oppositional

Indole is often associated with a sweet and floral odor typical of jasmine flowers at low concentrations and an unpleasant, animal-like odor at high concentrations. However, the mechanism whereby the brain processes this opposite valence of indole is not fully understood yet. In this study, we aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying indole valence encoding in conversion and nonconversion groups using the smelling task to arouse pleasantness. For this purpose, 12 conversion individuals and 15 nonconversion individuals participated in an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm with low (low-indole) and high (high-indole) indole concentrations in which valence was manipulated independent of intensity...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of "cross-market" hospital mergers on prices and quality and the extent to which serial acquisitions contribute to any measured effects. DATA SOURCES: 2009-2017 commercial claims from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) and quality measures from Hospital Compare. STUDY DESIGN: Event study models in which the treated group consisted of hospitals that acquired hospitals further than 50 miles, and the control group was hospitals that were not part of any merger activity (as a target or acquirer) during the study period...

The ability to adapt to the environment is linked to the possibility of inhibiting inappropriate behaviours, and this ability can be enhanced by attention. Despite this premise, the scientific literature that assesses how attention can influence inhibition is still limited. This study contributes to this topic by evaluating whether spatial and moving attentional cueing can influence inhibitory control. We employed a task in which subjects viewed a vertical bar on the screen that, from a central position, moved either left or right where two circles were positioned...

Anatomical variations are a common feature of the human anatomy. Variation can explain some pathological conditions and is important to keep them in mind during surgical procedures. The relations between nerves and their adjacent arteries have been proposed to play a role in the generation of peripheral trigger migraines. Close opposition between nerves and arteries can lead to vascular compression of the nerve that triggers episodes of pain. We did a routine dissection of the infratemporal fossa and orbital floor by opening the maxillary sinus...

The role of monocytes in postmenopausal osteoporosis is widely recognized; however, the mechanisms underlying monocyte reprogramming remain unknown. In this study, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was conducted on CD14+ bone marrow monocytes obtained from three postmenopausal women with normal bone mineral density (BMD) and three women with postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP). Monocle2 was used to classify the monocytes into 7 distinct clusters. The proportion of Cluster 1 significantly decreased in PMOP patients, while the proportion of Cluster 7 increased...

Reducing the use of platinum group metals is crucial for the large-scale deployment of proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis systems. The optimization of the cathode catalyst layer and decrease of the cathode Pt loading are usually overlooked due to the predominant focus of research on the anode. However, given the close relationship between the rate of hydrogen permeation through the membrane in an operating cell and the local hydrogen concentration near the membrane-cathode interface, the structural design of the cathode catalyst layer is considered to be of pivotal importance for reducing H2 crossover, particularly in combination with the use of thin (≲50 μm) membranes...

Human faces and bodies represent various socially important signals. Although adults encounter numerous new people in daily life, they can recognize hundreds to thousands of different individuals. However, the neural mechanisms that differentiate one person from another person are unclear. This study aimed to clarify the temporal dynamics of the cognitive processes of face and body personal identification using face-sensitive ERP components (P1, N170, and N250). The present study performed three blocks (face-face, face-body, and body-body) of different ERP adaptation paradigms...

In the present study, we investigated the cognitive processes underlying selective word learning in preschoolers. We measured rhythmic neural activity in the theta (4-8 Hz) and alpha frequency range (7-12 Hz) in 67 four-year-olds. EEG was recorded during anticipation and encoding of novel labeling events performed by a speaker who had previously shown either competence (correct) or incompetence (incorrect) in labeling familiar objects. In both groups, children selected the target object equally often upon recall...

AIM: While high-volume physical activity (PA) has been linked to elevated coronary artery calcification (CAC), the role of intensity versus duration of PA has not been investigated. The purpose of the study was to examine the role of intensity versus duration of PA in relation to CAC. METHODS: Data are from 23,383 apparently healthy men who completed a PA questionnaire and underwent CAC scanning as part of a preventive exam. Self-reported PA was categorized into 4 groups of average intensity and weekly duration of PA and (average intensity: 1, 3-5...

INTRODUCTION: Adolescent North Korean defectors are vulnerable due to harmful environments during defection, limited access to sex education in North Korea, and exposure to different sexual norms in South Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the sexual knowledge, attitudes, and sex education needs of North Korean refugee adolescents. METHODS: A cross-sectional, descriptive survey was administered to 102 North Korean refugee adolescents. RESULTS: The correct answer rate for questions on genital anatomy, physiology, masturbation, and contraception was less than 20%...

