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Purpose To investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and subjective well-being (SWB) of children aged 9–12 years in eastern China, and examine concordance within parent-child dyads. Methods Data was collected from 9–12 years students (including their parents) in Shandong Province in 2018. Participants self-completed a hard-copy questionnaire including Child Health Utility 9 Dimension instrument (CHU9D), Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL)™ 4.0 Short Form 15 Generic Core Scales (hereafter the PedsQL), Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS), as well as information on socio-demographic characteristics and self-report health status. Spearman’s correlation coefficients and the difference between sub-groups were conducted to assess and compare the agreement on HRQoL and SWB instruments. The concordance of within parent-child was analyzed using Cohen’s kappa coefficient and Bland-Altman plots. Results A total of 810 students and 810 parents were invited to participate in the survey. A valid sample of 799 (98.6%) students and 643 (79.4%) parents completed the questionnaire. Students’ mean self-reported CHU9D/PedsQL/SLSS scores were 0.87/83.48/30.90, respectively. The parent proxy’s PedsQL and SLSS scores were 68.61 and 31.23, respectively. The CHU9D was moderately correlated with the PedsQL (r = 0.52). There was a weak correlation between CHU9D and SLSS (r = 0.27). A low level of concordance was observed across all comparisons and in all domains (kappa

Compared to healthy controls (HCs), individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit more symptoms of sensory processing disorder (SPD), which is associated with difficulties in educational and social activities. Most studies examining comorbid SPD-ADHD have been conducted with children and have not explored relations to brain volumes. In this pilot study, we assessed a subtype of SPD, sensory modulation disorder (SMD), and its relation to select brain volumes in adults with ADHD. We administered part of the Sensory Processing 3-Dimensions Scale (SP3D) to assess subtypes of SMD and collected structural imaging scans from 25 adults with ADHD and 29 healthy controls (HCs). Relative to HCs, subjects with ADHD scored higher on sensory craving (SC) and sensory under-responsivity (SUR) subscales. Although sensory over-responsivity (SOR) was marginally higher, this was no longer true when accounting for co-occurring anxiety. In individuals with ADHD, both SC and SUR were positively associated with amygdalar volume, SUR was also positively associated with striatal volume, whereas SOR was negatively associated with posterior ventral diencephalon volume. These preliminary findings suggest that SC and SUR may be characteristic of ADHD while SOR may be driven by co-occurring anxiety. Because different modalities were associated with different brain volumes, our findings also suggest that the modalities may involve unique neural circuits, but with a partial overlap between SC and SUR. These pilot data provide support for conducting studies examining SMD in larger samples of adults with ADHD to determine reproducibility, applicability and implications of these findings.

An important mechanism of Tic disorder (TD) is dysfunction in the dopamine (DA) system. Our pilot observation found the expression of Syntaxin 1A (STX1A), a presynaptic SNARE complex, changed in the striatum of TD animals. The present study aimed to clarify the biological role of striatal STX1A in the pathological state of TD and the specific mechanism of its regulation of the dopaminergic system. The TD rat model was established using iminodipropionitrile (IDPN). Adenovirus was used to modulate the expression of STX1A and dopamine transporter (DAT) in vivo and vitro. Primary culture of striatal dopaminergic neurons was performed for in-vitro observation of the DA reuptake, CO-IP analysis of the interaction between STX1A and DAT. First, using immunofluorescence staining, Western blotting, and qPCR, we found that the IDPN induced TD model had reduced striatal STX1A expression. In vitro, the DA content in the supernatant was significantly lower in the STX1A overexpressed group, and the intracellular DA content was significantly higher. Overexpression of STX1A in vivo partially counteracts the IDPN-induced TD-like behaviors, including bite time and head shaking time. Meanwhile, in-vivo knockdown of STX1A can aggravates TD-like behaviors. Further, DAT was overexpressed in vivo, and the TD-like behavior was alleviated. Interestingly, overexpression of DAT in the striatum resulted in increased levels of STX1A. In order to clarify the interaction between DAT and STX1A, the CO-IP analysis was conducted based on the protein of purified striatal dopaminergic neurons. Compared to the IgG control, the blots of DAT and STX1A showed significant binding of each other. Striatal STX1A expression is decreased in TD development, and STX1A plays an anti-TD role possibly through interaction with DAT, which maintains the DA reuptake. The exorbitant DA signal caused by STX1A inhibition drives the pathological stereotyped behavior.

