OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Tiaoshu Anshen (regulating the hinge and calming the mind) acupuncture on sleep quality and serum levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) in patients with chronic insomnia. METHODS: A total of 58 patients with chronic insomnia were randomly divided into an acupuncture group and a medication group, 29 cases in each group. Tiaoshu Anshen acupuncture was applied at Baihui (GV20) and bilateral Shenmen (HT7), Sanyinjiao (SP6), Benshen (GB13) in the acupuncture group, once a day, 1-day interval was taken after 6 consecutive days of treatment. Estazolam tablet was given orally before bed in the medication group, 1 mg each time. The 4-week treatment was required in both groups. Before and after treatment, the sleep quality was assessed by Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and polysomnography (PSG), the serum levels of 5-HT and DA were detected by ELISA. RESULTS: After treatment, the item scores and total scores of PSQI were decreased compared with those before treatment in the two groups (P<0.05); in the acupuncture group, the scores of sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep disorders and total score of PSQI were lower than those in the medication group (P<0.05). After treatment, the total sleep time (TST) was prolonged (P<0.05), the sleep latency (SL) and wake after sleep onset (WASO) were shortened (P<0.05), the sleep efficiency (SE%), percentage of non-rapid eye movement stage 3 (N3%), percentage of rapid eye movement stage (REM%) and serum levels of 5-HT were increased (P<0.05) compared with those before treatment; the percentage of non-rapid eye movement stage 1 (N1%), percentage of non-rapid eye movement stage 2 (N2%) and serum levels of DA were decreased (P<0.05) compared with those before treatment in the two groups. After treatment, in the acupuncture group, TST was longer, while SL and WASO were shorter than those in the medication group (P<0.05), SE%, N3%, REM% and serum level of 5-HT were higher, while N1%, N2% and serum level of DA were lower than those in the medication group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION Tiaoshu Anshen acupuncture may improve the sleep quality by regulating the serum neurotransmitter levels i.e. 5-HT and DA in patients with chronic insomnia.
Humans ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/physiopathology* ; Male ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Serotonin/blood* ; Sleep Quality ; Acupuncture Points ; Dopamine/blood* ; Aged ; Neurotransmitter Agents/blood* ; Young Adult

We collected the positive serum of Echinococcus granulosus infection in sheep,an inter-mediate host with strong immune response,and used healthy serum as negative control,purified the serum and target protein to capture and enrich the corresponding antigen by immunoprecipita-tion,and obtained target protein-antibody-target protein complex.Mass spectrometry strategies were combined to screen and identify specific antigens associated with Echinococcus granulosus,and the proteins with the highest peptide coverage were analyzed bioinformatically using online prediction software.The results showed that 133 Echinococcus granulosus related proteins were i-dentified by IP-MS.Among them,one protein with peptide coverage≥70％was actin Ⅱ,and three proteins with peptide coverage between 30％to 40％were Ton B box domain containing protein,NADH dehydrogenase(ubiquinone)1 α-subcomplex 2(NADH dehydrogenase[ubiquinone])and lactic dehydrogenase.There were six proteins with 20％to 30％peptide coverage,namely,spli-cing factor 3B subunit 5,tumor protein D52,expressed conserved protein,NADH dehydrogenase(ubiquinone)1 alpha subcomplex 7,inosine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase,and aldo keto re-ductase family 1 member B4.Bioinformatics analysis revealed that actin protein has no signal pep-tide,it is probably a non-secretory protein and is subcellularly localized to the cytoskeleton,six op-timal potential antigenic epitopes are present,and the secondary and tertiary structures are consist-ently dominated by α-helices and irregular convolutions.The results indicate that immunoprecipita-tion-mass spectrometry is a high-throughput,simple,rapid and effective method for screening and identifying fine-grained Echinococcus granulosus antigens,which can provide a basis for screening specific molecules for serodiagnostic markers in intermediate host sheep and for the development of novel diagnostic techniques for hydatid diseases.

