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Ultrasound (US) neuromodulation, especially sonogenetics, has been demonstrated with potential applications in noninvasive and targeted treatment of various neurological disorders. Despite the growing interest, the mechanism for US neuromodulation remains elusive, and the optimal condition for eliciting a neural response with minimal adverse effect has not been identified. Here, we investigate the Piezo1 activation and intracellular calcium response elicited by acoustical streaming induced shear stress under various US exposure conditions. We find that Piezo1 activation and resultant intracellular calcium response depend critically on shear stress amplitude and pulse length of the stimulation. Under the same insonification acoustic energy, we further identify an optical pulse length that leads to maximum cell deformation, Piezo1 activation, and calcium response with minimal injury, confirmed by numerical modeling of Piezo1 channel gating dynamics. Our results provide insight into the mechanism of ultrasonic activation of Piezo1 and highlight the importance of optimizing US exposure conditions in sonogenetics applications.

Purpose: To study the changes of functional connections between the left and right hemispheres of HM patients and healthy controls (HCs) by resting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based on voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity(VMHC).To study the changes of resting state functional connectivity(rsFC) between the left and right hemispheres of HM patients and healthy controls (HCS) at rest by using resting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based on voxel-mirror homotopy connectivity (VMHC). Patients and methods: 89 patients with HM (41 men, 48 women) and 59 healthy controls (24 men, 35 women) were collected and matched according to gender, age and education level. VMHC method was used to evaluate the changes of rsFC between cerebral hemispheres, and correlation analysis was carried out to understand the differences of brain functional activities between HM and HCs. Results: Compared with the HCs, the VMHC values of putamen and fusiform in the HM group were significantly lower (voxel-level p<0.01, Gaussian random field correction, cluster-level p<0.05). Conclusion: This study preliminarily confirmed the destruction of interhemispheric functional connection in some brain regions of HM patients, and provided effective information for clarifying the neural mechanism of HM patients.

There is increasing evidence that patients with retinal detachment (RD) have aberrant brain activity. However, neuroimaging investigations remain focused on static changes in brain activity among RD patients. There is limited knowledge regarding the characteristics of dynamic brain activity in RD patients. This study evaluated changes in dynamic brain activity among RD patients, using a dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF), k-means clustering method and support vector machine (SVM) classification approach. We investigated inter-group disparities of dALFF indices under three different time window sizes using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data from 23 RD patients and 24 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs). The k-means clustering method was performed to analyze specific dALFF states and related temporal properties. Additionally, we selected altered dALFF values under three distinct conditions as classification features for distinguishing RD patients from HCs using an SVM classifier. RD patients exhibited dynamic changes in local intrinsic indicators of brain activity. Compared with HCs, RD patients displayed increased dALFF in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus, left putamen (Putamen_L), left superior occipital gyrus (Occipital_Sup_L), left middle occipital gyrus (Occipital_Mid_L), right calcarine (Calcarine_R), right middle temporal gyrus (Temporal_Mid_R), and right inferior frontal gyrus (Frontal_Inf_Tri_R). Additionally, RD patients showed significantly decreased dALFF values in the right superior parietal gyrus (Parietal_Sup_R) and right paracentral lobule (Paracentral_Lobule_R) [two-tailed, voxel-level < 0.05, Gaussian random field (GRF) correction, cluster-level < 0.05]. For dALFF, we derived 3 or 4 states of ALFF that occurred repeatedly. There were differences in state distribution and state properties between RD and HC groups. The number of transitions between the dALFF states was higher in the RD group than in the HC group. Based on dALFF values in various brain regions, the overall accuracies of SVM classification were 97.87, 100, and 93.62% under three different time windows; area under the curve values were 0.99, 1.00, and 0.95, respectively. No correlation was found between hamilton anxiety (HAMA) scores and regional dALFF. Our findings offer important insights concerning the neuropathology that underlies RD and provide robust evidence that dALFF, a local indicator of brain activity, may be useful for clinical diagnosis.

Abstract Aim: Patients with high myopia (HM) reportedly exhibit changes in functional brain activity, but the mechanism underlying such changes is unclear. This study was conducted to observe differences in dynamic spontaneous brain activity between HM patients and healthy controls (HCs) via dynamic regional homogeneity (dReHo) analysis. Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed on 82 HM patients and 59 HCs who were closely matched for age, sex, and weight. The dReHo approach was used to assess local dynamic activity in the human brain. The association between mean dReHo signal values and clinical symptoms in distinct brain areas in HM patients was determined via correlation analysis. Results: In the left fusiform gyrus (L-FG), right inferior temporal gyrus (R-ITG), right Rolandic operculum (R-ROL), right postcentral gyrus (R-PoCG), and right precentral gyrus (R-PreCG), dReHo values were significantly greater in HM patients than in HCs. Conclusion: HM patients have distinct functional changes in various brain regions, mainly including the L-FG, R-ITG, R-ROL, R-PoCG and R-PreCG. These findings constitute important evidence for the roles of brain networks in the pathophysiological mechanisms of HM and may aid in the diagnosis of HM. Key words: high myopia, brain function, brain region, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, dynamic regional homogeneity

