Scientific Reports

Moser, Philipp; Reishofer, Gernot; Prückl, Robert; Schaffelhofer, Stefan; Freigang, Sascha; Thumfart, Stefan; Mahdy Ali, Kariem

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-70367-wpmid: 39169126

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has emerged as a promising neuromodulation technique with both therapeutic and diagnostic applications. As accurate coil placement is known to be essential for focal stimulation, computational models have been established to help find the optimal coil positioning by maximizing electric fields at the cortical target. While these numerical simulations provide realistic and subject-specific field distributions, they are computationally demanding, precluding their use in real-time applications. In this paper, we developed a novel multi-task deep neural network which simultaneously predicts the optimal coil placement for a given cortical target as well as the associated TMS-induced electric field. Trained on large amounts of preceding numerical optimizations, the Attention U-Net-based neural surrogate provided accurate coil optimizations in only 35 ms, a fraction of time compared to the state-of-the-art numerical framework. The mean errors on the position estimates were below 2 mm, i.e., smaller than previously reported manual coil positioning errors. The predicted electric fields were also highly correlated (r> 0.97) with their numerical references. In addition to healthy subjects, we validated our approach also in glioblastoma patients. We first statistically underlined the importance of using realistic heterogeneous tumor conductivities instead of simply adopting values from the surrounding healthy tissue. Second, applying the trained neural surrogate to tumor patients yielded similar accurate positioning and electric field estimates as in healthy subjects. Our findings provide a promising framework for future real-time electric field-optimized TMS applications.

Truchan, Karolina; Osyczka, Anna Maria

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-56858-wpmid: 38509118

The balance between Noggin and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) is important during early development and skeletal regenerative therapies. Noggin binds BMPs in the extracellular space, thereby preventing BMP signaling. However, Noggin may affect cell response not necessarily through the modulation of BMP signaling, raising the possibility of direct Noggin signaling through yet unspecified receptors. Here we show that in osteogenic cultures of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs), Noggin activates fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs), Src/Akt and ERK kinases, and it stabilizes TAZ proteins in the presence of dexamethasone. Overall, this leads ASCs to increased expression of osteogenic markers and robust mineral deposition. Our results also indicate that Noggin can induce osteogenic genes expression in normal human bone marrow stem cells and alkaline phosphatase activity in normal human dental pulp stem cells. Besides, Noggin can specifically activate FGFR2 in osteosarcoma cells. We believe our findings open new research avenues to further explore the involvement of Noggin in cell fate modulation by FGFR2/Src/Akt/ERK signaling and potential applications of Noggin in bone regenerative therapies.

Akselevich, Vasilisa; Gilaie-Dotan, Sharon

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-63724-2pmid: 38877079

While perceiving the emotional state of others may be crucial for our behavior even when this information is present outside of central vision, emotion perception studies typically focus on central visual field. We have recently investigated emotional valence (pleasantness) perception across the parafovea (≤ 4°) and found that for briefly presented (200 ms) emotional face images (from the established KDEF image-set), positive (happy) valence was the least affected by eccentricity (distance from the central visual field) and negative (fearful) valence the most. Furthermore, we found that performance at 2° predicted performance at 4°. Here we tested (n = 37) whether these effects replicate with face stimuli of different identities from a different well-established image-set (NimStim). All our prior findings replicated and eccentricity-based modulation magnitude was smaller with NimStim (~ 16.6% accuracy reduction at 4°) than with KDEF stimuli (~ 27.3% reduction). Our current investigations support our earlier findings that for briefly presented parafoveal stimuli, positive and negative valence perception are differently affected by eccentricity and may be dissociated. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of investigating emotions beyond central vision and demonstrate commonalities and differences across different image sets in the parafovea, emphasizing the contribution of replication studies to substantiate our knowledge about perceptual mechanisms.

Seifelnasr, Amr; Ding, Peng; Si, Xiuhua; Biondi, Andres; Xi, Jinxiang

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-60422-xpmid: 38789468

Understanding the mechanisms underlying dysphagia is crucial in devising effective, etiology-centered interventions. However, current clinical assessment and treatment of dysphagia are still more symptom-focused due to our limited understanding of the sophisticated symptom-etiology associations causing swallowing disorders. This study aimed to elucidate the mechanisms giving rise to penetration flows into the laryngeal vestibule that results in aspirations with varying symptoms. Methods: Anatomically accurate, transparent throat models were prepared with a 45° down flapped epiglottis to simulate the instant of laryngeal closure during swallowing. Fluid bolus dynamics were visualized with fluorescent dye from lateral, rear, front, and endoscopic directions to capture key hydrodynamic features leading to aspiration. Three influencing factors, fluid consistency, liquid dispensing site, and dispensing speed, were systemically evaluated on their roles in liquid aspirations. Results: Three aspiration mechanisms were identified, with liquid bolus entering the airway through (a) the interarytenoid notch (notch overflow), (b) cuneiform tubercle recesses (recess overflow), and (c) off-edge flow underneath the epiglottis (off-edge capillary flow). Of the three factors considered, liquid viscosity has the most significant impact on aspiration rate, followed by the liquid dispensing site and the dispensing speed. Water had one order of magnitude higher aspiration risks than 1% w/v methyl cellulose solution, a mildly thick liquid. Anterior dispensing had higher chances for aspiration than posterior oropharyngeal dispensing for both liquids and dispensing speeds considered. The effects of dispending speed varied. A lower speed increased aspiration for anterior-dispensed liquids due to increased off-edge capillary flows, while it significantly reduced aspiration for posterior-dispensed liquids due to reduced notch overflows. Visualizing swallowing hydrodynamics from multiple orientations facilitates detailed site-specific inspections of aspiration mechanisms.

