Mediating Role of Depression Between Diabetes Management Self-Efficacy and Diabetes Self-Care Behavior Among Elderly Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in China.

Objective: To investigate the current status of diabetes self-care behavior and the association between depression, self-efficacy and self-care in a sample of Chinese elderly type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a convenient sample including 240 elderly T2DM patients collected the data of demographic characteristics, diabetes self-care behavior, self-efficacy and depression status. The difference of self-care behavior in different sample characteristics was compared by independent t-test. The Personal correlation analysis was employed to examine the correlation of study variables. The method of bootstrap was used to analyze mediating role of depression. Results: Only 22.5% of patients reported better diabetes self-care behavior and depression partly mediated the association between self-efficacy and self-care behavior. The significant coefficient of path a (B = -0.052, p < 0.001) and path b (B = -0.423, p < 0.05) indicated negative associations of self-efficacy on depression, and depression on self-care behavior. The indirect effect (Path a × b) between self-efficacy and self-care behavior through depression was significant (B = 0.022, p < 0.05), the 95% bias-corrected bootstrap confidence interval was 0.004 to 0.006. Meanwhile, the mediating role of depression was not found significant among the participants reported 60-74 years old (B = 0.104, p < 0.001). But depression completely mediated this association among the participants reported 75-89 years old (B = 0.034, p > 0.05). Conclusion: The level of diabetes self-care behavior among the elderly T2DM patients in Dahu community of Anqing city was hardly optimistic. The self-efficacy focused intervention could be encouraged for community and clinicians to improve diabetes self-care behavior. Moreover, the prevalence of depression and T2DM is increasing in younger population. More work is needed to confirm these findings, especially conducting cohort studies on different populations.

The Effect of Left-Behind Experience and Self-Esteem on Aggressive Behavior in Young Adults in China : A Cross-Sectional Study.

There is little investigation on the independent effects of left-behind experience (LBE) on self-esteem and aggressive behavior in Chinese young adult populations, or the interaction effects of LBE and self-esteem on aggressive behavior. Thus, a school-based health survey was conducted in Anhui province in China in 2017. A total of 4,154 college students completed standard questionnaires which contain details of left-behind-related characters, self-esteem, aggressive behavior, and sociodemographic profile. Of included students, 55.3% were those with LBE (LBEs). Compared to students without left-behind experiences (NLBEs), LBEs had significantly increased scores of aggressive behavior and decreased score of self-esteem. The increased aggression in LBEs was highly related to longer left-behind duration, younger age of left-behind for the first time, and decreased self-esteem. On the other side, the aggressive behavior was demonstrated negatively correlated with self-esteem in both LBEs and NLBEs. There was an interaction effect of left-behind duration and self-esteem on physical aggression and of frequency of contacting with parents and self-esteem on verbal aggression. Besides, the interaction of primary caregiver and self-esteem on hostility and aggression toward self were also observed, respectively. Our results indicated LBEs and low self-esteem are associated with increased risk of aggressive behavior in Chinese young adults. The increased aggressive behavior in LBEs were highly related to longer left-behind duration, younger age of left-behind for the first time and decreased self-esteem. In those LBEs with some certain left-behind-related characters, aggressive behavior decreased more prominently with the increase of self-esteem. Strategies to improve self-esteem, particularly among young adults who have certain characters of LBE, should be a significant component of prevention and interventions of aggressive behavior.

Respiratory syncytial virus infection of microglia exacerbates SH-SY5Y neuronal cell injury by inducing the secretion of inflammatory cytokines: A Transwell in vitro study.

OBJECTIVES: To elucidate the mechanism of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infection and central neuronal disease and to understand the role of microglia in neuronal injuries during RSV infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effects of RSV and the cytokines produced by RSV-infected CHME-5 microglial cells on SY5Y neuronal cells were evaluated based on an in vitro Transwell coculture system. Five treatment groups were established in this study, including the normal control SY5Y group, RSV+SY5Y infection group, (cytokine+CHME-5)+SY5Y Transwell group, (RSV+CHME-5)+SY5Y Transwell group, and (RSV+cytokine+CHME-5)+SY5Y Transwell group. The morphological and physical alterations in SY5Y cells and their synapses were analyzed by confocal microscopy. The mRNA and protein expression levels of TLR3/RIG-I, as well as the expression of Hv1, in microglia were measured by qRT-PCR and Western blot assays. In addition, the apoptosis ratio of neuronal cells was determined by flow cytometry. RESULTS: RSV infection activated the protein expression of Hv1 protein in microglia in vitro (P<0.05), induced morphological changes in SY5Y cells, lengthened synapses (73.36±0.12 µm vs 38.10±0.11 µm), simultaneously activated TLR3 and RIG-I protein expression (P<0.05), upregulated the secretion of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8 (P<0.01), and increased the apoptosis rate of SY5Y cells (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate that RSV infection of microglia can induce SY5Y neuronal cell injury and stimulate apoptosis through inflammatory cytokine release.

