The Brain Activity in Brodmann Area 17: A Potential Bio-Marker to Predict Patient Responses to Antiepileptic Drugs

In this study, we aimed to predict newly diagnosed patient responses to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging tools to explore changes in spontaneous brain activity. We recruited 21 newly diagnosed epileptic patients, 8 drug-resistant (DR) patients, 11 well-healed (WH) patients, and 13 healthy controls. After a 12-month follow-up, 11 newly diagnosed epileptic patients who showed a poor response to AEDs were placed into the seizures uncontrolled (SUC) group, while 10 patients were enrolled in the seizure-controlled (SC) group. By calculating the amplitude of fractional low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) of blood oxygen level-dependent signals to measure brain activity during rest, we found that the SUC patients showed increased activity in the bilateral occipital lobe, particularly in the cuneus and lingual gyrus compared with the SC group and healthy controls. Interestingly, DR patients also showed increased activity in the identical cuneus and lingual gyrus regions, which comprise Brodmann’s area 17 (BA17), compared with the SUC patients; however, these abnormalities were not observed in SC and WH patients. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves indicated that the fALFF value of BA17 could differentiate SUC patients from SC patients and healthy controls with sufficient sensitivity and specificity prior to the administration of medication. Functional connectivity analysis was subsequently performed to evaluate the difference in connectivity between BA17 and other brain regions in the SUC, SC and control groups. Regions nearby the cuneus and lingual gyrus were found positive connectivity increased changes or positive connectivity changes with BA17 in the SUC patients, while remarkably negative connectivity increased changes or positive connectivity decreased changes were found in the SC patients. Additionally, default mode network (DMN) regions showed negative connectivity increased changes or negative changes with BA17 in the SUC patients. The abnormal increased in BA17 activity may be a key point that plays a substantial role in facilitating seizure onset.     

EMP3抑制肝癌细胞异质性细胞叠套结构的形成

异质性细胞叠套(heterotypic cell-in-cell, heCIC)结构是细胞间一种独特的相互作用方式,其中肿瘤细胞可内化免疫细胞形成heCIC结构,从而提升免疫细胞的杀伤效率。然而,调节heCIC结构形成的机制尚未阐明。本研究聚焦于上皮膜蛋白3 (epithelial membrane protein 3, EMP3),一种在肝癌患者组织表达增加并伴随不良预后的PMP-22/EMP/MP20蛋白家族成员,探讨了其在调节自然杀伤细胞-肝癌细胞形成heCIC结构中的作用。通过分析课题组前期分选出的具有不同heCIC形成能力的单克隆肝癌细胞株,发现heCIC形成能力高的细胞株中EMP3表达较低,而heCIC形成能力低的细胞株中EMP3表达较高。利用基因编辑技术敲低EMP3表达可以促进heCIC结构的形成,而EMP3的过度表达则显著抑制了这一过程。通过检测与heCIC结构形成相关的分子表达水平发现,EMP3通过调节肿瘤细胞的黏附能力和细胞骨架来抑制肝癌细胞heCIC结构的形成。本研究为靶向EMP3促进肝癌细胞heCIC结构介导的肿瘤免疫增强提供了研究基础。     

肝细胞生长因子基因修饰的间充质干细胞治疗肝损伤的研究进展

减轻肝脏损伤、促进肝脏修复和再生始终是肝脏疾病研究中的重点。间充质干细胞(MSCs)是众多具有组织修复和再生能力细胞中的明星细胞,合成的多种细胞因子经旁分泌途径发挥调控细胞生存,调节炎症反应,促进血管再生和减轻纤维化等多种生物学效应,肝细胞生长因子(HGF)便是重点细胞因子之一。基于HGF的信号调控作用,再结合MSCs的干细胞优势,HGF基因修饰间充质干细胞(HGF-MSCs)作为一种干细胞治疗新策略能够发挥“1+1>2”的效果。本文就HGF-MSCs在减轻和修复肝损伤中的研究进展作综述。     

Chiral amorphous metal–organic polyhedra used as the stationary phase for high-resolution gas chromatography separations

Herein, we describe a new chiral amorphous metal–organic polyhedra used as the stationary phase for high-resolution gas chromatography (GC). The chiral stationary phase was coated onto a capillary column via a dynamic coating process and investigated for a variety of compounds. The experimental results showed that the chiral stationary phase exhibits good selectivity for linear alkanes, linear alcohols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, isomers, and chiral compounds. In addition, the column has the advantages of high column efficiency and short analysis time. The present work indicated that amorphous metal–organic polyhedra have great potential for application as a new type of stationary phase for GC.     

Protein Subcellular Location: The Gap Between Prediction and Experimentation

Newly synthesized proteins in eukaryotic cells can only function well after they are accurately transported to specific organelles. The establishment of protein databases and the development of programs have accelerated the study of protein subcellular locations, but their comparisons and evaluations of the prediction accuracy of subcellular location programs in plants are lacking. In this study, we built a random test set of maize proteins to evaluate the accuracy of six commonly used programs of subcellular locations: iLoc-Plant, Plant-mPLoc, CELLO, WoLF PSORT, SherLoc2, and Predotar. Our results showed that the accuracy of prediction varied greatly depending on the programs and subcellular locations involved. The programs using homology search methods (iLoc-Plant and Plant-mPLoc) performed better than those using feature search methods (CELLO, WoLF PSORT, SherLoc2, and Predotar). In particular, iLoc-Plant achieved an 84.9 % accuracy for proteins whose subcellular locations have been experimentally determined and a 74.3 % accuracy for all of the proteins in the test set. Regarding locations, the highest prediction accuracies for subcellular locations were obtained for the nucleus, followed by the cytoplasm, mitochondria, plastids, endoplasmic reticulum, and vacuoles, while the lowest were obtained for cell membrane, secreted, and multiple-location proteins. We discussed the accuracy of the six programs in this article. This study will assist plant biologists in choosing appropriate programs to predict the location of proteins and provide clues regarding their function, especially for hypothetical or novel proteins.     

基于研究生科研素养培养的“高级微生物学实验”课程教学改革

高级微生物学实验\"课程旨在培养新入学研究生的科研思维、创新意识、探索精神和实践能力。为了提升教学质量,针对教学中存在的突出问题,本课程秉持\"以学生为中心,以成果为导向\"的育人理念,组建了教师教学团队,设置基础性、研究性和探索性创新实验项目优化教学内容;依托智慧教室和线上教学平台实施小组教学、互动式教学、混合式教学、翻转课堂等多元教学活动,借助智能化开放实验室和教师科研资源保障实践教学;采用全过程综合考核评价研究生的综合科研素养,构建了适用于贵州大学微生物学专业研究生培养的教学体系。实践显示,\"课堂+线上+实践\"的改革取得了较好的成效,研究生的科研兴趣与热情、实践创新能力得到激发和锻炼,有效提升了他们的综合科研素养。