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Introduction: Indigenous chickens are very important to households for income and protein. However, their performance is usually poor, especially under small-scale farmer management, despite their potential to perform better. The performance of these chickens can be improved by selective breeding. However, for this to be a success, there is a need to understand the phenotypic and production characteristics of these chickens fully. Hence, this study aimed to characterize the phenotypes of these chickens and their production system among small-scale farmers. Method: A structured questionnaire was administered to 177 small-scale farmers. A total of 538 chickens whose mean weight was 1.66 kg were individually phenotyped in Luapula, Muchinga, and Northern provinces of Zambia. Results: Ownership of the indigenous chickens was dominated by females (65.37%), with most (64.31%) having attained primary education. Most housed their chickens in family houses (42.03%). All the farmers let their chickens scavenge for their feed, with 45.58% of them providing basic supplementation. Most (84.10%) farmers bought their breed stock from within their community and had a mean flock size of 12.5 chickens/household, which they mostly (78.09%) kept as free-range. The majority (77.39%) practiced culling, with low productivity being the most common reason for culling (84.45%). Only 59.01% of farmers practiced selective breeding, while 86.22% practiced uncontrolled mating. The age at first mating for cocks and hens was 6.8 months and 6.34 months, respectively, with 6.73 months being the age at first egg. It takes 15.43 days to reach a mean clutch size of 13 eggs. The hatchability and mortality at 8 weeks were 83.44% and 67.57%, respectively. All chickens were sold as live chickens, and the majority (51.59%) of the farmers sold their chickens within the community at 7.23 months. Diseases and predators were the most common challenges affecting farmers in the study area. Consultations with veterinarians, vaccinations, and deworming were uncommon while treating sick chickens mostly using ethnoveterinary medicines was common. The most common qualitative traits were brown (27.88%) and mixed (26.77%) plumage color, white skins (91.45%) and shanks (48.70%), single comb type (91.08%), red earlobe (55.76%), and orange eyes (78.07%). All linear body measurements positively and significantly correlated with the body weight averaging 1.66kgs, an indicator that selection for any of them would result in a corresponding increase in body weight. Principal Component Analysis extracted two components with 69.38% of the total variation. Discussion: The diversity in phenotypes of these chickens and their production systems indicate huge potential for improvement by implementing breeding programs.
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For the quality control in determining transuranic nuclides in fallout samples, this work first reported the 237Np activity concentration in a reference fallout material and further calculated the activity ratios of 237Np/239+240Pu and 237Np/241Am, and the atom ratio of 237Np/239Pu in it. The reference fallout material prepared by the Meteorological Research Institute was collected at 14 stations throughout Japan in 1963-1979. The 237Np and Pu isotopes (239Pu and 240Pu) were separated and purified using AG MP-1M anion-exchange resin, quantified using 242Pu as an isotope dilution tracer, and determined by the SF-ICP-MS. The analytical method was validated by the analysis of 4 sediment reference materials. The activity concentrations of 237Np, 239Pu and 240Pu were (25.9 ± 0.6) × 10-3, 4.10 ± 0.01 and 2.89 ± 0.04 Bq/kg, respectively, in the investigated reference fallout material. The activity ratio of 237Np/239+240Pu (3.7 ± 0.1) × 10-3 was consistent with the global fallout evaluation value. The 237Np/239Pu atom ratio of 0.561 ± 0.014 was higher than the average global fallout value of 0.41 ± 0.010, indicating the necessity of establishing regional characteristic global fallout value of 237Np/239Pu atom ratio for assessment of radioactive contamination. Comparison of the 237Np/239+240Pu activity ratios between in the reference fallout material and in soils over several decades indicated that 237Np has stronger migration capability than Pu isotopes in soils because 237Np was depleted compared to reference fallout material.
