Correlates of Depressive Symptoms among Middle-Aged and Older Homeless Adults Using the 9-Item Patient Health Questionnaire.

This study investigates the screening for depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older homeless adults based on Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and examines the possible factors associated with their major depressive symptoms. A cross-sectional survey was employed, and research subjects included 129 homeless people aged 45 years old and over in Taipei Wanhua District and Taipei Main Station. We used a structured questionnaire and face-to-face interview conducted by three social workers to collect data in the analyses. The content of the questionnaire included an informed consent form, demographic characteristics, enabling and need factors of healthcare, and PHQ-9 of homeless people. Results revealed that 15.5% respondents were free of depressive symptoms, 16.3% had mild level (score 5-9), 31.8% had moderate level (score 10-14), 26.4% had moderately severe level (score 15-19), and 10.1% had severe level of depressive symptoms (score 20-27). Adopting a PHQ-9 score 10 as a cut-off point for major depressive symptoms, 68.3% of middle-aged and older homeless adults were the cases needing to be referred to healthcare settings for further recheck in the near future. A multiple regression analysis found gender, age, and usage of psychiatric outpatient care were associated with major depressive symptom occurrence. The female participants were less likely to have major depressive symptoms than the male participants (OR = 0.29, 95% CI = 0.09-0.96). The elderly participants were more likely to have major depressive symptoms than the aged 45-54 years (OR = 5.29, 95% CI = 1.44-19.41). Those participants who have ever used psychiatric outpatient care were significantly more correlated with the occurrence of major depressive symptoms than their counterparts (OR = 3.65, 95% CI = 1.46-9.09). The present study suggests that in the future health policy should eliminate the risk factors of depressive symptoms and improve mental healthcare access, to improve the health and wellbeing of the homeless population.

[The genetic effects of IGF2 gene intron3 variance in pigs].

A mispairing PCR-RFLP technique was applied in this study to determine the Insulin-like Growth Factor 2(IGF2) gene intron3 G3072A mutation in an outbred Landrace and Large White, and the gelded boars from Landrace x Large White cross. The difference of corresponding traits and the genetic effects of the boars inherited from parental A allele and inherited from parental G allele were analyzed. The results indicated that comparing with the boars inherited from parental G allele, the boars inherited from parental A allele increased significantly in the circumference 3.06% (P< 0.05) and index of body 3.01% (P< 0.05), respectively. The boars inherited from parental A allele had a significantly less average buttock fat thickness (15.31%, P< 0.01), thorax-waist fat thickness (23.74%, P< 0.01), skin thickness 9.38% (P< 0.01), fiber density (20.03%, P< 0.01) and had more less 6th-7th rib fat thickness (20.27%, P< 0.05), tendernce (17.32%, P< 0.05), and had more thick shoulder fat thickness (7.97%, P< 0.05), and had bigger the loin eye area (22.58%, P< 0.01) and fiber cross-sectional area (32.70%, P< 0.01) and fiber diameter (15.38%, P< 0.01) and lean meat (2.18%, P< 0.01) than the boars inherited from parental G allele. The results were suggested that the parental A allele has highly significant genetic effects in improving pig body development and carcass lean percent by increasing fiber diameter and the loin eye area, and decreasing the skin thickness and fat percent.

[Analysis of polymorphism on exon 2 of SLA-DRB in Wuzhishan, Erhualian and Pietrain pigs with PCR-RFLP and PCR-SSCP].

Exon 2 of SLA-DRB gene in three strains of pigs was genotyped by PCR-RFLP and PCR-SSCP methods. The strains involved were Wuzhishan, Erhualian and Pietrain, and the numbers of them were 17, 28 and 28, respectively. After genotyping by PCR-RFLP with Msp I, all pigs showed the same band pattern (143 bp/102 bp) named M. However, four kinds of band patterns were created by Rsa I, that were A:141 bp/93 bp/11 bp, B:111 bp/69 bp/54 bp/11 bp, C:180 bp/54 bp/11 bp and D:93 bp/48 bp/39 bp/54 bp/11 bp. There were different pattern types in various pigs, AA and BB in Wuzhishan pigs, AA, BB and AB in Erhualian pigs, AA, CC and BD in Pietrain pigs. In each strain, A was the dominant band pattern, its frequency in Wuzhishan, Erhualian and Pietrain pigs were 0.69, 0.73 and 0.82, respectively. There were no significant differences in the frequency of A band pattern among these three strains. After genotyping by PCR-SSCP, seven pattern types (alphaalpha, alphadelta, betabeta, gammagamma, alphagamma, deltadelta and betaepsilon) were observed in these three populations. There were alphaalpha, alphadelta and betabeta in Wuzhishan pigs, alphaalpha, gammagamma and alphagamma in Erhualian pigs, and alphaalpha, deltadelta, alphadelta, betaepsilon and betabeta in Pietrain pigs. In each breed, the frequency of a band pattern was the highest in all defined bands. The frequency of delta band pattern followed to alpha band pattern in the populations of Wuzhishan and Pietrain pigs, corresponding to that, the frequencies of alphadelta pattern type were maximal in these two populations. The frequencies of all pattern types analyzed by PCR-RFLP and PCR-SSCP were Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium in Erhualian populations; however, the same results did not appear in the other two populations.

