SARS-CoV-2 spike-induced syncytia are senescent and contribute to exacerbated heart failure.

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (SARS-2-S) induced cell-cell fusion in uninfected cells may occur in long COVID-19 syndrome, as circulating SARS-2-S or extracellular vesicles containing SARS-2-S (S-EVs) were found to be prevalent in post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) for up to 12 months after diagnosis. Although isolated recombinant SARS-2-S protein has been shown to increase the SASP in senescent ACE2-expressing cells, the direct linkage of SARS-2-S syncytia with senescence in the absence of virus infection and the degree to which SARS-2-S syncytia affect pathology in the setting of cardiac dysfunction are unknown. Here, we found that the senescent outcome of SARS-2-S induced syncytia exacerbated heart failure progression. We first demonstrated that syncytium formation in cells expressing SARS-2-S delivered by DNA plasmid or LNP-mRNA exhibits a senescence-like phenotype. Extracellular vesicles containing SARS-2-S (S-EVs) also confer a potent ability to form senescent syncytia without de novo synthesis of SARS-2-S. However, it is important to note that currently approved COVID-19 mRNA vaccines do not induce syncytium formation or cellular senescence. Mechanistically, SARS-2-S syncytia provoke the formation of functional MAVS aggregates, which regulate the senescence fate of SARS-2-S syncytia by TNFα. We further demonstrate that senescent SARS-2-S syncytia exhibit shrinked morphology, leading to the activation of WNK1 and impaired cardiac metabolism. In pre-existing heart failure mice, the WNK1 inhibitor WNK463, anti-syncytial drug niclosamide, and senolytic dasatinib protect the heart from exacerbated heart failure triggered by SARS-2-S. Our findings thus suggest a potential mechanism for COVID-19-mediated cardiac pathology and recommend the application of WNK1 inhibitor for therapy especially in individuals with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19.

Sulfur and Wavy-Stacking Boosted Superior Lithium Storage in 2D Covalent Organic Frameworks.

2D conjugated covalent organic frameworks (c-COFs) provide an attractive foundation as organic electrodes in energy storage devices, but their storage capability is long hindered by limited ion accessibility within densely π-π stacked interlayers. Herein, two kinds of 2D c-COFs based on dioxin and dithiine linkages are reported, which exhibit distinct in-plane configurations-fully planar and undulated layers. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals wavy square-planar networks in dithiine-bridged COF (COF-S), attributed to curved C─S─C bonds in the dithiine linkage, whereas dioxin-bridged COF (COF-O) features densely packed fully planar layers. Theoretical and experimental results elucidate that the undulated stacking within COF-S possesses an expanded layer distance of 3.8 Å and facilitates effective and rapid Li+ storage, yielding a superior specific capacity of 1305 mAh g-1 at 0.5 A g-1, surpassing that of COF-O (1180 mAh g-1 at 0.5 A g-1). COF-S also demonstrates an admirable cycle life with 80.4% capacity retention after 5000 cycles. As determined, self-expanded wavy-stacking geometry, S-enriched dithiine in COF-S enhances the accessibility and redox activity of Li storage, allowing each phthalocyanine core to store 12 Li+ compared to 8 Li+ in COF-O. These findings underscore the elements and stacking modes of 2D c-COFs, enabling tunable layer distance and modulation of accessible ions.

Gradient-doped BiVO4 Dual Photoanodes for Highly Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water splitting.

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) is regarded as a promising photoanode candidate for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, but is limited by low efficiency of charge carrier transport and short carrier diffusion length. In this work, we report a strategy comprised of the gradient doping of W and back-to-back stacking of transparent photoelectrodes, where the 3-2 wt.% W gradient doping enhances charge carrier transport by optimizing the band bending degree and back-to-back stack configuration shortens carrier diffusion length without much sacrifice of photons. As a result, the photocurrent density of 3-2% W:BiVO4 photoanode reaches 2.20 mA cm-2 at 1.23 V vs. hydrogen electrode (RHE) with a charge transport efficiency of 76.1% under AM 1.5G illumination, and the back-to-back stacked 3-2% W:BiVO4 photoanodes achieves a photocurrent of 4.63 mA cm-2 after loading Co-Pi catalyst and anti-reflective coating under AM 1.5G illumination, with long-term stability of 10 hours.

