Cross-sectional observation of the relationship of depressive symptoms with lifestyles and parents’ status among Japanese junior high school students

Objectives

Students’ depressive symptoms might be related to their own risk factors and to their parents’ status. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship of depressive symptoms with lifestyle variables and parents’ psychological and socio-demographic status among Japanese junior high school students.

Methods

Of 477 students and their parents, 409 (85.7 %) students and 314 (65.8 %) parents participated in the study. Students answered self-reported questionnaire on depressive symptoms, their heights and weights, subjective stress, body dissatisfaction, lifestyles including sleep duration and extracurricular physical activity in school and other physical activity outside the school, and nutritional intake. Parents responded to questionnaire on depressive symptoms and socio-demographic status.

Results

The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 24.9 %. Students with depressive symptoms were more likely to have stress. Students in shorter and longer sleep duration groups were more likely to have depressive symptoms. The students with depressive symptoms had smaller amount of energy intake than did those without depressive symptoms. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed significant relationships between students’ depressive symptoms and some independent variables. Sex, subjective stress, “almost-never”-categorized extracurricular physical activity in school and other physical activity outside the school, and having a parent with depressive symptoms were significantly associated with students’ depressive symptoms.

Conclusion

Reducing mental stress and taking care of lifestyles, especially, “almost-everyday”-categorized extracurricular physical activity in school and other physical activity outside the school, may have benefits for students’ mental health, and having a parent with depressive symptoms may be associated with students’ depressive symptoms.

     

Association of XRCC1 polymorphisms with arsenic methylation

The associations of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (p.Arg194Trp, p.Arg280His, p.Pro206Pro, and p.Arg399Gln) in X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 with urinary arsenic metabolites and 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were investigated in a Vietnamese population (n = 100). Individuals with genotype AA in p.Pro206Pro showed significantly higher urinary monomethylarsonic acid (MMA^V) and lower dimethylarsinic acid (DMA^V)/MMA^V ratio than genotype AG. As for p.Arg399Gln, both Arg/Arg homozygous subjects and Arg/Gln heterozygous individuals showed a significantly higher urinary inorganic As percentage and lower 8-OHdG concentrations than Gln/Gln homozygous. Our results suggested that Arg399Gln is a functional SNP that may be related to DNA repair activity.     

A case of mucinous cystadenoma of the pancreas resected after a 10-year follow-up

A 40-year-old woman was hospitalized because of acute pancreatitis. CT showed a monolocular cyst thought to be a pseudocyst. The patient was followed as an outpatient. The size of the cyst decreased 6 years later. Ultrasonography 10 years later demonstrated an enlarged cyst with a cyst-in-cyst formation. A tendency to increase in size and the irregular wall thickening indicated that the cyst was a malignant mucinous cystic neoplasm (MCN) and distal pancreatectomy was performed. The tumor was diagnosed histologically as a mucinous cystadenoma. A case of MCN resected after long-term follow-up is extremely rare. The present case is thought to be important for elucidation of the natural history of MCNs.     

A case of fulminant type 1 diabetes mellitus accompanied by myocarditis

This report presents the case of a 47-year-old female patient with fulminant type 1 diabetes mellitus and myocarditis. Following a high fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, diabetic ketoacidosis occurred and she was transferred to the hospital. The plasma glucose level was 63.6 mmol/L and HbA1c was 7.0%. C-peptide was undetectable in her plasma. Blood gas analysis showed a pH of 6.99. Antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase nor insulinoma associated antigen-2 were not detected. She was diagnosed to have fulminant type 1 diabetes mellitus. Her electrocardiogram showed diffuse ST-segment elevations on the second day of admission, along with a positive troponin test. However coronary angiography revealed neither occlusion nor stenosis of the cardiac arteries. An endomyocardial biopsy revealed hypertrophic cardiomyocytes with a disarrangement of myofibers and the focal accumulation of mononuclear cells in the stroma, thus suggesting myocarditis or mild myocarditic change. Viruses are an important cause of myocarditis and the preceding flu-like symptoms indicate the association of viral infection with myocarditis in this case. The mechanisms by which fulminant type 1 diabetes mellitus occurs is still uncertain, but the presence of islet injury accompanied by myocardial inflammation in the current case suggested that a viral infection accounted for the onset of this type of diabetes.