Objective To investigate the executive function of the patients with first-episode schizophrenia,and their relationships with the positive and negative symptoms. And to evaluate the activation characteristics of prefrontal cortex(PFC) in the schizophrenia. Methods Near-infrared spectroscopy(NIRS) was used to assess the activation of the bilateral PFCs during the computerized version of Tower of London(TOL) tasks in schizophrenia and controls. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS) was used to assess the psychiatric symptoms of the schizophrenia. 40 schizophrenic patients and 40 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects participated in this study. Results ( 1 ) The number of correct TOL responses in patients ( one-move ( 7.35 ± 1. 94 ), two-move ( 7.30 ± 2.53 ), three-move ( 6.58 ± 2.53 ), four-move ( 2.90 ± 1.89 ) ) was significantly less than the healthy controls( one-move (8.82 ± 1.48 ), two-move ( 8.38 ± 1.59 ), three-move ( 7.68 ± 1.47 ), four-move ( 3.73 ±1.71 ); P＜0. 05 ). ( 2 ) There was a significant negative correlation between the patients' task performance and the negative symptom scores(P ＜ 0.05 ). (3) The majority of the prefrontal area was activated in health subjects.Patients were characterized by significant decreased activation in the left PFC during the TOL task compared to healthy subjects. Conclusion Schizophrenic patients have executive function disorder at the initial stage of the disease.The results support that schizophrenia patients have hypofrontality ,and executive function is significantly negatively correlated with negative symptoms. NIRS my be a useful tool for research and clinical assessment for major psychoses.

There were 3 000 Zhuangs,1 102 Miaos, and 1 283 Yaos in Baise City of Guangxi,who were enrolled in this population sampling stratfying survey. Height, weight, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, and lipids were determined, and compared with those of 2 000 Hans of the same town. The prevalence of hypertension and metablic syndrome in Zhuang inhabitants was high, so were the disorders of glycemia and lipidemia, while in Miao and Yao minorities, the prevalences were comparatively lower. The awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in these minorities were insufficient.

Objective To investigate the effect of Sema6D knockdown on the proliferation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis-promoting ability of human osteosarcoma cell lines. Methods The expression of Sema6D in clinical tissues and cell lines of human osteosarcoma was detected. After the targeted siRNA transfection, the changes of proliferation, migration and invasion were measured by CCK-8, wound healing and Transwell experiments. HUVECs were co-cultured with tumor conditioned medium to detect their tube formation ability. And the expression of signal pathway proteins was detected by Western blot. Results Sema6D was highly expressed in human osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines(P < 0.05). After silencing Sema6D, the proliferation, migration and invasion of 143B and MG63 cells decreased significantly(P < 0.05), the angiogenesis ability of HUVECs decreased in vitro(P < 0.01), and the expression of PI3K/AKT/mTOR and ERK-related signal pathway proteins decreased(P < 0.05). Conclusion Sema6D is overexpressed in human osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of Sema6D expression level could inhibit the proliferation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis-promoting ability of human osteosarcoma cells via reducing PI3K/AKT/mTOR and ERK signal pathway.

Gray Matter/diagnostic imaging* ; Cerebral Cortex ; Brain ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

OBJECTIVE: To study the difference in age estimation based on quantitative analysis of DNA methylation by MassARRAY and pyrosequencing techniques. METHODS: The methylation levels of 9 CpG sites from two independent whole blood sample sets (containing 65 and 62 samples) were detected using MassARRAY and pyrosequencing techniques. Z-score transformation was used to remove the batch effects of different techniques, and a linear regression model was used for age prediction. RESULTS: For age prediction using the MassARRAY system, the 65 samples showed a mean absolute difference (MAD) of 2.49 years before Z-score transformation of the data and 2.44 years after the transformation, similar to the results in the 62 samples (MAD of 3.36 years before and 3.42 years after Z-score transformation). For data typed from pyrosequencing, the 65 samples showed a MAD of 4.20 years before and 2.76 years after data Z-score transformation, also similar to the results in the 62 samples (MAD of 3.92 years before and 3.63 years after data transformation). CONCLUSIONS Z-score transformation can effectively reduce the system batch effect between MassARRAY and pyrosequencing. Data from the MassARRAY system allows direct age estimation without further data processing, while the pyrosequencing data may increase the error in age estimation, which can be corrected by Z-score transformation of the data.
CpG Islands/genetics* ; DNA Methylation ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Linear Models ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with the impairment of white matter (WM) tracts. The current study aimed to verify the utility of WM as the neuroimaging marker of AD with multisite diffusion tensor imaging datasets [321 patients with AD, 265 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 279 normal controls (NC)], a unified pipeline, and independent site cross-validation. Automated fiber quantification was used to extract diffusion profiles along tracts. Random-effects meta-analyses showed a reproducible degeneration pattern in which fractional anisotropy significantly decreased in the AD and MCI groups compared with NC. Machine learning models using tract-based features showed good generalizability among independent site cross-validation. The diffusion metrics of the altered regions and the AD probability predicted by the models were highly correlated with cognitive ability in the AD and MCI groups. We highlighted the reproducibility and generalizability of the degeneration pattern of WM tracts in AD.
Humans ; White Matter/diagnostic imaging* ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging/methods* ; Alzheimer Disease/complications* ; Reproducibility of Results ; Cognition ; Cognitive Dysfunction/complications* ; Brain/diagnostic imaging*