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Background: Early-onset major depressive disorder (MDD) (EOD) is often particularly malignant due to its special clinical features, accompanying impaired social function, protracted recovery time, and frequent recurrence. This study aimed to observe the effects of age onset on clinical characteristics and social function in MDD patients in Asia. Methods: In total, 547 out-patients aged 18-65 years who were from 13 study sites in five Asian countries were included. These patients had MDD diagnose according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4 th Edition criteria. Clinical features and social function were assessed using Symptom Checklist-90-revised (SCL-90-R) and Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS). Quality of life was assessed by a 36-item Short-form Health Survey (SF-36). Analyses were performed using a continuous or dichotomous (cut-off: 30 years) age-of-onset indicator. Results: Early-onset MDD (EOD,

Background: Depression is often comorbid with chronic somatic diseases. Few previous studies have investigated the prevalence of somatic diseases in depression or the prescription pattern of antidepressants in comorbidly depressed patients in Asia. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of somatic comorbidity (SC) in depression and compared the prescriptions of antidepressants in depressed patients with and without SC. Methods: A total of 2320 patients treated with antidepressants in 8 Asian countries were examined, and a diagnosis was based on the International Classification of Disease, 10 th revision. We listed 17 common chronic somatic diseases. Patients′ socio-demographic and clinical characteristics and psychotropic drug prescriptions were recorded using a standardized protocol and data collection procedure. Results: Of the patients examined, 1240 were diagnosed with depression and 30% of them (n = 375) had SC. The most common comorbid condition was diabetes (23.7%). The patients with SC were more likely to seek help at a general hospital (74.7% vs. 47.2%), and had a higher incidence of symptoms involving sadness, disturbed sleep, and poor appetite. Noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant was prescribed more for patients with SC than for those without SC (30.4% vs. 22.9%). Conclusions: SC is common in depressed Asian patients. It is important to strengthen the recognition of depression, especially in general hospitals and when patients report some somatic discomfort. It is also a matter of urgency to establish evidence-based guidelines for the use of new antidepressants in depressed patients with SC.

Background: Optimizing treatment outcomes for depression requires understanding of how evidence-based treatments are utilized in clinical practice. Antipsychotic medications concurrent with antidepressant treatment are frequently used in major depression, but few studies have investigated trends and patterns of their use over time. This study aimed to examine the prescription patterns of antipsychotic medications for major depression in China from 2002 to 2012 and their association with treatment satisfaction and quality of life (QOL). Methods: A total of 3655 subjects with major depression treated in 45 Chinese psychiatric hospitals/centers nationwide were interviewed between 2002 and 2012. Patients′ socio-demographic and clinical characteristics including psychopathology, medication side effects, satisfaction with treatment and QOL were recorded using a standardized protocol and data collection. Results: The frequency of antipsychotic use was 24.9% in the whole sample; the corresponding figures were 17.1%, 20.3%, and 32.8% in 2002, 2006, and 2012, respectively (χ2 = 90.3, df = 2, P < 0.001). Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that patients on concurrent antipsychotics had significantly more delusions or hallucinations, longer illness duration, greater side effects, and more likely to be treated as inpatients and in major hospitals (i.e., Level-III hospital). Antipsychotic use was associated with lower treatment satisfaction while there was no significant difference with respect to physical and mental QOL between the antipsychotic and nonantipsychotic groups. Conclusions: Concurrent antipsychotic use was found in about one in four treated depressed patients in China, which has increased over a 10-year period. Considering the association of drug-induced side effects and the lack of patients′ and relatives′ satisfaction with antipsychotic treatment, further examination of the rationale and appropriateness of the use of antipsychotics in depression is needed.

The Hangzhou International Molecular Imaging Conference (HIMIC) is an annual conference held in China that focuses on the field of molecular imaging. The conference aims to promote cross-disciplinary education and research, strengthen international collaborations, and develop novel technologies for translational research and clinical practice. HIMIC has attracted top scientists from around the world and serves as an important platform for connecting China with the global community in the field of molecular imaging. The 16th HIMIC, held in 2023, featured keynote lectures on topics such as aptamers in cancer imaging, artificial intelligence in nuclear medicine, and radionuclide diagnostics and therapeutics. The conference also included invited lectures and panel discussions on attracting young talent to nuclear medicine and verifying AI systems. Overall, HIMIC plays a crucial role in advancing molecular imaging in China and fostering international cooperation in the field. [Extracted from the article]

Insufficient attention has been given to the role of cultural differences in feedback communication with the UK's increasingly internationalised student body. This issue is particularly significant for international students taking short -- one-year -- postgraduate taught courses and we illustrate this in a study of Chinese students at a UK university. We draw on Holliday's notion of "small cultures" and Berry's model of cultural adaptation to analyse how they perceive, react to and gradually adapt to the provision of formative feedback as a key aspect of the new academic culture. Our data reveal that such feedback presents the students with cognitive challenges and psychological and emotional struggles, especially in the early months of their courses. Avoiding culturally essentialist explanations for this, we focus on differences in the "small cultures" of academia in China and the UK. Feedback is not only a part of the new academic culture itself, but can act as a bridge between norms, rules and practices of the two cultures. This bridge is often poorly constructed. Tutors need to be more aware of the nature and sources of stress that such students face and to which feedback may often be adding rather than contributing to enhanced learning. (Contains 1 note and 1 figure.)