The relationship between left-behind experience and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in college students in China: the mediation effect of self-esteem.

The number of left-behind children in China is gradually increasing, and college students with left-behind experience (LBE) have more severe mental health problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of LBE and the obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms of college students, explore the mediation role of self-esteem in the relationship between them. A total of 4145 college students were recruited in Anhui province, China. The Chinese Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) were used to measure OC symptoms and self-esteem. Bootstrap program was used to test the mediation effect. The results showed that the detection rate of OC symptoms was 24.1%. Multiple linear regression analyses found that LBE was positively associated with OC symptoms (t = 2.928, p = 0.003). High self-esteem scores in college students were significantly associated with a lower probability of OC symptoms (t = -17.023, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the test of Bootstrap showed that the indirect effect of self-esteem between LBE and OC symptoms was significant for 95% CI (LLCI = 0.3586, ULCL = 0.7264) and the mediation effect was 0.5396. The ratio of the indirect effect to the total effect was 0.408. OC symptoms were common mental health problems among college students. LBE had a positive predictive effect for OC symptomsand self-esteem plays a mediating role between them. Improving self-esteem will be beneficial to prevent and control the OC symptoms of college students.

The impacts of maternal separation experience and its pattern on depression and dysfunctional attitude in middle school students in rural China.

BACKGROUND: In China, because of the growth of economically driven rural-to-urban migration, there are lots of children in rural area who are separating or have separation experience with their parents. Until now, few studies focused on solely maternal separation and no research studied whether its pattern will affect children's later psychological status. AIM: The aim of this study was to determine whether early or late maternal separation affects depression and dysfunctional attitude in middle school students and what is the role of cumulative duration and meeting frequency. METHODS: Maternal separation experience was obtained by using questionnaires. We got early maternal separation group first. Then, late maternal separation and control group were obtained with the same number by matching grade, sex and family socioeconomic status. All the students in the three groups completed the scales of Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS). RESULTS: Both CDI and DAS scores of early separation group are higher than the other two groups. When we split the data by sex, only females presented the same results. When cumulative duration is short, there is significant difference in both scores of CDI and DAS among the three groups, which showed the scores of early separation group are higher than the other two groups. When the cumulative duration is long, there is no significant difference among the three groups. When meeting frequency is high, there is no significant difference among the three groups. When it is low, there is significant difference among the three groups, which showed the CDI and DAS scores of early separation group are higher than the other two groups. Furthermore, the same results are also found in females. CONCLUSION: Early maternal separation may exert negative influence on student's depression and dysfunctional attitude. The sex, cumulative duration and meeting frequency may also play important roles in the effect.

The timing of maternal separation affects morris water maze performance and long-term potentiation in male rats.

The increasing evidences showed that adverse early life events have profound long lasting consequences in adult rats including neural, behavioral, and cognitive effects. Early maternal separation was one of the models of adverse early life stress, but which period acts critically was unknown until now. The purpose of this paper was to explore the effects of maternal separation in different periods, that is, postnatal Day 2-9 and postnatal Day 14-21, on spatial learning and memory and long-term potentiation (LTP) in hippocampus of adolescent rats. Rat pups were assigned to three groups: early maternal separation from postnatal Day 2-9 (EMS2-9), separation from postnatal Day 14-21 (EMS14-21), and control (Con)--rats stayed with their mother all the time before weaning. Morris water maze test (MWM) and electrophysiological test were performed at 40-50 days of age. The results indicated that EMS14-21 impaired spatial learning and memory ability. For the excitatory postsynaptic potential long-term potentiation (EPSP LTP), both the two maternal separation groups showed decreased values compared to control group. In terms of population spike long-term potentiation (PS LTP), both the two maternal separation groups also showed lower values compared with control group, but only EMS14-21 group had significant difference compared with control group. In conclusion, our results revealed that EMS14-21 showed worst in both escape latency in Morris Water Maze test and LTP compared to control group and EMS2-9 group.

Prenatal maternal stress affects motor function in 5½-year-old children: project ice storm.

Evidence suggests that prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) has long-term effects on several outcomes, yet effects on neuromotor function are relatively unknown. We aimed to determine whether disaster-related PNMS predicts motor functioning in young children and whether timing of exposure and sex of the child moderate these effects. Objective and subjective PNMS levels were assessed among pregnant women exposed to a natural disaster. Their children's bilateral coordination, balance, and visual motor integration (VMI) were assessed at 5½ years. Girls performed better than boys. Objective stress exposure and subjective distress interacted such that when subjective distress was high, no added effect of objective hardship was observed; when subjective distress was low, objective hardship showed a negative effect. In girls, late pregnancy exposure was associated with poorer outcomes. In conclusion, disaster-related PNMS is associated with relatively lower motor functions in exposed offspring. Exposure timing, sex, and type of stress influenced the effects.