[Studies on carcass and meat quality performance of crossbred pigs with graded proportions of Laiwu Black genes].

Sixty pigs, including pure Laiwu Black (LL), pure Large Yorkshire (YY), 1/2 Laiwu (Ymale x Lfemale), 3/4 Laiwu (Lmale x YLfemale) and 1/4 Laiwu (Ymale x YLfemale), were housed in groups with the same diet until 90 kg for slaughter. The objectives were to investigate the effects of graded proportions of Laiwu Black genes on carcass and meat quality performance. Results indicated that different consanguinity had significant effect on carcass weight, carcass length (CL), ham percentage (HP) and backfat thickness (BT) (P<0.05), and had highly significant effect on eye muscle area (EMA) and lean percentage (LP) (P<0.01). Furthermore, CL, HP, EMA and LP tended to increased gradually, but BT tended to decreased gradually as Laiwu Black genes decreased. For meat quality properties, different consanguinity had significant effect on meat color, marbling score, dry matter and crude protein content of muscles (P<0.05), and had highly significant effect on water loss, drip loss and intramuscular fat content of muscles (P<0.01). Compared with the muscle of Large Yorkshire, that of Laiwu Black and its crossbred pigs were bright red in meat color, high in water holding capacity and abundant in intramuscular fat. Results implied that to give attention to both quantity and quality, Laiwu Black surely has usable precious value in superior pig production. Commercial crossbred pigs should have about 1/4 of Laiwu Black genes.

Distinct activated cortical areas and volumes in Uygur-Chinese bilinguals.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate variations in cortical activation in early and late Uygur-Chinese bilinguals from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Methodology: During a semantic judgment task with visual stimulation by a single Chinese or Uygur word, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed. The fMRI data regarding activated cortical areas and volumes by both languages were analyzed. RESULTS: The first language (L1) and second language (L2) activated language-related hemispheric regions, including the left inferior frontal and parietal cortices, and L1 specifically activated the left middle temporal gyrus. For both L1 and L2, cortical activation was greater in the left hemisphere, and there was no significant difference in the lateralization index (LI) between the two languages (p > 0.05). Although the total activated cortical areas were larger in early than late bilinguals, the activation volumes were not significantly different. CONCLUSION: Activated brains areas in early and late fluent bilinguals largely overlapped. However, these areas were more scattered upon presentation of L2 than L1, and L1 had a more specific pattern of activation than L2. For both languages, the left hemisphere was dominant. We found that L2 proficiency level rather than age of acquisition had a greater influence on which brain areas were activated with semantic processing.

Clinical analysis of primary small intestinal disease: A report of 309 cases.

AIM: To evaluate the major clinical symptom, etiology, and diagnostic method in patients with primary small intestinal disease in order to improve the diagnosis. METHODS: A total of 309 cases with primary small intestinal disease were reviewed, and the major clinical symptoms, etiology, and diagnostic methods were analyzed. RESULTS: The major clinical symptoms included abdominal pain (71%), abdominal mass (14%), vomiting (10%), melaena (10%), and fever (9%). The most common disease were malignant tumor (40%). diverticulum (32%) and benign tumor (10%). Duodenal disease was involved in 36% of the patients with primary small intestinal diseases. The diagnostic rate for primary small intestinal diseases by double-contrast enteroclysis was 85.6%. CONCLUSION: Abdominal pain is the most common clinical symptom in patients with primary small intestinal disease. Malignant tumors are the most common diseases. Duodenum was the most common part involved in small intestine. Double-contrast enteroclysis was still the simplest and the most available examination method in diagnosis of primary small intestinal disease. However, more practical diagnostic method should be explored to improve the diagnostic accuracy.

[Comparative study on lipogenic and lipolytic gene expression in intramuscular fat tissue between growing Erhualian and large white pigs].

