The chain mediating roles of anxiety and depression in the relationship between the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and procrastination in adolescents: a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which is a traumatic event for adolescents, and procrastination is not clear. Mental health may play an important role in this relationship; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. This study aimed to construct chain mediation models to examine whether anxiety and depression symptoms mediate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on procrastination in adolescents. METHODS: A convenience sample of 12 middle and high schools in Harbin, China, with four follow-up online surveys was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 4,156 Chinese adolescents were enrolled in this study, of whom ages 11-18 (Mean = 13.55; SD = 1.18), 50.75% were male, and 93.24% were middle school students. Descriptive demographic analysis and Pearson's correlation analysis of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (T1), anxiety(T2), depression (T3), and procrastination (T4) were performed in SPSS 22.0. Chain mediation analysis performed with Mplus 8.3. RESULTS: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and procrastination were positively correlated (P < 0.01). The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have a direct link on adolescent procrastination (effect = 0.156; SE = 0.031; 95%CI: 0.092, 0.214), and have three indirect paths on procrastination: the independent mediating role of anxiety symptoms was 29.01% (effect = 0.047; SE = 0.012; 95%CI: 0.024, 0.072), the independent mediating role of depression symptoms was 29.01% (effect = 0.047; SE = 0.010; 95%CI: 0.030, 0.068), as well as the completely chain mediating role of anxiety and depression symptoms was 15.43% (effect = 0.025; SE = 0.005; 95%CI: 0.017, 0.036). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that anxiety and depressive symptoms are part of a causal chain between the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and procrastination among Chinese adolescents. To effectively reduce their procrastination, attention should be paid to the emotional distress caused to adolescents by major events such as the COVID-19 epidemic. All data were taken from self-reported measures and one city in China, which may bias the results and limit their generalizability.

Trajectories and influencing factors in adolescent procrastination behavior throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: a four-wave prospective longitudinal study.

Background: Despite the growing attention given to adolescent behavior problems, little is known about the trajectories and factors that have influenced adolescent procrastination during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study monitors changes in procrastination behavior among Chinese adolescents during the pandemic and identifies vulnerable groups. Methods: A four-wave study using a representative sample of 11-to 18-year-olds in China was conducted, with baseline data collected in June 2020 (n = 4,156; 49% girls) and follow-ups in December 2020 (n = 3,392; 50% girls), August 2021 (n = 2,380; 48% girls), and October 2021 (n = 1,485; 49% girls). Procrastination behavior was assessed using the General Procrastination Scale. Latent growth curve models, latent growth mixture modes, and multivariate logistic regression models were used to describe the trajectory of procrastination and identify predictors of deterioration. Results: The proportion and overall trends of adolescent procrastination increased with the pandemic. Higher parental over-protection was a contributing factor to the higher baseline levels leading to the faster growth of adolescent procrastination. The model identified three distinct trajectories of low-increasing [including 2,057 participants (49.5%)], moderate-stable [including 1,879 participants (45.2%)], and high-decreasing procrastination [including 220 participants (5.3%)]. More daily leisure screen-time, lower frequency of exercise weekly, and dissatisfaction with distance learning were the top three risk factors for moderate-stable and high-decreasing procrastination compared to low-increasing procrastination. Adolescents with mothers with a higher level of education were more liable to be high-decreasing procrastination than moderate-stable procrastination. Conclusion: The proportion and overall trends of adolescent procrastination increased with the pandemic. The categories of procrastination among adolescents during that time period were probed. Also, the study further clarified the risk factors for severe and moderate procrastination relative to no procrastination. Thus, effective procrastination prevention and intervention strategies need to be implemented to support adolescents, particularly those at risk.

Sensing prior constraints in deep neural networks for solving exploration geophysical problems.

One of the key objectives in geophysics is to characterize the subsurface through the process of analyzing and interpreting geophysical field data that are typically acquired at the surface. Data-driven deep learning methods have enormous potential for accelerating and simplifying the process but also face many challenges, including poor generalizability, weak interpretability, and physical inconsistency. We present three strategies for imposing domain knowledge constraints on deep neural networks (DNNs) to help address these challenges. The first strategy is to integrate constraints into data by generating synthetic training datasets through geological and geophysical forward modeling and properly encoding prior knowledge as part of the input fed into the DNNs. The second strategy is to design nontrainable custom layers of physical operators and preconditioners in the DNN architecture to modify or shape feature maps calculated within the network to make them consistent with the prior knowledge. The final strategy is to implement prior geological information and geophysical laws as regularization terms in loss functions for training the DNNs. We discuss the implementation of these strategies in detail and demonstrate their effectiveness by applying them to geophysical data processing, imaging, interpretation, and subsurface model building.