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INTRODUCTION: Depression is a major global health problem, with high prevalence rates of depressive symptoms observed among the elderly population in China, particularly exacerbating in rural areas. Due to a lack of professional mental health training and inadequate psychotherapy capacity within primary medical staff, rural elderly individuals grappling with depressive symptoms often encounter challenges in receiving timely diagnosis and treatment. In this landscape, the modified behavioural activation treatment (MBAT) emerges as a promising approach due to its practicality, ease of therapist training and application, patient acceptability, and broad applicability. However, existing evidence for MBAT mainly hails from developed countries, leaving a gap in its adaptation and implementation within rural China. This study aims to develop an MBAT training programme for primary medical staff to manage depressive symptoms among rural elderly and evaluate its effectiveness. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A cluster randomised controlled trial will be conducted in 10 randomly selected township hospitals in Lengshuijiang and Lianyuan, Hunan Province. We aim to recruit 150 participants, with 5 township hospitals selected for each group, each consisting of 15 participants. The intervention group will implement the MBAT training programme, while the control group will receive usual care training programme. Depressive symptoms, psychosocial functioning, quality of life and satisfaction will be measured at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at 3 and 6 months post-intervention. Effectiveness will be assessed using linear or generalised linear mixed models. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has obtained approval from the Institutional Review Board of the Third Xiangya Hospital, Centre South University (No.: 2022-S261). Results will be disseminated through publication in international peer-reviewed journals and presentations at national and international conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2300074544.
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Depressão , População Rural , Humanos , China , Depressão/terapia , Idoso , Ensaios Clínicos Controlados Aleatórios como Assunto , Feminino , Masculino , Qualidade de Vida , Pessoal de Saúde/educação , Pessoal de Saúde/psicologia , Terapia Comportamental/métodos , Atenção Primária à SaúdeRESUMO
Physiologically based pharmacokinetic/toxicokinetic (PBPK/PBTK) models are designed to elucidate the mechanism of chemical compound action in organisms based on the physiological, biochemical, anatomical, and thermodynamic properties of organisms. After nearly a century of research and practice, good results have been achieved in the fields of medicine, environmental science, and ecology. However, there is currently a lack of a more systematic review of progress in the main research directions of PBPK models, especially a more comprehensive understanding of the application in aquatic environmental research. In this review, a total of 3974 articles related to PBPK models from 1996 to 24 March 2024 were collected. Then, the main research areas of the PBPK model were categorized based on the keyword co-occurrence maps and cluster maps obtained by CiteSpace. The results showed that research related to medicine is the main application area of PBPK. Four major research directions included in the medical field were "drug assessment", "cross-species prediction", "drug-drug interactions", and "pediatrics and pregnancy drug development", in which "drug assessment" accounted for 55% of the total publication volume. In addition, bibliometric analyses indicated a rapid growth trend in the application in the field of environmental research, especially in predicting the residual levels in organisms and revealing the relationship between internal and external exposure. Despite facing the limitation of insufficient species-specific parameters, the PBPK model is still an effective tool for improving the understanding of chemical-biological effectiveness and will provide a theoretical basis for accurately assessing potential risks to ecosystems and human health. The combination with the quantitative structure-activity relationship model, Bayesian method, and machine learning technology are potential solutions to the previous research gaps.