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In order to study the relationship between structures and properties, a series of 4 ​+ ​6+8 carbon allotropes including oC24, oC32, oC40 and oC48 are designed by inserting eight-atom fragments between the four- and eight-membered rings of bct-Carbon and oC16-Ⅱ carbon. The calculations prove that these carbon phases are thermodynamically, mechanically and dynamically stable and the new designed oC40 and oC48 possess a higher bulk module, shear module, Young’s modulus and Vickers hardness than the theoretically proposed o-C32 and M-carbon. The calculated relative enthalpies against pressure suggest that oC40 and oC48 can be transformed from graphite under a lower pressure than bct-Carbon and o-C16-Ⅱ. Thus oC40 and oC48 are expected to be experimentally synthesized from cold-compressed graphite. More importantly, the calculated results show that the stability, bandgaps, bulk modules, shear modules, Young’s modulus, incompressibility, ideal tensile strengths and Vickers hardness of these structurally similar allotropes increase with increasing proportion of the six-membered rings of carbon, suggesting that their stability and properties can be achieved by engineering their microstructures.

There may be immunologic alternations during Tourette syndrome (TS) development. This study aimed to determine the immune function changes in different aspects (spleen or thymus index, plasma cytokines, and T cell) in an 3,3'-iminodipropionitrile (IDPN)-induced rat model of TS. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to control and TS groups. The control group received intraperitoneal infections of normal saline (5 ml kg-1 day-1 ), and the TS rats were injected with IDPN (150 mg kg-1 day-1 ). The spleen and thymus indices were calculated. The expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, in peripheral blood were measured by ELISA and Western blotting. The proportion of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, Treg, Th1, and Th2 cells were determined by fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis. After 1 week of IDPN treatment, TS rats had decreased spleen and thymus weights versus control. The plasma levels of IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, IFN-γ, and TNF-α were significantly increased, while no significant difference in TGF-β was found. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that TS rats had significantly reduced CD3+ and CD4+ cells in spleen, without any change in the proportion of CD8+ cells. Furthermore, the ratio of Treg cells (CD4+/CD25+/FoxP3+) was decreased in TS rats; simultaneously, Th1 cells (CD4+/IFN-γ+) and Th2 cells (CD4+/IL4+) were dramatically increased. Together, IDPN can trigger immune dysfunction through impairment of matured Th cells, in particular for the Treg subset.

ObjectiveRecent studies have provided insights into the gut microbiota in autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, these studies were restricted owing to limited sampling at the unitary stage of childhood. Herein, we aimed to reveal developmental characteristics of gut microbiota in a large cohort of subjects with ASD combined with interindividual factors impacting gut microbiota.DesignA large cohort of 773 subjects with ASD (aged 16 months to 19 years), 429 neurotypical (NT) development subjects (aged 11 months to 15 years) were emolyed to determine the dynamics change of gut microbiota across different ages using 16S rRNA sequencing.ResultIn subjects with ASD, we observed a distinct but progressive deviation in the development of gut microbiota characterised by persistently decreased alpha diversity, early unsustainable immature microbiota, altered aboudance of 20 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), decreased taxon detection rate and 325 deregulated microbial metabolic functions with age-dependent patterns. We further revealed microbial relationships that have changed extensively in ASD before 3 years of age, which were associated with the severity of behaviour, sleep and GI symptoms in the ASD group. This analysis demonstrated that a signature of the combination of 2 OTUs, Veillonella and Enterobacteriaceae, and 17 microbial metabolic functions efficiently discriminated ASD from NT subjects in both the discovery (area under the curve (AUC)=0.86), and validation 1 (AUC=0.78), 2 (AUC=0.82) and 3 (AUC=0.67) sets.ConclusionOur large cohort combined with clinical symptom analysis highlights the key regulator of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of ASD and emphasises the importance of monitoring and targeting the gut microbiome in future clinical applications of ASD.

