Gut microbiota interacts with intrinsic brain activity of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment

AimsTo explore the potential relationships among gut microbiota (GM), local brain spontaneous activity, and neuropsychological characteristics in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients.MethodsTwenty aMCI and 22 healthy control (HC) subjects were recruited. The GM composition was determined by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed, and fractional amplitude of low‐frequency fluctuations (fALFF) was calculated across different frequencies. The Spearman or Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between spontaneous brain activity and cognitive function, and GM composition.ResultsaMCI patients had altered GM state and local spontaneous brain activity as compared with HC subjects. Correlation analysis showed that aMCI and HC groups had different “GM‐intrinsic brain activity interaction” patterns. In aMCI group, at the typical band (0.01‐0.08 Hz), the relative abundance (RA) of Bacteroides from phylum to genus level was negatively correlated with fALFF value of cerebellar vermis IV‐V, and the Ruminococcaceae RA was negatively correlated with fALFF values of left lenticular nucleus and pallidum. The Clostridiaceae RA and Blautia RA were positively correlated with the left cerebellum lobules IV‐V at the slow‐4 band (0.027‐0.073 Hz). The Veillonellaceae RA was positively correlated with fALFF values of left precentral gyrus at the slow‐5 band (0.073‐0.08 Hz). Correlation analysis showed that Clostridium members (Lachnospiraceae and Blautia) were positively, while Veillonellaceae was negatively, correlated with cognition test. Bacteroides was positively correlated with attention and computation, and negatively correlated with the three‐stage command score.ConclusionsaMCI patients have a specific GM‐intrinsic brain activity‐cognitive function interaction pattern.     

地方医学人才培养中过程性评价和教学科研互动的实践与探索

在新时代“高教改革22条”的实施背景下，医学本科教育要求严格教育教学管理、改革教育教学制度、引导教师潜心育人。然而，教学资源相对不足、评价机制不够健全及教学科研互动不够等问题均会影响地方高等医学院校的人才培养质量。为深化医学教育教学改革，通过在探索创新性地方医学人才培养模式的实践过程中，构建了课堂教学、网络教学和线下考试三位一体的多元化过程性评价体系，分别从理论课、实验课和创新实训3个角度实施了教学科研互动式的医学人才培养方案，取得了一定成效，以期探索出地方高等医学院校卓越医学人才培养的新路径。     

Embracing nature’s complexity: Immunoparasitology in the wild

A wealth of research is dedicated to understanding how resistance against parasites is conferred and how parasite-driven pathology is regulated. This research is in part driven by the hope to better treatments for parasitic diseases of humans and livestock, and in part by immunologists who use parasitic infections as biomedical tools to evoke physiological immune responses. Much of the current mechanistic knowledge has been discovered in laboratory studies using model organisms, especially the laboratory mouse. However, wildlife are also hosts to a range of parasites. Through the study of host-parasite interactions in these non-laboratory systems we can gain a deeper understanding of parasite immunology in a more natural, complex environment. With a focus on helminth parasites, we here explore the insights gained into parasite-induced immune responses through (for immunologists) non-conventional experimental systems, and how current core findings from laboratory studies are reflected in these more natural conditions. The quality of the immune response is undoubtedly a central player in susceptibility versus resistance, as many laboratory studies have shown. Yet, in the wild, parasite infections tend to be chronic diseases. Whilst reading our review, we encourage the reader to consider the following questions which may (only) be answered by studying naturally occurring parasites in the wild: a) what type of immune responses are mounted against parasites in different hosts in the wild, and how do they vary within an individual over time, between individuals of the same species and between species? b) can we use wild or semi-wild study systems to understand the evolutionary drivers for tolerance versus resistance towards a parasite? c) what determines the ability of the host to cope with an infection and is there a link with the type of immune response mounted? d) can we modulate environmental factors to manipulate a wild animal’s immune response to parasitic infections, with translation potential for humans, wildlife, and livestock? and e) in context of this special issue, what lessons for Type 2 immunity can we glean from studying animals in their natural environments? Further, we aim to integrate some of the knowledge gained in semi-wild and wild settings with knowledge gained from traditional laboratory-based research, and to raise awareness for the opportunities (and challenges) that come with integrating a multitude of naturally-occurring variables into immunoparasitological research.     

