The risk of depression has risen in the general population during the COVID-19 epidemic. This study was conducted to explore risk and protective factors associated with depression among the general ...population uninfected by COVID-19.
A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,500 representative South Korean citizens aged 19-65 years through an anonymous online survey. Depression was defined as a Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score of 10 or higher. Other questionnaires included one measuring psycho-behavioural and social changes, and stress, due to COVID-19, a six-item version of the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6), and a three-item version of the UCLA loneliness scale.
Of the 1492 participants not infected by COVID-19, 312 (20.9%) exhibited depression. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that depression was positively associated with COVID-19-related stress and psycho-behavioural variables such as disturbances in eating and sleeping, younger age, smoking, underlying mental illness, and loneliness scale scores. In contrast, exercise three or more times per week and GQ-6 scale scores were inversely associated with depression.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining daily routines including eating, sleeping, and regular exercise and focusing on gratitude may be important for the prevention of depression. In addition, more attention should be paid to vulnerable populations, including young people, those with mental illnesses, and smokers, who might be more susceptible to depression.
Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is related to an increased risk of suicide. Although both diabetes and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) pathway are closely associated with ACS and suicide, ...the effects of these factors on suicidal behavior in ACS patients have not been assessed. We investigated the individual and interaction effects of diabetes and BDNF-related markers, namely the serum BDNF (sBDNF) level and the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, on suicidal ideation (SI) in ACS patients. The presence of diabetes was ascertained, and sBDNF levels and the presence of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism were measured in 969 patients within 2 weeks after an ACS episode. 711 patients were followed up at 1 year after the ACS episode. SI was assessed using the relevant items of the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale at baseline (acute SI) and the 1-year follow-up (chronic SI). Significant individual effects of low sBDNF levels were found on acute SI. The presence of both diabetes and a low sBDNF level or the BDNF Met/Met genotype was associated with acute SI, with multivariate logistic regression analyses revealing significant interaction effects. The highest frequency of chronic SI was seen in diabetic patients with an sBDNF level in the lowest tertile or with the BDNF Met/Met genotype, although the interaction terms were not statistically significant. Our study suggests that the combination of diabetes and BDNF-related markers, such as the sBDNF level and the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, might provide a useful predictor of acute SI in ACS patients.
The efficient generation of high-quality random numbers is essential in the operation of cryptographic modules. The quality of a random number generator is evaluated by the min-entropy of its entropy ...source. The typical method used to achieve high min-entropy of the output sequence is an entropy accumulation based on a hash function. This is grounded in the famous Leftover Hash Lemma, which guarantees a lower bound on the min-entropy of the output sequence. However, the hash function-based entropy accumulation has slow speed in general. For a practical perspective, we need a new efficient entropy accumulation with the theoretical background for the min-entropy of the output sequence. In this work, we obtain the theoretical bound for the min-entropy of the output random sequence through the very efficient entropy accumulation using only bitwise XOR operations, where the input sequences from the entropy source are independent. Moreover, we examine our theoretical results by applying them to the quantum random number generator that uses dark shot noise arising from image sensor pixels as its entropy source.
In vision inspection tasks, moiré patterns caused by frequency aliasing can severely degrade image quality. To prevent moiré patterns, we used images that were intentionally out-of-focused, and we ...performed deblurring to restore details during the acquisition of the images. As existing deblurring methods fail to output satisfactory results for low-contrast Mura images, we applied some simple techniques, minimum-maximum normalization, and edge mask fine-tuning to one of the state-of-the-art non-blind deblurring methods by utilizing parametric generalized Gaussian kernels. Structural image details were preserved through edge mask fine-tuning, and image contrast was improved with minimum-maximum normalization. By parameterizing the blur kernel as a generalized Gaussian kernel, we greatly improved the robustness of the blind image deblurring. We evaluated the effects of each module by conducting thorough experiments. The proposed method showed better performance than existing blind deblurring methods for blur-specific no-reference metrics, the image profile, and frequency domain analysis.
Despite the recognized antidepressant role of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine 5-HT) signaling pathways in the central nervous system, the association between baseline peripheral 5-HT level and the ...antidepressant treatment response in clinical studies remains debatable. We investigated the interaction effects of baseline serum 5-HT level and age on the 12-week remission in outpatients with depressive disorders who received stepwise antidepressant treatment. Baseline serum serotonin levels were measured and the age of 1094 patients recorded. The patients received initial antidepressant monotherapy; then, patients with an insufficient response or who experienced uncomfortable side effects received alternative treatments every 3 weeks (3, 6, and 9 weeks). Subsequently, 12-week remission, defined as a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) score of ≤ 7, was evaluated. Individual and interaction effects of serum 5-HT level (as a binary low vs. high, based on the median value of 72.6 ng/mL or continuous variable) and age (as a binary < 60 vs. ≥ 60 years or continuous variable) on the 12-week remission rate were analyzed using logistic regression models after adjusting for relevant covariates. High 5-HT (≥ 72.6 ng/mL) and age ≥ 60 years were associated with the highest 12-week remission rates and a significant multiplicative interaction effect. The interaction effect of the two variables on the 12-week remission rate was significant even when analyzed as a continuous variable. Our study suggests that the association between baseline serum 5-HT level and 12-week antidepressant treatment outcomes differs according to patient age.
