General Linear Model Analysis Research Articles

Vitamin D status and its associations with bone mineral density, bone turnover markers, and parathyroid hormone in Chinese postmenopausal women with osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Vitamin D is a key factor in bone metabolism, yet vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are prevalent among postmenopausal women, with potential repercussions on bone mineral density (BMD), bone turnover markers (BTMs), and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Nonetheless, the findings from existing studies exhibit inconsistency, and a notable gap exists in the availability of large-scale investigations. In this real-world study, 8,532 postmenopausal women over 50 years old with a diagnosis of osteopenia (50.9%) and osteoporosis (49.1%) at the first visit were enrolled in this study. Serum 25(OH)D level, PTH, osteocalcin (OC) and Beta-CrossLaps of type 1 collagen containing cross-linked C-telopeptide (β-CTX), were measured. BMD at all sites, including the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip were obtained by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The associations of serum 25(OH)D level with BMDs and BTMs were investigated using spearman correlation analysis and analysis of general linear model adjusted by age and body mass index. The serum 25(OH)D level was 22.17 ± 9.75 ng/mL among all patients included in this study. For the osteopenia group, the serum 25(OH)D level was 22.40 ± 9.41 ng/mL, while for the osteoporosis group, it measured 21.93 ± 10.08 ng/mL. In the osteopenia group, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, insufficiency and sufficiency was 45.8, 34.6, and 19.6%, respectively, which was close to that of the osteoporosis group (47.4, 34.3, and 18.3%) (p = 0.202). Spearman correlation analysis unveiled negative associations between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and both BTMs and PTH within both the osteopenia and osteoporosis group. In the osteoporosis group, there were positive correlations between 25(OH)D levels and femoral neck BMD (r = 0.040, p = 0.010) and total hip BMD (r = 0.053, p = 0.001). Furthermore, we found that for the osteopenia group, greater vitamin D levels were associated with greater femoral neck BMD (p = 0.020) and total hip BMD (p = 0.008) and lower β-CTX (p < 0.001), OC (p < 0.001), and PTH (p < 0.001). The same trends were seen in osteoporosis patients (p < 0.05), and with greater lumbar spine BMD with higher levels of 25(OH)D (p = 0.009). This study showed high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in Chinese postmenopausal women with osteopenia and osteoporosis and the relationships between vitamin D and BMD, BTMs and PTH. The results contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how vitamin D may impact bone health.

Do SOD2 and SOD3 gene polymorphisms impact the oral health-related quality of life in Para athletes?

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether polymorphisms in SOD2 and SOD3 genes modulate the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of Para athletes with dental caries experience. The cross-sectional study included 264 Para athletes (143 in athletics, 61 in weightlifting and 60 in swimming). A trained and calibrated team recorded the decayed, missing and filled teeth index (DMFT). The Brazilian version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) was used to measure OHRQoL. Genomic DNA was extracted from the athletes' saliva, and genetic polymorphisms in the SOD2 (rs5746136 and rs10370) and SOD3 (rs2855262 and rs13306703) genes were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. A multivariate General Linear Model analysis, adjusted for sex, revealed that the SOD3 gene polymorphism (rs2855262) had a significant effect on the psychological disability domain [codominant (p = 0.045) and recessive (p=0.038) models]. The SOD2 gene polymorphism (rs5746136) had a significant effect on the total OHIP-14 score [dominant model (p = 0.038)] and the psychological discomfort [dominant model (p = 0.034)] and physical disability [codominant model (p=0.037)] domains. Presence of the SOD2 rs10370 polymorphism led to statistical differences in the total score [codominant (p = 0.026) and dominant (p = 0.023) models] and the handicap domain scores [codominant (p = 0.027) and dominant (p = 0.032) models]. Polymorphisms of the SOD2 and SOD3 genes may be important biomarkers of OHRQoL in Para athletes with dental caries experience.

