Correlation Between Cortical Thickness Abnormalities of the Olfactory Sulcus and Olfactory Identification Disorder and Persistent Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Chinese Patients With Chronic Schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Persistent auditory verbal hallucinations (pAVHs) and olfactory identification impairment are common in schizophrenia (SCZ), but the neuroimaging mechanisms underlying both pAVHs and olfactory identification impairment are unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether pAVHs and olfactory identification impairment in SCZ patients are associated with changes in cortical thickness. STUDY DESIGN: In this study, cortical thickness was investigated in 78 SCZ patients with pAVHs (pAVH group), 58 SCZ patients without AVHs (non-AVH group), and 83 healthy controls (HC group) using 3T magnetic resonance imaging. The severity of pAVHs was assessed by the Auditory Hallucination Rating Scale. Olfactory identification deficits were assessed using the Odor Stick Identification Test for Japanese (OSIT-J). In addition, the relationship between the severity of pAVHs and olfactory identification disorder and cortical thickness abnormalities was determined. STUDY RESULTS: Significant reductions in cortical thickness were observed in the right medial orbital sulcus (olfactory sulcus) and right orbital sulcus (H-shaped sulcus) in the pAVH group compared to both the non-AVH and HC groups (P < .003, Bonferroni correction). Furthermore, the severity of pAVHs was found to be negatively correlated with the reduction in cortical thickness in the olfactory sulcus and H-shaped sulcus. Additionally, a decrease in cortical thickness in the olfactory sulcus showed a positive correlation with the OSIT-J scores (P < .05, false discovery rate correction). CONCLUSIONS: Cortical thickness abnormalities in the olfactory sulcus may be a common neuroimaging mechanism for pAVHs and olfactory identification deficits in SCZ patients.

Altered spontaneous neurological activity in methamphetamine use disorders and its association with cognitive function.

BACKGROUND: Methamphetamine (MA) is a widely used and detrimental drug, yet the precise mechanisms by which MA affects cognitive function remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the relationship between cognitive function and brain functional imaging in individuals with MA use disorder (MUD). METHODS: This study involved 45 patients diagnosed with MUD and 43 healthy controls (HC). Cognitive function assessment utilized the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery, and functional data were acquired using a 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner. RESULTS: The MUD group exhibited lower regional homogeneity (ReHo) values in the bilateral postcentral, the left superior temporal, and the left lingual regions compared to the HC group. Additionally, the MUD group displayed higher amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values in the bilateral fusiform and the left putamen compared to the HC group, along with lower ALFF values in the bilateral postcentral cortices and the left middle cingulate cortex compared to the HC group (all p < 0.05, with false discovery rate corrected). Linear regression analysis revealed a positive correlation between the ReHo value in the right postcentral cortex and the neuropsychology assessment battery-mazes test (p = 0.014). Furthermore, the ALFF value in the left putamen showed negative correlations with the scores of the digit-symbol coding test (p = 0.027), continuous performance test (p = 0.037), and battery-mazes test (p = 0.024). CONCLUSION: Patients with MUD exhibit altered brain spontaneous neurological activities, and the intensity of spontaneous neurological activity in the left putamen is strongly associated with cognitive function.

Osteocyte-derived sclerostin impairs cognitive function during ageing and Alzheimer's disease progression.

Ageing increases susceptibility to neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Serum levels of sclerostin, an osteocyte-derived Wnt-ß-catenin signalling antagonist, increase with age and inhibit osteoblastogenesis. As Wnt-ß-catenin signalling acts as a protective mechanism for memory, we hypothesize that osteocyte-derived sclerostin can impact cognitive function under pathological conditions. Here we show that osteocyte-derived sclerostin can cross the blood-brain barrier of old mice, where it can dysregulate Wnt-ß-catenin signalling. Gain-of-function and loss-of-function experiments show that abnormally elevated osteocyte-derived sclerostin impairs synaptic plasticity and memory in old mice of both sexes. Mechanistically, sclerostin increases amyloid ß (Aß) production through ß-catenin-ß-secretase 1 (BACE1) signalling, indicating a functional role for sclerostin in AD. Accordingly, high sclerostin levels in patients with AD of both sexes are associated with severe cognitive impairment, which is in line with the acceleration of Αß production in an AD mouse model with bone-specific overexpression of sclerostin. Thus, we demonstrate osteocyte-derived sclerostin-mediated bone-brain crosstalk, which could serve as a target for developing therapeutic interventions against AD.

