Combined Cerebellar Proton MR Spectroscopy and DWI Study of Patients with Friedreich’s Ataxia

Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA) is the commonest autosomal recessive ataxia, caused by GAA triplet expansion in the frataxin gene. Neuropathological studies in FRDA demonstrate that besides the primary neurodegeneration of the dorsal root ganglia, there is a progressive atrophy of the cerebellar dentate nucleus. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) detected microstructural alterations in the cerebellum of FRDA patients. To investigate the biochemical basis of these alterations, we used both DWI and proton MR spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) to study the same cerebellar volume of interest (VOI) including the dentate nucleus. DWI and ¹H-MRS study of the left cerebellar hemisphere was performed in 28 genetically proven FRDA patients and 35 healthy controls. In FRDA mean diffusivity (MD) values were calculated for the same ¹H-MRS VOI. Clinical severity was evaluated using the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS). FRDA patients showed a significant reduction of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), a neuroaxonal marker, and choline (Cho), a membrane marker, both expressed relatively to creatine (Cr), and increased MD values. In FRDA patients NAA/Cr negatively correlated with MD values (r?=??0.396, p?=?0.037) and with ICARS score (r?=??0.669, p?<?0.001). Age-normalized NAA/Cr loss correlated with the GAA expansion (r?=??0.492, p?=?0.008). The reduced cerebellar NAA/Cr in FRDA suggests that neuroaxonal loss is related to the microstructural changes determining higher MD values. The correlation between NAA/Cr and the severity of disability suggests that this biochemical in vivo MR parameter might be a useful biomarker to evaluate therapeutic interventions.     

Social networks and symptomatic and functional outcomes in schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the strength of associations between social network size and clinical and functional outcomes in schizophrenia.

Method

Studies were identified from a systematic search of electronic databases (EMBASE, Medline, PsycINFO, and Web of Science) from January 1970 to June 2016. Eligible studies included peer-reviewed English language articles that examined associations between a quantitative measure of network size and symptomatic and/or functional outcome in schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses.

Results

Our search yielded 16 studies with 1,929 participants. Meta-analyses using random effects models to calculate pooled effect sizes (Hedge’s g) found that smaller social network size was moderately associated with more severe overall psychiatric symptoms (N?=?5, n?=?467, g?=???0.53, 95% confidence interval (CI)?=???0.875, ??0.184, p?=?0.003) and negative symptoms (N?=?8, n?=?577, g?=???0.75, 95% CI?=???0.997, ??0.512, p?=?0.000). Statistical heterogeneity was observed I²?=?63.04%; I²?=?35.75%,) which could not be explained by low-quality network measures or sample heterogeneity in sensitivity analyses. There was no effect for positive symptoms (N?=?7, n?=?405, g?=???0.19, 95% CI?=?0.494, 0.110, p?=?0.213) or social functioning (N?=?3, n?=?209, g?=?0.36, 95% CI?=???0.078, 0.801, p?=?0.107). Narrative synthesis suggested that larger network size was associated with improved global functioning, but findings for affective symptoms and quality of life were mixed.

Conclusion

Psychosocial interventions which support individuals to build and maintain social networks may improve outcomes in schizophrenia. The review findings are cross-sectional and thus causal direction cannot be inferred. Further research is required to examine temporal associations between network characteristics and outcomes in schizophrenia and to test theoretical models relating to explanatory or mediating mechanisms.

