Changes in thyroid function levels in female patients with first-episode bipolar disorder

ObjectivesThe identification of molecular biomarkers for bipolar disorder is anticipated to greatly improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. The objective of this case–control study is to determine whether the blood thyroid hormone levels in bipolar disorder patients are associated with different types of first onset.MethodsFrom August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021 a total of 120 female patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder and hospitalized at Qingdao Mental Health Center were recruited as the case group, including 60 patients with depression as their first onset (depression first-episode group, DF) and 60 with mania/hypomania as their first onset (mania/hypomania first-episode group, M/HF). A group of 60 healthy adult females matching general demographic data, such as race and age, were selected as the control group. Blood samples were taken from both groups to measure serum triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations.ResultsThe duration of current onset in the M/HF group was significantly less than that in the DF group (23.1 ± 20.2 vs. 125.2 ± 41.0 days). About 27% of patients in the M/HF group had thyroid abnormalities, in contrast to 60% in the DF group. The blood T3 and T4 levels in both the M/HF group and the DF group, as well as the TF3 levels in the DF group, were significantly lower as compared to control. The M/HF group had significantly higher T3 and FT3 levels than the DF group. The blood T3 levels were inversely correlated with the Young’s Mania Scale score and the Hamilton Depression Scale score in both the M/HF and DF groups.ConclusionThyroid dysfunction resulting in reduced levels of blood thyroid levels may be involved in the disease progression of bipolar disorder, and correlated with the clinical symptoms in patients with depression or mania as the first episode

Image quality and evaluation ability of magnetic resonance imaging techniques for thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy: Dixon fat-suppression technique vs. spectral attenuated inversion recovery

PurposeWe aimed to compare two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, Dixon and spectral attenuated inversion recovery (SPAIR) fat-suppression, in terms of image quality and suitability for evaluating thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) lesion characteristics.MethodsThis cross-sectional, retrospective study involved 70 patients with TAO (140 eyes) who underwent orbital coronal MRI examinations, including Dixon-transverse relaxation (T2)-weighted imaging (T2WI) and SPAIR-T2WI, between 2020 and 2022. We compared the fat-suppression quality and artifacts, noise (N), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), signal intensity ratio (SIR) of extraocular muscles (SIR-EOM) and lacrimal glands (SIR-LG), and TAO activity evaluation efficiency.ResultsDixon-T2WI showed a higher frequency of better subjective image quality and suitability for evaluating the characteristics of TAO lesions (65.7% vs. 14.3%) than SPAIR-T2WI. Fat-suppression quality and artifact scores were lower for Dixon-T2WI than for SPAIR-T2WI (p < 0.001). The N, SNR, and CNR values, EOM-SIR, and LG-SIR were higher for orbital coronal Dixon-T2WI than for SPAIR-T2WI (all p < 0.001). Clinical activity scores (CASs) showed positive correlations with SIR. The correlation between EOM-SIR and LG-SIR of orbital coronal Dixon-T2WI with CAS was higher than that of SPAIR-T2WI (0.590 vs. 0.493, all p < 0.001; 0.340 vs. 0.295, all p < 0.01). EOM-SIR and LG-SIR of Dixon-T2WI yielded a higher area under the curve than SPAIR-T2WI for evaluating TAO activity (0.865 vs. 0.760, p < 0.001; 0.695 vs. 0.617, p = 0.017).ConclusionDixon-T2WI yields higher image quality than SPAIR-T2WI. Furthermore, it has a stronger ability to evaluate TAO inflammation than SPAIR, with higher sensitivity and specificity in active TAO staging

