The evolution of virtual reality (VR) technologies requires setting boundaries of its use. In this study, 3 female participants were experiencing VR scenarios with stressful content and their activity of the autonomic nervous system and EEG were recorded. It has been discovered that virtual reality can evoke acute stress reactions accompanied by activation of the sympathetic nervous system and a decrease in the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system. The high-stress response is accompanied by a decrease in the power of the EEG, and, on the contrary, the activation of the avoidance reaction is accompanied by an increase in the power of the EEG alpha waves. Therefore, the use of stressful VR content can cause high emotional stress to a user and restrictions should be considered.

The left frontal aslant tract (FAT) has been proposed to be relevant for language, and specifically for spontaneous speech fluency. However, there is missing causal evidence that stimulation of the FAT affects spontaneous speech, and not language production in general. We present a series of 12 neurosurgical cases with awake language mapping of the cortex near the left FAT. Tasks for language mapping included the commonly used action picture naming, and sentence completion, tapping more specifically into spontaneous speech. A task dissociation was found in 10 participants: while being stimulated on specific sites, they were able to name a picture but could not complete a sentence. Overlaying of these sites on preoperative white-matter tract reconstructions revealed that in each individual case they were located on cortical terminations of the FAT. This corroborates the language functional specificity of the left FAT as a tract underlying fluent spontaneous speech.

Although CDK7 inhibitors are considered to be potential anticancer drugs, all inhibitors developed so far have significant disadvantages preventing their further use. We have developed a new CDK7 inhibitor scaffold lacking hepatotoxicity using molecular dynamics (MD) and free energy perturbation (FEP/MD) methods, and were able to double its binding affinity after additional research. The combination of MD and FEP/MD methods was shown to be a valuable instrument for the development of novel and potent CDK7 inhibitors for anticancer therapy.

Insomnia is one of the most widespread health problems in the general population [1]. It has been estimated that one-third of the general population experience at least one of the insomnia symptoms [2]. According to DSM-5, insomnia is defined as difficulty in initiating or maintaining sleep or early morning awakening accompanied by considerable distress or clinical disturbance [3]. Insomnia is considered as a disorder characterized by nocturnal symptoms (difficulty falling or maintaining asleep) and daytime symptoms (i.e., deterioration in daytime functioning).

The review summarizes studies of chemical and biological processes occurring in human body upon exposure to coronaviruses, in particular SARS-CoV-2. The mechanisms of viral particles penetration into the cell and their replication, impact on the immune system and oxygen transport systems are considered. The mechanisms of complications occurring as a consequence of viral infection - vasculitis, thrombosis, cytokine storm and lung fibrosis are discussed. The review also includes data on the latest research in the field of small molecule medication to counteract the virus. Molecular targets and possible vectors of exploiting them are considered. The review is written primarily for specialists who want to understand the chains of activation, replication, actions and methods of protection/inhibition of SARS-CoV-2. Due to the short period of such studies, the data on complexes of small molecule compounds and possible protein targets are not numerous, but they will be useful in search and synthesis of new potentially effective drugs.

BACKGROUND: Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. METHODS: We reviewed results for injuries from the GBD 2017 study. GBD 2017 measured injury-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) using the Cause of Death Ensemble model. To measure non-fatal injuries, GBD 2017 modelled injury-specific incidence and converted this to prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs). YLLs and YLDs were summed to calculate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). FINDINGS: In 1990, there were 4 260 493 (4 085 700 to 4 396 138) injury deaths, which increased to 4 484 722 (4 332 010 to 4 585 554) deaths in 2017, while age-standardised mortality decreased from 1079 (1073 to 1086) to 738 (730 to 745) per 100 000. In 1990, there were 354 064 302 (95% uncertainty interval: 338 174 876 to 371 610 802) new cases of injury globally, which increased to 520 710 288 (493 430 247 to 547 988 635) new cases in 2017. During this time, age-standardised incidence decreased non-significantly from 6824 (6534 to 7147) to 6763 (6412 to 7118) per 100 000. Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardised DALYs decreased from 4947 (4655 to 5233) per 100 000 to 3267 (3058 to 3505). INTERPRETATION: Injuries are an important cause of health loss globally, though mortality has declined between 1990 and 2017. Future research in injury burden should focus on prevention in high-burden populations, improving data collection and ensuring access to medical care.

