GABAergic Interneurons are Required for Generation of Slow CA1 Oscillation in Rat Hippocampus

Neuronal oscillations are fundamental to hippocampal function. It has been shown that GABAergic interneurons make an important contribution to hippocampal oscillations, but the underlying mechanism is not well understood. Here, using whole-cell recording in the complete hippocampal formation isolated from rats at postnatal days 14–18, we showed that GABA_Areceptormediated activity enhanced the generation of slow CA1 oscillations. In vitro, slow oscillations(0.5–1.5 Hz) were generated in CA1 neurons, and they consisted primarily of excitatory rather than inhibitory membrane-potential changes. These oscillations were greatly reduced by blocking GABA_Areceptor-mediated activity with bicuculline and were enhanced by increasing such activity with midazolam, suggesting that interneurons are required for oscillation generation. Consistently, CA1 fast-spiking interneurons were found to generate action potentials usually preceding those in CA1 pyramidal cells. These findings indicate a GABA_Areceptor-based mechanism for the generation of the slow CA1 oscillation in the hippocampus.     

Subject-Specific Channel Selection Using Time Information for Motor Imagery Brain–Computer Interfaces

Keeping a minimal number of channels is essential for designing a portable brain–computer interface system for daily usage. Most existing methods choose key channels based on spatial information without optimization of time segment for classification. This paper proposes a novel subject-specific channel selection method based on a criterion called F score to realize the parameterization of both time segment and channel positions. The F score is a novel simplified measure derived from Fisher’s discriminant analysis for evaluating the discriminative power of a group of features. The experimental results on a standard dataset (BCI competition III dataset IVa) show that our method can efficiently reduce the number of channels (from 118 channels to 9 in average) without a decrease in mean classification accuracy. Compared to two state-of-the-art methods in channel selection, our method leads to comparable or even better classification results with less selected channels.     

Intra-regional and inter-regional abnormalities and cognitive control deficits in young adult smokers

Tobacco use during later adolescence and young adulthood may cause serious neurophysiological changes; rationally, it is extremely important to study the relationship between brain dysfunction and behavioral performances in young adult smokers. Previous resting state studies investigated the neural mechanisms in smokers. Unfortunately, few studies focused on spontaneous activity differences between young adult smokers and nonsmokers from both intra-regional and inter-regional levels, less is known about the association between resting state abnormalities and behavioral deficits. Therefore, we used fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) to investigate the resting state spontaneous activity differences between young adult smokers and nonsmokers. A correlation analysis was carried out to assess the relationship between neuroimaging findings and clinical information (pack-years, cigarette dependence, age of onset and craving score) as well as cognitive control deficits measured by the Stroop task. Consistent with previous addiction findings, our results revealed the resting state abnormalities within frontostriatal circuits, i.e., enhanced spontaneous activity of the caudate and reduced functional strength between the caudate and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in young adult smokers. Moreover, the fALFF values of the caudate were correlated with craving and RSFC strength between the caudate and ACC was associated with the cognitive control impairments in young adult smokers. Our findings could lead to a better understanding of intrinsic functional architecture of baseline brain activity in young smokers by providing regional and brain circuit spontaneous neuronal activity properties as well as their association with cognitive control impairments.     

Temporal pattern of Toll-like receptor 9 upregulation in neurons and glial cells following cerebral ischemia reperfusion in mice

Purpose: The family of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) has recently been reported to play a role in ischemic injury, but the time course and cell types of the post-stroke TLR9 upregulation remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the dynamic changes of TLR9 expression and the expression of TLR9 in neurons and glial cells after cerebral ischemia reperfusion in mice. Methods: Focal cerebral ischemia was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion for 90 min in male C57BL/6 mice. The TLR9 expression levels in the tissue surrounding the infarct were detected by Western Blot at 6 h, 3 d, 7 d, 14 d, 21 d, and 28 d after reperfusion. The expression of TLR9 in neurons and glial cells was observed by immunofluorescence staining. Results: The expression of TLR9 protein first increased and then decreased, with the peak observed at 14 d–21 d. Only small punctate intracellular TLR9 was occasionally observed in the neurons at each time point, and the TLR9-positive rate showed no difference at different time points. By contrast, the activated microglia gathered at the margin of the infarct, and the intracellular TLR9 changed from scattered small punctate to coarse and lumpy. The TLR9-positive rate of microglia was first increased and then decreased with time, with the peak observed at 3 d. No positive TLR9 staining was found in the astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Conclusions: TLR9 expression showed dynamic changes for a long period of time and microglias were the main brain cells to express TLR9 after cerebral ischemia and reperfusion.     

无创辅助通气联合氦氧混合气治疗早产儿呼吸窘迫综合征疗效和安全性的系统评价和Meta分析

目的系统评价无创通气(NIV)联合氦氧混合气(heliox)治疗早产儿呼吸窘迫综合征的有效性及安全性,以期为临床应用提供证据。方法计算机检索OVID、EMBASE、Pub Med、Cochrane图书馆、中国生物医学文献数据库、中国知网、维普中文科技期刊数据库及万方数据库,检索时间均为建库至2014年12月,纳入NIV联合heliox与NIV联合标准医疗气体(空氧混合气)为对照的RCT文献或半随机对照试验。以气管插管率、Pa CO2和heliox相关不良事件为主要结局指标,以支气管肺发育不良等并发症发生率、NIV持续时间、住院时间等为次要结局指标。采用Review Manager 5.2软件进行Meta分析。结果 3篇文献进入系统评价,共纳入123例早产儿。2篇文献随机化方法和分配隐藏为低度偏倚,3篇文献的结果数据均完整,均未选择性报告结果,但均未提及盲法实施。1与标准医疗气体比较,heliox显著降低了气管插管率(RR=0.42,95%CI:0.23~0.78)和Pa CO2水平(MD=-9.61 mm Hg,95%CI:-15.76~-3.45 mm Hg)。23篇文献均未观察到heliox相关的不良事件。3支气管肺发育不良、动脉导管未闭、早产儿视网膜病变和坏死性小肠结肠炎等并发症的发生率,两组差异均无统计学意义(P0.05)。结论与标准医疗气体相比,NIV联合heliox可显著改善通气,并降低气管插管率。鉴于本研究样本量有限,NIV联合heliox的临床价值尚需大样本RCT进行验证。