This study aims to screen the diagnostic biomarkers for fecal antigen of Echinococcus granulosus(E.granulosus)in dogs with high specificity and sensitivity.The sheep-derived EgPSC artificially infected dogs were collected,and the negative and positive fecal samples of dogs with E.granulosus were prepared by arecoline hydrobromide leakage method.Polyclonal antibody,negative fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody conjugates and positive fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody conju-gates were purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and affinity chromatography,three groups of samples were detected by ELISA and Western blot,LC-MS/MS and bioinformatics analysis were performed on the three groups of samples.The positive fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody con-jugate was used as the treatment group,the polyclonal antibody and the negative fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody conjugates were used as the control groups to screen the unique peptides of the treatment group.ELISA and Western blot showed that only the positive fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody conjugates were positive.According to LC-MS/MS and bioinformatics analysis,11 unique peptides were screened out only in the treatment group.Among them,3 proteins were related to E.granulosus,namely dysferlin,integrator complex 9 and diagnostic antigen gp50,which were mem-brane-associated proteins,INT complex components and diagnostic antigens.This study has pre-liminarily screened out three candidate canine E.granulosus fecal antigen diagnostic markers,pro-viding a reference for further exploration of diagnostic standards for E.granulosus,screening of echinococcosis target genes,and vaccine development.

We collected the positive serum of Echinococcus granulosus infection in sheep,an inter-mediate host with strong immune response,and used healthy serum as negative control,purified the serum and target protein to capture and enrich the corresponding antigen by immunoprecipita-tion,and obtained target protein-antibody-target protein complex.Mass spectrometry strategies were combined to screen and identify specific antigens associated with Echinococcus granulosus,and the proteins with the highest peptide coverage were analyzed bioinformatically using online prediction software.The results showed that 133 Echinococcus granulosus related proteins were i-dentified by IP-MS.Among them,one protein with peptide coverage≥70％was actin Ⅱ,and three proteins with peptide coverage between 30％to 40％were Ton B box domain containing protein,NADH dehydrogenase(ubiquinone)1 α-subcomplex 2(NADH dehydrogenase[ubiquinone])and lactic dehydrogenase.There were six proteins with 20％to 30％peptide coverage,namely,spli-cing factor 3B subunit 5,tumor protein D52,expressed conserved protein,NADH dehydrogenase(ubiquinone)1 alpha subcomplex 7,inosine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase,and aldo keto re-ductase family 1 member B4.Bioinformatics analysis revealed that actin protein has no signal pep-tide,it is probably a non-secretory protein and is subcellularly localized to the cytoskeleton,six op-timal potential antigenic epitopes are present,and the secondary and tertiary structures are consist-ently dominated by α-helices and irregular convolutions.The results indicate that immunoprecipita-tion-mass spectrometry is a high-throughput,simple,rapid and effective method for screening and identifying fine-grained Echinococcus granulosus antigens,which can provide a basis for screening specific molecules for serodiagnostic markers in intermediate host sheep and for the development of novel diagnostic techniques for hydatid diseases.

This study aims to screen the diagnostic biomarkers for fecal antigen of Echinococcus granulosus(E.granulosus)in dogs with high specificity and sensitivity.The sheep-derived EgPSC artificially infected dogs were collected,and the negative and positive fecal samples of dogs with E.granulosus were prepared by arecoline hydrobromide leakage method.Polyclonal antibody,negative fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody conjugates and positive fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody conju-gates were purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and affinity chromatography,three groups of samples were detected by ELISA and Western blot,LC-MS/MS and bioinformatics analysis were performed on the three groups of samples.The positive fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody con-jugate was used as the treatment group,the polyclonal antibody and the negative fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody conjugates were used as the control groups to screen the unique peptides of the treatment group.ELISA and Western blot showed that only the positive fecal antigen-polyclonal antibody conjugates were positive.According to LC-MS/MS and bioinformatics analysis,11 unique peptides were screened out only in the treatment group.Among them,3 proteins were related to E.granulosus,namely dysferlin,integrator complex 9 and diagnostic antigen gp50,which were mem-brane-associated proteins,INT complex components and diagnostic antigens.This study has pre-liminarily screened out three candidate canine E.granulosus fecal antigen diagnostic markers,pro-viding a reference for further exploration of diagnostic standards for E.granulosus,screening of echinococcosis target genes,and vaccine development.

