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Microbiome Jun 2023Intestinal inflammation has become a threatening concern in chicken production worldwide and is closely associated with Th17/Treg cell imbalance. Several studies...
BACKGROUND
Intestinal inflammation has become a threatening concern in chicken production worldwide and is closely associated with Th17/Treg cell imbalance. Several studies described that gut microbiota is significantly implicated in chicken growth by modulating intestinal immune homeostasis and immune cell differentiation. Whether reshaping gut microbiota by fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) could improve chicken growth by balancing Th17/Treg cells is an interesting question.
RESULTS
Here, the chickens with significantly different body weight from three different breeds (Turpan cockfighting × White Leghorn chickens, white feather chickens, and yellow feather chickens) were used to compare Th17 and Treg cells. qPCR and IHC staining results indicated that Th17 cell-associated transcriptional factors Stat3 and rorγt and cytokines IL-6, IL-17A, and IL-21 were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the jejunum of low body weight chickens, while Treg cell-associated transcriptional factor foxp3 and cytokines TGF-β and IL-10 were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in the jejunum of low body weight chickens, indicating imbalanced Th17/Treg cells were closely related to chicken growth performance. Transferring fecal microbiota from the healthy donor with better growth performance and abundant Lactobacillus in feces to 1-day-old chicks markedly increased growth performance (P < 0.001), significantly decreased Th17 cell-associated transcriptional factors and cytokines, and increased Treg cell-associated transcriptional factors and cytokines in the jejunum (P < 0.05). Furthermore, FMT increased the abundance of Lactobacillus (FMT vs Con; 84.98% vs 66.94%). Besides, the metabolites of tryptophan including serotonin, indole, and 5-methoxyindoleacetate were increased as well, which activated their receptor aryl-hydrocarbon-receptor (AhR) and expressed more CYP1A2 and IL-22 to maintain Th17/Treg cell balance and immune homeostasis.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggested that imbalanced Th17/Treg cells decreased chicken growth performance, while FMT-reshaped gut microbiota, i.e., higher Lactobacilli, increased chicken growth performance by balancing Th17/Treg cells. Video Abstract.
Topics: Animals; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory; Chickens; Fecal Microbiota Transplantation; Th17 Cells; Jejunum; Cytokines; Body Weight
PubMed: 37344888
DOI: 10.1186/s40168-023-01569-z -
Journal of Neuroengineering and... Jul 2023Virtual reality (VR) is a promising solution for individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) who experience symptoms that affect their daily activities and independence.... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Virtual reality (VR) is a promising solution for individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) who experience symptoms that affect their daily activities and independence. Through VR-based rehabilitation, patients can improve their motor skills in a safe and stress-free environment, making it an attractive alternative to traditional in-person rehabilitation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to provide the most recent and convincing evidence on the rehabilitative effects of VR technology compared with conventional treatments.
METHODS
Two investigators systematically searched Embase, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PEDro, and the Cochrane Library from their inception until May 31, 2022, to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effectiveness of VR training with that of conventional treatment for patients with PD. Studies were selected based on the patient, intervention, comparator, and outcome criteria and assessed for the risk of bias using the Cochrane tool. Meta-analysis was conducted by pooling mean differences with 95% confidence intervals.
RESULTS
A total of 14 RCTs, involving 524 participants, were included in the meta-analysis. The results indicated that VR-based rehabilitation significantly improved balance function, as measured using the Berg balance scale (BBS) and activities-specific balance confidence. However, no statistically significant differences in gait ability, activities of daily living, motor function, and quality of life were observed between the experimental and control groups. Subgroup analysis revealed that combination therapy affected heterogeneity in the BBS analysis. Meta-regression analysis demonstrated a significant positive relationship, indicating that more recent studies have shown greater improvements in balance function.
CONCLUSION
This study's findings suggest that VR-based rehabilitation is a promising intervention for improving balance function in patients for PD compared with conventional treatment, and recent research supports its efficacy. However, future research should focus on conducting long-term follow-up studies and developing standardized protocols to comprehensively establish this intervention's potential benefits.
