Duration of untreated bipolar disorder: A multicenter study

Little is known about the demographic and clinical differences between short and long duration of untreated bipolar disorder (DUB) in Chinese patients. This study examined the demographic and clinical features of short (≤2 years) and long DUB (\u3e2 years) in China. A consecutively recruited sample of 555 patients with bipolar disorder (BD) was examined in 7 psychiatric hospitals and general hospital psychiatric units across China. Patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics were collected using a standardized protocol and data collection procedure. The mean DUB was 3.2 ± 6.0 years; long DUB accounted for 31.0% of the sample. Multivariate analyses revealed that longer duration of illness, diagnosis of BD type II, and earlier misdiagnosis of BD for major depressive disorder or schizophrenia were independently associated with long DUB. The mean DUB in Chinese BD patients was shorter than the reported figures from Western countries. The long-term impact of DUB on the outcome of BD is warranted

The Fumigating Activity of Litsea cubeba oil and Citral on Solenopsis invicta

This paper studied the fumigating activity of Litsea cubeba oil and citral on Solenopsis invicta, identified and analyzed the chemical constituents and volatile components of L. cubeba oil via solid-phase microextraction which were then identified via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed that citral and (z)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-diena were the main components of L. cubeba oil, as well as its volatile compounds. According to the experimental results, L. cubeba oil and citral had good fumigating activity on workers, and also had significant inhibition on the walking ability and climbing ability of workers. At the same time, the effects of the two agentia on the fumigating activity and behavioral inhibition of microergate were stronger than those of macroergate. After treating with L. cubeba oil and citral for 24 hours, the walking rate and grasping rate of microergate were both 0 %. The results showed that L. cubeba oil and citral had good control effect on S. invicta

OpenGSL: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Graph Structure Learning

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have emerged as the de facto standard for representation learning on graphs, owing to their ability to effectively integrate graph topology and node attributes. However, the inherent suboptimal nature of node connections, resulting from the complex and contingent formation process of graphs, presents significant challenges in modeling them effectively. To tackle this issue, Graph Structure Learning (GSL), a family of data-centric learning approaches, has garnered substantial attention in recent years. The core concept behind GSL is to jointly optimize the graph structure and the corresponding GNN models. Despite the proposal of numerous GSL methods, the progress in this field remains unclear due to inconsistent experimental protocols, including variations in datasets, data processing techniques, and splitting strategies. In this paper, we introduce OpenGSL, the first comprehensive benchmark for GSL, aimed at addressing this gap. OpenGSL enables a fair comparison among state-of-the-art GSL methods by evaluating them across various popular datasets using uniform data processing and splitting strategies. Through extensive experiments, we observe that existing GSL methods do not consistently outperform vanilla GNN counterparts. However, we do observe that the learned graph structure demonstrates a strong generalization ability across different GNN backbones, despite its high computational and space requirements. We hope that our open-sourced library will facilitate rapid and equitable evaluation and inspire further innovative research in the field of GSL. The code of the benchmark can be found in https://github.com/OpenGSL/OpenGSL.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Endoscopic Ultrasonography in the Diagnosis and Treatment Strategy Choice of Esophageal Leiomyoma

OBJECTIVES: Esophageal leiomyoma is the most common benign tumor of the esophagus, and it originates from mesenchymal tissue. This study analyzed the clinicopathological characteristics of esophageal leiomyoma and aimed to evaluate the role of endoscopic ultrasonography in the diagnosis and treatment selection for these lesions. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-five patients who had suspected esophageal leiomyomas in endoscopic ultrasonography were enrolled at the Endoscopy Center of The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University from January 1st, 2009 to May 31th, 2015. The main outcomes included the demographic and morphological characteristics, symptoms, comparisons of diagnosis and treatment methods, adverse events, and prognosis. RESULTS: One hundred and sixty-seven patients were diagnosed as having an esophageal leiomyoma by pathological examination. The mean patient age was 50.57±9.983 years. In total, 62.9% of the lesions originated from the muscularis mucosa, and the others originated from the muscularis propria. The median distance to the incisors was 30±12 cm. The median diameter was 0.72±0.99 cm. As determined by endoscopic ultrasonography, most existing leiomyomas were homogeneous, endophytic, and spherical. The leiomyomas from the muscularis mucosa were smaller than those from the muscularis propria and much closer to the incisors (

Furanodiene alters mitochondrial function in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 human breast cancer cells in an AMPK-dependent manner

