[Effect and mechanism of aqueous extract of Strychni Semen on bone destruction in rats with type â ¡ collagen-induced rheumatoid arthritis].

To investigate the mechanism of action of aqueous extract of Strychni Semen(SA) on bone destruction in rats with type Ⅱ collagen-induced arthritis(CIA), the SD rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group, low, medium, and high dose(2.85, 5.70, and 11.40 mg·kg~(-1)) groups of SA, and methotrexate group. Except for the normal group, the CIA model was prepared for the other groups. After the second immunization, different doses of SA were given to the low, medium, and high dose groups of SA once a day, and the methotrexate group was given once every three days. 0.3% sodium hydroxymethylcellulose(CMC-Na) was given once a day to the normal and model groups for 28 d. The clinical score of arthritis was evaluated every three days. Micro computed tomography(Micro-CT) method was used to evaluate the degree of bone destruction. Histopathological changes in the joint tissue and the number of osteoclasts in CIA rats were evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase(TRAP) staining. The expression of interleukin-1ß(IL-1ß) in the joint tissue of rats was detected by immunohistochemistry. Western blot was used to detect key protein expression in mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B(PI3K/Akt) signaling pathways in the joint tissue of rats. The results showed that different doses of SA were able to improve the red and swollen inflammatory joint and joint deformity in CIA rats to varying degrees, reduce the clinical score, inhibit synovial inflammation, vascular opacification, cartilage erosion, and bone destruction, and reduce the number of TRAP-positive cells in bone tissue. Micro-CT results showed that the SA was able to increase bone mineral density, bone volume fraction, trabecular reduce, and trabecular number and reduce bone surface/bone volume and trabecular separation/spacing. Different doses of SA could down-regulate the protein expression of IL-1ß, p-JNK, p-ERK, p-p38, PI3K, and p-Akt to varying degrees. In conclusion, SA can improve disease severity, attenuate histopathological and imaging changes in joints, and have osteoprotective effects in CIA rats, and its mechanism of action may be related to the inhibition of the overactivation of MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways.

[Mechanism of aqueous extract of Strychni Semen in improving pain in rats with rheumatoid arthritis based on TLR4/TNF-α/MMP-9 signaling pathway].

This study aims to explore the mechanism of aqueous extract of Strychni Semen(SA) in relieving pain in the rat model of rheumatoid arthritis(RA) via Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4)/tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)/matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9) signaling pathway. Firstly, the main chemical components of Strychni Semen were searched against TCMSP, TCMID, ETCM, and related literature, and the main targets of the chemical components were retrieved from TargetNet and SwissTargetPrediction. The main targets of RA and pain were searched against GeneCards, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man(OMIM), and Therapeutic Target Database(TTD). Venny 2.1.0 was used to obtain the common targets shared by Strychni Semen, RA, and pain, and STRING and Cytoscape 3.6.1 were used to build the protein-protein interaction network. Then, molecular docking was carried out in AutoDock Vina. Finally, the rat model of type Ⅱ collagen-induced arthritis(CIA) was established. The up-down method and acetone method were employed to examine the mechanical pain threshold and cold pain threshold of rats, and the pain-relieving effect of SA on CIA rats was evaluated comprehensively. Hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining was employed to evaluate the histopathological changes of joints in CIA rats. The expression levels of key target proteins was determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot, and the mRNA levels of key targets were determined by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction(real-time PCR). The results of network prediction showed that Strychni Semen may act on the TLR4/TNF-α/MMP-9 signaling pathway to exert the pain-relieving effect. The results of molecular docking showed that brucine, the main active component of SA, had strong binding ability to TLR4, TNF-α, and MMP-9. The results of animal experiments showed that SA improved the mechanical and cold pain sensitivity(P<0.05, P<0.01) and reduced the joint histopathological score of CIA rats(P<0.01). In addition, medium and high doses of SA down-regulated the protein and mRNA levels of TNF-α, TLR4, and MMP-9(P<0.05,P<0.01). In conclusion, SA alleviated the mechanical pain sensitivity, cold pain sensitivity, and joint histopathological changes in CIA rats by inhibiting the over activation of TLR4/TNF-α/MMP-9 signaling pathway.