Employing Bayesian analysis to establish a cut-off point and assess stigma prevalence in substance use disorder: a comprehensive study of the Chinese version of the Substance Use Stigma Mechanism Scale.

PURPOSE: In China, individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) face severe stigma, but reliable stigma assessment tool is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the Substance Use Stigma Mechanism Scale (SU-SMS-C) and set its cut-off point. METHODS: We recruited 1005 individuals with SUDs from Chinese rehabilitation centers. These participants completed a battery of questionnaires that included the SU-SMS-C, The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), and Perceived Devaluation and Discrimination (PDD). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity of the scale. Additionally, the Naive Bayes classifier was used to establish the cut-off point for the SU-SMS-C. We additionally explored the correlation between patient demographic characteristics and stigma. RESULTS: A confirmatory factor analysis was utilized, revealing a second-order five-factor model. Based on the Naive Bayes classifier, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUCROC) of 0.746, the cut-off point for the SU-SMS-C was established at 44.5. The prevalence of stigma observed in the study population was 49.05%. Significant disparities were observed in the distribution of stigma across genders, with males experiencing more pronounced stigma than females. Moreover, patients consuming different primary substances reported diverse levels of stigma. Notably, those primarily using heroin endured a higher degree of stigma than users of other substances. CONCLUSION: The study is the first to identify a cut-off point for the SU-SMS-C by Naive Bayes classifier, bridging a major gap in stigma measurement research. SU-SMS-C may help treat and manage SUDs by reducing stigma.

Serial multiple mediating roles of anxiety and thyroid-stimulating hormone in the relationship between depression and psychotic symptoms in young adults with anxious depression.

BACKGROUND: Psychotic symptoms (PS) frequently occur in young adults with anxious depression (AD), yet the mediators of the associations between depression and PS remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of PS in first-episode and drug-naïve (FEDN) young adults with AD and attempted to elucidate the relationship between thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels, anxiety, depression, and PS, as well as to identify potential mediating roles. METHODS: 369 FEDN young adults with AD were recruited. Clinical symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale's positive subscale, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA). Fasting glucose, lipids, and thyroid function were also collected. RESULTS: The prevalence of PS in young adults with AD (21.68 %) was 12.24 times higher than in non-AD patients. The HAMD scores (P = 0.005, OR = 1.23), HAMA scores (P < 0.001, OR = 1.62), and TSH levels (P = 0.025, OR = 1.20) were significant predictors of PS. The combined area under the curve value for distinguishing young adults with AD with and without PS was 0.86. We also identified serial multiple mediating effects of TSH levels and anxiety on the association of depression with PS. CONCLUSIONS: These findings emphasize the role of anxiety and TSH levels as serial mediators of the association between depression and PS. Therefore, when treating PS in young adults with AD, it is important to focus not only on depression, but also on TSH levels and anxiety to maximize benefit.

Polysomnographic features of insomnia occurring in major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and bipolar mania: Comparison with primary insomnia and association with metabolic indicators.

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is very common in psychiatric disorders, but the polysomnographic (PSG) characteristics of insomnia in various psychiatric disorders are still not agreed upon. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of PSG and its relationship with metabolic indicators in insomnia patients with affective disorders and primary insomnia (PI) patients. METHODS: A total of 38 patients with PI, 44 major depressive disorder patients with insomnia (DI), 49 generalized anxiety disorder patients with insomnia (GI), and 19 bipolar mania patients with insomnia (BI) were included. PSG was used to detect sleep problems in subjects, and biochemical indicators were also collected. RESULTS: The results of this study found that subjects with BI were lower on REM sleep latency (RL), awakenings number (AN), number of microarousals (NM), and apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) than those with DI and GI, and lower on RL and AN than those with PI. Subjects with PI had lower NM and AHI than those with DI and GI. Patients with DI had a higher RL than those with GI. All results passed Bonferroni correction (p < 0.00078). No differences in biochemical indices were found among the four groups of subjects. Also, AHI was found to be positively correlated with free triiodothyronine (FT3) and fasting blood glucose in subjects. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that various psychiatric disorders may have their characteristics in terms of PSG parameters, which prompted us to focus on the PSG characteristics of these disorders when assessing them, as well as to focus on their biochemical indicators.

The Mediating Effects of Perceived Family Support in the Relationship Between Anxiety and Problematic Smartphone Use: A Cross-Cultural Validation.

