Posttraumatic stress on Chinese adolescents’ posttraumatic growth: The role of trauma centrality and emotion regulation

The current 6-month follow-up study investigated 1) the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at baseline (T1), trauma centrality and two types of cognitive emotion regulation (CER) at 3-month follow-up (T2), and psychiatric co-morbidity and posttraumatic growth (PTG) at 6-month follow-up (T3), 2) whether trauma centrality at T2 would mediate the impact of initial PTSD on psychiatric co-morbidity and PTG at T3, and 3) whether the two types of CER at T2 (i.e., adaptive CER and maladaptive CER) would respectively mediate the effect of initial PTSD on psychiatric co-morbidity and PTG at T3. Seven hundred and fifty-seven traumatized Chinese adolescents (Male = 400, Female = 357) from two secondary schools participated in the study and completed a demographic page, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5, the Centrality of Events Scale, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the General Health Questionnaire-28, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents. After controlling for demographic variables and academic stress, PTSD at baseline was positively associated with trauma centrality at T2, two types of CER at T2, and PTG at T3, but negatively related to psychiatric co-morbidity at T3. Trauma centrality at T2 did not mediate the impact of initial PTSD on psychiatric co-morbidity and PTG at T3. Both types of cognitive emotion regulation at T2 (i.e., adaptive CER and maladaptive CER) respectively mediated the effect of initial PTSD on PTG at T3 and but not that on psychiatric co-morbidity at T3. Following past trauma, Chinese adolescents might experience psychological distress as well as positive changes over time. These traumatic outcomes could be affected by adolescents’ thinking patterns about trauma, as opposed to by their concept of self. Adaptive thinking patterns promoted the positive effect of trauma onto personal growth, whereas the maladaptive patterns impaired the development of growth

Linking posttraumatic stress disorder with eating disorders among Emirati university female students: The role of self-concealment

The link between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from past trauma, eating disorders, and psychiatric co-morbidity has been established. Whether self-concealment could influence these distress outcomes among traumatised Emirati university female students remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether the co-existing profiles of PTSD and self-concealment could impact eating disorder and psychiatric co-morbidity among female Emirati students. Using a convenience sampling method, the research was made known to students studying at a university in the United Arab Emirates. Four hundred and twenty-one female students completed questionnaires measuring PTSD, self-concealment, eating attitudes, and psychiatric co-morbidity in class. Latent profile analysis and multivariate analysis of variance were used respectively to identify the profiles for students and examine the differences between profile groups in distress outcomes. 38% met the criteria for PTSD. Using Latent Profile Analysis, profile 1 (moderate PTSD and self-concealment with high avoidance) had moderate PTSD symptoms with a high level of avoidance, and a moderate level of self-concealment. Profile 2 (moderate PTSD and self-concealment with low avoidance) had moderate PTSD symptoms with a low level of avoidance, and a similar level of self-concealment to profile 1. Profiles 3 (low PTSD group) and 4 (high PTSD group) had the lowest and highest levels of PTSD symptoms and self-concealment, respectively. Profile 4 showed significantly higher eating disorder symptoms compared to profile 3, and higher levels of psychiatric co-morbidity than the other three profiles. Having PTSD with a tendency to hide self-related secret could increase eating disorder symptoms along with other psychological difficulties

Heterosexist events and psychological problems: internalized homophobia as a mediator and perceived parental support as a moderator

Introduction: Past research focusing on Western samples has demonstrated that heterosexist harassment, rejection, and discrimination (HHRD) were associated with psychological problems. How and when this relation would occur, however, remains unclear, especially for understudied Chinese sexual minorities. Method: A convenience sample of 1,453 Chinese lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals aged 18–50 participated in this study. They provided demographic information and completed measures of HHRD, internalised homophobia, perceived parental support for sexual orientation, anxiety, and depression. Structural equation modelling was conducted for data analyses. Results: Internalised homophobia partially accounted for the positive relation between HHRD and psychological problems (i.e. anxiety and depression). The indirect effect of HHRD on psychological problems through internalised homophobia was smaller when Chinese LGB persons had higher levels of perceived parental support for sexual orientation. Conclusions: Internalised homophobia might be an underlying mechanism for the relation between HHRD and psychological problems, and perceived parental support for sexual orientation may play a critical role in disrupting the pathway from HHRD to psychological problems through internalised homophobia

Network analysis on the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder, psychiatric co-morbidity and posttraumatic growth among Chinese adolescents

Background This study investigated the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychiatric co-morbidity and posttraumatic growth (PTG) among Chinese adolescents using network analysis. Methods 867 Chinese adolescents (male = 424, female = 443) were recruited from three secondary schools. They completed the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, and the General Health Questionnaire-28. Results Domains of each construct mainly clustered within their respective communities with several bridging edges identified. The prominent roles of bridging nodes and edges (positive and negative) were highlighted. Key bridging nodes were negative alterations in cognitions and mood for PTSD, anxiety and insomnia for psychiatric co-morbidity and appreciation of life for PTG. Limitations The cross-sectional nature of the present study may preclude the identification of real causal relationships between nodes. Conclusions Following a trauma, adolescents displayed posttraumatic stress along with general psychological disorder symptoms. These distress reactions could affect the way they appreciated life and their motivation to seek future life possibilities. Findings from the current study may provide some clue for the facilitation of posttraumatic growth among clinical patients