IMPLICATIONS OF RESIDENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS ON RESIDENT-TO-RESIDENT AGGRESSION

Abstract This study examines factors associated with resident-to-resident aggression (RRA) in long term care facilities in Hong Kong. A total of 800 personal care worker participated. Participants averaged 42.03 years of age (SD=7.63), were mostly female (92.7%), married (79.1%) and reported an average of 6.28 years of experience in long term care. 96.9 percent of the participants provided care to residents with dementia but 58.9% considered the training they received insufficient. RRA was common: All participants reported having witnessed verbal aggression (100%), 18% disruptive behaviors, 11.8% physical violence, and 3.1% sexual aggression. The following analysis used a subset of 412 participant from 29 long term care facilities where environmental assessments were conducted. General linear model analysis showed that RRA was associated with both resident and environmental characteristics. Victims’ neuropsychiatry symptoms, perpetrator male gender and neuropsychiatric symptoms were associated with higher RRA. Separation of residents with and without dementia, inappropriate use of nursing unit for residents as measured by Therapeutic Environment Screening Survey for Nursing Homes (TESS-NH), lack of functional and attractiveness courtyard, less cleanliness of spaces, insufficient lighting and insufficient orientation / cueing as measured by Professional Environmental Assessment Procedure (PEAP) were also associated with higher RRA. There is an urgent need to prevent and intervene RRA in long term care facilities. Improving management of neuropsychiatric symptoms and creating a supportive and accommodating environment could be helpful in this regard.

A network approach to the investigation of childhood irritability: probing frustration using social stimuli.

Self-regulation in early childhood develops within a social context. Variations in such development can be attributed to inter-individual behavioral differences, which can be captured both as facets of temperament and across a normal:abnormal dimensional spectrum. With increasing emphasis on irritability as a robust early-life transdiagnostic indicator of broad psychopathological risk, linkage to neural mechanisms is imperative. Currently, there is inconsistency in the identification of neural circuits that underlie irritability in children, especially in social contexts. This study aimed to address this gap by utilizing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm to investigate pediatric anger/frustration using social stimuli. Seventy-three children (M = 6 years, SD = 0.565) were recruited from a larger longitudinal study on irritability development. Caregivers completed questionnaires assessing irritable temperament and clinical symptoms of irritability. Children participated in a frustration task during fMRI scanning that was designed to induce frustration through loss of a desired prize to an animated character. Data were analyzed using both general linear modeling (GLM) and independent components analysis (ICA) and examined from the temperament and clinical perspectives. ICA results uncovered an overarching network structure above and beyond what was revealed by traditional GLM analyses. Results showed that greater temperamental irritability was associated with significantly diminished spatial extent of activation and low-frequency power in a network comprised of the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and the precuneus (p < .05, FDR-corrected). However, greater severity along the spectrum of clinical expression of irritability was associated with significantly increased extent and intensity of spatial activation as well as low- and high-frequency neural signal power in the right caudate (p < .05, FDR-corrected). Our findings point to specific neural circuitry underlying pediatric irritability in the context of frustration using social stimuli. Results suggest that a deliberate focus on the construction of network-based neurodevelopmental profiles and social interaction along the normal:abnormal irritability spectrum is warranted to further identify comprehensive transdiagnostic substrates of the irritability.

The Effect of Different Vegetation Restoration Types on Soil Quality in Mountainous Areas of Beijing