ABSTRACT: Problematic smartphone use (PSU) is frequently considered a public health issue, especially in East Asia and Europe. Yet, there is a paucity of research focusing on cultural and familial determinants of PSU. This cross-cultural study aimed to investigate smartphone usage patterns and possible mediating effects of perceived family support (PFS) from a stress-coping perspective. Convenience samples of 790 Chinese and 439 Belgian undergraduates completed an online survey that focused on sociodemographics and psychological variables ( i.e. , anxiety, depression, PFS, and PSU). In both samples, PSU was positively associated with anxiety and depression, and negatively associated with PFS. However, after controlling for sex and age in structural equation models, the consistent mediating effects of PFS were only found between anxiety and PSU in both cultural settings. These findings suggest that psychological interventions that take into account familial factors could be helpful for young people presenting with anxiety and PSU.

Inter-relationships of insomnia and psychiatric symptoms with suicidal ideation among patients with chronic schizophrenia: A network perspective.

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is common in patients with schizophrenia, which contributes to worsening psychiatric symptoms and suicidality. We aimed to assess the inter-relationships of insomnia and psychopathology with suicidal ideation (SI) among 1407 Chinese patients with chronic schizophrenia via the network approach. METHOD: We used Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Insomnia Severity Index, and Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation to assess psychiatric symptoms, insomnia, and SI, respectively. Lifetime suicidal attempts (SA) were collected. RESULTS: (1) The incidence of insomnia, lifetime SI, lifetime SA, and current SI was 13.5% (n = 190), 22.8% (n = 321), 13.5% (n = 190), and 9.7% (n = 136), respectively. (2) Patients with insomnia had worse clinical symptoms and higher suicidal risk. (3) Daytime dysfunction, sleep-related distress, conceptual disorganization, delusions, anxiety, and poor rapport were the core symptoms, while late sleep onset and sleep dissatisfaction emerged as bridge symptoms connecting insomnia and psychopathology. (4) Depressive mood, hallucinations, poor impulse control, guilty feelings, insomnia-related impaired quality of life, and sleep dissatisfaction were directly associated with SI. CONCLUSION: Our findings called for formal assessment of insomnia in patients with schizophrenia, which should cover both nocturnal and daytime insomnia symptoms. Targeted interventions for key symptoms may help reduce insomnia, psychiatric symptoms, and SI in patients with schizophrenia.

High performance photodetector based on CdS/CdS0.42Se0.58nanobelts heterojunction.

The ternary alloy CdSxSe1-xcombines the physical properties of CdS and CdSe, and its band gap can be adjusted by changing the element composition. The alloy has charming photoelectric properties as well as potential application value in photoelectric devices. In this work, the CdS/CdS0.42Se0.58nanobelt (NB) heterojunction device was prepared by chemical vapor deposition combined with a typical dry transfer technique. The heterojunction photodetector shows high light switching ratio of 6.79 × 104, large spectral responsivity of 1260 A W-1, high external quantum efficiency of 2.66 × 105% and large detectivity of 7.19 × 1015cm Hz1/2W-1under 590 nm illumination and 3 V bias. Its rise and decay time is about 45/90µs. The performance of the heterojunction photodetector was comparable or even better than that of other CdS(Se) based photodetector device. The results indicate that the CdS/CdS0.42Se0.58NB heterojunction possesses a promising potential application in high performance photodetectors.

Workplace violence inflicted by patients or their family members/visitors and its relationship with suicidal ideation among undergraduate medical students during clinical training in China.

BACKGROUND: Workplace violence in healthcare settings is a significant public concern that profoundly impacts healthcare workers. However, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding the prevalence of workplace violence and its correlation with suicidal ideation among undergraduate medical students in China during their clinical training. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of workplace violence inflicted by patients or their family members/visitors and to assess its association with suicidal ideation among undergraduate medical students. METHOD: The snowballing sampling technique was used to recruit Chinese medical students. A question designed by the research team was used to ask medical students about their encounters with workplace violence. Students' basic demographic information and mental distresses (learning burnout, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, alcohol abuse/dependence, excessive daytime sleepiness and history of mental disorders) were also assessed. As appropriate, the data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, independent-sample t-tests and multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Out of the 1402 undergraduate medical students who participated, 493 (35.2%) reported having experienced workplace violence inflicted by patients or their family members/visitors, of which 394 (28.1%) were verbal abuse, 14 (1.0%) were physical aggression, and 85 (6.1%) were suffered from both verbal abuse and physical aggression. Furthermore, students exposed to workplace violence were more likely to report suicidal ideation and had a higher prevalence of learning burnout, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, alcohol abuse/dependence and excessive daytime sleepiness. Depression symptoms, history of mental disorders, learning burnout and having a partner were significantly associated with suicidal ideation in this population. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of workplace violence inflicted by patients or their family members/visitors was high among undergraduate medical students in China. This may be associated with their mental distress and suicidal ideation. Consequently, it is crucial to strengthen workplace safety measures and promptly implement interventions to mitigate the potentially serious consequences.

