Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating bipolar disorder: An updated meta-analysis with randomized controlled trials.

AIM: The aim of this updated meta-analysis was to further assess the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating bipolar disorder (BD). METHODS: We carried out a literature search on PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library up to October 2015. We calculated the pooled relative risk of relapse rate and standard mean difference (SMD) of mean change (data at a follow-up time-point - baseline) of the Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and Mania Rating Scale scores with their 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Subgroup analyses based on follow-up time were performed. RESULTS: Nine randomized controlled trials with 520 bipolar I or II disorder patients were reanalyzed. Overall analysis showed that CBT did not significantly reduce the relapse rate of BD or improve the level of depression. However, significant efficacy of CBT in improving severity of mania was proved based on the YMRS (SMD = -0.54, 95%CI, -1.03 to -0.06, P = 0.03) but not based on MRS. Subgroup analyses showed that CBT had short-term efficacy in reducing relapse rate of BD (at 6 months' follow-up: relative risk = 0.49, 95%CI: 0.29-0.81, P = 0.006) and improving severity of mania based on YMRS score (post-treatment: SMD = -0.30, 95%CI, -0.59 to -0.01, P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Short-term efficacy of CBT in reducing relapse rate of BD and improving the severity of mania was proved. But these effects could be weakened by time. In addition, there was no effect of CBT on level of depression in BD.

The sodium channel gene family is specifically expressed in hen uterus and associated with eggshell quality traits.

BACKGROUND: Eggshell quality is important for the poultry industry. During eggshell formation a mass of inorganic minerals is deposited. The Sodium Channel (SCNN1) gene family plays an essential role in cation transportation. The objective of this study was to investigate the pattern of expression of members of the SCNN1 gene family, their variation and their effects on eggshell quality. RESULT: The highest expression of SCNN1a, SCNN1b, and SCNN1g genes were in the active uterus during eggshell mineralization, while SCNN1d showed its highest expression level in the quiescent uterus (no egg present). Nineteen candidate SNPs from the four genes were genotyped in a population of 338 White Leghorn layers. Association analysis between SNPs (haplotypes/diplotypes) and eggshell traits was performed. Among seven significant SNPs, five SNPs were associated with eggshell strength, eggshell thickness, eggshell percentage or/and egg weight, while the other two SNPs within SCNN1d were only associated with eggshell percentage. These SNPs had a 0.25-6.99% contribution to phenotypic variance, depending on the trait. In haplotype analysis, SCNN1b and SCNN1d were associated with egg weight. The SCNN1b and SCNN1g were significantly associated with eggshell weight while only SCNN1g explained 2.04% of phenotypic variance. All the alleles of the members of SCNN1 gene family were associated with eggshell percentage and eggshell thickness, and others members had an association with eggshell strength except for SCNN1a. The contribution of different haplotypes of the SCNN1 gene family to eggshell phenotypic variance ranged from 0.09% to 5.74%. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated that the SCNN1 gene family showed tissue expression specificity and was significantly associated with eggshell traits in chicken. This study provides evidence that genetic variation in members of the sodium channel can influence eggshell quality.

[Whole cDNA sequence cloning and expression of chicken L-FABP gene and its relationship with lipid deposition of hybrid chickens].

Liver fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) is closely related to intracellular transportation and deposition of lipids. A positive differential displayed fragment was found in the liver tissue among Silkie (CC), CAU-brown chicken (CD), and their reciprocal hybrids (CD and DC) at 8 weeks-old using differential display RT-PCR techniques (DDRT-PCR). Through recycling, sequencing, and alignment analysis, the fragment was identified as chicken liver fatty acid-binding protein gene (L-FABP, GenBank accession number AY321365). Reverse Northern dot blot and semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealed that the avian L-FABP gene was over-expressed in the liver tissue of the reciprocal hybrids (CD and DC) compared to their parental lines (CC and DD), which was consistent with the fact that higher abdomen fat weight and wider inter-muscular fat width observed in the reciprocal hybrids. Considering the higher expression of L-FABP may contribute to the increased lipid deposition in the hybrid chickens, the functional study of avian L-FABP is warranted in future.

[Detection of chicken dominant white gene PMEL17 mutation site by a pooling method].

