Validity and reliability of a Chinese language suicide screening questionnaire-observer rating (CL-SSQ-OR) assessment for children/adolescents

BackgroundA Suicide Screening Questionnaire-Observer Rating (SSQ-OR) has been used to assess risk of suicide among individuals and to help clinicians identify and rescue individuals attempting suicide. To prevent the risk of suicide in China, a Chinese language SSQ-OR (CL-SSQ-OR) needs to be introduced.ObjectiveTo test the validity and reliability of a CL-SSQ-OR.MethodA total of 250 individuals were enrolled in this study. Each completed a CL-SSQ-OR assessment, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was adopted to determine structural validity. Spearman correlation coefficients were adopted to determine criterion validity. An internal correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to test inter-consistency and Cronbach’s α coefficient was used to test split-half reliability.ResultsCFA was conducted with use of the maximum variance method to evaluate the item results. All of the items received scores >0.40. In addition, good model fit indices were observed for the two-factor structure RMSEA = 0.046, TLI = 0.965, CFI = 0.977. The items’ factor loading of the CL-SSQ-OR in the first factor ranged from 0.443 to 0.878. The items’ factor loading of the CL-SSQ-OR in the second factor ranged from 0.400 to 0.810. The ICC of the total CL-SSQ-OR was 0.855. Cronbach’s α was 0.873.ConclusionThe CL-SSQ-OR described here demonstrates ideal psychometric properties and is found to be a suitable tool for screening Chinese children/adolescents who are at risk of suicide

Metabolic risk factors of cognitive impairment in young women with major psychiatric disorder

BackgroundCognitive performance improves clinical outcomes of patients with major psychiatric disorder (MPD), but is impaired by hyperglycemia. Psychotropic agents often induce metabolism syndrome (MetS). The identification of modifiable metabolic risk factors of cognitive impairment may enable targeted improvements of patient care.ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between MetS and cognitive impairment in young women with MPD, and to explore risk factors.MethodsWe retrospectively studied women of 18–34 years of age receiving psychotropic medications for first-onset schizophrenia (SCH), bipolar disorder (BP), or major depressive disorder (MDD). Data were obtained at four time points: presentation but before psychotropic medication; 4–8 and 8–12 weeks of psychotropic therapy; and enrollment. MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery, (MCCB)—based Global Deficit Scores were used to assess cognitive impairment. Multiple logistic analysis was used to calculate risk factors. Multivariate models were used to investigate factors associated with cognitive impairment.ResultsWe evaluated 2,864 participants. Cognitive impairment was observed in 61.94% of study participants, and was most prevalent among patients with BP (69.38%). HbA1c within the 8–12 week-treatment interval was the most significant risk factor and highest in BP. Factors in SCH included pre-treatment waist circumference and elevated triglycerides during the 8–12 weeks treatment interval. Cumulative dosages of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and valproate were associated with cognitive impairment in all MPD subgroups, although lithium demonstrated a protect effect (all P < 0.001).ConclusionsCognitive impairment was associated with elevated HbA1c and cumulative medication dosages. Pre-treatment waist circumference and triglyceride level at 8–12 weeks were risk factors in SCH. Monitoring these indices may inform treatment revisions to improve clinical outcomes

Overexpression of VaWRKY14 increases drought tolerance in Arabidopsis by modulating the expression of stress-related genes

Overexpression of VaWRKY14 increases drought tolerance in Arabidopsis by modulating the expression of stress-related genes, including COR15A, COR15B, COR413, KIN2, and RD29A. The WRKY family is one of a largest transcription factors in plants, and it is a key component of multiple stress responses. In this study, the drought- and cold-induced WRKY family gene VaWRKY14 was isolated and characterized. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that VaWRKY14 belongs to the WRKY IIa subfamily, of which several members participate in biotic and abiotic stress responses in plants. Fluorescence observation from Arabidopsis mesophyll protoplasts transformed with the VaWRKY14::eGFP fusion vector suggested that VaWRKY14 was localized in the nucleus. The VaWRKY14 in yeast cells did not display any transcriptional activity. The expression of VaWRKY14 could be induced by exogenous phytohormones, including salicylic acid (SA) and abscisic acid (ABA). Overexpression of VaWRKY14 enhanced the drought tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis. Compared with wild-type Arabidopsis, the VaWRKY14-OE lines exhibited higher water content and antioxidant enzyme activities in leaves after drought treatment. RNA sequencing analysis revealed that several stress-related genes, including COR15A, COR15B, COR413, KIN2, and RD29A, were upregulated in transgenic plants relative to their expression in wild-type Arabidopsis under normal conditions. Several genes (3 upregulated and 49 down-regulated) modulated by VaWRKY14 were also affected by drought stress in wild-type plants. These data suggest that VaWRKY14 responds to drought and cold stresses and that drought tolerance may be enhanced by regulating the expression of stress-related genes in Arabidopsis

