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Environ Pollut 2021 Apr 7;283:117072. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

The First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, 6 Xianxialing Road, Qingdao, 266061, China.

Pesticides are widely used to alleviate pest pressure in agricultural systems, and atrazine is a typical diffuse pollutant and serves a sensitivity index for environmental characteristics. Based on the physicochemical properties of parent substances, degradation products of pesticides may pose a greater threat to aquatic ecosystems than pesticides. Atrazine and three primary degradation products (deethylatrazine (DEA), deisopropylatrazine (DIA) and didealkylatrazine (DDA)) were investigated in a semienclosed bay of the western Pacific Ocean. Read More

Medicine (Baltimore) 2021 Apr;100(15):e25403

Paediatric Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital Universitario 12 De Octubre, Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

Abstract: Brain atrophy has been observed in perinatally HIV-infected patients (PHIV) despite initiation on combined antiretroviral treatment (cART), but neuroimaging studies are limited. We aimed to evaluate cortical thickness (CT) and subcortical gray matter (GM) volumes of PHIV youths with stable immunovirological situation and with a normal daily performance.A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted. Read More

Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2021 Apr 13. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Department of Clinical Science and Community Health, University of Milan, Italy.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the sonographic appearance and position of the choroid plexus of the fourth ventricle (4thVCP) between 12 and 21 weeks' gestation in normal fetuses and in fetuses with posterior fossa anomalies.

Methods: Two-dimensional ultrasound (US) images of the midsagittal and coronal views of the brain through the posterior fontanelle and three-dimensional volumes datasets were obtained between 12 and 21 weeks prospectively from 90 normal singletons and retrospectively from 41 fetuses identified as having an abnormal posterior brain on first-trimester ultrasound examination. In all cases the diagnosis was confirmed at MRI, prenatally and/or postnatally, and/or at postmortem examination. Read More

J Laryngol Otol 2021 Apr 12:1-7. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.

Objective: To determine the effect of cochlear dimensions on cochlear implant selection in cochlear hypoplasia patients.

Methods: Temporal bone computed tomography images of 36 patients diagnosed with cochlear hypoplasia between 2010 and 2016 were retrospectively reviewed and compared with those of 40 controls without sensorineural hearing loss.

Results: Basal turn length and mid-modiolar height were significantly lower in the cochlear hypoplasia patients with subtypes I, II and III than in the control group (p < 0. Read More

Am J Transl Res 2021 15;13(3):1884-1889. Epub 2021 Mar 15.

Department of The Third Neurology, Cangzhou Central Hospital Cangzhou 061000, Hebei, China.

Objective: To determine the risk factors for cognitive impairment (CI) in patients with first-time ischemic stroke.

Methods: The clinical data of 180 patients with ischemic stroke who were admitted to our hospital from January 2018 to December 2019 was retrospectively analyzed. Patients with MMSE score ≤24 were included into the CI group and the rest of the patients were placed into the normal group. Read More

Front Hum Neurosci 2021 25;15:644892. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.

The global signal (GS), which was once regarded as a nuisance of functional magnetic resonance imaging, has been proven to convey valuable neural information. This raised the following question: what is a GS represented in local brain regions? In order to answer this question, the GS topography was developed to measure the correlation between global and local signals. It was observed that the GS topography has an intrinsic structure characterized by higher GS correlation in sensory cortices and lower GS correlation in higher-order cortices. Read More

Adv Atmos Sci 2021 Apr 7:1-14. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241 China.

A better knowledge of aerosol properties is of great significance for elucidating the complex mechanisms behind frequently occurring haze pollution events. In this study, we examine the temporal and spatial variations in both PM and its major chemical constituents using three-year field measurements that were collected in six representative regions in China between 2012 and 2014. Our results show that both PM and its chemical compositions varied significantly in space and time, with high PM loadings mainly observed in the winter. Read More

J Epidemiol 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Health Economics, School of Public Health, The University of Tokyo.

