[Advances in neuroimaging mechanisms of lifelong premature ejaculation based on magnetic resonance imaging].

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as a non-invasive neuroimaging technique, has been widely employed to investigate changes in functional brain regions. In recent years, the application of MRI in the study of lifelong premature ejaculation (LPE) has progressively uncovered the pathological mechanisms underlying abnormalities in LPE-associated brain regions. These mechanisms involve brain areas associated with higher-order cognitive and decision-making regulation, sensory and perceptual processing, as well as emotional regulation and reward systems.

Role of Reactive Oxygen Species in Collagen-Induced Platelet Activation and the Protective Effects of Antioxidants.

Collagen plays a crucial role in platelet activation and thrombosis, yet the underlying mechanisms involving reactive oxygen species (ROS) remain incompletely understood. This study investigated how collagen modulates ROS generation and platelet aggregation both in vitro and in vivo, as well as evaluating the protective effects of antioxidants. In vitro, collagen induced dose-dependent platelet aggregation and increased ROS generation, evidenced by the enhanced EMPO adduct formation detected via electron spin resonance (ESR).

Optimization of bile preparation for liquid biopsy in cholangiocarcinoma focusing on circulating tumor DNA and protein stability.

Liquid biopsy using bile offers a promising non-invasive approach for molecular analysis in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). However, the stability of key biomarkers, such as proteins and circulating DNA (ctDNA), at room temperature has not been fully elucidated. This study investigates the temporal stability of proteins and ctDNA in bile samples under room temperature conditions to optimize pre-analytical handling for molecular diagnostics.

Effects of probiotic supplementation on 12 min run performance, mood management, body composition and gut microbiota in amateur marathon runners: A double-blind controlled trial.

Background: Probiotic supplementation has a positive effect on endurance exercise performance and body composition in athletes, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Gut microbiota can provide measurable markers of immune function in athletes, and microbial composition analysis may be sensitive enough to detect stress and metabolic disorders caused by exercise.

Methods: Nineteen healthy active amateur marathon runners (15 male and 4 female) with a mean age of 29.

Effect of hyperlipidemia on the outcome of fertilization in non-obese patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Introduction: It is little known whether hyperlipidemia alone has adverse effects on the outcome of fertilization (IVF) in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

Methods: The PCOS patients with body mass index (BMI) < 30 kg/m were performed IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment, including 208 fresh cycles and 127 frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles. All the patients were divided into hyperlipidemia and control groups, and embryo quality and pregnancy outcomes between the two groups were compared.

Diagnostic Role of Bile Pigment Components in Biliary Tract Cancer.

Bile pigment, bilirubin, and biliverdin concentrations may change as a results of biliary tract cancer (BTC) altering the mechanisms of radical oxidation and heme breakdown. We explored whether changes in bile pigment components could help distinguish BTC from benign biliary illness by evaluating alterations in patients with BTC. We collected bile fluid from 15 patients with a common bile duct stone (CBD group) and 63 individuals with BTC (BTC group).

Efficient Generation of Dopaminergic Neurons from Mouse Ventral Midbrain Astrocytes.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by tremors, bradykinesia, and rigidity. PD is caused by loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the midbrain substantia nigra (SN) and therefore, replenishment of DA neurons via stem cell-based therapy is a potential treatment option. Astrocytes are the most abundant non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system and are promising candidates for reprogramming into neuronal cells because they share a common origin with neurons.

Disrupted Spontaneous Neural Activity and Its Interaction With Pain and Emotion in Temporomandibular Disorders.

Background And Purpose: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD), especially pain-related TMD, are closely related to social and psychological factors. We aimed to measure changes in spontaneous brain activity and its related functional connectivity (FC), as well as FC characteristics within the mood-regulating circuits (MRC) in TMD patients by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI), and to analyze the relationship between these parameters and emotional symptoms.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-one adult TMD patients and thirty demographically matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent clinical scale evaluation and RS-fMRI scanning.