Deep learning-based automatic segmentation of meningioma from T1-weighted contrast-enhanced MRI for preoperative meningioma differentiation using radiomic features.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to establish a dedicated deep-learning model (DLM) on routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to investigate DLM performance in automated detection and segmentation of meningiomas in comparison to manual segmentations. Another purpose of our work was to develop a radiomics model based on the radiomics features extracted from automatic segmentation to differentiate low- and high-grade meningiomas before surgery. MATERIALS: A total of 326 patients with pathologically confirmed meningiomas were enrolled. Samples were randomly split with a 6:2:2 ratio to the training set, validation set, and test set. Volumetric regions of interest (VOIs) were manually drawn on each slice using the ITK-SNAP software. An automatic segmentation model based on SegResNet was developed for the meningioma segmentation. Segmentation performance was evaluated by dice coefficient and 95% Hausdorff distance. Intra class correlation (ICC) analysis was applied to assess the agreement between radiomic features from manual and automatic segmentations. Radiomics features derived from automatic segmentation were extracted by pyradiomics. After feature selection, a model for meningiomas grading was built. RESULTS: The DLM detected meningiomas in all cases. For automatic segmentation, the mean dice coefficient and 95% Hausdorff distance were 0.881 (95% CI: 0.851-0.981) and 2.016 (95% CI:1.439-3.158) in the test set, respectively. Features extracted on manual and automatic segmentation are comparable: the average ICC value was 0.804 (range, 0.636-0.933). Features extracted on manual and automatic segmentation are comparable: the average ICC value was 0.804 (range, 0.636-0.933). For meningioma classification, the radiomics model based on automatic segmentation performed well in grading meningiomas, yielding a sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the curve (AUC) of 0.778 (95% CI: 0.701-0.856), 0.860 (95% CI: 0.722-0.908), 0.848 (95% CI: 0.715-0.903) and 0.842 (95% CI: 0.807-0.895) in the test set, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The DLM yielded favorable automated detection and segmentation of meningioma and can help deploy radiomics for preoperative meningioma differentiation in clinical practice.

Natural and engineered xylosyl products from microbial source.

Glycosylation is a prevalent post-modification found in natural products and has a significant impact on the structural diversity and activity variation of natural products. Glucosylation is the most common type of glycosylation, whereas xylosylation is relatively rare. Despite their unique chemical structures and beneficial activities, xylosylated natural products from microorganisms have received little attention. This review provides, for the first time, a comprehensive summary of 126 microbial-derived xylosylated natural products, including xylosyl-cyathane diterpenes, xylosylated triterpenes, xylosyl aromatic compounds, and others. Among these compounds, xylosyl-cyathane diterpenes represent the highest number of derivatives, followed by xylosylated triterpenes. Xylosyl compounds from bacterial sources have less defined structural profiles compared to those from fungi. The characterization of xylosyltransferase EriJ from Basidiomycota extended the structural diversity of xylosyl cyathane diterpenes. This work provides a valuable reference for the research and use of xylosyltransferase for drug discovery and synthetic chemistry. Further work is needed to explore the potential applications of microbial derived xylosyl compounds and to develop novel xylosyl transferases. With the deepening of genomic sequencing of medicinal fungi, more biosynthesis of bioactive xylosyl compounds is expected to be elucidated in the future.

Selective surface enhanced Raman detection and effective photocatalytic degradation of sulfonamides antibiotic based on a flexible three-dimensional chitosan/carbon nitride/silver substrate.

