Biology subjects

Sheng, F.

Publications and source records attributed to Sheng, F..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Attenuation of value-to-evidence translation drives biased decision making in anxiety and depression

Anxiety and depression are globally prevalent conditions associated with maladaptive decision making. However, whether affective symptoms primarily amplify threat avoidance or dampen motivational drive remains debated, and behavioural studies yield inconsistent findings. Here we show that both anxiety and depression impair the fundamental cognitive process of translating objective value into decision evidence. Across independent cohorts from the US and India, participants evaluated risky gambles while we assessed choice behaviour and the centroparietal positivity, an EEG marker of accumulating decision evidence. Prospect theory parameters, like risk and loss aversion, showed little association with symptom severity. Conversely, hierarchical drift-diffusion modelling revealed that higher symptom scores predicted attenuated value sensitivity during evidence accumulation, whereas decision caution remained intact. This reduction in value sensitivity suggests internalizing symptoms disrupt choice at the value-to-evidence interface, offering a unified mechanism underlying biased decision making in affective disorders.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

The Pulmonary Microbial Signatures of Early Stages of Severe Infection in Children

The respiratory tract related diseases are the main causes of death in children. Child pulmonary severe infection is the most important inducement for Respiratory tract related diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the composition of the microbial community and the species correlation in children with severe pulmonary infection. In this study, the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of 782 children with severe infection in the early stage were systematically analyzed by amplicon-sequencing technology to reveal the distribution of microbial community and its clinical correlation. Results reveal significantly higher bacterial abundance in BALF than in blood/cerebrospinal fluid, with community structures shaped by tissue microenvironments, geographical disparities, age, and clinical symptoms. Neonatal BALF harbors simplified microbiota dominated by probiotics, while diversity increases with age, showing marked differences between 1-3 and 6-12-year-olds. Sepsis samples exhibit reduced microbial diversity, with Staphylococcus and Moraxella enrichments in the CST-4 cluster. Respiratory symptom progression correlates with microbiota succession from oral colonizers to respiratory pathogens. Third-generation sequencing-derived co-occurrence networks illustrate synergistic interactions among opportunistic pathogens, providing a basis for ecological targeted therapy. This study provides a key basis for breaking through the limitations of traditional diagnosis, establishing a precise diagnosis and treatment system based on third-generation sequencing, and developing ecological targeted treatment strategies.

pathology↗

bioRxiv2024

Upregulation of DEK Expression in Uterine Myomas and Cervical Cancer as a Potential Prognostic Factor

The aim of this pilot study is to investigate the role of the DEK protein as a potential prognostic marker in gynecological tumors, specifically focusing on uterine myomas and cervical cancer. The study cohort comprised Chinese female patients manifesting with menorrhagia and pelvisalgia, from whom neoplastic and adjacent non-neoplastic tissue specimens were procured during surgical intervention for either leiomyomas or cervical carcinoma. DEK protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were measured across normal uterine tissue, uterine myomas, and cervical cancer tissues using Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results revealed a marked increase in DEK protein expression in cervical cancer tissues, moderate expression in uterine myomas, and minimal levels in normal uterine tissues. Statistical analyses confirmed significant differences in DEK protein expression between tissue types, though mRNA expression differences did not reach statistical significance. These findings suggest DEKs involvement in tumor development and suppression, making it a promising biomarker for early detection in gynecological tumors. Further research is needed to elucidate DEKs mechanisms in gynecological tumorigenesis and its potential as an early biomarker, addressing critical need in womens health.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Decomposing Loss Aversion from Gaze Allocation and Pupil Dilation

Loss-averse decisions, in which one avoids losses at the expense of gains, are highly prevalent. However, the underlying mechanisms remain controversial. The prevailing account highlights a valuation bias that overweighs losses relative to gains, but an alternative view stresses a response bias to avoid choices involving potential losses. Here we couple a computational process model with eye-tracking and pupillometry to develop a physiologicallygrounded framework for the decision process leading to accepting or rejecting gambles with equal odds of winning and losing money. Overall, loss-averse decisions were accompanied by preferential gaze towards losses and increased pupil dilation for accepting gambles. Using our model, we found gaze allocation selectively indexed valuation bias, and pupil dilation selectively indexed response bias. Finally, we demonstrated that our computational model and physiological biomarkers can identify distinct types of loss-averse decision-makers who would otherwise be indistinguishable using conventional approaches. Our study provides an integrative framework for the cognitive processes that drive loss-averse decisions and highlights the biological heterogeneity of loss aversion across individuals. Significance StatementWe revisit the concept of loss aversion by synthesizing distinct views into an integrative framework and by probing physiological biomarkers associated with the behavior. The framework decomposes loss aversion into a valuation bias, which weighs losses over gains, and a response bias, which avoids loss-related choices altogether. Further, we revealed a double dissociation in physiology underlying the decision process. Valuation bias was associated with preferential gaze allocation to losses whereas response bias was associated with pupillary dilation. Our framework exposed biological heterogeneity underlying loss aversion and distinguishes different loss-averse decision makers who are otherwise indistinguishable using conventional approaches. Our integrative approach provides a deeper analysis of the mechanisms underlying loss aversion and incorporates distinct views within a unified biological framework.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

ROCK1/Drp1-mediated aberrant mitochondrial fission is crucial for dopaminergic nerve cell apoptosis

Dopamine deficiency caused by apoptosis of the dopaminergic nerve cells in the midbrain substantia nigra is the main pathological basis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Recent research has shown that dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1)-mediated aberrant mitochondrial fission plays an important role in dopaminergic nerve cell apoptosis. However, the upstream regulatory mechanism remains unclear. Our study shows that knockdown of Drp1 blocked aberrant mitochondrial fission and dopaminergic nerve cell apoptosis. Importantly, we found that ROCK1 was activated in an MPP+-induced PD cell model and that ROCK1 knockdown and the specific ROCK1 activation inhibitor Y-27632 blocked Drp1-mediated aberrant mitochondrial fission and apoptosis of dopaminergic nerve cell through suppression of Drp1 dephosphorylation/activation. Our in vivo study confirmed that Y-27632 significantly improved symptoms of a PD mouse model through inhibition of Drp1-mediated aberrant mitochondrial fission and apoptosis of dopaminergic nerve cell. Collectively, Our study suggests an important molecular mechanism of PD pathogenesis involving ROCK1-regulated dopaminergic nerve cell apoptosis via activation of Drp1-induced aberrant mitochondrial fission.

neuroscience↗