Dominant white locus is one of the major loci affecting feather color in the domestic chicken and its dominant allele I can inhibit the synthesis of the melanin. Therefore, the homozygotes (I/I) or heterozygotes (I/i) show a white phenotype. It has been confirmed that the Dominant white locus encodes PMEL17 protein which is a specific protein and plays a key role in the development of melanocytes, thus PMEL17 gene is identified as a positional candidate gene for the dominant white phenotype in chicken. In our present study, we created an economic and efficient pooling method for detecting PMEL17 mutations in large populations, known as PCR product pooling method, and the steps are as follows: firstly, PMEL17 segments containing the mutation site from individual genomic DNA samples were amplified by PCR; secondly, 10 PCR products were mixed in a pool, and then the pooled PCR samples were separated on non-denatured PAGE gels; and finally, the mutation profile of PMEL17 in certain populations were analyzed. In addition, a comparative study between the genomic DNA pooling and the PCR product pooling method was performed, and the mutation of PMEL17 was also ana-lyzed in our experimental population. In conclusion, the PCR product pooling method proved to be appropriate power to test gene mutations.

[Progresses on thyroid hormone responsive spot 14 (THRSP) gene in chickens and ducks].

Thyroid hormone responsive spot 14 (THRSP), expressed in lipogenic tissues, is suggested as a transcription factor to regulate gene expression of rate-limiting enzymes in lipogenesis. Two THRSP isoforms, THRSPa and THRSPb, were detected at cDNA levels in chickens and ducks. Chicken THRSPa was speculated to be associated with growth development and lipid metabolism because of significant correlation between the indels in the coding region of THRSPalpha and growth, as well as abdominal fat traits of chickens. The differences of THRSP structure and expression between chickens and ducks were reviewed. Furthermore, polymorphism and genetic effects of THRSP gene in chickens and ducks were analyzed.

[Egg quality prediction by using Fourier transform near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (FT-NIR)].

The objective of the present study is to investigate the feasibility of using FT-NIR to determine egg quality: egg albumen height (EAH); Haugh unit (HU); air cell height (ACH); air cell diameter (ACD); egg shape index (ESI) and egg weight (EW). All eggs were stored in the same environment with 16 degrees C and 75% relative humidity after collection. Calibrations were developed using a leave-one-out cross validation procedure under partial least-squares regression. The different optimal parameter comparisons showed that Savitzky-Golay filter method and second derivatives can give the best calibration for all the measured values. The partial least-square analysis showed that R2 of the EAH, ACD and ACH are 0.867, 0.821 and 0.865, respectively. The RMSECV values are 0.476, 0.014 and 0.479 for EAH, ACD and ACH, respectively. The correlation coefficients of external-validation for 33 eggs are 0.873, 0.861 and 0.895 for EAH, ACD and ACH, respectively. The external-validation results are not significant different from actual measurements (P > 0.05) for EAH, ACD and ACH. All models cannot give the reasonable results for EW, ESI and HU. As the HU cannot be measured correctly by using FT-NIR and also is highly correlated with EAH, the authors suggested the possibility to revise the currently used measurement standard. Our results showed that FT-NIR could be used to test the egg albumen height, air cell height and air cell diameter.

Purifying selection and positive selection on the myxovirus resistance gene in mammals and chickens.

The myxovirus resistance gene (Mx) expresses antiviral activity in many species, e.g. mouse, human and chicken. It is not clear if the antiviral activity of Mx has evolved in these species to inhibit a set of species-specific pathogens, nor what factors drive Mx evolution in different animal lineages. Therefore, it is important to determine the evolutionary pattern of Mx and positively selected sites which affect the antiviral activity of the Mx gene in mammals and birds. We used sequence comparisons among species to detect positively selected sites by conducting phylogenetic analysis. The two-ratio model was significantly better than the one-ratio model in four species (mouse, rat, chicken and duck, p<0.05). Although selection pressure varied among different lineages, Mx had strong purifying selection in mammals and positive selection in chicken and duck lineages. Relative rate test revealed that Mx evolved faster in chickens than in ducks (Tajima's relative rate test, chi(2)=7.17, p<0.01). In the further analysis using a branch-site model A test, 8 sites were positively selected in the chicken lineage while no positive selection signals were observed for any site in the other lineages. The branch-site model A test had a omega value of 4.374 for the chicken lineage (2Deltal=14.20, d.f.=1, p<0.001). Comparisons of all currently available Mx mRNA sequences showed that these predicted positively selected sites had been fixed in the chicken lineage, suggesting that the chicken Mx gene evolved within the species to resist newly challenging environments. There is an increased selection constraint leading to mammals, while positive selection has acted on the chicken Mx.

Troxerutin (TXN) potentiated 5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu) treatment of human gastric cancer through suppressing STAT3/NF-κB and Bcl-2 signaling pathways.