Sleep quality and creativity in Chinese college student during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of executive function.

Background: COVID-19 has impacted adolescents' interpersonal relationships, life attitudes, and mental health during the past 3 years. However, previous studies predominantly focused on negative problems, while few studies assessed the situation of teenagers from the perspective of positive psychology. Therefore, this study explores the creativity level of Chinese college students during the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationship between sleep quality and creativity, and the mediating role of executive function. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted across six colleges in Heilongjiang in China, with a sample of 4,258 college students recruited via stratified cluster sampling. Data were collected through an online survey. A mediation model was constructed, and SPSS PROCESS macro was used to analyze the data. Results: The creativity score of Chinese college students during the COVID-19 pandemic was 106.48 ± 13.61. Correlation analysis demonstrated that sleep quality correlated negatively with creativity (r = -0.08, P < 0.01) but positively with executive function (r=0.45, P < 0.01), whilst executive function correlated negatively with creativity (r = -0.10, P < 0.01). Moreover, the mediation model revealed that executive function partially mediated the relationship between sleep quality and creativity in college students (indirect effect = -0.017, SE = 0.004, 95% CI = [-0.025, -0.008]). Executive function accounted for 48.6% of the variance in college students' creativity. Conclusion: School administrators should implement measures such as sleep education to enhance students' sleep quality. Concurrently, curriculum and assessment implementation should enhance executive function. Such measures can contribute to improved student creativity, thus helping students overcome the negative emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Factors Influencing Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms in Chinese Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

To investigate the prevalence of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs) and analyze the influencing factors of PTSS among adolescents in a large sample study during the COVID-19 pandemic, we did a cross-sectional study by collecting demographic data and mental health measurements from a large group of 175,318 adolescents in 32 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions, using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) that was used to measure the PTSS of the participants. The results showed that the prevalence of PTSS was 35.7% in Chinese adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that, for the personal risk factors, the older age, female gender, the personality domains of extroversion, the irregular sleep schedule, the lack of aerobic exercise, and the lack of peer support were associated with the higher levels of PTSS. The family subjective and objective factors were associated with higher levels of PTSS. Our findings suggested that family factors are the most important factors that affect Chinese adolescents' PTSS due to the longtime home quarantine.

Association of the Combined Effects between Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Gene Polymorphisms and Negative Life Events with Major Depressive Disorder among Chinese population in the Context of Oxidative Stress.

Background: Oxidative stress may be increased in a number of psychiatric disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD). MDD has been shown to be related to insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) as well as to negative life events; exploring the interaction of IGF-1 polymorphisms and negative life events on the risk of MDD is needed. The aim of this study was to analyze the single and combined effects of IGF-1 polymorphisms (rs972936 and rs978458) and negative life events with MDD among Chinese population. Methods: 420 MDD patients (according to DSM-V) and 420 age- and gender-matched control subjects were recruited in a case-control study. Negative life events were assessed using standard rating scales. IGF-1 rs972936 and rs978458 were identified by sequencing. The chi-square (χ 2) tests were performed to explore the association of negative life events and IGF-1 polymorphisms with MDD. Results: Our results found that the negative life events were associated with the risk of MDD (P < 0.001; OR = 3.28, 95% CI: 2.19-4.85). The genotypes of IGF-1 were associated with the risk of MDD (P < 0.001); carrying the IGF-1 rs972936 C allele (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.26-1.85) and rs978458 T allele (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.58-2.34) had a higher risk of MDD. The combined effects between IGF-1 rs978458 and negative life events were associated with the risk of MDD (P < 0.05; OR = 2.94, 95% CI: 1.23-7.03), but IGF-1 rs972936 was not associated (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Based on the oxidative stress hypothesis, we confirm that carrying IGF-1 rs972936 C allele and rs978458 T allele have a higher risk of MDD and the combined effects between IGF-1 rs978458 and negative life events were associated with the risk of MDD among Chinese population.

The Gender-Specific Interaction of DVL3 and GSK3ß Polymorphisms on Major Depressive Disorder Susceptibility in a Chinese Han Population: A Case-Control Study.

