First Report of Gilbertella persicaria causing Postharvest Soft Rot of Pyrus pyrifolia 'Housui' in China.

Postharvest diseases lead to substantial economic losses to the pear industry (Xu et al. 2021). In August 2022 and 2023, 'Housui' pears (Pyrus pyrifolia) with no visible wounds were harvested from Baoying county, Jiangsu Province, China and stored at 20°C with 85% relative humidity. Approximately 8% of pear fruits showed soft rot after 15 days of storage. The margin area of rot tissue was aseptically incubated on PDA medium at 25°C. Mycelial tips were transferred to new PDA after 24 h. Five fungal isolates were obtained after isolation and identification, including Alternaria sp., Botryosphaeria sp., Diaporthe sp., Fusarium sp. and Gilbertella sp. For each isolate, pathogenicity tests were confirmed three times by placing 10 µL of spore suspension (106 spores/mL) on three 'Housui' pear fruits superficially wounded with sterile toothpicks, and sterile distilled water served as controls. Lesions caused by Gilbertella sp. were distinctly observed after incubating at 20°C for 24h, and controls have no symptom. The lesions expanded to large brown spots with smelling of alcohol after 48 h, similar to natural disease symptom. The colony of Gilbertella sp. was initially white and rapidly turned gray, generating large amounts of black sporangia. -Sporangia were firstly white, then turn black, globose to dorsoventrally flattened, 70.22 to 131.58 × 75 to 135.17 µm, average 93.19 × 106.54 µm (n = 50), borne erect or nodding, breaking into two equal pieces. Sporangiophores were hyaline, 11.17 to 34.57 µm wide, average 19.67 µm (n = 50). Columellae were hyaline, pyriform or obovoid to cylindrical, with a distinct basal collar, 32.37 to 102.84 × 23.62 to 68.68 µm, average 60.06 × 40.07 µm (n = 50). Sporangiospores were single celled, mostly ellipsoid, 5.76 to 11.49 × 3.89 to 6.18 µm, average 8.68 × 5.08 µm (n = 100), attaching with 4-5 hyaline appendages at the ends. Chlamydospores were solitary or in short chain, cylindrical or oval. Zygospore was not observed. The isolate was morphologically identified as G. persicaria (Benny 1991). Molecular identification was performed by PCR amplification, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA (ITS), partial 28S rDNA large subunit (LSU), and actin-1 (ACT-1) gene using primer pairs ITS1/ITS4, LR0R/LR5 and Gil_ACT_F/Gil_ACT_R (Zhang et al. 2020). The ITS (OP897009), LSU (OR794326), and ACT-1 (OR805109) sequences revealed 99.85%, 99.30% and 100% sequence identity to nucleotide sequences of G. persicaria from NCBI (ON875318, OP243274, and AJ287159). Phylogenetic analysis based on the maximum likelihood method grouped the isolate with other G. persicaria strains. Pathogenicity of the isolate was performed on wounded and non-wounded fruits. Wounded fruits severely rot after 48 h, and no non-wounded fruit rot after 5 days. Therefore, wound was required for the infection of G. persicaria. The pathogen was consistently re-isolated and purified from the inoculated pears, morphologically identified as G. persicaria, fulfilling Koch's postulates. Fruit rot caused by G. persicaria has been reported on peach, tomato, apricot, plum, apple, dragon fruit, papaya and eggplant, as well as Pyrus communis (Mehrotra 1964; Ginting et al. 1996; Cruz-Lachica et al. 2021). This is the first report of G. persicaria infection on 'Housui' pears in China. This disease is a potential threat to 'Housui' pear storage. The confirmation of this soft rot pathogen provides a foundation for pear postharvest disease prevention.

Progressive brain structural abnormality in depression assessed with MR imaging by using causal network analysis.

BACKGROUND: As a neuroprogressive illness, depression is accompanied by brain structural abnormality that extends to many brain regions. However, the progressive structural alteration pattern remains unknown. METHODS: To elaborate the progressive structural alteration of depression according to illness duration, we recruited 195 never-treated first-episode patients with depression and 130 healthy controls (HCs) undergoing T1-weighted MRI scans. Voxel-based morphometry method was adopted to measure gray matter volume (GMV) for each participant. Patients were first divided into three stages according to the length of illness duration, then we explored stage-specific GMV alterations and the causal effect relationship between them using causal structural covariance network (CaSCN) analysis. RESULTS: Overall, patients with depression presented stage-specific GMV alterations compared with HCs. Regions including the hippocampus, the thalamus and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) presented GMV alteration at onset of illness. Then as the illness advanced, others regions began to present GMV alterations. These results suggested that GMV alteration originated from the hippocampus, the thalamus and vmPFC then expanded to other brain regions. The results of CaSCN analysis revealed that the hippocampus and the vmPFC corporately exerted causal effect on regions such as nucleus accumbens, the precuneus and the cerebellum. In addition, GMV alteration in the hippocampus was also potentially causally related to that in the dorsolateral frontal gyrus. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with the neuroprogressive hypothesis, our results reveal progressive morphological alteration originating from the vmPFC and the hippocampus and further elucidate possible details about disease progression of depression.