Development and validation of standardized severity rating scale to assess the consistency of drug-drug interaction severity among various drug information resources

BackgroundThe consistency in reporting the severity of drug interactions across the drug information resources is important in guiding the appropriate clinical use of drug-pairs, to minimize the associated adverse events. This necessitates the need of a standardized severity rating scale, that can accommodate the different severity ratings of the same interacting drug-pair into a reasonable severity category, that can ease the consistency assessment among different drug information resources.ObjectiveTo develop and validate a standardized severity rating scale that can ease the consistency assessment among the various drug information resources.MethodsThe definitions of various severity rating categories as documented in the eight drug information resources was consolidated to develop a standardized severity rating scale. Thus developed rating scale was validated using twenty commonly used drug-pairs. Fleiss' kappa score was used as an indicator for assessing overall consistency among various drug information resources, whereas, Cohen's kappa was used as an indicator of level of consistency between two drug information resources and between individual drug information resource and newly developed standardized severity rating scale.ResultsThe newly developed standardized severity rating scale classifies the severity of drug-drug interactions into three categories namely mild, moderate and major. The Fleiss' kappa score was improved from 0.047 to 0.176, indicating improved strength of agreement [Average pairwise agreement: 16% Vs 36.7%] among various drug information resources. The average pairwise Cohen's kappa was 0.082 [Strength of agreement: poor] in original severity ratings whereas it was improved to 0.198 [Strength of agreement: almost equal to fair] in standardized severity rating scale.ConclusionThe newly developed standardized severity rating scale can be used as a tool to assess the consistency of severity rating categories among the various drug information resources.     

A graph model of combination therapies

The simultaneous use of multiple medications causes drug–drug interactions (DDI) that impact therapeutic efficacy. Here, we argue that graph theory, in conjunction with game theory and ecosystem theory, can address this issue. We treat the coexistence of multiple drugs as a system in which DDI is modeled by game theory. We develop an ordinary differential equation model to characterize how the concentration of a drug changes as a result of its independent capacity and the dependent influence of other drugs through the metabolic response of the host. We coalesce all drugs into personalized and context-specific networks, which can reveal key DDI determinants of therapeutical efficacy. Our model can quantify drug synergy and antagonism and test the translational success of combination therapies to the clinic.     

Predict Blood Pressure by Photoplethysmogram with the Fluid-Structure Interaction Modeling

Blood pressure (BP) has been identified as one of the main factors in cardiovascular disease and other related diseases. Then how to accurately and conveniently measure BP is important to monitor BP and to prevent hypertension. This paper proposes an efficient BP measurement model by integrating a fluid-structure interaction model with the photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal and developing a data-driven computational approach to fit two optimization parameters in the proposed model for each individual. The developed BP model has been validated on a public BP dataset and has shown that the average prediction errors among the root mean square error (RMSE), the mean absolute error (MAE), the systolic blood pressure (SBP) error, and the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) error are all below 5 mmHg for normal BP, stage I, and stage II hypertension groups, and, prediction accuracies of the SBP and the DBP are around 96% among those three groups.     

护理专业大学生的复原力状况

目的:研究护理专业大学生复原力的情况,分析影响其复原力的因素,进而有针对性地对大学生进行必要的心理干预及预防,为有效开展大学生心理健康教育提供参考和依据。方法:在广东药学院大一~大四护理专业本科生中,随机抽取358名进行问卷调查,采用由刘兰兰编制的大学生复原力量表,并用SPSS 19.0做统计分析。结果:1护理本科生在性别方面总体复原力有显著差异,女生的总体复原力水平高于男生(F=5.001,P0.05);2在社会交往方面,不同年级存在显著差异,四年级的复原力水平最高(F=7.687,P0.05);在家庭支持方面,不同性别间的差异有统计学意义(t=2.251,P0.05);独生子女与非独生子女间的差异有统计学意义(t=2.203,P0.05)。在朋友支持方面,不同性别间的差异有统计学意义(t=3.629,P0.05);独生子女与非独生子女间的差异有统计学意义(t=1.990,P0.05)。在自我掌控方面,不同年级间的差异有统计学意义(F=3.045,P0.05);不同性别间的差异有统计学意义(t=2.105,P0.05)。结论:护理专业女生比男生的总体复原力水平高。社会交往、家庭支持、朋友支持、自我掌控等维度影响大学生复原力水平。