Soil quality is a very important indicator used to assess ecosystem restoration states in terms of vegetation recovery and establishment. Evaluating the soil quality of different vegetation restoration types in mountainous areas of Beijing and identifying their influencing factors would provide a scientific basis and be helpful for vegetation restoration in the future. Six vegetation types (or communities), including Platycladus orientalis (L.) Franco pure forest (POP), Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. pure forest (PTP), Platycladus orientalis–Pinus tabulaeformis mixed forest (PPM), Platycladus orientalis coniferous and broadleaved mixed forest (POCB), Pinus tabulaeformis coniferous and broadleaved mixed forest (PTCB), deciduous broadleaved mixed forest (DBMF), and one area of non-afforested land (NF), with similar stand conditions were selected and fourteen factors of soil physical and chemical characteristics were measured and used to establish a total data set (TDS), while a minimum data set (MDS) was obtained by using the principal component analysis (PCA) and Pearson correlation analysis methods. Two scoring methods, linear (L) and non-linear (NL), were used to calculate the soil quality index (SQI), and the key factors influencing soil quality by vegetation were identified by a general linear model (GLM), PCA, and correlation analysis. The results showed that: (1) The screened MDS indicators which showed good relationships with the SQIs in the study areas were total nitrogen (TN), sand content, total potassium (TK), pH, and available water capacity (AWC). The SQI–NLM method has better applicability. (2) The contribution rates of vegetation to different soil factors accounted for 28.644% (TN), 21.398% (sand content), 24.551% (TK), 16.075% (pH), and 9.332% (AWC). (3) TN showed a positive relationship with all vegetation types; the content of TN in PTCB and DBMF was obviously larger than in the other types in the 0–10 cm layer; PPM, PTCB, and POCB affected the sand content, which showed negative correlativity; and DBMF showed positive correlativity with AWC. The mechanism of how different species affect TN, sand content, and AWC should be focused on and taken into consideration in further studies.

P100: Education level is associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with amnestic-mild cognitive impairment

Objective:We aimed to examine differences in the severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) subsyndromes according to education level among patients with amnestic-mild cognitive impairment (a-MCI) and to identify patient demographics related to NPS subsyndromes.Methods:Overall, 140 patients with a-MCI were included. We divided the patients into three groups according to their educational level (primary education, middle education, and high education) and compared their demographics. To explore the severity of NPS subsyndromes according to educational level, we used the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire (NPI-Q) after adjustments for the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score. Finally, NPS subsyndromes that were identified as being related to educational level were further explored using a general linear model (GLM).Results:Significant differences in several demographics were observed among the three groups. Among the NPS subsyndromes, the scores for aggressiveness were significantly higher in the primary and high education groups than in the middle education group, while the apathy/eating problem scores were significantly higher in the primary education group than in the other groups. The GLM analyses showed that aggressiveness was related to marital status and the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI-J) score, while apathy/eating problems was related to the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) percentage, the ZBI-J score, and the education level in years.Conclusion:Among NPS subsyndromes, aggressiveness and apathy/eating problems differed according to education level in patients with a-MCI. A GLM analysis suggested that not only education level, but also various other factors should be considered when determining the need for NPS interventions.

Tau accumulation within the default mode network as a predictor of longitudinal clinical decline in atypical Alzheimer’s disease

AbstractBackgroundIdentifying individuals with symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at greater risk of steeper cognitive decline would allow professionals and loved‐ones to make better‐informed medical, support, and life‐planning decisions. In typical AD, the magnitude of cerebral tau accumulation in vivo predicts clinical deterioration. Despite its promise, the utility of tau PET in predicting cognitive decline in individuals with atypical clinical presentations of AD remains unclear. We examined the relationship between baseline tau PET signal and the rate of subsequent clinical decline across atypical AD syndromes.MethodFifty‐seven A/T/N‐positive patients (mean age = 64.13 ± 7.72; 24M/33F) with atypical syndromes of AD (19 Posterior Cortical Atrophy, 16 logopenic variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia, 16 dysexecutive AD, five early‐onset AD with single‐domain impairment, and one Corticobasal Syndrome) and 24 amyloid‐negative control participants were included in this study. All participants underwent 18F‐Flortaucipir (FTP) PET, amyloid PET, and structural MRI scans at baseline. The rate of clinical decline was quantified as the annualized change in Clinical Dementia Rating Sum‐of‐Boxes scores (CDR‐SB) at baseline and follow‐up visits (mean time interval = 1.24 ± 0.34 years). General linear model analyses were performed to examine the pattern of baseline cortical tau deposition in atypical AD patients and its relationship with the rate of clinical decline.ResultCompared with amyloid‐negative controls, atypical AD patients showed prominent FTP uptake in posterior cortical regions at baseline, including bilateral posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus and lateral temporo‐parietal cortices, which canonically constitute the posterior default mode network (DMN). A brain‐behavior regression analysis revealed widespread regions within the DMN where the magnitude of baseline FTP uptake predicted the rate of change in CDR‐SB, with anterior DMN regions (medial prefrontal and anterior temporal cortices) most strongly predicting clinical decline.ConclusionGreater baseline tau accumulation in the anterior DMN, possibly suggesting more extensive tau spread in this network, predicts faster clinical decline in atypical AD. This may serve as an imaging biomarker to guide prognostication for patients with atypical AD and their families and to inform the design of clinical trials, including potentially recruiting multiple clinical phenotypes of AD into a single trial.