Yoo, Suh-Woo; Yang, Su; Kim, Jo-Eun; Huh, Kyung-Hoe; Lee, Sam-Sun; Heo, Min-Suk; Yi, Won-Jin

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-64265-4pmid: 38886356

Stroke is one of the major causes of death worldwide, and is closely associated with atherosclerosis of the carotid artery. Panoramic radiographs (PRs) are routinely used in dental practice, and can be used to visualize carotid artery calcification (CAC). The purpose of this study was to automatically and robustly classify and segment CACs with large variations in size, shape, and location, and those overlapping with anatomical structures based on deep learning analysis of PRs. We developed a cascaded deep learning network (CACSNet) consisting of classification and segmentation networks for CACs on PRs. This network was trained on ground truth data accurately determined with reference to CT images using the Tversky loss function with optimized weights by balancing between precision and recall. CACSNet with EfficientNet-B4 achieved an AUC of 0.996, accuracy of 0.985, sensitivity of 0.980, and specificity of 0.988 in classification for normal or abnormal PRs. Segmentation performances for CAC lesions were 0.595 for the Jaccard index, 0.722 for the Dice similarity coefficient, 0.749 for precision, and 0.756 for recall. Our network demonstrated superior classification performance to previous methods based on PRs, and had comparable segmentation performance to studies based on other imaging modalities. Therefore, CACSNet can be used for robust classification and segmentation of CAC lesions that are morphologically variable and overlap with surrounding structures over the entire posterior inferior region of the mandibular angle on PRs.

Chen, Hao; Huang, Suhua; Quan, Changqian; Chen, Zhining; Xu, Meihua; Wei, Fan; Tang, Danfeng

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-55406-wpmid: 38429397

Platostoma palustre is an annual herb and an important medicinal and edible plant in southern China. Plastic-film mulching is an effective agronomic practice in the cultivation system of P. palustre, of which black-film mulching is the most common. However, fewer researches have been focused on the use of other colors of plastic films in P. palustre cultivation. In this study, different colors (white, black, red, and green) of plastic film were adopted, and the effects of different colors of plastic film mulching on the soil temperature, yield, and metabolites of P. palustre were investigated. The results showed that the fresh weight of a single plant of the green film treatment was significantly higher than that of the white film treatment (n = top 28). Based on the results of three temperature measurements, the soil temperature was almost the highest in the red film treatment and lowest in the white film treatment. The metabolomic analysis revealed that a total of 103 differential metabolites were identified. Among these, the gluconic acid, deoxyribose, and N-Acetylmannosamine in the red film treatment presented the highest abundance compared with the other treatments, meanwhile, the abundances of the five monosaccharides in the red film treatment were significantly higher than those of the green film treatment. Moreover, the sucrose, trehalose, and D-(+)-trehalose in the green film treatment exhibited the highest abundance, and the abundances of eight different amino acids in the red film treatment were almost the lowest while those in the black film treatment were almost the highest. Further analysis of the membership function values indicated that the black and red film treatments might be more suitable for the cultivation and quality production of P. palustre in comparison with the other two treatments. This study will provide a theoretical basis for improving the efficient cultivation technology of P. palustre and forming a theoretical system of P. palustre film mulching cultivation.

Bonny-Noach, Hagit; Sinambela, Yenny; Hanafi, Enjeline; Shina, Chen; Siste, Kristiana

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-68700-4pmid: 39085323

Korean dramas (K-dramas), with their unique characteristics, often encourage binge-watching. Moreover, the cultural norms and rituals surrounding alcohol, prevalent in South Korea, are mirrored in K-dramas that have gained global audiences in recent years. The present study aimed to examine problematic K-drama series watching, and the potential associations with alcohol consumption among global adult audiences from Israel and Indonesia. An online questionnaire was distributed to a non-probability convenience sample of 638 adult viewers of K-drama, of whom 383 (60%) were Indonesian and 255 (40%) were Israeli. Fifteen percent of the audiences were identified as displaying problematic K-drama series watching, 36% reported ever drinking Soju (the traditional unique Korean drink), 41% reported drinking alcohol in the past 3 months, and 24% reported binge drinking in the past 12 months. Participants who were higher in problematic K-drama series watching were more likely to be involved with drinking Soju, drinking alcohol in the past 3 months, and binge drinking in the last year. Indonesians and Israelis have significantly different viewing patterns and alcohol consumption. 21.2% of Israelis identified as problematic K-drama series watching compared to 10.7% of Indonesians. Greater percentage of the Israelis have reported consumption of alcohol than Indonesians. Multiple linear regression for problematic K-drama series watching revealed that Israeli audiences, younger age, being defined as a fan, being a member of a K-drama social network, higher number of weekly hours spent watching, and greater number of dramas being watched per month were associated with more problematic K-drama series watching. Series binge-watching may entail potentially negative health and social consequences and professionals should pay more attention to this type of problematic behavior. The identification of problematic K-drama series watching and its association with increased alcohol consumption, suggests the need for health policymakers to consider cultural influences on media alcohol messages consumption.