Workplace violence was common among Chinese undergraduate medical students during clinical training and may be associated with suicidal ideation, learning burnout, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, alcohol abuse/dependence and excessive daytime sleepiness.Depression symptoms, history of mental disorders, learning burnout and having a partner were significantly associated with suicidal ideation among undergraduate medical students exposed to workplace violence.

Positive association between increased homocysteine and deficit syndrome in Chinese patients with chronic schizophrenia: a large-scale cross-sectional study.

Emerging studies indicate that oxidative stress may contribute to deficit syndrome (DS) in patients with schizophrenia. Homocysteine (Hcy) is a well-known marker and mediator of oxidative stress that exhibits tight associations with schizophrenia. However, no previous studies have assessed the relationship of DS with Hcy. This study evaluated the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and association of DS with Hcy in 491 patients with schizophrenia. Plasma levels of Hcy and other metabolic parameters were measured. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and the proxy scale for deficit syndrome were employed to assess psychiatric symptoms and DS. The logistic regression model was conducted to assess independent factors associated with DS, and the Area Under the Curve (AUC) was used to assess the performance of our model. There was a high incidence of hyperhomocysteinemia (58.8%) and DS (24.4%). Plasma Hcy levels were significantly higher in patients with DS. Age, Hcy levels, and psychiatric symptoms were independently associated with DS. The combination of these variables perfectly differentiated DS and non-DS patients with an AUC value of 0.89. Our study suggests that elevated Hcy levels may be related to DS. Routine monitoring of Hcy is essential and may facilitate early detection of DS in patients with schizophrenia.

Bond strength of metal-free polyether-ether-ketone knee prostheses compared to metal knee prostheses with bone cement: A preliminary in vitro study.

BACKGROUND: Total knee arthroplasty is the most effective treatment for advanced-stage knee arthritis, and the majority of knee prostheses are made of metal. Nevertheless, metal prostheses still have several problems. The objective of this study is to introduce new metal-free knee prostheses made of polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) and to compare their cement bond strength with metal prostheses. METHODS: Twelve sets of knee prostheses were divided into four groups (unloaded PEEK, unloaded Metal, 10 million cycles (MC) PEEK, 10 MC Metal, N = 3 each), and then attached to composite bones using bone cement. Both the 10 MC PEEK and 10 MC Metal groups were subjected to dynamic gait simulations of 10 MC, whereas the other two sets were not. Afterwards, a pull-off strength test was performed on the femoral prostheses and a shear strength test was performed on the tibial prostheses. RESULTS: No apparent cracks were observed in the bone cement after subjecting the PEEK and Metal groups to 10 million cycles of dynamic simulation. No statistically significant differences were observed (p > .05) in the strength tests for unloaded PEEK vs. unloaded Metal, 10 MC PEEK vs.10 MC Metal in the femoral pull-off test, and for unloaded PEEK vs. unloaded Metal in the tibial shear test. The shear strength of 10 MC PEEK was significantly lower (p < .05) compared to that of 10 MC Metal. CONCLUSIONS: By comparing the force analysis of previous investigations on knee prostheses with the failure pattern observed in the PEEK knee prosthesis of this study, which replicates that of the metal prosthesis. We believe that the combination of the peek knee prosthesis with bone cement is reliable. We anticipate that metal-free PEEK knee prostheses will find application in Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) in the future, thereby benefiting patients.

