Comparison of resting-state spontaneous brain activity between treatment-naive schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SZ) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) share many demographic characteristics and severity of clinical symptoms, genetic risk factors, pathophysiological underpinnings, and brain structure and function. However, the differences in the spontaneous brain activity patterns between the two diseases remain unclear. Here this study aimed to compare the features of intrinsic brain activity in treatment-naive participants with SZ and OCD and to explore the relationship between spontaneous brain activity and the severity of symptoms. METHODS: In this study, 22 treatment-naive participants with SZ, 27 treatment-naive participants with OCD, and sixty healthy controls (HC) underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo) and degree of centrality (DC) were performed to examine the intrinsic brain activity of participants. Additionally, the relationships among spontaneous brain activity, the severity of symptoms, and the duration of illness were explored in SZ and OCD groups. RESULTS: Compared with SZ group and HC group, participants with OCD had significantly higher ALFF in the right angular gyrus and the left middle frontal gyrus/precentral gyrus and significantly lower ALFF in the left superior temporal gyrus/insula/rolandic operculum and the left postcentral gyrus, while there was no significant difference in ALFF between SZ group and HC group. Compared with HC group, lower ALFF in the right supramarginal gyrus/inferior parietal lobule and lower DC in the right lingual gyrus/calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex of the two patient groups, higher ReHo in OCD group and lower ReHo in SZ group in the right angular gyrus/middle occipital gyrus brain region were documented in the present study. DC in SZ group was significantly higher than that in HC group in the right inferior parietal lobule/angular gyrus, while there were no significant DC differences between OCD group and HC group. In addition, ALFF in the left postcentral gyrus were positively correlated with positive subscale score (r = 0.588, P = 0.013) and general psychopathology subscale score (r = 0.488, P = 0.047) respectively on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in SZ group. ALFF in the left superior temporal gyrus/insula/rolandic operculum of participants with OCD were positively correlated with compulsion subscale score (r = 0.463, P = 0.030) on the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). The longer the illness duration in SZ group, the smaller the ALFF of the left superior temporal gyrus/insula/rolandic operculum (Rho = 0.-492, P = 0.020). The longer the illness duration in OCD group, the higher the ALFF of the right supramarginal gyrus/inferior parietal lobule (Rho = 0.392, P = 0.043) and the left postcentral gyrus (Rho = 0.385, P = 0.048), and the lower the DC of the right inferior parietal lobule/angular gyrus (Rho = - 0.518, P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: SZ and OCD show some similarities in spontaneous brain activity in parietal and occipital lobes, but exhibit different patterns of spontaneous brain activity in frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital, and insula brain regions, which might imply different underlying neurobiological mechanisms in the two diseases. Compared with OCD, SZ implicates more significant abnormalities in the functional connections among brain regions.

Increased risk of phosphorus and metal leaching from paddy soils after excessive manure application: Insights from a mesocosm study.

Livestock manure has gradually become an alternative fertilizer for maintaining soil fertility, whereas excessive application of manure leads to the release of phosphorus (P) and toxic metals that may cause complex environmental risks. To investigate the accumulation and migration of P within soil profiles, a mesocosm experiment was conducted to analyze the content and leaching of soil P, metals, and dissolved organic carbon after different fertilization treatments, including control (no fertilizer, CK), chemical fertilizer (CF), chemical fertilizer combined low (CF + LPM) and high (CF + HPM) rate of manure application. Results showed that a high rate of manure application significantly enhanced the accumulation of total soil P (by ~14%) and P availability (easily-available P, by ~24%; Olsen-P, by ~20%) in topsoil, and also increased the content of easily-available organic P (EA-Po) in both topsoil and subsoil compared to the CK treatment. The migration of dissolved inorganic and organic P (DIP and DOP) in leachate within soil profiles was strengthened by manure application. Moreover, significant positive correlations between P, metals, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in leachate indicated that downward co-migration occurred within the soil profiles, and also suggested that excessive manure application can intensify the risk of P loss by increasing the migration of manure-derived DOC. Overall, our findings provide insights into P accumulation and migration within soil profiles after excessive manure application, which is useful for predicting the potential risk of P and metal leaching from paddy soils.

