Cognitive effects of the GSK-3 inhibitor “lithium” in LPS/chronic mild stress rat model of depression: Hippocampal and cortical neuroinflammation and tauopathy

Low-dose repeated lipopolysaccharide pre-challenge followed by chronic mild stress (LPS/CMS) protocol has been introduced as a rodent model of depression combining the roles of immune activation and chronic psychological stress. However, the impact of this paradigm on cognitive functioning has not been investigated hitherto.MethodsThis study evaluated LPS/CMS-induced cognitive effects and the role of glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) activation with subsequent neuroinflammation and pathological tau deposition in the pathogenesis of these effects using lithium (Li) as a tool for GSK-3 inhibition.ResultsLPS pre-challenge reduced CMS-induced neuroinflammation, depressive-like behavior and cognitive inflexibility. It also improved spatial learning but increased GSK-3β expression and exaggerated hyperphosphorylated tau accumulation in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Li ameliorated CMS and LPS/CMS-induced depressive and cognitive deficits, reduced GSK-3β over-expression and tau hyperphosphorylation, impeded neuroinflammation and enhanced neuronal survival.ConclusionThis study draws attention to LPS/CMS-triggered cognitive changes and highlights how prior low-dose immune challenge could develop an adaptive capacity to buffer inflammatory damage and maintain the cognitive abilities necessary to withstand threats. This work also underscores the favorable effect of Li (as a GSK-3β inhibitor) in impeding exaggerated tauopathy and neuroinflammation, rescuing neuronal survival and preserving cognitive functions. Yet, further in-depth studies utilizing different low-dose LPS challenge schedules are needed to elucidate the complex interactions between immune activation and chronic stress exposure.     

急性Stanford B型主动脉夹层真腔次全闭塞治疗 ——单中心病例系列报道

【摘要】 目的 总结急性Standford B型主动脉夹层（AD）真腔次全闭塞患者的治疗经验。方法 回顾性分析2016年1月至2019年12月湖南省人民医院采用胸主动脉腔内修复术治疗的39例急性B型AD真腔次全闭塞患者临床资料。所有患者均接受主动脉覆膜支架腔内隔绝术,术中根据近端破口位置决定是否同时行左颈动脉或左锁骨下动脉重建修复（含支架开窗、烟囱支架）,远端受累分支血管根据AD真腔开通后具体情况选择保守、支架成形术或血液透析治疗。结果 39例患者共植入主动脉覆膜支架51枚（植入1枚27例, 2枚12例）,同时植入腹主动脉裸支架3枚,肠系膜上动脉支架8枚,髂动脉支架12枚,颈动脉原位开窗或烟囱支架9枚,锁骨下动脉开窗或烟囱支架枚17枚。介入治疗技术成功率为100%。围手术期并发症为肾功能不全15例（38.5%）;5例一侧肾动脉完全假腔供血遂接受覆膜支架开通;中重度肠道缺血表现8例（20.5%）,其中6例接受二次腔内治疗。围手术期死亡率为7.7%（3/39）,死因主要为重度肾功能不全和酸中毒多脏器衰竭。术后随访6～25个月,支架段假腔完全血栓化率为80.6%（25/31）,其中支架段主动脉完全重塑率为68%（17/25）。结论 B型AD真腔次全闭塞一经确诊,建议尽快手术。腔内开通过程需要多种技巧,部分患者两段式支架应用有利于真腔开通,降低假腔压力,促进血管重塑。     

How Challenge Stress Affects Mental Health among College Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Moderating Role of Self-Efficacy