Based on the "oxidative stress hypothesis" of major depressive disorder (MDD), cells regulate their structure through the Wnt pathway. Little is known regarding the interactions of dishevelled 3 (DVL3) and glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3ß) polymorphisms with MDD. The aim of the current study was to verify the relationship between DVL3 and GSK3ß genetic variants in a Chinese Han population and further to evaluate whether these interactions exhibit gender-specificity. A total of 1136 participants, consisting of 541 MDD patients and 595 healthy subjects, were recruited. Five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of DVL3/GSK3ß were selected to assess their interaction by use of a generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction method. The genotype and haplotype frequencies of DVL3/GSK3ß polymorphisms were significantly different between patients and controls for DVL3 rs1709642 (P < 0.01) and GSK3ß rs334558, rs6438552, and rs2199503 (P < 0.01). In addition, our results also showed that there were significant interaction effects between DVL3 and GSK3ß polymorphisms and the risk of developing MDD, particularly in women. The interaction between DVL3 (rs1709642) and GSK3ß (rs334558, rs6438552) showed a cross-validation (CV) consistency of 10/10, a P value of 0.001, and a testing accuracy of 59.22%, which was considered as the best generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) model. This study reveals the interaction between DVL3 and GSK3ß polymorphisms on MDD susceptibility in a female Chinese Han population. The effect of gender should be taken into account in future studies that seek to explore the genetic predisposition to MDD relative to the DVL3 and GSK3ß genes.

Exogenous Aß1-42 monomers improve synaptic and cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease model mice.

Growing evidence has suggested the poor correlation between brain amyloid plaque and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Presenilin1 (PS1) and presenilin2 (PS2) conditional double knockout (cDKO) mice exhibited the reduced 42-amino acid amyloid-ß peptide (Aß1-42) level and AD-like symptoms, indicating a different pathological mechanism from the amyloid cascade hypothesis for AD. Here we found that exogenous synthetic Aß1-42 monomers could improve the impaired memory not only in cDKO mice without Aß1-42 deposition but also in the APP/PS1/Tau triple transgenic 3 × Tg-AD mice with Aß1-42 deposition, which were mediated by α7-nAChR. Our findings demonstrate for the first time that reduced soluble Aß1-42 level is the main cause of cognitive dysfunction in cDKO mice, and support the opinions that low soluble Aß1-42 level due to Aß1-42 deposition may also cause cognitive deficits in 3 × Tg-AD mice. Therefore, "loss-of-function" of Aß1-42 should be avoided when designing therapies aimed at reducing Aß1-42 burden in AD.

Diagnostic Biomarker Hsa_circ_0126218 and Functioning Prediction in Peripheral Blood Monocular Cells of Female Patients With Major Depressive Disorder.

INTRODUCTION: Although major depressive diroder (MDD) has brought huge burden and challenges to society globally, effective and accurate diagnoses and treatments remain inadequate. The pathogenesis that for women are more likely to suffer from depression than men needs to be excavated as well. The function of circRNAs in pathological process of depression has not been widely investigated. This study aims to explore potential diagnostic biomarker circRNA of female patients with MDD and to investigate its role in pathogenesis. METHODS: First, an expression profile of circRNAs in the peripheral blood monocular cells of MDD patients and healthy peripherals were established based on high-throughput sequencing analysis. In addition, the top 10 differentially expressed circRNAs were quantified by quantitative real-time PCR to explore diagnostic biomarkers. To further investigate the function of biomarkers in the pathogenesis of MDD, bioinformatics analysis on downstream target genes of the biomarkers was carried out. RESULTS: There is a mass of dysregulated circRNAs in PBMCs between female MDD patients and healthy controls. Among the top 10 differentially expressed circRNAs, hsa_circ_0126218 is more feasible as a diagnostic biomarker. The expression level of hsa_circ_0126218 displayed upregulation in patients with MDD and the area under the operating characteristic curve of hsa_circ_0126218 was 0.801 (95% CI 0.7226-0.8791, p < 0.0001). To explain the competing endogenous RNA role of hsa_circ_0126218 in the pathogenesis of female MDD, a hsa_circ_0126218-miRNA-mRNA network was established. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses stated that some of the enriched pathways downstream of hsa_circ_0126218 are closely related to MDD. Moreover, we established a protein-protein network to further screen out the hub genes (PIK3CA, PTEN, MAPK1, CDC42, Lyn, YES1, EPHB2, SMAD2, STAT1, and ILK). The function of hsa_circ_0126218 was refined by constructing a verified circRNA-predicted miRNA-hub gene subnetwork. CONCLUSION: hsa_circ_0126218 can be considered as a new female MDD biomarker, and the pathogenesis of female MDD by the downstream regulation of hsa_circ_0126218 has been predicted. These findings may help further improve the early detection, effective diagnosis, convenient monitoring of complications, precise treatment, and timely recurrence prevention of depression.

