Modified Electroconvulsive Therapy Normalizes Plasma GNA13 Following Schizophrenic Relapse.

OBJECTIVE: GNA13 is an important member of the G protein family, and its coding gene GNA13 has been identified as one of the risk genes for schizophrenia (SCZ). This study aimed to investigate the relationship between GNA13 levels and the clinical symptoms of SCZ following treatment with modified electroconvulsive therapy (MECT). METHODS: This study recruited 82 SCZ patients and 86 healthy controls (HCs). Each SCZ patient received 6 sessions of MECT. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess SCZ symptom severity. Plasma levels of GNA13 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Pretreatment, SCZ patients had a higher GNA13 level than HC (t = 8.199, P < 0.001). MECT reduced the GNA13 level significantly (t = 11.13, P < 0.001) and normalized the difference between SCZ and HC (t = 0.219, P = 0.827). After treatment, the downregulation of GNA13 (ΔGNA13) was negatively correlated with the positive symptoms score reduction rate (ΔP) (r = -0.379, P = 0.027) and positively correlated with the negative score reduction rate (ΔN) (r = 0.480, P = 0.004) in females. In both males and females, the receiver operating characteristic curve revealed that the pretreatment GNA13 level could help differentiate SCZ from HC (male: area under the curve = 0.792, P < 0.001; female: area under the curve = 0.814, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The reduced expression of GNA13 after MECT may be related to the exhibition of both negative and positive symptoms of SCZ in female patients.

Research on the mechanism of short video information interaction behavior of college students with psychological disorders based on grounded theory.

BACKGROUND: The utilization of short videos by individuals often leads to the emergence of information exchange behavior. Previous studies have shown that certain students with psychological disorders exhibit addictive tendencies towards short video-related software. Therefore, it is essential to address the psychology and behavior of college students with psychological disorders while engaging with short videos. This study aims to explore the mechanism of short video information interaction behavior among college students with psychological disorders. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 college students afflicted by psychological disorders in a prefecture-level city in Henan Province, China from September to December 2022. Based on the Grounded theory, we encoded 30 text materials across three levels to explore the mechanism of short video information interaction behavior among college students with psychological disorders, and subsequently build a model framework. RESULTS: The findings of this study suggest that college students with psychological disorders exhibit negative cognition tendencies that can lead to strongly negative emotions, excacerbated by a lack of social support. These adverse factors collectively drive the consumption of short video content in this demographic, providing a virtual environment where they can fulfill their unmet social needs. Therefore, the mechanism governing short video messages interaction among college students with psychological disorders encompasses negative cognitive tendencies, negative emotions, lack of social support, post-video-watching behaviors, and the gratification of social needs within the confines of a virtual environment. CONCLUSIONS: This study comprehensively analyzes the motivation and complexity of college students with psychological disorders in short video interaction. Although short videos provide this group with some ways of self-expression and emotional support, they still have a negative impact on their physical and mental health. The short video interaction of college students with psychological disorders is affected by many factors, including their negative cognitive tendencies, negative emotions, lack of social support, post-video-watching behaviors, and the gratification of social needs within the confines of a virtual environment. These findings deepened our understanding to the mechanism of short video information interaction behavior among college students with psychological disorders, also provided us with guidance on facilitating the proper use of short video and maintaining the mental health. In future researches, researchers can discuss more about intervention measures to help this demographic cope with the challenges from short video interaction.

Long COVID outcomes following omicron wave in non-hospital population.