     

Circulating miR-126 and miR-130a levels correlate with lower disease risk,disease severity,and reduced inflammatory cytokine levels in acute ischemic stroke patients

To investigate the correlations of five angiogenesis-related miRNA (miR-126, miR-130a, miR-222, miR-218, and miR-185) expression levels with risk, severity, and inflammatory cytokines levels in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. A total of 148 AIS patients and 148 age- and gender-matched controls were consecutively enrolled. Blood samples were collected from AIS patients and controls, and plasma was separated for miRNAs and cytokine level detection. Plasma levels of miRNAs were evaluated by real-time qPCR method, and inflammatory cytokine levels were detected using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Plasma miR-126 and miR-130a expression levels in AIS patients were lower than those of controls, while the levels of miR-222, miR-218, and miR-185 were elevated in AIS patients compared with controls. After pooling the five miRNA expression levels together, the area under the curve (AUC) for predicting AIS risk was 0.840 (95% CI 0.795–0.885) with a sensitivity of 83.8% and a specificity of 69.6% at the best cut-off point. Plasma miR-126 (r?=???0.402, P?<?0.001) and miR-130a (r?=???0.161, P?=?0.050) levels were negatively correlated with NIHSS scores, while plasma miR-218 level was positively correlated with NIHSS scores (r?=?0.471, P?<?0.001). Most importantly, plasma miR-126 expression was negatively correlated with TNF-α (r?=???0.168, P?=?0.041), IL-1β (r?=???0.246, P?=?0.003), and IL-6 (r?=???0.147, P?=?0.035) levels, while miR-130a expression was negatively correlated with TNF-α (r?=???0.287, P?<?0.001), IL-1β (r?=???0.168, P?=?0.041), and IL-6 (r?=???0.239, P?=?0.003) expression levels and positively associated with IL-10 level (r?=?0.261, P?=?0.001). Circulating miR-126 and miR-130a levels correlate with lower disease risk, decreased disease severity, and reduced inflammatory cytokine levels in AIS patients.     

An Adapted Measure of Sibling Attachment: Factor Structure and Internal Consistency of the Sibling Attachment Inventory in Youth

Parent-youth and peer relationship inventories based on attachment theory measure communication, trust, and alienation, yet sibling relationships have been overlooked. We developed the Sibling Attachment Inventory and evaluated its psychometric properties in a sample of 172 youth ages 10–14 years. We adapted the 25-item Sibling Attachment Inventory from the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-Revised peer measure. Items loaded onto three factors, identified as communication, trust, and alienation, α?=?0.93, 0.90, and 0.76, respectively. Sibling trust and alienation correlated with depression (r _s ?=??0.33, r _s ?=?0.48) and self-worth (r _s ?=?0.23; r _s ?=??0.32); sibling trust and alienation correlated with depression after controlling for parent trust and parent alienation (r _s ?=??0.23, r _s ?=?0.22). Preliminary analyses showed good internal consistency, construct validity, and incremental predictive validity. Following replication of these properties, this measure can facilitate large cohort assessments of sibling attachment.     

Assessment of Protein Prenylation Pathway in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disorder with several genetic and environmental factors being implicated in its pathogenesis. Protein prenylation as one of the important posttranslational modifications of proteins has crucial role in immune system regulation. In the current case–control study, we compared expression of five genes coding for the different subunits of proteins implicated in protein prenylation in 50 Iranian MS patients with those of healthy subjects. No significant difference has been found in FNTA and PGGT1B expressions between cases and controls. Spearman correlation analysis between FNTA relative expression and disease duration showed significant correlation in male patients (r?=???0.671, P?=?0.024) but not female patients (r?=?0.253, P?=?0.12). FNTB expression was significantly higher in MS patients compared with healthy subjects. Spearman correlation analysis between FNTB relative expression and disease duration showed significant correlation in male patients (r?=??0.876, P?=?0.004) but not female patients (r?=?0.296, P?=?0.06). RABGGTA was significantly upregulated in total MS patients, total male patients, female patients aged between 30 and 40 and male patients aged >40 compared with corresponding control groups. RABGGTB was significantly downregulated in total MS patients, total female patients, and female patients aged >?40 compared with corresponding control groups. Totally, we demonstrated dysregulation of protein prenylation pathway in MS patients compared with healthy subjects. Future studies are needed to find the clinical implication of this pathway in MS patients.     