Association of the use of amlodipine with clopidogrel response in Chinese patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Until recently, the precise mechanism of clopidogrel resistance remains unclear. Some clinical studies have demonstrated that calcium channel blockers (CCBs) could reduce the antiplatelet effect of clopidogrel in white or black subjects, implicating in clopidogrel resistance. However, that remains to be determined in Chinese patients. In this study, we sought to determine whether there could be a decreased antiplatelet effect of clopidogrel and an increased risk for developing adverse cardiovascular events after concomitant use of different CCBs and clopidogrel in Chinese patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A subcohort of 249 patients not carrying the CYP2C19 *2, *3 or *17 variant was identified from a total of 617 consecutive clopidogrel-treated patients undergoing PCI and then categorized into three groups according to various CCB treatments. Baseline data, clinical characteristics and blood samples were collected for all patients. The maximum platelet aggregation (MPA) was measured by light transmittance aggregometry (LTA) to assess the platelet function in blood samples obtained from patients on day 3 after starting daily clopidogrel maintenance doses. The primary clinical end-point was a definite stent thrombosis (ST) episode, whereas secondary end-points were other major adverse cardiovascular events within 12 months after stenting. Of the 249 patients not carrying CYP2C19 *2, *3 and *17 variants, the ADP-induced MPA differed significantly among the three groups (P < 0.001). The MPA values were 1.76 times in the amlodipine group (41.6 ± 23.0%) than in the No CCB group (23.7 ± 14.1%) (P < 0.001). Moreover, in a linear regression model, the use of amlodipine was independently associated with MPA values (R = 0.375, P < 0.001), suggesting that the use of amlodipine might link to the increased MPA. However, the incidence of 1-year ST was not significantly higher in the amlodipine group than the No CCB group (OR, 4.80; 95% CI, 0.87 to 26.52; P = 0.068), and none of the risks for other adverse cardiovascular events were significantly different across the three groups (P = 0.11).

[Meta-analysis of clinical efficacy of TVT-S versus TVT-O/TOT in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the current evidence of effectiveness and safety of Single-incision mini-slings (TVT-S) versus transobturator tension-free vaginal tapes (TVT-O/TOT) in the management of female stress urinary incontinence (SUI). METHODS: Literature searches were conducted for all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing TVT-S and TVT-O/TOT from CNKI, CBM, VIP, MEDLINE, OVID, FMJS and Cochrane Library between November 1996 and November 2011. The Revman 5.1.0 software was used for Meta-analysis according to Cochrane system evaluation method. RESULTS: A total of 1545 females in 7 RCTs were included. Meta-analysis showed that no statistical differences existed in the rate of postoperative voiding dysfunction and dyspareunia between TVT-S and TVT-O/TOT (P > 0.05). But the rate of objective cure, re-operation, inner thigh and groin pain and de novo urgency were statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: As compared with TVT-O/TOT, TVT-S procedure is associated with less postoperative inner thigh and groin pain, but a lower objective cure rate and relatively higher rates of de novo urgency and re-operation.

Detection of serum anti-p53 antibodies from patients with ovarian cancer in China: correlation to clinical parameters.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer has been one of the most common malignant tumor among women in China. The aims of this research were to increase the detection efficiency of anti-p53 antibodies in the sera from patients with ovarian cancer and to assist the diagnosis for patients with ovarian cancer. METHODS: The hybrid phage displaying the immunodominant epitope SQAMDDLMLS in p53 N-terminal region was constructed and the fusion protein was prepared and purified. Ninety-two nonselected Chinese women with ovarian cancer were involved in this study. Tumor p53 overexpression was assessed by immunohistochemical analysis of tissue sections. Serum antibodies to p53 were also detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using recombinant human wild-type p53 protein and the hybrid phage as the coating antigen respectively. Furthermore, the correlations between the anti-p53 antibodies and clinicopathological parameters were analyzed. RESULTS: The positive rate of anti-p53 antibodies in the patients with ovarian cancer was increased (39.1%, 36/92) through the combination of the two ELISA methods compared with each method. The anti-p53 antibodies were not associated with the clinicopathologic parameters, while there was a significant correlation between the presence of p53 Abs and tissue overexpression of p53 in ovarian cancer. CONCLUSION: These preliminary results demonstrate that the combination of the two ELISA methods increased the positive rate of anti-p53 antibodies in patients with ovarian cancer and provided a useful marker to complement routine clinical diagnosis for patients with ovarian cancer.

The detection of serum anti-p53 antibodies from patients with gastric carcinoma in China.

BACKGROUND: Gastric carcinoma is one of the most frequently occurring cancers. The aim of this research was to increase the detection efficiency of anti-p53 antibodies in the sera of patients with gastric carcinoma and to improve the diagnosis for patients with gastric carcinoma. METHODS: We prepared phage-displayed peptide DO7 and established an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method to detect the anti-p53 antibodies. We detected the anti-p53 antibodies of 61 patients with gastric carcinoma using the method and our previous ELISA method assisted by the recombinant wild-type human p53 protein to detect the anti-p53 antibodies. We studied the correlation between the anti-p53 antibodies and the clinicopathological data including sex, age, carcinoembryonic antigen, tumor size, tumor TNM staging, and lymph-node status. RESULTS: The anti-p53 antibodies positive rate for patients with gastric carcinoma was increased (31.1%, 19/61) through the combination of p53-ELISA and phage-ELISA. We found that the positive anti-p53 antibodies correlated significantly with tumor size (P=0.047). The combination of the anti-p53 antibodies and carcinoembryonic antigen could improve the diagnosis for patients with gastric carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: This approach indicated an increased anti-p53 antibodies positive rate for patients with gastric carcinoma and provided a useful marker for clinical diagnosis for patients with gastric carcinoma.