Anti-Growth, Anti-Angiogenic, and Pro-Apoptotic Effects by CX-4945, an Inhibitor of Casein Kinase 2, on HuCCT-1 Human Cholangiocarcinoma Cells via Control of Caspase-9/3, DR-4, STAT-3/STAT-5, Mcl-1, eIF-2α, and HIF-1α.

Overexpression of casein kinase 2 (CK2) has an oncogenic and pro-survival role in many cancers. CX-4945 (Silmitasertib) is a CK2 inhibitor with anti-cancerous and anti-angiogenic effects. Up to date, the anti-cancer effect and mechanism of CX-4945 on human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) remain unclear.

Liquid Biopsy from Bile-Circulating Tumor DNA in Patients with Biliary Tract Cancer.

Although liquid biopsy of blood is useful for cancer diagnosis and prediction of prognosis, diagnostic and prognostic value of ctDNA in bile fluid for BTCs are not clear yet. To determine whether liquid biopsy for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can replace tissue biopsy when assessing somatic mutations in biliary tract cancers (BTCs). Bile samples were obtained from 42 patients with BTC.

Circulating microRNAs as biomarkers in bile-derived exosomes of cholangiocarcinoma.

Purpose: In this pilot study, using next-generation sequencing and integrated messenger RNA (mRNA) sequencing, we investigated circulating microRNA (miRNA) expression profiling from bile-derived exosomes to identify dysregulated miRNA signatures and oncogenic pathways and determine their effects on targeted mRNAs in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Moreover, we explored the possibility that genetic analysis using bile-derived exosomes may replace gene analysis using tissue.

Methods: Bile was collected from a patient with perihilar CCA before curative resection.

Context-Consistent Generation of Indoor Virtual Environments Based on Geometry Constraints.

In this article, we propose a system that can automatically generate immersive and interactive virtual reality (VR) scenes by taking real-world geometric constraints into account. Our system can not only help users avoid real-world obstacles in virtual reality experiences, but also provide context-consistent contents to preserve their sense of presence. To do so, our system first identifies the positions and bounding boxes of scene objects as well as a set of interactive planes from 3D scans.

Usefulness of bile as a biomarker via ferroptosis and cysteine prenylation in cholangiocarcinoma; role of diagnosis and differentiation from benign biliary disease.

Background: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignant cancer of the biliary tract with a poor prognosis. Herein, we investigated possible mechanism of extrahepatic CCA (eCCA) by dysregulated iron metabolism and post-translational modifications (PTMs). Further, we evaluated potential biomarkers in the bile fluid for diagnosis of eCCA and differentiation between eCCA and benign biliary disease.

Probing into the Mechanism of Alkaline Citrus Extract Promoted Apoptosis in Pulmonary Fibroblasts of Bleomycin-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis Mice.

We extracted the primary pulmonary fibroblasts of the normal and bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis mice and investigated the functioning mechanism of citrus alkaline extract (CAE) in the induction of pulmonary fibroblast apoptosis. The expression intensity of vimentin of the pulmonary fibroblasts in the model mice was higher than that in the normal mice. Meanwhile, the positive expression rate and expression intensity of alpha smooth muscle actin (-SMA) of the pulmonary fibroblasts in the model mice were higher than those in the normal mice.

(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG) attenuates the hemodynamics stimulated by caffeine through decrease of catecholamines release.

A human study of the effects on hemodynamics of caffeine and epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG) was performed. Caffeine tablets (200 mg) were orally administered to healthy males aged between 25 and 35 years 30 min after oral administration of EGCG tablets (100 and 200 mg). The increase in BP induced by caffeine was inhibited when co-administrated with EGCG.

Alleviation of kainic acid-induced brain barrier dysfunction by 4-o-methylhonokiol in in vitro and in vivo models.

This experiment was designed to investigate whether 4-O-methylhonokiol (MH), a principal ingredient of Magnolia (M.) officinalis bark, alleviated acute intraperitoneal (i.p.