Gastric cancer still presents a significant problem for public health worldwide. Troxerutin (TXN), a flavonoid present in tea, coffee, cereal grains, and a variety of fruits and vegetables, exhibits various pharmacological and biological activities in vitro and in vivo. We investigated the ability of TXN to reverse the in vitro and in vivo drug resistance of human gastric cancer cells, which were resistant to treatment of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU). 5-Fu is a pyrimidine analog, which is widely used in the treatment of cancers. Here, we found the growth inhibitory effects of TXN on human gastric cancer cell, resistant to 5-FU. TXN and 5-FU co-treatment resulted in a dose-dependent suppression of the cell proliferation. Decreasing of phosphorylated signal transducers and activation of transcription 3 (STAT3) was included in suppression of p65 by TXN with 5-FU in combination. Additionally, the presence of TXN sensitized gastric cancer cells resistant to 5-FU to 5-FU-induced apoptosis by suppressing Bcl-2. The pro-apoptotic proteins of Bax and Bid were up-regulated, accompanied with Caspase cleavage, leading to apoptosis. Moreover, in mice xenograft models, the combined therapy inhibited tumor growth compared to the TXN or 5-FU treatment alone. Our data indicated a novel therapeutic strategy to potentiate 5-FU-induced anti-tumor effect in gastric cancer cells with resistance to 5-FU by TXN through suppression of p-STAT3/NF-κB (p65 and p50) and Bcl-2.

Cloning, expression and characterization of the Ste6 gene encoding a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase in Streptomyces.

Streptomyces sp. 139 was identified to produce a new exopolysaccharide Ebosin (139A) with antirheumatic arthritis activity in vivo. The Ebosin biosynthesis gene cluster(31.3 kb; GenBank Accession Number: AY131229) containing 22 ORFs (ste1-ste22) of Streptomyces sp. 139 had been reported previously. In this paper,we present experimental evidence for the identity of the ste6 gene product as a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UDPGDH). With pET-30a as vector,the gene was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The expressed protein was purified to homogeneity by His-Bind resin affinity chromatograpy and it was able to catalyze UDP-glucose to UDP-glucuronic acid. To evaluate the function of ste6, the gene was disrupted by a single-crossover homologous recombination event and the result showed that ste6 is required in Ebosin biosynthesis.

[Gene differential expression of liver tissues in crossbred versus purebred chicken and their relationship with heterosis of meat trait].

The concept of heterosis has already been put forward for a century. The hypothesis of Dominance, Superdominace and Epistasis has also been brought forward to explain the phenomenon of heterosis. As we know, there is spatio-temporal speciality about the expression of gene and only expressed genes contribute to the formation of heterosis. So the study on heterosis in expression level becomes more meaningful. A lot of studies on heterosis in this level have been done in plants, but there is no such study carried on animals in this area. In this study, the technique of mRNA Reverse Transcription Differential Display was used to research the heterosis molecular mechanism of animal. In order to expound the molecular genetic mechanism of animals heterosis, the 4 x 4 completely diallele cross experiment of 4 purebreds chicken was conducted among White Polymouth Rock (EE), Chinese Silk Chicken (CC), CAU Brown (DD) and White Leghorn (AA). The chicken of 16 cross combinations were reared to 8 weeks old, then 30 chicken in each combination were selected randomly and slaughtered. The traits of body weight of 8 weeks, wing weight, eviscerated weight, eviscerated weight with giblet, breast muscle yield, leg muscle yield, body length, abdomen fat weight, intramuscular fat width, tibia length were measured, and in which 8 individuals in each combination were selected randomly to collect the liver tissue samples, which were stored in liquid nitrogen or at -80 degrees C to be used for total RNA (TRNA) extracting. After the total RNA (TRNA) was extracted, 16 TRNA pools were formed in the same quantitative according to the concentration of 8 individual TRNA. They were reversely transcribed with three anchor primers H-T11 A, H-T11 G and H-T11 C. Then the reverse transcription PCR for each transcript product was done in two repeats at the same time with the same anchor primers and 8 random primers. The polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of each PCR product was run in Bio-Rad Power 3,000 temperature control system. After electrophoresis, the gel was stained by AgNO3 according to the stain method described by Echt et al. The differential display bands in the polyacrylamide gel were counted. The band displayed is counted as 1 whereas no band is counted as 0 and only expression bands reproducible in two repeats were statistically analyzed. The correlation analysis between heterosis percentage and gene expression patterns was done with statistic analysis software (SAS) package. The statistic results indicated that among 690 total numbers of bands, the percentage of differential expression bands reproducible (457) is 66.23%. Eight kinds of gene differential expression patterns were found and listed as follow: 1): Band presents only in one purebred (P1);2): Band in one crossbred and its corresponding paternal purebred; or Band in one crossbred and its corresponding maternal purebred (P2);3): Band in purebreds and one crossbred (P3); 4): Band only in one crossbred (P4);5): Bands in both crossbreds and one purebred (P5);6): Bands only in both crossbreds (P6);7): Bands only in purebreds (P7);8): Bands both in purebreds and crossbreds P8. The differential expression of gene between purebred and crossbred chicken was detected for the first time. The proportion of each pattern in each kind of purebred combination is different. The percentage of P8 (75.34%) is the highest. The total percentage of differential expression patterns (24.66%) showed that the gene differential expression exists as a matter of fact. Among all the gene differential expression patterns, the percentage of P3 is the highest whereas the percentage of P7, P6 and P4 is very low, it indicated that different genes may have different expression patterns in purebreds and crossbreds. The results are similar to the study results on plants, which indicates that the gene differential expression between purebred and crossbred exists universally in biology. The correlation between gene expression patterns and heterosis percentage was studied, but correlation between P8 and the heterosis percentage is not significant (P > 0.05), it indicates that some patterns of gene differential expression may be the molecular genetic basic of heterosis. Among all the gene differential expression patterns, each pattern affects the expression of meat trait in different manner. There is significantly negative correlation between P4 and heterosis percentage of body weight of 8 weeks, breast muscle yield, leg muscle yield, eviscerated weight with giblet and eviscerated weight (P < 0.05); P1 is of significantly negative correlation with heterosis percentage of abdomen fat weight (P < 0.05) and of very significantly negative correlation with heterosis percentage of body length (P < 0.01); The negative correlation between P2 and heterosis percentage of intramuscular fat width is significant (P < 0.05); The positive correlation between P7 and heterosis percentage of leg muscle yield, wing weight, eviscerated weight with giblet and intramuscular fat width is significant (P < 0.05); The positive correlation between P5 and heterosis percentage of tibia length (P < 0.05) is significant. These results show that these 5 kinds of patterns play important role in heterosis forming of meat trait. P1 and P7 show that expressed gene in purebreds is depressed; P4 indicates that new gene expression occurs in crossbreds; P5 reveals that expressed gene only in one purebred express in all crossbreds. All genes of crossbreds come from purebred, which are not only the simple adding of these purebred genes, giving birth to unknown interaction between these genes coming from different purebreds, then leading to differential expression of genes. These gene differential expressions maybe form the heterosis of meat trait.