Expression analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">GRIN2B</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">BDNF</Emphasis>, and <Emphasis Type="Italic">IL-1β</Emphasis> genes in the whole blood of epileptic patients

Epilepsy is a brain disorder with a global prevalence of 1%. It has been attributed to genetics and environmental factors. Despite efforts to identify the molecular pathology of epilepsy, the underlying mechanism is not understood yet. This study was carried out to compare GRIN2B, BDNF, and IL-1β gene expressions in 50 patients suffering from generalized epilepsy with tonic-colonic seizures and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects using TaqMan Real-time PCR. Our results demonstrated significant upregulation of these genes in people with epilepsy compared with healthy subjects. We also found a positive correlation between GRIN2B and BDNF expression (r²=0.4619, p?<?0.0001), BDNF and IL-1β expression (r²?=?0.515, p?<?0.0001), and GRIN2B and IL-1β gene expressions (r²?=?0.666, p?<?0.0001) which implies the possibility to estimate the expression level of these genes by assessment of expression of one of them. Considering the results of the previous animal studies which showed upregulation of these genes in brain tissues of epileptic animals, the expression levels of GRIN2B, BDNF, and IL-1β in blood samples might be related to their expression in brain samples. Future studies are needed to assess the role of these genes in the pathogenesis of epilepsy and evaluate whether altered expression of these genes along with imaging methods can facilitate subtyping the epilepsy.     

Expression Analysis of Vitamin D Signaling Pathway Genes in Epileptic Patients

Vitamin D deficiency has been detected in epileptic patients. Vitamin D participates in neuroprotection, brain cell proliferation, and differentiation. Consequently, vitamin D supplementation has been suggested as an alternative treatment in epileptic patients. We aimed at assessment of vitamin D signaling pathway in epileptic patients. In the present study, we evaluated vitamin D serum concentration as well as expression of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene and genes encoding for vitamin D activating enzyme 1-alpha-hydroxylase (CYP27B1) and deactivating enzyme 24-hyroxylase (CYP24A1) in epileptic patients compared with healthy individuals. We found significant lower levels of vitamin D in epileptic patients compared with healthy subjects. Expression analyses showed significant downregulation of VDR expression in peripheral blood of epileptic patients compared with healthy subjects (relative expression (REx)?=?0.16, P?<?0.001). However, there was no significant difference in CYP24A1 expression between epileptic patients and normal subjects. CYP27B1 expression analysis showed significant upregulation in male patients aged between 30 and 40 (REx?=?5.43, P?=?0.013). After using two-way ANCOVA for adjusting the effects of sex and age, there was a statistically significant difference in the VDR expression values between patient and control groups (P?<?0.001). Spearman’s correlation analysis showed no significant correlation between genes expression levels and patients’ age or vitamin D serum concentrations. However, we found significant correlations between VDR expression levels and CYP24A1/ CYP27B1 expression levels in epileptic patients (r?=?0.435 and P?<?0.001; r?=?0.26 and P?=?0.02 respectively). There was also a significant correlation between the expression levels of CYP24A1 and CYP27B1 (r?=?0.349 and P?=?0.001). Our study shows a possible role for VDR in the pathogenesis of epilepsy.     

Cell-free mitochondrial DNA in CSF is associated with early viral rebound,inflammation, and severity of neurocognitive deficits in HIV infection