Endogenous capsid-forming protein ARC for self-assembling nanoparticle vaccines.

The application of nanoscale scaffolds has become a promising strategy in vaccine design, with protein-based nanoparticles offering desirable avenues for the biocompatible and efficient delivery of antigens. Here, we presented a novel endogenous capsid-forming protein, activated-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (ARC), which could be engineered through the plug-and-play strategy (SpyCatcher3/SpyTag3) for multivalent display of antigens. Combined with the self-assembly capacity and flexible modularity of ARC, ARC-based vaccines elicited robust immune responses against Mpox or SARS-CoV-2, comparable to those induced by ferritin-based vaccines. Additionally, ARC-based nanoparticles functioned as immunostimulants, efficiently stimulating dendritic cells and facilitating germinal center responses. Even without adjuvants, ARC-based vaccines generated protective immune responses in a lethal challenge model. Hence, this study showed the feasibility of ARC as a novel protein-based nanocarrier for multivalent surface display of pathogenic antigens and demonstrated the potential of exploiting recombinant mammalian retrovirus-like protein as a delivery vehicle for bioactive molecules.

What's behind deliberation? The effect of task-related mind-wandering on post-incubation creativity.

Previous studies have already suggested that the deliberate nature of Mind-Wandering (MW) is critical for promoting creative performance. However, the deliberate nature of MW may be mixed up with task-relatedness. Whether the deliberate nature or task-relatedness of MW is responsible for such positive influence remains unclear. The present study tried to address this issue by investigating the influence of deliberate MW (MW-d) and task-related MW (MW-r) on post-incubation creative performance. Our result showed that MW-d is positively correlated with MW-r and spontaneous MW (MW-s) is highly positively correlated with task-unrelated MW (MW-u). Meanwhile, after controlling the possible confounding variables (i.e., the pre-incubation creative performance, the performance during distraction task, and motivation on creative ideation), both MW-d and MW-r predicted participants' AUT performance after incubation. However, the prediction model based on MW-r was stable while the MW-d-based prediction model was not. These findings indicate that the task-relatedness of MW, instead of its deliberate nature, might have a positive influence on subsequent creative performance.

Dimensions of spiritual well-being in relation to physical and psychological symptoms: a cross-sectional study of advanced cancer patients admitted to a palliative care unit.

OBJECTIVES: Advanced cancer patients face various symptoms, which can cause physical and psychological distress. As a multidimensional construct, spiritual well-being (SWB) may be an inner resource for dealing with these problems. Our study explored the impact of different dimensions of SWB on physical and psychological symptoms in advanced cancer patients admitted to a palliative care unit. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 108 advanced cancer patients in the Hospice Ward, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. Patients completed questionnaires on SWB and cancer-related symptoms (insomnia, fatigue, pain, depression and anxiety) at the time of admission. Linear regression analysis was applied to determine the relationship between SWB (meaning, peace and faith) and symptom distress. RESULTS: SWB accounted for an additional variance of cancer-related symptoms (17.8% to 44.4%). Meaning was negatively associated with insomnia (ß = -0.516, p < 0.001) and fatigue (ß = -0.563, p < 0.001). Peace and faith were related to lower psychological symptoms, while meaning represented a positive effect on anxiety (ß = 0.275, p = 0.036). Higher peace was associated with lower cancer pain (ß = -0.422, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that achieving peace and faith appeared to function consistently as a positive resource for advanced cancer patients on depression, anxiety and pain, while meaning may serve to facilitate or hinder positive adjustment. Future studies should focus on the potential clinical implications by identifying the distinct dimension of SWB as symptom management targets in the palliative care practice.

Association of pain management and positive expectations with psychological distress and spiritual well­being among terminally ill cancer patients admitted to a palliative care unit.