[The alterations of cerebral cortex thickness based on surface morphology and its correlation with smoking-related characteristics in severe nicotine addicts].

Objective: To explore the alterations of cerebral cortical thickness in severe nicotine addicts by using surface-based morphology (SBM) method and further analyzing the association of these changes with smoking-related characteristics. Methods: Data were retrospectively collected from August 2014 to August 2019 from severe nicotine addicts [aged 25 to 52(38±8)years] and 56 non-smokers healthy volunteers [aged 22 to 51(36±8)years]. All subjects underwent 3.0 T magnetic resonance scans, and FreeSurfer software was used to analyze the difference in cortical thickness between the two groups, and Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation between the nicotine dependence group and smoking-related characteristics. Results: Compared to control group, the severe nicotine dependence group had a significant reduction in the cortical thickness in 9 areas of the brain, the left cerebral cortex, including: middletemporal, precentral, superiorfrontal, insula [(2.78±0.10) mm vs (2.92±0.17) mm, (2.57±0.15) mm vs (2.70±0.14) mm, (2.63±0.18) mm vs (2.76±0.15) mm, (3.01±0.10) mm vs (3.13±0.13) mm, all P<0.01, respectively], and the right cerebral cortex including: temporalpole, rostralmiddlefrontal, superiorfrontal, postcentral, parsopercularis [(3.12±0.14) mm vs (3.26±0.19) mm, (2.71±0.16) mm vs (2.87±0.18) mm, (2.96±0.15) mm vs (3.10±0.20) mm, (2.57±0.15) mm vs (2.71±0.15) mm, (2.54±0.11) mm vs (2.65±0.15) mm, all P<0.05, respectively]. The cortical thickness of left insular was positively correlated with the initial smoking age (r=0.403,P=0.009), while the cortical thickness of the other brain regions had no significant correlation with smoking-related characteristics (all P>0.05). Conclusion: Significant alterations were observed in cortical thickness in severe nicotine addicts, and there is a correlation between the thickness of the left insular cortex and the age of initial smoking.

More than just statics: Temporal dynamic changes of intrinsic brain activity in cigarette smoking.

Smoking is companied with altered intrinsic activity of the brain measured by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation. Evidence has revealed that human brain activity is a highly dynamic and rapidly changing system. How exactly cigarette smoking affect temporal dynamic intrinsic brain activity is not fully understood nor is it clear how smoking severity influences spontaneous brain activity. Dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF) was used to examine the dynamic temporal variability in 93 participants (63 smokers, 30 nonsmokers). We further divided smokers into light and heavy smokers. The temporal variability in intrinsic brain activity among these groups was compared. Correlation analyses were performed between dALFF in areas showing group differences and smoking behaviour (e.g., the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence [FTND] scores and pack-years). Smokers showed significantly increased dALFF in the left inferior/middle frontal gyrus, right orbitofrontal gyrus, right insula, left superior/medial frontal gyrus and right middle frontal gyrus than nonsmokers. Light smokers showed increased dALFF variability in the left prefrontal cortex. Heavy smokers showed increased dynamics in specific brain regions, including the right postcentral gyrus, right insula and left precentral gyrus. Furthermore, the temporal variability in dALFF in the left superior/medial frontal gyrus, left superior/middle frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus and right insula was positively correlated with pack-years or FTND. Combined, these results suggest that smokers increase stable and persistent spontaneous brain activity in prefrontal cortex, involved impaired gold-directed action and value-based decision-making. In addition, individuals with heavier smoking severity show increased perturbance on spontaneous brain activity of perception and sensorimotor, related to increased reliance.

Evaluating the Changes of White Matter Microstructures in Tobacco Addicts Based on Diffusion Tensor Imaging.

