The bidirectional effects of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and difficulties in emotion regulation in Chinese adults during the COVID-19 pandemic-a dynamic structural equation model.

BACKGROUND: With the accumulation of negative emotions brought by COVID-19-related dysfunctional beliefs, individuals adopted obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms (e.g., over-checking the wearing of masks) and formed difficulties in emotion regulation (DER). This study focused on the temporal dynamics of the bidirectional relation between OC symptoms and DER, which had a devastating effect on the individual's mental health. As an extension, we further explored whether OC and DER and their relationship affect sleep problems. METHODS: In February 2020, a 14-day (twice a day, of 28 measurement intervals) online questionnaire survey was conducted on 122 Chinese adults (aged 18-55 years; 63 females). Subsequently, this research applied a dynamic structural equation model with a cross-lagged relationship and a time series. Health anxiety, anxiety, and depression were controlled as covariates. RESULTS: Both OC symptoms and DER had a significant autoregressive and cross-lagged effect. Comparatively speaking, DER was a stronger predictor of OC symptoms than OC's prediction of DER. Moreover, both higher levels of OC symptoms and DER were related to the severity of sleep problems. CONCLUSIONS: More guidance on intervening in OC symptoms and identifying emotion regulation should be added to reduce the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public mental health.

How health anxiety affected obsessive-compulsive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: The mediation of difficulties in emotion regulation and the moderation of pathological personality traits.

Health anxiety (HA) was/is a common negative emotional problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the cognitive model of HA, individuals with HA continued to adopt a series of maladaptive and repetitive behaviors which were associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS; including over-washing, over-checking, obsessing, and metal neutralizing). The priority of the present study was to explore how HA specifically affected OCS and whether difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) and pathological personality traits (PPT) affected the relationship between the HA and OCS. We distributed an online survey from February 1 to February 17 in 2020 (N = 1546, with average age of 25.8, and 32.7% of males) from 219 cities in China. Results showed that only four dimensions (i.e., Nonacceptance, Impulse, Non-clarity and Non-awareness) of the DER scale mediated in the predictive path of HA on OCS, which constituted a multiple mediating model. The other moderated mediation model further showed that, with higher PPT, the more significant the impact of HA was on DER, revealing PPT's moderator role between HA and OCS.

Does COVID-19 impact the frequency of threatening events in dreams? An exploration of pandemic dreaming in light of contemporary dream theories.

Ninety-one dreams collected during the Covid-19 pandemic (the epidemic-situation sample) were compared with ninety-one dreams collected before the start of the epidemic (the non-epidemic-situation sample). The dreams were classified according to their content, using methods based on previous studies. The frequency of themes was compared to predictions that would be anticipated by three contemporary theories of dreaming: 1) threat simulation theory (TST); 2) incorporation continuity hypothesis (ICH); and 3) social simulation theory (SST). The epidemic-situation sample dreamed more of threatening events than the non-epidemic-situation sample (supporting the TST) and more of non-aggression threatening events, possibly due to the hyperassociation during sleep. However, the epidemic-situation sample did not show a greater prevalence of illness events in dreams (not supporting the ICH). Additionally, there was no significant difference in social neutral and positive events in dreams between the two samples as would have been predicted by the SST.

Leukemia inhibitory factor regulates marmoset induced pluripotent stem cell proliferation via a PI3K/|Akt­dependent Tbx­3 activation pathway.

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is the most pleiotropic cytokine of the interleukin­6 family, and is widely used to establish and maintain pluripotent stem cells, particularly mouse pluripotent stem cells. However, no reports have fully elucidated the application of LIF in marmoset induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) culture, particularly the underlying mechanisms. To demonstrate the feasibility of the application of LIF to marmoset iPSCs, the present study assessed these cells in the presence of LIF. Cell proliferation was measured using MTT assay, cell apoptosis was determined by flow cytometric analysis of fluorescein isothiocyanate Annexin V staining and the differentially expressed genes were analysed using Digital Gene Expression (DGE) analysis. The altered expression of pluripotency­associated genes was confirmed by reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. Furthermore, following treatment with LY294002, cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay and protein levels were confirmed by western blot analysis. The results showed that LIF significantly promoted the number of proliferating cells, but had no effect on apoptosis. Digital Gene Expression analysis was used to examine the differentially expressed genes of marmoset iPSCs in the presence of LIF. The results showed that the pluripotency­associated transcription factor­encoding gene T­box 3 (Tbx­3) was activated by LIF. Notably, LIF increased the levels of phosphorylated (p­)AKT and Tbx­3 in the marmoset iPSCs. Furthermore, pretreatment with LY294002, an inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3­kinase (PI3K), significantly impaired the LIF­induced upregulation of p­AKT and Tbx­3 in the marmoset iPSCs, suggesting that the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is involved in this regulation. Taken together, the results suggested that LIF is effective in maintaining marmoset iPSCs in cultures, which is associated with the activation of Tbx­3 through regulation of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived macrophages and their immunological function in response to tuberculosis infection.

BACKGROUND: Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) represent an innovative source for the standardized in vitro generation of macrophages (Mφ). Mφ show great promise in disease pathogenesis, particularly tuberculosis. However, there is no information about human iPS-derived (hiPS) macrophages (hiPS-Mφ) in response to tuberculosis infection. METHODS: In the present study, macrophages derived from hiPS were established via embryoid body (EB) formation by using feeder-free culture conditions, and the human monocyte cell line THP-1 (THP-1-Mφ) was used as control. iPS-Mφ were characterized by using morphology, Giemsa staining, nonspecific esterase staining (α-NAE), phagocytosis, and surface phenotype. Additionally, after treatment with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) for 24 h, cell apoptosis was detected by using an Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis Detection assay. The production of nitric oxide (NO), expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), activity of apoptosis-related protein cysteine-3 (Caspase-3) and expression of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) were analyzed. RESULTS: With respect to morphology, surface phenotype, and function, the iPS-Mφ closely resembled their counterparts generated in vitro from a human monocyte cell line. iPS-Mφ exhibited the typically morphological characteristics of macrophages, such as round, oval, fusiform and irregular characteristics. The cells were Giemsa-stained-positive, α-NAE-positive, and possessed phagocytic ability. iPS-Mφ express high levels of CD14, CD11b, CD40, CD68, and major histocompatibility complex II (MHC-II). Moreover, with regard to the apoptotic rate, the production of NO, expression of TNF-α, and activity of Caspase-3 and Bcl-2, iPS-Mφ closely resemble that of their counterparts generated in vitro from human monocyte cell line in response to BCG infection. The rate of apoptosis of BCG-treated iPS-Mφ was 37.77 ± 7.94% compared to that of the untreated group at 4.97 ± 1.60% (P < 0.01) by using Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis Detection. Additionally, the rate of apoptosis of BCG-treated THP-1-Mφ was 37.1 ± 2.84% compared to that of the untreated group at 6.19 ± 1.68% (P < 0.001). The expression of TNF-α and the production of NO were significantly increased (P < 0.001), and the activity of Caspase-3 was increased. However, the expression of Bcl-2 was inhibited (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that Mφ derived from hiPS perform the immunological function in response to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin infection by undergoing apoptosis, increasing the production of NO and expression of TNF-α. Thus, our study may help to overcome the limitations of research into certain rare diseases due to the lack of adequate supply of disease-specific primary cells.