We aim to assess the level of family burden of schizophrenia patients and identify its predicting factors in a rural community sample of China. A sample of 327 primary caregivers was recruited ...through a one-stage cluster sampling in Ningxiang County of Hunan province, China. Family burden was assessed using the Family Burden Interview Schedule (FBIS) of Pai and Kapur. Our results showed that the mean score of FBIS was 23.62±9.76 (range, 0-48), with over half (52%) caregivers reported their family burden being moderate and severe. Among the six domains of family burden, financial burden (76%) was the commonest burden, while disruption of family interactions (37%) was the least mentioned. A multivariate analysis of family burden revealed that patient being admitted for over 3 times, caregiver being female, having a middle school education, and with additional dependents, as well as higher care network function were positive predictors of family burden, while higher patient function and family function, and increasing patient age were negative predictors of family burden. Intervention to decrease family burden may be best served by improving family function and exploring alternative care model instead of hospitalization.
A
bstract
Gravitational wave (GW) signals arising from binary neutron star mergers offer new, sensitive probes to ultralight mediators. Here we analyze the GW signals in the GW170817 event detected ...by the LIGO/Virgo collaboration to impose constraints on the ultralight isospin-violating mediator that has different couplings to protons and neutrons. Neutron stars, which primarily consist of neutrons, are the ideal places to probe the isospin-violating mediator. Such a mediator can significantly alter the dynamics of the binary neutron star mergers, through both the long-range Yukawa force and the new dipole radiation. We compute the gravitational waveform by taking into account the new physics effects due to the isospin-violating mediator and use the Bayesian inference to analyze the gravitational wave data in the GW170817 event. We find that although the current fifth force experiments (including MICROSCOPE and EW) often provide more stringent constraints than the GW170817 data, in the parameter space where the isospin-violating force is completely screened by the Earth (namely, the Earth is charge neutral under this force), the GW170817 data offer the leading constraints: the upper bound on the neutron coupling is
f
n
≲ 10
−19
in the mediator mass range of ≃ (3 × 10
−16
, 5 × 10
−14
) eV.
Summary
The study was aimed to investigate the stability and antioxidant activities of anthocyanins obtained from purple sweet potato via an in vitro digestion system. Three fractions of ...anthocyanin‐rich extracts were obtained via ODS packing column. Anthocyanins and copigment (primary phenolic acids) of fraction 2 were investigated during simulated an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. Anthocyanins and copigment were recognised by UPLC‐LTQ‐MS/MS. Besides, anthocyanins were found effectively stable under the acidic gastric digestion conditions. However, the anthocyanins recovery was greatly decreased at around 10% after intestinal digestion. An association between the type, number of acylated group and stability to intestinal digestion was found. Di‐acylated anthocyanins possessed higher stability compared with mono‐acylated anthocyanins and the stability of acylated group in digestion process followed the order of p‐hydroxybenzoyl > feruloyl > caffeoyl. However, there was no much difference in copigment content which was found during digestion process. Moreover, the radical scavenging ability and xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibition showed that the digestion products possessed good biological activities mainly due to its anthocyanin composition.
To evaluate the stability and antioxidant activity of anthocyanins from purple sweet potato by an in vitro digestion system. Anthocyanins identified by UPLC‐LTQ‐MS/MS. Di‐acylated anthocyanins had higher stability compared with mono‐acylated anthocyanins. The stability of acylated group followed the order of p‐hydroxybenzoyl > feruloyl > caffeoyl. The biological activities of digestion products such as antioxidant activitiy and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity might be accredited to anthocyanins composition.
The present study aims to provide a comprehensive profile of the primary family caregivers of schizophrenia individuals in rural China.
A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 327 ...primary family caregivers of schizophrenia individuals recruited through a one-stage cluster sampling in Ningxiang County of Hunan province, China. The social demographic and psychological profiles of primary caregivers were measured using standard scales and self–designed scales.
The typical caregiver profile consists of a 58-year old married first degree relative (mostly parents or spouses) with a low socio-economic position. Most of them have been caregiving for over 10 years (74.3%) and have some physical illness (67.0%). The major caregiving activities were medicine management (71.6%) and hospital visit (69.4%), yet there is still 17.1% primary caregivers involved with neither of the care. Most (84%) of caregivers reported some kind of burden, with anxiety in 45.9% of caregivers and depression in 45.4%. Family caregivers also reported positive aspects of caregiving including a well-functional family (51.0%) and rewarding feelings (58.3%).
The findings of the present study have brought attention to a special group of family caregivers for schizophrenia, with implications for intervention on them in the future.
•This study was the first to draw a full-picture profile of primary family caregivers of schizophrenia in rural China.•The primary caregivers were mainly old-aged first degree relatives with low socioeconomic position.•Their main caregiving activities involved hospital visit and medicine management.•Both positive and negative mental health states were reported common among the caregivers.
Abstract
Cellular senescence (CS), a state of permanent growth arrest, is intertwined with tumorigenesis. Due to the absence of specific markers, characterizing senescence levels and ...senescence-related phenotypes across cancer types remain unexplored. Here, we defined computational metrics of senescence levels as CS scores to delineate CS landscape across 33 cancer types and 29 normal tissues and explored CS-associated phenotypes by integrating multiplatform data from ~20 000 patients and ~212 000 single-cell profiles. CS scores showed cancer type-specific associations with genomic and immune characteristics and significantly predicted immunotherapy responses and patient prognosis in multiple cancers. Single-cell CS quantification revealed intra-tumor heterogeneity and activated immune microenvironment in senescent prostate cancer. Using machine learning algorithms, we identified three CS genes as potential prognostic predictors in prostate cancer and verified them by immunohistochemical assays in 72 patients. Our study provides a comprehensive framework for evaluating senescence levels and clinical relevance, gaining insights into CS roles in cancer- and senescence-related biomarker discovery.
Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen which can invade different mammalian cells and reach to the central nervous system (CNS), leading to ...meningoencephalitis and brain abscesses. In the diagnosis of L. monocytogenes meningoencephalitis (LMM), the traditional test often reports negative owing to the antibiotic treatment or a low number of bacteria in the cerebrospinal fluid. To date, timely diagnosis and accurate treatment remains a challenge for patients with listeria infections. To improve the sensitivity of LMM diagnosis, we used NGS for the detection of L. monocytogenes. Hence, the clinical utility of this approach can be very helpful since it provides quickly and trust results.
The initial severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) Omicron subvariants, BA.1 and BA.2, are being progressively displaced by BA.5 in many countries. To provide insight on the ...replacement of BA.2 by BA.5 as the dominant SARS‐CoV‐2 variant, we performed a comparative analysis of Omicron BA.2.12.1 and BA.5.2 variants in cell culture and hamster models. We found that BA.5.2 exhibited enhanced replicative kinetics over BA.2.12.1 in vitro and in vivo, which is evidenced by the dominant BA.5.2 viral genome detected at different time points, regardless of immune selection pressure with vaccine‐induced serum antibodies. Utilizing reverse genetics, we constructed a mutant SARS‐CoV‐2 carrying spike F486V substitution, which is an uncharacterized mutation that concurrently discriminates Omicron BA.5.2 from BA.2.12.1 variant. We noticed that the 486th residue does not confer viral replication advantage to the virus. We also found that 486V displayed generally reduced immune evasion capacity when compared with its predecessor, 486F. However, the surge of fitness in BA.5.2 over BA.2.12.1 was not due to stand‐alone F486V substitution but as a result of the combination of multiple mutations. Our study upholds the urgency for continuous monitoring of SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron variants with enhanced replication fitness.
While it is widely acknowledged that family burden can be ameliorated with effective psycho-social interventions, how to measure family burden and define a valid cutoff to identify family caregivers ...in need of such interventions remains a key question. The purpose of the present study was to determine a statistically valid cutoff score for the Family Burden Interview Schedule (FBIS), using the cutoff scores of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) as the reference.
The FBIS, PHQ-9, and GAD-7 were administered to a representative community sample of 327 family caregivers of schizophrenia patients. A FBIS cutoff score was determined using three different statistical methods: tree-based modeling, K-means clustering technique and linear regression. Contingency analysis was conducted to compare the FBIS cutoff with depression and anxiety scale scores.
Findings proposed a cutoff score of 23 for the FBIS, with sensitivity being 76% for PHQ-9 and 74% for GAD-7, specificity being 68% for PHQ-9 and 67% for GAD-7.
This cutoff score would enable health care providers to assess family caregivers at risk and provide necessary interventions to improve their quality of life.
The COVID-19 pandemic is the third outbreak this century of a zoonotic disease caused by a coronavirus, following the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003
and Middle East ...respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012
. Treatment options for coronaviruses are limited. Here we show that clofazimine-an anti-leprosy drug with a favourable safety profile
-possesses inhibitory activity against several coronaviruses, and can antagonize the replication of SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV in a range of in vitro systems. We found that this molecule, which has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, inhibits cell fusion mediated by the viral spike glycoprotein, as well as activity of the viral helicase. Prophylactic or therapeutic administration of clofazimine in a hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis led to reduced viral loads in the lung and viral shedding in faeces, and also alleviated the inflammation associated with viral infection. Combinations of clofazimine and remdesivir exhibited antiviral synergy in vitro and in vivo, and restricted viral shedding from the upper respiratory tract. Clofazimine, which is orally bioavailable and comparatively cheap to manufacture, is an attractive clinical candidate for the treatment of outpatients and-when combined with remdesivir-in therapy for hospitalized patients with COVID-19, particularly in contexts in which costs are an important factor or specialized medical facilities are limited. Our data provide evidence that clofazimine may have a role in the control of the current pandemic of COVID-19 and-possibly more importantly-in dealing with coronavirus diseases that may emerge in the future.
Gelatin/olive oil composite films were prepared through microfluidic emulsification technique in order to reduce the water affinity of protein-based film. The effects of oil content on lipid droplet ...distributions in the film-forming dispersions and emulsified films were evaluated and compared. The possible relationship between some selected physical properties and microstructure (e.g., lipid droplet size) of the films was also discussed. The volume-surface (D3,2) and weight (D4,3) mean diameters of lipid droplets in film-forming dispersion showed a reduced trend upon increasing oil amounts, whereas the lipid droplets in the films showed a different trend, i.e., first increase and then decrease. The water barrier capability and tensile strength (TS) showed an enhanced trend as the lipid droplets in the films decreased. In addition, the emulsified films exhibited excellent barrier ability to ultraviolet light, and the inclusion of olive oil enhanced the hydrophobic character of gelatin films. These results revealed that olive oil has a good potential to be incorporated into gelatin to make edible film or coating for some food applications.
► Lipid droplet in FFD and films showed an opposite trend as the oil phase increased. ► Water barrier and tensile properties depended on the microstructure of the films. ► Olive oil incorporation improved water barrier and tensile property of gelatin films. ► Gelatin-olive oil emulsified films exhibited excellent barrier ability to UV light.
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