[Differential expression of CIDH gene between purebreds and hybrids in chicken and relationship with heterosis].

The technique of silver staining mRNA Differential Display was used to check the molecular genetic mechanism of heterosis in chicken. A differentially expressed fragment CE15A15, which was only expressed in two crossbreds, was found between purebreds and crossbreds. It is proved that the fragment intensively expresses in crossbreds through reverse Northern dot blot and RT-PCR. It shares 97% of sequence identity with a partial cDNA sequence of chicken that has been deposited in GenBank (AW198493) and believed to be identity with the cytosolic isocitrate dehydrogenase (CIDH) gene (ID:AF048831) of Microtus mexicanus. This suggests that the identified fragment may be a partial cDNA sequence of CIDH gene. The statistic analyses of phenotypes showed that the body weight and the carcass traits in crossbred of Silk Chicken (CC) x White Polymouth Rock (EE) and White Polymouth Rock (EE) x Silk Chicken (CC) had negative heterosis, while their fatty traits had positive heterosis. CIDH directly participates in the biosynthesis of fatty acids. This indicates that differential expression of the fragment between purebreds and crossbreds might be closely related to heterosis of crossbreds.

Toward better control of Salmonella contamination by taking advantage of the egg's self-defense system: a review.

Egg-associated salmonellosis is a major problem for food safety. It can be caused by vertical transmission (transovarian transmission) in hens and horizontal transmission though penetration. Despite a series of physical and chemical defense mechanisms naturally found in eggs, they cannot provide complete protection for them. Environmental hygiene, bacteria vectors such as birds, rodent, flies, and beetles along with feed and water contamination are the most frequently reported causes of Salmonella colonization in hens, and finally to eggs. In addition, inappropriate egg handling will cause eggs to lose their self-protection ability, thus resulting in the survival and multiplication of Salmonella in an egg's contents, which contributes to the horizontal dissemination. The routes of Salmonella contamination were discussed, and the effectiveness and shortcomings of different decontamination methods were evaluated in this review. Various studies on egg storage indicated that the low-temperature storage without temperature fluctuation was beneficial for the control of Salmonella. This review, based on an understanding of the stages of Salmonella transmission and an egg's self-protection mechanisms, highlights a comprehensive strategy toward Salmonella control in a process from egg production and handling to human consumption.