The prevalence of sulfonamide residues in aquatic environments poses serious environmental risks, and the sensitive detection and effective degradation of sulfonamides have attracted widespread attention. Here, the environmentally friendly chitosan (CS)/carbon nitride (CN) with three-dimensional porous structure is fabricated by freeze-drying method, and subsequently a new bifunctional flexible substrate (CS/CN/Ag) is prepared by anchoring of small sized AgNPs (6 ∼ 12 nm) on CS/CN. Importantly, the CS/CN/Ag substrate shows high adsorption capacity (∼ 83.06%) for sulfamethoxazole (SMX) solution within 20 mins and the limit of detection can be as low as 7.46 × 10-9 mol·L-1 with an enhancement factor of 3.3 × 105. Also, the CS/CN/Ag substrate displays highly selective for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection of sulfonamides and also shows excellent SERS response for SMX in hospital wastewater samples. In addition, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of SMX could reach as high as 99.22% within 20 mins of irradiation and the CS/CN/Ag still maintains outstanding photocatalytic performance after six cycles. Moreover, the Ag content in the CS/CN/Ag substrate is only 2.35%, and also the CS/CN/Ag exhibits good uniformity, repeatability, recyclability and stability. Therefore, this flexible and cost-effectively substrate of CS/CN/Ag shows great potential for the simultaneous SERS detection and photocatalytic degradation of pollutants in actual wastewater samples.

Design, Synthesis and Characterization of Palladium-Functionalized Covalent Organic Framework and Its Application as Heterogeneous Catalysis for C-H Arylation of Azoles.

A novel triazine-based covalent organic framework (TFPT-Bz COF) has been constructed by the condensation of 2,4,6-tris(5-formyl-2-pyridinoxy)-1,3,5-triazine (TFPT) and benzidine (BZ) with deep eutectic solvent (DES) as the reaction medium. After the introduction of Pd ions through strong coordination to TFPT-Bz COF matrix, the constructed TFPT-Bz COF/Pd composite exhibited excellent catalytic activity for C-H arylation of azoles with aryl halides in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran. The protocol allows the arylation of a variety of substituted azoles with diverse aryl halides in high to excellent yield. Moreover, the TFPT-Bz COF/Pd catalyst can be recycled several times without significantly reducing its activity.

COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and related behavioral and psychological characteristics in individuals with mental disorders in Korea.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and related factors in individuals with mental disorders in Korea. Methods: We surveyed 572 individuals with mental disorders about their attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination using a 7-item self-rating questionnaire on vaccine acceptance and hesitancy. We categorized the respondents into groups based on their level of vaccine acceptance using hierarchical clustering. In addition, we evaluated the respondents' vaccination status and trust in sources of information regarding COVID-19 vaccines, and assessed their psychological characteristics using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Gratitude Questionnaire-6, and Big Five Inventory-10. Results: Clustering revealed three groups according to vaccine acceptance: 'totally accepting' (n= 246, 43.0%), 'somewhat accepting' (n= 184, 32.2%), and 'hesitant' (n= 142, 24.8%) groups. Three quarters of all participants, who belonged to the 'totally accepting' or 'somewhat accepting' groups, were willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine despite concerns about its side effects. Individuals in the high vaccine acceptance group were older (F= 12.52, p< 0.001), more likely to receive the influenza vaccine regularly, and more likely to trust formal information sources. Additionally, they had higher levels of gratitude (F= 21.00, p< 0.001) and agreeableness (F= 4.50, p= 0.011), and lower levels of depression (χ2= 11.81, p= 0.003) and neuroticism (F= 3.71, p= 0.025). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that individuals with mental disorders were generally willing to receive COVID-19 vaccination. However, they weighed its need and effectiveness against potential side effects before coming to a decision. It is important to understand the behavioral and psychological characteristics associated with vaccine acceptance, to effectively communicate its importance to individuals with mental disorders.

Secondary Metabolites of Bird's Nest Fungi: Chemical Structures and Biological Activities.

Bird's nest fungi, a general term for species in the family Nidulariaceae, are named for their fruiting bodies that resemble bird's nests. Two of their members, Cyathus stercoreus (Schw.) de Toni. and Cyathus striatus Will. ex Pers., are known as medicinal fungi in Chinese medicine. Bird's nest fungi produce a variety of secondary metabolites that provide natural materials for screening and developing medicinal compounds. This review presents a systematic summary of the literature on the secondary metabolites of bird's nest fungi up to January 2023, including 185 compounds, mainly cyathane diterpenoids, with prominently characterized antimicrobial and antineurodegenerative activities. Our work aims to advance our understanding of bird's nest fungi and support studies on their natural product chemistry, pharmacology, and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites.

