The probability of lung cancer in patients with pulmonary nodules detected via low-dose computed tomography screening in China.

Objective: Low dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening has been proven to be effective in reducing lung cancer mortality, but the ensuing high false-positive and overdiagnosis rates shackle the effectiveness of lung cancer screening (LCS) in China. Nodule malignancy prediction models may be an applicable solution.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study to develop and internally validate the model using data from the ongoing Henan province Cancer Screening Program in Urban China (CanSPUC).

Prediction method for the tension force of support ropes in flexible rockfall barriers based on full-scale experiments and numerical analysis.

This paper proposes a prediction method for the tension force of support ropes in flexible rockfall barriers. The method is based on two full-scale model tests with an impact energy of 3000 kJ, as well as 36 set numerical models featuring varying lengths and impact energies. From the results of full scale tests and numerical models, it is inferred that the tension force at the end of the support rope is significantly less than that at the point of impact, exhibiting an approximate Gaussian attenuation distribution with propagation distance.

Special issue "The advance of solid tumor research in China": Participants with a family history of cancer have a higher participation rate in low-dose computed tomography for lung cancer screening.

We aimed to determine participation in low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) of individuals with a family history of common cancers in a population-based screening program to provide timely evidence in high-risk populations in China. The analysis was conducted using data from the Cancer Screening Program in Urban China (CanSPUC), which recruited 282 377 participants aged 40 to 74 years from eight cities in the Henan province. Using the CanSPUC risk score system, 55 428 participants were evaluated to have high risk for lung cancer and were recommended for LDCT.

Corrigendum: Construction and Validation of a Lung Cancer Risk Prediction Model for Non-Smokers in China.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.

Electroencephalographic Evidence for Individual Neural Inertia in Mice That Decreases With Time.

Previous studies have demonstrated that the brain has an intrinsic resistance to changes in arousal state. This resistance is most easily measured at the population level in the setting of general anesthesia and has been termed neural inertia. To date, no study has attempted to determine neural inertia in individuals.

Construction and Validation of a Lung Cancer Risk Prediction Model for Non-Smokers in China.

Background: About 15% of lung cancers in men and 53% in women are not attributable to smoking worldwide. The aim was to develop and validate a simple and non-invasive model which could assess and stratify lung cancer risk in non-smokers in China.

Methods: A large-sample size, population-based study was conducted under the framework of the Cancer Screening Program in Urban China (CanSPUC).

Elevated preoptic brain activity in zebrafish glial glycine transporter mutants is linked to lethargy-like behaviors and delayed emergence from anesthesia.

Delayed emergence from anesthesia was previously reported in a case study of a child with Glycine Encephalopathy. To investigate the neural basis of this delayed emergence, we developed a zebrafish glial glycine transporter (glyt1 - / -) mutant model. We compared locomotor behaviors; dose-response curves for tricaine, ketamine, and 2,6-diisopropylphenol (propofol); time to emergence from these anesthetics; and time to emergence from propofol after craniotomy in glyt1-/- mutants and their siblings.

Evaluation of a Low-Dose Computed Tomography Lung Cancer Screening Program in Henan, China.

Importance: Lung cancer screening has been widely implemented in Europe and the US. However, there is little evidence on participation and diagnostic yields in population-based lung cancer screening in China.

Objective: To assess the participation rate and detection rate of lung cancer in a population-based screening program and the factors associated with participation.

Sex effects on behavioral markers of emergence from propofol and isoflurane anesthesia in rats.

Clinical studies have demonstrated sex-related differences in recovery from surgical anesthesia. This study aimed to characterize the emergence pattern following two anesthesia regimens in both sexes of rats. We considered six different markers of emergence from anesthesia: sigh, eye blinking, forelimb movement, mastication, neck extension, and recovery of the righting reflex (RORR).

Reframing the Biological Basis of Neuroprotection Using Functional Genomics: Differentially Weighted, Time-Dependent Multifactor Pathogenesis of Human Ischemic Brain Damage.

Neuroprotection studies are generally unable to demonstrate efficacy in humans. Our specific hypothesis is that multiple pathophysiologic pathways, of variable importance, contribute to ischemic brain damage. As a corollary to this, we discuss the broad hypothesis that a multifaceted approach will improve the probability of efficacious neuroprotection.

Sleep Homeostasis and General Anesthesia: Are Fruit Flies Well Rested after Emergence from Propofol?

Background: Shared neurophysiologic features between sleep and anesthetic-induced hypnosis indicate a potential overlap in neuronal circuitry underlying both states. Previous studies in rodents indicate that preexisting sleep debt discharges under propofol anesthesia. The authors explored the hypothesis that propofol anesthesia also dispels sleep pressure in the fruit fly.

α2-Adrenergic stimulation of the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus destabilizes the anesthetic state.