Bacteria synchronize the expression of genes with related functions by organizing genes into operons so that they are cotranscribed together in a single polycistronic messenger RNA. However, some cellular processes may benefit if the simultaneous production of the operon proteins coincides with the inhibition of the expression of an antagonist gene. To coordinate such situations, bacteria have evolved noncontiguous operons (NcOs), a subtype of operons that contain one or more genes that are transcribed in the opposite direction to the other operon genes...

OBJECTIVES: We investigated changes over time in mental and social wellbeing indicators for vulnerable population subgroups during the pandemic. These groups were younger people, people with disabilities, low-income groups, unemployed, culturally, and linguistically diverse communities (CaLD), and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. METHODS: A series of four repeated population representative surveys were conducted in June 2020, September 2020, January 2022, and June 2022...

BACKGROUND: Substance abuse by adolescents and young adults is a major public health issue. This study aimed to (i) show the transition of sociodemographic and substance abuse characteristics from 1992 to 2017 among US adolescents and young adults, (ii) evaluate the likelihood of co-occurrence of substances, and (iii) identify significant sociodemographic characteristics in association with polysubstance abuse. METHODS: This study extracted data for adolescents and young adults from 1992 and 2017 Treatment Episode Data Set-Admission (TEDS-A) datasets...

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a disease with high morbidity, disability, and mortality. Immune factors play a crucial role in the occurrence of ischemic stroke (IS), but their exact mechanism is not clear. This study aims to identify possible immunological mechanisms by recognizing immune-related biomarkers and evaluating the infiltration pattern of immune cells. METHODS: We downloaded datasets of IS patients from GEO, applied R language to discover differentially expressed genes, and elucidated their biological functions using GO, KEGG analysis, and GSEA analysis...

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted to analyze the implications of asymmetric baseball movements on the incidence of spondylolysis. PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between asymmetric movements and the laterality of spondylolysis. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: Baseball, characterized by its asymmetric throwing and batting, may disproportionately stress one side. Lumbar spondylolysis is a frequent cause of lower back pain in young athletes, particularly those involved in activities with consistent unilateral rotations such as baseball...

BACKGROUND: Osteosarcoma is a diverse and aggressive bone tumor. Driver genes regulating osteosarcoma initiation and progression remains incompletely defined. Zinc finger protein 692 (ZNF692), a kind of Krüppel C2H2 zinc finger transcription factor, exhibited abnormal expression in different types of malignancies and showed a correlation with the clinical prognosis of patients as well as the aggressive characteristics of cancer cells. Nevertheless, its specific role in osteosarcoma is still not well understood...

A universal characteristic of eukaryotic transcription is that the promoter recruits RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) to produce both precursor mRNAs (pre-mRNAs) and short unstable promoter upstream transcripts (PROMPTs) toward the opposite direction. However, how the transcription machinery selects the correct direction to produce pre-mRNAs is largely unknown. Here, through multiple acute auxin-inducible degradation systems, we show that rapid depletion of an RNAPII-binding protein complex, Integrator, results in robust PROMPT accumulation throughout the genome...

The selective synthesis of ultrahigh-molar-mass (UHMM, >2 million Da) cyclic polymers is challenging as an exceptional degree of spatiotemporal control is required to overcome the possible undesired reactions that can compete with the desired intramolecular cyclization. Here we present a counterintuitive synthetic methodology for cyclic polymers, represented here by polythioesters, which proceeds via superbase-mediated ring-opening polymerization of gem-dimethylated thiopropiolactone, followed by macromolecular cyclization triggered by protic quenching...

AIMS: Trophoblast cell dysfunction is one of the important factors leading to preeclampsia (PE). Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding 2 (CPEB2) has been found to be differentially expressed in PE patients, but whether it mediates PE process by regulating trophoblast cell function is unclear. METHODS: The expression of CPEB2 and somatostatin receptor 3 (SSTR3) was detected by quantitative real-time PCR, Western blot (WB) and immunofluorescence staining. Cell functions were analyzed by CCK-8 assay, EdU assay, flow cytometry and transwell assay...

The control of eukaryotic gene expression is intimately connected to highly dynamic chromatin structures. Gene regulation relies on activator and repressor transcription factors (TFs) that induce local chromatin opening and closing. However, it is unclear how nucleus-wide chromatin organization responds dynamically to the activity of specific TFs. Here, we examined how two TFs with opposite effects on local chromatin accessibility modulate chromatin dynamics nucleus-wide. We combine high-resolution diffusion mapping and dense flow reconstruction and correlation in living cells to obtain an imaging-based, nanometer-scale analysis of local diffusion processes and long-range coordinated movements of both chromatin and TFs...