Retrotransposon-mediated evolutionary rewiring of a pathogen response orchestrates a resistance phenotype in an insect host.

Ongoing host-pathogen interactions can trigger a coevolutionary arms race, while genetic diversity within the host can facilitate its adaptation to pathogens. Here, we used the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) and its pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) as a model for exploring an adaptive evolutionary mechanism. We found that insect host adaptation to the primary Bt virulence factors was tightly associated with a short interspersed nuclear element (SINE - named SE2) insertion into the promoter of the transcriptionally activated MAP4K4 gene. This retrotransposon insertion coopts and potentiates the effect of the transcription factor forkhead box O (FOXO) in inducing a hormone-modulated Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade, leading to an enhancement of a host defense mechanism against the pathogen. This work demonstrates that reconstructing a cis-trans interaction can escalate a host response mechanism into a more stringent resistance phenotype to resist pathogen infection, providing a new insight into the coevolutionary mechanism of host organisms and their microbial pathogens.

A portable architectonics of Al/carbon nitride/metal-organic frameworks anchored Ag nanoparticles for SERS detection and photocatalytic degradation of fungicide.

In recent years, it is urgent to develop bi-functional materials for highly sensitive SERS detection and photocatalytic degradation of contaminants in water of fish pond. Herein, using 5-mercapto-1-methyltetrazole as the ligand, the tree-trunk like zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) is induced and in-situ grown on the surface of aluminum/flower carbon nitride (Al/f-C3N4). Then, AgNPs are tightly anchored in ZIF-8 of Al/f-C3N4/ZIF-8 by strong Ag-N and Ag-S bonds, and a portable architecture of Al/f-C3N4/ZIF-8/Ag is successfully prepared. Results indicate that the Al/f-C3N4/ZIF-8/Ag architecture exhibits excellent SERS activity and the detection limit can as low as 2.15 × 10-11 mol⋅L-1 for crystal violet (CV, a typical fungicide). Also, the Al/f-C3N4/ZIF-8/Ag substrate presents good photocatalytic activity for CV molecule, and the degradation efficiency reaches 98.58% after illumination for 90 min. This is mainly due to the good adsorption capacity of ZIF-8 which can enrich more CV molecules and pull them to "hot spots" generated by Ag in Al/f-C3N4/ZIF-8/Ag, and thus SERS response are enhanced significantly. Besides, the strong synergistic effect of f-C3N4, ZIF-8 and AgNPs is also important which facilitates the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes. Thus, the designed portable and bi-functional substrate could be used as a potential material for the detection and removal of CV in practical application.

Predictors of full recovery in patients with early stage schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

To promote recovery in psychosis, targeting modifiable factors related to recovery is critical. Using more strict definition of full recovery, we examined predictors for recovery in patients with early stage schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) followed up to 6.5 years. The target subjects were 375 patients with early stage SSD who had been over at least 1-year after registration and evaluated. The criteria for full recovery were having the score of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) 8-item ≤ 2 and adequate functional recovery for at least 1-year. We performed univariate Cox and stepwise Cox regression in both total and acute patients. In stepwise Cox regression, several independent predictors for recovery, i.e., negative symptoms of the PANSS, duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and non-professional job were identified in patients with early stage SSD. In acute patients, other factors such as professional job and subjective well-being under neuroleptics were more important. The present study identified independent predictors for recovery modifiable by various psychosocial intervention and early intervention services. Moreover, it highlights the need of providing different treatment strategies depending on clinical status.