While a plethora of studies has been conducted to examine stress and its impact on mental health in western countries, research is scarce investigating the relationship between student challenge stress and health illness in the context of Chinese colleges. No studies examined the moderating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between challenge stress and health illness. This study attempted to investigate the relationships between these three variables among Chinese college students. Especially, this study focused on examining whether self-efficacy moderated the effect of perceived challenge stress on students’ mental health. Also, the differences were tested between male and female students in terms of these three variables. A sample of 578 Chinese college students was recruited over an approximately 12-week period from 7 Chinese universities. An online survey link was distributed through WeChat. The SPSS version 26 software was used to analyze the data. Results showed that there is no significant difference between genders in terms of perceived challenge stress, self-efficacy, and students’ mental health. In addition, challenge stress was positively related to the students’ mental health (β = 0.35, p < 0.01) while there was a negative association between self-efficacy and mental health (β = −0.41, p < 0.01). Furthermore, self-efficacy plays a moderating role in the relationship between challenge stress and mental health (β = −0.11, p = 0.02). Students with low self-efficacy tend to experience more mental health issues. It is suggested that Chinese colleges and universities pay more attention to students with low self-efficacy, either through faculty/staff interventions or peer counseling. Professors consider reducing students’ academic stress to improve their mental health.     

脑卒中患者功能独立性、家庭照料者负担感与其负性情绪的关系

目的:探讨脑卒中患者的功能独立性、家庭照料者负担感与其负性情绪的关系.方法:采用功能独立性量表、照料者负担指数、负性情感量表对203名脑卒中患者的家庭照料者进行测量.结果:①农村的家庭照料者负性情绪显著多于城市的,有职业的显著多于无职业的;②家庭照料者负性情绪与其负担感显著正相关,与患者的运动独立性显著负相关;③家庭照料者负担感在脑卒中患者的运动功能独立性和家庭照料者负担情绪之间的中介作用显著.结论:家庭照料者的负担感在脑卒中患者的运动功能独立性影响家庭照料者的负性情绪中起完全中介作用.     

Evidence for implicit self-positivity bias: an event-related brain potential study

We investigated the processing of self-related information under the prime paradigm using event-related potentials (ERPs) to provide evidence for implicit self-positivity bias in Chinese individuals. Reaction times and ERPs were recorded when participants made positive/negative emotional judgments to personality-trait adjectives about themselves or others. Faster responses occurred to self-related positive adjectives and other-related negative adjectives, indicating implicit self-positivity bias at the behavioral level. ERPs showed an interaction between prime and emotion at the P300 amplitude, with larger P300 amplitudes for words within the self-positivity bias, indicating that self-related information occupied more attentional resources. Larger N400 amplitudes elicited by words that were inconsistent with the self-positivity bias, suggesting that accessing non-self-relevant information is more difficult than self-relevant information. Thus, P300 and N400 could be used as neuro-indexes of the implicit self-positivity bias.     

洞庭湖区居民接触疫水行为方式与社会经济因素的关系探讨

目的 研究洞庭湖区居民接触疫水行为方式与社会经济因素的关系. 方法 在洞庭湖区常德市、岳阳市、益阳市三地,采取随机抽样方法,对当地居民及医院血吸虫病患者进行个人问卷调查,收集年龄、性别、职业、学历、家庭收入、家庭居住区域等个人及家庭基本情况,了解其接触疫水的季节、地点、具体途径等行为方式.利用SPSS软件,应用logistic回归模型分析居民接触疫水行为方式与社会经济因素的关系. 结果 回收有效调查问卷148份.Logistic回归分析显示：从事农业生产的群体如农渔民,常使用传统、改造性不强的厕所、以及年龄较大的群体通过生产劳动接触疫水的频率更高;女性,学历较低,常使用传统、改造性不强的厕所,以及年龄较大的群体更容易在生活中接触疫水;男性,从事非农化职业如公务员、学生等,学历越高,以及年龄较小的群体通过娱乐方式接触疫水的情况更多. 结论 洞庭湖区居民接触疫水行为方式受当地的社会经济因素影响.     