IoT-based Asset Management System for Healthcare-related Industries

The healthcare industry has been focusing efforts on optimizing inventory management procedures through the incorporation of Information and Communication Technology, in the form of tracking devices and data mining, to establish ideal inventory models. In this paper, a roadmap is developed towards a technological assessment of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the healthcare industry, 2010–2020. According to the roadmap, an IoT-based healthcare asset management system (IoT-HAMS) is proposed and developed based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Fuzzy Logic (FL), incorporating IoT technologies for asset management to optimize the supply of resources

Graphene nanocomposites modified electrochemical aptamer sensor for rapid and highly sensitive detection of prostate specific antigen

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a widely used marker for the diagnosis of prostate cancer, and the increasing attention has been attracted on the development of rapid assay using biosensing technology. However, it remains challenging for the sensitive and selective detection of PSA in clinical samples. Here, we report a label-free microfluidic paper-based analytical device for highly sensitive electrochemical detection of PSA. The paper device was fabricated with wax printing to generate hydrophobic and hydrophilic layers for the construction of microfluidic channel, followed by screen-printing of three electrodes including working, counter and reference electrode. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)/reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/thionine (THI) nano composites were synthesized and characterized, which were coated onto working electrodes for the immobilization of DNA aptamer probe. THI servers as the electrochemical mediator to transduce the biological recognition between DNA aptamer and PSA, and the excellent conductivity of AuNPs and rGO also play a significant role of electron transfer, leading to a sensitive detection for PSA, able to detect PSA as low as 10 pg mL , with a linear range from 0.05 to 200 ng mL . We demonstrated that our electrochemical sensor for the detection of clinical serum samples, indicating that our sensor would provide a new platform for low cost, sensitive and point-of-care diagnosis of prostate cancer

The Role of Histone Acetyltransferases in Normal and Malignant Hematopoiesis

Histone or non-histone protein acetylation plays important roles in all kinds of cellular events, including the normal and abnormal development of blood cells, through changing the epigenetic status of chromatin and regulating non-histone protein’s function. Histone acetyltransferases (HATs), which are the enzymes responsible for the histone or non-histone protein acetylation, contain p300/CBP, MYST and GNAT family etc. HATs are not only the protein modifiers and epigenetic factors, but also the critical regulators of cell development and cancerogenesis. Here we will review the function of HATs such as p300/CBP, Tip60, MOZ/MORF and GCN5/PCAF in the normal hematopoiesis and the pathogenesis of hematological malignancies. The inhibitors that have been developed to target HATs will also be reviewed here. Understanding the roles of HATs in normal/malignant hematopoiesis and the underlying mechanism will provide the potential therapeutic targets for the hematological malignancies

馬家寶的寫實主義 : 左翼思潮與香港本土藝術 = Ma Jiabo\u27s realism : a case study on Hong Kong art

談到香港的本土藝術，焦點往往落在結合中西藝術思潮的藝術家和他們的作品之上。事實上，由六、七○年代的新水墨畫運動開始，至八、九○年代的香港雕塑和裝置藝術，到當今年輕一代的香港藝術家多元媒體的混合創作，他們的作品在融合中西藝 術元素之餘，亦貫注了香港獨有的素質，不難嗅出“本土”的氣味。在藝術創作上，“本土”的氣味在於藝術家在創作時強烈的“本土意識”通過形式表現在作品上而形成獨 特的“本土”特徵，焦點在作品的風格和內容的表現。本文所述的“本土”，焦點卻不在於風格而在於作品所承載的獨特歷史背景，這些作品看似毫無新意，細看卻能看出作品獨有的“本土”意義

Accelerating L 1 -penalized expectation maximization algorithm for latent variable selection in multidimensional two-parameter logistic models

© 2023 Shang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/One of the main concerns in multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) is to detect the relationship between observed items and latent traits, which is typically addressed by the exploratory analysis and factor rotation techniques. Recently, an EM-based L1-penalized log-likelihood method (EML1) is proposed as a vital alternative to factor rotation. Based on the observed test response data, EML1 can yield a sparse and interpretable estimate of the loading matrix. However, EML1 suffers from high computational burden. In this paper, we consider the coordinate descent algorithm to optimize a new weighted log-likelihood, and consequently propose an improved EML1 (IEML1) which is more than 30 times faster than EML1. The performance of IEML1 is evaluated through simulation studies and an application on a real data set related to the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire is used to demonstrate our methodologies.Peer reviewe