BACKGROUND The tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) method was used to investigate the changes of white matter microstructure in tobacco addicts, and to analyze its correlation with smoking index, smoking years, and daily smoking amount. MATERIAL AND METHODS Routine magnetic resonance imaging (excluding intracranial lesions) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) sequence scanning were performed in 156 nicotine addicts (nicotine dependence group) and 81 non-nicotine addicts (control group) recruited from the study group. TBSS method was used to preprocess DTI data, and age and education level were taken as covariables to statistically analyze relevant parameters between nicotine dependence group and control group, such as fractional anisotropy (FA) value and smoking index. Spearman correlation analysis was performed on smoking status and FA values in brain regions with significant differences between nicotine dependent group and control group, and the test level alpha was 0.05. RESULTS Compared with control group, FA values of white matter in part of the posterior limb of the right inner capsule (r=-0.428, P=0.003), the right superior radiating crown (r=-0.136, P=0.004), the right posterior radiating crown (r=-0.229, P=0.003), the right superior longitudinal bundle (r=-0.474, P=0.002), the right inferior longitudinal bundle (r=-0.354, P=0.003) and the inferior frontal occipital bundle (r=-0.310, P=0.002) were decreased, which were negatively correlated with smoking index (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Nicotine can damage the microstructure of white matter in specific brain regions and damage neurons, with cumulative effects.

The correlation between pancreatic steatosis and metabolic syndrome in a Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity and hepatic steatosis showed a strong correlation with metabolic syndrome. However, data on the influence of pancreatic steatosis on metabolic syndrome are lacking. OBJECTIVE: Our aim is to perform the prevalence of pancreatic steatosis in adults and its association with metabolic syndrome in a Chinese population. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study, randomly selected. A total of 1190 health examination subjects were recruited. Pancreatic steatosis or hepatic steatosis was diagnosed via trans-abdominal sonography. The clinical and metabolic parameters were compared between the two groups, and their associations with pancreatic steatosis were examined. RESULTS: The prevalence of pancreatic steatosis was 30.7%. The presence of pancreatic steatosis was significantly increased by age, gender, central obesity, hepatic steatosis, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperglycemia. In the logistic regression analysis, age (P < 0.05), central obesity (P < 0.01), diabetes (P < 0.05), hypertriglyceridemia (P < 0.05) and hepatic steatosis (P < 0.01) were independently associated with pancreatic steatosis. The number of the parameters of the metabolic syndrome in pancreatic steatosis group was more than that in non-pancreatic steatosis group [(2.5 ± 1.1) vs (1.4 ± 1.2)] (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The pancreatic steatosis is strongly associated with the parameters of metabolic syndrome, such as central obesity, diabetes, and hepatic steatosis.

[Association between obesity and age at spermarche among Chinese Han boys aged 11-18 years].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between obesity and age at spermarche among Chinese Han boys aged 11-18 years . METHODS: The height, weight and status of the spermarche of Chinese Han boys aged 11-18 years were selected from the data of 2010 National Physical Fitness and Health Surveillance.The body mass index (BMI), prevalence of spermarche in each age group and ages at spermarche by BMI groups were calculated. Chi square test was used to analyze the differences of prevalences of spermarche among the boys with different BMIs across ages. U-test was used to compare the differences of age at spermarche between the boys who were obese and not. RESULTS: In the boys aged 12 and 17 years in urban areas and boys aged 13 years in rural areas, the differences of prevalences of spermarche among the normal weight, overweight and obesity groups were significant (P<0.05). The age at spermarche in the obesity group (13.90 years) was 0.1 years earlier than that in the non-obesity group (14.00 years) (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Obesity may make the age at spermarche ahead of time.

Comparative Physiological and Transcriptome Analyses Reveal Mechanisms of Salicylic-Acid-Reduced Postharvest Ripening in 'Hosui' Pears (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai).

Postharvest ripening of sand pear fruit leads to quality deterioration, including changes in texture, flavor, and fruit color. Salicylic acid (SA), an important defense-related hormone, delays fruit ripening and maintains fruit quality, but the underling mechanism remains unclear. Herein, we evaluated the efficacy of SA in delaying the ripening process of Pyrus pyrifolia cv. 'Hosui' pear fruit, as evidenced by the reduction in fruit weight loss, inhibition of firmness loss, cell wall degradation and soluble sugars, and retention of total phenols. Based on comparative transcriptomic data, a total of 3837 and 1387 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified during room-temperature storage of control fruit and between SA-treated and control fruit, respectively. Further KEGG analysis revealed that the DEGs were mainly implicated in plant hormone signal transduction, starch and sugar metabolism, and cell wall modification. Moreover, exogenous SA treatment also altered the expression of many transcription factor (TF) families, including those in the ethylene-responsive factor (ERF), NAM, ATAF, CUC (NAC), basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH), basic leucine zipper (bZIP), and v-myb avian myeloblastosis viral oncogene homolog (MYB) families. Together, the results offer important insights into the role of SA-responsive genes in controlling fruit ripening in sand pears.

