Rosmarinic acid ameliorates depressive-like behaviors in a rat model of CUS and Up-regulates BDNF levels in the hippocampus and hippocampal-derived astrocytes.

Rosmarinic acid (RA), a primary constituent of a Chinese herbal medicine, has been shown to have some therapeutic effects in an animal model of depression, but its underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) for 21 days, and received RA for 14 days from the last week of CUS, then the behavioral changes, hippocampal pERK1/2 and BDNF levels were observed. Rats were further treated with U0126 (an ERK1/2 phosphorylation inhibitor) 30 min before RA treatment to assess the effects of RA and ERK1/2 signaling in depressive-like behavior and hippocampal BDNF levels. In addition, brains of newly born Sprague-Dawley rats were used to harvest and expand hippocampal astrocytes. Cells were exposed to different concentrations of RA (sham, 1, 5, 10, 20, and 40 µg/mL) or U0126 (2 µM as a final concentration) + RA (sham, 1, 5, 10, 20, and 40 µg/mL) for 48 h, and the pERK1/2 and BDNF levels were assessed by western and ELISA assays. RA administration (10 mg/kg daily) reversed depressive-like behaviors in rats exposed to a chronic unpredictable stress paradigm and restored pERK1/2 protein expression and hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Moreover, in vitro experiments revealed that 20 µg/mL RA increased pERK1/2 and BDNF levels in cultured astrocytes. Interestingly, the effects of RA were inhibited by U0126. RA might be a useful treatment for depression and the changes in ERK1/2 signaling and BDNF levels may play a critical role in the pharmacological action of RA.

The effects of group-based cognitive behavioral therapy in the rehabilitation of patients with chronic schizophrenia with more than two years of community-based mental health group rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that community-based group rehabilitation activities can have a positive impact on patients. OBJECTIVE: This study attempted to improve schizophrenia patients' social and self-cognition through short-term group-based cognitive behavioral therapy (G-CBT), break negative coping styles, and improve the patients' quality of life. METHODS: The patients with schizophrenia who participated in long-term community-based group rehabilitation were treated with G-CBT. Training on coping styles was conducted to improve their self-cognition and social cognition, and the rehabilitation effects of G-CBT on these patients were evaluated. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, patient scores for self-esteem, self-efficacy, and positive coping in the G-CBT group increased, while patient scores for negative coping decreased. Compared with the control group, the differences in the total scores for mental health and the five dimensions of physical functioning, general health, vitality, social functioning, and emotional role function in the short-form (SF-12) survey were statistically significant. Compared with the baseline data, the differences in self-esteem, self-efficacy, positive coping, negative coping, and quality of life scores were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Short-term G-CBT had a good effect on patients with chronic schizophrenia who participated in community-based group rehabilitation for the long-term.

"Why I stay in community psychiatric rehabilitation": a semi-structured survey in persons with schizophrenia.

AIMS: Although community psychiatric rehabilitation plays an important role in returning persons with schizophrenia to the society, many patients in China stay in rehabilitation centers for longer periods of time and subsequently fail to integrate. This study is aimed to explore the underlying causes of this trend and identify possible solutions. METHODS: This study used a qualitative descriptive design to examine the persons with schizophrenia who stay in rehabilitation centers for longer periods of time. The researchers conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with the patients recruited through purposeful sampling. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed in transcripts in Chinese. Thematic analysis was performed using Colaizzi's 7-step method. RESULTS: Most patients believe that they have gained knowledge, improved skills, friendship and social circles through community mental rehabilitation, with the sense of belonging and enriched life strongly attracting them to the rehabilitation centers. They felt that the difficulty of further integration into society is mainly because of social prejudice and rejection. In addition, the activities of community mental rehabilitation meet the needs of social communication, which also hinder patients from further entering the society. CONCLUSIONS: Persons with schizophrenia with long-term stay in community mental rehabilitation centers meet their friendship, sense of belonging and social needs by participating in rehabilitation activities. Providing special social opportunity for these patients can get them out of the rehabilitation center. Overall, it is possible for patients to gradually return to society in a collective form.

Generalized anxiety disorder in urban China: Prevalence, awareness, and disease burden.