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OBJECTIVES: To explore the rules of acupoint selection in the treatment of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) with acupuncture and moxibustion by using data mining technology. METHODS: The clinical research literature on acupuncture treatment of MAFLD was collected from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, VIP Database and China Biology Medicine from their inception to November 20, 2022. According to our inclusion and exclusion criteria, the literature was independently screened and re-screened by two research members, and the screened results were checked, followed by establishing an acupoint prescription database using Excel 2019. Descriptive statistics of acupoints applied frequency, involved meridians, locations and specific acupoints were perpormed. Then, SPSS Modeler18.0 software was used to conduct analysis about association rules, and the SPSS Statistics 26.0 software was used to perform cluster analysis on high-frequency acupoints, exploring the characteristics and rules of acupoint selection and combination in the treatment of MAFLD. RESULTS: Totally, 178 papers were collected, containing 130 acupoints, with a total application frequency of 1 305. The top five acupoints are Zusanli (ST36), Fenglong (ST40), Ganshu (BL18), Taichong (LR3) and Sanyinjiao (SP6). The commonly involved meridians are the Stomach Meridian of Foot Yangming, Bladder Meridian of Foot Taiyang, and Spleen Meridian of Foot Taiyin. The employed acupoints are mostly located in the lower limbs and abdomen, and the five Shu acupoints and crossing acupoints are in the majority. The association rule analysis of high frequency acupoints indicated that of the 16 qualified acupoint groups, the top 5 with close correlation degrees are ST36 and ST40, ST36 and LR3, ST36 and SP6, ST40 and LR3 and ST36, ST36 and SP6 and ST40. Further, 3 effective clusters were obtained by cluster analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of MAFLD follows the therapeutic principles of soothing the liver, invigorating the spleen, tonifying the kidney, and resolving phlegm and removing dampness. The core acupoint group is ST36, ST40 and LR3, and the combination of acupoints is based on syndrome differentiation. These results may provide a useful reference for clinical practice.
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Pontos de Acupuntura , Terapia por Acupuntura , Mineração de Dados , Humanos , Fígado Gorduroso/terapia , Fígado Gorduroso/metabolismo , Meridianos , MoxibustãoRESUMO
CO2 fixation plays a key role to make biobased production cost competitive. Here, we use 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) to showcase how CO2 fixation enables approaching theoretical-yield production. Using genome-scale metabolic models to calculate the production envelope, we demonstrate that the provision of bicarbonate, formed from CO2, restricts previous attempts for high yield production of 3-HP. We thus develop multiple strategies for bicarbonate uptake, including the identification of Sul1 as a potential bicarbonate transporter, domain swapping of malonyl-CoA reductase, identification of Esbp6 as a potential 3-HP exporter, and deletion of Uga1 to prevent 3-HP degradation. The combined rational engineering increases 3-HP production from 0.14 g/L to 11.25 g/L in shake flask using 20 g/L glucose, approaching the maximum theoretical yield with concurrent biomass formation. The engineered yeast forms the basis for commercialization of bio-acrylic acid, while our CO2 fixation strategies pave the way for CO2 being used as the sole carbon source.
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Carbono , Ácido Láctico/análogos & derivados , Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolismo , Carbono/metabolismo , Dióxido de Carbono/metabolismo , Bicarbonatos/metabolismo , Engenharia MetabólicaRESUMO
The operation and maintenance of railway signal systems create a significant and complex quantity of text data about faults. Aiming at the problems of fuzzy entity boundaries and low accuracy of entity recognition in the field of railway signal equipment faults, this paper provides a method for entity recognition of railway signal equipment fault information based on RoBERTa-wwm and deep learning integration. First, the model utilizes the RoBERTa-wwm pretrained language model to get the word vector of text sequences. Second, a parallel network consisting of a BiLSTM and a CNN is constructed to obtain the context feature information and the local attention information, respectively. Third, the feature vectors output from BiLSTM and CNN are combined and fed into MHA, focusing on extracting key feature information and mining the connection between different features. Finally, the label sequences with constraint relationships are outputted in CRF to complete the entity recognition task. The experimental analysis is carried out with fault text of railway signal equipment in the past ten years, and the experimental results show that the model has a higher evaluation index compared with the traditional model on this dataset, in which the precision, recall and F1 value are 93.25%, 92.45%, and 92.85%, respectively.
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The spatial-temporal distribution, source, and potential ecological risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface seawater from Laizhou Bay were investigated. The total PAH (ΣPAH) concentrations ranged from 277 to 4393 ng/L with an average of 1178 ng/L, thereby suggesting a relatively moderate to high PAH exposure level in Laizhou Bay in comparison to other bays in the world. The composition patterns and source apportionment results revealed that the coal, biomass burning, diesel emissions, and petroleum combustion as well as the combination of these processes were the dominant sources of PAHs in the surface water, which were closely associated with sail process and sewage effluents. The ecological risk assessment indicated that benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), phenanthrene (Phe), luoranthene (Flua), and naphthalene (Nap) would exist ecological risks in most of surface seawater sites, but the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) results showed that the current level of risk is not as severe as the risk quotient (RQ) results revealed.