Cell-free mitochondiral DNA (mtDNA) is an immunogenic molecule associated with many inflammatory conditions. We evaluated the relationship between cell-free mtDNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and neurocognitive performance and inflammation during HIV infection. In a cross-sectional analysis, we evaluated the association of mtDNA levels with clinical assessments, inflammatory markers, and neurocognitive performance in 28 HIV-infected individuals. In CSF, we measured mtDNA levels by droplet digital PCR, and soluble CD14 and CD163, neurofilament light, and neopterin by ELISA. In blood and CSF, we measured soluble IP-10, MCP-1, TNF-α, and IL-6 by ELISA, and intracellular expression of IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α in CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells by flow cytometry. We also evaluated the relationship between CSF pleocytosis and mtDNA longitudinally in another set of five individuals participating in an antiretroviral treatment (ART) interruption study. Cell-free CSF mtDNA levels strongly correlated with neurocognitive performance among individuals with neurocognitive impairment (NCI) (r?=?0.77, p?=?0.001). CSF mtDNA also correlated with levels of IP-10 in CSF (r?=?0.70, p?=?0.007) and MCP-1 in blood plasma (r?=?0.66, p?=?0.01) in individuals with NCI. There were no significant associations between inflammatory markers and mtDNA in subjects without NCI, and levels of mtDNA did not differ between subjects with and without NCI. MtDNA levels preceded pleocytosis and HIV RNA following ART interruption. Cell-free mtDNA in CSF was strongly associated with the severity of neurocognitive dysfunction and inflammation only in individuals with NCI. Our findings suggest that within a subset of subjects cell-free CSF mtDNA is associated with inflammation and degree of NCI.     

Subtype associations with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder in China

Factors associated with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) include CD4⁺ nadir and count, HIV RNA level, and HIV-1 subtype. Here, we investigated demographical and clinical markers with respect to HAND in a homogenous Chinese population. Individuals with HAND (global deficit score ≥0.5) had lower nadir (p?<?0.01) and CD4⁺ counts (p?=?0.03). HAND was also associated with AIDS (p?<?0.01), but subtype was not (p?=?0.198). Furthermore, worse impairment correlated with higher viral diversity (r?=?0.16, p?<?0.01), lower nadir (r?=??0.17, p?<?0.01), and CD4⁺ counts (r?=??0.11, p?=?0.01). These remained significant even when correcting for subtype. Our findings suggest that subtype does not have a major impact on HAND.     

Thiol/Disulfide Homeostasis in Schizophrenic Patients

To determine serum thiol/disulfide homeostasis in schizophrenic patients. Serum native thiol, total thiol, and disulfide levels measuremented in the patients with 42 schizophrenia and 42 the healthy subjects. Serum native thiol, total thiol, and disulfide levels measuremented with a novel automated method. The thiol/disulfide ratio was also calculated. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess the patients. The native thiol (p < 0.001) and total thiol (p < 0.001) levels, and the native thiol/total thiol (p = 0.018) ratio were significantly lower, whereas disulfide/native thiol (p = 0.002) and disulfide/total thiol (p = 0.002) ratio significantly increased in the schizophrenia patient group compared to the control group. A statistically significantly positive relationship was found between PANSS positive subscale with disulfide (r = 0.43, p = 0.01). Significantly positive relationships were found between PANSS total subscale with disulfide/total thiol (r = 0.308, p = 0.047). Our results suggest that the disulfide/thiol ratio is significantly greater in schizophrenia patients and disulfide/thiol ratio is closely related with the patients’ clinical symptoms.     

Correlation of occupational stress with depression,anxiety, and sleep in Korean dentists: cross-sectional study

Background

This study aimed to investigate the degree of occupational stress and the clinical mental state of dentists. In addition, we investigated the correlation of occupational stress with depression, anxiety, and sleep among dentists in Korea.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey on 231 dentists was conducted using the Doctor Job Stress Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), State-Trait Anxiety Index (STAI), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Correlation of occupational stress with mental health was investigated by adjusted multiple regression analysis.

Results

The scores of CES-D, STAI, and PSQI revealed a significant correlation with the Doctor Job Stress Scale (t?=?3.93, P?<?0.0001; t?=?4.05, P?<?0.0001; t?=?4.18, P?<?0.0001, respectively). In particular, patient factors and clinical responsibility/judgment factors were significantly associated with depression (t?=?2.80, P?=?0.0056; t?=?4.93, P?<?0.0001, respectively), anxiety (t?=?2.35, P?=?0.0195; t?=?5.11, P?<?0.0001, respectively), and sleep (t?=?3.78, P?=?0.0002; t?=?4.30, P?<?0.0001, respectively), whereas work factors were not associated with any mental health state.