Survivin as a biological biomarker for diagnosis and therapy.

Introduction: Survivin (SVN) is a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) protein family that promotes cellular proliferation and inhibits apoptosis. Overexpression of SVN is associated with autoimmune disease, hyperplasia, and tumors and can be used as a biomarker in these diseases. SVN is widely recognized as a tumor-associated antigen (TAA) and has become an important target for cancer diagnosis and treatment.Areas covered: We reviewed SVN research progress from the PubMed and clinical trials focused on SVN from https://clinicaltrials.gov since 2000 and anticipate future developments in the field. The trials reviewed cover various modalities including diagnostics for early detection and disease progression, small molecule inhibitors of the SVN pathway and immunotherapy targeting SVN epitopes.Expert opinion: The most promising developments involve anti-SVN immunotherapy, with several therapeutic SVN vaccines under evaluation in phase I/II trials. SVN is an important new immune-oncology target that expands the repertoire of individualized combination treatments for cancer.

Interactions Between Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3ß Gene Polymorphisms, Negative Life Events, and Susceptibility to Major Depressive Disorder in a Chinese Population.

Background: Recent studies suggest that glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3ß is involved in the development of major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between GSK-3ß polymorphism (rs6438552, rs334558, and rs2199503) and negative life events in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods: DNA genotyping was performed on peripheral blood leukocytes in 550 patients with MDD and 552 age- and gender-matched controls. The frequency and severity of negative life events were assessed by the Life Events Scale (LES). A chi-square method was employed to assess the gene-environment interaction (G × E). Results: Differences in rs6438552, rs334558, and rs2199503 genotype distributions were observed between MDD patients and controls. Significant G × E interactions between allelic variation of rs6438552, rs334558, and rs2199503 and negative life events were observed. Individuals with negative life events and carrying genotypes of rs6438552 A+, rs334558 A+, and rs2199503G+ have increased the risk of depression. Conclusions: These results indicate that interactions between the GSK-3ß rs6438552, rs334558, and rs2199503 polymorphisms and environment increases the risk of developing MDD.

Epistatic Interaction Between 5-HT1A and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene Polymorphisms in the Northern Chinese Han Population With Major Depressive Disorder.

Aims: Serotonin 1A receptor (5-HT1A) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are widely expressed in the neurons of the hippocampus and have significant roles in the pathophysiological processes of major depressive disorders (MDDs). The present study was designed to examine 5-HT1A and VEGF gene polymorphisms and whether the gene-gene interaction of 5-HT1A and VEGF gene variants was associated with MDD. Methods: A total of 264 MDD patients and 264 healthy controls were included in the present genetic study. The rs6295, rs1364043, and rs878567 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 5-HT1A gene and the rs699947, rs833061, and rs2010963 SNPs in the VEGF gene were selected for genotypic analyses. The generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction method was employed to assess their interactions. Results: The genotype distributions of the two genes' respective SNPs were significantly different between patients and controls for 5-HT1A rs6295 (p = 0.041) and VEGF rs2010963 (p = 0.035); however, no significant allelic variation in 5-HT1A (rs6295, rs1364043, and rs878567) and VEGF (rs699947, rs833061, and rs2010963) was found. The interactions between 5-HT1A (rs6295, rs1364043, and rs878567) and VEGF (rs699947, rs833061, and rs2010963) had a cross-validation (CV) consistency of 10/10 and a p value of 0.0107, which was considered as the best generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) model. Conclusions: The interactions between 5-HT1A and VEGF gene polymorphisms may play a key role in the development of MDD in the Northern Chinese Han population.

The Interaction of TPH2 and 5-HT2A Polymorphisms on Major Depressive Disorder Susceptibility in a Chinese Han Population: A Case-Control Study.

