Dynamics of symptom network in patients with first-episode schizophrenia: Insight from the CNFEST project.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychotic disorder. Recent theories have emphasized the importance of interactions among psychiatric symptoms in understanding the pathological mechanisms of schizophrenia. In the current study, we examined the symptom network in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) at four time points during a six-month follow-up period. METHODS: In total, 565 patients with FES were recruited from the Chinese First-Episode Schizophrenia Trial (CNFEST) project. Clinical symptoms were measured using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) at baseline and follow-up (514 patients at one month, 429 at three months, and 392 at six months). We used a network analysis approach to estimate symptom networks with individual symptoms as nodes and partial correlation coefficients between symptoms as edges. A cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) model was used to identify predictive pathways for clinical symptoms. RESULTS: We found stable and strongly connected edges in patients across the time points, such as links between delusions and suspiciousness/persecution (P1:P6), and emotional withdrawal and passive/apathetic social withdrawal (N2:N4). Emotional withdrawal (N2), poor rapport (N3), and passive/apathetic social withdrawal (N4) had high centrality estimates across all four time points. CLPN analysis showed that negative symptoms, including emotional withdrawal (N2), poor rapport (N3), and passive/apathetic social withdrawal (N4), and stereotyped thinking (N7) may have predictive effects for negative and general symptoms at follow-ups. CONCLUSIONS: The symptom network of schizophrenia may be dynamic as treatment progresses. Negative symptoms remain the central and stable symptoms of schizophrenia. Negative symptoms may be potential therapeutic targets that predict other symptoms.

Bacterial Community Characteristics Shaped by Artificial Environmental PM2.5 Control in Intensive Broiler Houses.

Multilayer cage-houses for broiler rearing have been widely used in intensive Chinese farming in the last decade. This study investigated the characteristics and influencing factors of bacterial communities in the PM2.5 of broiler cage-houses. The PM2.5 samples and environmental variables were collected inside and outside of three parallel broiler houses at the early, middle, and late rearing stages; broiler manure was also gathered simultaneously. The bacterial 16S rRNA sequencing results indicated that indoor bacterial communities were different from the outdoor atmosphere and manure. Furthermore, the variations in airborne bacterial composition and structure were highly influenced by the environmental control variables at different growth stages. The db-RDA results showed that temperature and wind speed, which were artificially modified according to managing the needs for broiler growth, were the main factors affecting the diversity of dominant taxa. Indoor airborne and manurial samples shared numerous common genera, which contained high abundances of manure-origin bacteria. Additionally, the airborne bacterial community tended to stabilize in the middle and late stages, but the population of potentially pathogenic bacteria grew gradually. Overall, this study enhances the understanding of airborne bacteria variations and highlighted the potential role of environmental control measures in intensive farming.

Thermal Conductivity, Electrical Resistivity, and Microstructure of Cu/W Multilayered Nanofilms.

Metallic multilayered nanofilms have been extensively studied owing to their unique physical properties and applications. However, studies on the thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity of metallic multilayered nanofilms, as their important physical properties, are seldom reported. In this work, Cu/W multilayered nanofilms with periodic thickness varying from 6 to 150 nm were deposited by magnetron sputtering. The resistivities of the Cu/W multilayered nanofilms increase with the decrease of periodic thickness, especially when the periodic thickness is smaller than 37 nm. The resistivities of the multilayered nanofilms fit well with the Fuchs-Sondheimer and Mayadas-Shatzkes (FS-MS) model, which considers both interface scattering and grain boundary scattering. The thermal conductivities of the Cu/W multilayered nanofilms were measured by the three-omega (3ω) method, which decrease with a decrease of periodic thickness initially and increase at the smallest periodic thickness of 6 nm. The Boltzmann transport equation (BTE)-based model was used, to explain the periodic thickness-dependent thermal conductivity of metallic multilayered nanofilms by considering the contributions from both phonon and electron heat transport processes, where the calculated thermal conductivities agree well with the measured ones. The electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity strongly depend on the microstructures of the multilayered nanofilms.

