Padillafriedman1389

There is compelling evidence that depressive symptoms (depression hereafter) are common in university students and are considerably influenced by the given socioeconomic context. Being former European colonies, Macau and Hong Kong are China's special administrative regions, with different sociocultural and economic background compared to mainland China. This study compared the prevalence of depression in university students between Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China and examined the association between depression and quality of life (QOL). The Beck Depression Inventory-II and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) were used to measure depression and QOL, respectively. Altogether, 2,312 university students participated in this study. The overall prevalence of depression was 28.9%; 35.2% in Macau, 41.0% in Hong Kong, and 16.8% in mainland China. Compared to the "No depression" group, students with depression had significantly lower QOL scores in the physical, psychological, sommon among Chinese university students, particularly in Macau and Hong Kong. Considering the negative impact of depression on QOL, regular screening and effective treatments should be offered to this population.In this study, we developed a continuum theory of the charge transport in dielectrics by trapped electrons and holes, which takes into account two separate contributions of the current of trapped charge carriers the drift part and the diffusion one. It was shown that drift current is mostly dominant in the bulk, while the diffusion one reaches significant values near contacts. A comparison with other theoretical models and experiments shows a good agreement. The model can be extended to two- and three-dimensional systems. The developed model, formulated in partial differential equations, can be numerically implemented in the finite element method code.Exposure to the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) has been linked with immune disorders and increased tumour risk. Our previous work in activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells demonstrated that exposure to "low-dose" BPA diminished telomerase activity via an ER/GPR30-ERK signalling pathway. Leukocyte telomerase activity and telomere maintenance are crucial for normal immune function and homeostasis. We thus here further studied the effects of BPA on human T cell subpopulations. selleck chemicals llc Exposure to 0.3-3 nM BPA, i. e. at doses in the realm of human exposure, notably reduced telomerase activity in activated CD8 + T but not CD4 + T cells in a non-monotonic response pattern as determined by the TRAP-ELISA assay. Under long-term BPA exposure, significant telomere length shortening, reduction in mitochondrial DNA copy number, cell proliferation and IFN-γ as well as hTERT protein suppression could be observed in CD8 + lymphocytes, as analysed by qRT-PCR, flow cytometry and western blot analysis. This study extends our previous in vitro findings that "low-dose" BPA has potential negative effects on healthy human cytotoxic T cell response. These results might merit some special attention to further investigate chronic BPA exposure in the context of adaptive immune response dysfunction and early onset of cancer in man.The hypovitaminosis D epidemic is a global health problem. Our aim was to assess the prevalence and potential risk factors of hypovitaminosis D among pregnant women on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Cross-sectional analysis involved 793 healthy pregnant women (35.3 ± 5.0 years) participating in ECLIPSES, a multicenter randomized trial. Socio-demographic, obstetric, anthropometric, lifestyle, dietary variables and blood draw was collected in the first trimester. Vitamin D deficiency was identified in 50.2% and insufficiency in 30.3% of pregnant women. The mean vitamin D level in the overall sample was 33.9 nmol/L (SD, 17.0). Multivariable logistic regression analysis applying AIC-based backward selection identified excess weight during the 1st trimester (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) (OR = 1.950, 95% CI = 1.409, 2.699), Arab ethnic group/dark skin colour (OR = 4.005, 95% CI = 2.488, 6.447), winter/spring (OR = 4.319, 95% CI = 3.112, 5.994), and consumption of milk (OR = 0.754, 95% CI = 0.572, 0.993) and yogurt (OR = 0.635, 95% CI = 0.436, 0.922) as independent risk factors for vitamin D deficiency. All of these factors (except yogurt consumption) and physical activity were independently associated with vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency risk in the final multivariable model (all p  less then  0.05). All these factors and social class were the most important determinants of circulating 25(OH)D concentrations. Our results confirm a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency among pregnant women from the eastern Mediterranean coast.To compare gut microbiota of healthy infants that were exclusively breast-fed or formula-fed, we recruited 91 infants, who were assigned into three different groups and fed by breast milk (30 babies), formula A (30 babies) or formula B (31 babies) exclusively for more than 4 months after birth. Faecal bacterial composition was tested. Among different groups, α diversity was lower in breast-fed group than formula-fed groups in 40 days of age, but increased significantly in 6 months of age. The Bifidobacterium represented the most predominant genus and Enterobacteriaceae the second in all groups. In 40 days of age, Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides were significantly higher, while Streptococcus and Enterococcus were significantly lower in breast-fed group than they were in formula A-fed group. Lachnospiraceae was lower in breast-fed than formula B-fed group. Veillonella and