Abstract Aim: Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was used to analyze changes in functional connectivity (FC) within various brain networks and functional network connectivity (FNC) among various brain regions in patients with high myopia (HM). Methods: rs-fMRI was used to scan 82 HM patients (HM group) and 59 healthy control volunteers (HC group) matched for age, sex, and education level. Fourteen resting state networks (RSNs) were extracted, of which 11 were positive. Then, the FCs and FNCs of RSNs in HM patients were examined by independent component analysis (ICA). Results: Compared with the HC group, FC in visual network 1 (VN1), dorsal attention network (DAN), auditory network 2 (AN2), visual network 3 (VN3), and sensorimotor network (SMN) significantly increased in the HM group. Furthermore, FC in default mode network 1 (DMN1) significantly decreased, while FC in default mode network 2 (DMN2), default mode network 3 (DMN3), auditory network 1 (AN1), executive control network (ECN), and significance network (SN) have rising and falling parts at the same time. FNC analysis also showed that the network connection between the default mode network (DMN) and cerebellar network (CER) was enhanced in the HM group. Conclusion: Compared with HCs, HM patients showed neural activity dysfunction within and between specific brain networks, particularly in the DMN and CER. Thus, HM patients may have deficits in visual, cognitive, and motor balance functions. Key words: High myopia, resting state network, independent component analysis, functional connectivity, functional network connectivity

This study was conducted to explore differences in static functional connectivity (sFC) and dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) alteration patterns in the primary visual area (V1) among high myopia (HM) patients and healthy controls (HCs) seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were performed on 82 HM patients and 59 HCs who were closely matched for age, sex, and weight. Seed-based FC analysis was performed to identify alterations in the sFC and dFC patterns of the V1 in HM patients and HCs. Associations between mean sFC and dFC signal values and clinical symptoms in distinct brain areas among HM patients were identified correlation analysis. Static and dynamic changes in brain activity in HM patients were investigated by assessments of sFC and dFC calculation of the total time series mean and sliding-window analysis. In the left anterior cingulate gyrus (L-ACG)/left superior parietal gyrus (L-SPG) and left V1, sFC values were significantly greater in HM patients than in HCs. In the L-ACG and right V1, sFC values were also significantly greater in HM patients than in HCs [two-tailed, voxel-level < 0.01, Gaussian random field (GRF) correction, cluster-level < 0.05]. In the left calcarine cortex (L-CAL) and left V1, dFC values were significantly lower in HM patients than in HCs. In the right lingual gyrus (R-LING) and right V1, dFC values were also significantly lower in HM patients than in HCs (two-tailed, voxel-level < 0.01, GRF correction, cluster-level < 0.05). Patients with HM exhibited significantly disturbed FC between the V1 and various brain regions, including L-ACG, L-SPG, L-CAL, and R-LING. This disturbance suggests that patients with HM could exhibit impaired cognitive and emotional processing functions, top-down control of visual attention, and visual information processing functions. HM patients and HCs could be distinguished from each other with high accuracy using sFC and dFC variabilities. These findings may help to identify the neural mechanism of decreased visual performance in HM patients.

Converging evidence demonstrated that bronchial asthma (BA) individuals with hypoxia were associated with functional and morphological reorganization in the brain. However, the alterations of the interhemispheric functional connectivity in BA individuals remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess the interhemispheric functional connectivity changes in individuals with hypoxia due to middle-aged BA using voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) methods. In total, 31 BA individuals and 30 healthy controls (HCs) closely matched in age, sex, and education underwent resting-state magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. VMHC analysis was performed to investigate differences in interhemispheric functional connectivity between the two groups. Then, a seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis was conducted to further reveal the abnormal functional connectivity between the altered VMHC regions and the whole brain. Compared with HCs, BA individuals had significantly lower VMHC values in the bilateral basal ganglia/thalamus/insula, cuneus/calcarine/lingual gyrus, precentral and postcentral gyrus. [voxel level P < 0.01, Gaussian random field (GRF) correction, cluster level P < 0.05]. Taking VMHC altered brain areas as seed points, the rsFC values of left insula/supramarginal/postcentral gyrus (PostCG)/inferior parietal lobule (IPL) brain areas in BA were increased. The abnormal resting-state functional connectivity of middle-aged BA is altered in specific brain regions related to the basal ganglia network, visual network, and sensorimotor network, which may be related to the neuropathogenesis of asthma patients. Furthermore, these VMHC and FC values may be important clinical indicators for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma patients.

