Cortical thickness is differently associated with ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism according to level of amyloid deposition.

Accumulating evidence indicates that amyloid-beta (Aß) deposition and biogenic aldehyde accumulation contribute to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Human aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) metabolizes biogenic aldehydes produced in the brain to prevent damage. However, r671G>A, a single nucleotide polymorphism of ALDH2, causes aldehyde accumulation and decreased ALDH2 activity. We aimed to investigate whether Aß deposition and rs671 polymorphism have an interaction effect on cortical thickness (CTh). We grouped 179 participants in the Biobank Innovations for chronic Cerebrovascular disease With ALZheimer's disease Study as follows: amyloid (-) [A(-)] and amyloid (+) [A(+)] groups based on the Aß deposition degree; A-carrier (AC) and GG (GG) groups based on the presence/absence of the rs671 A allele; and their combinations, i.e., A(-)AC, A(-)GG, A(+)AC, and A(+)GG groups. A multiple regression analysis identified nine regions of interest. Compared with the A(-)GG group, the A(-)AC group showed thinner CTh in all regions. There were no significant differences between the A(+)AC and A(+)GG groups. We observed an interaction effect of amyloid deposition and rs671 polymorphism on CTh. The CTh in the A(-) group appeared to be strongly influenced by rs671 polymorphism, which could have contributed to cortical thinning and biogenic aldehyde accumulation in the AC group. Additionally, CTh in the A(+) group appeared to be strongly influenced by amyloid deposition.

Characteristics of Dimensional Psychopathology in Suicidal Patients With Major Psychiatric Disorders and Its Association With the Length of Hospital Stay: Algorithm Validation Study.

BACKGROUND: Suicide has emerged as a serious concern for public health; however, only few studies have revealed the differences between major psychiatric disorders and suicide. Recent studies have attempted to quantify research domain criteria (RDoC) into numeric scores to systematically use them in computerized methods. The RDoC scores were used to reveal the characteristics of suicide and its association with major psychiatric disorders. OBJECTIVE: We intended to investigate the differences in the dimensional psychopathology among hospitalized suicidal patients and the association between the dimensional psychopathology of psychiatric disorders and length of hospital stay. METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled hospitalized suicidal patients diagnosed with major psychiatric disorders (depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder) between January 2010 and December 2020 at a tertiary hospital in South Korea. The RDoC scores were calculated using the patients' admission notes. To measure the differences between psychiatric disorder cohorts, analysis of variance and the Cochran Q test were conducted and post hoc analysis for RDoC domains was performed with the independent two-sample t test. A linear regression model was used to analyze the association between the RDoC scores and sociodemographic features and comorbidity index. To estimate the association between the RDoC scores and length of hospital stay, multiple logistic regression models were applied to each psychiatric disorder group. RESULTS: We retrieved 732 admissions for 571 patients (465 with depression, 73 with schizophrenia, and 33 with bipolar disorder). We found significant differences in the dimensional psychopathology according to the psychiatric disorders. The patient group with depression showed the highest negative RDoC domain scores. In the cognitive and social RDoC domains, the groups with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder scored higher than the group with depression. In the arousal RDoC domain, the depression and bipolar disorder groups scored higher than the group with schizophrenia. We identified significant associations between the RDoC scores and length of stay for the depression and bipolar disorder groups. The odds ratios (ORs) of the length of stay were increased because of the higher negative RDoC domain scores in the group with depression (OR 1.058, 95% CI 1.006-1.114) and decreased by higher arousal RDoC domain scores in the group with bipolar disorder (OR 0.537, 95% CI 0.285-0.815). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the association between the dimensional psychopathology of major psychiatric disorders related to suicide and the length of hospital stay and identified differences in the dimensional psychopathology of major psychiatric disorders. This may provide new perspectives for understanding suicidal patients.

Meat quality attributes and oxidation stability of loin chops from finishing gilts and cull sows.

The objective of this study was to compare the meat quality attributes, color stability, and lipid oxidation of loin chops from finishing gilts and cull sows in a three-way crossbreeding system: landrace × large white × duroc finishing gilts (n = 20) and landrace × large white sows (n = 20). No significant differences in pH, proximate composition, or total collagen content were found between the two pig groups. However, sow loin chops exhibited different quality characteristics for color, cooking loss, protein solubility, and shear force, in which an increased cooking loss and shear force might be associated with a lower heat-soluble collagen content compared to the gilt loin chops (p < 0.05). Moreover, more rapid changes in redness and chroma during 7 days of aerobic display were observed in the sow loin chops (p < 0.05). Therefore, the results presented here highlight the possibility of issues regarding color and tenderness in sow meat compared to retail pork produced from finishing gilts.

Nitrite scavenging impact of fermented soy sauce in vitro and in a pork sausage model.

The objective of this study was to determine nitrite scavenging activity of fermented soy sauce in vitro and in a pork sausage model. In vitro nitrite scavenging activity (pH 6.0) of fermented soy sauce (10 mg/mL) was 13.2%. Within selected concentrations (10-100 mg/mL), in vitro nitrite scavenging activity and total phenol content of fermented soy sauce were highly dose-dependent (P < 0.001). In pork sausage model containing 120 mg/kg of NaNO2, fermented soy sauce resulted in significantly lower residual nitrite content (35.28 mg/kg) compared to only NaNO2 addition (40.12 mg/kg) at initial storage. During 4 weeks of cold storage, however, fermented soy sauce showed little effect on the residual nitrite content. This study indicates that fermented soy sauce could initially contribute to reduce residual nitrite content, and the nitrite scavenging impact of fermented soy sauce was less effective in the pork sausage model than in vitro evaluation.

Antimicrobial susceptibility and serotyping of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from ready-to-eat seafood and food processing environments in Korea.

We examined antimicrobial susceptibility and serotypes of 33 L. monocytogenes isolates collected from ready-to-eat seafood and food processing environments. The isolated strains belonged to the 1/2b (73%), 4b (15%), and 1/2a (12%) serotypes; 11 of the obtained environmental swab samples belonged to the 1/2b serogroup. Antimicrobial resistance to benzyl penicillin (100%), clindamycin (100%), oxacillin (100%), ampicillin (97%), and tetracycline (18%) was detected, and 27/33 isolates (82%) showed resistance to four antibiotics and 6/33 (18%) were resistant to five. Total typing by automated repetitive sequence-based PCR revealed that the 33 isolates grouped into four distinct clusters with significantly correlated serotypes. These findings provide important information about the safety of ready-to-eat seafood and suggest that control measures should be adopted in order to mitigate the risk to humans posed by L. monocytogenes contaminated seafood.