Empathy is crucial for communication and survival for individuals. Whether empathy in pain contagion shows sex differences and its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we report that pain contagion can occur in stranger female rats, but not in stranger males. Blocking oxytocin receptors in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) suppressed pain contagion in female strangers, while oxytocin administration induced pain contagion in male strangers. In vitro, corticosterone reduces neuronal activation by oxytocin. During male stranger interactions, higher corticosterone decreased oxytocin receptor-positive neuronal activity in the ACC, suppressing pain contagion. These findings highlight the role of oxytocin in pain contagion and suggest that sex differences in empathy may be determined by the balance of oxytocin and corticosterone in the ACC. This study suggests an approach for the treatment of certain mental disorders associated with abnormal empathy, such as autism and depression.
Animals ; Oxytocin/pharmacology* ; Gyrus Cinguli/drug effects* ; Male ; Female ; Corticosterone/pharmacology* ; Empathy/drug effects* ; Sex Characteristics ; Receptors, Oxytocin/antagonists & inhibitors* ; Pain/psychology* ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Neurons/metabolism*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility and effectiveness of a foldable pedicled latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap to repair soft tissue defects in the shoulder and back. METHODS: Between August 2018 and January 2023, the foldable pedicled latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flaps were used to repair soft tissue defects in the shoulder and back of 8 patients. There were 5 males and 3 females with the age ranged from 21 to 56 years (mean, 35.4 years). Wounds were located in the shoulder in 2 cases and in the shoulder and back in 6 cases. The causes of injury were chronic infection of skin and bone exposure in 2 cases, secondary wound after extensive resection of skin and soft tissue tumor in 4 cases, and wound formation caused by traffic accident in 2 cases. Skin defect areas ranged from 14 cm×13 cm to 20 cm×16 cm. The disease duration ranged from 12 days to 1 year (median, 6.6 months). A pedicled latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap was designed and harvested. The flap was divided into A/B flap and then were folded to repair the wound, with the donor area of the flap being pulled and sutured in one stage. RESULTS: All 7 flaps survived, with primary wound healing. One patient suffered from distal flap necrosis and delayed healing was achieved after dressing change. The incisions of all donor sites healed by first intention. All patients were followed up 6 months to 4 years (mean, 24.7 months). The skin flap has a good appearance with no swelling in the pedicle. At last follow-up, 6 patients had no significant difference in bilateral shoulder joint motion, and 2 patients had a slight decrease in abduction range of motion compared with the healthy side. The patients' daily life were not affected, and linear scar was left in the donor site. CONCLUSION The foldable pedicled latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap is an ideal method to repair the soft tissue defect of shoulder and back with simple operation, less damage to the donor site, and quick recovery after operation.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Plastic Surgery Procedures ; Myocutaneous Flap/surgery* ; Shoulder/surgery* ; Skin Transplantation ; Superficial Back Muscles/transplantation* ; Soft Tissue Injuries/surgery* ; Wound Healing ; Treatment Outcome ; Perforator Flap

Tumor progression is closely related to tumor tissue metabolism and reshaping of the microenvironment. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), a representative hypoxic tumor, has a heterogeneous internal metabolic environment. To clarify the relationship between different metabolic regions and the tumor immune microenvironment (TME) in OSCC, Single cell (SC) and spatial transcriptomics (ST) sequencing of OSCC tissues were performed. The proportion of TME in the ST data was obtained through SPOTlight deconvolution using SC and GSE103322 data. The metabolic activity of each spot was calculated using scMetabolism, and k-means clustering was used to classify all spots into hyper-, normal-, or hypometabolic regions. CD4T cell infiltration and TGF-β expression is higher in the hypermetabolic regions than in the others. Through CellPhoneDB and NicheNet cell-cell communication analysis, it was found that in the hypermetabolic region, fibroblasts can utilize the lactate produced by glycolysis of epithelial cells to transform into inflammatory cancer-associated fibroblasts (iCAFs), and the increased expression of HIF1A in iCAFs promotes the transcriptional expression of CXCL12. The secretion of CXCL12 recruits regulatory T cells (Tregs), leading to Treg infiltration and increased TGF-β secretion in the microenvironment and promotes the formation of a tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. This study delineates the coordinate work axis of epithelial cells-iCAFs-Tregs in OSCC using SC, ST and TCGA bulk data, and highlights potential targets for therapy.
Humans ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/metabolism* ; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck ; Mouth Neoplasms/metabolism* ; Immunosuppression Therapy ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Tumor Microenvironment