Aggression reflects the psychological and physical behavior that perpetrator intends to harm victim. Initiation of aggression is influenced by the distal factors (e.g. personality) and proximate causes (e.g. affect) of perpetrator. However, few studies explored the brain structural basis of relationship between these traits and aggressive behavior. In this study, we first explored the association between cortical thickness and aggression in a large young adult sample from the Human Connectome Project. Results found aggressive behavior assessed by the Adult Self-Report was positively correlated with cortical thickness in left superior frontal gyrus (SFG), which was implicated in emotion regulation and executive function. Then, mediation analyses with distal and proximate factors separately showcased that the association between the left SFG thickness and aggressive behavior was partially mediated by negative affect (anger and sadness), and fully mediated by personality traits (agreeableness and neuroticism). Taken together, these experimental findings established dorsal prefrontal cortex as the key region in generating aggressive behavior, and gave a neutral explanation for why individuals with high negative affect and neuroticism exhibit more aggression. This study implicated the possible targeted brain region and behavioral intervention for such at-risk individuals initiating violence.

Timely apologies to key publics on social media are becoming an important aspect of crisis recovery but little is known of how the spokesperson’s characteristics and the tone of apology may influence the outcome. Recognising the importance of the need to attract quality workforce, this study examines the impact of social media response to a preventable crisis on organisational attractiveness. Specifically, a 2 (message tone: corporate/formal vs. human/informal) x 2 (spokesperson’s gender: male vs. female) between-subjects factorial design was used to test the effectiveness of an apology. The results suggest a significant moderated mediation effect. We find that account acceptance mediates the relationship between message tone and organisational attractiveness, and this effect is conditional on gender of the spokesperson. The results are relevant to crisis managers and brand managers that seek to attract and retain talents.

Based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Second-Order Cone Programming (SOCP) algorithm, this paper proposes a hybrid optimization method to suppress the grating lobes of sparse arrays and improve the robustness of array layout. With the peak side-lobe level (PSLL) as the objective function, the paper adopts the particle swarm optimization as a global optimization algorithm to optimize the elements’ positions, the convex optimization as a local optimization algorithm to optimize the elements’ weights. The effectiveness of the grating lobes suppression (as low as -32.13 dB) by this method is illustrated through its application to the sparse linear array when the actual steering vector is known. To enhance the robustness of the optimized array, a rebuilt robust convex optimization model is adopted in the optimization of both array excitations and layout. When the array manifold mismatch error is 1cm, the PSLL by the robust algorithm can be compressed to -27dB, compared to that of -24dB by the ordinary optimization. Results of a set of representative numerical experiments show that the algorithm proposed in this paper can obtain a more robust array layout and matched elements’ weight coefficients to avoid the huge degradation of the array pattern performance in the presence of array manifold mismatch errors. The good performance of pattern synthesis demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed robust algorithm.

A large proportion (range of 44-75%) of women who experience intimate-partner violence (IPV) have been shown to sustain repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) from their abusers. Further, despite requests for research on TBI-related health outcomes, there are currently only a handful of studies addressing this issue and only one prior imaging study that has investigated the neural correlates of IPV-related TBIs. In response, we examined specific regions of white matter microstructure in 20 women with histories of IPV. Subjects were imaged on a 3-Tesla Siemens Magnetom TrioTim scanner using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. We investigated the association between a score reflecting number and recency of IPV-related mTBIs and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the posterior and superior corona radiata as well as the posterior thalamic radiation, brain regions shown previously to be involved in mTBI. We also investigated the association between several cognitive measures, namely learning, memory, and cognitive flexibility, and FA in the white matter regions of interest. We report a negative correlation between the brain injury score and FA in regions of the posterior and superior corona radiata. We failed to find an association between our cognitive measures and FA in these regions, but the interpretation of these results remains inconclusive due to possible power issues. Overall, these data build upon the small but growing literature demonstrating potential consequences of mTBIs for women experiencing IPV, and further underscore the urgent need for larger and more comprehensive studies in this area.