Chen, Jiajia; Ran, Weiwei; Zhao, Yuanqi; Zhao, Zhibing; Song, Yuehua

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-68831-8pmid: 39112542

Pitaya (Hylocereus undulatus) is a significant cash crop in the karst region of Southwest China. Ecological stoichiometry is an essential method to research biogeochemical cycles and limiting elements. The purpose of this study was to explore the stoichiometric characteristics of C, N, and P in Karst pitaya orchards and fruit quality and to elucidate the mechanism and process of nutrient cycling. The results showed that: (1) Fruit quality was highest under the combination of chemical and organic fertilizers. Compared to the control, the contents of per-fruit weight, vitamin C, and soluble sugar increased significantly by 55.5%, 60.7%, and 23.0%, respectively, while the content of titratable acidity decreased significantly by 22.0%. (2) The content of soil nutrients under fertilization stress showed a downward trend in general, as did microbial biomass and extracellular enzyme activities. (3) Different fertilization treatments significantly affected the soil-microbial stoichiometry C:N ratio, C:P ratio, with research areas being significantly limited by C and P. (4) Spearman and PLS-SEM (partial least squares-structural equation model) analysis results showed that under the influence of fertilization, there was a significant positive effect between microorganisms and soil nutrients, but a significant negative effect between soil nutrients and quality. The results of this study offer an innovative perspective on pitaya quality research in Karst areas.

Zhao, Yukun; Huang, Zhen; Seligman, Martin; Peng, Kaiping

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-55949-ypmid: 38528008

Emotions, long deemed a distinctly human characteristic, guide a repertoire of behaviors, e.g., promoting risk-aversion under negative emotional states or generosity under positive ones. The question of whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) can possess emotions remains elusive, chiefly due to the absence of an operationalized consensus on what constitutes 'emotion' within AI. Adopting a pragmatic approach, this study investigated the response patterns of AI chatbots—specifically, large language models (LLMs)—to various emotional primes. We engaged AI chatbots as one would human participants, presenting scenarios designed to elicit positive, negative, or neutral emotional states. Multiple accounts of OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus were then tasked with responding to inquiries concerning investment decisions and prosocial behaviors. Our analysis revealed that ChatGPT-4 bots, when primed with positive, negative, or neutral emotions, exhibited distinct response patterns in both risk-taking and prosocial decisions, a phenomenon less evident in the ChatGPT-3.5 iterations. This observation suggests an enhanced capacity for modulating responses based on emotional cues in more advanced LLMs. While these findings do not suggest the presence of emotions in AI, they underline the feasibility of swaying AI responses by leveraging emotional indicators.

Zhang, Qian; Liu, Yuhui; Ren, Liangliang; Li, Junqing; Lin, Weiran; Lou, Lijuan; Wang, Minghan; Li, Chaoying; Jiang, Ying

2024 Scientific Reports

doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-58587-6pmid: 38580754

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) seriously threatens human health, mostly developed from liver fibrosis or cirrhosis. Since diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced HCC mouse model almost recapitulates the characteristic of HCC with fibrosis and inflammation, it is taken as an essential tool to investigate the pathogenesis of HCC. However, a comprehensive understanding of the protein expression profile of this model is little. In this study, we performed proteomic analysis of this model to elucidate its proteomic characteristics. Compared with normal liver tissues, 432 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified in tumor tissues, among which 365 were up-regulated and 67 were down-regulated. Through Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA), protein–protein interaction networks (PPI) analysis and Gene-set enrichment analysis (GSEA) analysis of DEPs, we identified two distinguishing features of DEN and CCl4-induced HCC mouse model in protein expression, the upregulation of actin cytoskeleton and branched-chain amino acids metabolic reprogramming. In addition, matching DEPs from the mouse model to homologous proteins in the human HCC cohort revealed that the DEN and CCl4-induced HCC mouse model was relatively similar to the subtype of HCC with poor prognosis. Finally, combining clinical information from the HCC cohort, we screened seven proteins with prognostic significance, SMAD2, PTPN1, PCNA, MTHFD1L, MBOAT7, FABP5, and AGRN. Overall, we provided proteomic data of the DEN and CCl4-induced HCC mouse model and highlighted the important proteins and pathways in it, contributing to the rational application of this model in HCC research.