The relationship between self-control and mental health problems among Chinese university students.

Background: Mental health issues are often associated with poor self-control. Therefore, effective interventions against mental health problems should include self-control training. However, it is unclear whether the effect of self-control varies across different types of mental health problems. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using the convenience sampling method at five universities in Chongqing, China, where 1,409 students reported their demographic information, level of self-control, and symptoms of irritability, depression, and anxiety. Descriptive statistical methods and a network analysis approach were employed to explore the relationship between self-control and symptoms of irritability, depression, and anxiety among 1,409 students. The bridging links between self-control and the three mental health problems were analyzed. Results: The findings revealed a negative correlation between self-control and symptoms of irritability, depression, and anxiety among university students. Impulse control was found to be the bridge between self-control and irritability or anxiety symptoms, while resistance to temptation was the bridge between self-control and depressive symptoms. Conclusion: These results demonstrate the different relationship between self-control with irritability, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. The findings of this study may shed light on future mental health interventions for university students during potential public health emergencies, such as prior knowledge of the main types of psychological problems among university students, which may allow for the development of precise self-control intervention strategies, such as targeting impulsivity or resistance to temptation.

Association of burnout with depression in pharmacists: A network analysis.

Background: Burnout and depression have overlapping symptoms, but the extent of overlap remains unclear, and the complex relationship between burnout and depression in pharmacists is rarely explored. Methods: We investigated burnout and depression in 1,322 frontline pharmacists, and explored the complex relationship between burnout and depression in those pharmacists using network analysis. Results: Network analysis showed that there were 5 communities. A partial overlap was found between burnout and depressive symptoms in pharmacists. The nodes MBI-6 (I have become more callous toward work since I took this job), D18 (My life is meaningless), and D10 (I get tired for no reason) had the highest expected influence value. D1 (I feel down-hearted and blue) and D14 (I have no hope for the future) were bridge symptoms connected with emotional exhaustion and reduced professional efficacy, respectively. Conclusion: A partial overlap exists between burnout and depressive symptoms in pharmacists, mainly in the connection between the emotional exhaustion and reduced professional efficacy and the depressive symptoms. Potential core targets identified in this study may inform future prevention and intervention.

Social anxiety and depression symptoms in Chinese left-behind children after the lifting of COVID-19 lockdown: A network analysis.

BACKGROUND: Returning to social life after the lifting of COVID-19 lockdown may increase risk of social anxiety, which is highly co-morbid with depression. However, few studies have reported the association between them. AIMS: To explore the complex relationship between social anxiety and depression symptoms in left-behind children after the lifting of the COVID-19 lockdown. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted 6 months after the lockdown removal. A total of 3,107 left-behind children completed the survey with a mean age of 13.33 and a response rate of 87.77%. Depression and social anxiety severity were assessed by the DSM-5 Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents and the DSM-5 Social Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire, respectively. The symptom-level association between the two disorders was examined using network analysis. RESULTS: After the lifting of COVID-19 lockdown, the prevalence of depression and social anxiety in left-behind children was 19.57% and 12.36%, respectively, with a co-morbidity rate of 8.98%. Network analysis showed that "Social tension" and "Social avoidance" had the greatest expected influence; "Humiliation" and "Motor" were bridge symptom nodes in the network. The directed acyclic graph indicated that "Social fright" was at the upstream of all symptoms. CONCLUSION: Attention should be paid to social anxiety symptoms in left-behind children after the lifting of COVID-19 lockdown. Prevention and intervention measures should be taken promptly to reduce the comorbidity of social anxiety and depression symptoms in the left-behind children after the lifting of lockdown.

Bioactive diterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids with different skeletons from Salvia digitaloides Diels.

Salvia has been regarded as a beneficial healing herb in ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece, and is listed as an official medicine in the pharmacopoeias of many countries worldwide. Currently, Salvia is widely used to flavor and preserve food. Here, two undescribed norabietane-type diterpenoids, sadigitaloides A and B, two undescribed germacrane-type sesquiterpenoids, sadigitaloides C and D, five undescribed guaiane-type sesquiterpenoid lactones, sadigitaloides E-I, two undescribed noreudesmane-type sesquiterpenoids, sadigitaloides J and K, one known diterpenoid, three known sesquiterpenoids, and three other types of known compounds were isolated from the 95% ethanol extract of the whole plants of Salvia digitaloides. Their structures and absolute configurations were characterized using 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations, HRESIMS experiments, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Some compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activities against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TNF-α production in rat macrophage NR8383 cells. Sadigitaloide A showed noticeable anti-inflammatory activity at a concentration of 100.0 µM. At a concentration of 60 µM, sadigitaloide B exhibited better protection of dopaminergic neurons than the positive control n-butylidenephthalide in the Caenorhabditis elegans model injured by 6-OHDA. The phytotoxic activities of some compounds were attributed to considerable inhibitory effects on the growth of the roots and hypocotyls of Raphanus sativus L seedlings, especially cis, trans-abscisic acid, whose inhibition rates were much higher than those of glyphosate at concentrations ranging from 50 to 400 ppm. These results indicated that abietane-type diterpenoids possessed excellent anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activities and further suggested that the low-molecular-weight compounds exhibited outstanding phytotoxic activities.