Protective effects of omega-3 fish oil on lead-induced impairment of long-term potentiation in rat dentate gyrus in vivo.

In order to evaluate the effect of omega-3 fish oil supplement by gavage (0.4 mL/100 g body weight) on the chronic lead-induced (0.2% lead acetate) impairments of long-term potentiation (LTP) in rat dentate gyrus (DG) in vivo, we designed the experiments which were carried out in four groups of newborn Wistar rats (the control, the lead-exposed, the control with fish oil treatment and the lead-exposed with fish oil treatment, respectively). The excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) and population spike (PS) amplitude were measured in the DG of rats with above different treatments at the age of 80-90 d in response to stimulation applied to the lateral perforant path. The results showed (1) postnatal chronic lead-exposure impaired LTP measured on both EPSP slope and PS amplitude in DG area of the hippocampus; (2) in the control rats, omega-3 fish oil had no effect on LTP while in the lead-exposed rats, omega-3 fish oil had a protective effect on LTP. These results suggest that omega-3 fish oil supplement could protect rats from the lead-induced impairment of LTP. Omega-3 fish oil might be a preventive substance in reducing LTP deficits induced by lead.

Inhibitory effect of melatonin on lung oxidative stress induced by respiratory syncytial virus infection in mice.

Previous research has shown that antioxidant (butylated hydroxyanisole) treatment ameliorates respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-induced disease and lung inflammation. Melatonin has been reported to exhibit a wide varieties of biological effects, including antioxidant and anti-inflammation, and has no evident toxicity and side effect. But it is not known whether melatonin would modify RSV-induced lung disease and oxidative stress. The present study was to establish the involvement of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of RSV-induced lung inflammation, and to investigate the protective effect of administration of melatonin in mice with RSV-induced oxidative pulmonary injury for 4 days. Malondialdehyde (MDA), an end product of lipid peroxidation, and glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and nitric oxide (NO) levels were evaluated in lung tissue homogenates by spectrophotometry. Hydroxyl radical (.-OH), one of the indicators of free radical formation, was also detected in lung homogenates by Fenton reaction. Tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) concentrations in mouse serum were measured with ELISA assay. The results demonstrated that the mice intranasally inoculated with RSV resulted in oxidative stress changes by increasing NO, MDA and .-OH levels, and decreasing GSH and SOD activities, whereas administration of melatonin significantly reversed all these effects. Furthermore, melatonin inhibited production of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-a in serum of RSV-infected mice. These results suggest that melatonin ameliorates RSV-induced lung inflammatory injury in mice via inhibition of oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokine production and may be as a novel therapeutic agent in virus-induced pulmonary infection.

Effects of chronic administration of melatonin on spatial learning ability and long-term potentiation in lead-exposed and control rats.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the changes in spatial learning performance and long-term potentiation (LTP) which is recognized as a component of the cellular basis of learning and memory in normal and lead-exposed rats after administration of melatonin (MT) for two months. METHODS: Experiment was performed in adult male Wistar rats (12 controls, 12 exposed to melatonin treatment, 10 exposed to lead and 10 exposed to lead and melatonin treatment). The lead-exposed rats received 0.2% lead acetate solution from their birth day while the control rats drank tap water. Melatonin (3 mg/kg) or vehicle was administered to the control and lead-exposed rats from the time of their weaning by gastric gavage each day for 60 days, depending on their groups. At the age of 81-90 days, all the animals were subjected to Morris water maze test and then used for extracellular recording of LTP in the dentate gyrus (DG) area of the hippocampus in vivo. RESULTS: Low dose of melatonin given from weaning for two months impaired LTP in the DG area of hippocampus and induced learning and memory deficit in the control rats. When melatonin was administered over a prolonged period to the lead-exposed rats, it exacerbated LTP impairment, learning and memory deficit induced by lead. CONCLUSION: Melatonin is not suitable for normal and lead-exposed children.

