Investigation on loneliness and negative emotional symptoms among first generation college students in the family / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the current status and relationship between loneliness and negative emotional symptoms among first generation college students in the family, so as to provide reference for improving mental health of this population.@*Methods@#A convenience sampling method was used to select 3 017 college students from 10 colleges and universities in Guangdong Province and Yunnan Province, China, in May 2023. Questionnaires were administered to the students, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) and the short form of the University of California at Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (ULS-6) were employed.@*Results@#The total ULS-6 score of first generation college students in the family was (12.38±4.16), while the score of non first generation college students in the family was (11.89±4.38), with a statistically significant difference ( t=2.79, P <0.05). The total DASS-21 score of first generation college students in the family was (71.13±26.97), while the score of non first generation college students in the family was (70.20±26.66), with a statistically significant difference ( t=2.69, P <0.05). Among the first generation college students in the family, male students experienced more DASS-21 score (77.55±29.36) than female students (70.43±25.03)( t =5.79, P <0.05). Urban students (12.00±4.15, 70.34±25.68) reported lower levels of loneliness score and DASS- 21 score than rural students (12.62±4.15, 74.93±27.63), and the depression subscale scores showed statistically significant differences among students with different professional achievement rankings ( t/F =-3.42, -3.94, 4.25, P <0.05). There was a positive correlation between loneliness, depression, anxiety, pressure and DASS-21 scales of first generation college students in the family ( r=0.64, 0.62, 0.64, 0.66, P <0.01). The linear regression analysis results showed a positive correlation between loneliness and all dimensions and total scores of the DASS-21, explaining 44% of the variance in negative emotional symptoms.@*Conclusions@#A positive correlation is found between loneliness and negative emotional symptoms among first generation college students in the family. Improving the loneliness of the first generation college students in the family can reduce their negative emotional symptoms and improve their mental health level.

Melatonin alleviates depression-like behaviors and cognitive dysfunction in mice by regulating the circadian rhythm of AQP4 polarization.

Depression is a common chronic psychiatric illness, which is resistant to medical treatments. While melatonin may alleviate certain depression symptoms, evidence for its efficacy against core symptoms is lacking. Here, we tested a mechanism whereby melatonin rescues the behavioral outcomes of the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) mouse model of depression. CUMS mice showed depressive behaviors to tail suspension, open field behavior, and sucrose preference test, and cognitive dysfunction in the Morris water maze. Impairments in these measures were relieved by melatonin treatment. Moreover, CUMS mice had impaired glymphatic function across the sleep-wake cycle due to the astrocytic loss and disturbance of circadian regulation of the polarized expression of aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channels in perivascular astrocytes. EEG results in CUMS mice showed a reduced total sleep time and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, due to sleep fragmentation in the light phase. CUMS mice lost the normal rhythmic expressions of circadian proteins Per2, Cry2, Bmal1, Clock, and Per1. However, the melatonin treatment restored glymphatic system function and the polarization of AQP4, while improving sleep structure, and rectifying the abnormal expression of Per2, Bmal1, Clock, and Per1 in CUMS mice. Interestingly, Per2 expression correlated negatively with the polarization of AQP4. Further studies demonstrated that Per2 directed the location of AQP4 expression via interactions with the α-dystrobrevin (Dtna) subunit of AQP4 in primary cultured astrocytes. In conclusion, we report a new mechanism whereby melatonin improves depression outcomes by regulating the expression of the circadian protein Per2, maintaining the circadian rhythm of astrocytic AQP4 polarization, and restoring glymphatic function.

Activation of ventral tegmental area vesicular GABA transporter (Vgat) neurons alleviates social defeat stress-induced anxiety in APP/PS1 mice.

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that results in cognitive impairment and is often accompanied by anxiety. In this study, we investigated whether the activation of VTAVgat neurons could reduce anxiety in APP/PS1 mice. We hypothesized that acute social defeat stress (SDS) would lead to anxiety in APP/PS1 mice, and that the activation of VTAVgat neurons would alleviate this anxiety. Methods: We exposed APP/PS1 mice to acute SDS and assessed anxiety using the open field test and elevated plus-arm test. Activated VTAVgat neurons was tested by cfos staining. Sleep quality was detected using electroencephalogram after SDS or non-SDS procedure. Sleep duration, sleep latency, and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) percentage were analyzed. VTAVgat neurons were chemogenetically activated by deschloroclozapine. Results: Our results showed that acute SDS led to anxiety in APP/PS1 mice, as evidenced by increased anxiety-related behaviors in the open field and elevated plus-arm tests. Activation of VTAVgat neurons by SDS led to an increase in sleep duration, primarily due to a decrease in sleep latency and an increase in NREMs. However, the quality of sleep was poor. Chemogenetical activation of VTAVgat neurons improved sleep quality and relieved SDS-induced anxiety. Furthermore, the anxiety state correlated negatively with sleep duration and NREM percentage and correlated positively with theta power density in APP/PS1 mice. Discussion: Our study provides evidence that the activation of VTAVgat neurons alleviates SDS-induced anxiety in APP/PS1 mice, suggesting that poor sleep quality may exacerbate anxiety in AD. These findings may have important implications for the treatment of anxiety in AD, as targeting VTAVgat neurons could be a potential therapeutic approach.

Quantitative determination of stilbene oligomers in Jin Que-gen collected from different regions by a HPLC method.

The objectives of this research were to determine simultaneously the contents of two stilbene tetramers, carasinol B (1) and kobophenol A (2), and one stilbene trimer, (+)-alpha-viniferin (3), in Jin Que-gen in different regions. A HPLC method has been developed for efficiently quantifying the three analytes in the plant. Using this method, different samples of Jin Que-gen were evaluated. The results showed that contents of the three analytes varied significantly among different samples, and the contents of the three analytes in commercial Jin Que-gen were markedly lower than those in the plants collected directly from growing regions. And for the three analytes, the longer the cultivation time, the higher the contents.