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Hidrocarbonetos Policíclicos Aromáticos , Poluentes Químicos da Água , Baías , Hidrocarbonetos Policíclicos Aromáticos/análise , Monitoramento Ambiental , Poluentes Químicos da Água/análise , Água do Mar , China , Medição de Risco , Sedimentos GeológicosRESUMO
Nanoparticle-functionalized carbon nanotubes are promising in many research fields, especially in sensing, due to their intriguing performance in catalysis. However, these nanomaterials are mainly produced through batch processes under harsh conditions, thus encountering inherent limitations of low throughput and uncontrollable morphology of functional nanoparticles (NPs). In this work, we propose a method for high-yield and continuous production of bimetallic (Pt-Pd) NPs on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) at room temperature through a custom 3D-printed microfluidic platform. A homogenous particle nucleation and growth environment could be created on the microfluidic platform that was equipped with two 3D-printed micromixers. Pt-Pd NPs loaded on MWCNTs were prepared in the microfluidic platform with high throughput and controlled size, dispersity and composition. The synthetic parameters for these nanocomposites were investigated to optimize their electrocatalytic performance. The optimized nanocomposites exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity with exceptional sensitivity and wide detection range, superior to their counterparts prepared via conventional approaches. This method proposed here could be further adapted for manufacturing other catalyst support materials, opening more avenues for future large-scale production and catalytic investigation of functional nanomaterials.
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AIM: This study aimed to explore the association between medication literacy and blood pressure control among hypertensive patients. BACKGROUND: Blood pressure control is a challenge for global health systems. Medication literacy is essential for medication self-management in hypertensive patients and a basis for managers to develop comprehensive intervention strategies for hypertension medication use. DESIGN: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted. METHODS: A total of 378 hypertensive patients was selected by convenience sampling from two tertiary hospitals and four community health service centres from December 2021 to January 2022 in Changsha, China. Associations between medication literacy and blood pressure control were identified with chi-square, independent samples t-tests and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The average medication literacy score of the hypertensive patients investigated was low. Over a third of patients had uncontrolled blood pressure. Logistic regression analysis showed that medication literacy was an influencing factor for blood pressure control rate in hypertensive patients. CONCLUSIONS: Medication literacy and blood pressure control among hypertensive patients was poor. Medication literacy was a facilitator of blood pressure control so improving medication literacy may be of value to improve blood pressure control in hypertensive patients.
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Letramento em Saúde , Hipertensão , Humanos , Pressão Sanguínea , Estudos Transversais , Adesão à Medicação , Hipertensão/tratamento farmacológicoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Youth mental health problems are a public health priority. Multiple healthy lifestyle behaviors may cluster into healthy lifestyle behavioral patterns (HLBPs) that increase mental health risks in adolescents and older adults, but little is known regarding young adults. This study aimed to explore the associations between cluster HLBPs and mental health problems in young adults. METHODS: We selected 161,744 young adults aged 20-39 as participants from the database of a Chinese general hospital health management center for the years 2015-2020. The latent class analysis was used to identify HLBPs. RESULTS: A total of 15.0 % of young adults have at least one mental health problem. Five clusters of HLBPs were identified, characterized as low-risk class (1.6 %), moderate-risk class 1 (12.0 %), moderate-risk class 2 (2.1 %), moderate-risk class 3 (56.8 %), and high-risk class (27.4 %). The odds ratios (ORs) for young adults with two mental health problems increased with the risk grade of HLBPs, while the ORs for young adults with one or three mental health problems ranged from high to low according to the risk grade of HLBPs: high-risk class, moderate-risk class 2, moderate-risk class 3, moderate-risk class 1. LIMITATIONS: Cross-sectional design and no causal conclusions could be drawn. CONCLUSION: Young adults demonstrated a cluster phenomenon of healthy lifestyle behaviors and significant associations between HLBPs and mental health problems. Young adults with a higher risk grade for HLBPs were more likely to have mental health problems. Different HLBPs should be taken into account when implementing mental health interventions.