Assessing functional impulsivity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

In neuromarketing, a recently developing, inter-disciplinary field combining neuroscience and marketing, neurophysiological responses have been applied to understand consumers' behaviors. While many studies have focused on explicit attitudes, few have targeted implicit aspects. To explore the possibility of measuring implicit desire for a product, we focused on functional impulsivity related to obtaining a product as a reward and devised a product-rewarded traffic light task (PRTLT). The PRTLT requires participants to take risks under time pressure in order for them to maximize rewards in the form of commercial products, with the brand of products being an independent variable. Thus, we explored the feasibility of applying a PRTLT in a neuromarketing context to implicitly differentiate between the perceived value of products and supported our data with neurophysiological evidence obtained using fNIRS to concurrently monitor cortical activation. Thirty healthy students were asked to perform the PRTLT. We compared participants' functional impulsivity toward two different chocolate products that had obviously different values. Along with their behavioral responses, participants' cerebral hemodynamic responses during the PRTLT were measured using fNIRS covering the lateral prefrontal cortices and the neighboring regions. We conducted adaptive general linear model (GLM) analysis for hemodynamic responses. First, we identified the regions involved in the PRTLT. Second, we compared activation patterns between expensive and inexpensive conditions. Behavioral analysis confirmed that the expensive condition trended toward producing a higher PRTLT score than did the inexpensive condition. fNIRS neuroimaging analysis showed task-derived activation in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and frontopolar cortex (FPC). Moreover, we found significant differences between expensive and inexpensive conditions in the cortical activations in the FPC and the left-DLPFC. These results imply that the two products evoked different functional impulsivity, and the hemodynamic responses reflect that. Thus, we concluded that it is possible to observe differences in demand for products using a PRTLT that evokes functional impulsivity. The current study presents a new possibility in neuromarketing research of observing differences between consumers' covert attitudes toward commercially available products, possibly providing a neural basis related to hidden needs for some products.

Addiction-like alterations of brain activity in recreational video gamers detected via the cue-reactivity fMRI experiment

The non-substance addictions are starting to be classified as diseases or disorders, but their diagnostics strongly rely on questionnaires, making it unclear if there any underlying changes prior to reaching the addiction detection threshold. We aim to detect if the volunteers with extensive consumption of video games, yet below the IGD-20 test addiction threshold, i.e., the recreational gamers, exhibit any changes in the brain function similar to the ones in substance- and non-substance addictions. We have selected 47 participants classified as test and control groups based on their weekly average gaming time. We perform functional magnetic resonance imaging with individualized cue-reactivity paradigm and compare the results of the general linear model and psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses between the groups. The measurements demonstrate activation difference in several areas, and changes in PPI between a number of seed/voxel cluster pairs. We have classified the detected changes according to the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model and found that the affective and executive functions are likely to be affected by recreational gaming, while the cognitive functions are not. The results suggest that these changes along with the reinforcement feedback loop suggested by the model can put the recreational gamers in the addiction development risk group.