Furanodiene is a bioactive sesquiterpene isolated from the spice-producing Curcuma wenyujin plant (Y. H. Chen and C. Ling) (C. wenyujin), which is a commonly prescribed herb used in clinical cancer therapy by modern practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. Previously, we have shown that furanodiene inhibits breast cancer cell growth both in vitro and in vivo, however, the mechanism for this effect is not yet known. In this study, therefore, we asked (1) whether cultured breast cancer cells made resistant to the chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin (DOX) via serial selection protocols are susceptible to furanodiene\u27s anticancer effect, and (2) whether AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which is a regulator of cellular energy homeostasis in eukaryotic cells, participates in this effect. We show here (1) that doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 (MCF-7/DOXR) cells treated with furanodiene exhibit altered mitochondrial function and reduced levels of ATP, resulting in apoptotic cell death, and (2) that AMPK is central to this effect. In these cells, furanodiene (as opposed to doxorubicin) noticeably affects the phosphorylation of AMPK and AMPK pathway intermediates, ACLY and GSK-3β, suggesting that furanodiene reduces mitochondrial function and cellular ATP levels by way of AMPK activation. Finally, we find that the cell permeable agent and AMPK inhibitor compound C (CC), abolishes furanodiene-induced anticancer activity in these MCF-7/DOXR cells, with regard to cell growth inhibition and AMPK activation; in contrast, AICAR (5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-4-ribofuranoside, acadesine), an AMPK activator, augments furanodiene-induced anticancer activity. Furthermore, specific knockdown of AMPK in MCF-7/DOXR cells protects these cells from furanodiene-induced cell death. Taken together, these findings suggest that AMPK and its pathway intermediates are promising therapeutic targets for treating chemoresistant breast cancer, and that furanodiene may be an important chemical agent incorporated in next-generation chemotherapy protocols

Precisely visit the performance modulation of functionalized separator in Li-S batteries via consecutive multiscale analysis

Despite progress of functionalized separator in preventing the shuttle effect and promoting the sulfur utilization, the precise and non-destructive investigation of structure-function-performance associativity remains limited so far in Li-S batteries. Here, we build consecutive multiscale analysis via combining X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and X-ray computational tomography (CT) techniques to precisely visit the structure-function-performance relationship. XAFS measurement offers the atomic scale changes in the chemical structure and environment. Moreover, a non-destructive technique of X-ray CT proves the functionalized separator role for microscopic scale, which is powerful chaining to bridge the chemical structures of the materials with the overall performance modulation of cells. Benefiting from this consecutive multiscale analysis, we report that the uniform doping of Sr2+ into the perovskite LaMnO3-δ material changes the Mn oxidation states and conductivity (chemical structure), leading to effective lithium polysulfide trapping and accelerated sulfur redox (separator function), and resulting in outstanding cell performance

Research advances in drug therapy of endometriosis

Endometriosis is one of the most common benign gynecological disorders in reproductive-aged women. The major symptoms are chronic pelvic pain and infertility. Despite its profound impact on women’s health and quality of life, its pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated, it cannot be cured and the long-term use of drugs yields severe side effects and hinders fertility. This review aims to present the advances in pathogenesis and the newly reported lead compounds and drugs managing endometriosis. This paper investigated Genetic changes, estrogen-dependent inflammation induction, progesterone resistance, imbalance in proliferation and apoptosis, angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis and neurogenesis, and tissue remodeling in its pathogenesis; and explored the pharmacological mechanisms, constitutive relationships, and application prospects of each compound in the text. To date, Resveratrol, Bay1316957, and bardoxifene were effective against lesions and pain in controlled animal studies. In clinical trials, Quinagolide showed no statistical difference with the placebo group; the results of phase II clinical trial of the IL-33 antibody have not been announced yet; clinical trial stage III of vilaprisan was suspended due to drug toxicity. Elagolix was approved for the treatment of endometriosis-related pain, but clinical studies of Elagolix for the pretreatment of patients with endometriosis to before In vitro fertilization treatment have not been fulfilled. The results of a clinical study of Linzagolix in patients with moderate to severe endometriosis-related pain have not been disclosed yet. Letrozole improved the fertility of patients with mild endometriosis. For endometriosis patients with infertility, oral GnRH antagonists and aromatase inhibitors are promising drugs, especially Elagolix and Letrozole

BAG5 Interacts with DJ-1 and Inhibits the Neuroprotective Effects of DJ-1 to Combat Mitochondrial Oxidative Damage

Loss-of-function mutations in gene encoding DJ-1 contribute to the pathogenesis of autosomal recessive early-onset familial forms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). DJ-1 is a multifunctional protein and plays a protective role against oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial damage and cell death, but the exact mechanism underlying this is not yet clearly understood. Here, using coimmunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and immunofluorescence methods, we prove that Bcl-2-associated athanogene 5 (BAG5), a BAG family member, interacts with DJ-1 in mammalian cells. Moreover, we show that BAG5 could decrease stability of DJ-1 and weaken its role in mitochondrial protection probably by influencing dimerization in stress condition. Our study reveals the relationship of BAG5 and DJ-1 suggesting a potential role for BAG5 in the pathogenesis of PD through its functional interactions with DJ-1