Reducing effect of IL-32α in the development of stroke through blocking of NF-κB, but enhancement of STAT3 pathways.

Neuroinflammation is important for the development of several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. Since changes of cytokine level are critical for neuroinflammation in the brain, we investigated whether IL-32α overexpression could change neuroinflammation and, thus, affect stroke development. Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) induced development of ischemia, and ischemic neuronal cell death were reduced in IL-32α-overexpressing transgenic mice (IL-32α mice) brain through the decreased release of neuroinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α) and activation of astrocytes, but enhancement of anti-neuroinflammatory cytokines (IL-10).

Caffeine induces behavioural sensitization and overexpression of cocaine-regulated and amphetamine-regulated transcript peptides in mice.

This study examined whether repeated administration of caffeine would induce behavioural sensitization and overexpression of cocaine-regulated and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) peptides in mice. The involvement of dopaminergic receptors and adenosine receptors in caffeine-induced behavioural sensitization and CART overexpression was studied. The relevance of D₁R and D₂R, and A₁R and A(2A)R in the overexpression of CART peptides in mouse striatum was also evaluated.

Inhibitory effect of a 2,4-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal diacetate on neuro-inflammatory reactions via inhibition of STAT1 and STAT3 activation in cultured astrocytes and microglial BV-2 cells.

2,4-Bis(p-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal (Butenal), a tyrosine-fructose Maillard reaction product has been demonstrated as an effective compound for prevention of neuroinflammatory diseases. However, this compound was vulnerable to environmental factors. Our research has been continuously made to improve druggability of Butenal and identified 2,4-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)but-2-enal diacetate (HPBD) as an alternative.

3,4,5-Trimethoxycinnamic acid (TMCA), one of the constituents of Polygalae Radix enhances pentobarbital-induced sleeping behaviors via GABAAergic systems in mice.

These experiments were performed to investigate whether 3,4,5-trimethoxycinnamic acid (TMCA), one of the constituents derived from Polygalae Radix, enhances pentobarbital-induced sleeping behaviors, and to alter sleep architecture through the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic systems in mice. TMCA decreased the locomotor activity. TMCA prolonged total sleep time, and reduced sleep latency induced by pentobarbital, similar to muscimol, a GABAA agonist.

Acceleration of the development of Alzheimer's disease in amyloid beta-infused peroxiredoxin 6 overexpression transgenic mice.

The amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is cytotoxic to neurons and has a central role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Peroxiredoxin 6 (Prdx6) is an antioxidant protein and could act as a cytoprotective protein. However, the role of Prdx6 in neurodegenerative disease has not been studied.

Repeated Administration of Korea Red Ginseng Extract Increases Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep via GABAAergic Systems.

The current inquiry was conducted to assess the change in sleep architecture after long periods of administration to determine whether ginseng can be used in the therapy of sleeplessness. Following post-surgical recovery, red ginseng extract (RGE, 200 mg/ kg) was orally administrated to rats for 9 d. Data were gathered on the 1st, 5th, and 9th day, and an electroencephalogram was recorded 24 h after RGE administration.

Cordycepin Increases Nonrapid Eye Movement Sleep via Adenosine Receptors in Rats.

Cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine) is a naturally occurring adenosine analogue and one of the bioactive constituents isolated from Cordyceps militaris/Cordyceps sinensis, species of the fungal genus Cordyceps. It has traditionally been a prized Chinese folk medicine for the human well-being. Because of similarity of chemical structure of adenosine, cordycepin has been focused on the diverse effects of the central nervous systems (CNSs), like sleep regulation.

Red ginseng extract attenuates kainate-induced excitotoxicity by antioxidative effects.

This study investigated the neuroprotective activity of red ginseng extract (RGE, Panax ginseng, C. A. Meyer) against kainic acid- (KA-) induced excitotoxicity in vitro and in vivo.