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Estilo de Vida Saudável , Saúde Mental , Adolescente , Humanos , Adulto Jovem , Idoso , Análise de Classes Latentes , Estudos Transversais , China/epidemiologiaRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Defoliation by applying defoliants before machine picking is an important agricultural practice that enhances harvesting efficiency and leads to increased raw cotton purity. However, the fundamental characteristics of leaf abscission and the underlying genetic basis in cotton are not clearly understood. OBJECTIVES: In this study, we aimed to (1) reveal the phenotypic variations in cotton leaf abscission, (2) discover the whole-genome differentiation sweeps and genetic loci related to defoliation, (3) identify and verify the functions of key candidate genes associated with defoliation, and (4) explore the relationship between haplotype frequency of loci and environmental adaptability. METHODS: Four defoliation-related traits of 383 re-sequenced Gossypium hirsutum accessions were investigated in four environments. The genome-wide association study (GWAS), linkage disequilibrium (LD) interval genotyping and functional identification were conducted. Finally, the haplotype variation related to environmental adaptability and defoliation traits was revealed. RESULTS: Our findings revealed the fundamental phenotypic variations of defoliation traits in cotton. We showed that defoliant significantly increased the defoliation rate without incurring yield and fiber quality penalties. The strong correlations between defoliation traits and growth period traits were observed. A genome-wide association study of defoliation traits identified 174 significant SNPs. Two loci (RDR7 on A02 and RDR13 on A13) that significantly associated with the relative defoliation rate were described, and key candidate genes GhLRR and GhCYCD3;1, encoding a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) family protein and D3-type cell cyclin 1 protein respectively, were functional verified by expression pattern analysis and gene silencing. We found that combining of two favorable haplotypes (HapRDR7 and HapRDR13) improved sensitivity to defoliant. The favorable haplotype frequency generally increased in high latitudes in China, enabling adaptation to the local environment. CONCLUSION: Our findings lay an important foundation for the potentially broad application of leveraging key genetic loci in breeding machine-pickable cotton.
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Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Gossypium , Gossypium/genética , Melhoramento Vegetal , Genômica , Folhas de PlantaRESUMO
Nonylphenol (NP) has been recognized as a priority hazardous substance because of its estrogenic activity and ubiquity in the environment. Therefore, it is important to understand the daily intake of NP in humans and evaluate the potential health risks of NP. The median or average estimated daily intake (EDI) of NP was estimated based on urinary NP or alkyl-chain-oxidized NP metabolites concentration data from published epidemiological studies. In brief, we acquired 34 peer-reviewed publications, which contained 14235 samples from twelve countries or regions. The global average estimated daily intake of NP was 1.003 µg/(kg bw·day), which was lower than the tolerable daily intake recommended by the Danish Veterinary and Food Authority [5 µg/(kg bw·day)]. Korea had the highest exposure level [3.471 µg/(kg bw·day)] among different countries or regions. Compared with the adult [0.743 µg/(kg bw·day)] and pregnant women [0.806 µg/(kg bw·day)] groups, the children group had the highest estimated daily intake of NP at 2.368 µg/(kg bw·day). Besides, the global NP risk hazard quotient was 0.201, and the risk hazard quotients of all countries or regions were less than 1. However, the global HQ value of the 95th quantile population was 2.299, which was much higher than 1, the potential health risk cannot be ignored and needs to be confirmed by more research. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the overall NP exposure levels based on published biomonitoring data, and has important implications for assessing the potential effects of NP exposure on human health. In addition, OH-NP is a robust and sensitive novel biomarker for NP, there are fewer studies on the application of this biomarker, and more studies are needed in the future for quantitative exposure and risk assessment of NP.