Conclusions

This study confirms that dentists as professions experience more severe mental states. For successful mental health care among dentists, stress management focusing on interpersonal relationship with patients and responsibility as an expert rather than the intensity of work should be considered.

     

Bone mineral density in pediatric patients with meningomyelocele

Purpose

The aim of this study was to determine the bone mineral density (BMD) and the factors leading to reduction in BMD in children diagnosed with meningomyelocele.

Methods

A total of 31 patients with meningomyelocele (mean (SD) age, 8.5 (3.9) years; 51.6 % were females) and 22 healthy children were included. BMD of femoral neck and spinal L1–L4 levels and markers for bone metabolism were recorded.

Results

BMD of femoral neck (p?=?0.001) and spinal L1–L4 (p?=?0.01), serum calcium (p?=?0.031), and urinary deoxypyridinoline (p?=?0.015) levels were significantly lower in patients than in controls. Mobilization was significantly reduced in lumbar (p?=?0.001) and thoracic (p?=?0.002) level meningomyelocele compared to controls, while a significant positive correlation was noted between BMD of spinal L1–L4 and mobility (r?=?0.58, p?=?0.015).

Conclusions

Our findings suggest a decrease in BMD in meningomyelocele patients being associated with osteoporosis rather than nutritional and hormonal factors and the negative impact of higher levels of lesion on the mobility.

     

Polymorphisms in <Emphasis Type="Italic">CAMKK2</Emphasis> may predict sensory neuropathy in African HIV patients

HIV-associated sensory neuropathy (HIV-SN) is the most common neurological condition associated with HIV. HIV-SN has characteristics of an inflammatory pathology caused by the virus itself and/or by antiretroviral treatment (ART). Here, we assess the impact of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a cluster of three genes that affect inflammation and neuronal repair: P2X7R, P2X4R and CAMKK2. HIV-SN status was assessed using the Brief Peripheral Neuropathy Screening tool, with SN defined by bilateral symptoms and signs. Forty-five SNPs in P2X7R, P2X4R and CAMKK2 were genotyped using TaqMan fluorescent probes, in DNA samples from 153 HIV⁺ black Southern African patients exposed to stavudine. Haplotypes were derived using the fastPHASE algorithm, and SNP genotypes and haplotypes associated with HIV-SN were identified. Optimal logistic regression models included demographics (age and height), with SNPs (model p?<?0.0001; R ²?=?0.19) or haplotypes (model p?<?0.0001; R ²?=?0.18, n?=?137 excluding patients carrying CAMKK2 haplotypes perfectly associated with SN). Overall, CAMKK2 exhibited the strongest associations with HIV-SN, with two SNPs and six haplotypes predicting SN status in black Southern Africans. This gene warrants further study.     

Evaluation of cognitive functions of juvenile myoclonic epileptic patients by magnetic resonance spectroscopy and neuropsychiatric cognitive tests concurrently

Our aim in this research is investigating the hypothesis of biochemical changes in frontal cortex and thalamocortical pathways in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) and the interaction between the biochemical changes and cortical functions. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was applied to 20 JME patients and 20 controls for measuring N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), N-acetyl aspartate to creatine ratio (NAA/Cr), Glutamine and Glutamate (GLX), Glutamine–Glutamate to creatine (GLX/Cr), Choline containing compounds (Cho) and Choline to creatine (Cho/Cr) levels. Neuropsychological cognitive tests for linguistic and visual attention, linguistic and visual memory, visuospatial and executive functions were applied to all participants. NAA and NAA/Cr concentrations were found lower in bilateral frontal and thalamic regions in JME group as compared with the control group (p < 0.05). There was no difference in frontal and thalamic GLX, GLX/Cr, Cho, Cho/Cr levels in between JME patients and controls (p > 0.05). JME patients were found more unsuccessful than the controls in attention, memory, visuospatial function, verbal fluency, Trail B test and executive functions, stroop test, clock drawing test and Trail A test (p < 0.05). Prefrontal NAA/Cr level was positively related to visual attention, memory, stroop test and thalamic NAA/Cr level was positively related to linguistic memory and Wisconsin card sorting test in JME patients. This research highlights regional brain changes and cognitive decline in JME patients and suggests that MRS may be a sensitive technique for showing subclinical cognitive changes.     