BACKGROUND: Although palliation of psycho-spiritual distress is of great importance in terminally ill cancer patients, there is a little information about screening patients who benefit from palliative care and identifying the cancer care targets. This study explored the relationship of pain management and positive expectations with depression, anxiety and spiritual well-being (SWB) in terminal cancer patients admitted to a palliative care unit. METHODS: Eighty-four terminal cancer inpatients were recruited from the Hospice Ward, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. Optimism and general self-efficacy (GSE) were evaluated at admission. Patients completed self-report questionnaires on SWB, depression, anxiety and pain both on admission and one week later. The repeated designed analysis of variance was used to explore the correlates of depression, anxiety and SWB (meaning, peace, faith). RESULTS: In our sample, only cancer pain diminished significantly one week later. For depression (p = 0.041) and faith (p = 0.013), there was a significant pain group (relieved vs. not relieved) × time interaction effect, such that those with satisfied pain control experienced the improved psycho-spiritual outcomes at 1 week. The relationship between positive expectations, peace and faith was also statistically significant, indicating that the improvement of peace or faith was significant in the low group of optimism and GSE. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated that pain management lied at the center of depression and SWB, meaning that effective pain management may reduce depression, and improve SWB among terminal cancer patients. Moreover, positive expectations, especially for optimism, may be the new target for SWB-related intervention research. Palliative care nurse should require the identification of terminal cancer patients who may more benefit from short-term palliative care, and target them with effective cancer care.

Boosting Reactive Oxygen Species Generation Using Inter-Facet Edge Rich WO3 Arrays for Photoelectrochemical Conversion.

Water oxidation reaction leaves room to be improved in the development of various solar fuel productions, because of the kinetically sluggish 4-electron transfer process of oxygen evolution reaction. In this work, we realize reactive oxygen species (ROS), H2 O2 and OH⋅, formations by water oxidation with total Faraday efficiencies of more than 90 % by using inter-facet edge (IFE) rich WO3 arrays in an electrolyte containing CO3 2- . Our results demonstrate that the IFE favors the adsorption of CO3 2- while reducing the adsorption energy of OH⋅, as well as suppresses surface hole accumulation by direct 1-electron and indirect 2-electron transfer pathways. Finally, we present selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol by in situ using the formed OH⋅, which delivers a benzaldehyde production rate of ≈768 µmol h-1 with near 100 % selectivity. This work offers a promising approach to tune or control the oxidation reaction in an aqueous solar fuel system towards high efficiency and value-added product.

Longitudinal changes in spiritual well-being and associations with emotional distress, pain, and optimism-pessimism: a prospective observational study of terminal cancer patients admitted to a palliative care unit.

PURPOSE: Although spiritual well-being (SWB) is gaining increasing attention within the international palliative care (PC) guidelines, a lack of insight exists into the correlates and course of SWB among cancer patients. We therefore conducted a prospective observational study to capture trend of SWB and to identify their predictors in Chinese inpatients with terminal cancer receiving short-term PC. METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted of terminal cancer inpatients in the hospice ward, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. A total of 108 patients completed self-report questionnaires on Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Numerical Rating Scales, and Life Orientation Scale-Revised anonymously at baseline; SWB, depression, anxiety, and pain were subsequently assessed at 1-week interval. Multilevel regression was used to analyze the temporal course and predictors of SWB. RESULTS: Patients' existential well-being (B = - 0.99, p = 0.008; 95%CI = - 1.72 to - 0.26) and meaning dimension (B = - 0.87, p < 0.001; 95% CI = - 1.29 to - 0.43) significantly decreased after admission to the PC unit, but peace and faith did not change over time. Increases in depression and pain were related to lower existential well-being, particularly in the meaning dimension. Optimism-pessimism moderated the linear trend of existential well-being and meaning domain, such that those with higher optimism and lower pessimism paired with a decrease in outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Terminal cancer patients experienced worsening existential well-being, particularly in the meaning facet while hospitalized, indicating that PC should include content that targets the existential concerns of spirituality in China. These findings also supported the need for an integrated PC to address personality traits and emotional and physical distress in this population.

Preoperative insomnia and its association with psychological factors, pain and anxiety in Chinese colorectal cancer patients.