Objective: To explore the neuroprotective effects of the Shaoyao Gancao decoction (SGD) against excitatory damage in PC12 cells and the role of the Src-NR2-nNOS pathway mediation by SGD in regulating γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-glutamate (Glu) homeostasis. Methods: N-Methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA) was used to establish a PC12 cell excitability injury model. To investigate the neuroprotective effect of SGD, a cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was used to determine PC12 cell viability, Annexin V/Propidium Iodide (Annexin V/PI) double staining was used to determine PC12 cell apoptosis, and Ca2+ concentration was observed using laser confocal microscopy. GABA receptor agonists and antagonists were used to analyze the neuroprotective interactions between γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and NMDA receptors. Additionally, molecular biology techniques were used to determine mRNA and protein expression in the Src-NR2-nNOS pathway. We analyzed the correlations between the regulatory sites of GABA and NMDA interactions, excitatory neurotoxicity, and brain damage at the molecular level. Results: NMDA excitotoxic injury manifested as a significant decrease in cell activity, increased apoptosis and caspase-3 protein expression, and a significant increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration. Administration of SGD, a GABAA receptor agonist (muscimol), or a GABAB receptor agonist (baclofen) decreased intracellular Ca2+ concentrations, attenuated apoptosis, and reversed NMDA-induced upregulation of caspase-3, Src, NMDAR2A, NMDAR2B, and nNOS. Unexpectedly, a GABAA receptor antagonist (bicuculline) and a GABAB receptor antagonist (saclofen) failed to significantly increase excitatory neurotoxicity. Conclusions Taken together, these results not only provide an experimental basis for SGD administration in the clinical treatment of central nervous system injury diseases, but also suggest that the Src-NR2A-nNOS pathway may be a valuable target in excitotoxicity treatment.

Tumor progression is closely related to tumor tissue metabolism and reshaping of the microenvironment.Oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC),a representative hypoxic tumor,has a heterogeneous internal metabolic environment.To clarify the relationship between different metabolic regions and the tumor immune microenvironment(TME)in OSCC,Single cell(SC)and spatial transcriptomics(ST)sequencing of OSCC tissues were performed.The proportion of TME in the ST data was obtained through SPOTlight deconvolution using SC and GSE103322 data.The metabolic activity of each spot was calculated using scMetabolism,and k-means clustering was used to classify all spots into hyper-,normal-,or hypometabolic regions.CD4T cell infiltration and TGF-β expression is higher in the hypermetabolic regions than in the others.Through CellPhoneDB and NicheNet cell-cell communication analysis,it was found that in the hypermetabolic region,fibroblasts can utilize the lactate produced by glycolysis of epithelial cells to transform into inflammatory cancer-associated fibroblasts(iCAFs),and the increased expression of HIF1A in iCAFs promotes the transcriptional expression of CXCL12.The secretion of CXCL12 recruits regulatory T cells(Tregs),leading to Treg infiltration and increased TGF-β secretion in the microenvironment and promotes the formation of a tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment.This study delineates the coordinate work axis of epithelial cells-iCAFs-Tregs in OSCC using SC,ST and TCGA bulk data,and highlights potential targets for therapy.

Due to the cumbersome reimbursement process and inefficiency of the traditional medical process,health insurance credit senseless payment has become one of the ways for health insurance departments and designated medical institutions to improve the efficiency of payment and the convenience of patients'utilization of health insurance services.However,at the present stage,the relationship between multiple stakeholders in health insurance credit insensitive payment is still in the"cooperative game"mode of general public-private cooperation,which affects the effect of the implementation of health insurance credit insensitive payment.Therefore,it analyzes the cooperative game relationship between multiple interest subjects,and based on the theory of incentive compatibility,constructs the realization path from cooperative game to incentive compatibility of multiple interest subjects in health insurance credit insensitive payment,forming a three-dimensional mechanism of"cooperation constraint,incentive distribution,supervision and accountability",and promoting the construction of health insurance credit insensitive payment system and the realization of the policy objectives.