Clostridioides were lower in breast-fed than formula-fed groups. In 3 months of age there were less Lachnospiraceae and Clostridioides in breast-fed group than formula-fed groups. There were also significant differences of microbiota between formula A-fed and formula B-fed groups. Those differences may have impacts on their long-term health.The field of neuropharmacology has not yet achieved a full understanding of how the brain transitions between states of consciousness and drug-induced unconsciousness, or anesthesia. Many small molecules are used to alter human consciousness, but the repertoire of underlying molecular targets, and thereby the genes, are incompletely understood. Here we describe a robust larval zebrafish model of anesthetic action, from sedation to general anesthesia. We use loss of movement under three different conditions, spontaneous movement, electrical stimulation or a tap, as a surrogate for sedation and general anesthesia, respectively. Using these behavioral patterns, we find that larval zebrafish respond to inhalational and IV anesthetics at concentrations similar to mammals. Additionally, known sedative drugs cause loss of spontaneous larval movement but not to the tap response. This robust, highly tractable vertebrate model can be used in the detection of genes and neural substrates involved in the transition from consciousness to unconsciousness.Motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) occur unilaterally and progress with asymmetry, while progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and multiple system atrophy of the parkinsonism subtype (MSA-P) lack this tendency. We assessed the laterality of specific binding ratios (SBRs) on dopamine transporter single-photon emission computed tomography (DAT-SPECT) for the differential diagnosis of these diseases in 311 PD, 33 PSP, 20 MSA-P, and 137 control patients. The average SBR in PD was higher than that in PSP (P = 0.035). Compared with Hoehn-Yahr (HY) stages, the average SBR in PD with HY stage I was only higher than that in PSP (P  less then  0.001). SBR laterality in PD with HY stage I was significantly higher than that in PSP (P = 0.001). This difference was not observed in PD with HY stage II. The average and laterality of SBRs in MSA-P were similar to those in PD and PSP. The asymmetry indices were similar among PD, PSP, and MSA-P. These data suggest that PSP shows a pattern of SBRs different from that in PD, attributed to HY stage I in PD. The limited usefulness of DAT-SPECT may be explained by the low discrimination between PD with bilateral motor symptoms and PSP.The MHC class I-like molecule CD1d is a nonpolymorphic antigen-presenting glycoprotein, and its ligands include glycolipids, such as α-GalCer. The complexes between CD1d and ligands activate natural killer T cells by T cell receptor recognition, leading to the secretion of various cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-17A, etc.). Herein, we report structure-activity relationship studies of α-GalCer derivatives containing various functional groups in their lipid acyl chains. Several derivatives have been identified as potent CD1d ligands displaying higher cytokine induction levels and/or unique cytokine polarization. The studies also indicated that flexibility of the lipid moiety can affect the binding affinity, the total cytokine production level and/or cytokine biasing. Based on our immunological evaluation and investigation of physicochemical properties, we chose bisamide- and Bz amide-containing derivatives 2 and 3, and evaluated their in vivo efficacy in a DSS-induced model of ulcerative colitis. The derivative 3 that exhibits Th2- and Th17-biasing responses, demonstrated significant protective effects against intestinal inflammation in the DSS-induced model, after a single intraperitoneal injection.Bacterial proteins exported to the cell surface play key cellular functions. However, despite the interest to study the localisation of surface proteins such as adhesins, transporters or hydrolases, monitoring their dynamics in live imaging remains challenging, due to the limited availability of fluorescent probes remaining functional after secretion. In this work, we used the Escherichia coli intimin and the Listeria monocytogenes InlB invasin as surface exposed scaffolds fused with the recently developed chemogenetic fluorescent reporter protein FAST. Using both membrane permeant (HBR-3,5DM) and non-permeant (HBRAA-3E) fluorogens that fluoresce upon binding to FAST, we demonstrated that fully functional FAST can be exposed at the cell surface and used to specifically tag the external side of the bacterial envelop in both diderm and monoderm bacteria. Our work opens new avenues to study the organization and dynamics of the bacterial cell surface proteins.Chemical fixation of CO2 as a C1 feedstock for producing value-added products is an important post-combustion technology reducing the CO2 emission. As it is an irreversible process, not considered for the CO2 capture and release. Overall, these chemical transformations also do not help to mitigate global warming, as the energy consumed in different forms is much higher than the amount of CO2 fixed by chemical reactions. Here we describe the development of re-generable chemical fixation of CO2 by spiroaziridine oxindole, where CO2 is captured (chemical fixation) under catalyst-free condition at room temperature both in aqueous and non-aqueous medium even directly from the slow stream of flue gas producing regioselectively spirooxazolidinyl oxindoles, a potential drug. The CO2-adduct is reversed back to the spiroaziridine releasing CO2 under mild conditions. Further both the fixation-defixation of CO2 can be repeated under near ambient conditions for several cycles in a single loop using a recyclable reagent.