The seat of human intelligence is the human cerebral cortex, which is responsible for our exceptional cognitive abilities. Identifying principles that lead to the development of the large-sized human cerebral cortex will shed light on what makes the human brain and species so special. The remarkable increase in the number of human cortical pyramidal neurons and the size of the human cerebral cortex is mainly because human cortical radial glial cells, primary neural stem cells in the cortex, generate cortical pyramidal neurons for more than 130 days, whereas the same process takes only about 7 days in mice. The molecular mechanisms underlying this difference are largely unknown. Here, we found that bone morphogenic protein 7 (BMP7) is expressed by increasing the number of cortical radial glial cells during mammalian evolution (mouse, ferret, monkey, and human). BMP7 expression in cortical radial glial cells promotes neurogenesis, inhibits gliogenesis, and thereby increases the length of the neurogenic period, whereas Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling promotes cortical gliogenesis. We demonstrate that BMP7 signaling and SHH signaling mutually inhibit each other through regulation of GLI3 repressor formation. We propose that BMP7 drives the evolutionary expansion of the mammalian cortex by increasing the length of the neurogenic period.
Animals ; Mice ; Humans ; Ependymoglial Cells/metabolism* ; Hedgehog Proteins/metabolism* ; Ferrets/metabolism* ; Cerebral Cortex ; Neurogenesis ; Mammals/metabolism* ; Neuroglia/metabolism* ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7/metabolism*

Objective:To compare the efficacy of reduction and in situ intervertebral fusion fixation in the treatment of degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis.Methods:A total of 182 patients (92 males and 90 females) with L 4 degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis of Meyerding's classification of grade I and grade II, aged (62.6±6.8) years (range, 57-73 years), who underwent posterior L 4, 5 internal fixation and interbody fusion in the Department of Spinal Surgery, the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, were retrospectively analyzed from January 2019 to December 2022. There were 105 cases of I-degree spondylolisthesis and 77 cases of II-degree spondylolisthesis. According to the operation method, the patients were divided into reduction intervertebral fusion fixation (reduction group) and in situ intervertebral fusion fixation group (in situ group). Imaging parameters such as lumber lordosis (LL), pelvic incidence (PI)-LL, L 3, 4 intervertebral space heights, fusion segment angle, and sagittal vertical axis (SVA) were measured on the pre- and post-surgical lumbar spine lateral radiographs. The visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) of low back pain were recorded before and after surgery. The differences in clinical and imaging parameters were compared between reduction and in situ fusion group. Results:All 182 patients successfully completed the surgery and were followed up for 12.0±2.4 months (range, 9-15 months). The LL of the reduction group before surgery, immediately after surgery, and at the last follow-up were 46.9°±7.1°, 57.2°±5.9°, 55.6°±5.5°, respectively, with statistically significant differences ( F=87.61, P<0.001), with immediate and final follow-up being smaller than those in the in situ fixation group. The LL of the in situ fixation group before surgery, immediately after surgery, and at the last follow-up were 47.8°±7.2°, 50.5°±7.0°, and 48.7°± 6.4°, respectively, with no statistically significant difference ( F=2.83, P=0.062). The immediate and final follow-up of LL in the reduction group was lower than those in the in situ fixation group ( P<0.05). The fusion segment angles of the reduction group before surgery, immediately after surgery, and at the last follow-up were 14.2°±5.1°, 23.2°±4.7°, 23.2°±4.7°, respectively, with statistically significant differences ( F=152.87, P<0.001), with immediate and final follow-up after surgery being greater than before surgery. The fusion segment angles of the in situ fixation group before surgery, immediately after surgery, and at the last follow-up were 15.4°±5.9°, 18.2°±5.5°, and 17.4°±5.1°, respectively, with statistically significant differences ( F=4.69, P=0.009), with immediate and final follow-up being greater than before surgery. The fusion segment angulation in the reduction group was greater than that in the in situ fixation group at both the immediate and final follow-up ( P<0.05). The SVA of the reduction group before surgery, immediately after surgery, and at the last follow-up were 16.9±18.2 mm, 9.5±12.0 mm, and 8.7±11.3 mm, respectively, with statistically significant differences ( F=11.32, P<0.001), with immediate and final follow-up being smaller than before surgery. The SVA of immediately after surgery and at the last follow-up were both smaller than before surgery. The SVA of the in situ fixation group before surgery, immediately after surgery, and at the last follow-up were 16.4±17.2 mm, 14.3±15.5 mm, and 13.8±15.0 mm, respectively, with no statistically significant difference ( F=0.57, P=0.576). The SVA of the reduction group at immediate and final follow-up was lower than that of the in situ fixation group ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Both reduction and in situ intervertebral fusion fixation can effectively relieve the clinical symptoms of patients. Fusion fixation after reduction can improve the angulation of fusion segments to form segmental kyphosis, which is more conducive to improving SVA.