To investigate the mechanism of difference in intramuscular fat deposition between Erhualian and Large White pigs,single tube relative-quantitative RT-PCR method was used to investigate the development patterns of lipogenic (ACX, LPL, ME) and lipolytic (HSL) gene expression with 18S internal standard control. Sixteen Large White boars and twenty Erhualian boars were selected and raised according to normal nutrition standard respectively. The animals were selected randomly and slaughtered at 15 kg, 40 kg, 60 kg and 90 kg for Large White pigs and at 18 kg, 40 kg, 60 kg, 80 kg and 90 kg for Erhualian pigs respectively; with four animals of each breed at each time. The supraspinatus and semimembranosus muscles were removed for total RNA extraction and longisimus dorsi muscle for intramuscular fat (IMF) analysis using ether extract method. The results showed: (1) The property of IMF between Erhualian and Large White boars was similar during early growing period (before 40 kg) (P > 0.05) ,thereafter, IMF level of Erhualian boars increased dramatically to 4% at 60 kg and over 5% at 90 kg while Large White boars kept steadily at about 2% (P < 0.05); (2) The pattern of lipogenic and lypolytic gene expression was similar between semimembranosus and supraspinatus muscle in each breed; (3) The tendency for LPL and ME mRNA expression coincided with that of IMF development among 20 approximately 60 kg in Erhualian pigs. The results suggest that the development of IMF between 20 kg and 60 kg in Erhualian pigs may play a meaningful role in deposition of IMF,and that the expression of ME and LPL mRNA may contribute to fast sediment of IMF in Erhualian pigs.

[Advances in allelic polymorphism at class II of the pig MHC(SLA)].

This article gave a detailed introduction about regional map,molecular structure,genotyping and polymorphism of SLA class II genes. The pig major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II antigens have been known to exhibit a different degree of allelic polymorphism. The locus-specific oligonucleotide primers and RFLP analysis provide a simple and rapid method for genotyping expressed SLA class II from genomic DNA. SLA class II polymorphism was related to the antigenic peptide binding sites. Detailed analysis of sequences showed that there were 4 GC-rich sequences in exon 2 of SLA-DQB and SLA-DRB1 genes.

[Detection of intracellular and extracellular cytokines of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in gastric cancer patients].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells play a crucial role in the immunosuppression of gastric cancer patients, but the mechanism is still unknown. This study was to investigate the secretion of intracellular and extracellular cytokines interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-10 and tumor growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) from CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in gastric cancer patients, and evaluate their roles in the immunosuppression of gastric cancer. METHODS: Peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes of gastric cancer patients were prepared routinely. CD4+CD25+ T cells and CD4+CD25- T cells were isolated by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) method, and identified by flow cytometry. The cytokine secretion of CD4+CD25+ T cells and CD4+CD25- T cells was detected by intracellular analysis of cytokine production (IFN-gamma, IL-4 and IL-10) and ELISA (IFN-gamma, IL-10 and TGF-beta). RESULTS: The proportion of CD4+CD25+ T cells to CD4+ T cells was significantly higher in gastric cancer patients than in healthy controls (P<0.05). After 96-hour cell culture, no matter in gastric cancer patients or in healthy controls, the secretion of IL-10 and TGF-beta were significantly higher from CD4+CD25+ T cells than from CD4+CD25- T cells (P<0.05), but the secretion of IFN-gamma was significantly lower from CD4+CD25+ T cells than from CD4+CD25- T cells (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The immunosuppression of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in gastric cancer may relate to suppressive cytokines, especially TGF-beta.

[Study of the anti-tumor effect of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor McAb 5-fluorouracil loaded polylactic acid nanoparticles].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the anti-tumor efficacy of anti- vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) McAb 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) loaded polylactic acid (PLA) nanoparticles (NPS) in human gastric carcinoma xenografts of nude mice. METHODS: Anti-VEGF McAb 5-FU loaded PLA NPS were made by ultrasound emulsification. Nude mice model of human gastric carcinoma xenografts was established. Therapeutic effects of drugs on human gastric carcinoma xenografts and side effects concerned were observed. RESULTS: The tumor inhibition rates of control group, nanosphere without 5-FU group, 5-FU (20 mg/kg) group, anti-VEGF McAb nanosphere without 5-FU group, anti-VEGF McAb group, nanosphere with 5-FU group, 5-FU (20 mg/kg) combined with anti-VEGF McAb group, anti-VEGF McAb 5-FU loaded nanosphere group was 0, 6.61%, 24.26%, 27.94%, 35.29%, 37.50%, 39.71% and 52.21% respectively, and there were no significant differences between anti-VEGF McAb 5-FU loaded nanosphere group and nanosphere group without 5-FU in WBC count, serum alanine transferase level or creatinine level. Compared with control group and anti-VEGF McAb 5-FU loaded nanosphere group, the 5-FU group decreased by 34.43% and 37.38% respectively in WBC count (P< 0.05), and increased by 93.17% and 66.56% respectively in alanine transferase. There were significant differences between experimental groups and control group in apoptosis index, especially between anti-VEGF McAb 5-FU loaded nanosphere group and control group (P< 0.05). The microvessel density (MVD) of experimental groups containing anti-VEGF McAb was significantly lower than that of control group or groups containing 5-FU (P< 0.05). CONCLUSION: Anti-VEGF McAb 5-FU loaded nanosphere can increase the tumor inhibitory rate of 5-FU, induce apoptosis by inhibiting tumor angiogenesis with less side effect, and then enhance therapeutic effect, which indicate its potential as a novel, safe nano-tumor-targeting drug.