The effects of mindfulness on body awareness and interoception have been proposed as potential mechanisms for its salwould be accompanied by neural correlates of increased alpha modulation over the somatosensory cortex as measured through EEG. Participants were asked to detect a near-threshold tactile sensation, which was combined with a non-informative light in 50% of the cases. Associations between prestimulus alpha activity and responses were analysed on a trial-by-trial basis. Contrary to our expectation, instead of an increase in accuracy, we observed a decrease in the decision threshold in meditators, while we found a decrease in prestimulus alpha power in meditators. A trial-by-trial analysis revealed a negative relationship between prestimulus alpha activity and the report of touch. Meditators self-reported higher interoceptive abilities compared to readers. These findings suggest that lower prestimulus alpha activity may have increased the probability of reporting touch within the SSDT, providing a potential mechanism for the increase in response rate in meditators. Our study indicates that meditation practice alters body awareness as shown by modulated prestimulus alpha activity, potentially decreasing the filter function over the somatosensory cortex.

Cancer has become a global public health problem and its harmful effects have received widespread attention. Conventional treatments such as surgical resection, radiotherapy and other techniques are applicable to clinical practice, but new drugs are constantly being developed and other therapeutic approaches such as immunotherapy are being applied. In addition to studying the effects on individual tumor cells, it is important to explore the role of tumor microenvironment (TME) on tumor cell development since tumor cells do not exist alone but in the tumor microenvironment. In the TME, tumor cells are interconnected with other stromal cells and influence each other, among which tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are the most numerous immune cells. At the same time, it was found that cancer cells have different levels of autophagy from normal cells. In cancer therapy, the occurrence of autophagy plays an important role in promoting tumor cell death or inhibiting tumor cell death, and is closely related to the environment. Therefore, elucidating the regulatory role of autophagy between TAMs and tumor cells is an important breakthrough, providing new perspectives for further research on anti-tumor immune mechanisms and understanding the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

Despite belonging to the most abundant and widespread genus of freshwater fishes in the region, the carp gudgeons of eastern Australia (genus Hypseleotris) have proved taxonomically and ecologically problematic to science since the 19th century. Several molecular studies and a recent taxonomic revision have now shed light on the complex biology and evolutionary history that underlies this group. These studies have demonstrated that carp gudgeons include a sexual/unisexual complex (five sexual species plus an assortment of hemiclonal lineages), many members of which also co-occur with an independent sexual relative, the western carp gudgeon (H. klunzingeri). Here we fill yet another knowledge gap for this important group by presenting a detailed molecular phylogeographic assessment of the western carp gudgeon across its entire and extensive geographic range. We use a suite of nuclear genetic markers (SNPs and allozymes) plus a matrilineal genealogy (cytb) to demonstrate that H. klunzingeri s.l. also displays considerable taxonomic and phylogeographic complexity. All molecular datasets concur in recognizing the presence of multiple candidate species, two instances of historic between-species admixture, and the existence of a natural hybrid zone between two of the three candidate species found in the Murray Darling Basin. We also discuss the major phylogeographic patterns evident within each taxon. Together these analyses provide a robust molecular, taxonomic, and distributional framework to underpin future morphological and ecological investigations on this prominent member of regional freshwater ecosystems in eastern Australia.

Caseous mitral annulus calcification mimicking a cardiac tumor Henda Nèji a,b,c, Emna Bennour b,d, , Ines Baccouche a,c, Salma Kechaou a,c, Ikram Kammoun b,d, Meriem Affes a,b,cSaoussen Hantous-Zannad a,b,ca: Imaging Department, Abderrahmen Mami Hospital, Ariana – Tunisiab: Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, University Tunis El Manar, Tunisiac: Cardio-thoracic imaging Research Laboratoryd: Cardiology Department

A document by Islam Khaled . Click on the document to view its contents.

IntroductionPancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are a subset of Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) that mainly originate from the neuroendocrine system. They account for less than 10% of total NETs and have a general incidence of 0.5 per 100,000 persons per year [1]. Only 10 to 30% of these tumors are hormone-secreting, with the majority being insulinomas. The tumors are often found incidentally in the pancreas or GI system on imaging. Pathological specimens are generally positive for Chromogranin A and Synaptophysin but can additionally be positive for other serum markers such as Insulin, Gastrin, and VIP, depending on the subtype of NET [2]. General management includes surgery for localized disease and surgery/chemotherapy in combination for extensive disease. Prognosis is poor for those with liver metastases, with an overall mortality rate greater than > 80%. Functional tumors are generally localized and rarely present as metastatic disease [3].Among functional NETs, Insulinomas are the most common. Incidence is around 1 to 3 cases per million and is usually present in the pancreas over 99% of the time [4]. Diagnosis is established with symptomatic hypoglycemia in the setting of elevated insulin and c-peptide levels after a 72-hour fasting test. Blood glucose levels usually improve with Glucagon or Dextrose administration. These lesions are amenable to treatments such as alcohol ablation, radiofrequency ablation, embolization, or surgical resection. Surgical resection is the preferred option for isolated lesions as it is often curative [5]. Symptomatic management of hypoglycemia involves dextrose administration and Diazoxide. Diazoxide inhibits the release of insulin from insulinoma cells and is often the only effective measure prior to surgery [6]. Somatostatin analogs such as octreotide are also used in combination with diazoxide in more severe cases but can lead to episodes of hypoglycemia [7]. Cases involving surgical management have a good prognosis [6,7].Malignant insulinomas only account for about 5% of all insulinomas at presentation [8,9]. In patients with distant metastases, surgical resection with lymph node dissection improves prognosis. However, the overall difference is minimal, and the data is limited in these cases [10]. Overall, these patients do quite poorly due to limited treatment options. There are very few case reports that discuss the conversion of non-functional metastatic NET into a malignant insulinoma. This case report presents such a conversion in an elderly female patient.

Crop wild relatives provide a valuable resource for improving crops. They possess desirable traits that confer resilience to various environmental stresses. To fully utilize crop wild relatives in breeding and conservation programs, it is important to understand the genetic basis of their adaptation. Landscape genomics associates environments with genomic variation and allows for examining the genetic basis of adaptation. In this study, we applied landscape genomics to examine the differences in allele frequency of 15,416 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) among 153 accessions of wild eggplant relatives from Africa, the principal hot spot of these wild relatives. Further, we explored the correlation between these variations and the bio-climatic and soil conditions at their collection sites. Our results showed that the environment has a greater impact on the genetic variation in the eggplant wild relative populations compared to the geographical distances between collection sites while controlling for population structure. These findings indicate the relevance of the environment in shaping genetic variation in eggplant relatives over time. We detected 396 candidate SNPs associated with ten environmental factors by applying four genotype-environment association methods. Some of these SNPs signal genes involved in pathways that help with adaptation to environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, salinity, pests, and diseases. These candidate SNPs will be useful for marker-assisted improvement and characterizing the germplasm of this crop for developing climate-resilient eggplant varieties. The study provides a model for how we can apply landscape genomics to the wild relatives of other crops.

INTRODUCTIONAminoacyl tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are a group of cytoplasmic enzymes that bind to transcribed RNA during protein synthesis, esterify amino acids to transcribed RNA, and function as catalysts for aminoacyl-transcribed RNA.1 Patients who test positive for anti-ARS antibodies present with various extramuscular symptoms, such as interstitial pneumonia, mechanic’s hands, Raynaud phenomenon, polyarthritis, fever, and myositis. These symptoms share common clinical features, which led Targoff in 1992 to term them ”antisynthetase antibody syndrome.”2 Since Jo-1 (histidyl-tRNA synthetase: HisRS) antibody was discovered in 19803, eight ARS antibodies have been identified: histidyl-tRNA synthetase-1 (Jo-1), anti-threonyl (PL-7), anti-alanyl (PL-12), anti-glycyl (EJ), anti-isoleucyl (OJ) anti-asparaginyl (KS), anti-phenylalanyl (Zo) and anti-tyrosyl (Ha) tRNA synthetase4.5, 6 Among these antibodies, anti-OJ is the least prevalent (3.1%).7 Anti-OJ- positive anti-ARS syndrome is extremely rare, and is usually accompanied by interstitial pneumonia.8 Anti-OJ and anti-Sjögren’s-syndrome-related antigen A (Ro-52) antibodies are occasionally detected in patients with dermatomyositis and are a poor prognostic factor when associated with interstitial pneumonia.9 However, we encountered a patient with OJ-and Ro-52 positive anti-ARS syndrome without interstitial pneumonia and with severe phalanx necrosis due to Raynaud phenomenon. The activity of disease could be suppressed with steroid pulse therapy. We believe that this is an atypical clinical presentation that deserves acknowledgement by means of this case report. We also report it here with a review of the literature.

IntroductionLaryngeal neuroendocrine carcinomas (LNECs) are rare tumors of the larynx with a wide spectrum of clinicopathological manifestations. Generally, laryngeal neuroendocrine neoplasms were divided into 2 categories, epithelial and neural, based on their origin. The epithelial subgroup consisted of typical carcinoid, atypical carcinoid, small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. The neural neuroendocrine neoplasm subgroup is mainly referred to as paraganglioma. 1Among these categories, atypical carcinoid is the most common form of neuroendocrine carcinomas in the larynx .Also; prognosis is getting worse from typical carcinoid to small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma.2 Laryngeal neuroendocrine neoplasms represent 0.5 to 1% of laryngeal epithelial carcinomas, occurring more frequently in the supraglottic region with male predominance. 3In this study, we presented a rare case of poorly differentiated NEC (small cell) and described its clinicalopathological presentation. The presentation of this tumor with respiratory distress in a non smoker male patient with a small size mass in subglottic area is the interesting feature of this report.