An efficient method for transgenic callus induction from Vitis amurensis petiole

Transformation is the main platform for genetic improvement and gene function studies in plants. However, the established somatic embryo transformation system for grapevines is time-consuming and has low efficiency, which limits its utilization in functional genomics research. Vitis amurensis is a wild Vitis species with remarkable cold tolerance. The lack of an efficient genetic transformation system for it has significantly hindered the functional identification of cold stress related genes in the species. Herein, an efficient method was established to produce transformed calli of V. amurensis. Segments of petioles from micro-propagated plantlets of V. amurensis exhibited better capacity to differentiate calli than leaf-discs and stem segments, and thus was chosen as target tissue for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Both neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPTII) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) genes were used for simultaneous selection of transgenic calli based on kanamycin resistance and eGFP fluorescence. Several parameters affecting the transformation efficiency were optimized including the concentration of kanamycin, Agrobacterium stains, bacterial densities, infection treatments and co-cultivation time. The transgenic callus lines were verified by checking the integration of NPTII gene into calli genomes, the expression of eGFP gene and the fluorescence of eGFP. Up to 20% of the petiole segments produced transformed calli after 2 months of cultivation. This efficient transformation system will facilitate the functional analysis of agronomic characteristics and related genes not only in V. amurensis but also in other grapevine species

Peach DELLA Protein PpeDGYLA Is Not Degraded in the Presence of Active GA and Causes Dwarfism When Overexpressed in Poplar and Arabidopsis

Controlling the tree size of fruit species such as peach can reduce the amount of labor and input needed for orchard management. The phytohormone gibberellin (GA) positively regulates tree size by inducing degradation of the GA signaling repressor DELLA. The N-terminal DELLA domain in this protein is critical for its GA-dependent interaction with the GA receptor GID1 and the resulting degradation of the DELLA protein, which allows for growth-promoting GA signaling. In this study, a DELLA family member, PpeDGYLA, contains a DELLA domain but has amino acid changes in three conserved motifs (DELLA into DGYLA, LEQLE into LERLE, and TVHYNP into AVLYNP). In the absence or presence of GA3, the PpeDGYLA protein did not interact with PpeGID1c and was stable in 35S-PpeDGYLA peach transgenic callus. The overexpression of PpeDGYLA in both polar and Arabidopsis showed an extremely dwarfed phenotype, and these transgenic plants were insensitive to GA3 treatment. PpeDGYLA could interact with PpeARF6-1 and -2, supposed growth-promoting factors. It is suggested that the changes in the DELLA domain of PpeDGYLA may, to some extent, account for the severe dwarf phenotype of poplar and Arabidopsis transgenic plants. In addition, our study showed that the DELLA family contained three clades (DELLA-like, DELLA, and DGLLA). PpeDGYLA clustered into the DGLLA clade and was expressed in all of the analyzed tissues. These results lay the foundation for the further study of the repression of tree size by PpeDGYLA

An Integration of Linkage Mapping and GWAS Reveals the Key Genes for Ear Shank Length in Maize

Ear shank length (ESL) has significant effects on grain yield and kernel dehydration rate in maize. Herein, linkage mapping and genome-wide association study were combined to reveal the genetic architecture of maize ESL. Sixteen quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified in the segregation population, among which five were repeatedly detected across multiple environments. Meanwhile, 23 single nucleotide polymorphisms were associated with the ESL in the association panel, of which four were located in the QTL identified by linkage mapping and were designated as the population-common loci. A total of 42 genes residing in the linkage disequilibrium regions of these common variants and 12 of them were responsive to ear shank elongation. Of the 12 genes, five encode leucine-rich repeat receptor-like protein kinases, proline-rich proteins, and cyclin11, respectively, which were previously shown to regulate cell division, expansion, and elongation. Gene-based association analyses revealed that the variant located in Cyclin11 promoter affected the ESL among different lines. Cyclin11 showed the highest expression in the ear shank 15 days after silking among diverse tissues of maize, suggesting its role in modulating ESL. Our study contributes to the understanding of the genetic mechanism underlying maize ESL and genetic modification of maize dehydration rate and kernel yield

The effect of kanamycin on callus formation from petiole segments.

<p>A: Calli generated from petiole segments on medium without kanamycin for 30 days; B-E: Petiole segments on medium containing 5, 10, 15 and 20 mg/L kanamycin, respectively; F: The calculated differentiation proportion of petiole segments under different kanamycin concentrations. Data are the mean values ± SE of three biological replicates. * and ** indicate significant differences between control and treatments at <i>P</i><0.05 or <i>P</i><0.01 (Student’s t-test), respectively.</p