Purpose: TPH2 and 5-HT2A appear to play vital roles in the homeostatic regulation of serotonin levels in the brain, their genetic variations may lead to impaired homeostatic regulation of serotonin resulting in abnormal levels of serotonin in the brain, thus predisposing individuals to MDD. However, research studies have yet to confirm which gene-gene interaction effect between TPH2 and 5-HT2A polymorphisms results in increased susceptibility to MDD. Methods: A total of 565 participants, consisting of 278 MDD patients and 287 healthy controls from the Chinese Han population, were recruited for the present study. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of TPH2/5-HT2A were selected to assess their interaction by use of a generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction method. Results: A-allele carriers of rs11178997 and rs120074175 were more likely to suffer from MDD than T-allele carriers of rs11178997, or G-allele carriers of rs120074175. The interaction between TPH2 (rs120074175, rs11178997) and 5-HT2A (rs7997012) was considered as the best multi-locus model upon the MDD susceptibility. Conclusions: Our data identified an important effect of TPH2 genetic variants (rs11178997 and rs120074175) upon the risk of MDD, and suggested that the interaction of TPH2/5-HT2A polymorphism variants confer a greater susceptibility to MDD in Chinese Han population.

CACNA1C rs1006737, Threatening Life Events, and Gene-Environment Interaction Predict Major Depressive Disorder.

INTRODUCTION: CACNA1C rs1006737 is a novel variant in discovery of replicable associations in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, there have been no specific studies considered effect of environmental pathogens to date examining its clinical significance. In this study we investigated the interaction effect between CACNA1C rs1006737 polymorphism and threatening life events (TLEs) in MDD and carried out a meta-analysis of published findings. METHODS: A total of 1,177 consecutive participants were genotyped. Information on exposure to TLEs, socio-demographic data, and history of psychological problems among first-degree relatives was collected. MDD was diagnosed according to the Chinese version of the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. RESULTS: There was a significant interaction effect between CACNA1C rs1006737 polymorphism and TLEs in MDD. A dose-response relationship was found between CACNA1C rs1006737 genotypes and TLEs in MDD. The results of the meta-analysis showed that CACNA1C rs1006737 genotypes interacted with TLEs in MDD. CONCLUSION: CACNA1C rs1006737 genotype and previous exposure to TLEs interact to influence the risk of developing MDD. We propose that CACNA1C rs1006737 may represent a target for novel pharmacological therapies to prevent or treat MDD.

Dvl3 polymorphism interacts with life events and pro-inflammatory cytokines to influence major depressive disorder susceptibility.

The purpose of this study is to explore Dvl3 variants and their interaction with negative life events on MDD susceptibility in a Chinese Han population. Additionally, we also attempted to identify whether there is an association between Dvl3 variants and pro-inflammatory cytokines. A total of 1102 participants, consisting of 550 patients with MDD and 552 healthy subjects, were recruited for genotyping by TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. Pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNA levels in peripheral blood were measured by QPCR. After the assessment of negative life events by the Life Events Scale, the Dvl3 gene-environment interaction (G × E) and risk factors were evaluated using generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction method (GMDR) and logistic regression analysis, respectively. This study is the first to reveal the interaction between Dvl3 allelic variations and negative life events as well as pro-inflammatory cytokines on MDD susceptibility in a Chinese Han population.

BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, life stress and depression: A meta-analysis of gene-environment interaction.

BACKGROUND: Depression is thought to be multifactorial in etiology, including genetic and environmental components. While a number of gene-environment interaction studies have been carried out, meta-analyses are scarce. The present meta-analysis aimed to quantify evidence on the interaction between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism and stress in depression. METHODS: Included were 31 peer-reviewed with a pooled total of 21060 participants published before October 2016 and literature searches were conducted using PubMed, Wolters Kluwer, Web of Science, EBSCO, Elsevier Science Direct and Baidu Scholar databases. RESULTS: The results indicated that the Met allele of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism significantly moderated the relationship between stress and depression (Z=2.666, p = 0.003). The results of subgroup analysis concluded that stressful life events and childhood adversity separately interacted with the Met allele of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism in depression (Z = 2.552, p = 0.005; Z = 1.775, p = 0.03). LIMITATIONS: The results could be affected by errors or bias in primary studies which had small sample sizes with relatively lower statistic power. We could not estimate how strong the interaction effect between gene and environment was. CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence that supported the hypothesis that BDNF Val66Met polymorphism moderated the relationship between stress and depression, despite the fact that many included individual studies did not show this effect.