A Novel Ring-Gate AlGaN/GaN HEMT Device and Electrode Structure Optimization

In this paper, a novel ring-gate structure AlGaN/GaN HEMT device is proposed and fabricated successfully. When the gate-source spacing Lgs = 5 μm, gate-drain spacing Lgd = 7 μm, gate length Lg = 3 μm, the maximum drain current Idmax of this ring-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMT device improved by 161.8% comparing with the conventional structure device, the threshold voltage Vth increased by 66.7% from 1.65 V to 2.5 V. In order to further improve the performance of the device, a series of electrode structure optimization designs have been carried out. Firstly, the effect of source-drain electrode alloy type and etching depth under source-drain region on the transfer and output characteristics was investigated, we fabricated devices with two alloy electrodes of multi-layer Ti/Al/Ti/Al/Ti/Al/Ni/Au and single layer Ti/Al/Ni/Au, then perform groove etching under the source and drain electrodes, the etching depth is set to 10/20 nm, after analysis and calculation, it is found that among ring-gate and conventional-gate devices, the device with multi-layer electrodes and an etched depth of 10 nm performs best. Then, the influence of device size parameters on transfer and output characteristics was explored, devices with different Lg and Lgd were prepared, after testing it is found that with the increase of Lg, the Vth of the conventional-gate and ring-gate HEMT devices both showed a positive-shift trend, in conventional device Vth increased from 1.53 V to 1.7 V, and this value increased from 1.5 V to 2.5 V in ring-gate device; the saturation drain current decreases when Lg increasing, and the decrease of the ring-gate device is more obvious, from 51.28 mA at Lg = 3 μm to 24.48 mA at Lg = 6 μm; when Lds decreases, the Vth of the two structures doesn’t change significantly, but the output current increases with the reduction of Lds, among them, the Idmax of the conventional structure device at Lgd = 19 um is 79.07% lower than that at Lgd = 7 μm; the value of the ring-gate device is reduced by 113.7%. In addition, among all the above devices, the ring-gate devices all show better output characteristics and higher Vth than conventional devices

A Novel Ring-Gate AlGaN/GaN HEMT Device and Electrode Structure Optimization

In this paper, a novel ring-gate structure AlGaN/GaN HEMT device is proposed and fabricated successfully. When the gate-source spacing Lgs = 5 μm, gate-drain spacing Lgd = 7 μm, gate length Lg = 3 μm, the maximum drain current Idmax of this ring-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMT device improved by 161.8% comparing with the conventional structure device, the threshold voltage Vth increased by 66.7% from 1.65 V to 2.5 V. In order to further improve the performance of the device, a series of electrode structure optimization designs have been carried out. Firstly, the effect of source-drain electrode alloy type and etching depth under source-drain region on the transfer and output characteristics was investigated, we fabricated devices with two alloy electrodes of multi-layer Ti/Al/Ti/Al/Ti/Al/Ni/Au and single layer Ti/Al/Ni/Au, then perform groove etching under the source and drain electrodes, the etching depth is set to 10/20 nm, after analysis and calculation, it is found that among ring-gate and conventional-gate devices, the device with multi-layer electrodes and an etched depth of 10 nm performs best. Then, the influence of device size parameters on transfer and output characteristics was explored, devices with different Lg and Lgd were prepared, after testing it is found that with the increase of Lg, the Vth of the conventional-gate and ring-gate HEMT devices both showed a positive-shift trend, in conventional device Vth increased from 1.53 V to 1.7 V, and this value increased from 1.5 V to 2.5 V in ring-gate device; the saturation drain current decreases when Lg increasing, and the decrease of the ring-gate device is more obvious, from 51.28 mA at Lg = 3 μm to 24.48 mA at Lg = 6 μm; when Lds decreases, the Vth of the two structures doesn’t change significantly, but the output current increases with the reduction of Lds, among them, the Idmax of the conventional structure device at Lgd = 19 um is 79.07% lower than that at Lgd = 7 μm; the value of the ring-gate device is reduced by 113.7%. In addition, among all the above devices, the ring-gate devices all show better output characteristics and higher Vth than conventional devices

Effect of crowding stress on growth performance, the antioxidant system and humoral immunity in hybrid sturgeon

To evaluate effects of crowding stress on the physiological mechanisms of juvenile hybrid sturgeon (♀Acipenser baerii×♂Acipenser schrenckii, 23 ± 1 g body weight), an experiment was assigned to three initial stocking densities in flowing water ponds (LD = 100 and 150 fish/m3; MD = 200 and 250 fish/m3; and HD = 300 and 350 fish/m3) for 60 days. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was used to identify differential metabolites between different stocking densities. The final weight, weight gain rate (WGR) and specific growth rate (SGR) decreased significantly as the stocking density increased (P < 0.05). Gill filaments incurred injury in the MD and HD groups. Crowding stress increased significantly serum cortisol and glucose levels (P < 0.05), and inhibited the antioxidant capacity. However, stocking density did not affect innate immunity parameters in fish, including complement c3, immunoglobulin M (IgM) and lysozyme (LZM). These negative growth performances to crowding stress mainly involved pathways associated with ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, butanoate metabolism, and fatty acid degradation. The gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis were activated by the glucagon signaling pathway in order to meet the increased energy expenditure of fish under stress, which played a protective role against lipid peroxidation. Assessment of these factors allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying physiological mechanisms associated with crowding stress in hybrid sturgeon