Neurovascular coupling in early stage dementia – A case-control study

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is frequently found post mortem in Alzheimer’s dementia, but often undetected during life especially since in vivo hallmarks of CAA and its vascular damage become overt relatively late in the disease process. Decreased neurovascular coupling to visual stimulation has been put forward as an early MRI marker for CAA disease severity. The current study investigates the role of neurovascular coupling in AD related dementia and its early stages. We included 25 subjective cognitive impairment, 33 mild cognitive impairment and 17 dementia patients and 44 controls. All participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and neuropsychological assessment. Univariate general linear modeling analyses were used to assess neurovascular coupling between patient groups and controls. Moreover, linear regression analyses was used to assess the associations between neurovascular coupling and cognition. Our data show that BOLD amplitude is lower in dementia (mean 0.8 ± 0.2, p = 0.001) and MCI patients (mean 0.9 ± 0.3, p = 0.004) compared with controls (mean 1.1 ± 0.2). A low BOLD amplitude was associated with low scores in multiple cognitive domains. We conclude that cerebrovascular dysfunction, most likely due CAA, is an important comorbidity in early stages of dementia and has an independent effect on cognition.

Differential neurocognitive profiles in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder subtypes revealed by the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery.

Adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (aADHD) represents a heterogeneous entity incorporating different subgroups in terms of symptomatology, course, and neurocognition. Although neurocognitive dysfunction is generally associated with aADHD, its severity, association with self-reported symptoms, and differences between subtypes remain unclear. We investigated 61 outpatients (65.6% male, mean age 31.5 ± 9.5) diagnosed using DSM-5 criteria together with age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls (HC) (n = 58, 63.8% male, mean age 32.3 ± 9.6). Neurocognitive alterations were assessed using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) and compared between groups using the generalized linear model (GLM) method. Multivariate effects were tested by principal component analysis combined with multivariate pattern analysis. Self-reported symptom severity was tested for correlations with neurocognitive performance. GLM analyses revealed nominally significant differences between the aADHD and HC groups in several domains, however, only the Rapid Visual Information Processing measures survived correction, indicating impaired sustained attention and response inhibition in the aADHD group. Comparison of the predominantly inattentive and the hyperactive-impulsive/combined subtypes yielded nominally significant differences with higher levels of dysfunction in the inattentive group. In the stepwise discriminant analysis aADHD and HC groups were best separated with 2 factors representing sustained attention and reaction time. We found only weak correlations between symptom severity and CANTAB factors. aADHD patients are neuropsychologically heterogeneous and subtypes show different neurocognitive profiles. Differences between the aADHD and HC groups were driven primarily by the inattentive subtype. Sustained attention and its factor derivative showed the most significant alterations in aADHD patients.

Experimental Validation of Suitability of a River for Natural Reproduction of Trout of Lake Sevan Using Egg Incubation

The endangered endemic species Sevan trout (Salmo ischchan Kessler, 1877) is under the threat of extinction and its survival is dependent on restocking by smolts. Thus, there is an urgent need to find an effective solution for restocking wild populations. After developing a theoretical methodology to reveal the most suitable parts of spawning rivers for natural reproduction, we consider the incubation of eggs in the wild as an appropriate method for the validation of the results of the theoretical assessment. Thus, we estimate the eggs’ survival differences in the wild and microcosm conditions which found significant differences in the sac-fry emergence rate in the zones assessed as “partly suitable” and “unsuitable”. Also, the results show that the emergence of eggs in the wild was less than in the microcosm conditions and the success rate of emergence of eyed eggs in the wild was higher than that of the green eggs. The results of one-way ANOVA, correlation and general linear mixed model analyses have in general proven the theoretical assessment but raise some questions on the completeness of using a set of abiotic criteria as the range of success during different experiments varies significantly.