Topics: Humans; Gait; Parkinson Disease; Virtual Reality
PubMed: 37475014
DOI: 10.1186/s12984-023-01219-3 -
Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) Mar 2022Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) is one of the most popular treatments for enhancing upper and lower extremity motor activities and participation in patients... (Review)
Review
Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) is one of the most popular treatments for enhancing upper and lower extremity motor activities and participation in patients following a stroke. However, the effect of CIMT on balance is unclear and needs further clarification. The aim of this research was to estimate the effect of CIMT on balance and functional mobility in patients after stroke. After reviewing 161 studies from search engines including Google Scholar, EBSCO, PubMed, PEDro, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science, we included eight randomized controlled trials (RCT) in this study. The methodological quality of the included RCTs was verified using PEDro scoring. This systematic review showed positive effects of CIMT on balance in three studies and similar effects in five studies when compared to the control interventions such as neuro developmental treatment, modified forced-use therapy and conventional physical therapy. Furthermore, a meta-analysis indicated a statistically significant effect size by a standardized mean difference of 0.51 (P = 0.01), showing that the groups who received CIMT had improved more than the control groups. However, the meta-analysis results for functional mobility were statistically insignificant, with an effect size of -4.18 (P = 0.16), indicating that the functional mobility improvements in the investigated groups were not greater than the control group. This study's findings demonstrated the superior effects of CIMT on balance; however, the effect size analysis of functional mobility was statistically insignificant. These findings indicate that CIMT interventions can improve balance-related motor function better than neuro developmental treatment, modified forced-use therapy and conventional physical therapy in patients after a stroke.
PubMed: 35326973
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10030495 -
Science China. Mathematics 2023Simultaneously investigating multiple treatments in a single study achieves considerable efficiency in contrast to the traditional two-arm trials. Balancing treatment...
Simultaneously investigating multiple treatments in a single study achieves considerable efficiency in contrast to the traditional two-arm trials. Balancing treatment allocation for influential covariates has become increasingly important in today's clinical trials. The multi-arm covariate-adaptive randomized clinical trial is one of the most powerful tools to incorporate covariate information and multiple treatments in a single study. Pocock and Simon's procedure has been extended to the multi-arm case. However, the theoretical properties of multi-arm covariate-adaptive randomization have remained largely elusive for decades. In this paper, we propose a general framework for multi-arm covariate-adaptive designs which also includes the two-arm case, and establish the corresponding theory under widely satisfied conditions. The theoretical results provide new insights into the balance properties of covariate-adaptive randomization procedures and make foundations for most existing statistical inferences under two-arm covariate-adaptive randomization. Furthermore, these open a door to study the theoretical properties of statistical inferences for clinical trials based on multi-arm covariate-adaptive randomization procedures.
PubMed: 35912316
DOI: 10.1007/s11425-020-1954-y -
Molecular Plant Feb 2024The growth-promoting hormones brassinosteroids (BRs) and their key signaling component BZR1 play a vital role in balancing normal growth and defense reactions. Here, we...
The growth-promoting hormones brassinosteroids (BRs) and their key signaling component BZR1 play a vital role in balancing normal growth and defense reactions. Here, we discovered that BRs and OsBZR1 upregulated sakuranetin accumulation and conferred basal defense against Magnaporthe oryzae infection under normal conditions. Resource shortages, including phosphate (Pi) deficiency, potentially disrupt this growth-defense balance. OsSPX1 and OsSPX2 have been reported to sense Pi concentration and interact with the Pi signal mediator OsPHR2, thus regulating Pi starvation responses. In this study, we discovered that OsSPX1/2 interacts with OsBZR1 in both Pi-sufficient and Pi-deficient conditions, inhibiting BR-responsive genes. When Pi is sufficient, OsSPX1/2 is captured by OsPHR2, enabling most of OsBZR1 to promote plant growth and maintain basal resistance. In response to Pi starvation, more OsSPX1/2 is released from OsPHR2 to inhibit OsBZR1 activity, resulting in slower growth. Collectively, our study reveals that the OsBZR1-SPX1/2 module balances the plant growth-immunity trade-off in response to Pi availability.
Topics: Plant Proteins; Oryza; Phosphates; Brassinosteroids; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
PubMed: 38069474
DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2023.12.003 -
British Journal of Anaesthesia Nov 2021This editorial highlights the findings of the Balanced Anaesthesia Delirium study, a 515-patient substudy of the 6644 patient Balanced Anaesthesia trial, which found...