Monogenic disorders that mimic the phenotype of Rett syndrome

Rett syndrome (RTT) is caused by mutations in methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2), but defects in a handful of other genes (e.g., CDKL5, FOXG1, MEF2C) can lead to presentations that resemble, but do not completely mirror, classical RTT. In this study, we attempted to identify other monogenic disorders that share features with RTT. We performed a retrospective chart review on n?=?319 patients who had undergone clinical whole exome sequencing (WES) for further etiological evaluation of neurodevelopmental diagnoses that remained unexplained despite extensive prior workup. From this group, we characterized those who (1) possessed features that were compatible with RTT based on clinical judgment, (2) subsequently underwent MECP2 sequencing and/or MECP2 deletion/duplication analysis with negative results, and (3) ultimately arrived at a diagnosis other than RTT with WES. n?=?7 patients had clinical features overlapping RTT with negative MECP2 analysis but positive WES providing a diagnosis. These seven patients collectively possessed pathogenic variants in six different genes: two in KCNB1 and one each in FOXG1, IQSEC2, MEIS2, TCF4, and WDR45. n?=?2 (both with KCNB1 variants) fulfilled criteria for atypical RTT. RTT-associated features included the following: loss of hand or language skills (n?=?3; IQSEC2, KCNB1 x 2); disrupted sleep (n?=?4; KNCB1, MEIS2, TCF4, WDR45); stereotyped hand movements (n?=?5; FOXG1, KNCB1 x 2, MEIS2, TCF4); bruxism (n?=?3; KCNB1 x 2; TCF4); and hypotonia (n?=?7). Clinically based diagnoses can be misleading, evident by the increasing number of genetic conditions associated with features of RTT with negative MECP2 mutations.     

Short video interventions to reduce mental health stigma: a multi-centre randomised controlled trial in nursing high schools

Background

We aimed to assess whether short video interventions could reduce stigma among nursing students.

Methods

A multi-centre, randomised controlled trial was conducted. Participating schools were randomly selected and randomly assigned to receive: (1) an informational leaflet, (2) a short video intervention or (3) a seminar involving direct contact with a service user. The Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness (CAMI) and Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale (RIBS) were selected as primary outcome measures. SPANOVA models were built and Cohen’s d calculated to assess the overall effects in each of the trial arms.

Results

Compared to the baseline, effect sizes immediately after the intervention were small in the flyer arm (CAMI: d?=?0.25; RIBS: d?=?0.07), medium in the seminar arm (CAMI: d?=?0.61; RIBS: d?=?0.58), and medium in the video arm (CAMI: d?=?0.49 RIBS: d?=?0.26; n?=?237). Effect sizes at the follow-up were vanishing in the flyer arm (CAMI: d?=?0.05; RIBS: d?=?0.04), medium in the seminar arm (CAMI: d?=?0.43; RIBS: d?=?0.26; n?=?254), and small in the video arm (CAMI: d?=?0.22 RIBS: d?=?0.21; n?=?237).

Conclusion

Seminar had the strongest and relatively stable effect on students’ attitudes and intended behaviour, but the effect of short video interventions was also considerable and stable over time. Since short effective video interventions are relatively cheap, conveniently accessible and easy to disseminate globally, we recommend them for further research and development.