Myeloid Sarcoma in Brain and Optic Nerve Presented as a Relapse of Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Case Report Mais Musleh, MD1, Samer Musleh, MD2, Manal Sheikhi, MD3Authors :1Mais Musleh, MD: Department of hematology, AL-Assad University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus, [email protected] Musleh, MD: Department of neurosurgery, AL- Abasieen Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus, Syria. [email protected] Sheikhi, MD: Department of hematology, AL-Assad University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus, Syria. [email protected]:CORRESPONDING AUTHOR :Mais Musleh, MD hematology, AL-Assad University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus, Syria.Syria, Rif-Dimashq, Sahnaya, Al-Azroni Street.Mobile phone: +963958203968E-mail: [email protected]:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2148-2921

Tilapia farmers would benefit tremendously if they could decrease aggression among fish. Conspecific aggression affects growth, feed conversion and general wellbeing of fish. Previous studies established an inverse relationship between blood cholesterol levels and aggression in fish, whereby a decrease in cholesterol led to an increase in aggression. The present study assessed the effect of an increase of dietary cholesterol on blood cholesterol and possible decrease in aggression of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. Nile tilapia were stocked in an outdoor recirculation system then offered one of five diets: 0% cholesterol, 0.5% cholesterol, 1% cholesterol, 1.5% cholesterol and 2% cholesterol. Five fish of each treatment were moved to a glass tank and monitored for signs of aggression for 10 minutes, twice a day. This experimental procedure was repeated five times using a new set of fish every time. Results show an increase in cholesterol levels in the blood but that there are no significant differences in aggression among treatments. Accordingly, the present study suggests that an increase in dietary cholesterol increases blood cholesterol in fish but does not have a significant effect on antagonistic patterns in Nile tilapia.

Fucosylation plays a critical role in cell-to-cell interactions and disease progression. However, the effects of fucosylation on splenocytes and their interactions with T cells remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to explore the transcriptome profiles of splenocytes deficient in fucosyltransferase (FUT) 1, an enzyme that mediates fucosylation, and investigate their impact on the proliferation and differentiation of T cells. We analyzed and compared the transcriptomes of splenocytes isolated from Fut1 knockout (KO) mice and those from wild-type (WT) mice using RNA-seq. Additionally, we examined the effects of Fut1 KO splenocytes on CD4 T cell proliferation and differentiation, in comparison to WT splenocytes, and elucidated the mechanisms involved. The comparative analysis of transcriptomes between Fut1 KO and WT splenocytes revealed that thrombospondin (THBS)-1, among the genes related to immune response and inflammation, was the most highly downregulated gene in Fut1 KO splenocytes. The reduced expression of THBS1 was further confirmed using qRT-PCR and flow cytometry. In coculture experiments, Fut1 KO splenocytes promoted the proliferation of CD4 T cells and drove their differentiation towards Th1 and Th17 cells, compared to WT splenocytes. Moreover, the levels of IL-2, IFN-γ and IL-17 were increased, while IL-10 was decreased, in T cells cocultured with Fut1 KO splenocytes compared to those with WT splenocytes. These effects of Fut1 KO splenocytes on T cells were reversed when THBS1 was replenished. Taken together, our results demonstrate that splenocytes with Fut1 deficiency promote CD4 T cell proliferation and Th1/Th17 differentiation at least in part through THBS1 downregulation.

Carbon dioxide can be converted into functional heterocycles known as cyclic carbonates, whose recent reactivity has been expanded towards the formation of tailor-made engineering polymers. This minireview gives an overview of the most topical developments in this area with a special focus on the synthetic methods employed to prepare these CO2 based synthons. In addition, their application potential in the area of polymer science using a variety of polymerization techniques is discussed that have in common the ring-opening of the carbonate monomers. Future perspectives are provided that provide impetus for the scientific communities aligning research to the use of sustainable processes for polymers from recyclable carbon sources such as CO2.

Since 2004, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Influenza Division (ID) has supported seven countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region and the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean to establish and strengthen influenza surveillance. There has been substantial growth in influenza surveillance capacities in the region over two decades that demonstrates commitment by national governments to strengthen national programs and contribute to global influenza surveillance. CDC ID remains committed to continuing support to the region and supporting partners to translate surveillance data into policies and programs effectively.