Antimicrobial diterpenoids from the leaves and twigs of Croton kongensis Gagnepain.

Croton kongensis Gagnepain. belongs to the genus Croton, the Euphorbiaceae family, mainly distributed in Hainan and southern Yunnan, China. The aim of present study was to acquire secondary metabolites of the ethanol extract obtained from the leaves and twigs of C. kongensis. Three new abietane-type diterpenoids, crokongenolides A-C (1-3), together with seven known diterpenoids (4-10), were isolated from the leaves and twigs of C. kongensis. The structures of the new compounds were determined by extensive spectroscopic methods (1D and 2D NMR, IR, and HRESIMS), and their absolute configurations were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis or electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. The absolute configuration of 4 was determined for the first time by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis with Cu-Kα irradiation. Some compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial properties by assessing their inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and Escherichia coli. Compound 10 showed significant antimicrobial activity against S. aureus with MIC value of 1.56 µg/ml.

A chain multiple mediation model reveals the association between abuse and depression in Chinese adolescents.

Background: Depression is a common mental disorder in Chinese adolescents. Identifying its risk factors will facilitate early prevention. As abuse is reported to be a great risk factor of depression, it is necessary to identify factors mediating the relation between abuse and depression. Objective: This study aims to investigate the association between abuse and depression by investigating the mediating role of academic stress, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety to offer insights for depression prevention. Participants and setting: We investigated adolescents in urban and rural areas in Wansheng District of Chongqing city in China. This study included a total of 14,108 students from secondary and primary schools, among whom 7,086 were men (50.2%) and 7,022 were women (49.8%). The participants aged from 11 to 17 with an average age of 13.58 (M = 13.58, SD = 1.86). Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted among the participants between October and December in 2020. The following questionnaires were adopted: DSM-5 Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents, DSM-5 Severity Measure for Generalized Anxiety Disorder, The International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool, DSM-5 Severity Measure for Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia), and Study Stress Scale. Results: The lifetime prevalence of abuse was high in Chinese adolescents. The direct effect value from abuse to depression was 0.05, the total mediating effect value was 0.14, and the overall effect value was 0.19. According to the mediating effect analysis, the direct and indirect effects from abuse to depression were significant, and the mediating effect accounted for 73.68% of the total effect, suggesting that 73.68% of the effects of abuse to depression are mediated by academic stress, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety. Conclusions: Academic stress, social anxiety and generalized anxiety play a chain multiple mediating role in the association between abuse and depression, which sheds light on the prevention of depression in the future.

Adjusting intervention strategies for mental health of COVID-19 patients: A network analysis based on a survey in Omicron-infected patients.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on people's mental health. As the SAS-Cov-2 evolves to become less virulent, the number of asymptomatic patients increases. It remains unclear if the mild symptoms are associated with mild perceived stress and mental illness, and the interventions to improve the mental health of the patients are rarely reported. Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated the level of depression, anxiety and perceived stress of 1,305 COVID-19 patients who received treatment in the Fangcang shelter hospitals in Shanghai, China. Network analysis was used to explore the relationship among depression, anxiety and perceived stress. Results: The prevalence of depression, anxiety and perceived stress in the patients with Omicron infection were 9.03, 4.60, and 17.03%, respectively, lower than the prevalence reported during the initial outbreak of COVID-19. "Restlessness (A5)," "Uncontrollable worry (A2)," "Trouble relaxing (A4)" and "Fatigue (D4)" had the highest expected influence values. "Irritability (A6)" and "Uncontrollable (S1)" were bridge symptoms in the network. Comparative analysis of the network identified differences in the network structures between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Conclusion: This study investigated the prevalence of depression, anxiety and perceived stress and the correlation among them in Omicron-infected patients in Fangcang shelter hospital, in Shanghai, China. The core symptoms identified in the study provide insight into targeted clinical prevention and intervention of mental health in non-severe Omicron-infected patients.