PURPOSE: Sleep disturbances are common in cancer patients, but little is known about preoperative insomnia and its associated factors in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between preoperative insomnia and its associated factors (i.e., pain, anxiety, self-esteem, and coping styles) in CRC patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in consecutive CRC inpatients (N = 434), who were required to complete the questionnaires about insomnia, pain, anxiety, self-esteem, and coping styles (acceptance/resignation, confrontation, avoidance) before the day of surgery. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationships between preoperative anxiety and its associated factors. RESULTS: Based on the cutoff value of Athens Insomnia Scale (scores ≥ 6) in Chinese cancer patients, the prevalence of insomnia was 38.2% before surgery. Pain (ß = 0.087, p = 0.015) and anxiety (ß = 0.372, p < 0.001) were positively associated with preoperative insomnia, while self-esteem (ß = - 0.479, p < 0.001) and confrontation coping (ß = - 0.124, p = 0.003) showed protective effects on preoperative insomnia when putting them together into hierarchical regression. The associated factors together accounted for an additional variance of preoperative insomnia (47.6%). CONCLUSIONS: In line with previous findings, the detrimental effects of pain and anxiety on preoperative insomnia were also observed in our study. More importantly, our main new findings were that self-esteem and confrontation coping played important roles in alleviating preoperative insomnia among CRC patients. Clinicians should take these results into account when developing cancer care management to relieve preoperative insomnia.

Psychological Impact of Health Risk Communication and Social Media on College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of COVID-19 began in 2019 and is expected to impact the psychological health of college students. Few studies have investigated the associations among health risk communication, social media, and psychological symptoms during a major pandemic. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research was to assess the prevalence of psychological symptoms among college students and explore their associations with health risk communication and social media. METHODS: A web-based survey was distributed through the Wenjuanxing platform among Chinese college students from March 3-15, 2020. In addition to demographics, information on health risk communication and social media was collected, and the Symptom Checklist 90 Phobia and Health Anxiety Inventory subscale was used to assess psychological symptoms among 1676 college students in China. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to examine these independent risk factors. RESULTS: The prevalence of panic and health anxiety was 17.2% (288/1676) and 24.3% (408/1676), respectively. Regarding risk communication, understanding the risk of COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] 0.480, 95% CI 0.367-0.627) was a protective factor against panic. Knowledge of prognosis (OR 0.708, 95% CI 0.551-0.910), preventive measures (OR 0.380, 95% CI 0.195-0.742), and wearing face masks (OR 0.445, 95% CI 0.230-0.862) were shown to be protective factors in predicting health anxiety. Perceived lethality (OR 1.860, 95% CI 1.408-2.459), being affected by the global spread (OR 1.936, 95% CI 1.405-2.669), and impact on social contacts (OR 1.420, 95% CI 1.118-1.802) were identified as significant risk factors associated with health anxiety. In terms of social media, trust in mainstream media (OR 0.613, 95% CI 0.461-0.816) was considered to be a protective factor against health anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: There was a high prevalence of psychological symptoms among college students. Health risk communication and social media use were important in predicting psychological symptoms, especially health anxiety. Scientific and evidence-based information should be reported by social media platforms. Web-based consultation and intervention measures should be the focus of future studies.

An Integrated Transfer Learning and Multitask Learning Approach for Pharmacokinetic Parameter Prediction.

BACKGROUND: Pharmacokinetic evaluation is one of the key processes in drug discovery and development. However, current absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion prediction models still have limited accuracy. AIM: This study aims to construct an integrated transfer learning and multitask learning approach for developing quantitative structure-activity relationship models to predict four human pharmacokinetic parameters. METHODS: A pharmacokinetic data set included 1104 U.S. FDA approved small molecule drugs. The data set included four human pharmacokinetic parameter subsets (oral bioavailability, plasma protein binding rate, apparent volume of distribution at steady-state, and elimination half-life). The pretrained model was trained on over 30 million bioactivity data entries. An integrated transfer learning and multitask learning approach was established to enhance the model generalization. RESULTS: The pharmacokinetic data set was split into three parts (60:20:20) for training, validation, and testing by the improved maximum dissimilarity algorithm with the representative initial set selection algorithm and the weighted distance function. The multitask learning techniques enhanced the model predictive ability. The integrated transfer learning and multitask learning model demonstrated the best accuracies, because deep neural networks have the general feature extraction ability; transfer learning and multitask learning improve the model generalization. CONCLUSIONS: The integrated transfer learning and multitask learning approach with the improved data set splitting algorithm was first introduced to predict the pharmacokinetic parameters. This method can be further employed in drug discovery and development.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of palliative care for pain among Chinese adults with cancer.