Prevalence of oral diseases among children is an urgent problem that poses a threat to the health of the growing population in Russia. Dental pathology among children with disabilities has specific characteristics regarding its development, prevalence and intensity of the lesion. Statistically, dental morbidity of children with disabilities is much higher than in somatically healthy. This is due to a number of factors: a slowdown in the perception rate, underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere, violation of behavioral reactions and, as a consequence, inadequate compliance with necessary hygienic procedures. The authors consider that the major etiological factor resulting in the development of diseases of oral mucosa and periodontal condition in patients with neuropsychiatric pathology is absence or poor hygienic care of the oral cavity. The aim of the study is to assess the dental status of children with disabilities and autism spectrum disorders aged 3 – 8 years old. To determine this status, the method of defining and calculating indices reflecting the state of oral tissues was employed. The following indexes were used in the study: Fedorov-Volodkina hygienic index; simplified index of oral hygiene (OHI-S/GAMES-Y),; papillary-marginal-alveolar index (PMA); Index of tooth decay kp, KPU+kp. Dental examination revealed a high prevalence of dental diseases in children with ASD and cerebral palsy; in particular, multiple lesions of hard tissues of the teeth, periodontal inflammation were identified. The findings of the study showed that caries in children with limited abilities is mainly due to their low motivation to develop a habit of individual manual teeth brushing ritual.

The effect of low concentrations of miRNA on the ability of GeneChip miRNA 4.0 hybridization chips to evaluate their representation in the sample was studied. It is shown that the evaluation of the expression of 61 miRNAs is statistically significantly associated with the multiplicity of plasma dilution. Only 12 miRNAs showed very high Pearson correlation coefficient (>0.95) and they all decreased in response to dilution. High abundance of has-miR-4532 miRNA in plasma was demonstrated. This miRNA was never detected during sequencing of similar samples. It was concluded that in case of miRNA expression <1.12±0.33 units in log2 scale, dilution was not followed by further decrease in the signal intensity in GeneChip miRNA 4.0 chips.

Background: Sleep disorders have emerged as potential cancer risk factors.

Objective: This review discusses the relationships between sleep, obesity, and breathing disorders with concomitant risks of developing cancer.

Results: Sleep disorders result in an abnormal expression of clock genes, decreased immunity, and melatonin release disruption. Therefore, these disorders may contribute to cancer development. Moreover, in sleep breathing disorder, which are frequently experienced by the obese persons, the sufferer experiences intermittent hypoxia that may stimulate cancer cell proliferation.

Discussion: During short- or long- duration sleep, sleep-wake rhythm disruption may occur. Insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea increase cancer risks. In short sleepers, an increased risk of stomach cancer, esophageal squamous cell cancer, and breast cancer were observed. Among long sleepers (>9 hours), the risk of some hematologic malignancies is elevated.

Conclusion: Several factors including insomnia, circadian disruption, obesity, and intermittent hypoxia in obstructive sleep apnea are contributing risk factors for increased risk of several types of cancers. However, further studies are needed to determine the more significant of these risk factors and their interactions.

Background and Purpose Despite the continuing efforts in multimodal assessment of the motor system after stroke, conclusive findings on the complementarity of functional and structural metrics of the corticospinal tract (CST) integrity and the role of the contralesional hemisphere are still missing. The aim of this work was to find the best combination of the motor system parameters, allowing classification of patients into three predefined groups of upper limb motor recovery. Methods 35 chronic ischemic stroke patients (47 [26–66] y.o., 29 [6–58] months post-stroke) with only supratentorial lesion and unilateral upper extremity weakness were enrolled. Patients were divided into three groups depending on the upper limb motor recovery. Non-parametric statistical tests and regression analysis were used to investigate the relationships among structural and functional motor system parameters, probed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). In addition, stratification rules were tested, using a decision tree classifier to identify parameters explaining motor recovery. Results Fractional anisotropy (FA) ratio in the internal capsule (IC) and absence/presence of motor evoked potentials (MEPs), were equally discriminative of the worst motor outcome group (96% accuracy). MEP presence diverged for two investigated hand muscles. Concurrently, for the three recovery groups’ classification, the best parameter combination was: IC FA ratio and Fréchet distance between the contralesional and ipsilesional CST FA profiles (91% accuracy). No other metrics had any additional value for patients’ classification. Conclusions This study demonstrates that IC FA ratio and MEPs absence are equally important markers for poor recovery. Importantly, we found that MEPs should be controlled in more than one hand muscle. Finally, we show that better separation between different motor recovery groups may be achieved when considering the whole CST FA profile.