Gender differences in alcohol abuse/dependence among medical undergraduates during the post-COVID­19 pandemic period (October 20, 2020-April 5, 2021) in China.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the prevalence and the gender-specific risk factors of alcohol abuse/dependence among medical undergraduates during the post-COVID­19 pandemic period in China. METHOD: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) was used to identify respondents with alcohol abuse/dependence. A questionnaire on basic demographics and mental distresses (learning burnout, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, excessive daytime sleepiness, and history of mental disorders) was used. The logistic regression model was used to explore the associations between the above characteristics and alcohol abuse/dependence. RESULTS: A total of 3,412 medical undergraduates were included in the analysis. Males showed a higher prevalence of alcohol abuse/dependence than females (16.6% vs 7.4%, p < 0.001). Alcohol abuse/dependence was associated with learning burnout (OR: 2.168, p < 0.001) and having a partner (OR: 1.788 p = 0.001) among female medical undergraduates. Among male medical undergraduates, excessive daytime sleepiness (OR: 1.788 p = 0.001) and older age (OR: 1.788, p = 0.001) were independently associated with alcohol abuse/dependence. CONCLUSION: Alcohol abuse/dependence was common among medical undergraduates during the post-COVID­19 pandemic period. Substantial gender differences in the prevalence and risk factors of alcohol abuse/dependence were found among medical undergraduates in this study, which highlighted the need for timely gender-specific screening and interventions. However, the cross-sectional design adopted in this study has limited the examination of causality, thus further longitudinal studies are warranted.

Automatic coronary artery segmentation of CCTA images using UNet with a local contextual transformer.

Coronary artery segmentation is an essential procedure in the computer-aided diagnosis of coronary artery disease. It aims to identify and segment the regions of interest in the coronary circulation for further processing and diagnosis. Currently, automatic segmentation of coronary arteries is often unreliable because of their small size and poor distribution of contrast medium, as well as the problems that lead to over-segmentation or omission. To improve the performance of convolutional-neural-network (CNN) based coronary artery segmentation, we propose a novel automatic method, DR-LCT-UNet, with two innovative components: the Dense Residual (DR) module and the Local Contextual Transformer (LCT) module. The DR module aims to preserve unobtrusive features through dense residual connections, while the LCT module is an improved Transformer that focuses on local contextual information, so that coronary artery-related information can be better exploited. The LCT and DR modules are effectively integrated into the skip connections and encoder-decoder of the 3D segmentation network, respectively. Experiments on our CorArtTS2020 dataset show that the dice similarity coefficient (DSC), Recall, and Precision of the proposed method reached 85.8%, 86.3% and 85.8%, respectively, outperforming 3D-UNet (taken as the reference among the 6 other chosen comparison methods), by 2.1%, 1.9%, and 2.1%.

Effects of Multiple High-Dose Methamphetamine Administration on Enteric Dopaminergic Neurons and Intestinal Motility in the Rat Model.

Several studies have identified the effects of methamphetamine (MA) on central dopaminergic neurons, but its effects on enteric dopaminergic neurons (EDNs) are unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of MA on EDNs and intestinal motility. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into MA group and saline group. The MA group received the multiple high-dose MA treatment paradigm, while the controls received the same saline treatment. After enteric motility was assessed, different intestinal segments (i.e., duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and colon) were taken for histopathological, molecular biological, and immunological analysis. The EDNs were assessed by measuring the expression of two dopaminergic neuronal markers, dopamine transporter (DAT) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), at the transcriptional and protein levels. We also used c-Fos protein, a marker of neural activity, to detect the activation of EDNs. MA resulted in a significant reduction in TH and DAT mRNA expression as well as in the number of EDNs in the duodenum and jejunum (p < 0.05). MA caused a dramatic increase in c-Fos expression of EDNs in the ileum (p < 0.001). The positional variability of MA effects on EDNs paralleled the positional variability of its effect on intestinal motility, as evidenced by the marked inhibitory effect of MA on small intestinal motility (p < 0.0001). This study found significant effects of MA on EDNs with locational variability, which might be relevant to locational variability in the potential effects of MA on intestinal functions, such as motility.

Alexithymia in Chinese patients with chronic schizophrenia: Prevalence, clinical correlates, and relationship with neurocognition and empathy.