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Alimentos , Fenóis , Adulto , Criança , Humanos , Feminino , Gravidez , Medição de Risco , Fenóis/toxicidade , Fenóis/análise , BiomarcadoresRESUMO
PURPOSE: Serum cortisol and inflammatory markers may play a role in depression and anxiety, but little is known about whether various features of serum cortisol and inflammatory markers have different associations with depression and anxiety. This study examines the associations of serum cortisol and inflammatory marker features with depression and anxiety in young women with gynecologic cancer. METHODS: Sixty-four young women with gynecologic cancer, aged 15-39 years, were recruited in a tertiary general hospital and a tertiary hospital specializing in oncology in China from May to December 2021. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to evaluate depression and anxiety. Blood samples were taken at 8 am, 4 pm, and 10 pm on the same day to examine the various features (average, variability, and diurnal patterns) of serum cortisol and inflammatory markers, namely C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). RESULTS: Young women with gynecologic cancer who reported depression/anxiety had significantly higher average levels of serum cortisol, IL-6 and TNF-α than those who did not. The dysregulations in the diurnal patterns of serum cortisol and IL-6 were associated with depression and anxiety. Serum cortisol levels were significantly higher in the depression/anxiety group at 10 pm. Depression and anxiety were associated with elevated levels of IL-6 and TNF-α at each time point. CONCLUSION: This study revealed various associations of serum cortisol and inflammatory marker features with depression and anxiety in young women with gynecologic cancer. Further research is needed to understand the role of serum cortisol and inflammatory marker features in the progression of depression and anxiety.
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Neoplasias dos Genitais Femininos , Hidrocortisona , Feminino , Humanos , Depressão/etiologia , Interleucina-6 , Fator de Necrose Tumoral alfa , Ansiedade/epidemiologia , Ansiedade/etiologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: A high turnover rate in nursing has become a global concern. Mental health issues may increase the turnover intention of nurses and lead to turnover behaviors. However, very little is known about the role of bidirectional associations between emotional exhaustion and depression/anxiety on turnover intention. This study aimed to examine the associations among depression, anxiety, emotional exhaustion and turnover intention, and to test the role of bidirectional associations between depression, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion on turnover intention among nurses. METHODS: An online multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in Hunan Province, China, from December 2021 to February 2022. The questionnaire collected data from the Turnover Intention Scale, the Emotional Exhaustion Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-2, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-2, as well as sociodemographic information. Data analysis was performed by univariate analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, multiple linear regression analysis, and structural equation modeling. RESULTS: The average turnover intention score among Chinese nurses was 14.34 ± 3.75. The prevalence of depression and anxiety was 25.9% and 22.3%, respectively. Depression (r = 0.378, P < 0.001), anxiety (r = 0.391, P < 0.001), and emotional exhaustion (r = 0.532, P < 0.001) were positively associated with turnover intention. Emotional exhaustion partially mediated the associations between depression/anxiety and turnover intention, with both mediating effects accounting for 60.7%. The mediating ratios of depression/anxiety on the associations between emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions were 17.6% and 16.5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Depression, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion showed significant positive effects on turnover intention among nurses. Emotional exhaustion played a partial mediation role between depression/anxiety and turnover intention, while depression/anxiety played no significant mediation role between emotional exhaustion and turnover intention.
