Assessing gray matter volume in patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder

Idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder(iRBD) is often a precursor to neurodegenerative disease. However, voxel-based morphological studies evaluating structural abnormalities in the brains of iRBD patients are relatively rare. This study aimed to explore cerebral structural alterations using magnetic resonance imaging and to determine their association with clinical parameters in iRBD patients. Brain structural T1-weighted MRI scans were acquired from 19 polysomnogram-confirmed iRBD patients(male:female 16:3; mean age 66.6 ± 7.0 years) and 20 age-matched healthy controls(male:female 5:15; mean age 63.7 ± 5.9 years). Gray matter volume(GMV) data were analyzed based on Statistical Parametric Mapping 8, using a voxel-based morphometry method and two-sample t-test and multiple regression analysis. Compared with controls, iRBD patients had increased GMV in the middle temporal gyrus and cerebellar posterior lobe, but decreased GMV in the Rolandic operculum, postcentral gyrus, insular lobe, cingulate gyrus, precuneus, rectus gyrus, and superior frontal gyrus. iRBD duration was positively correlated with GMV in the precuneus, cuneus, superior parietal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, lingual gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and cerebellum posterior lobe. Furthermore, phasic chin electromyographic activity was positively correlated with GMV in the hippocampus, precuneus, fusiform gyrus, precentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, cuneus, inferior parietal lobule, angular gyrus, superior parietal gyrus, paracentral lobule, and cerebellar posterior lobe. There were no significant negative correlations of brain GMV with disease duration or electromyographic activity in iRBD patients. These findings expand the spectrum of known gray matter modifications in iRBD patients and provide evidence of a correlation between brain dysfunction and clinical manifestations in such patients. The protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Huashan Hospital(approval No. KY2013-336) on January 6, 2014. This trial was registered in the ISRCTN registry(ISRCTN18238599).     

牙龄推断的研究进展

年龄推断是法医人类学工作中的重要内容之一。在法医实践中,利用牙齿对年龄进行推断是重要的方法之一。本文就牙龄推断方法的研究现状作一综述,以供同行参考。     

Eyes-Open/Eyes-Closed Dataset Sharing for Reproducibility Evaluation of Resting State fMRI Data Analysis Methods

The multi-scan resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) dataset was recently released; thus the test-retest (TRT) reliability of rs-fMRI measures can be assessed. However, because this dataset was acquired only from a single group under a single condition, we cannot directly evaluate whether the rs-fMRI measures can generate reproducible between-condition or between-group results. Because the modulation of resting state activity has gained increasing attention, it is important to know whether one rs-fMRI metric can reliably detect the alteration of the resting activity. Here, we shared a public Eyes-Open (EO)/Eyes-Closed (EC) dataset for evaluating the split-half reproducibility of the rs-fMRI measures in detecting changes of the resting state activity between EO and EC. As examples, we assessed the split-half reproducibility of three widely applied rs-fMRI metrics: amplitude of low frequency fluctuation, regional homogeneity, and seed-based correlation analysis. Our results demonstrated that reproducible patterns of EO-EC differences can be detected by all three measures, suggesting the feasibility of the EO/EC dataset for performing reproducibility assessment for other rs-fMRI measures.     

Mediation effect of arterial stiffness on ideal cardiovascular health and stroke

Background and aimsIdeal cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics was associated with stroke, but the causal pathway was poorly investigated. Arterial stiffness was a major factor associated with both ideal CVH metrics and stroke. This study aimed to investigate whether the effect of ideal CVH metrics on stroke was mediated and enhanced by arterial stiffness.Methods and resultsA total of 15,297 participants were included in current study. Arterial stiffness was measured by brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). Causal mediation analyses were used to separate the overall effects of ideal CVH metrics on stroke into indirect effects (mediated by arterial stiffness) and direct effects (mediated through pathways other than arterial stiffness). After a median follow-up of 5.88 years, 324 total stroke events (292 ischemic stroke and 31 hemorrhagic stroke) occurred. Mediation analysis showed 23.94% of the relation between ideal CVH and total stroke was mediated by baPWV (95% confidence interval [CI] of the indirect effect: 0.93–0.95). Further analysis showed the ideal CVH < median combined with baPWV ≥1400 cm/s was associated with the highest risk of total stroke (hazard ratio: 5.62; 95% CI, 3.53–8.96), compared with CVH ≥ median combined with baPWV < 1400 cm/s. Similar results were observed for ischemic stroke, but not for hemorrhagic stroke.ConclusionsArterial stiffness played a mediating role in the associations between ideal CVH metrics and risk of total and ischemic stroke. Combined ideal CVH metrics and baPWV is a reasonable and useful tool for the assessment and prevention of stroke.     