Effects of straw and plastic film mulching on microbial functional genes involved in soil nitrogen cycling.

Introduction: Microorganisms regulate soil nitrogen (N) cycling in cropping systems. However, how soil microbial functional genes involved in soil N cycling respond to mulching practices is not well known. Methods: We collected soil samples from a spring maize field mulched with crop straw (SM) and plastic film (FM) for 10-year and with no mulching (CK) in the Loess Plateau. Microbial functional genes involved in soil N cycling were quantified using metagenomic sequencing. We collected soil samples from a spring maize field mulched with crop straw (SM) and plastic film (FM) for 10-year and with no mulching (CK) in the Loess Plateau. Microbial functional genes involved in soil N cycling were quantified using metagenomic sequencing. Results: Compared to that in CK, the total abundance of genes involved in soil N cycling increased in SM but had no significant changes in FM. Specifically, SM increased the abundances of functional genes that involved in dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (nirB, napA, and nrfA), while FM decreased the abundances of functional genes that involved in ammonification (ureC and ureA) in comparison with CK. Other genes involved in assimilatory nitrate reduction, denitrification, and ammonia assimilation, however, were not significantly changed with mulching practices. The nirB and napA were derived from Proteobacteria (mainly Sorangium), and the ureC was derived from Actinobacteria (mainly Streptomyces). Mental test showed that the abundance of functional genes that involved in dissimilatory nitrate reduction was positively correlated with the contents of soil microbial biomass N, potential N mineralization, particulate organic N, and C fractions, while ammonification related gene abundance was positively correlated with soil pH, microbial biomass C and N, and mineral N contents. Discussion: Overall, this study showed that SM could improve soil N availability and promote the soil N cycling by increasing the abundance of functional genes that involved in DNRA, while FM reduced the abundance of functional genes that involved in ammonification and inhibited soil N cycling.

Diagnostic value of upper airway morphological data based on CT volume scanning combined with clinical indexes in children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Background and purpose: Early diagnosis is important for treatment and prognosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)in children. Polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard for the diagnosis of OSA. However, due to various reasons, such as inconvenient implementation, less equipped in primary medical institutions, etc., it is less used in children, especially in young children. This study aims to establish a new diagnostic method with imaging data of upper airway and clinical signs and symptoms. Methods: In this retrospective study, clinical and imaging data were collected from children ≤10 years old who underwent nasopharynx CT scan(low-dose protocol)from February 2019 to June 2020,including 25 children with OSA and 105 non-OSA. The information of the upper airway (A-line; N-line; nasal gap; upper airway volume; upper and lower diameter, left and right diameter and cross-sectional area of the narrowest part of the upper airway) were measured in transaxial, coronal, and sagittal images. The diagnosis of OSA and adenoid size were given according to the guidelines and consensus of imaging experts. The information of clinical signs, symptoms, and others were obtained from medical records. According to the weight of each index on OSA, the indexes with statistical significance were screened out, then were scored and summed up. ROC analysis was performed with the sum as the test variable and OSA as the status variable to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy on OSA. Results: The AUC of the summed scores (ANMAH score) of upper airway morphology and clinical index for the diagnosis of OSA was 0.984 (95% CI 0.964-1.000). When sum = 7 was used as the threshold (participants with sum>7 were considered to have OSA), the Youden's index reached its maximum at which point the sensitivity was 88.0%, the specificity was 98.1%, and the accuracy was 96.2%. Conclusion: The morphological data of the upper airway based on CT volume scan images combined with clinical indices have high diagnostic value for OSA in children; CT volume scanning plays a great guiding role in the selection of treatment scheme of OSA. It is a convenient, accurate and informative diagnostic method with a great help to improving prognosis. Highlights: - Early diagnosis of OSA in children is very important for the treatment.- However, the traditional diagnostic gold-standard PSG is difficult to implement.- This study aims to explore convenient and reliable diagnostic methods for children.- A new diagnostic model was established combining CT with signs and symptoms.- The diagnostic method in this study is highly effective, informative, and convenient.

