Cancer is a serious global health problem and a major cause of human death. Conventional cancer treatments often run the risk of impairing vital organ functions. Anticancer peptides (ACPs) are considered to be one of the most promising therapeutic agents against common human cancers due to their small sizes, high specificity, and low toxicity. Since ACP recognition is highly limited to the laboratory, expensive, and time-consuming, we proposed pLM4ACP, a model for predicting ACPs based on machine learning and protein language models. In this model, the protein language model ProtT5 was used to extract the features of ACPs, and the extracted features were input into the support vector machine (SVM) classification algorithm for optimization and performance evaluation. The model showcased significantly higher accuracy than other methods, with the overall accuracy of 0.763, F1-score of 0.767, Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.527, and area under the curve of 0.827 on the independent test set. This study constructs an efficient anticancer peptide prediction model based on protein language models, further advancing the application of artificial intelligence in the biomedical field and promoting the development of precision medicine and computational biology.
Machine Learning ; Antineoplastic Agents/chemistry* ; Humans ; Peptides/chemistry* ; Support Vector Machine ; Algorithms ; Computational Biology/methods* ; Neoplasms/drug therapy*

Objective To explore the mediating effect of facial emotion recognition on prosocial behavior of medical students in mask-obscured scenes.Methods Fifty-three medical students from a medical university in Chongqing were enrolled from July to September 2023 to complete the facial emotion recognition task,the dictator gaming task and the state empathy test.Spearman correlation analysis was used to examine the correlation between mask wearing and state empathy,trait empathy and prosocial behaviours,and the PROCESS procedure was used to test the mediation of state empathy and the moderating effect of mask wearing or not.Results ①mask wearing,state empathy and prosocial behaviour were significantly correlated(P＜0.01);② State empathy exerted mediated effect between facial emotion recognition and prosocial behavior,with the largest effect size(47％)for the relative mediating effect of sadness;③The interaction terms of facial emotion recognition and mask wearing had a significant effect on state empathy(P＜0.05).Conclusion Facial emotion recognition can influence prosocial behavior directly and also exert indirect effect on prosocial behavior through state empathy.Compared to the condition without mask wearing,mask wearing can significantly facilitate the effect of happy,sad and neutral emotions on state empathy.

Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effect of Huangqin Decoction(HQD)on ulcerative colitis(UC)in mice and explore its mechanism.Methods Male Balb/c mice were randomly divided into normal control group,model group,mesalazine group(5-ASA,200 mg/kg),and low-,medium-and high-dose HQD groups(2.275,4.55 and 9.1 g/kg,respectively).With the exception of those in the normal control group,all the mice were exposed to 3%DSS solution in drinking water for 7 days to establish UC models.After treatment with the indicated drugs,the mice were assessed for colon injury and apoptosis using HE,AB-PAS and TUNEL staining,and the expression levels of inflammatory factors were detected with ELISA.Western blotting,immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR were used to detect the changes in protein expressions associated with the intestinal chemical barrier,mechanical barrier and endoplasmic reticulum stress(ERS).Results HQD treatment significantly reduced DAI score and macro score of UC mice,decreased colonic epithelial cell apoptosis,lowered expressions of IL-6,TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-8,and enhanced the expressions of MUC2 and TFF3.HQD treatment also upregulated the protein expressions of claudin-1,occludin and E-cadherin,reduced the expressions of GRP78,CHOP,caspase-12 and caspase-3,decreased the phosphorylation levels of PERK,eIF2α and IRE1α,and increased the Bcl-2/Bax ratio in the colon tissues of UC mice.Conclusion HQD inhibits colonic epithelial cell apoptosis and improves intestinal barrier function in UC mice possibly by reducing ERS mediated by the PERK and IRE1α signaling pathways.

Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effect of Huangqin Decoction(HQD)on ulcerative colitis(UC)in mice and explore its mechanism.Methods Male Balb/c mice were randomly divided into normal control group,model group,mesalazine group(5-ASA,200 mg/kg),and low-,medium-and high-dose HQD groups(2.275,4.55 and 9.1 g/kg,respectively).With the exception of those in the normal control group,all the mice were exposed to 3%DSS solution in drinking water for 7 days to establish UC models.After treatment with the indicated drugs,the mice were assessed for colon injury and apoptosis using HE,AB-PAS and TUNEL staining,and the expression levels of inflammatory factors were detected with ELISA.Western blotting,immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR were used to detect the changes in protein expressions associated with the intestinal chemical barrier,mechanical barrier and endoplasmic reticulum stress(ERS).Results HQD treatment significantly reduced DAI score and macro score of UC mice,decreased colonic epithelial cell apoptosis,lowered expressions of IL-6,TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-8,and enhanced the expressions of MUC2 and TFF3.HQD treatment also upregulated the protein expressions of claudin-1,occludin and E-cadherin,reduced the expressions of GRP78,CHOP,caspase-12 and caspase-3,decreased the phosphorylation levels of PERK,eIF2α and IRE1α,and increased the Bcl-2/Bax ratio in the colon tissues of UC mice.Conclusion HQD inhibits colonic epithelial cell apoptosis and improves intestinal barrier function in UC mice possibly by reducing ERS mediated by the PERK and IRE1α signaling pathways.