Background: The persistence of symptoms or the development of new symptoms following a diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 has given rise to a multifaceted clinical condition referred to as "long COVID" (LC). The understanding of LC among China's non-hospitalized population continues to be insufficient. This investigation was designed to evaluate the protracted consequences amongst this demographic, as well as to identify the associated risk factors. Methods: This research constitutes a prospective cohort study focusing on non-hospitalized individuals, aged between 18 and 59, who have been positively diagnosed with COVID-19. Each participant was subjected to a sequence of questionnaire-based surveys, designed to evaluate symptoms as well as the status of depression and anxiety. A logistic regression model, adjusted for multiple variables, was employed to scrutinize the correlation between demographic elements, lifestyle attributes, and health-related risk factors in relation to conditions and symptoms post COVID-19 infection. Results: A total of 706 individuals participated in the 3 months follow-up, with 620 continuing on to the 6 months follow-up. The median age was 35 (28, 43) years, and 597 (85%) are female. Upon follow-up, Compared with patients without LC, patients with LC have a higher proportion of females (420 (87%) vs. 177 (79%); p = 0.010), were older (35 (29, 44) years vs. 33 (27, 41) years; p = 0.010) and have more comorbidities. Out of all participants, 483 (68.4%) reported experiencing at least one symptom at the 3 months mark, while 49.7% reported symptoms persisting at the 6 months mark. At the 3 months follow-up, the most prevalent persistent symptoms were cough (46%), fatigue (38%), and shortness of breath (34%). By the 6 months follow-up, fatigue (25%), shortness of breath (22%), and sleep disorders (16%) were the most commonly reported symptoms. Anxiety and depression were consistently reported as prevalent symptoms throughout the follow-up period. Most patient symptoms fade over time, with the quickest decreases observed in cough (from 46 to 9%), expectoration (from 26 to 6.3%), smell disorder (from 16 to 3.9%), and taste disorder (from 18 to 3.5%). Male and those possessing advanced educational qualifications exhibit a decreased susceptibility to the sustained incidence of coughing. Conversely, older age and the presence of comorbidities were identified as risk factors for persistent fatigue and shortness of breath. Conclusion: In the after of COVID-19, it has been observed that the majority of patient symptoms tend to decrease over time. The primary residual symptoms noticed after a 6 month follow-up were fatigue, dyspnea, and sleep disturbances. However, it's noteworthy that the risk factors associated with these symptoms exhibit subtle variations. Furthermore, psychological sequelae, namely depression and anxiety, are frequently reported among COVID-19 survivors.

A Study of Data Processing Methods for Non-Contact Multispectral Method of Blood Oxygen Saturation.

Regular monitoring of blood oxygenation is important for disease prevention and treatment. Image photoplethysmography (IPPG) technology is a non-contact physiological parameter detection technology, which has been widely used in blood oxygenation detection. However, traditional imaging devices still have issues such as low detection accuracy, narrower receiving spectral range. In this paper, we proposed two improved detection methods based on the dual-wavelength measurement principle, that is, dual-band IPPG signal ratio method and dual-band IPPG signal AC/DC method. To verify the effectiveness of the two methods, we used different heartbeat period IPPG signals as sample data sets, and combined PLS and RF algorithms for model training, thus obtaining the best data processing method. The experimental results showed that the dual-band IPPG signal AC/DC method can effectively reduce the model training time. This method meets the strong demand for non-contact blood oxygen measurement and provides a new measurement idea.

Quercetin-targeted AKT1 regulates the Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway to protect against doxorubicin-induced nephropathy in mice.

BACKGROUND: Doxorubicin is an anthracycline antitumor agent commonly used in clinical practice, which has some nephrotoxicity and is often used to establish mouse models of kidney injury for basic medical research. This study will investigate the protective effect of quercetin on renal function in doxorubicin-induced nephropathy mice. METHODS: C57BL/6 mice were divided into control, model, and quercetin low-, and high-dose groups. Serum and urine were collected to analyze markers of kidney function. H&E staining was used to detect pathological changes in renal tissues. Transmission electron microscopy was performed to observe the ultrastructural changes in renal tissues. Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the changes of Ang II. RT-qPCR was performed to detect the changes of cytokines. ELISA was used to detect changes in serum inflammatory factors. Molecular docking was performed to verify the targeting relationship between quercetin and AKT1. Western blot was performed to detect Bax, Bcl-2, Cyt-c, AKT1, Raf, MEK, and ERK proteins. RESULTS: Quercetin could induce the recovery of kidney function in kidney-injured mice; H&E results showed that kidney tissue damage and tissue fibrosis were reduced in kidney-injured mice under quercetin. The mitochondrial swollen structure was destroyed by doxorubicin, while the mitochondrial structure was restored under quercetin. The levels of abnormal apoptotic proteins Bax and Bcl-2 were regulated to normal by quercetin. The high expression of Ang II caused by doxorubicin was down-regulated by quercetin. Abnormal inflammatory factors caused by doxorubicin were reversed by quercetin. Western blot experiments showed that quercetin regulated the protein levels of AKT1 and Raf/MEK/ERK and inhibited the detrimental effects of doxorubicin. CONCLUSION: Quercetin may mitigate doxorubicin-induced kidney injury in mice by regulating renal cell inflammatory factors and Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway through AKT1 to promote recovery of renal function.