PET/CT-based radiomics analysis may help to predict neoadjuvant chemotherapy outcomes in breast cancer.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of radiomics signature-derived 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) for the early prediction of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) outcomes in patients with (BC). Methods: A total of 124 patients with BC who underwent pretreatment PET-CT scanning and received NAC between December 2016 and August 2019 were studied. The dataset was randomly assigned in a 7:3 ratio to either the training or validation cohort. Primary tumor segmentation was performed, and radiomics signatures were extracted from each PET-derived volume of interest (VOI) and CT-derived VOI. Radiomics signatures associated with pathological treatment response were selected from within a training cohort (n = 85), which were then applied to generate different classifiers to predict the probability of pathological complete response (pCR). Different models were then independently tested in the validation cohort (n = 39) regarding their accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC). Results: Thirty-five patients (28.2%) had pCR to NAC. Twelve features consisting of five PET-derived signatures, four CT-derived signatures, and three clinicopathological variables were candidates for the model's development. The random forest (RF), k-nearest neighbors (KNN), and decision tree (DT) classifiers were established, which could be utilized to predict pCR to NAC with AUC ranging from 0.819 to 0.849 in the validation cohort. Conclusions: The PET/CT-based radiomics analysis might provide efficient predictors of pCR in patients with BC, which could potentially be applied in clinical practice for individualized treatment strategy formulation.

Three-year outcomes and predictors for full recovery in patients with early-stage psychosis.

In the present study, various outcomes over 3-year period in patients with early stage psychosis including remission, recovery, relapse and medication adherence were investigated. Predictor for full recovery at year 3 was also examined. Three-year follow-up data in 534 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and psychotic disorder not otherwise specified (PNOS) were examined for overall outcome trajectories. The data of completers at year 3 (n = 157) were used to identify predictors for recovery using logistic regression. The rates of symptomatic remission and full recovery at 6-, 12-, 24-, and 36-month follow-up were 76.10, 69.20, 79.50, and 79.10%, and 22.80, 26.40, 28.60, and 39.60%, respectively. The rates of drop-out and relapse at 6-, 12-, 24-, and 36-month follow-up were 25.4, 29.5, 38.6, and 51.1%, and 3.7, 8.9, 19.0, and 38.9%, respectively. The rates of good adherence and prescription of Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics (LAIA) at 6-, 12-, 24- and 36-month follow-up were 87.8, 88.0, 91.9, and 93.9%, and 18.3, 21.7, 22.0, and 25.5%, respectively. Significant predictors for full recovery were duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), family intimacy and physical activity. We observed similar or better results on remission, recovery, and relapse rates compared to other previous studies. Effective psychosocial intervention should be provided to shorten the gap between remission and recovery rates and to address DUP, family issues, and exercise to enhance recovery.

Comparison of response evaluation criteria in solid tumors and tumor regression grade in evaluating the effect of preoperative systemic therapy of gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Both Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and tumor regression grade (TRG) play key roles in evaluating tumor response. We analyzed the consistency of TRG and RECIST 1.1 for gastric cancer (GC) patients and compared their prognostic values. METHODS: Patients with GC who received preoperative chemotherapy or chemoimmunotherapy and had records of TRG from December 2013 to October 2021 were enrolled retrospectively. TRG 0-1 and 2-3 are considered as corresponding to complete response (CR)/partial response (PR) and stable disease (SD)/progress disease (PD) in RECIST 1.1, respectively. The primary endpoints were disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The consistency of RECIST and TRG was examined by kappa statistics. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan Meier method. RESULT: One hundred fifty seven GC patients were enrolled, including 125 with preoperative chemotherapy and 32 with chemoimmunotherapy. Among them, 56 patients had measurable lesions. Only 19.6% (11/56) of the patients had consistent results between RECIST 1.1 and TRG. TRG was correlated with both OS and DFS (P = 0.02 and 0.03, respectively) while response according to RECIST1.1 was not (P = 0.86 and 0.23, respectively). The median DFS had not reached in the TRG 0-1 group and was 16.13 months in TRG 2-3 group. TRG 2-3 was associated with young age and peritoneal or liver metastasis. Besides, preoperative chemoimmunotherapy had a significantly higher pCR rate than chemotherapy alone (34.4% vs 8.0%, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: TRG was in poor agreement with RECIST 1.1. TRG was better than RECIST 1.1 in predicting DFS and OS for GC patients who received preoperative therapy.

