The relationship between childhood traumatic experience and suicidal tendency in non-suicidal self-injury behavior patients.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior are usually prone to repeated, intentional, direct harm to their own bodies that is not allowed by society without suicidal ideation. Under this behavior guidance, childhood traumatic experience may easily cause a series of psychological comorbidity symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, finally leading to a suicidal tendency. METHODS: A total of 311 adolescent NSSI behavioral patients were recruited at the Ningbo Kangning hospital, Zhejiang Province according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Demographic data, childhood abuse and neglect, internet addiction, self-esteem, anxiety, and suicidal tendency were evaluated. A structural equation model with a path induction mechanism was constructed to evaluate the relationship between distal and proximal factors related to suicidal tendencies due to childhood traumatic experiences in NSSI behavioral individuals. RESULTS: Among the 311 subjects included in the survey, 250 (80.39%) suffered traumatic experiences, such as emotional abuse/physical abuse/sexual abuse/emotional neglect or physical neglect in their childhood, 303 (97.43%) had suicidal ideation, 271 (87.14%) showed the total score of self-esteem, 148 (47.59%) had different degrees of Internet addiction tendency, and 286 (91.96%) showed obvious anxiety. The established path model fit well (GFI = 0.996, RMSEA = 0.03), and the model showed that self-esteem, anxiety, and childhood traumatic experience had standardized coefficients of -0.235 (z = -4.742, p < 0.01), 0.322 (z = 6.296, p < 0.01), 0.205 (z = 4.047, p < 0.01), respectively, with suicidal ideation path, suggesting that self-esteem, Internet addiction, and anxiety showed significant mediating effects in the process of childhood traumatic experience affecting suicidal ideation. CONCLUSION: In the context of childhood traumatic experience, it is often accompanied by a series of regulatory behaviors such as Internet addiction, self-esteem, and so on, which finally leads to anxiety, mental symptoms, and even suicidal tendencies. The results provide effective support for the structural equation modeling to evaluate the multi-level influence of NSSI behavior individuals and emphasize that childhood familial factors may lead to psychiatric comorbidity symptoms and suicidal behavior.

A study of the interactive mediating effect of ADHD and NSSI caused by co-disease mechanisms in males and females.

Background: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), of which the predisposing factors are complex and diverse, profoundly affects the physical and mental health of young people. Therefore, this work established an NSSI intermediary network model considering the interaction of multiple factors. A mediating effect between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and NSSI, considering the influence of comorbidities, such as depression, anxiety, and impulsive personality, was proposed based on sex differences. Methods: A total of 2,689 middle school students in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China, were randomly sampled and participated in this study. Data regarding their demographic characteristics, attention deficit, hyperactivity/impulsivity, NSSI, anxiety, depression, internet addiction, and other comorbid symptoms were collected and analyzed. After initially screening the data, variables were assessed for significance using a single-factor inter-group difference analytic method, and a binary logistic regression analysis was performed. The intermediary effect of factors influencing NSSI in males and females was also analyzed. Results: The overall NSSI rate was 15.16%. The results showed that the impact of individual impulsivity characteristics (impulsiveness, the ADHD with hyperactivity/impulsivity subtype) on NSSI behavior was not significant (regression results, P > 0.05). The degree of association between ADHD with attention deficit and ADHD with comprehension deficit subtypes, and other comorbid symptoms (depression, anxiety, and internet addiction disorder) and NSSI, with odds ratios (ORs) of 7.6/6.42/436.68/3.82/1.86, and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals (CIs) of 4.64, 12.87/3.46, 12.67/137.42, 2659.13/2.32, 6.37/1.31, 2.82, respectively. The results also showed significant effects of ADHD subtypes on comorbid symptoms and the path effects of NSSI (P < 0.01). Among them, the mediating effect was the strongest when anxiety was the mediating variable, and the mediating effect of girls was higher than that of boys. Conclusion: The results of this work demonstrated the influence of ADHD symptoms on NSSI behavior. Among patients with ADHD, patients with subtypes with obvious attention deficit characteristics were more likely to exhibit NSSI behavior, whereas the hyperactive impulse subtype had no direct impact on NSSI. We conclude that adolescent impulsivity may not be directly related to NSSI behavior and that impulsive characteristics jointly affect NSSI behavior through a series of NSSI comorbid symptoms. Notably, the probability of symptom onset and the degree of comorbidity was significantly higher in girls than in boys of the same age, and girls were more prone to NSSI behavior. These findings provide effective theoretical support for the prevention and treatment of adolescent NSSI behavior.