Background: Detailed data on intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy in Japan are lacking. Using a nationwide inpatient database in Japan, we aimed to assess ICU bed occupancy to guide critical care utilization planning.

Methods: We identified all ICU patients admitted from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2018 to ICU-equipped hospitals participating in the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination inpatient database. Read More

Cereb Cortex 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.

The temporal decision model of procrastination has proposed that outcome value and task aversiveness are two separate aspects accounting for procrastination. If true, the human brain is likely to implicate separate neural pathways to mediate the effect of outcome value and task aversiveness on procrastination. Outcome value is plausibly constructed via a hippocampus-based pathway because of the hippocampus's unique role in episodic prospection. Read More

Epilepsy Res 2021 Apr 2;173:106631. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neurology, Nationwide Children's Hospital, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43205, USA. Electronic address:

Objective: To develop an improved interictal electroencephalogram (EEG) grading scale for children with infantile spasms founded on elements with adequate inter-rater reliability (IRR) to justify its further study for clinical and research purposes.

Methods: Three blinded reviewers assessed five-minute sleep epochs in 93 EEGs from 62 children (31 consecutive controls, 31 consecutive infantile spasms [pretreatment and posttreatment studies]) using a longitudinal bipolar montage. We determined the IRR of background amplitude, epileptiform discharges, >3 spike foci (including <50 % or >50 %), grouped multifocal spikes, paroxysmal voltage attenuations, and symmetry of sleep spindles. Read More

Am J Kidney Dis 2021 Apr 8. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Barzilai University Medical Center, Ashkelon, Israel; Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel. Electronic address:

We report on the development of minimal change disease (MCD) with nephrotic syndrome (NS) and acute kidney injury (AKI), shortly after first injection of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech). A 50-year-old previously healthy male was admitted to our hospital following the appearance of peripheral edema. Ten days earlier, he had received the first injection of the vaccine. Read More

Neuroimage Clin 2021 Mar 27;30:102645. Epub 2021 Mar 27.

Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Psychiatry, and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.

Much of social cognition requires making inferences about the mental and emotional states of others. Moreover, understanding the emotions of others is an important foundation for moral decision-making. Psychopathy is associated with both aberrant emotional understanding and atypical hemodynamic responses when viewing and evaluating morally laden social interactions. Read More

Cytoskeleton (Hoboken) 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

Force transmission throughout a monolayer is the result of complex interactions between cells. Monolayer adaptation to force imbalances such as singular stiffened cells provides insight into the initiation of disease and fibrosis. Here, NRK-52E cells transfected with ∆50LA, which significantly stiffens the nucleus. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Mar 26;782:146738. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Edifício ECOMARE, Estrada do Porto de Pesca Costeira, 3830-565 Gafanha da Nazaré, Portugal; Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Seestrasse 79, 6047 Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.

Climate warming is causing rapid spatial expansion of ocean warm pools from equatorial latitudes towards the subtropics. Sedentary coral reef inhabitants in affected areas will thus be trapped in high temperature regimes, which may become the "new normal". In this study, we used clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris as model organism to study reef fish mechanisms of thermal adaptation and determine how high temperature affects multiple lipid aspects that influence physiology and thermal tolerance. Read More

Ann Clin Transl Neurol 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Neurology, Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Objective: To determine differences in clinical presentation and disease progression between patients with dementia due to AD with visually normal and abnormal EEG recordings. We hypothesized that patients with normal electroencephalographs (EEGs) are a representation of the heterogeneity of AD. We expected this group to have a phenotype with relatively predominant hippocampal atrophy, memory deficits, and a slower disease progression. Read More

Hippocampus 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California, USA.

Pattern separation, the ability to differentiate new information from previously experienced similar information, is highly sensitive to hippocampal structure and function and declines with age. Functional MRI studies have demonstrated hippocampal hyperactivation in older adults compared to young, with greater task-related activation associated with worse pattern separation performance. The current study was designed to determine whether pattern separation was sensitive to differences in task-free hippocampal cerebral blood flow (CBF) in 130 functionally intact older adults. Read More