The sleep-promoting ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) shares reciprocal inhibitory inputs with wake-active neuronal nuclei, including the locus ceruleus. Electrophysiologically, sleep-promoting neurons in the VLPO are directly depolarized by the general anesthetic isoflurane and hyperpolarized by norepinephrine, a wake-promoting neurotransmitter. However, the integration of these competing influences on the VLPO, a sleep- and anesthetic-active structure, has yet to be evaluated in either brain slices in vitro or the intact organism.

Direct activation of sleep-promoting VLPO neurons by volatile anesthetics contributes to anesthetic hypnosis.

Background: Despite seventeen decades of continuous clinical use, the neuronal mechanisms through which volatile anesthetics act to produce unconsciousness remain obscure. One emerging possibility is that anesthetics exert their hypnotic effects by hijacking endogenous arousal circuits. A key sleep-promoting component of this circuitry is the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO), a hypothalamic region containing both state-independent neurons and neurons that preferentially fire during natural sleep.

Design and biophysical characterization of a monomeric four-alpha-helix bundle protein Aα₄ with affinity for the volatile anesthetic halothane.

A monomeric four-α-helix bundle protein Aα₄ was designed as a step towards investigating the interaction of volatile general anesthetics with their putative membrane protein targets. The alpha helices, connected by glycine loops, have the sequence A, B, B', A'. The DNA sequence was designed to make the helices with the same amino acid sequences (helix A and A', B and B', respectively) as different as possible, while using codons which are favorable for expression in E.

Recognition of anesthetic barbiturates by a protein binding site: a high resolution structural analysis.

Barbiturates potentiate GABA actions at the GABA(A) receptor and act as central nervous system depressants that can induce effects ranging from sedation to general anesthesia. No structural information has been available about how barbiturates are recognized by their protein targets. For this reason, we tested whether these drugs were able to bind specifically to horse spleen apoferritin, a model protein that has previously been shown to bind many anesthetic agents with affinities that are closely correlated with anesthetic potency.

Competitive protein adsorption on polysaccharide and hyaluronate modified surfaces.

Adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and fibrinogen (Fg) was measured on six distinct bare and dextran- and hyaluronate-modified silicon surfaces created using two dextran grafting densities and three hyaluronic acid (HA) sodium salts derived from human umbilical cord, rooster comb and Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Film thickness and surface morphology depended on the HA molecular weight and concentration. BSA coverage was enhanced on surfaces in competitive adsorption of BSA:Fg mixtures.

A conserved behavioral state barrier impedes transitions between anesthetic-induced unconsciousness and wakefulness: evidence for neural inertia.

One major unanswered question in neuroscience is how the brain transitions between conscious and unconscious states. General anesthetics offer a controllable means to study these transitions. Induction of anesthesia is commonly attributed to drug-induced global modulation of neuronal function, while emergence from anesthesia has been thought to occur passively, paralleling elimination of the anesthetic from its sites in the central nervous system (CNS).

An essential role for orexins in emergence from general anesthesia.

The neural mechanisms through which the state of anesthesia arises and dissipates remain unknown. One common belief is that emergence from anesthesia is the inverse process of induction, brought about by elimination of anesthetic drugs from their CNS site(s) of action. Anesthetic-induced unconsciousness may result from specific interactions of anesthetics with the neural circuits regulating sleep and wakefulness.

A quantitative and selective chromatography method for determining coverages of multiple proteins on surfaces.

Competitive protein adsorption plays a key role in the surface hemocompatibility of biological implants. We describe a quantitative chromatography method to measure the coverage of multiple proteins physisorbed to surfaces. In this method adsorbed proteins are displaced by CHAPS (3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate) and then analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography to separate and quantify the individual proteins, in this case bovine serum albumin (BSA) and bovine fibrinogen (Fg).

Isoflurane and sevoflurane affect cell survival and BCL-2/BAX ratio differently.

Depletion of calcium from the neuronal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) induces apoptosis. Isoflurane depletes calcium from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of muscle, an analogue of ER in neurons, while sevoflurane maintains or increases SR calcium. We hypothesized that isoflurane, but not sevoflurane, induces apoptosis by depleting the ER calcium.

The effect of apolipoprotein E genotype on neuron specific enolase and S-100beta levels after cardiac surgery.

We tested the hypothesis that two biochemical markers of brain injury would be increased after cardiac surgery in patients with the apolipoprotein (Apo) epsilon4 allele. Arterial blood samples were drawn before and 8 and 24 h after induction of anesthesia and later assayed for neuron specific enolase (NSE), S-100beta, and apoE genotype. There was a highly significant temporal effect with increases in NSE (2.

Differential ANG II generation in plasma and tissue of mice with decreased expression of the ACE gene.

We utilized mice with homozygous disruption of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) (-/-), mice with heterozygous deletion of ACE (+/-), and wild-type mice (+/+) to test the hypothesis that genetic variation in ACE modulates tissue and plasma angiotensin (ANG) II concentrations. With the use of ANG I as substrate, kidney, heart, and lung ACE activity was reduced 80% in -/- mice compared with +/+ mice. However, ANG II concentrations and ANG II-to-ANG I ratios in the kidney, heart, and lung did not differ among genotypes.