     

A Novel <Emphasis Type="Italic">SYNJ1</Emphasis> Mutation in a Tunisian Family with Juvenile Parkinson’s Disease Associated with Epilepsy

We investigated the effect of a set of SNPs within 5 genes identified by GWASs as possible risk genes for schizophrenia (SCZ) in two independent samples, comprising 176 SCZ patients and 326 controls of Korean origin and 83 SCZ patients and 194 controls of Italian origin. The PANSS was used to assess psychopathology severity and antipsychotic response (AR). Several clinical features were assessed at recruitment. In the Korean sample, the SP4 gene haplotype rs2282888-rs2237304-rs10272006-rs12673091 (p?=?0.02) was associated with SCZ. In the Italian sample, PPP3CC rs11780915 (genotypic: p?=?0.006; allelic: p?=?0.001) and rs2249098 (genotypic: p?=?0.0004; allelic: p?=?0.00006) were associated with SCZ, as well as the PPP3CC rs11780915-rs10108011-rs2249098 and the ZNF804A rs7603001-rs1344706 haplotypes (p?=?0.03 and p?=?0.02). Several RORA variants were associated with AR in both the samples, although only the haplotype rs1020729-rs1871858 in the Korean sample survived to the statistical correction (p?=?0.01). Exploratory analyses suggested that: (1) PPP3CC, ST8SIA2, and SP4 genes may modulate psychotic symptoms, and (2) RORA and ZNF804A genes may influence AR. Our results partially support a role for these genes in SCZ and AR. Analyses in well phenotyped samples may help to refine the role of the genes identified by GWASs.     

Accelerating Infinite Ensemble of Clustering by Pivot Features

The infinite ensemble clustering (IEC) incorporates both ensemble clustering and representation learning by fusing infinite basic partitions and shows appealing performance in the unsupervised context. However, it needs to solve the linear equation system with the high time complexity in proportion to O(d³) where d is the concatenated dimension of many clustering results. Inspired by the cognitive characteristic of human memory that can pay attention to the pivot features in a more compressed data space, we propose an acceleration version of IEC (AIEC) by extracting the pivot features and learning the multiple mappings to reconstruct them, where the linear equation system can be solved with the time complexity O(dr²) (r ? d). Experimental results on the standard datasets including image and text ones show that our algorithm AIEC improves the running time of IEC greatly but achieves the comparable clustering performance.     

Determinants of Anxiety and Depression Among University Students of Lahore

Benefits from an improved understanding of mental health of young adults, particularly students, affecting their academic performance are likely to be numerous. Thus, we aimed at evaluating anxiety and depression among annual and semester university students of Lahore, Pakistan. A cross-sectional study of 7 months duration was designed by enrolling a total of 404 students from two private and two public sector universities of Lahore. We found significant differences in frequency distribution with regard to age (p?=?0.003), marital status (p?=?0.01), living status (p?=?0.004), and reasons affecting of mental health (p?=?0.004) between annual and semester system students. Students enrolled in annual system exhibited higher odds of anxiety, mild (OR 2.7, p?=?0.019), and extremely severe (OR 2.6, p?=?0.002), compared to semester students. In overall assessment of university students, after univariate analysis, multivariate analysis demonstrated significant association of depression with male students (OR 2.3, p?=?0.001), age?≤?22 years (OR 2.8, p?=?0.0005) and living status (OR 5.96, p?=?0.0005). Similarly, as for anxiety, only male students demonstrated higher odds of anxiety (OR 2.8, p?=?0.0005). As expected, compared to a single reason, multiple reasons affecting student’s mental health demonstrated significant association with all three determinants of mental health, i.e., stress (OR 0.36, p?=?0.0005), anxiety (OR 0.31, p?=?0.0005), and depression (OR 0.5, p?=?0.0005). Taken together, these data suggested higher prevalence of anxiety among annual system students, mainly because of studies, while in overall assessment male students and students at an early stage of their life at the university were susceptible to anxiety and depression, probably due to multiple reasons affecting their mental health.