This editorial highlights the findings of the Balanced Anaesthesia Delirium study, a 515-patient substudy of the 6644 patient Balanced Anaesthesia trial, which found that targeting deep anaesthesia in patients undergoing major noncardiac surgery was not associated with significantly increased postoperative death or major morbidity. The substudy found that using bispectral index (BIS) guidance with the intention of deliberately achieving deep volatile agent-based anaesthesia (target BIS reading 35 vs 50) significantly increased delirium incidence (28% vs 19%), although not subsyndromal delirium incidence (45% vs 49%). We discuss the implications of these findings for anaesthetic practice, and address whether the BIS should be used as a guide to deliver precision anaesthesia for delirium prevention. We posit that subpopulation-based differences within this multicentre substudy could have affected delirium occurrence, since the findings appeared to rest on outcomes in patients from East Asia. We conclude that questions of whether and for whom deep anaesthesia is deliriogenic remain unanswered.
Topics: Anesthesia, General; Anesthesiology; Anesthetics; Delirium; Humans
PubMed: 34503835
DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2021.08.003 -
Brain & Spine 2023Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is the main problem for adult achondroplasia (Ach). Sagittal imbalance of the spine may play a role in LSS causing neurogenic claudication...
INTRODUCTION
Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is the main problem for adult achondroplasia (Ach). Sagittal imbalance of the spine may play a role in LSS causing neurogenic claudication in Ach patients.
RESEARCH QUESTION
The purpose of this study is to describe the sagittal balance parameters in Ach patients.
METHODS
A single-centre retrospective study of Ach patients that visited the Neurosurgery outpatient clinic of the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) between 2019 and 2022 was performed. We defined sagittal imbalance by a C7 sagittal vertical axis (SVA) of more than 10 mm.
RESULTS
There were 13 patients with a spinal sagittal imbalance and 15 patients with a balanced spine. In both groups, the sacral slope (SS) was comparable (45.0° and 49.0°, p = 0.305), but exceeding the mean SS in non achondroplasts (38.0°). Lumbar lordosis (LL) was more pronounced in the balanced group (55.5° versus 41.7°, p = 0.019), and positively correlated to SS in contrast to the absence of a correlation in the imbalanced group. Thoracolumbar kyphosis (TLK) was increased comparably in both groups (19.6° and 24.6°), and far exceeding the TLK in non achondroplasts (circa 0°), and in both groups negatively correlated with the LL, although not enough to compensate for the smaller LL in the imbalanced group.
CONCLUSION
Only if the LL compensates for both a larger SS and TLK, the Ach spine can maintain sagittal balance. An explanation for the current data can be the failure of the lumbar spine to give sufficient lordosis due to degenerative processes.
PubMed: 38021024
DOI: 10.1016/j.bas.2023.102670 -
Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Aug 2022First-generation college students face unique challenges compared to non-first-generation college students, especially in STEM fields. First-generation STEM students...
First-generation college students face unique challenges compared to non-first-generation college students, especially in STEM fields. First-generation STEM students drop out of their major at higher rates than non-first-generation students. This may be due to a lack of role models or mentorship in the college environment or in the field, a challenging curriculum, and difficulty balancing personal and academic commitments. There has been a lack of significant attention given to studying first-generation college students in undergraduate engineering, and therefore, there is limited understanding of how to navigate post-secondary education as a first-generation college student to succeed in undergraduate engineering. Here, I lay out tips for success based on my own experience as a first-generation student in engineering. This includes how to find the right major for you, adjust to college, have a solid support system, seek out research opportunities, become involved in outreach, experience inclusivity, balance courses with other commitments, and apply for scholarships. This article also discusses considerations in pursuing graduate education. With more support, mentoring and guidance, a greater percentage of first-generation students will succeed in pursuing undergraduate engineering degrees.
PubMed: 36119133
DOI: 10.1007/s12195-022-00736-w -
Neuron Nov 2021Many studies have shown that the excitation and inhibition received by cortical neurons remain roughly balanced across many conditions. A key question for understanding... (Review)
Review
Many studies have shown that the excitation and inhibition received by cortical neurons remain roughly balanced across many conditions. A key question for understanding the dynamical regime of cortex is the nature of this balancing. Theorists have shown that network dynamics can yield systematic cancellation of most of a neuron's excitatory input by inhibition. We review a wide range of evidence pointing to this cancellation occurring in a regime in which the balance is loose, meaning that the net input remaining after cancellation of excitation and inhibition is comparable in size with the factors that cancel, rather than tight, meaning that the net input is very small relative to the canceling factors. This choice of regime has important implications for cortical functional responses, as we describe: loose balance, but not tight balance, can yield many nonlinear population behaviors seen in sensory cortical neurons, allow the presence of correlated variability, and yield decrease of that variability with increasing external stimulus drive as observed across multiple cortical areas.
Topics: Cerebral Cortex; Models, Neurological; Neurons
PubMed: 34464597
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.07.031