脐血移植治疗37例儿童恶性血液病的临床研究-单中心经验

目的 探讨脐血造血干细胞移植（UCBT）治疗儿童恶性血液病的疗效。方法 回顾性分析接受UCBT 的37 例恶性血液病患儿的临床资料，包括急性淋巴细胞性白血病14 例，急性髓细胞性白血病9 例，幼年粒单细胞白血病5 例，慢性粒细胞白血病和骨髓增生异常综合征各3 例，急性混合型白血病2 例，淋巴肉瘤性白血病1 例。其中34 例非血缘相关，3 例血缘相关。HLA 配型6/6 相合5 例，5/6 相合12 例，4/6 相合11 例，3/6 相合9 例。移植中位年龄5.7 岁，中位体重20 kg。结果 中性粒细胞和血小板植入中位天数分别是12 d 和25 d，植入率分别为95% 和78%。中性粒细胞植入率与CD34+ 细胞数呈正相关（P=0.011）。血小板植入率与CD34+ 细胞数和有核细胞数均有关（分别P=0.001、0.014）。急性移植物抗宿主病（GVHD）的发生率为49%，慢性GVHD 为11%。随访中位时间54 个月，5 年移植相关病死率、总生存率和无病生存率分别为27%、57%和41%。结论 脐血移植是快速获得的造血干细胞来源之一，为恶性疾病患儿争取了治疗时间。     

3,5-O-二咖啡酰基奎宁酸的制备及其对HeLa细胞的抗增殖活性研究

目的 制备高纯度3，5-O-二咖啡酰基奎宁酸，并评价其对人宫颈癌HeLa细胞的抗增殖活性。方法 采用柱色谱提取法和中压液相色谱法从奇蒿花中分离、纯化得到高纯度的3，5-O-二咖啡酰基奎宁酸。采用MTT法评价该化合物对人宫颈癌HeLa细胞的体外抗增殖活性。结果 柱色谱提取的提取率和中压液相色谱法的回收率分别为99.0%，61.2%，总回收率为54.0%。随着3，5-O-二咖啡酰基奎宁酸浓度升高，HeLa细胞存活率下降，细胞形态损伤增加，受试药物的IC₅₀值为26.5µg·mL^-1。结论 本研究提供了一种简单、高效、节能的3，5-O-二咖啡酰基奎宁酸制备方法。3，5-O-二咖啡酰基奎宁酸对HeLa细胞具有一定的体外抗增殖活性。     

Omentin-1 attenuates adipose tissue inflammation via restoration of TXNIP/NLRP3 signaling in high-fat diet-induced obese mice

Omentin-1 is an adipokine expressed by the adipose tissue and is reduced in obesity. This study was designed to calculate the protective efficiency and mechanism of omentin-1 against inflammation of the adipose tissue in obese mice. A transgenic mouse model with omentin-1 protein overexpression was established by crossing omentin-1 transgenic mice with Fabp4-Cre mice. Obesity was induced in the mice by feeding them a high-fat diet for 10 weeks. Fabp4-Cre-mediated overexpression of omentin-1 significantly increased serum omentin-1 level, serum anti-inflammatory factor levels, and expression of M2-specific mRNAs; inhibited body weight and adipose tissue weight gain; improved glucose tolerance, insulin tolerance, and insulin sensitivity; decreased serum levels of insulin and proinflammatory factors, adipocyte size, and expression of M1-specific mRNAs; suppressed macrophage infiltration; downregulated expression of proinflammatory factors; upregulated expression of anti-inflammatory factors; and inhibited thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP)/NOD-like receptor 3 (NLRP3) signaling in the adipose tissue of obese mice. An NLRP3 inhibitor (20 mg/kg MCC950) exhibited the same effects as overexpression of omentin-1. Pretreatment with omentin-1 inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation via TXNIP/NLRP3 signaling in RAW 264.7 macrophages. These findings suggest that omentin-1 suppresses adipose tissue inflammation in obese mice, at least partly, via inhibiting the TXNIP/NLRP3 signaling pathway.