[Protection effects of S-adenosyl-L-methionine on lead-exposed rats during development and its mechanism of long-term potentiation].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) on blood lead concentration and oxidative stress of tissue in prenatal and postnatal lead-exposed rats, and evaluate the potential reparation exerted by SAM on paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) and long-term potentiation (LTP) in lead-exposed rat. METHODS: Pregnant Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: control, lead-exposed and lead-exposed with SAM treatment groups. Lead-exposed rats drank 1.5 g/L lead acetate solution through pregnancy until weaning and then the pups received 20 mg/kg SAM or saline daily intraperitoneally depending on their group. Control group rats drank tap water throughout the experiment. At the postnatal 44-60 days, all the pup rats were given an extracellular recording measured in dentate gyrus (DG) area of hippocampus. The blood lead concentration and oxidative stress in liver, brain and hippocampus were also detected. RESULTS: The blood lead concentration in lead-exposed group was higher (159. 3 +/- 10. 9 microg/L) in comparing with those of control group (27.5 +/-3.8 microg/L) and lead +SAM group (33.1 +/-9.5 microg/L) (F=213.5, P<0.01). A significant recovery of liver, brain glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) level was clearly produced in lead-exposed rats after SAM treatment (P <0.05). Chronic lead exposure during development impaired LTP measured on field excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) [(112 +/-2.1)%] compared with control rats [(131+/-4.5)%] and the impaired LTP could be significantly increased by SAM treatment [(120 +/- 2.6)%] (F = 26. 1, P <0. 05). CONCLUSION: SAM might be beneficial for treatment of lead intoxication, especially in the rescue of learning and memory impairment induced by lead and should deserve more detailed research.

S-adenosyl-L-methionine improves impaired hippocampal long-term potentiation and water maze performance induced by developmental lead exposure in rats.

Lead (Pb(2+)) exposure in children can induce long-lasting deficits in cognitive function and has been modeled in experimental animals. Based on previous studies which demonstrated that S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) is beneficial in the treatment of lead intoxication, here, we asked the question if SAM treatment could rescue the impaired cognition and synaptic plasticity induced by lead. Rats drank 1500 ppm lead acetate (PbAc) solution or distilled water throughout gestation and lactation. After weaning at postnatal day 22, one half of the control and lead-exposed male offspring were intraperitoneally injected 20 mg SAM/kg daily over a period of 20-22 days. Electrophysiological and Morris water maze test were performed at 44-54 days of age. The result showed that the impaired learning ability induced by lead could be improved significantly by SAM. Furthermore, our results revealed that long-term potentiation (LTP) of excitatory postsynaptic potential and population spike impairments induced by lead were also ameliorated by SAM treatment.

Enriched environment restores impaired hippocampal long-term potentiation and water maze performance induced by developmental lead exposure in rats.

Lead (Pb2+) exposure in children can induce long lasting deficits in cognitive function and has been modeled in experimental animals. Based on previous studies which demonstrated that learning impairments resulting from developmental Pb2+ exposure were reversible if the animals were provided with an enriched environment, here, we asked if environmental enrichment (EE) could also reverse long-term potential (LTP) impairment induced by lead. Rats drank 1,500 ppm lead acetate (PbAc) solution or distilled water throughout gestation and lactation. After weaning at postnatal Day 22, one half of the control and lead-exposed male offspring were given the environmental enrichment treatment through all the experiments until tested. Electrophysiological and Morris water maze test were performed at 8 weeks of age. The result showed that the impaired learning ability induced by lead could be reversed by EE. Furthermore, our results revealed that EPSP LTP and PS LTP impairments induced by lead were also reversible by EE experience.

Melatonin decreases TLR3-mediated inflammatory factor expression via inhibition of NF-kappa B activation in respiratory syncytial virus-infected RAW264.7 macrophages.

Double-stranded (ds) RNA has been identified as a ligand for Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3). Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a single-stranded RNA virus and a major respiratory pathogen and pneumovirus in human infants pathogenesis of which relies on early inflammatory and immune events of the host in response to RSV, could be recognized by TLR3 sensing viral dsRNA produced during replication. The downstream signaling pathway from TLR3 leads to activation of IFN regulatory factor (IRF)-3 and/or NF-kappaB and subsequent expression of numerous proinflammatory factors. Melatonin (MT) is an effective regulator of the immune system. To determine the molecular mechanisms responsible for the suppressive effect of MT on RSV infection, we analyzed signaling molecules involved in the TLR3-mediated activation of inflammatory factors in macrophages infected with RSV and the modulatory role of MT on these mediators. We report that RSV infection of RAW264.7 macrophages time-dependently stimulate the rapid activation of TLR3 and NF-kappaB, as well as subsequent NF-kappaB-dependent gene expression such as those encoding TNF-alpha and inducible nitric oxide synthase. Moreover, we demonstrate that MT decreased TLR3-mediated downstream gene expression in RSV-infected macrophages in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and that MT inhibition of NF-kappaB activity seemed to be the key event required to explain the reduction in inflammatory gene expression caused by MT. But MT did not influence TLR3 at either the protein or mRNA level or MyD88 transcription. These results could be related to the beneficial immunoregulatory role of MT in RSV-infected macrophages and address the possible therapeutic potential of this indoleamine in human RSV diseases.