Prevalence and Factors Associated With Suicidal Ideation in Medical Students With Migraine.

Background: The association between migraine and suicide ideation has been identified. However, the predictive factors of suicidal ideation are still controversial and whether migraine with aura can serve as an independent associated factor is uncertain. This manuscript studied the association between migraine with aura and suicidal ideation and explored the predictive factors for suicidal ideation. Methods: We surveyed 9,057 medical students and included 579 medical students with migraine into our study population. All students completed the General Situation Questionnaire, the Verified Headache Questionnaire, Hamilton Anxiety Scale (24 items), Hamilton Depression Scale (24 items), 36-item Health Survey Brief (SF-36), Headache Impact Text-6 (HIT-6), Test Anxiety Scale (TAS), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Suicidal ideation was measured by the Self-rating Idea of Suicide Scale (SIOSS). Results: Out of the 579 migraine medical college students, 562 (age 19.6 ± 1.6; 448 women and 114 men) were included in the final study. The positive rate of suicidal ideation was 13.7%. Compared with students suffering from migraine without aura, those having migraine with aura had higher suicidal ideation (p < 0.015). After adjusting for demographic factors and headache characteristics, migraine with aura was found to be independently associated with suicidal ideation. Other independent associated factors include anxiety, depression, test anxiety, sleep, headache, and quality of life. Among these various factors, high quality of life was found to play a protective role against suicidal ideation. Conclusions: Migraine with aura is independently associated with suicidal ideation. Furthermore, anxiety, depression, text anxiety, poor sleep quality, and headache frequency are associated with suicidal ideation among medical college students with migraine.

Therapeutic effects of antimicrobial peptide on malignant ascites in a mouse model.

The primary objective of the treatment of malignant ascites in advanced stages is to alleviate symptoms using procedures such as diuresis, paracentesis of subretinal fluid and vena cava anastomosis. The effectiveness of systemic or intraperitoneal chemotherapy treatment is limited, and more efficacious therapies are required. The authors of the present study demonstrated that an antimicrobial peptide, cecropinXJ, isolated from the larvae of Bombyx mori, selectively inhibits the proliferation of gastric cancer cells. However, the effects of antibacterial peptides on gastric ascites tumor remains unclear. In the present study, the therapeutic effects of cecropinXJ were investigated in mice bearing malignant ascites. Compared with bovine serum albumin treatment, cecropinXJ and doxorubicin (Dox) significantly inhibited the formation and growth of malignant ascites, and prolonged the survival time of ascites tumor­bearing mice. In addition, cecropinXJ treatment normalized the hematological and biochemical phenotypes, induced tumor cell apoptosis in ascites and improved the survival of mice bearing malignant ascites when compared with Dox treatment. These results suggested that cecropinXJ might be a promising therapeutic candidate for the treatment of gastric cancer­associated ascites.

Combination of cecropinXJ and LY294002 induces synergistic cytotoxicity, and apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells via inhibition of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of cecropinXJ against human gastric cancer BGC823 cells, either alone, or in combination with a specific phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor, LY294002. Cell viability and the apoptosis rate were measured using flow cytometry with Annexin-V staining. Additionally, the expression levels of several RAC-α serine/threonine kinase (Akt) phosphorylation-associated proteins and apoptosis-regulating proteins were evaluated by western blot analysis. It was observed that the combination of cecropinXJ and LY294002 resulted in significant synergistic cytotoxic and apoptosis effects, as compared with any single agent alone, in a dose-dependent manner. Corresponding to enhanced apoptosis, the expression levels of certain apoptosis-regulating proteins were changed, the most notable being the upregulation of caspase-3, B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2)-associated death promotor, Bcl-2 homologous antagonist killer, Bcl-2 interacting killer, Bcl-2-like protein 11, Bcl-2-like protein 4 and cytochrome c, and the downregulation of phosphorylated-Bad and Bcl-2 proteins. The present study provided a novel therapeutic regimen for the use of the cecropinXJ in combination with LY294002 for the treatment of gastric cancer.

CecropinXJ inhibits the proliferation of human gastric cancer BGC823 cells and induces cell death in vitro and in vivo.

We have shown that an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) cecropinXJ isolated from the larvae of Bombyx mori selectively inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells. However, the mechanism remains to be determined. In the present study, we examined the antitumor activity of cecropinXJ against human gastric cancer BGC823 cells and explored the mechanism. The results showed that cecropinXJ inhibited the growth of gastric cancer BGC823 cells in vitro and in vivo. MTT and colony formation assays indicated that cecropinXJ suppressed cell proliferation and reduced colony formation of BGC823 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, but without inhibitory effect on normal gastric epithelia GES-1 cells. S-phase arrest in BGC823 cells was observed after treatment with cecropinXJ. Annexin V/PI staining suggested that cecropinXJ induced both early and late phases of apoptosis through activation of mitochondrial-mediated caspase pathway, upregulation of Bax expression and downregulation of Bcl-2 expression. Additionally, cecropinXJ treatment increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, disrupted the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) and led to release of cytochrome c. Importantly, in vivo study showed that cecropinXJ significantly prevented the growth of xenograft tumor in the BGC823-bearing mice, possibly mediated by the induction of apoptosis and inhibition of angiogenesis. These results suggest that cecropinXJ may be a promising therapeutic candidate for the treatment of gastric cancer.

Influence of magnolol on the secretion of alpha-toxin by Staphylococcus aureus.

In this study we investigated the antimicrobial activity of magnolol on Staphylococcus aureus. The minimal inhibitory concentrations of magnolol against 31 S. aureus strains ranged from 4-32 microg/mL. In addition, hemolysin assays, Western blotting, and real-time RT-PCR were performed to investigate the effect of magnolol on alpha-toxin secretion by both methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The results indicated that sub-inhibitory concentrations of magnolol dose-dependently inhibited the transcription of hla (the gene encoding alpha-toxin) in S. aureus, resulting in a reduction of alpha-toxin secretion and, thus, hemolytic activities.