INTRODUCTION: Limited published research has quantified the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) prevalence and its burden in China. This study aimed to fill in the knowledge gap and to evaluate the burden of GAD among adults in urban China. METHODS: This study utilized existing data from the China National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS) 2012-2013. Prevalence of self-reported diagnosed and undiagnosed GAD was estimated. Diagnosed and undiagnosed GAD respondents were compared with non-anxious respondents in terms of health-related quality of life (HRQoL), resource utilization, and work productivity and activity impairment using multivariate generalized linear models. A multivariate logistic model assessed the risk factors for GAD. RESULTS: The prevalence of undiagnosed/diagnosed GAD was 5.3% in urban China with only 0.5% of GAD respondents reporting a diagnosis. Compared with non-anxious respondents, both diagnosed and undiagnosed GAD respondents had significantly lower HRQoL, more work productivity and activity impairment, and greater healthcare resource utilization in the past six months. Age, gender, marital status, income level, insurance status, smoking, drinking and exercise behaviors, and comorbidity burdens were significantly associated with GAD. LIMITATIONS: This was a patient-reported study; data are therefore subject to recall bias. The survey was limited to respondents in urban China; therefore, these results focused on urban China and may be under- or over-estimating GAD prevalence in China. Causal inferences cannot be made given the cross-sectional nature of the study. CONCLUSIONS: GAD may be substantially under-diagnosed in urban China. More healthcare resources should be invested to alleviate the burden of GAD.

Flexible coping psychotherapy for functional dyspeptic patients: a randomized, controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested the efficacy of a new psychotherapy, flexible coping psychotherapy (FCP), specifically designed for enhancing coping flexibility of patients with functional dyspepsia (FD). The design of this psychotherapy is based on the general cognitive-behavioral model and previous findings on FD. METHODS: We adopted a randomized, controlled design to examine the differences between the target (FCP) and control (supportive psychotherapy [SPP]) conditions. Coping flexibility and outcome measures reported by 75 Chinese FD patients (18-65 years; 35% men) were assessed before and 12 months after treatment. RESULTS: Results revealed that participants who received the FCP reported an increase in coping flexibility as well as reductions in self-rated dyspeptic symptom severity (SDSS), gastroenterologist-rated dyspeptic symptom severity, and anxiety levels (p values <.01). Participants who received the SPP reported reductions in SDSS and anxiety levels (p values <.0001). Although both groups reported a decrease in SDSS, only the SDSS level of the FCP group was comparable to that of a healthy community sample (p = .28). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that FCP is a potentially effective intervention for treating FD symptoms. Its effectiveness may be attributable to the specific components of FCP rather than common psychotherapeutic factors such as emotional support and empathy per se.

Dysfunctional Early Processing of Facial Expressions in Hazardous Drinkers: Evidence from an ERP Study.

Chronic alcohol intoxication impairs multiple cognitive functions. According to the dual system model (DSM), the development of alcohol dependence (AD) involves the imbalance between the automatic-affective system and the reflective system. However, the cognitive functions of non-AD hazardous drinkers (HDs) remain unclear. The present study aimed to explore how the HDs process facial expressions differently from the healthy subjects. Sixteen HDs and seventeen control subjects (CSs) completed an emotional working memory (WM) task while the electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. We found that there was no significant group difference in behavioral performance between the two groups. In the ERP data, relative to the CSs, the HDs showed delayed latencies of P1 and N170. Moreover, the CSs showed significant differences between the amplitudes of neural/fear and disgust expressions while these differences were insignificant in the HDs. The current results suggest that the main deficits in the processing of facial expression in HDs existed in the early automatic-affective system instead of in the reflective system.

[A study on the differences of emotion and depression between patients as doctor/nurse and others occupation with severe acute respiratory syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To study the emotional and depressive differences between severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients whose occupations were doctor/nurse and others. METHODS: During the three months when SARS was explosive in 2003, 524 questionnaires were collected from Xuanwu Hospital, You'an Hospital, Xiaotangshan Hospital, Renmin Hospital and Ditan Hospital in Beijing. There were 109 questionnaires finished by patients as doctors/nurses themselves. For a background matching, 109 questionnaires were also finished by the others. RESULTS: From 218 questionnaires, we found that the score on emotional condition (46.6204 +/- 8.4408 vs. 41.6789 +/- 8.612 95, P < 0.001) of SARS patients whose jobs were doctor/nurse was higher than the other groups on while the score of SARS patients whose jobs were doctor/nurse was lower than the other groups (37.7615 +/- 9.026 61 vs. 41.2844 +/- 9.655 25, P = 0.006) regarding depressive condition. The scores of emotional and depressive condition were all correlated with the factor as "I can not master my future". CONCLUSION: Doctors/nurses having SARS had less emotional and depressive conditions than the others, which might due to the difference in medical knowledge, working condition and the route of infection, suggesting that psychological intervention in the post-SARS period called for attention.