We propose a novel image denoising method based on a convolutional neural network (CNN), which uses the separable convolution and the gradient prior to reduce the computational complexity while ...enhancing the denoising performance. The proposed method converts the existing convolution filter in the conventional CNN denoiser to cascaded vertical and horizontal separable convolutions and reduces the number of feature channels between these convolutions by analyzing the distribution of convolution weights. The proposed separable convolution with feature dimension shrinking can greatly reduce the number of multiplications for CNN while minimizing the degradation of denoising quality. In addition, gradients of a given image are used as input for the proposed CNN denoiser by exploiting the relation between an anisotropic diffusion-based denoiser and a residual CNN denoiser to improve the quality of the image denoising. The simulation results showed that the proposed method provided comparable denoising quality while reducing the number of multiplications to 41% compared to the existing state-of-the-art CNN denoiser.
In the episodic accretion scenario, a large fraction of the protostellar mass accretes during repeated and large bursts of accretion. Since outbursts on protostars are typically identified at ...specific wavelengths, interpreting these outbursts requires converting this change in flux to a change in total luminosity. The Class I young stellar object EC 53 in the Serpens Main cloud has undergone repeated increases in brightness at 850 m that are likely caused by bursts of accretion. In this study, we perform two- and three-dimensional continuum radiative transfer modeling to quantify the internal luminosity rise in EC 53 that corresponds to the factor of ∼1.5 enhancement in flux at 850 m. We model the spectral energy distribution and radial intensity profile in both the quiescent and outburst phases. The internal luminosity in the outburst phase is ∼3.3 times brighter than the luminosity in the quiescent phase. The radial intensity profile analysis demonstrates that the detected submillimeter flux variation of EC 53 comes from the heated envelope by the accretion burst. We also find that the role of external heating of the EC 53 envelope by the interstellar radiation field is insignificant.
The prevalence and clinical characteristics of depressive disorders differ between women and men; however, the genetic contribution to sex differences in depressive disorders has not been elucidated. ...To evaluate sex-specific differences in the genetic architecture of depression, whole exome sequencing of samples from 1000 patients (70.7% female) with depressive disorder was conducted. Control data from healthy individuals with no psychiatric disorder (n = 72, 26.4% female) and East-Asian subpopulation 1000 Genome Project data (n = 207, 50.7% female) were included. The genetic variation between men and women was directly compared using both qualitative and quantitative research designs. Qualitative analysis identified five genetic markers potentially associated with increased risk of depressive disorder in females, including three variants (rs201432982 within PDE4A, and rs62640397 and rs79442975 within FDX1L) mapping to chromosome 19p13.2 and two novel variants (rs820182 and rs820148) within MYO15B at the chromosome 17p25.1 locus. Depressed patients homozygous for these variants showed more severe depressive symptoms and higher suicidality than those who were not homozygotes (i.e., heterozygotes and homozygotes for the non-associated allele). Quantitative analysis demonstrated that the genetic burden of protein-truncating and deleterious variants was higher in males than females, even after permutation testing. Our study provides novel genetic evidence that the higher prevalence of depressive disorders in women may be attributable to inherited variants.
This study investigated the potential modifying effects of the level of the serum interleukin-18 (IL-18) on the association between
methylation status and long-term cardiovascular outcomes in ...patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Hospitalized ACS patients were recruited sequentially from 2006 to 2012. At baseline, the IL-18 level and
methylation status were evaluated in 969 patients who were followed for major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) for 5-12 years, until 2017 or death. The time to first composite or individual MACE was compared between individuals with lower and higher average
methylation levels (in the low- and high-IL-18 groups, respectively) using a Cox proportional hazards model. After adjusting for potential covariates, the modifying effects of IL-18 and average
methylation levels on the initial composite and individual MACEs were examined. In the high-IL-18 group, but not in the low-IL-18 group, a higher average
methylation level was associated with increases in composite MACEs (HR (95% CI) = 2.15 (1.42-3.26)), all-cause mortality (HR (95% CI) = 1.89 (1.11-3.22)), myocardial infarction (HR (95% CI) = 1.98 (1.07-3.67)), and percutaneous coronary intervention (HR (95% CI) = 1.81 (1.01-3.23)), independent of confounding variables. The interaction effect between the IL-18 and average
methylation levels on composite MACEs (
= 0.019) and myocardial infarction (
= 0.027) was significant after adjusting for covariates. Analysis of
methylation status and IL-18 levels may help identify ACS patients who are most likely to have adverse clinical outcomes.
Statins, which are widely used to treat hypercholesterolemia, have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. These are thought to be responsible for the potential effects of statins on various ...psychiatric disorders. In this study, we comprehensively review the literature to investigate the effects of statins on various psychiatric disorders including depression, schizophrenia, and dementia. In addition, we review adverse effects and drug interactions of statins to give clinically useful information guiding statin use in the psychiatric field. Statins seem useful in reducing depression, particularly in patients with physical disorders such as cardiovascular disease. In patients with schizophrenia, negative symptoms may be reduced by adjuvant statin therapy. Studies on cohorts at risk for dementia have generally shown protective effects of statins, while those on treatment for dementia show inconsistent results. In conclusion, statins used in combination with conventional psychotropic medications may be effective for various psychiatric disorders including depression, schizophrenia, and dementia. Further study is required to determine optimal doses and duration of statin use for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.
PDF