Dynamic influence of maternal education on height among Chinese children aged 0-18 years.

Background: Maternal education is one of key factors affecting nurturing environment which significantly impacts children's height levels throughout their developmental stages. However, the influence of maternal education on children's height is less studied. This study aims to investigate the dynamic influence of maternal education on children's height among Chinese children aged 0-18 years. Methods: Children undergoing health examinations from January 2021 to September 2023 were included in this study. Clinical information including height, weight, maternal pregnancy history, blood specimens for bone metabolism-related indicators and maternal education level was collected. Children's height was categorized into 14 groups based on age and gender percentiles, following WHO 2006 growth standards. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear regression, chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were applied for data analysis. Results: A total of 6269 samples were collected, including 3654 males and 2615 females, with an average age of 8.38 (3.97) for males and 7.89 (3.55) for females. Significant correlations between maternal education level, birth weight, birth order, weight percentile, vitamin D, serum phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase levels, and children's height were identified. Birth weight's influence on height varied across age groups. Compared with normal birth weight children, low birth weight children exhibited catch-up growth within the first 6 years and a subsequent gradual widening of the height gap from 6 to 18 years old. Remarkably, the impact of maternal education on height became more pronounced among children above 3-6 years old, which can mitigate the effect of low birth weight on height. Conclusion: We found that weight percentile, birth weight, birth order, bone marker levels, and maternal education level have significant effect on height. Maternal education attenuates the impact of low birth weight on height. The findings indicated that maternal education plays a consistent and critical role in promoting robust and healthy growth.

Effects of Lactobacillus on hyperlipidemia in high-fat diet-induced mouse model.

Introduction: Hyperlipidemia refers to a group of lipid metabolism disorders characterized by increased levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, and/or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and/or decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. This study aims to investigate the effects of Lactobacillus on lipid metabolism and hepatic steatosis in male mice fed with a high-fat diet by measuring blood lipid, hepatic function and hepatocyte morphology. Material and methods: Eighty male Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice were fed with a high-fat diet for 6 weeks to establish hyperlipidemic models. Then, mice were treated with a high or low concentration of Lactobacillus of human source, mouse source, or plant source, respectively. Results: After 3 weeks of therapy, except for the human Lactobacillus treatment group, the blood cholesterol, triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in mice treated with Lactobacillus of mouse and plant source were lower than those in the hyperlipidemic model group. After 4 weeks of treatment, the levels of blood biochemical indexes in mice in all treatment groups were significantly different, when compared to those in the hyperlipidemic model group. Conclusions: Lactobacillus may regulate blood lipid in mice fed with a high-fat diet. Lactobacillus can improve the high cholesterol, high blood lipid, and injury of hepatic function, and prevent further development of atherosclerosis caused by a high-fat diet to some extent. Correct dietary structure is the basis for the treatment of dietary hyperlipidemia and its complications.

[Effects of Apelin-13 on barrier injury of human umbilical vein endothelial cells induced by LPS].

Objective: To investigate the effects of Apelin-13 on barrier function injury of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by LPS. Methods: The HUVECs cultured in vitro were divided into 4 groups: Control group, LPS group, Apelin-13+LPS group, Apelin-13 group. HUVECs were treated by 5 µg/ml LPS for 24 h to replicate the model with endothelial barrier impaired. Apelin-13 at the concentration of 1 µmol/L was given 30 min before LPS treatment. The cell viabillity of HUVECs was measured by CCK-8 assay. Protein expressions of VE-cadherin and F-actin were measured by Western blot and immunofluorescence. Nuclear factor κB p65(NF-κB p65) was detected by immunofluorescence. Results: Compared with the control group, the cell viabillity of HUVECs and protein expression of VE-cadherin were decreased by LPS, but the protein expression of F-actin and activation of NF-κB p65 were increased by LPS. These effects were attenuated by Apelin-13 administration. Conclusion: Apelin-13 ameliorates LPS-induced barrier function injury of HUVECs, which may be related to the inhibition of inflammation.