Trait conscientiousness and the personality meta-trait stability are associated with regional white matter microstructure

Establishing the neural bases of individual differences in personality has been an enduring topic of interest. However, while a growing literature has sought to characterize grey matter correlates of personality traits, little attention to date has been focused on regional white matter correlates of personality, especially for the personality traits agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness. To rectify this gap in knowledge we used a large sample (n > 550) of older adults who provided data on both personality (International Personality Item Pool) and white matter tract-specific fractional anisotropy (FA) from diffusion tensor MRI. Results indicated that conscientiousness was associated with greater FA in the left uncinate fasciculus (β = 0.17, P < 0.001). We also examined links between FA and the personality meta-trait ‘stability’, which is defined as the common variance underlying agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism/emotional stability. We observed an association between left uncinate fasciculus FA and stability (β = 0.27, P < 0.001), which fully accounted for the link between left uncinate fasciculus FA and conscientiousness. In sum, these results provide novel evidence for links between regional white matter microstructure and key traits of human personality, specifically conscientiousness and the meta-trait, stability. Future research is recommended to replicate and address the causal directions of these associations.     

1—溴丙烷工厂工人健康状况调查及接触生物标记物的研究

目的 分析1-溴丙烷毒性并评价其危险度，探讨适宜的接触生物标记物，方法 对37名工人进行问卷调查。血液学指标和血生化指标的测定。包括垂体激素和性激素测定。以该工厂工人为接触组，食品厂工人为对照组，比较两组间的血浆，脶酸激酶（CK）活性和血浆肌酸激酶M亚基（CK-M）。尿中1-溴丙烷用气相色谱仪检测，个体暴露蓄积水平用个体采样器估测。结果 接触组工人出现眼，鼻，口腔，喉的粘膜刺激症状。部分工人出现眩晕，可能是神经系统的反应。结论 接触1-溴丙烷引起的主诉症状提示它能刺激上呼吸道粘膜，在约100mg/m^3浓度水平可影响中枢神经系统，尿1-溴丙烷浓度有望成为接触的生物标记物。     

DISC1 association, heterogeneity and interplay in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) has been associated with risk of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, autism and Asperger syndrome, but apart from in the original translocation family, true causal variants have yet to be confirmed. Here we report a harmonized association study for DISC1 in European cohorts of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We identify regions of significant association, demonstrate allele frequency heterogeneity and provide preliminary evidence for modifying interplay between variants. Whereas no associations survived permutation analysis in the combined data set, significant corrected associations were observed for bipolar disorder at rs1538979 in the Finnish cohorts (uncorrected P=0.00020; corrected P=0.016; odds ratio=2.73+/-95% confidence interval (CI) 1.42-5.27) and at rs821577 in the London cohort (uncorrected P=0.00070; corrected P=0.040; odds ratio=1.64+/-95% CI 1.23-2.19). The rs821577 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) showed evidence for increased risk within the combined European cohorts (odds ratio=1.27+/-95% CI 1.07-1.51), even though significant corrected association was not detected (uncorrected P=0.0058; corrected P=0.28). After conditioning the European data set on the two risk alleles, reanalysis revealed a third significant SNP association (uncorrected P=0.00050; corrected P=0.025). This SNP showed evidence for interplay, either increasing or decreasing risk, dependent upon the presence or absence of rs1538979 or rs821577. These findings provide further support for the role of DISC1 in psychiatric illness and demonstrate the presence of locus heterogeneity, with the effect that clinically relevant genetic variants may go undetected by standard analysis of combined cohorts.     

Common Genetic Variants Explain the Majority of the Correlation Between Height and Intelligence: The Generation Scotland Study

Greater height and higher intelligence test scores are predictors of better health outcomes. Here, we used molecular (single-nucleotide polymorphism) data to estimate the genetic correlation between height and general intelligence (g) in 6,815 unrelated subjects (median age 57, IQR 49–63) from the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study cohort. The phenotypic correlation between height and g was 0.16 (SE 0.01). The genetic correlation between height and g was 0.28 (SE 0.09) with a bivariate heritability estimate of 0.71. Understanding the molecular basis of the correlation between height and intelligence may help explain any shared role in determining health outcomes. This study identified a modest genetic correlation between height and intelligence with the majority of the phenotypic correlation being explained by shared genetic influences.     

电解治疗慢性前列腺炎8例

目的 观察电化学治疗慢性非细菌性前列腺炎的临床效果。方法 将前列腺电化学治疗仪电极经尿道留置在前列腺尿道部，膀胱内持续灌注生理盐水，以提供电化学反应之电解质及冲洗膀胱，通电后在电极周围形成电场，产生的电化学(强碱)反应使部分前列腺组织变性坏死，破坏膀胱颈部及前列腺部尿道丰富的α-肾上腺素能受体，解除痉孪，达治疗目的。结果 8例慢性非细菌性前列腺炎患者经电化学治疗后，尿路刺激等临床症状缓解，前列腺液涂片镜检示白细胞数量恢复正常。结论 电化学治疗慢性非细菌性前列腺炎的疗效有临床意义。     

A longitudinal study into the perceptions of caring and nursing among student nurses

A longitudinal study of a cohort of student nurses was undertaken in order to investigate whether changes in perceptions of nursing and caring take place and how perceptions of nursing and caring are related. The Caring Dimensions Inventory (CDI) and the Nursing Dimensions Inventory (NDI) were employed for data collection at entry to nurse education and after 12 months. There were significant changes in the scores of a range of items in both inventories which suggested that student nurses lose some of their idealism about nursing and caring after 12 months in nurse education. While the overall ranking of items in the inventories was very similar, it was possible to distinguish between the inventories at entry to training and to observe a change, particularly in the CDI, over time by means of Mokken scaling. Nursing and caring would appear to become more synonymous to the student nurses after 12 months in nurse education. Factors scores, for factors identified in the CDI in a previous study, were used to investigate whether these scores changed at 12 months into nurse education compared with entry. No significant changes were detected.     

The role of ECE1 variants in cognitive ability in old age and Alzheimer's disease risk

The β-amyloid peptide may play a central role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. We have evaluated variants in seven Aβ-degrading genes (ACE, ECE1, ECE2, IDE, MME, PLAU, and TF) for association with AD risk in the Genetic and Environmental Risk in Alzheimer's Disease Consortium 1 (GERAD1) cohort, and with three cognitive phenotypes in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC1936), using 128 and 121 SNPs, respectively. In GERAD1, we identified a significant association between a four-SNP intragenic ECE1 haplotype and risk of AD in individuals that carried at least one APOE ε4 allele (P?=?0.00035, odds ratio?=?1.61). In LBC1936, we identified a significant association between a different two-SNP ECE1 intragenic haplotype and non-verbal reasoning in individuals lacking the APOE ε4 allele (P?=?0.00036, β?=?-0.19). Both results showed a trend towards significance after permutation (0.05?A (rs213045). We observed significantly less expression from the 338A variant in two human neuroblastoma cell lines and speculate that this promoter may be subject to tissue-specific regulation. ? 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.