Several Asian countries are undergoing rapid economic development driven by diverse factors. This development is leading to continuous land use changes, including deforestation, urbanization, and agricultural conversion. Such transformations threaten essential ecosystem functions and services, like food provision, climate regulation, and cultural benefits. Land-use changes, influenced by economic activities and policies, carry extensive consequences, impacting ecosystem productivity, water resources, and climate stability. Remote sensing technology significantly aids in monitoring and quantifying these changes, offering valuable insights for land management and policy decisions. The NASA Land-Cover and Land-Use Change (LCLUC) Program within NASA’s Earth Science Division program aims to establish global assessments of land changes using space-based methods (https://lcluc.umd.edu/). The South/Southeast Asia Research Initiative (SARI), funded by NASA LCLUC, focuses on advancing LCLUC science in the region and fostering collaborations between US and Asian researchers. Utilizing geospatial data from remote sensing and models, SARI employs a comprehensive approach, considering biophysical and socioeconomic aspects of land systems and their interactions. SARI has been enhancing LCLUC science through science projects, partnerships, training, workshops, and capacity building exchanges since 2015. This Special Issue, stemming from SARI meetings in the Philippines and Malaysia in 2018 and 2019, gathers articles focusing on LCLUC, degradation, and ecosystem services in Asia. Of over 90 submissions, 30 have been accepted, providing insights into these issues and their regional impacts. The articles are summarized into various sub-themes below.

Introduction：Since its introduction in 1986[1], endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) has gained wide acceptance in clinical practice due to its simplicity, short duration, and low complication rates[2, 3]. Clinical guidelines in many countries have been recommended EVL as the first-line treatment for esophageal varices in liver cirrhosis[4-6]. However, there have been reports of potential adverse events associated with EVL. These include esophageal stenosis, ulcer bleeding, esophageal perforation, esophageal hematoma, pneumonia, and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis[7-10]. Although rare, cases of liver dysfunction following EVL have also been reported. In this paper, we present the case of a 50-year-old male patient diagnosed with alcoholic cirrhosis and esophageal variceal rupture and bleeding. He underwent emergency EVL for hemostasis at our hospital. Subsequently, he developed liver dysfunction. The patient’s condition improved following active conservative treatment in internal medicine and DPMAS+PE therapy.

Mutations in T lymphocytes (T-cells) are informative quantitative markers for environmental mutagen exposures, but risk extrapolations from rodent models to humans also requires understanding how T-cell development and proliferation kinetics impact mutagenic outcomes. Rodent studies have shown that patterns in chemical-induced mutations in the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (Hprt) gene of T-cells differ between lymphoid organs. The current work was performed to obtain knowledge of the relationships between maturation events during T-cell development and changes in chemical-induced mutant frequencies over time in differing immune compartments of a mouse model. A novel RTPCR based method was developed to determine the specific T-cell receptor beta (Tcrb) gene mRNA expressed in mouse T-cell isolates, enabling sequence analysis of the PCR product that then identifies the specific hypervariable CDR3 junctional region of the expressed Tcrb gene for individual isolates. Characterization of spontaneous Hprt mutant isolates from the thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes of control mice for their Tcrb gene expression found evidence of in vivo clonal amplifications of Hprt mutants and their trafficking between tissues in the same animal. Concurrent analyses of Hprt mutations and Tcrb gene rearrangements in different lymphoid tissues of control versus N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-exposed mice permitted elucidation of the localization and timing of mutational events in T-cells, establishing that mutagenesis occurs primarily in the pre-rearrangement replicative period in pre-thymic/thymic populations. These findings demonstrate that chemical-induced mutagenic burden is determined by the combination of mutagenesis and T-cell clonal expansion, processes with roles in immune function and the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease and cancer.

It is well known that investigation on exact solutions of nonlinear fractional partial differential equations (PDEs) is a very difficult work compared with integer-order nonlinear PDEs. In this paper, based on the separation method of semi-fixed variables and integral bifurcation method, a combinational method is proposed. By using this new method, a class of generalized time-fractional thin-film equations are studied. Under two kinds of definitions of fractional derivatives, exact solutions of two generalized time-fractional thin-film equations are investigated respectively. Different kinds of exact solutions are obtained and their dynamic properties are discussed. Compared to the results in the existing references, the types of solutions obtained in this paper are abundant and very different from those in the existing references. Investigation shows that the solutions of the model defined by Riemann-Liouville differential operator converge faster than those defined by Caputo differential operator. It is also found that the profiles of some solutions are very similar to solitons, but they are not true soliton solutions. In order to visually show the dynamic properties of these solutions, the profiles of some representative exact solutions are illustrated by 3D-graphs.