Amentoflavone attenuates Listeria monocytogenes pathogenicity through an LLO-dependent mechanism.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: L. monocytogenes remain a leading cause of foodborne infection. Listeriolysin O (LLO), an indispensable virulence determinant involved in diverse pathogenic mechanisms of L. monocytogenes infection, represents a promising therapeutic target. In this study, we sought to identify an effective inhibitor of LLO pore formation and its mechanism of action in the treatment of L. monocytogenes infection. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Haemolysis assays were carried out to screen an effective LLO inhibitor. The interaction between candidate and LLO was investigated using surface plasmon resonance and molecular docking. The effect of candidate on LLO-mediated cytotoxicity, barrier disruption and immune response were investigated. Finally, the in vivo effect of candidate on mice challenged with L. monocytogenes was examined. KEY RESULTS: Amentoflavone, a natural flavone present in traditional Chinese herbs, effectively inhibited LLO pore formation by engaging the residues Lys93, Asp416, Tyr469 and Lys505 in LLO. Amentoflavone dose-dependently reduced L. monocytogenes-induced cell injury in an LLO-dependent manner. In the Caco-2 monolayer model, amentoflavone maintained the integrity of the epithelial barrier exposed to LLO. Amentoflavone inhibited the inflammatory response evoked by L. monocytogenes in an LLO-dependent manner, and inhibition was attributed to ability to block perforation-associated K+ efflux and Ca2+ influx. In the mouse infection model, amentoflavone treatment significantly reduced bacterial burden and pathological lesions in target organs, with a significant increase in survival rate. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Amentoflavone reduced the pathogenicity of L. monocytogenes by specifically inhibiting LLO pore formation, and this may represent a potential treatment for L. monocytogenes infection.

Long-term prediction of sea surface chlorophyll-a concentration based on the combination of spatio-temporal features.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) events have a serious impact on marine fisheries and marine management. They occur globally with high frequency and are characterized by a long duration and difficult governance. HABs incidents have occurred in the South China Sea (SCS), and the frequency of occurrence has been on the rise in recent decades. Predicting the long-term chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration has the potential to facilitate long-term monitoring and early warning of HABs events. Currently, long-term predictions of ocean circulation and temperature are common, while long-term predictions of marine biochemistry are still in their infancy. Traditional Chl-a prediction methods have problems, such as low accuracy and the inability to carry out long-term predictions. This research improved the CNN-LSTM model by combining spatio-temporal features to predict Chl-a concentrations. This model can extract both the temporal and spatial features of Chl-a, expand the dataset, and improve the prediction accuracy and training speed. The predictions were made using a Chl-a dataset for the Reed Tablemount in the SCS. The time series of Chl-a used was the satellite data of NASA's official website from January 2002 to June 2020. The results indicate that the predictions of the CNN-LSTM model are better than those of the LSTM and SARIMA models. The five-year long-term rolling prediction of Chl-a was carried out, and the three-year Pearson correlation coefficient reached 0.5. The novelty of this study is the realization of a three-year long-term prediction of Chl-a concentrations. The Mann-Kendall trend test method and the least square method were used to fit the straight line to detect the trend of the five-year predicted value and the true value, respectively. The results indicated that the prediction value and true value of the sea surface Chl-a from 2015 to 2020 both exhibited an overall upward trend. In addition, the prediction performance of the model in large-scale prediction is better than that in small-scale prediction.

An interactive method based on the live wire for segmentation of the breast in mammography images.

In order to improve accuracy of computer-aided diagnosis of breast lumps, the authors introduce an improved interactive segmentation method based on Live Wire. This paper presents the Gabor filters and FCM clustering algorithm is introduced to the Live Wire cost function definition. According to the image FCM analysis for image edge enhancement, we eliminate the interference of weak edge and access external features clear segmentation results of breast lumps through improving Live Wire on two cases of breast segmentation data. Compared with the traditional method of image segmentation, experimental results show that the method achieves more accurate segmentation of breast lumps and provides more accurate objective basis on quantitative and qualitative analysis of breast lumps.