The impact of emotional valence and stimulus habituation on fMRI signal reliability during emotion generation

BackgroundThe emotional domain is often impaired across many neurological diseases, for this reason it represents a relevant target of rehabilitation interventions. Functional changes in neural activity related to treatment can be assessed with functional MRI (fMRI) using emotion-generation tasks in longitudinal settings. Previous studies demonstrated that within-subject fMRI signal reliability can be affected by several factors such as repetition suppression, type of task and brain anatomy. However, the differential role of repetition suppression and emotional valence of the stimuli on the fMRI signal reliability and reproducibility during an emotion-generation task involving the vision of emotional pictures is yet to be determined. MethodsSixty-two healthy subjects were enrolled and split into two groups: group A (21 subjects, test-retest reliability on same-day and with same-task-form), group B (30 subjects, test-retest reproducibility with 4-month-interval using two equivalent-parallel forms of the task). Test-retest reliability and reproducibility of fMRI responses and patterns were evaluated separately for positive and negative emotional valence conditions in both groups. The analyses were performed voxel-wise, using the general linear model (GLM), and via a region-of-interest (ROI)-based approach, by computing the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) on the obtained contrasts. ResultsThe voxel-wise GLM test yielded no significant differences for both conditions in reliability and reproducibility analyses. As to the ROI-based approach, across all areas with significant main effects of the stimuli, the reliability, as measured with ICC, was poor (<0.4) for the positive condition and ranged from poor to excellent (0.4–0.75) for the negative condition. The ICC-based reproducibility analysis, related to the comparison of two different parallel forms, yielded similar results. DiscussionThe voxel-wise GLM analysis failed to capture the poor reliability of fMRI signal which was instead highlighted using the ROI-based ICC analysis. The latter showed higher signal reliability for negative valence stimuli with respect to positive ones. The implementation of two parallel forms allowed to exclude neural suppression as the predominant effect causing low signal reliability, which could be instead ascribed to the employment of different neural strategies to cope with emotional stimuli over time. This is an invaluable information for a better assessment of treatment and rehabilitation effects in longitudinal studies of emotional neural processing.

A study on oral health and quality of life in patients with hypertension

Objectives: This study investigated the oral health and quality of life of patients with hypertension using the raw data of the 8th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the second year (2020) and 1,269 subjects were analyzed. Methods: The data underwent frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, general linear model analysis, and linear regression analysis using SPSS Statistics 26.0. Results: The quality of life (EuroQol-5 dimension: EQ-5D) of patients with hypertension was surveyed at 0.92 points/1 point. Quality of life according to general characteristics showed significant differences in gender (p&lt;0.001), age (p&lt;0.001), household income (p&lt;0.001), and education level (p&lt;0.001). Quality of life according to oral health showed significant differences in chewing discomfort (p&lt;0.001), speaking discomfort (p&lt;0.001), oral examination (p=0.004), toothache experience (p=0.020), subjective oral health (p&lt;0.001) and oral care product use (p=0.006). Factors affecting quality of life were gender, age, household income, education level, chewing discomfort (B=-0.027, p=0.018), speaking discomfort (B=-0.049, p=0.026), toothache experience (B=-0.018, p=0.027) and subjective oral health (B=0.022, p&lt;0.001). Conclusions: Based on the above results, it was confirmed that the oral health of patients with hypertension is a factor influencing the quality of life; thus, it is considered that it will be used as basic data for research on measures to improve oral health and quality of life.

Functional MRI activation of the nucleus tractus solitarius after taste stimuli at ultra-high field: a proof-of-concept single-subject study

Using ultra-high field (7 Tesla) functional MRI (fMRI), we conducted the first in-vivo functional neuroimaging study of the normal human brainstem specifically designed to examine neural signals in the Nucleus Tractus Solitarius (NTS) in response to all basic taste stimuli. NTS represents the first relay station along the mammalian taste processing pathway which originates at the taste buds in the oral cavity and passes through the thalamus before reaching the primary taste cortex in the brain. In our proof-of-concept study, we acquired data from one adult volunteer using fMRI at 1.2 mm isotropic resolution and performed a univariate general linear model analysis. During fMRI acquisition, three shuffled injections of sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami solutions were administered following an event-related design. We observed a statistically significant blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response in the anatomically predicted location of the NTS for all five basic tastes. The results of this study appear statistically robust, even though they were obtained from a single volunteer. The information derived from a similar experimental strategy may inspire novel research aimed at clarifying important details of central nervous system involvement in eating disorders, at designing and monitoring tailored therapeutic strategies.