Sugarcane is a major crop used for food and bioenergy production. Modern cultivars are hybrids derived from crosses between Saccharum officinarum and Saccharum spontaneum. Hybrid cultivars combine favorable characteristics from ancestral species and contain a genome that is highly polyploid and aneuploid, containing 100-130 chromosomes. These complex genomes represent a huge challenge for molecular studies and for the development of biotechnological tools that can facilitate sugarcane improvement. Here, we describe full-length enriched cDNA libraries for Saccharum officinarum, Saccharum spontaneum, and one hybrid genotype (SP803280) and analyze the set of open reading frames (ORFs) in their genomes (i.e., their ORFeomes). We found 38,195 (19%) sugarcane-specific transcripts that did not match transcripts from other databases. Less than 1.6% of all transcripts were ancestor-specific (i.e., not expressed in SP803280). We also found 78,008 putative new sugarcane transcripts that were absent in the largest sugarcane expressed sequence tag database (SUCEST). Functional annotation showed a high frequency of protein kinases and stress-related proteins. We also detected natural antisense transcript expression, which mapped to 94% of all plant KEGG pathways; however, each genotype showed different pathways enriched in antisense transcripts. Our data appeared to cover 53.2% (17,563 genes) and 46.8% (937 transcription factors) of all sugarcane full-length genes and transcription factors, respectively. This work represents a significant advancement in defining the sugarcane ORFeome and will be useful for protein characterization, single nucleotide polymorphism and splicing variant identification, evolutionary and comparative studies, and sugarcane genome assembly and annotation.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's dementia. Mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the pathology of PD. Coiled-coil-helix-coiled-coil-helix domain-containing 2 (CHCHD2) was identified as associated with autosomal dominant PD. However, the mechanism of CHCHD2 in PD remains unclear. Short hairpin RNA (ShRNA)-mediated CHCHD2 knockdown or lentivirus-mediated CHCHD2 overexpression was performed to investigate the impact of CHCHD2 on mitochondrial morphology and function in neuronal tumor cell lines represented with human neuroblastoma (SHSY5Y) and HeLa cells. Blue-native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and two-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE analysis were used to illustrate the role of CHCHD2 in mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system (MICOS). Co-immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting were used to address the interaction between CHCHD2 and Mic10. Serotype injection of adeno-associated vector-mediated CHCHD2 and 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) administration were used to examine the influence of CHCHD2 in vivo. We found that the overexpression of CHCHD2 can protect against methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+)-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and inhibit the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the MPTP-induced mouse model. Furthermore, we identified that CHCHD2 interacted with Mic10, and overexpression of CHCHD2 can protect against MPP + -induced MICOS impairment, while knockdown of CHCHD2 impaired the stability of MICOS. This study indicated that CHCHD2 could interact with Mic10 and maintain the stability of the MICOS complex, which contributes to protecting mitochondrial function in PD.

Hypertension-induced endothelial dysfunction is associated with β-amyloid (Aβ) deposition, a typical pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation, impaired by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase-B(Akt) pathway abnormalities in hypertensive rats, has a critical role in endothelial function. However, it is unknown whether eNOS participates in the hypertension-induced pathology of AD. In this study, we investigated the role of eNOS in Aβ deposition and cognitive function in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive (SHRSP) rats. Physical exercise was used as a promoter, and N -nitro L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) was used as an inhibitor of eNOS to determine the effects of eNOS on SHRSP rats. Compared with Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats, the hypertensive challenge caused cognitive impairment, decreased eNOS levels and increased amyloid precursor protein (APP), β-secretase, and Aβ levels in the cortex and hippocampus. Sixteen weeks of exercise lowered blood pressure (BP), promoted eNOS expression, ameliorated Alzheimer's pathology, and improved cognitive function in 29-week-old SHRSP rats. Furthermore, daily treatment with L-NAME reversed the beneficial effects of exercise on SHRSP rats. Exercise also decreased the protein levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), PI3K, and phospho-Akt (p-Akt, ser473). In addition, long-term exercise increased the expression levels of IGF-1, PI3K, and p-Akt (ser473) in the brains of SHRSP rats. In conclusion, eNOS downregulation contributed to hypertension-induced Alzheimer pathology and cognitive impairment. Long-term exercise initiated in rats at a young age promoted eNOS expression and attenuated vascular-related Alzheimer's pathology via the IGF-1/PI3K/p-Akt pathway in SHRSP rats.