Are Youth Psychopathic Traits Related to Bullying? Meta-analyses on Callous-Unemotional Traits, Narcissism, and Impulsivity.

In the current manuscript meta-analyses are performed to analyze the relations between three aspects of psychopathy in youth, Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits, Narcissism, and Impulsivity, and bullying behaviors. The databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, ERIC, Web of Science and Proquest were searched for relevant articles on bullying and CU traits, Narcissism, or Impulsivity in youth under 20 years of age. Two authors each independently screened 842 studies that were found in the literature search. Two authors independently coded ten studies on bullying and CU (N = 4115) traits, six studies on bullying and Narcissism (N = 3376) and 14 studies on bullying and Impulsivity (N = 33,574) that met the inclusion criteria. Significant correlations were found between bullying and CU traits, Narcissism, and Impulsivity. These results were not affected by publication bias. Anti-bullying interventions could potentially benefit from including elements that have been found effective in the treatment of youth psychopathy.

The Effects of IGF1 and MGF on Neural Stem Cells in Hypoxic Conditions.

Introduction: Ischemic stroke has high morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Low oxygen (O2) levels detected in such conditions create a vulnerable environment for neural stem cells (NSC), altering neuronal function, and leading to neuronal injury or death. There are still no effective treatments for such consequences. This study investigates the molecular and functional effects of growth factors, namely, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) and mechano growth factor (MGF), in NSC exposed to low O2 levels. Methods: An in vitro ischemia model was created by rat hippocampal NSC grown in culture that was exposed to varying oxygen levels, including 0%, 3%, and 20 % for the representation of anoxic, hypoxic, and normoxic conditions, respectively, during 24 h. NSC has investigated IGF-I, MGF, and HIF1-Alpha (HIF-1α) gene expressions by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The effects of external administration of growth factors (IGF-I and MGF) on NSC proliferation in such conditions were explored. Results: Increased IGF-I and MGF gene expressions were detected in the samples exposed to low O2. Anoxia was the highest stimulant for IGF-I and MGF gene expressions. Meanwhile, HIF1-α that encodes hypoxia-inducible factor-1α revealed downregulation in relative gene expression fold change with IGF-I application in all conditions, whereas MGF application upregulated its change in an anoxic environment. Furthermore, MGF-induced NSC had more proliferationmigration rate in all oxygen conditions. IGF-I induced significant NSC proliferation in 0% and 20% O2. Conclusion: These findings suggest that IGF-I and MGF expressions were increased to reduce the damage in NSC exposed to low oxygen, and exogenous MGF and IGF-I application increased NSC proliferation at the time of injury. The results might imply the role of exogenous MGF and IGF-I in the treatment of ischemia for relieving the effect of neuronal damage due to their neuroprotective and proliferative effects.

The relationship between bone canal diameter and facet tropism in cases of lumbar spinal stenosis.

Objectives: Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a condition that increases in frequency with the aging of the spine and has adverse effects on the quality of life of individuals. Facet tropism (FT) refers to the difference in the orientation of the facet joints relative to each other in the sagittal plane. This situation may be due to a developmental defect or different stimuli. In many biomechanical studies in the literature, the relationship between FT and lumbar degenerative disorders has been investigated. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether there is a relationship between anteroposterior bone canal diameter and FT in LSS cases. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the CT and T2-weighted axial and sagittal magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar region of 100 LSS patients who were operated on in our clinic between 2015 and 2017. For each patient, the facet joint angles, the degree of FT, and the AP diameter of the spinal canal were determined. Results: The cases were grouped according to FT types and no correlation was found between midsagittal bone spinal canal measurement and FT types. According to the results, no significant difference was found. Conclusion: As a result, because of there is no relationship between midsagittal bone canal diameter and FT, we thought that FT may be both a part of the degenerative process and a congenital origin.

In vitro investigation of growth factors including MGF and IGF-1 in neural stem cell activation, proliferation, and migration.

Neurogenesis is mainly activated after damage in adult tissues. This destruction activates the neural stem cells (NSCs) by exiting from a quiescent state and initiating proliferation, differentiation, and migration towards the damaged area. Although studies have investigated to clarify the process of NSC biology and neurogenesis, there are still significant artifacts in understanding the primary mechanism. It is known that only a small percentage of NSC become neurons and integrate into the brain tissue after this process. The significant proportion differentiates to become either astrocytes or oligodendrocytes. Furthermore, the quiescent stem cells in the niche are mainly activated by the stimuli affect. In recent years, many studies have been conducted with varying hormones, some of which might provide neuro-stimulation effect and/or involved in the regeneration of the brain tissue and/or neuroprotection from traumatic or ischemic pathologies, including Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), Mechano Growth Factor (MGF), Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF-2), Erythropoietin (EPO), Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). In this study, we examined the effects of FGF-2, MGF, IGF-1, EPO, EGF, NGF, and BDNF alone or with various combinations on rat hippocampal NSC by tracking the changes in the expression of Nestin, GFAP, TUBB3, and DCX genes during 24 h (h), 72 h and 168 h time frame. The apoptosis analysis revealed that FGF-2 and FGF-2 coupled growth factors effectively protect NSCs against apoptosis, whereas MGF coupled growth factors failed in this protection. The cell cycle analysis demonstrated that these growth factors had accumulated the NSCs exit from the quiescent phase to the Mitosis phase, mostly without being long in the Synthesis Phase. Neurosphere sizes were increased with MGF, signifying MGF being effective in neural progenitor cells. The combined use of MGF with FGF-2 was more effective in postmitotic neurons than MGF alone. We have comparatively demonstrated the effect of cytokines alone and combined administration on activation, proliferation, and migration of NSCs. Although many issues are still waiting to be investigated in adult neurogenesis, neural regeneration, and adult neural stem cell biology, the results provide vital resources to the researchers that are interested in the varying effect of growth factor on NSC.