DNA Methylation Profiles of the DRD2 and NR3C1 Genes in Patients with Recent-Onset Psychosis.

Objectives: Dopamine receptor D2 gene (DRD2) and glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) are implicated in the development of psychosis. We investigated methylation levels of DRD2 and NR3C1 in peripheral blood of patients with recent-onset (RO) psychosis using bisulfite pyrosequencing as well as its association with childhood trauma and rumination. Methods: In all, 51 individuals with RO psychosis and 47 healthy controls were recruited. DNA methylation levels in the targeted regions of two genes were analyzed and compared. Childhood trauma and rumination were evaluated using the Early Trauma Inventory Self-Report Short Form (ETI-SF) and Brooding Scale (BS), respectively. Correlations between the scores of the ETI-SF and BS and methylation levels were explored. Results: For DRD2, we found no significant differences between groups in terms of methylation level or association with childhood trauma or rumination. For NR3C1, we found a trend level significance for average value of all CpG sites and significant hypermethylation or hypomethylation at specific sites. There was also a significant positive correlation between the methylation level at the CpG8 site of NR3C1 exon 1F and negative symptom subscale score of the PANSS (PANSS-N). Conclusion: Epigenetic alterations of NR3C1 are associated with the pathophysiology of psychosis. Further epigenetic studies will elucidate the molecular mechanisms underpinning the pathophysiology of psychosis.

Critical Analysis of Multi-Omic Data from a Strain of Plutella xylostella Resistant to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac Toxin.

Rapid evolution of resistance in crop pests to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) products threatens their widespread use, especially as pests appear to develop resistance through a range of different physiological adaptations. With such a diverse range of mechanisms reported, researchers have resorted to multi-omic approaches to understand the molecular basis of resistance. Such approaches generate a lot of data making it difficult to establish where causal links between physiological changes and resistance exist. In this study, a combination of RNA-Seq and iTRAQ was used with a strain of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), whose resistance mechanism is well understood. While some of the causal molecular changes in the resistant strain were detected, other previously verified changes were not detected. We suggest that while multi-omic studies have use in validating a proposed resistance mechanism, they are of limited value in identifying such a mechanism in the first place.

Methylome-wide Association Study of Patients with Recent-onset Psychosis.

Objective: Dysregulation of gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms may have a vital role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia (SZ). In this study, we investigated the association of altered methylation patterns with SZ symptoms and early trauma in patients and healthy controls. Methods: The present study was conducted to identify methylation changes in CpG sites in peripheral blood associated with recent-onset (RO) psychosis using methylome-wide analysis. Lifestyle factors, such as smoking, alcohol, exercise, and diet, were controlled. Results: We identified 2,912 differentially methylated CpG sites in patients with RO psychosis compared to controls. Most of the genes associated with the top 20 differentially methylated sites had not been reported in previous methylation studies and were involved in apoptosis, autophagy, axonal growth, neuroinflammation, protein folding, etc. The top 15 significantly enriched Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways included the oxytocin signaling pathway, long-term depression pathway, axon guidance, endometrial cancer, long-term potentiation, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, and glutamatergic pathway, among others. In the patient group, significant associations of novel methylated genes with early trauma and psychopathology were observed. Conclusion: Our results suggest an association of differential DNA methylation with the pathophysiology of psychosis and early trauma. Blood DNA methylation signatures show promise as biomarkers of future psychosis.

Clinical significance of N-terminal natriuretic peptide combined with inflammatory factors, oxidative stress factors and blood lipid detection in elderly patients with Type-2 diabetes complicated with coronary heart disease.