Abstract: Objective To analyze the causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in Inner Mongolia, so as to provide reference for understanding systemic risks and formulating prevention and control measures. Methods Data on foodborne disease outbreaks in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from 2016 to 2021 were collected through the "Foodborne Disease Outbreak Monitoring System" for attribution analysis. Results A total of 591 outbreak events were included from 2016 to 2021. Single -dimensional attribution analysis showed that the main causes of foodborne disease outbreaks in this region were vegetables and vegetable products, and meat and meat products, respectively accounting for 20.5% (121/591) and 12.6% (75/591) of the total events. leading contributing factor was improper processing, accounting for 16.2%(96/591), and the main pathogenic factor was toxic plants and their toxins, accounting for 14.9%(88/591). Multi-dimensional attribution analysis showed that the highest number of outbreak events occurred in summer, with 290 cases accounting for 49.1% (290/591) of the total number of events. The eastern, central, and western regions also had the highest number of events in summer, accounting for 53.6% (180/336), 39.5% (60/152), and 48.5% (50/103) of the total number of events in this region, respectively. Among vegetables and vegetable products, improper processing led to the majority of outbreaks caused by toxic plants and their toxins, accounting for 58.7% (71/121) of total events. For meat and meat products, improper storage resulting in the most outbreaks of biological pollution, accounting for 16.0%(12/75) of the total number of meat and meat product incidents. Majorities of death cases were primarily due to accidental ingestion or misuse of non-food items (such as poisonous mushrooms), comprising 38.5% (5/13) of total deaths. Conclusions The main food, triggering factors, and pathogenic factors involved in the outbreak of foodborne diseases in this region are relatively routine and controllable. Therefore, efforts should be made to strengthen public food safety education to reduce the occurrence of foodborne diseases.

Medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the striatum, which can be divided into D1 and D2 MSNs, originate from the lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE). Previously, we reported that Six3 is a downstream target of Sp8/Sp9 in the transcriptional regulatory cascade of D2 MSN development and that conditionally knocking out Six3 leads to a severe loss of D2 MSNs. Here, we showed that Six3 mainly functions in D2 MSN precursor cells and gradually loses its function as D2 MSNs mature. Conditional deletion of Six3 had little effect on cell proliferation but blocked the differentiation of D2 MSN precursor cells. In addition, conditional overexpression of Six3 promoted the differentiation of precursor cells in the LGE. We measured an increase of apoptosis in the postnatal striatum of conditional Six3-knockout mice. This suggests that, in the absence of Six3, abnormally differentiated D2 MSNs are eliminated by programmed cell death. These results further identify Six3 as an important regulatory element during D2 MSN differentiation.

Mouse cortical radial glial cells (RGCs) are primary neural stem cells that give rise to cortical oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and olfactory bulb (OB) GABAergic interneurons in late embryogenesis. There are fundamental gaps in understanding how these diverse cell subtypes are generated. Here, by combining single-cell RNA-Seq with intersectional lineage analyses, we show that beginning at around E16.5, neocortical RGCs start to generate ASCL1