Alternations in Dynamic and Static Functional Connectivity Density in Chronic Smokers.

Previous studies have implicated abnormal functional coordination in brain regions of smokers. Neuroimaging studies demonstrated alternations in brain connectivity by using the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) method which arbitrarily chooses specific networks or seed regions as priori selections and cannot provide a full picture of the FC changes in chronic smokers. The aim of this study was to investigate the whole-brain functional coordination measured by functional connectivity density (FCD). As the variance of brain activity, dynamic FCD (dFCD) was performed to investigate dynamic changes of whole-brain integration in chronic smokers. In total, 120 chronic smokers and 56 nonsmokers were recruited, and static FCD and dFCD were performed to investigate aberrance of whole-brain functional coordination. Shared aberrance in visual areas has been found in both static and dFCD study in chronic smokers. Furthermore, the results exhibited that both heavy and light smokers demonstrated decreased dFCD in the visual cortex and left precuneus, and also increased dFCD in the right orbitofrontal cortex, left caudate, right putamen, and left thalamus compared with nonsmokers. In addition, alternations of dFCD have been found between heavy and light smokers. Furthermore, the dFCD variations showed significant positive correlation with smoking-related behaviors. The results demonstrated that chronic smokers not only have some initial areas, but also have some regions associated with severity of cigarette smoking. Lastly, dFCD could provide more subtle variations in chronic smokers, and the combination of static and dFCD may deepen our understanding of the brain alternations in chronic smokers.

Shared gray matter alterations in subtypes of addiction: a voxel-wise meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies based on voxel-based morphometry (VBM) have revealed gray matter (GM) alterations in multiple brain regions for addiction. However, findings are poorly replicated, and it remains elusive whether distinct diagnoses of addiction are underpinned by shared abnormalities. Our aim was to conduct a quantitative meta-analysis of structural neuroimaging studies investigating GM abnormalities in two main categories of addiction: substance use disorders (SUD) and behavioral addictions (BA). METHOD: A systematic database search was conducted in several databases from Jan 1, 2010, to Oct 23, 2020, to identify eligible VBM studies. Meta-analysis was performed with the seed-based d mapping software package to compare alternations between individuals with addiction-related disorders and healthy controls (HC). RESULTS: A total of 59 VBM studies including 2096 individuals with addiction-related disorders and 2637 HC met the inclusion criteria. Individuals with addiction-related disorders showed shared GM volume decrease in bilateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral insula, bilateral rolandic operculum, left superior temporal gyrus, and right Heschl gyrus and GM increase in right lingual gyrus and right fusiform gyrus comparing with HC (p < 0.005). Subgroup analysis found heterogeneity between SUD and BA mainly in left inferior occipital gyrus and right striatum (p < 0.005). Meta-regression revealed that GM atrophy in right anterior cingulate (r = 0.541, p = 0.03 (uncorrected)) and left inferior frontal gyrus (r = 0.595, p = 0.015) were positively correlated with higher impulsivity. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis identified a concordance across subtypes of addiction in terms of the brain structural changes in prefrontal and insula areas, which may relate to higher impulsivity observed across addiction diagnoses. This concordance provides an organizing model that emphasizes the importance of shared neural substrates in addiction.

Structural and Functional Brain Abnormalities in Internet Gaming Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Comparative Meta-Analysis.

Background: Patients with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have high comorbidity but it is still unknown whether these disorders have shared and distinctive neuroimage alterations. Objective: The aim of this meta-analysis was to identify shared and disorder-specific structural, functional, and multimodal abnormalities between IGD and ADHD. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted for whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies comparing people with IGD or ADHD with healthy controls. Regional gray matter volume (GMV) and fMRI differences were compared over the patient groups and then a quantitative comparison was performed to find abnormalities (relative to controls) between IGD and ADHD using seed-based d mapping meta-analytic methods. Result: The meta-analysis contained 14 IGD VBM studies (contrasts covering 333 IGDs and 335 HCs), 26 ADHD VBM studies (1,051 patients with ADHD and 887 controls), 30 IGD fMRI studies (603 patients with IGD and 564 controls), and 29 ADHD fMRI studies (878 patients with ADHD and 803 controls). Structurally, VBM analysis showed disorder-specific GMV abnormality in the putamen among IGD subjects and orbitofrontal cortex in ADHD and shared GMV in the prefrontal cortex. Functionally, fMRI analysis discovered that IGD-differentiating increased activation in the precuneus and shared abnormal activation in anterior cingulate cortex, insular, and striatum. Conclusion: IGD and ADHD have shared and special structural and functional alterations. IGD has disorder-differentiating structural alterations in the putamen and ADHD has alterations in the orbitofrontal cortex. Disorder-differentiating fMRI activations were predominantly observed in the precuneus among IGD subjects and shared impairing function connection was in the rewards circuit (including ACC, OFC, and striatum).

