The Societal Influences and Quality of Life Among Healthcare Team Members During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: The coronavirus infection disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is likely to put healthcare professionals across the world in an unprecedented situation. Methods: A total of 683 healthcare workers were recruited in this study. Short form-12 items (SF-12), Societal Influences Survey Questionnaire (SISQ), and Disaster-Related Psychological Screening Test (DRPST) were used to survey participants. Multiple linear regression and structural equation model (SEM) were used to explore the possible factors to the societal influences and quality of life. Results: After multiple linear regression analysis, female, older, more education years, married, regular intake, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequency had positive association with SISQ. To physical component summary (PCS) of SF-12, chronic illness, sleep score, PTSD frequency, and social distance had negative association, and exercise habits had positive association. A mental component summary (MCS) value of SF-12, age, participate in social activities, and social information had positive association, and PTSD frequency, sleep score, social anxiety, and depression had negative association. Under SEM analysis, PTSD had positive influence on SISQ. Sleep score and MCS value had negative influences on SISQ. PTSD severity, older age, sleep score, smoking, and nursing staff had negative influences on PCS value. Young age, PTSD frequency, sleep score, and depression had negative influences on MCS value. Conclusion: Healthcare team members with severe PTSD symptoms suffered more societal influences. Relative to PTSD severity, PTSD frequency was more important to the quality of life. Members of older age who frequently participate in clubs, volunteers, or charity activities had better mental life quality.

No change of the lipid profile under the control of ApoE gene polymorphism in schizophrenics under paliperidone treatment.

The present study tried to explore the effects of Paliperidone on the lipid profiles of schizophrenia patients. One hundred twenty-nine subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia were enrolled into this study and completed the lipid profile evaluation. Their blood samples were obtained on the morning following a 12-hours fast. Cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) levels in plasma were determined, and lipoproteins were determined by enzymatic methods. All participants provided written informed consent, and underwent additional venous blood withdrawal for DNA extraction for genetic study of the ApoE gene polymorphism. Under T test, TC, TG and HDL levels all declined after Paliperidone treatment although with no statistically significant difference. The ratios of TC/HDL declined after Paliperidone treatment, but without statistically significant difference. After GEE-I analysis, we found that ApoE4 genotype (ß = 34.471; p < 0.001) had a positive effect on the total cholesterol (TC) level; female had positive effect on the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level (ß = 15.361; p = 0.003); and age had a positive effect on the TG level (ß = 1.317; p = 0.030). Smoking (ß = 0.961; p = 0.016) had a positive effect on the ratio of TC/HDL change. Lipid profiles were not increased after Paliperidone treatment under the control of ApoE gene polymorphism.

The activity of lowering intraocular pressure of cassiae seed extract in a DBA/2J mouse glaucoma model.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the activity of lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) by Cassiae seed in the DBA/2J mouse glaucoma model. METHODS: Young male (mean age: 3 months) inherited glaucoma mice (BDA/2J) were enrolled in this study. To evaluate the potential of Cassiae seed in the treatment of glaucoma, all subjects were divided into 6 groups. There were 1 sham group, positive control identified as group 2 topical brimonidine and group 3 oral acetazolamide, and groups 4-6 Cassiae seed extract (CSE) groups. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level in the anterior aqueous humor and the changes of IOP were investigated. Contents of total polyphenol glycosides in the CSE were measured using a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Cosmosil 5C(18)-MS reverse-phase HPLC column (4.6×250-mm i.d., 5 µm) with methanol/0.1% H(3)PO(4) as the mobile phases in a gradient elution mode at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and an injection volume of 10 µL. The wavelength of UV detector was set at 254 nm. RESULTS: The LDH level in the anterior aqueous humor and IOP significantly decreased after treatment with CSE. The IOP-lowering effect of CSE was comparable to those of oral acetazolamide and brimonidine instillation. There were no abnormal findings in the external appearance, and body weight change after treatment with CSE for 5 weeks. Chrysophanol and physcion were measured by an HPLC method to obtain total polyphenol glycosides of the CSE, and were involved in the IOP-lowering function. CONCLUSION: Cassiae seed may be safe and beneficial for treating glaucoma due to its significant IOP- and LDH-lowering activities.

Association of DRD4 uVNTR and TP53 codon 72 polymorphisms with schizophrenia: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND: The tumour supressor gene TP53 is thought to be involved in neural apoptosis. The polymorphism at codon 72 in TP53 and the long form variants of the upstream variable number of tandem repeats (uVNTR) polymorphism in the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene are reported to confer susceptibility to schizophrenia. METHODS: We recruited 934 patients with schizophrenia and 433 healthy individuals, and genotyped the locus of the TP53 codon 72 and DRD4 uVNTR polymorphisms by combining the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method (PCR-RFLP) with direct sequencing. RESULTS: No significant differences were found in the frequency of the genotype of the TP53 codon72 polymorphism between patients with schizophrenia and their controls. However, the long form alleles (> or = 5 repeats) of the DRD4 uVNTR polymorphism were more frequent in patients with schizophrenia than in controls (p = 0.001). Hence, this class of alleles might be a risk factor for enhanced vulnerability to schizophrenia (odds ratio = 3.189, 95% confidence interval = 1.535-6.622). In the logistic regression analysis, the long form variants of the DRD4 polymorphism did predict schizophrenia after the contributions of the age and gender of the subjects were included (p = 0.036, OR = 2.319), but the CC and GG genotypes of the codon 72 polymorphism of TP53 did not. CONCLUSIONS: The long form variants of the uVNTR polymorphism in DRD4 were associated with schizophrenia, in a manner that was independent of the TP53 codon 72 polymorphism. In addition, given that the genetic effect of the TP53 codon 72 polymorphism on the risk of developing schizophrenia was very small, this polymorphism is unlikely to be associated with schizophrenia. The roles that other single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TP53 gene or in other apoptosis-related genes play in the synaptic dysfunction involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia should be investigated.