Dual-gate low-voltage transparent electric-double-layer thin-film transistors with a top gate for threshold voltage modulation

Dual gate (DG) low-voltage transparent electric-double-layer (EDL) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with microporous-SiO₂ for both top and bottom dielectrics have been fabricated, both dielectrics were deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at room temperature. The threshold voltage of such devices can be modulated from −0.13 to 0.5 V by the top gate (TG), which switches the device from depletion-mode to enhancement-mode. High performance with a current on/off ratio (∼2.1 × 10⁶), subthreshold swing (76 mV per decade), operating voltage (1.0 V), and field-effect mobility (∼2.6 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹) are obtained. Such DG TFTs are promising for ion-sensitive field-effect transistors sensor applications with low-power consumptions.

Dual gate (DG) low-voltage transparent electric-double-layer (EDL) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with microporous-SiO₂ for both top and bottom dielectrics have been fabricated, both dielectrics were deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD).     

Potentiometric and UV-Vis spectrophotometric titrations for evaluation of the antioxidant capacity of chicoric acid

The antioxidant capacity (AOC) of chicoric acid (ChA, the main antioxidant component of Echinacea) or an ethanol/water-extract of Echinacea flowers was determined by potentiometric and UV-Vis absorption spectrophotometric titrations with ABTS˙⁺ radical cations as the oxidizing probe. The potentiometric and spectrophotometric titration results agreed well with each other. The trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) of ChA was found to be 5.00 ± 0.07 (potentiometry) and 4.81 ± 0.06 (spectrophotometry) at pH 7.4, and the TEAC value has been proven to be actually equal to the ratio of the stoichiometric ratio of the ABTS˙⁺–ChA redox reaction to that of the ABTS˙⁺–trolox redox reaction. The TEAC of the ethanol/water-extract of Echinacea flowers, expressed in mM (trolox) per gram per liter (Echinacea extract), was found to be 0.241 ± 0.006 mmol g⁻¹ (potentiometry) and 0.240 ± 0.007 mmol g⁻¹ (spectrophotometry) at pH 7.4. The stoichiometric ratio of the ABTS˙⁺–ChA redox reaction varied from 10.8 to 3.2, depending on the solution pH and the final ABTS˙⁺–ChA concentration ratio. However, the stoichiometric ratio of the ABTS˙⁺–trolox redox reaction remained ca. 2.0 at various solution-pH values and final ABTS˙⁺–trolox concentration ratios. The unusual stoichiometric ratio of the ABTS˙⁺–ChA redox reaction is examined by potentiometric/spectrophotometric titrations and cyclic voltammetry, clearly revealing the new mechanism of a rapid redox process followed by a slow redox process at pH 7.4 and 9.0 when the ABTS˙⁺–ChA molar concentration ratio is greater than 4. The electrochemistry methods coupled with spectrophotometry can conveniently and reliably provide important quantitative and qualitative information on redox chemistry, and are expected to find wider applications in accurately evaluating the redox activities of many other natural/synthesized antioxidants and oxidants.

Potentiometric/spectrophotometric titrations have revealed the antioxidation behavior and mechanisms of chicoric acid (ChA, versus trolox) against ABTS˙⁺ radical cations.     

农村留守儿童的负性生活事件及其对健康危险行为的影响

目的 探讨农村留守儿童的负性生活事件状况及其与健康危险行为的关系。方法 采用青少年生活事件量表(the Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check List, ASLEC)和青少年健康相关危险行为问卷(the Adolescent Health Related Risky Behavior Inventory, AHRBI)对178名农村留守儿童和132名农村非留守儿童进行了调查。结果 1)农村留守儿童在人际事件(F=12.695, P<0.001)、惩罚事件(F=8.306, P<0.01)、丧失事件(F=19.256, P<0.001)和健康事件(F=9.138, P<0.01)四个因子上的得分明显高于非留守儿童;2)负性生活事件能够预测农村留守儿童健康危险行为24%的变异, 因果结构模型的适配指标为RMSEA=0.067, GFI=0.936, IFI=0.965, PGFI=0.579。结论 农村留守儿童是负性生活事件的易感人群;而负性生活事件是农村留守儿童健康危险行为的重要危险性因素。