Relationship between SIRT1 gene and adolescent depressive disorder with nonsuicidal self-injury behavior: Based on gene methylation and mRNA expression.

OBJECTIVE: The incidence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior in adolescents is increasing year by year. Patients with a history of both depression and NSSI behavior tend to be at greater risk for suicide. At present, the mechanism of adolescent depressive disorder with NSSI behavior is not clear and still in research and exploration. The expression of the Silent Information Regulator 2 Related Enzyme 1 (SIRT1) gene is closely related to the level of serotonin in molecular mechanisms, and may be closely related to the occurrence and development of depressive disorder. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the SIRT1 gene and NSSI behaviors in adolescents with depressive disorder. METHODS: A total of 15 adolescent depressed patients with NSSI behavior and 15 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Bisulfite Sequencing PCR (BSP) was used to test the methylation level of SIRT1 gene promoter region of the participants. The real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR was conducted to measure the mRNA expression level of SIRT1 gene. RESULTS: Our study found that the methylation level of SIRT1 gene promoter region at cytosine-guanine dinucleotide 5 (CpG5) site in depression group was higher than that of control group. Compared with that of control group, the plasma concentration of Sirt1 protein significantly decreased in depression group. CONCLUSION: Our study investigated the methylation level and the mRNA expression of SIRT1 gene in adolescent depressive patients with NSSI behavior. The study points towards finding an in vivo molecular marker for those adolescent patients.

Development of a Questionnaire to Assess Nursing Competencies for the Care of People with Psychiatric Disabilities in a Hospital Environment.

The recovery of people with psychiatric disabilities requires high-quality nursing care. However, the existing research on the nursing competencies needed for caring for people with psychiatric disabilities have been based on a narrow competency framework. By adopting a broader competency framework, this study aimed to find the competencies needed for the nursing care of people with psychiatric disabilities in a hospital environment. Accordingly, a questionnaire will be developed to measure these competences. First, a literature review and interviews with psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, and people with psychiatric disabilities were conducted to develop the pool of competency items. Second, a pilot study was conducted to review the initial pool of items. Finally, a survey of 581 psychiatric nurses was used to conduct a series of principal component analyses to explore the structure of the questionnaire. The 17-item questionnaire included 5 factors, which accounted for 68.60% of the total variance: sense of responsibility, vocational identification, agreeableness, cooperation capacity, and carefulness; the Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.85, 0.85, 0.74, 0.80, and 0.77, respectively. Most of the competencies belonged to attitudes, values, and traits, which were overlooked in previous studies. The questionnaire has satisfactory internal reliability and structural validity, and could contribute some to the selection of the psychiatric workforce.