Tumor progression is closely related to tumor tissue metabolism and reshaping of the microenvironment.Oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC),a representative hypoxic tumor,has a heterogeneous internal metabolic environment.To clarify the relationship between different metabolic regions and the tumor immune microenvironment(TME)in OSCC,Single cell(SC)and spatial transcriptomics(ST)sequencing of OSCC tissues were performed.The proportion of TME in the ST data was obtained through SPOTlight deconvolution using SC and GSE103322 data.The metabolic activity of each spot was calculated using scMetabolism,and k-means clustering was used to classify all spots into hyper-,normal-,or hypometabolic regions.CD4T cell infiltration and TGF-β expression is higher in the hypermetabolic regions than in the others.Through CellPhoneDB and NicheNet cell-cell communication analysis,it was found that in the hypermetabolic region,fibroblasts can utilize the lactate produced by glycolysis of epithelial cells to transform into inflammatory cancer-associated fibroblasts(iCAFs),and the increased expression of HIF1A in iCAFs promotes the transcriptional expression of CXCL12.The secretion of CXCL12 recruits regulatory T cells(Tregs),leading to Treg infiltration and increased TGF-β secretion in the microenvironment and promotes the formation of a tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment.This study delineates the coordinate work axis of epithelial cells-iCAFs-Tregs in OSCC using SC,ST and TCGA bulk data,and highlights potential targets for therapy.

Due to the cumbersome reimbursement process and inefficiency of the traditional medical process,health insurance credit senseless payment has become one of the ways for health insurance departments and designated medical institutions to improve the efficiency of payment and the convenience of patients'utilization of health insurance services.However,at the present stage,the relationship between multiple stakeholders in health insurance credit insensitive payment is still in the"cooperative game"mode of general public-private cooperation,which affects the effect of the implementation of health insurance credit insensitive payment.Therefore,it analyzes the cooperative game relationship between multiple interest subjects,and based on the theory of incentive compatibility,constructs the realization path from cooperative game to incentive compatibility of multiple interest subjects in health insurance credit insensitive payment,forming a three-dimensional mechanism of"cooperation constraint,incentive distribution,supervision and accountability",and promoting the construction of health insurance credit insensitive payment system and the realization of the policy objectives.

Tumor progression is closely related to tumor tissue metabolism and reshaping of the microenvironment.Oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC),a representative hypoxic tumor,has a heterogeneous internal metabolic environment.To clarify the relationship between different metabolic regions and the tumor immune microenvironment(TME)in OSCC,Single cell(SC)and spatial transcriptomics(ST)sequencing of OSCC tissues were performed.The proportion of TME in the ST data was obtained through SPOTlight deconvolution using SC and GSE103322 data.The metabolic activity of each spot was calculated using scMetabolism,and k-means clustering was used to classify all spots into hyper-,normal-,or hypometabolic regions.CD4T cell infiltration and TGF-β expression is higher in the hypermetabolic regions than in the others.Through CellPhoneDB and NicheNet cell-cell communication analysis,it was found that in the hypermetabolic region,fibroblasts can utilize the lactate produced by glycolysis of epithelial cells to transform into inflammatory cancer-associated fibroblasts(iCAFs),and the increased expression of HIF1A in iCAFs promotes the transcriptional expression of CXCL12.The secretion of CXCL12 recruits regulatory T cells(Tregs),leading to Treg infiltration and increased TGF-β secretion in the microenvironment and promotes the formation of a tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment.This study delineates the coordinate work axis of epithelial cells-iCAFs-Tregs in OSCC using SC,ST and TCGA bulk data,and highlights potential targets for therapy.

Due to the cumbersome reimbursement process and inefficiency of the traditional medical process,health insurance credit senseless payment has become one of the ways for health insurance departments and designated medical institutions to improve the efficiency of payment and the convenience of patients'utilization of health insurance services.However,at the present stage,the relationship between multiple stakeholders in health insurance credit insensitive payment is still in the"cooperative game"mode of general public-private cooperation,which affects the effect of the implementation of health insurance credit insensitive payment.Therefore,it analyzes the cooperative game relationship between multiple interest subjects,and based on the theory of incentive compatibility,constructs the realization path from cooperative game to incentive compatibility of multiple interest subjects in health insurance credit insensitive payment,forming a three-dimensional mechanism of"cooperation constraint,incentive distribution,supervision and accountability",and promoting the construction of health insurance credit insensitive payment system and the realization of the policy objectives.