Life satisfaction reflects an individual’s general evaluation of their overall quality of life. It has been hypothesized that relationship status (i.e. state of intimate relationship such as marriage, unmarried cohabiting, dating with others, single or divorce) may influence individual life satisfaction. However, there is little accessible empirical evidence that allows us to explore this proposition. Using a large sample of young adults (n = 1031) from the Human Connectome Project (HCP), we showed that compared to other relationship statuses (e.g., individuals who were single or divorced, individuals who dated others, and etcetera), marriage/cohabitation subjects not only revealed a higher life satisfaction plus higher emotional and instrumental support, but also reduced perceived stress, which contributed to higher life satisfaction. Using general linear model with cortical thickness as the dependent variable, life satisfaction was negatively associated with the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and bilateral middle frontal gyrus (MFG). Interestingly, both right MFG and left SFG could interact with relationship status to predict self-reported life satisfaction, in addition to being associated with a much lower life satisfaction in non-married/cohabiting individuals. These effects were independent of emotional, instrumental support, and socioeconomic status. Besides, statistical significance of the moderation effect pertaining to relationship status was lost once perceived stress was included as a covariate into the moderation model. Our findings provided empirical evidence for the potentially positive role of relationship status in life satisfaction, and also showed that remission of stress may be a critical factor.

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are known to participate in risk-based decision-making. However, whether neuronal activities of these two brain regions play similar or differential roles during different stages of risk-based decision-making process remains unknown. Here we conducted multi-channel in vivo recordings in the OFC and mPFC simultaneously when rats were performing a gambling task. Rats were trained to update strategy as the task was shifted in two stages. Behavioral testing suggests that rats exhibited different risk preferences and response latencies to food rewards during stage-1 and stage-2. Indeed, the firing patterns and numbers of non-specific neurons and nosepoking-predicting neurons were similar in OFC and mPFC. However, there were no reward-expecting neurons and significantly more reward-excitatory neurons (fired as rats received rewards) in the mPFC. Further analyses suggested that nosepoking-predicting neurons may encode the overall value of reward and strategy, whereas reward-expecting neurons show more intensive firing to a big food reward in the OFC. Nosepoking-predicting neurons in mPFC showed no correlation with decision-making strategy updating, whereas the response of reward-excitatory neurons in mPFC, which were barely observed in OFC, were inhibited during nosepoking, but were enhanced in the post-nosepoking period. These findings indicate that neurons in the OFC and mPFC exhibit distinct responses in decision-making process during reward consumption and strategy updating. Specifically, OFC encodes the overall value of a choice and is thus important for learning and strategy updating, whereas mPFC plays a key role in monitoring and execution of a strategy.

In order to reduce the peak side-lobe level of the sparse array pattern effectively and suppress the grating lobe at the same time, this paper presents a pattern synthesis algorithm using multi-objective Particle Swarm (MOPSO) combined with convex optimization algorithm. We take MOPSO as a global searcher and convex optimization as a local searcher to search for the optimal solution. In this search, the optimization variables are not only the weights of the elements, but also introduce the parameter of the positions, which can provide more freedom to control the performance of the sparse array. Simulation of a sparse circular array model of thirty elements reveals that compared with MOPSO algorithm alone, the proposed algorithm which use MOPSO and convex optimization to optimize the positions and the weights of the elements respectively, the grating lobe and the peak side-lobe level can be reduced to −15.38dB at the same time.