Objectives: To observe the clinical significance of N-terminal natriuretic peptide combined with inflammatory factors, oxidative stress factors and blood lipid detection in elderly patients with Type-2 diabetes complicated with CHD (CHD), and provide a theoretical basis for the diagnosis and treatment of elderly patients with Type-2 diabetes complicated with CHD. Methods: A total of 40 patients with Type-2 diabetes complicated with CHD admitted to Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University from July 2019 and July 2020 were selected as the experimental group, and 40 patients with CHD who were hospitalized in our hospital during the same period without diabetes were selected as the control group. Venous blood was taken from all patients on morning and fasting basis, and their serum inflammatory factors as well as antioxidant molecules were examined respectively. Serum inflammatory factors include serum tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-A), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and C-reactive protein. Antioxidant molecules include antioxidant molecules superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), N-terminal natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), white blood cells (WBC), hemoglobin (HBG), albumin (ALB) and blood lipid levels. The differences of the above indexes between experimental group and control group were compared and analyzed. Results: The serum levels of TNF-a, CRP, and IL-6 in the experimental group were apparently higher than those in the control group, with a statistically significant difference (P=0.00); The levels of SOD, TAC and CAT in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group, with a statistically significant difference (P=0.00); The level of NT-proBNP and WBC count in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group, with a statistically significant difference (NT-proBNP, P=0.01; WBC, P=0.00). However, no statistically significant difference was observed in the levels of HBG and ALB between the two groups (P>0.05). The experimental group had significantly higher TC and TG levels than the control group, with statistically significant differences (TC, P=0.01; TG, P=0.02), but had a significantly lower HDL level than the control group, with a statistically significant difference (P=0.00). Conclusion: Elderly patients with Type-2 diabetes complicated with CHD showed systemic microinflammation, decreased antioxidant molecule content, as well as myocardial damage and abnormal lipid metabolism compared with patients with CHD alone. For this reason, attention should be paid to the above risk factors in clinical practice, and proactive prevention and treatment should be taken to reduce the probability of related complications.

Effects of COVID-19-related stress and fear on depression in schizophrenia patients and the general population.

This study compared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related stress, fear of infection, loneliness, and depression between patients with schizophrenia and the general population. A face-to-face survey was administered to 1340 patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder and online survey of the general population (n = 2000) was conducted. The information gathered included the level of COVID-19-related stress, fear of infection, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score, and the three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale score. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant effect of fear of COVID-19 infection on depression among the general population and on loneliness among patients with schizophrenia. Loneliness experienced during COVID-19 exacerbated depression in both groups. In the COVID-19-related stress-loneliness-depression pathway, the partial mediating effect of loneliness was significant in both groups. Conversely, in the COVID-19-related fear-loneliness-depression pathway, the full mediating effect of loneliness was only significant in patients with schizophrenia. In conclusion, the loneliness associated with COVID-19-related stress and fear of infection was an important factor influencing depression, and the impact was greater in patients with schizophrenia compared with the general population. Thus, different mental health intervention plans are needed for patients with schizophrenia during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the long-lasting COVID-19 pandemic, social support and provision of mental health services to prevent loneliness and consequent depression are required in patients with schizophrenia.

Comparison of clinical features and 1-year outcomes between patients with psychotic disorder not otherwise specified and those with schizophrenia.

AIM: Research on psychotic disorder not otherwise specified (PNOS) that clearly mentions its subgroups is very rare. This study was conducted to identify the demographic and clinical features, cognitive function, and 1-year outcomes of patients with early stage PNOS compared with those with early stage schizophrenia (SZ). METHODS: The study subjects were 54 and 321 patients with PNOS and SZ, respectively, who were registered at least more than 1 year ago. Due to drop out, only 37 and 210 patients with PNOS and SZ were evaluated at the 1-year follow-up. We compared clinical variables (duration of untreated psychosis, symptom severity, self-rating scales, and so on), cognitive function, and short-term outcomes (treatment response, remission, compliance, drop out, relapse) between the two groups. RESULTS: The patients with PNOS were associated with higher diagnostic stability (53.7%) compared with those in previous studies. They had lower symptom severity, better treatment response at 2 months and higher remission rates at 12 months, but poorer compliance at 6 months compared with patients with SZ. Level of cognitive impairment in PNOS was intermediate between those of SZ patients and healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that PNOS has unique clinical features, suggesting that it should be treated as a distinct clinical syndrome. At the same time, however, prevention of its possible progression to other psychotic disorders in some patients with PNOS is also important.