Meta-analysis of the interaction between serotonin transporter promoter variant, stress, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Exposure to stress predicts the occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in individuals harboring the serotonin transporter promoter variant 5-HTTLPR. We carried out a meta-analysis of studies investigating the interaction between 5-HTTLPR, stress, and PTSD to clarify the interrelatedness of these factors. We reviewed all relevant studies published in English before May 2016. The Lipták-Stouffer z-score method for meta-analysis was applied to combined data. The z score was separately calculated for the stressful life events, childhood adversity, bi- and triallelic loci, and cross-sectional and longitudinal studies subgroups. A total of 14 studies with 15,883 subjects met our inclusion criteria. We found strong evidence that the presence of 5-HTTLPR influenced the relationship between stress and PTSD (P = 0.00003), with the strongest effects observed in the cross-sectional and longitudinal groups (P = 0.01 and 2.0 × 10-6, respectively). Stressful life events and childhood adversity separately interacted with 5-HTTLPR in PTSD (P = 2.0 × 10-8 and 0.003, respectively). When the studies were stratified by locus classification, the evidence was stronger for the triallelic (P = 4.0 × 10-8) than for the biallelic (P = 0.054) locus subgroup. There was strong evidence that 5-HTTLPR influences the relationship between stress and PTSD.

Interactions between the vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphism and life events in susceptibility to major depressive disorder in a Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is involved in the development of major depressive disorder. The aim of this study is to investigate the interaction between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) polymorphism (+405G/C, rs2010963) and negative life events in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: DNA genotyping was performed on peripheral blood leukocytes in 274 patients with MDD and 273 age-and sex-matched controls. The frequency and severity of negative life events were assessed by the Life Events Scale (LES). A logistics method was employed to assess the gene-environment interaction (G×E). RESULTS: Differences in rs2010963 genotype distributions were observed between MDD patients and controls. Significant G×E interactions between allelic variation of rs2010963 and negative life events were observed. Individuals carrying the C alleles were susceptible to MDD only when exposed to high-negative life events. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that interactions between the VEGF rs2010963 polymorphism and environment increases the risk of developing MDD.

Influence of school-level and family-level variables on Chinese college students' aggression.

With the frequent occurrence of campus violence, scholars have devoted increasing attention to college students' aggression. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of aggression in Chinese university students and identify factors that could influence their aggression. We can thus find methods to reduce the incidence of college students' aggression in the future. A multi-stage stratified sampling procedure was used to select university students (N = 4565) aged 16-25 years in Harbin. The Aggression Questionnaire, the Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist and the Social Support Revalued Scale were used to collect data. Females reported lower levels of aggression than males (p < .001). A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the influence of factors of aggression, and the model was highly significant (R2 = .233, Ad R2 = .230, p < .01). The results show that the aggression is affected by gender, family-level and school-level variables. Aggression scores are significantly correlated with not only family-level or school-level variables independently, but their combination as well. We find that the risk factors for aggression include a dissatisfying profession, higher levels of study pressure, poor parental relationships, poor interpersonal relationships, the presence of siblings, punishment, health maladjustment, less subjective support, and lower levels of utilization of social support.

Prevalence and factors associated with occupational burnout among HIV/AIDS healthcare workers in China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Burnout is a psychosomatic syndrome characterized by three dimensions (emotional exhaustion [EE], feelings of depersonalization [DP], and reduced personal accomplishment [PA]). We determined the prevalence of burnout and mental health status between HIV/AIDS healthcare workers and other healthcare workers, and determined the factors associated with burnout of HIV/AIDS healthcare workers. METHODS: All participants were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The participants were recruited from the departments of infectious diseases in four hospitals which treated HIV/AIDS. The questionnaire included demographics, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and the Trait Coping Style Questionnaire (TCSQ). RESULTS: A total of 512 questionnaires were distributed; 501 questionnaires were completed and collected (the response rate was 97.9 %). After eliminating nine invalid questionnaires (1.80 %), 264 physicians and nurses caring for HIV/AIDS and 228 physicians and nurses caring for other infectious diseases provided valid responses (98.2 %). The HIV/AIDS healthcare workers' scores on the emotional exhaustion (F = 6.350, p = 0.012) and depersonalization dimensions (F = 8.533, p = 0.004) were significantly higher than other healthcare workers. The HIV/AIDS healthcare workers had higher total scores and positive items on the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) compared with other healthcare workers. Low job satisfaction, serious somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, poor quality of sleep, high psychoticism scores, and use of negative coping styles were frequently associated with burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Burnout was shown to be highly prevalent in HIV/AIDS healthcare workers, 76.9 % of whom met the accepted criteria for burnout. In addition, compared with other healthcare workers, HIV/AIDS healthcare workers experienced lower levels of psychological health. Interventions should be targeted at reducing the occurrence of burnout and alleviating psychological pressure amongst HIV/AIDS healthcare workers.