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Although hard carbon (HC) demonstrates superior initial Coulombic efficiency, cycling durability, and rate capability in ether-based electrolytes compared to ester-based electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), the underlying mechanisms responsible for these disparities remain largely unexplored. Herein, ex situ electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra and in situ Raman spectroscopy are combined to investigate the Na storage mechanism of HC under different electrolytes. Through deconvolving the EPR signals of Na in HC, quasi-metallic-Na is successfully differentiated from adsorbed-Na. By monitoring the evolution of different Na species during the charging/discharging process, it is found that the initial adsorbed-Na in HC with ether-based electrolytes can be effectively transformed into intercalated-Na in the plateau region. However, this transformation is obstructed in ester-based electrolytes, leading to the predominant storage of Na in HC as adsorbed-Na and pore-filled-Na. Furthermore, the intercalated-Na in HC within the ether-based electrolytes contributes to the formation of a uniform, dense, and stable solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) film and eventually enhances the electrochemical performance of HC. This work successfully deciphers the electrolyte-dominated Na+ storage mechanisms in HC and provides fundamental insights into the industrialization of HC in SIBs.
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BACKGROUND: Alexithymia, a subclinical cognitive-affective impairment, is prevalent in older people and increases the risk of mental disorders. There is a vast alexithymia treatment gap, with majority of older people in nursing homes lacking access to adequate mental health care. The study aimed to evaluate the effects of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) on alexithymia, anxiety, depression and sleep quality of older people in nursing homes. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with two groups (the control group and intervention) from March to November 2021. This study enrolled 86 participants, two of whom were lost to follow-up; 42 received usual care (control group) and 42 received REBT based on usual care (intervention group) in nursing homes. The older people in both groups were evaluated at baseline (T0), within one-week post-intervention (T1), and at 3-month follow-up (T3). Generalized estimating equations were used by SPSS version 26 to assess the differential change in the outcomes between the two groups. RESULTS: The intervention group shows significantly greater improvement in alexithymia than the control group at both T1 (ß = -8.167, 95%CI= -10.965, -5.368, P < 0.001) and T2 (ß=-4.119, 95%CI= -7.171, -1.067, P = 0.008). The two groups showed significant differences at both T1 and T2 in both difficulty identifying feelings and difficulty describing feelings. Compared to the control group, the intervention group shows a significant improvement in sleep quality at T2 (ß = -2.048, 95%CI=-4.004, -0.091, P = 0.040). The two groups showed significant differences at both T1 and T2 in both sleep disturbance and daytime dysfunction. For depression and anxiety, no significant differences were found between the intervention and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: REBT showed to be an effective method for improving alexithymia and sleep quality of older people in nursing homes. However, it failed to significantly alleviate anxiety and depression at least in a short-term trial. Refining this intervention may have a broader, more substantial impact on future research.
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Protein arginine methylation is a common post-translational modification involved in the regulation of various cellular functions. Coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1) is a protein arginine methyltransferase that asymmetrically dimethylates histone H3 and non-histone proteins to regulate gene transcription. CARM1 has been found to play important roles in cell differentiation and development, cell cycle progression, autophagy, metabolism, pre-mRNA splicing and transportation, and DNA replication. In this review, we describe the molecular characteristics of CARM1 and summarize its roles in the regulation of cell differentiation and development in mammals.