A new diterpenoid from the leaves and twigs of Croton lachnocarpus Benth.

A new clerodane diterpenoid, crotolanin A (1), along with three known clerodane diterpenoids, crotoeurin B (2), teucvidin (3) and teucvin (4), was isolated from the ethanol extract of the leaves and twigs of Croton lachnocarpus Benth. Their structures were identified by extensive NMR spectroscopic and HRESIMS analyses. The dopaminergic neuroprotective activity of compounds 1-4 was tested by using transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans pathological model. Compound 2 alleviated dopaminergic neuron degeneration of worms induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) that represented a potential therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD).

Diterpenoids with α-glucosidase inhibitory activities from the fruits of Vitex trifolia Linn.

Viticis Fructus, known as "Man-jing-zi", are the fruits of the traditional Chinese medicine Vitex trifolia Linn. and its variant Vitex trifolia Linn. var. simplicifolia. These fruits are used as folk medicines to treat various diseases. Although V. trifolia is useful for treating diabetes, the antidiabetic effect of its purified constituents is still under investigation. The phytochemical investigation on the ethanol extract of the fruits of V. trifolia yielded four new labdane diterpenoids vitetrolins A-D (1-4), together with seven (5-11) known analogs. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopy techniques and the absolute configuration of 4 was determined by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. The isolated diterpenoids were evaluated for their α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. Compounds 5, 6, 8, and 9 exhibited moderate inhibitory activities against α-glucosidase with IC50 values ranging from 44.9 ± 6.1 to 70.5 ± 5.5 µM.

Caesalpinbondin A, a Novel Diterpenoid Lactone With an Unprecedented Carbon Skeleton from the Seeds of Caesalpinia bonduc.

One novel diterpenoid lactone named caesalpinbondin A (1) that possesses an unprecedented tetracyclic ring system in which a 6/6/5-fused tricyclic ring and a 4,5-dimethyldihydrofuran-2(3H)-one were connected by a C-C single bond comprising a 5-(naphtho [2,3-b]furan-7-yl)dihydrofuran-2(3H)-one moiety was isolated from the seeds of Caesalpinia bonduc. Its chemical structure was established by extensive spectroscopic methods, and its absolute configuration was further determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and electronic circular dichroism calculation. The biological evaluation suggested that compound 1 demonstrated potent anti-Alzheimer's disease (AD) bioactivity, which could delay paralysis of transgenic AD Caenorhabditis elegans. A possible biogenetic pathway of 1 was also proposed.

The Association of Abuse and Depression With Suicidal Ideation in Chinese Adolescents: A Network Analysis.

Background: Abuse experiences in adolescents are associated with the risk of depression and suicide. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop prevention and intervention measures for clinicians, policymakers, and researchers. Methods: Network analysis method was used to analyze the cross-sectional data of Chinese adolescents in this study. The Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents (PHQ-A) was used for assessing depression, in which item 9 of the PHQ-A was used to assess suicide ideation, and International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) Child Abuse Screening Tool-Children's Home Version (ICAST-CH) was used for assessing abuse. Results: The prevalence of suicidal ideation among Chinese adolescents was 21.46% (95% CI, 20.79-22.16%). The prevalence of moderate or severe depression was 16.76%, and the prevalence of violence exposure, psychological victimization, neglect, and physical victimization was 33.5%, 59.5%, 28.37%, and 31.51% in the past years, respectively. Network analysis results showed that the most central nodes in the network of abuse and depression were "unimportant," "not cared," and "pushed." The bridge nodes were "suicidal ideation" and "unimportant." The nodes "sadness," "failure," and "unimportant" explained the largest proportion of the variance of suicidal ideation in our network. Differences were found in the structure of both abuse and depression networks between adolescents with or without suicidal ideation. Limitations: The self-reporting-based cross-sectional surveys and community sample groups limit the inference of causality and the generalization of the results. Conclusion: This study shows that "unimportant" is the central and bridge nodes in the abuse and depression networks and also explains a part of variance of suicidal ideation. The effect of "unimportant" should be considered in the prevention and intervention of depression and suicide in adolescents with abuse experience. Future study is needed to confirm its role in clinical intervention.

Two new aromatic derivatives from Codonopsis pilosula and their α-glucosidase inhibitory activities.

