity
Association between the triglyceride-glucose index and its combined obesity indicators and the risk of hypertension in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: A nationwide cross-sectional study
Objective This study aimed to explore the association between the triglyceride-Glucose Index (TyG) and its combination with obesity indicators in relation to the risk of hypertension among middle-aged and elderly individuals in China. Methods A total of 9,248 participants aged 45 and above were selected from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Data on basic demographics, behavioral habits, medical history, physical examination results, and blood indicators were collected. The TyG and its obesity-related indicators, including TyG-BMI, TyG-WC, and TyG-WHtR were analyzed. These indicators were categorized into four groups based on quartiles, and the prevalence of hypertension within each group was assessed. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between different TyG indices and obesity-related indicators with the risk of hypertension. Additionally, a restricted cubic spline model was employed to investigate the dose-response relationship between the TyG index, its combined obesity indicators, and the risk of hypertension. The receiver operating characteristic curve was utilized to determine the optimal predictive index for diagnosis. Results This study included a total of 9,248 middle-aged and elderly individuals aged 45 and above, comprising 4,274 males (46.21%), with an average age of 61.38 ± 9.28 years. The prevalence of hypertension exhibited an increasing trend as the quartiles of TyG, TyG-BMI, TyG-WC, and TyG-WHtR rose. After fully adjusting for covariates, comparisons between the first quartile (Q1) and the fourth quartile (Q4) of TyG, TyG-BMI, TyG-WC, and TyG-WHtR revealed that all these metrics at Q4 level were associated with an increased prevalence of hypertension. The odds ratios were as follows: TyG: OR = 1.80 (95% CI: 1.48–2.19); TyG-BMI: OR = 5.09 (95% CI: 4.33–5.98); TyG-WC: OR = 3.96 (95% CI: 3.38–4.65); TyG-WHtR: OR = 3.91 (95% CI: 3.33–4.60). A linear correlation was observed between TyG and the risk of hypertension (P for non-linearity = 0.2267), while non-linear correlations were noted between TyG-BMI, TyG-WC, and TyG-WHtR with the risk of hypertension (P for non-linearity < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic curve indicated that TyG-WC demonstrated the highest diagnostic performance for hypertension, with an area under the curve of 0.642 (95% CI: 0.631–0.654). Conclusion As the levels of TyG, TyG-BMI, TyG-WC, and TyG-WHtR increased, the risk of hypertension among middle-aged and elderly individuals aged 45 and above in my country rises significantly. Among them, TyG-WC can be a predictor of hypertension in middle-aged and elderly people.