Atypical sensory responsivity is widely reported in autistic individuals and is related to elevated functional difficulties. Dynamically, altered initial responses and/or habituation rates could underlie their atypical averaged responses to repeated sensory stimuli. In this study we aimed to measure the arousal level in response to different types of auditory stimuli and the dynamic change of atypical arousal level using pupillometry in autistic children. In Experiment 1, 43 autistic children and 49 neurotypical (NT) children were asked to passively listen to a mild sound and an aversive sound repeatedly. In Experiment 2, 39 autistic children and 44 NT children who went through Experiment 1 listened to a gradually emerging non-startling sound and a suddenly emerging startling sound in a random order. We found that the autistic group showed hyper-arousal in response to the aversive sound and the startling sound as reflected by their larger change in pupil area. In comparison, these autistic children demonstrated normal arousal in response to the mild sound and the non-startling sound. Dynamically, the autistic group had a larger peak pupil area change than the NT group in the first trial and a normal habituation rate to the aversive sound. In summary, our results suggest hyper-arousal to aversive and startling stimuli and the role of larger initial responses in hyper-arousal in autism. Minimizing aversive and startling sensory stimuli or gradually increasing the volume of aversive auditory stimuli to allow autistic children to adapt using the principle of habituation is recommended to reduce the arousal level and problematic behaviors of autistic children.
Humans ; Male ; Child ; Female ; Acoustic Stimulation ; Autistic Disorder/physiopathology* ; Arousal/physiology* ; Pupil/physiology* ; Habituation, Psychophysiologic/physiology* ; Auditory Perception ; Child, Preschool

Objective To explore the clinical features and risk factors of poor prognosis in neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis(NEC).Methods A retrospective study was carried out in the infants with NEC admitted to 6 cooperative hospitals in Guangdong Province between January 2005 and December 2014.The clinical features and risk factors of poor prognosis in preterm and full-term infants diagnosed NEC,early onset and late onset NEC were analyzed.Results A total of 449 cases who met the criteria were admitted during the study time.The mortality was 23.6％ (106/449 cases),of which the preterm group was 24.6％ (58/238 cases) while the full-term group was 22.7％ (48/211 cases),the early onset group was 22.1％ (45/204 cases) while the late onset group was 24.3％ (57/235 cases).The median number of NEC onset in preterm group was 11 d after birth while the number of the full-term group was 6 d.Full-term infants who diagnosed NEC were more likely to manifest themselves as abdominal distension (52.1％ vs.42.0％,x2 =4.597,P =0.032),vomiting(36.5％ vs.17.2％,x2 =21.428,P =0.000) and bloody stool(30.3％ vs.21.4％,x2 =4.653,P =0.031);but in the onset of NEC,preterm infants more likely to have feeding intolerance (21.0％ vs.12.8％,x2=5.309,P =0.021).The early onset group of full-term NEC was much common in twins or multiplets(9.4％ vs.1.1％,x2 =6.226,P =0.013),which rate of surgical therapy was much higher (41.0％ vs.27.0％,P =0.036) and the breast-feeding rate before NEC was lower than the late onset group(14.5％ vs.32.6％,x2 =9.500,P =0.002),the differences were statistically significant.The gestational age and birth weight were bigger in the early onset group of preterm NEC[(33.8 ±2.5) weeks vs.(32.2 ±2.8) weeks,t =4.261,P =0.000;(2.1 ±0.5) kg vs.(1.7 ± 0.5) kg,t =4.735,P =0.000)],but length of stay was shorter than the late onset group (18.0 d vs.26.5 d,P =0.000).Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors of poor prognosis of full-term NEC were shock,peritonitis and sepsis;while risk factors of poor prognosis of preterm NEC were small for gestational age infant,pulmonary hemorrhage,shock,intestinal perforation and sepsis;the risk factors of poor prognosis of the early onset group of full-term NEC was shock;while those of the late onset group were shock and peritonitis;the risk factors of poor prognosis in the early onset group of preterm NEC were shock and sepsis,while those in the late onset group were pulmonary hemorrhage,shock,intestinal perforation and sepsis.Conclusions Compared to the preterm NEC,the onset time of full-term NEC was earlier and the clinical manifestations were more typical.Early identification and management of shock,peritonitis,intestinal perforation,sepsis and pulmonary hemorrhage can reduce the risk of poor prognosis of neonate NEC.

Objective: To have a profound understanding of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartic receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis, through the clinical analysis of 5 cases of anti-NMDAR encephalitis, and literature review. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis. Five cases of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis treated from May 2010 to June 2015, in the Department of Neurology, Beijing Friendship Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, were included in this study. The clinical data, including clinical manifestation, past history, radiological features, serum and cerebral spinal fluid examinations, treatment and prognosis, were analyzed. Results: Among the 5 cases, 3 young female and 2 middle-to old-aged male. The clinical features of the onset was mental and behavior disorder, as well as seizure and extrapyramidal features, like facial and limbic involuntary movements or tremor. Coma and hypopnea was severe in 3 young female cases, needing assistance of mechanical ventilator, while the manifestation of 2 male patients was much mild, need not assisted respiration. 1 case had teratoma of ovary, 1 case had Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome. The anti-NMDA receptor antibody was positive in cerebraospinal fluid of all 5 cases, but in serum of 3 cases, serum and CSF Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) IgM antibody was positive in 1 case, while herpes simplex I virus (HSV-1) IgM antibody positive in another case, and anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody was seen in serum and CSF in 1 case. The time interval from the onset to treatment was 10-37 d (18.8±9.8 d). IVIG was used in all of the 5 cases, glucocoticoid in 4 cases, and plasma exchange in 3 cases. One case with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome, having a long time before diagnosis and treatment, died, while the other 4 cases had good prognosis, and had no relapse. Conclusions Mental and behavior disturbance is common at onset of anti-NMDAR encephalitis. The radiological and lab examination may be normal. It may be accompanied with HSV-1 or EBV infection, anti-MOG antibody may be positive in this disease. Active treatment is important.