Determination of Selenium and Tin in Human Brain by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

 A method is reported for measuring Se and Sn in human brain tissue. The patients from whom the samples were taken had no diseases in their central nervous system. Microwave energy was applied to digest the brain samples. The digested samples were analyzed without dilution by transversely heated graphite atomizer for atomic absorption spectrometry with longitudinal Zeeman background correction. The dependence of integrated absorbance on various chemical modifiers has been examined. The most appropriate technique proved to be 5 μl sample injection using 20 μg prereduced palladium-nitrate for Se determination, and 20 μl sample injection applying 10 μg palladium-nitrate + 3 μg magnesium-nitrate for the measurements of Sn. The optimal temperature program was found to be 1200 °C pyrolysis and 2100 °C atomisation temperature for Se and 1500 °C pyrolysis and 2300 °C atomisation temperature for Sn. Accuracy of the applied techniques was tested by the analysis of standard reference materials. The precision was ±5% for Se and ±10% for Sn. The range of recovery values was 85–95% for Se and 95–105% for Sn. The mean Se concentrations in the investigated brain parts ranged from 200 to 700 ng/g, while the Sn concentrations were between 20 and 300 ng/g dry weight. Received October 3, 2000. Revision February 1, 2001.     

微量元素锌在儿童生长发育中的作用

微量元素锌在儿童生长发育过程中有极其重要的意义。多种疾病患儿体内锌严重缺乏。本文综述了锌与肺炎等疾病的关系,并提出了用锌剂治疗时应注意的问题。     

漫谈熵

熵是物理中的一个既重要又微妙的概念。文章从物理学引入熵谈起,依次讨论熵与热力学第二定律、熵的统计力学定义、熵增与基础物理理论的矛盾,以及时间箭头与玻尔兹曼大脑,最后介绍著名的黑洞熵。     

基于磁共振成像的人脑图谱构建方法研究进展

基于磁共振成像的脑图谱构建对于脑与认知科学的研究非常重要,借助脑图谱,研究者可以精确地分析比较不同的脑影像数据,然而目前尚没有比较统一的标准脑图谱.本文针对基于磁共振成像的脑图谱构建方法进行概述,首先介绍了人脑图谱构建的发展进程,阐述脑图谱构建中需解决的技术问题及其局限性;然后着重描述了构建脑图谱的基本方法;最后论述了应用脑图谱进行精确定量分析的统计学方法,包括基于体素的形态学测量分析法和基于纤维束示踪的空间统计分析法,并较深入地比较了两种方法的差异和近期研究进展.通过分析目前研究现状,本文总结了脑图谱构建研究中的主要方法及不足,并就该领域未来的研究进展进行了展望.     

人脑默认模式网络的动力学行为

大脑具有自适应、自组织、多稳态等重要特征,是典型的复杂系统.人脑在静息态下的关键功能子网络--默认模式网络(DMN)的激活处于多状态间持续跳转的非平衡过程,揭示该过程背后的动力学机制具有重要的科学意义和临床应用前景.本文基于功能磁共振获得的血氧水平依赖(BOLD)信号,建立了DMN吸引子跳转非平衡过程的能量图景、吸引子非联通图、跳转关系网络等;以高级视觉皮层和听觉等皮层活动为例,通过对应激活DMN状态空间的分布,以及XGBoost、深度神经网络等算法验证了DMN状态变化与外部脑区状态的密切依赖关系;通过偏相关、收敛交叉映射等方法分析了DMN内各个脑区之间的相互作用.本文结果有助于理解静息态下大脑内在非平衡过程的动力学机制,以及从动力学的角度探索具有临床意义的脑功能障碍生物标志物.     

Construction and Application of Functional Brain Network Based on Entropy

Functional brain network (FBN) is an intuitive expression of the dynamic neural activity interaction between different neurons, neuron clusters, or cerebral cortex regions. It can characterize the brain network topology and dynamic properties. The method of building an FBN to characterize the features of the brain network accurately and effectively is a challenging subject. Entropy can effectively describe the complexity, non-linearity, and uncertainty of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. As a relatively new research direction, the research of the FBN construction method based on EEG data of fatigue driving has broad prospects. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the entropy-based FBN construction. We focus on selecting appropriate entropy features to characterize EEG signals and construct an FBN. On the real data set of fatigue driving, FBN models based on different entropies are constructed to identify the state of fatigue driving. Through analyzing network measurement indicators, the experiment shows that the FBN model based on fuzzy entropy can achieve excellent classification recognition rate and good classification stability. In addition, when compared with the other model based on the same data set, our model could obtain a higher accuracy and more stable classification results even if the length of the intercepted EEG signal is different.     