Graded brain fMRI response to somatic and visual acupuncture stimulation.

Increased stimulation can enhance acupuncture clinical response; however, the impact of acupuncture stimulation as "dosage" has rarely been studied. Furthermore, acupuncture can include both somatic and visual components. We assessed both somatic and visual acupuncture dosage effects on sensory ratings and brain response. Twenty-four healthy participants received somatic (needle inserted, manually stimulated) and visual (needle video, no manual stimulation) acupuncture over the leg at three different dosage levels (control, low-dose, and high-dose) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants reported the perceived deqi sensation for each acupuncture dose level. Blood-oxygen-level dependent imaging data were analyzed by general linear model and multivariate pattern analysis. For both somatic and visual acupuncture, reported deqi sensation increased with increased dosage of acupuncture stimulation. Brain fMRI analysis demonstrated that higher dosage of somatic acupuncture produced greater brain responses in sensorimotor processing areas, including anterior and posterior insula and secondary somatosensory cortex. For visual acupuncture, higher dosage of stimulation produced greater brain responses in visual-processing areas, including the middle temporal visual areas (V5/MT+) and occipital cortex. Psychophysical and psychophysiological responses to both somatic and visual acupuncture were graded in response to higher doses. Our findings suggest that acupuncture response may be enhanced by the dosage of needling-specific and nonspecific components, represented by different neural mechanisms.

Comparative study and relationship analysis between purine content, uric acid, superoxide dismutase, and growth traits in purebred and crossbred Thai native chickens.

The objective was to compare and analyze the relationship between growth, purine content, uric acid, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in purebred and crossbred Thai native chickens. A total of 300 Thai native chickens were divided into 3 groups. Group 1 was purebred Thai native chickens (100%TN), Group 2 was 50% Thai native chickens (50%TN), and Group 3 was 25% Thai native chickens (25%TN). Data included the body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), and breast circumference (BrC). At 6, 8, and 10 weeks of age, 10 chickens from each group were randomly euthanized to collect breast meat, liver, and blood samples to analyze the purine content consisting of total purine, adenine, guanine, xanthine, and hypoxanthine, and uric acid, in breast meat and liver and SOD in blood. A general linear model, Pearson correlation and principal component analysis were used to analyze the significant differences and relationship between variables. The results showed the 25%TN group had the highest growth traits at every age, while the 100%TN group had the lowest (p < 0.05). Consistent with the analysis results of purine values, purine content and uric acid in breast meat and liver and SOD in blood decreased with age (p < 0.05). The correlations between purine content (total purine, adenine, guanine, xanthine, and hypoxanthine) and growth traits (BW, ADG, and BrC) ranged from moderate negative to moderate positive (-0.542 to 0.253)(p < 0.05). The correlations between uric acid and growth traits (0.348-0.760) and SOD and growth traits (0.132-0.516) were low to moderate positive with significant differences (p < 0.05). The principal component plot, which highlighted three principal components (PC 1, PC 2, and PC 3), explained 86.44 and 86.53% of the total information in breast meat and liver for selecting animals for optimal balance of the variation in the growth traits, purine content, uric acid, and SOD. Although purebred Thai native chickens showed the lowest growth traits, purine content, uric acid, and SOD were also lowest compared to crossbred Thai native chickens. Therefore, the development of genetics in Thai native chickens to produce healthy food could be possible.

Effects of urinary barium exposure on bone mineral density in general population.