BACKGROUND: Pain is one of the most common symptoms that has a severe impact on quality of life and is associated with numerous psychosocial issues in cancer patients. Palliative care, which is a recent development in China, mainly focuses on symptom control and provides psychosocial support in order to improve quality of life for terminally ill patients. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of palliative care on cancer pain in China. METHODS: The four most comprehensive Chinese academic databases-CNKI, Wanfang, Vip and CBM-were searched from their inception until July 2019. Medline/PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO and internet search (Google and Google Scholar) were also searched. Randomized controlled studies assessing the effects of palliative care on cancer pain were analyzed. The pooled random-effect estimates of standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Subgroup analysis was conducted by moderating factors for heterogeneity. RESULTS: The present meta-analysis included 18 studies with a total of 1370 patients. The random-effect model showed a significant effect size of palliative care on cancer pain (SMD = 1.475, p < 0.001; 95% CI = 1.071-1.878). Age, pharmacological/non-pharmacological strategies and publication date could account for the heterogeneity through subgroup analysis to some extent. CONCLUSIONS: Palliative care was largely effective for relieving pain among Chinese adults with cancer, indicating that an adequate system should be urgently established to provide palliative care for cancer patients in Chinese medical settings. However, given the extent of heterogeneity, our findings should be interpreted cautiously.

Perceived stress and its associated demographic-clinical characteristics and positive expectations among Chinese cervical, kidney, and bladder cancer patients.

PURPOSE: Positive expectations about personal abilities and future outcomes are important in shaping human behavior and emotion, which may influence the psychological adjustment in cancer patients. We aimed to assess two basic kinds of perceived stress in Chinese cancer patients and to investigate their associations with demographic-clinical characteristics and positive expectations. METHODS: A multi-center, cross-sectional study was conducted in consecutive cervical, kidney, and bladder cancer inpatients from three general hospitals in Liaoning province from February 2013 to August 2014. A total of 790 patients eligible for this study completed questionnaires on demographic-clinical variables, optimism, general self-efficacy, perceived global, and cancer-related stress anonymously. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between optimism, general self-efficacy, and perceived stress, after controlling for possible covariates. RESULTS: Mean score of perceived global stress was 17.85 (SD 4.43). Mean score of perceived cancer-related stress was 37.15 (SD 12.66); 38.1% of the sample scored 44 and above, 20.1% scored 50 and above. Education, physical activity, cancer stage, and time since diagnosis were significantly associated with perceived stress. Optimism and general self-efficacy accounted for an additional variance in perceived global (14.9%) and cancer-related stress (16.9%), and both of them were independent and protective variables of perceived stress. CONCLUSIONS: This study recognized cancer patients at risk for high levels of perceived stress and extended the understanding of the association between positive expectations and perceived global and cancer-related stress. Enhancing or maintaining optimism and general self-efficacy might be potential targets for future psychosocial interventions aimed at relieving perceived stress in cancer patients.

Effects of social support, hope and resilience on quality of life among Chinese bladder cancer patients: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Improvement of quality of life has been one of goals in health care for people living with bladder cancer. Meanwhile, positive psycho-social variables in oncology field have increasingly received attention. However, the assessment of quality of life of bladder cancer patients and the integrative effects of positive psycho-social variables has limited reporting. The aim of this study was to assess quality of life as well as the integrative effects of social support, hope and resilience on quality of life among Chinese bladder cancer patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the First Hospital of China Medical University in Liaoning Province, China. A total of 365 bladder cancer patients eligible for this study completed questionnaires on demographic variables, FACT-BL, Perceived Social Support Scale, Adult Hope Scale, and Resilience Scale-14 during July 2013 to July 2014. RESULTS: The average score of FACT-BL was 87.60 ± 16.27 (Mean ± SD). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that social support, hope and resilience as a whole accounted for 30.3 % variance of quality of life. Under standardized estimate (ß) sequence, social support, hope and resilience significantly and positively associated with quality of life, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life for bladder cancer patients was at a low level in China, which should receive more attention in Chinese medical institutions. More importantly, efforts to increase social support, hope and resilience might be useful to support the quality of life among Chinese bladder cancer patients.