A wheat dominant dwarfing line with Rht12, which reduces stem cell length and affects gibberellic acid synthesis, is a 5AL terminal deletion line.

Dwarfing and semi-dwarfing are important agronomic traits that have great potential for the improvement of wheat yields. Rht12, a dominant gibberellic acid (GA)-responsive dwarfing gene from the gamma-ray-induced wheat mutant Karcagi 522M7K, is located in the long arm of chromosome 5A, which is closely linked with the locus Xwmc410. Rht12 is likely an ideal gene for GA biosynthesis and deactivation research in common wheat. However, information on the Rht12 locus and sequence is lacking. In this study, Rht12 significantly shortened stem cell length and decreased GA biosynthetic components. Using bulked segregant RNA-Seq, wheat 660k single nucleotide polymorphism chip detection, and newly developed simple sequence repeat markers, Rht12 was mapped to a 11.21-Mb region at the terminal end of chromosome 5AL, and was found to be closely linked with the Xw5ac207SSR marker with a 10.73-Mb fragment deletion in all of the homologous dwarfing plants. Transcriptome analyses of the remaining 483-kb region showed significantly higher expression of the TraesCS5A01G543100 gene encoding the GA metabolic enzyme GA 2-ß-dioxygenase in dwarfing plants than in high stalk plants, suggesting that Rht12 reduces plant height by activating TaGA2ox-A14. Taken together, our findings will promote cloning and functional studies of Rht12 in common wheat.

Pitfalls in the diagnosis and initial management of acute cerebral venous thrombosis.

Cerebral venous thrombosis is an important etiology of stroke in young patients. Its clinical manifestations are variable and based on different involved venous or sinus processes. Cerebral venous thrombosis could mimic ischemic infarction and is easy to misdiagnose. Although many patients have favorable outcomes, delayed or incorrect diagnosis due to atypical symptoms may lead to a poor prognosis. Here we present a case of a 33-year-old woman with transient headache and recurrent right extremity weakness whose symptoms progressed and were sustained in the hospital. She was diagnosed with ischemic infarction and recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) thrombolysis was performed. However, her symptoms progressed, and intracranial hematoma was found on a computed tomography scan. Ruling out other hemorrhage etiology, we confirmed the presence of cerebral venous thrombosis using magnetic resonance venography. She underwent mechanical thrombectomy and her condition improved thereafter. This case raises the awareness that in young woman patients on oral contraceptives with neurological deficits and headache, cerebral venous thrombosis is a considerable diagnosis. A contrast CT or MRI scan should be ordered in the early course of evaluation, which can help the physician to make the right clinical decision.

Bioconversion of Gibberellin Fermentation Residue into Feed Supplement and Organic Fertilizer Employing Housefly (Musca domestica L.) Assisted by Corynebacterium variabile.

The accumulation of a considerable quantity of gibberellin fermentation residue (GFR) during gibberellic acid A3 (GA3) production not only results in the waste of many resources, but also poses a potential hazard to the environment, indicating that the safe treatment of GFR has become an urgent issue for GA3 industry. The key to recycle GFR is converting it into an available resource and removing the GA3 residue. To this end, we established a co-bioconversion process in this study using house fly larvae (HFL) and microbes (Corynebacterium variabile) to convert GFR into insect biomass and organic fertilizer. About 85.5% GA3 in the GFR was removed under the following optimized solid-state fermentation conditions: 60% GFR, 40% rice straw powder, pH 8.5 and 6 days at 26 °C. A total of 371 g housefly larvae meal and 2,064 g digested residue were bio-converted from 3,500 g raw GFR mixture contaning1, 400 g rice straw in the unit of (calculated) dry matter. HFL meal derived from GFR contained 56.4% protein, 21.6% fat, and several essential amino acids, suggesting that it is a potential alternative animal feed protein source. Additionally, the digested GFR could be utilized as an organic fertilizer with a content of 3.2% total nitrogen, 2.0% inorganic phosphorus, 1.3% potassium and 91.5% organic matter. This novel GFR bio-conversion method can mitigate potential environmental pollution and recycle the waste resources.