基于气相色谱-质谱联用的血府逐瘀汤治疗大鼠颅脑损伤的血浆代谢组学研究

该文研究了血府逐瘀汤对颅脑损伤大鼠血浆代谢组的影响,采用气相色谱-质谱联用(GC-MS)技术对治疗组、模型组以及假手术组的血浆代谢物进行检测,定性定量分析了43种重要的代谢物。模型组和假手术组的t检验(t-test)结果显示13种代谢物存在显著差异。正交偏最小二乘-判别分析(OPLS-DA)分析结果也显示模型组和假手术组代谢差异明显。结合变量的投影重要性指标(VIP)及t检验结果,筛选出乳酸、组氨酸、棕榈酸、色氨酸、亚油酸、油酸、硬脂酸作为生物标志物。观测7种标志物在治疗组中第1、3、7、14 d的变化情况。结果显示:治疗组中乳酸、组氨酸、棕榈酸、亚油酸、硬脂酸的相对浓度逐渐降低,色氨酸的相对浓度先降低后升高,油酸的相对浓度先升高后降低,且7种代谢物的相对浓度在第14 d时均接近于假手术组的水平。表明血府逐瘀汤对颅脑损伤具有一定的治疗作用,乳酸、组氨酸、棕榈酸、色氨酸、亚油酸、油酸、硬脂酸7种代谢物可以作为生物标志物监测颅脑损伤的治疗效果及恢复情况。     

Profiling and sequencing of gangliosides from human caudate nucleus by chip‐nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry

Gangliosides (GGs), sialic acid‐containing glycosphingolipids are involved in many brain functions at the cell and molecular level. Compositional and structural elucidation of GGs in mixtures extracted from human brain is essential for correlating their profile with the specialized function of each brain area in health and disease. As a part of our ongoing study on GG expression and structure in different healthy and diseased brain regions, in this work, a preliminary investigation of GGs in a specimen of human caudate nucleus (CN) was carried out using an advanced mass spectrometry (MS) technique. By chip‐nanoelectrospray MS performed on a NanoMate robot coupled to a high capacity ion trap instrument, 81 GG components were detected in human CN in only 1.5 min of signal acquisition. Although the native GG mixture from CN was found dominated by mono‐, di‐ and trisialylated GGs with a slight dominance of disialylated forms (GD), four tetrasialylated structures (GQ) and two pentasialylated (GP) species were also identified. Additionally, species with unusually long fatty acid chains, exceeding 30 carbon atoms in their ceramide (Cer) composition, and several glycoforms modified by fucosyl (Fuc), O‐acetyl (O‐Ac) and/or lactonization were discovered. By tandem MS (MS²) using collision‐induced dissociation, two atypical mono and disialylated species with long‐chain fatty acids in their Cer could be confirmed and structurally characterized. These results may be a starting point for new GG‐based approaches in the study of CN functions and ethiopathogenesis of CN‐related neurodegenerative disorders. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coated Blade Spray-Mass Spectrometry as a New Approach for the Rapid Characterization of Brain Tumors

Brain tumors are neoplasms with one of the highest mortality rates. Therefore, the availability of methods that allow for the quick and effective diagnosis of brain tumors and selection of appropriate treatments is of critical importance for patient outcomes. In this study, coated blade spray-mass spectrometry (CBS-MS), which combines the features of microextraction and fast ionization methods, was applied for the analysis of brain tumors. In this approach, a sword-shaped probe is coated with a sorptive material to enable the extraction of analytes from biological samples. The analytes are then desorbed using only a few microliters of solvent, followed by the insertion of the CBS device into the interface on the mass spectrometer source. The results of this proof-of-concept experiment confirmed that CBS coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) enables the rapid differentiation of two histologically different lesions: meningiomas and gliomas. Moreover, quantitative CBS-HRMS/MS analysis of carnitine, the endogenous compound, previously identified as a discriminating metabolite, showed good reproducibility with the variation below 10% when using a standard addition calibration strategy and deuterated internal standards for correction. The resultant data show that the proposed CBS-MS technique can be useful for on-site qualitative and quantitative assessments of brain tumor metabolite profiles.