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Previous work has documented a slow form of memory generalization although a rapid one is demanded. Here the authors elucidate the role of the interhemispheric CA1-CA1 projection in a form of rapid generalization of contextual fear memory via gradual potentiation of these synapses over 24 h.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to test the ability of the Chinese version of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) to identify Bipolar Disorders (BD) in patients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) or Unipolar Disorder (UD) in the clinical setting. METHODS: 1,487 being treated for MDD or UD at 12 mental health centers across China, completed the MDQ and subsequently examined by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Receiver Operating Characteristic(ROC) curves were used to determine the ability of the MDQ to differentiate between BD (BD, BD-I and BD-II) and MDD or UD and patients with BD-I from patients with BD-II. RESULTS: Of the 1,487 patients, 309 (20.8%) satisfied the DSM-IV criteria for BD: 118 (7.9%) for BD-I and 191 (12.8%) for BD-II. When only part one of the MDQ was used, the best cutoff was 7 between BD and UD (sensitivity 0.66, specificity 0.88, positive predictive value 0.59, negative predictive value 0.91), 6 between BD-II and UD, and 10 between BD-I and BD-II. If all three parts of the MDQ were used, the MDQ could not distinguish between BD and UD at a cutoff of 7 (or 6), and the sensitivity was only 0.22 (or 0.24). CONCLUSION: The Chinese version of the MDQ had good psychometric features in screening bipolar disorders from depressive patients with mood disorders when part two and part three of the MDQ were ignored.

Under the COVID-19 epidemic, the families of front-line rescue workers are under unusual pressure. We aim to understand the extent of their psychological distress in this epidemic and whether they have received sufficient support. Thus targeted to provide support for them and indirectly reduce the concerns of the rescue workers. From February 27 to March 1, 2020, we used the scales of Perceived Stress Scale, 10-items Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-2, and primary care-posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to evaluate the mental health level of the family members of front-line rescue workers online. Six hundred and seventy one family members voluntarily filled out the questionnaire after reading the purpose of the study. A total of 671 family members of front-line rescue workers participated in the survey, including 194 husbands/wives, 52 parents, 49 children, 76 brothers and sisters, and 300 other relationships. Among them, 55% of the family members reported sleep problems, 49.0% of the family members had mild, and above anxiety symptoms, 12.2% of the family members reported clinically significant depression symptoms, and 10.4% of the family members may have PTSD, 8.3% of family members had thoughts of self-injury or suicide. The feeling of stress was positively correlated with anxiety and depression, but there was no significant correlation between psychological elasticity and various symptoms. Family members who are more worried about the safety, physical condition and living security of front-line rescue workers are more likely to report symptoms such as sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression. Family members' first-line rescue has a significant impact on their daily life, raising children and supporting the elderly, which is also related to the occurrence of mental and psychological symptoms. During the period of front-line support, they received support from the units or organizations of the first-line workers, mainly including telephone greetings and daily necessities. The top three concerns about the information of the epidemic were the time of the end of the epidemic, the time of the return of the family and the progress of COVID-19's treatment. After the end of the epidemic, what they most want to do is to pay more attention to and accompany their families, family gatherings, and do more exercise. The psychological impact of this epidemic on the families of front-line rescue workers is mainly sleep problems and anxiety. The psychological intervention of family members should mainly start from the relief of stress and increase of material and spiritual support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encoding specificity theory predicts most effective recall by the original conditions at encoding, while generalization endows recall flexibly under circumstances which deviate from the originals. The CA1 regions have been implicated in memory and generalization but whether and which locally separated mechanisms are involved is not clear. We report here that fear memory is quickly formed, but generalization develops gradually over 24 h. Generalization but not fear memory is impaired by inhibiting ipsilateral (ips) or contralateral (con) CA1, and by optogenetic silencing of the ipsCA1 projections onto conCA1. By contrast, in vivo fEPSP recordings reveal that ipsCA1-conCA1 synaptic efficacy is increased with delay over 24 h when generalization is formed but it is unchanged if generalization is disrupted. Direct excitation of ipsCA1-conCA1 synapses using chemogenetic hM3Dq facilitates generalization formation. Thus, rapid generalization is an active process dependent on bilateral CA1 regions, and encoded by gradual synaptic learning in ipsCA1-conCA1 circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The 32-item Hypomania Checklist (HCL-32), a questionnaire for screening bipolar disorders, has been utilised in several countries, but it unclear if the Chinese version of the HCL-32 is valid. Methods: Consecutive patients with bipolar disorders (BP, N = 300) and unipolar major depression (UP, N = 156) completed the Chinese version of the HCL-32. The subjects underwent a structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis-I disorders (SCID). Results: The eigenvalues for the first three factors in the HCL-32 were calculated as 5.16 (active/elated), 2.72 (risktaking) and 2.48 (irritable) using factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha for the HCL-32 was calculated to be 0.88. Positive responses to twenty-eight items were significantly more frequent by patients with BP than those with UP, and the other four items (7th, 21st, 25th and 32nd) showed no such trend. Fourteen was the optimal cut-off for discriminating between BP and UP. The HCL-32 distinguished between BP-II and UP, with 13 being the optimal cut-off. A cut-off of 13 yielded a sensitivity of 0.77 and a specificity of 0.62 between BP and UP. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the simplified Chinese version of HCL-32 was valid for patients with mood disorders. The optimal cut-off of 13 for distinguishing between BP-II and UP was valid and could be used to improve the sensitivity of screening BP-II patients when the HCL-32 is used in psychiatric settings in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sui SG, Wu MX, King ME, Zhang Y, Ling L, Xu JM, Weng XC, Duan L, Shan BC, Li LJ. Abnormal grey matter in victims of rape with PTSD in Mainland China: a voxel-based morphometry study. Objective: This study examined changes in brain grey matter in victims of rape (VoR) with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previous research has focused on PTSD caused by various traumatic events, such as war and disaster, among others. Although considerable research has focused on rape-related PTSD, limited studies have been carried out in the context of Mainland China. Methods: The study included 11 VoR with PTSD, 8 VoR without PTSD and 12 healthy comparison (HC) subjects. We used voxel-based morphometry to explore changes in brain grey-matter density (GMD) by applying statistical parametric mapping to high-resolution magnetic resonance images. Results: Compared with HC, VoR with PTSD showed significant GMD reductions in the bilateral medial frontal cortex, left middle frontal cortex, middle temporal gyrus and fusiform cortex and significant GMD increases in the right posterior cingulate cortex, postcentral cortex, bilateral precentral cortex and inferior parietal lobule. Compared to VoR without PTSD, VoR with PTSD showed significant GMD reductions in the right uncus, left middle temporal gyrus, and the fusiform cortex, and increases in the left precentral cortex, inferior parietal lobule and right post-central cortex. Conclusion: The findings of abnormal GMD in VoR with PTSD support the hypothesis that PTSD is associated with widespread anatomical changes in the brain. The medial frontal cortex, precentral cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, post-central cortex and inferior parietal lobule may play important roles in the neuropathology of PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]