The ethanol extract of the roots of Codonopsis pilosula was subjected to chromatographic fractionation, which result in the isolation and characterization of two new aromatic derivatives 2,3-dihydroxypropyl 2,4-dihydroxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoate (1) and 2-oxopropyl 3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzoate (2), along with three known compounds pilosulinene A (3), pollenfuran B (4) and (+)-pinoresinol (5). Their structures were demonstrated by HRESIMS and spectroscopic methods including NMR and IR. It is worth noting that compound 4 was isolated for the first time from the genus Codonopsis. The potential hypoglycemic properties of compounds 2-5 were evaluated by measuring their α-glucosidase inhibitory effects. As a result, compounds 2 and 3 showed weak α-glucosidase inhibitory activities with IC50 values of 154.8 ± 11.0 µM and 24.0 ± 2.2 µM, respectively.[Formula: see text].

Network analysis of the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms in the left-behind children.

BACKGROUND: There are 68.77 million left-behind children in China, who are at a great risk of depression associated with negative life events. Our study aims to investigate the most central symptoms of depression in left-behind children and the relationship between depressive symptoms and negative life events using network analysis. METHOD: A cross-sectional data set (N = 7255) was used, which included children and adolescents aged 7 to 17. Network analysis was used to evaluate: 1) the most central symptoms among the items included in Child Depression Inventory (CDI) of the left-behind children; 2) bridge symptoms between depressive disorder and Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check List (ASLEC) of the left-behind children; 3) differences in networks of depressive disorders between left-behind and non-left-behind children, and 4) differences in the network of depression and negative life events between left-behind and non-left-behind children. The stability and centrality indices of the network were also evaluated in the study. RESULTS: The most central symptoms in the CDI among the left-behind children included self-hatred, crying, fatigue, and sadness. The items with the highest bridge strength centrality in the CDI-ASLEC network included academic stress, discrimination, and school performance decrement. Higher bridge strength values indicate a greater risk of contagion to other communities. The connections in the CDI-ASLEC network are denser in the left-behind children than in non-left-behind children. LIMITATIONS: The study which was conducted based on cross-sectional data shows that network analysis can only make undirected estimation, but not causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS: We identified the core symptoms of depression and the bridge symptoms between negative life events and depression in the left-behind children. These findings suggest that more attention should be paid to self-hatred, sadness, and fatigue in the treatment of depression in left-behind children. Intervention for academic stress and discrimination of the left-behind children may help to reduce the contagion of negative life events to depression symptoms.

Measuring the global, regional, and national burden of type 2 diabetes and the attributable risk factors in all 194 countries.

BACKGROUND: No detailed quantitative global, regional, or national estimates of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are available. METHODS: We used data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 to estimate the global, regional, and national incidence rates and DALYs of T2DM, as well as the associated risk factors, in all 194 countries and territories by age, sex, and sociodemographic status during the period from 2007 to 2017. RESULTS: Globally, the age-standardized incidence and DALY rates increased by 3.23% and 5.07% during 2007 to 2017, respectively. The age-standardized incidence and DALY rates in 2017 and the corresponding percentage changes during 2007 to 2017 were highest in the low-middle sociodemographic index (SDI) quintile. Regionally, the highest 2017 age-standardized incidence and DALY rates were observed in Oceania, whereas the largest percentage increases in both rates during 2007 to 2017 were observed in Southeast Asia. Nationally, Iran, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia reported the largest percentage increases in the age-standardized incidence rates, whereas Georgia, Czech Republic, and Iran showed the largest percentage increases in the age-standardized DALY rates. Globally, the largest percentage increases in risk-attributable DALYs were associated with a high body mass index, low physical activity level, high fasting plasma glucose level, and high sugar-sweetened beverage and red meat consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The global T2DM age-standardized incidence and DALY rates increased globally between 2007 and 2017, especially in the low-middle SDI quintile, Southeast Asia.

Molecular mechanism of microRNA involvement in genesis of myelodysplastic syndrome and its transformation to acute myeloid leukemia.

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a group of blood-related malignancies caused by disorders of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). It is mainly characterized by the ineffective hematopoiesis. Many MDS patients will transform into acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with poor prognosis, often due to infection, hemorrhage and death. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the transformation remains unknown. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of recently discovered noncoding RNA genes that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression, are considered playing an important role in regulating gene translation during development. Aberrant expression of miRNAs plays an important role in the mutation of HSCs and their transformation to MDS stem cells, suggesting an important mechanism of MDS pathogenesis and its transformation to leukemia. So far, few studies have focused on molecular mechanisms of the transformation of MDS to AML. The role of miRNAs in the transformation needs to be fully understood. Here, we reviewed the molecular mechanism of miRNA involvement in the damage of HSCs, the pathogenesis of MDS and its transformation to leukemia. These results will be of theoretical importance for understanding the mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of MDS, and have potential applications in the prevention and treatment of MDS and in preventing its transformation to leukemia.