Dynamic Altered Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) has demonstrated abnormalities of static intrinsic brain activity measured by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF). Recent studies regarding the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) have found the brain activity is inherently dynamic over time. Little is known, however, regarding the temporal dynamics of local neural activity in MDD. Here, we investigated whether temporal dynamic changes in spontaneous neural activity are influenced by MDD. Methods: We recruited 81 first-episode, drug-naive MDD patients and 64 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls who underwent rs-fMRI. A sliding-window approach was then adopted for the estimation of dynamic ALFF (dALFF), which was used to measure time-varying brain activity and then compared between the two groups. The relationship between altered dALFF variability and clinical variables in MDD patients was also analyzed. Results: MDD patients showed increased temporal variability (dALFF) mainly focused on the bilateral thalamus, the bilateral superior frontal gyrus, the right middle frontal gyrus, the bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe, and the vermis. Furthermore, increased dALFF variability values in the right thalamus and right cerebellum posterior lobe were positively correlated with MDD symptom severity. Conclusions: The overall results suggest that altered temporal variability in corticocerebellar-thalamic-cortical circuit (CCTCC), involved in emotional, executive, and cognitive, is associated with drug-naive, first-episode MDD patients. Moreover, our study highlights the vital role of abnormal dynamic brain activity in the cerebellar hemisphere associated with CCTCC in MDD patients. These findings may provide novel insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of MDD.

Direct Bilirubin Levels and Risk of Metabolic Syndrome in Healthy Chinese Men.

BACKGROUND: Serum bilirubin is a potent endogenous antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties. Several cross-sectional studies have reported that bilirubin was negatively associated with metabolic syndrome. However, in recent longitudinal studies, the relations between bilirubin and metabolic syndrome are inconsistent. Moreover, previous studies mainly focused on serum total bilirubin which is the sum of direct bilirubin and indirect bilirubin. For these reasons, the longitudinal effect of bilirubin subtypes on incident metabolic syndrome was evaluated in Chinese men. METHODS: The study cohort involved 1339 Chinese men without metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (AHA/NHLBI) criteria, using BMI for the replacement of waist circumference. RESULTS: There are 117 incident metabolic syndrome cases (8.7%) during 5 years of follow-up among 1339 metabolic syndrome-free participants at baseline. After adjusting for age, drinking, smoking, physical activity, TG, and LDL-C, the odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for MetS incidence in the second, third, and fourth quartiles versus the first quartile of DBil concentration were 1.00 (0.61-1.63), 0.57 (0.32-1.02), and 0.51 (0.28-0.92) (Ptrend = 0.031), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the negative association between direct bilirubin and incident metabolic syndrome in healthy Chinese men over 5-year period.

Current status and demand of health services in primary and middle school clinic in 16 provinces of China / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the current situation and needs of primary and secondary school health clinic services, and to provide a reference for strengthening school health service in China.@*Methods@#Investigation provinces were selected according to China s three major economic zones, 1 or 2 survey centers were selected from each province, 16 provinces and 26 survey centers were selected. In each survey centers, six schools from primary and secondary schools, junior high schools and high schools in urban and rural areas were randomly selected as research sites. Each research site randomly selected 10 students in each grade(grade three, four, five from primary schools) to fill in the questionnaire anonymously. A total of 4 661 valid questionnaires were collected.@*Results@#Among the services provided by the school clinics to students, "trauma treatment" "consulting health problems" "physical examination" accounted for 49.4%, 40.5% and 39.0% respectively. Within the past one year, 45.1% students went to the school clinic for consultation or consultation 1-3 times, 6.4% for 4-5 times, and 3.7% for 6 times or more. When students were sick in school, 65.8%(primary school), 64.0%(junior high school), and 54.4%(high school) of them selected to go to the school clinic. When suddenly suffered trauma in school, 78.2%(primary school), 73.2%(junior high school) and 69.6%(high school) of the students went to the school clinic.@*Conclusion@#Primary and middle school students have a great demand for school health services, and it is necessary to continue to strengthen the construction of primary and secondary school health clinics.