Development and preliminary evaluation of a 90 K Axiom® SNP array for the allo-octoploid cultivated strawberry Fragaria × ananassa.

BACKGROUND: A high-throughput genotyping platform is needed to enable marker-assisted breeding in the allo-octoploid cultivated strawberry Fragaria × ananassa. Short-read sequences from one diploid and 19 octoploid accessions were aligned to the diploid Fragaria vesca 'Hawaii 4' reference genome to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and indels for incorporation into a 90 K Affymetrix® Axiom® array. We report the development and preliminary evaluation of this array. RESULTS: About 36 million sequence variants were identified in a 19 member, octoploid germplasm panel. Strategies and filtering pipelines were developed to identify and incorporate markers of several types: di-allelic SNPs (66.6%), multi-allelic SNPs (1.8%), indels (10.1%), and ploidy-reducing "haploSNPs" (11.7%). The remaining SNPs included those discovered in the diploid progenitor F. iinumae (3.9%), and speculative "codon-based" SNPs (5.9%). In genotyping 306 octoploid accessions, SNPs were assigned to six classes with Affymetrix's "SNPolisher" R package. The highest quality classes, PolyHigh Resolution (PHR), No Minor Homozygote (NMH), and Off-Target Variant (OTV) comprised 25%, 38%, and 1% of array markers, respectively. These markers were suitable for genetic studies as demonstrated in the full-sib family 'Holiday' × 'Korona' with the generation of a genetic linkage map consisting of 6,594 PHR SNPs evenly distributed across 28 chromosomes with an average density of approximately one marker per 0.5 cM, thus exceeding our goal of one marker per cM. CONCLUSIONS: The Affymetrix IStraw90 Axiom array is the first high-throughput genotyping platform for cultivated strawberry and is commercially available to the worldwide scientific community. The array's high success rate is likely driven by the presence of naturally occurring variation in ploidy level within the nominally octoploid genome, and by effectiveness of the employed array design and ploidy-reducing strategies. This array enables genetic analyses including generation of high-density linkage maps, identification of quantitative trait loci for economically important traits, and genome-wide association studies, thus providing a basis for marker-assisted breeding in this high value crop.

Associations of psychological capital, demographic and occupational factors with cigarette smoking among Chinese underground coal miners.

BACKGROUND: As a specific male occupational group, underground coal miners have been commonly found to have a high prevalence of cigarette smoking. It is of urgent need to explore some factors that could be intervened to reduce smoking from personal or internal perspective. The purpose of the present study was to examine the associations of psychological capital (PsyCap), demographic and occupational factors with smoking among Chinese underground coal miners. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a coal-mining population in northeast China. Twenty-five hundreds of male underground miners were sampled from six coal mines. Self-administered questionnaires involving current smoking status, specific scales to measure the levels of PsyCap, effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and perceived physical environment (PPE), and some demographic and occupational factors were completed anonymously after a day shift. Complete responses were obtained from 1,956 participants (response rate: 78.2%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the factors in relation to current smoking. RESULTS: The overall smoking prevalence was 52.4%. After controlling for demographic and occupational variables, PsyCap was not associated with smoking. Compared with the miners in the lowest tertile of resilience, the odds ratios (ORs) of smoking for the miners in the intermediate tertile and highest tertile were 1.30 (95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.99-1.70) and 1.58 (95% CI: 1.13-2.20), respectively. Compared with the miners in the lowest tertile of optimism, the ORs of smoking for the miners in the intermediate tertile and highest tertile were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.61-1.03) and 0.69 (95% CI: 0.51-0.92), respectively. Low education and high PPE were the risk factors of smoking, whereas ERI had no association with smoking. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the underground coal miners were current smokers, which indicated that cigarette smoking might be a common health risk behavior in this occupational population. High resilience and PPE, together with low education were the risk factors of smoking, whereas high optimism was a protective factor. Consequently, PsyCap had mixed effects on cigarette smoking. Investment in resilience and optimism should be given more attention for the purposes of the prevention and reduction of smoking among occupational populations.

The effects of psychological interventions on depression and anxiety among Chinese adults with cancer: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies.