Previous studies have reported that exposures to metals are associated with bone health, but are mostly restricted to a few of the most frequent hazardous metals. The effects of barium (Ba) are not fully understood. A cross-sectional study involving 1532 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 2013-2016) was conducted. Generalized linear model (GLM) and restricted cubic spline (RCS) were applied to evaluate the relationship of urinary Ba exposure with BMDs. According to the GLM analyses, urinary Ba was adversely correlated with total BMD (percent change: -0.75; 95% CI: -1.21, -0.29) and lumbar BMD (percent change: -0.76; 95% CI: -1.47, -0.04). Compared with the lowest tertile of Ba levels, the percentage change of T3 was -2.06 (-3.36, -0.73) for total BMD and was -2.39 (-4.51, -0.24) for lumbar BMD, showing a significant linear trend (P trend = 0.014 and P trend = 0.047, respectively). The RCS models showed a monotonically decreasing relationship of urinary Ba with total BMD and lumbar BMD. Moreover, the positive joint effects were observed between Pb (lead) and Ba, and Cd (cadmium) and Ba on BMDs. According to our findings, exposure to Ba may lead to a decrease in BMDs. Possible positive joint effects of Ba and Pb, and Ba and Cd on BMDs were found. Exposure to Ba may contribute to poor skeletal health.

Acquisition and processing methods of whole-brain layer-fMRI VASO and BOLD: The Kenshu dataset

Cortical depth-dependent functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI), also known as layer-fMRI, has the potential to capture directional neural information flow of brain computations within and across large-scale cortical brain networks. For example, layer-fMRI can differentiate feedforward and feedback cortical input in hierarchically organized brain networks. Recent advancements in 3D-echo-planar imaging (EPI) sampling approaches and MR-contrast generation strategies have allowed proof-of-principle studies showing that layer-fMRI can provide sufficient data quality for capturing laminar changes in functional connectivity. These studies have, however, not shown how reliable the signal is and how repeatable the respective results are. It is especially unclear whether whole-brain layer-fMRI functional connectivity protocols are widely applicable across common neuroscience-driven analysis approaches. Moreover, there are no established preprocessing fMRI methods that are optimized to work for whole-brain layer-fMRI datasets. In this work, we aimed to serve the field of layer-fMRI and build tools for future routine whole-brain layer-fMRI in application-based neuroscience research. We have developed publicly available sequences, acquisition protocols, and processing pipelines for whole-brain layer-fMRI. These protocols are validated across 60 hours of scanning in nine participants. Specifically, we identified and exploited methodological advancements for maximizing tSNR efficiency and test-retest reliability. We are sharing an extensive multi-modal whole-brain layer-fMRI dataset (20 scan hours of movie watching in a single participant) for benchmarking future method developments: The Kenshu dataset. With this dataset, we are also exemplifying the usefulness of whole-brain layer-fMRI in conjunction with commonly applied analysis approaches in modern cognitive neuroscience fMRI studies. This includes connectivity analyses, representational similarity matrix estimations, general linear model analyses, principal component analysis clustering, and so on. We believe that this work paves the road for future routine measurements of directional functional connectivity across the entire brain.

Estimation of infiltration efficiency of ambient PM2.5 in urban residences of Beijing during winter

Fine particulate matter pollution has become a major public health concern in the urban areas of China. Ambient PM2.5 concentrations measured at fixed sites are commonly used as an exposure surrogate, although exposure to ambient PM2.5 primarily occurs in indoor environments. In this study, valid indoor and outdoor mass concentrations of PM2.5 during winter, were concurrently measured in 26 urban residences in Beijing. The infiltration factor (Finf), defined as the fraction of ambient PM2.5 which penetrates indoors and remains suspended, was estimated using a recursive model. The environmental conditions that significantly influenced Finf were screened using a general linear model and multiple regression analysis. Finf during winter was 0.52 ± 0.25 with large home-by-home variability. The results suggested that: (1) infiltration from outdoor to indoor environments remarkably reduced the concentrations of ambient PM2.5; and (2) using ambient PM2.5, as an exposure surrogate, can result in exposure misclassification. Improved ventilation was found to increase Finf, whereas an increase in indoor RH from 19.20 to 51.30% resulted in a reduction in Finf. The residences proximate to arterial roads were found to be prone for the infiltration of ambient PM2.5. There were remarkable seasonal differences in the infiltration behavior of ambient PM2.5.