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Internet addiction (IA) is associated with adverse consequences, especially for younger people. Evidence indicates that IA is associated with depression, but no studies have yet investigated potential common vulnerability between them.IA (measured by the Young's 20-item Internet Addiction Test Scale) and depressive symptoms (measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Scale) among 12 043 undergraduates were surveyed at baseline and at a respective 12 month follow-up for each participant. Application of a cross-lagged panel model approach (CLPM) revealed an association between IA and depression after adjusting for demographic variables.Rates of baseline IA and depression were 5.47% (95% CI: 5.07%, 5.88%) and 3.85% (95% CI: 3.51%, 4.20%), respectively; increasing to 9.47% (95% CI: 8.94%, 9.99%) and 5.58% (95% CI: 5.17%,5.99%), respectively, at follow-up. Rates of new-incidences of IA and depression over 12 months were 7.43% (95% CI: 6.95%, 7.91%) and 4.47% (95% CI: 4.09%, 4.84%), respectively. Models in the present analysis revealed that baseline depression had a significant net-predictive effect on follow-up IA, and baseline IA had a significant net-predictive effect on follow-up depression.The follow-up survey response rate was moderate (54.69%) in this analysis of university students. Moreover, the IAT-20 scale did not allow differentiate between specific forms of Internet activity.Common vulnerability and bidirectional cross-causal effects may both contribute to the association between IA and depression, with common vulnerability likely playing a more significant role than cross-causal effects.

Background Alcohol dependence is a mental disorder with a high relapse rate. However, specific neuroimaging biomarkers have not been determined for alcohol dependence and its relapse. We conducted data-driven research to investigate resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) during early abstinence from alcohol dependence and its potential ability to predict relapse. Methods Participants included 68 alcohol-dependent patients and 68 healthy controls (HCs). The regional homogeneity (ReHo) and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) were compared between the alcohol dependence group and the HCs and between the relapse group and the nonrelapse group. The brain regions that presented significantly different ReHo and/or fALFF between the alcohol-dependent patients and HCs and/or between the relapsed and nonrelapsed patients were selected as the seeds to calculate the functional connectivities (FCs). Results During a 6-month follow-up period, 52.24% of alcohol-dependent patients relapsed. A regression model for differentiating alcohol-dependent patients and HCs showed that reductions in ReHo in the left postcentral region, fALFF in the right fusiform region, and FC in the right fusiform region to the right middle cingulum were independently associated with alcohol dependence, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.841. The baseline FC of the left precentral to the left cerebellum of the relapse group was significantly lower than that of the nonrelapse group. The AUC of this FC to predict relapse was 0.774. Conclusions Our findings contribute to advancing research on the neurobiological etiology and predictive biomarkers for relapse associated with alcohol dependence.

To perform genome-wide linkage analysis for an ethnic Han Chinese pedigree with schizophrenia in order to locate the susceptibility genes.Genomic DNA was extracted from 4 mL of peripheral blood using conventional phenol-chloroform method. Illumina Infinium Linkage 24 BeadChips chip was used for determining the genotypes through detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). After processing the raw data using Illumina BeadStudio software, two-point nonparametric linkage analysis and two-point parametric linkage analysis were performed with Merlin software.By two-point nonparametric linkage analysis, 27 sites with high LOD scores (LOD=0.63-0.75, P U+003C 0.05) were identified. Among these, 3 SNPs(rs993694, rs992690 rs1861577) were located in 12p12.3 region, whilst the remainders were located in 4p12-q22 region. Two-point parametric linkage analysis under a dominant model has yielded almost identical results.Chromosomal regions 4p12-q22 and 12p12.3 probably contain susceptibility genes for schizophrenia.

To study the association between 5-HTTVNTR polymorphism and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Chinese Han adolescents after the Wenchuan Earthquake, and investigation of the genetic mechanism of PTSD.Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the distributive frequency of 5-HTTVNTR polymorphism of 236 PTSD patients (patient group) and 234 normal people (control group), Plink version 1.07 was used to analyze the genotyping results.The frequency of 5-HTTVNTR allele 12 in PTSD group was significantly higher than control group (93.2% vs. 88.9%, chi2 = 5.42, P = 0.020). The 12/12 genotype in PTSD group and control group was 88.1% and 79.7%; 10/12 genotype was 10.2% and 19.6%; 10/10 genotype was 1.7% and 1.7%. The distributive frequency of all three genotypes (12/12, 10/12, 10/10) showed statistically significant (P = 0.023).The allele 12 of 5-HTTVNTR may increase the risk of PTSD in Chinese Han adolescents, 12/12 genotype may be the susceptibility gene, and heterozygote 10/12 may act as the protective factor of PTSD.