BACKGROUND: Our previous studies found the high prevalence of depression and anxiety among Chinese cancer patients, and many empirical studies have been conducted to evaluate the effects of psychological interventions on depression and anxiety among Chinese cancer patients. This study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis in order to assess the effects of psychological interventions on depression and anxiety in Chinese adults with cancer. METHODS: The four most comprehensive Chinese academic database- CNKI, Wanfang, Vip and CBM databases-were searched from their inception until January 2014. PubMed and Web of Science (SCIE) were also searched from their inception until January 2014 without language restrictions, and an internet search was used. Randomized controlled studies assessing the effects of psychological interventions on depression and anxiety among Chinese adults with cancer were analyzed. Study selection and appraisal were conducted independently by three authors. The pooled random-effects estimates of standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Moderator analysis (meta-regression and subgroup analysis) was used to explore reasons for heterogeneity. RESULTS: We retrieved 147 studies (covering 14,039 patients) that reported 253 experimental-control comparisons. The random effects model showed a significant large effect size for depression (SMD = 1.199, p < 0.001; 95% CI = 1.095-1.303) and anxiety (SMD = 1.298, p < 0.001; 95% CI = 1.187-1.408). Cumulative meta-analysis indicated that sufficient evidence had accumulated since 2000-2001 to confirm the statistically significant effectiveness of psychological interventions on depression and anxiety in Chinese cancer patients. Moderating effects were found for caner type, patients' selection, intervention format and questionnaires used. In studies that included lung cancer, preselected patients with clear signs of depression/anxiety, adopted individual intervention and used State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the effect sizes were larger. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that psychological interventions in Chinese cancer patients have large effects on depression and anxiety. The findings support that an adequate system should be set up to provide routine psychological interventions for cancer patients in Chinese medical settings. However, because of some clear limitations (heterogeneity and publication bias), these results should be interpreted with caution.

The association between occupational stress and depressive symptoms and the mediating role of psychological capital among Chinese university teachers: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a major public health problem that affects both individuals and society. Previous studies report that university teachers are particularly susceptible to high levels of occupational stress and depressive symptoms. The aims of this study were to explore the association between occupational stress and depressive symptoms in a group of university teachers, and assess the mediating role of psychological capital between these variables. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed between November 2013 and January 2014. Teachers from six universities were randomly sampled in Shenyang. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, effort-reward imbalance scale, and psychological capital questionnaire (PCQ-24), as well as questions about demographic and working factors, were administered in questionnaires distributed to 1,500 university teachers. Completed questionnaires were received from 1,210 participants. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to examine the mediating role of psychological capital. RESULTS: In the present study, 58.9% (95% CI (Confidence Intervals): 56.1% to 61.7%) of university teachers had a CES-D score equal to or above the cut-off of 16. Both effort-reward ratio (ERR) and scores of over-commitment were positively associated with depressive symptoms, whereas psychological capital was negatively associated with depressive symptoms among university teachers. Psychological capital partially mediated the relationship between occupational stress and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Among Chinese university teachers, occupational stress may be a risk factor for depressive symptoms, whereas psychological capital might be protective against depressive symptoms. Our results suggest that college administrators could support the development of psychological capital in their staff to alleviate depressive symptoms.

Cancer pain intensity and perceived social support in palliative care: 1-week prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: Pain is a complex and multidimensional experience affected by psychosocial factors. Perceived social support (PSS) has been considered as a positive psychosocial resource for effective regulation of cancer patients' well-being. Our study examined the relationship between PSS and pain intensity under 1-week palliative care. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted of terminal cancer inpatients (N=84) recruited from the hospice ward. Pain intensity was assessed on admission and 1 week later, and patients completed self-report questionnaires assessing PSS at admission. The repeated designed analysis of variance was used to explore the correlate of PSS with cancer pain. RESULTS: Pain intensity decreased after 1 week (t=2.303, p=0.024), and 47.62% gained pain relief. For pain intensity, there was a significant PSS group×time interaction effect detected (F=4.544, p=0.036). Pain intensity in the high PSS group was significantly reduced 1 week later (p=0.008), while the change of pain intensity was not significant in the low PSS group (p=0.609). CONCLUSIONS: PSS at admission predicted the 1-week development of pain intensity. Identifying PSS of terminal cancer patients leads to early interventions that are more effective in improving pain management of palliative care.