INTRODUCTION: Alexithymia is highly prevalent and strongly related to adverse consequences in patients with schizophrenia. However, its associated factors remain largely unexplored. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of alexithymia and its association with sociocultural characteristics, clinical symptoms, neurocognition, and empathy in 854 Chinese patients with schizophrenia. METHOD: Demographic information was collected through a self-designed questionnaire. Alexithymia was assessed by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). We assessed clinical symptoms, neurocognition, and empathy via the following instruments: Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, and Interpersonal Reactivity Index. A multiple logistic regression model was conducted to determine the independent correlates of alexithymia. RESULTS: Approximately one-third (n = 277, 32%) of patients with schizophrenia had alexithymia. Patients with alexithymia had significantly more severe negative symptoms, neurocognition, and empathy impairment than patients without alexithymia. Being male, negative symptoms, personal distress, empathic concern, and language functioning were independently associated with alexithymia. DISCUSSION: Our findings demonstrate a high prevalence of alexithymia and its strong association with clinical symptoms, neurocognition, and empathy, which calls for timely screening and intervention for alexithymia in patients with schizophrenia. Targeting impaired language function, negative symptoms, and impaired affective empathy might help reduce alexithymia and its related negative consequences.

Stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness among caregivers of patients with mental disorders in China.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate stigmatizing attitudes toward depression, schizophrenia, and general anxiety disorder (GAD) among caregivers of patients with mental disorders in China. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 607 caregivers in China, using vignettes that described three mental illnesses. Data on the caregivers' attitudes and other people's attitudes toward individuals with mental disorders and their willingness to come in contact with people with mental disorders were collected. Results: In the three vignettes, caregivers agreed that positive outcomes outnumbered negative outcomes. The top two statements endorsing the stigma were "the person could snap out of the problem" and "people with this problem are dangerous." In the section for perceived stigma, caregivers in the GAD vignette agreed that most people believed this problem is not a real medical illness, compared to schizophrenia. The rates of the statement endorsing unpredictability were significantly different in the schizophrenia (57.2%) and depression (45.5%) vignette, in comparison to the GAD (45.6%) vignette. For personal stigma, the caregivers tended to avoid people described in the depression vignette more often than in the GAD vignette. The caregivers were most unwilling to let the person described in the vignettes marry into their family, especially in the schizophrenia vignette. Conclusion: Despite the stigma and desire for social distance associated with schizophrenia, depression, and GAD, caregivers often expect positive outcomes. Actions should be taken to improve caregivers' knowledge about mental health and reduce the stigma.

A Compact Constraint Incremental Method for Random Weight Networks and Its Application.

Incremental random weight networks (IRWNs) face the issues of weak generalization and complicated network structure. There is an important reason: the learning parameters of IRWNs are determined in a random fashion without guidance, which may increase many redundant hidden nodes, and thereby leading to inferior performance. To resolve this issue, a novel IRWN with compact constraint that guides the assignment of random learning parameters (CCIRWN) is developed in this brief. Using the iteration method of Greville, a compact constraint that simultaneously assures the quality of generated hidden nodes and the convergence of the CCIRWN is built to perform learning parameter configuration. Meanwhile, the output weights of the CCIRWN are assessed analytically. Two types of learning methods for constructing the CCIRWN are proposed. Finally, the performance evaluation of the proposed CCIRWN is undertaken on the 1-D nonlinear function approximation, several real-world datasets, and data-driven estimation based on the industrial data. Numerical and industrial examples indicate that the proposed CCIRWN with compact structure can achieve favorable generalization ability.

Prevalence and influencing factors of suicide in first-episode and drug-naive young major depressive disorder patients with impaired fasting glucose: a cross-sectional study.

Background: An association exists between major depression disorder (MDD), suicide attempts, and glucose metabolism, but suicide attempts in young MDD patients with comorbid impaired fasting glucose (IFG) have been less well studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and risk factors for suicide attempts in young, first-episode, drug-naive (FEDN) MDD patients with comorbid IFG. Methods: We recruited 917 young patients with FEDN MDD, 116 of whom were judged to have combined IFG because their blood glucose was >6.0. We collected anthropological and clinical data on all of them. The Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) score, the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) score and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) positive subscale score were used to assess their clinical symptoms. Blood glucose, plasma thyroid function and lipid indicators were measured. Results: The prevalence of suicide attempts in young MDD patients with IFG was 32.8% (38/116). Furthermore, among young MDD patients with comorbid IFG, suicide attempters had more severe depression and anxiety symptoms, more comorbid psychotic symptom, higher levels of antibody of thyroid stimulating hormone and thyroid peroxidases (TPOAb), and more severe lipid metabolism disorders than those without suicide attempts. In addition, HAMA scores and TPOAb were independently associated with suicide attempts in young patients with FEDN MDD. Conclusion: Our study suggests that young MDD patients with IFG have a high rate of suicide attempts. Some clinical symptoms and thyroid function parameters may be the risk factor for suicide attempts in young MDD patients with impaired glucose metabolism.