To analyze the characteristics of respiratory diseases and to provide scientific basis for developing relevant control measures.1 300 children with respiratory diseases were treated in hospitals, from Jan. 2013 to May 2014, in the city of Jinan. Characteristics of respiratory diseases were analyzed.The distribution of respiratory diseases in children appeared as: 373 cases of pneumonia (28.7%), 3 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis (0.2%), 467 cases of acute bronchitis (35.9%), 102 cases of asthma (7.8%), and 355 cases of upper respiratory tract infection (27.3%). The upper respiratory tract infection contained 168 cases of tonsillitis (12.9%), 91 cases of pharyngitis (7.0%), 52 cases of laryngitis(4.0%)and 44 cases of iaryngopharyngitis (3.4%). The age distribution of cases with children respiratory diseases appeared as:71 cases1 years old (5.5%), 385 cases as 1-2 years old (29.6%), 534 cases as 3-6 years old (41.1%), 258 cases as 7-12 years old (19.8%)and 52 cases as13 years old (4.0%). The seasonal distribution of children respiratory diseases appeared as:364 cases in Spring (28.0% ), 163 cases in summer (12.5%), 315 cases in autumn (24.2%)and 458 cases in winter (35.2%). Regional distribution of children respiratory diseases appeared as:516 cases in urban area (39.7%), 225 cases in suburb (17.3%), 376 cases in townships (28.9%)and 183 in villages (14.1%). 725 strains were isolated and identified that containing 349 strains(48.1%) of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, 136 strains (18.8%) of Haemophilus influenza, 103 strains (14.2% ) of Streptococcus pneumoniae, 82 strains (11.3% ) of Klebsiella pneumoniae, 38 strains (5.2%) of Acinetobacter baumannii, 35 strains(4.8%) of Enterobacter cloacae, 22 strains (3.0%) of Streptococcus pyogenes, 17 strains (2.3%) of Alcaligenes, 16 strains (2.2% of Candida albicans)and 9 strains (1.2%) of Flavobacterium indologenes. 1 288 cases (99.1%) were cured.The common respiratory diseases would include bronchiolitis, pneumonia and upper respiratory tract infections in children, mostly attacking 3-6 year-olds at preschool stage, with spring, winter, urban and township as the prevalent seasons and areas.

Dysfunction of dopamine D4 receptor (D4R) is linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as ADHD associated cognitive impairment. Here, we tested the possible therapeutic benefit of the D4R-selective agonist ABT-724 in adolescent spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). ABT-724-treated SHRs were administered ABT-724 (0.04mg/kg, 0.16mg/kg or 0.64mg/kg) from postnatal day (P) 28 to P32. Control SHRs and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were injected with saline. Then two cohorts of rats were tested in the open field and Lat maze that measured locomotion and non-selective attention (NSA), respectively. Another cohort of rats was subjected to water maze task for evaluation of spatial learning and memory. We found that control SHRs displayed hyperactivity as well as impaired NSA and spatial learning compared with normotensive SD rats. ABT-724 (0.16 and 0.64mg/kg) treatment alleviated hyperactivity and spatial learning impairment in SHRs. No dose of ABT-724 tested altered NSA in SHRs. Our results raise the possibility that ABT-724 may be used as a therapeutic intervention for ADHD patients during adolescence.

In order to solve the problem that harmonic canpsilat be measured directly in high voltage power lines presently, a wireless detection method based on field intensity method is proposed. Through theoretical analysis, building the mathematical model of field intensity and voltage difference between two points around high voltage power lines and using Matlab software to simulate field intensity, the method was proved correctly. On the basis of this theory, a scheme was presented, using field intensity method and wireless ways to get voltage signals from high voltage power lines directly, and a laboratory prototype was also designed. This prototype is composed of a sending device with DSP as itpsilas core and a receiving device with CPU as itpsilas core. The simulation and experimental results shows that the wireless harmonic detector of high voltage power network based on field intensity method can detect harmonic from high voltage power lines directly and effectively.