This research aimed to figure out the relationships between depression, loneliness and pathological Internet use by testing 677 middle school students (Mage = 12.12, SD = 0.79) and making a three-wave cross-lagged analysis. The total measuring time was two years, with a time interval of one year. The results showed the following: (1) There were significantly positive relationships between depression, loneliness and pathological Internet use at three time points; (2) Depression at T1 and T2 could significantly and positively predict pathological Internet use at T2 and T3, while loneliness could not. Pathological Internet use at T1 could significantly and positively predict the feelings of depression and loneliness at T2, while pathological Internet use at T2 could not significantly and positively predict the feelings of depression and loneliness at T3. Thus, results were inconclusive regarding whether PIU led to later psychiatric symptoms. This complex interactions varied with time and did not vary with gender. The findings show important significance for promotion of adolescents' psychology development and the prevention of pathological Internet use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gemcitabine is a nucleoside analog that has been successfully used in the treatment of multiple cancers. However, intrinsic or acquired resistance reduces the chemotherapeutic potential of gemcitabine. Here, we revealed a previously unappreciated mechanism by which phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), one of the most frequently mutated genes in human cancers, dominates the decision-making process that is central to the regulation of gemcitabine efficacy in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). By investigating a gemcitabine-treated CCA cohort, we found that PTEN deficiency was correlated with the improved efficacy of gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. Using cell-based drug sensitivity assays, cell line–derived xenograft, and patient-derived xenograft models, we further confirmed that PTEN deficiency or genetic-engineering down-regulation of PTEN facilitated gemcitabine efficacy both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, PTEN directly binds to and dephosphorylates the C terminus of the catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2Ac) to increase its enzymatic activity, which further dephosphorylates deoxycytidine kinase (DCK) at Ser74 to diminish gemcitabine efficacy. Therefore, PTEN deficiency and high phosphorylation of DCK predict a better response to gemcitabine-based chemotherapy in CCA. We speculate that the combination of PP2A inhibitor and gemcitabine in PTEN-positive tumors could avoid the resistance of gemcitabine, which would benefit a large population of patients with cancer receiving gemcitabine or other nucleoside analogs. Editor's summary: Gemcitabine is a common chemotherapy used as a first-line treatment of multiple cancers; however, many cancers, such as cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), often have intrinsic or acquired resistance. Here, Jiang et al. used a cohort of gemcitabine-treated patients with CCA to identify PTEN deficiency correlated to improved objective response rate. They tested this mechanism in several in vivo models and demonstrated that by inhibiting the catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2Ac), which is downstream of PTEN, they could increase gemcitabine efficacy. This combination is a promising step toward increasing the efficacy of standard chemotherapy for a variety of patients that requires further study. —Dorothy Hallberg [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer has become a huge burden with continued rise of incidence and death rate worldwide. Various methods for diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer have met the challenges of lack of complete information about the tumor location and limited therapy efficacy. Although aggregation‐induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) have shown great promise for various cancer treatment applications, they may be incompetent for deep‐seated tumor diagnosis due to the limited penetration depth. Herein, we designed and prepared a radiolabeled AIEgen‐based organic photothermal agent for bimodal PET/fluorescence imaging‐guided breast tumor photothermal therapy. The prepared multifunctional nanoparticles (68Ga‐TPA‐TTINC NPs) with NIR‐II fluorescence, gamma irradiation and photothermal conversion property could be efficiently taken up by tumor cells and induce reactive oxygen species burst in vitro, further boosting the photothermal treatment of tumor in vivo. More importantly, the nanoprobe could target and clearly visualize 4T1 tumor xenografts through PET and NIR‐II fluorescence imaging with high tumor/muscle ratio up to 4.8, which provides a promising tool and solution for breast tumor theranostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bemisia tabaci Mediterranean (MED) cryptic species has been rapidly invading to most parts of the world owing to its strong ecological adaptability, which is considered as a model insect for stress tolerance studies under rapidly changing environments. Selection of a suitable reference gene for quantitative stress-responsive gene expression analysis based on qRT-PCR is critical for elaborating the molecular mechanisms of thermotolerance. To obtain accurate and reliable normalization data in MED, eight candidate reference genes (β-act, GAPDH, β-tub, EF1-α, GST, 18S, RPL13A and α-tub) were examined under various thermal stresses for varied time periods by using geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper algorithms, respectively. Our results revealed that β-tub and EF1-α were the best reference genes across all sample sets. On the other hand, 18S and GADPH showed the least stability for all the samples studied. β-act was proved to be highly stable only in case of short-term thermal stresses. To our knowledge this was the first comprehensive report on validation of reference genes under varying temperature stresses in MED. The study could expedite particular discovery of thermotolerance genes in MED. Further, the present results can form the basis of further research on suitable reference genes in this invasive insect and will facilitate transcript profiling in other invasive insects.