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Follicle selection and preovulatory hierarchy of hen ovaries were important stages of follicle development and crucially determining egg-laying performance. The selected follicles with a higher expression level of follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) mRNA that facilitates response to FSH, and rapidly develops into preovulatory follicles with distinctive characteristics of granulosa cells (GCs) proliferation and differentiation. Identification of the key genes involved in these developmental events is helpful for elucidation of the molecular mechanism underlying egg-laying traits in chicken and other domestic fowl. Herein, the comparative transcriptomic analysis of ovarian prehierarchical follicles before selection (BSF), follicles at selection stage (ASF), and hierarchical follicles (HF) were implemented in the Jilin Black chicken (JB) and Lohmann Brown layer (LB) with the divergences in their egg-laying performance by RNA-sequencing. The results showed that nine deferentially expressed genes (DEGs), including STMN4, FABP3, ROBO2, RSPO4, and DMRT1 were revealed between follicles BSF and ASF; and seventeen DEGs, such as SLC6A15, SLITRK3, PRKG2 and TMC3 were mined between ASF and HF. These two group DEGs being co-expressed between BSF and ASF, and between ASF and HF were compared and substantiated in the JB and LB layers, respectively. Furthermore, 10 signaling pathways, such as cAMP signaling, PPAR signaling pathway, AMPK(Adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase) pathway, and estrogen signaling pathway were also identified. Moreover, the roles of two representative candidates ROBO2 and PRKG2 genes presented as downregulated mRNA expression pattern in the transcriptomic profiles were further verified in vitro. The results demonstrated that downregulation of ROBO2 or PRKG2 significantly increased the expression levels of FSHR mRNA and protein with the boosted expression of CCND1, STAR, and BCL-2, whereas remarkably inhibited the expression of Caspase-3, consequently, brought about the decrease of GC apoptosis in the ovarian follicles, but increase of GC proliferation and differentiation serving as the hallmarks for follicle selection. It indicated that ROBO2 and PRKG2 may play indispensable roles in follicle selection and preovulatory hierarchy of hen ovaries separately. Our findings provided a comparative transcriptomic evidence for clarifying the molecular mechanism of the follicle development underlying egg-laying traits in chicken.
Chicken ovarian follicle development undergoes follicle recruitment, prehierarchy, follicle selection, preovulatory/hierarchy, and finally ovulation. The follicle selection and preovulatory hierarchy play a vital role in egg production of hens. However, underlying the mechanism of the key genes involved in these developmental events remains largely unknown. Herein, to explore the promising genes potentially involved in follicle selection and hierarchical development of hen ovary, a comparative transcriptome analysis of the ovarian follicles before and after selection was performed by using Jilin Black (JB) chicken, an indigenous Chinese breed with a low egg-laying rate and strong broodiness, and which was substantiated by using Lohmann Brown (LB) layer, a commercial egg-laying breed, being characterized by a high rate of egg production. As a result, a total of nine critical differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that co-expressed in the ovarian follicles before selection compared with follicles at selection stage (ASF), and 17 DEGs in the ASF follicles compared with hierarchical follicles that developed shortly after the time of follicle selection were identified in the JB hens as well as in the LB layers, respectively. Moreover, the exact roles of two representative candidates ROBO2 and PRKG2 of the DEGs were further verified in regulation of the follicular granulosa cell proliferation and differentiation which are the major characteristics of follicle selection. And 10 signaling pathways that implicated in follicle selection and hierarchy were also enriched. The objectives aim to provide molecular evidence for underlying the regulatory mechanism of follicle development and egg production in chicken.
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Galinhas , Transcriptoma , Feminino , Animais , Galinhas/fisiologia , Folículo Ovariano/fisiologia , Células da Granulosa/metabolismo , RNA Mensageiro/genéticaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Nurses in tertiary hospitals are at high risk for depression. Understanding sleep quality and perceived stress may contribute to nurses' mental health and health-related nursing productivity. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of sleep quality and perceived stress on depressive symptoms among nurses in tertiary hospitals. METHODS: A total of 2,780 nurses (overall response rate = 91.1%) were recruited through a cross-sectional survey in 23 tertiary hospitals in China. Questionnaires included the Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale. Variables that were significant in Chi-square tests were further entered into binary logistic stepwise regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 60.3% (n = 1,676), of which 97.4% (n = 1,633) were female, and 77.8% were younger than 35 years (n = 1,304). Nurses who had moderate, poor, severe sleep quality and poor perceived pressure were more likely to be depressed. Master's degree, 6-10 years of work, and physical activity were protective factors, while the opposite was the case for shift work and high dissatisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of nurses working in tertiary care hospitals reported depressive symptoms, and lower sleep quality and higher perceived stress were more associated with this. Perceived stress is an interesting concept, which may provide a new entry point for the well-known idea that there is a relationship between poor sleep quality and depression. It is possible to reduce depressive symptoms among public hospital nurses by providing information on sleep health and stress relief.