Prevalence and co-occurrence of compulsive buying, problematic Internet and mobile phone use in college students in Yantai, China: relevance of self-traits

Abstract Background Until now, most research in the prevalence of compulsive buying (CB) has been developed from samples in western developed countries, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence and co-morbidities of CB, problematic Internet use (PIU) and problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) in college students in Yantai, China. Moreover, based on the lack of research focusing on differences between CB and addiction, we will explore whether CB and PIU/PMPU individuals are characterized by the same self-traits (i. e., self-control, self-esteem and self-efficacy) related profile. Methods A total of 601 college students were involved in this cross-sectional study. Compulsive buying, problematic Internet and mobile phone use and self-traits were assessed by self-reported questionnaires. The demographic information and use characteristics were included in the questionnaires. Results The incidence of CB, PIU and PMPU were 5.99, 27.8 and 8.99% respectively. In addition, compared with rural students, students from cities are more likely to get involved in CB. Students using mobile phone to surf the Internet displayed higher risk of PIU than counterparts using computer. Students using Internet or mobile phone longer are more prone to problematic use. Furthermore, we found the strong correlations and high co-morbidities of CB, PIU and PMPU and self-control was the most significant predictor for all three disorders. However, self-esteem and self-efficacy were significant predictors only for CB. Conclusions Our findings indicated that with the prevalence of CB and PMPU roughly equivalent to that demonstrated in previous studies, PIU in Chinese college students is serious and deserves more attention. Furthermore, besides the impulsive aspect common with addiction, CB is also driven by painful self-awareness derived from low self-regard which implies the obsessive-compulsive aspect

Short-Term Power Load Forecasting: An Integrated Approach Utilizing Variational Mode Decomposition and TCN–BiGRU

Accurate short-term power load forecasting is crucial to maintaining a balance between energy supply and demand, thus minimizing operational costs. However, the intrinsic uncertainty and non-linearity of load data substantially impact the accuracy of forecasting results. To mitigate the influence of these uncertainties and non-linearity in electric load data on the forecasting results, we propose a hybrid network that integrates variational mode decomposition with a temporal convolutional network (TCN) and a bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BiGRU). This integrated approach aims to enhance the accuracy of short-term power load forecasting. The method was validated on load datasets from Singapore and Australia. The MAPE of this paper’s model on the two datasets reached 0.42% and 1.79%, far less than other models, and the R2 reached 98.27% and 97.98, higher than other models. The experimental results show that the proposed network exhibits a better performance compared to other methods, and could improve the accuracy of short-term electricity load forecasting

Data_Sheet_1_Mobile phone addiction is associated with impaired cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression of negative emotion.DOCX

Previous studies have demonstrated people characterized by mobile phone addiction (MPA) are more prone to emotion regulation difficulties. However, no study has tested the effectiveness of their emotion regulation strategies in experimental conditions. In the present study, by instructing the MPA and control groups to regulate negative emotion through cognitive reappraisal (CR) or expressive suppression (ES), we compared their emotional states in the emotional visual search task after watching a negative emotion evoked video. A multi-factor mixed design of 2(group: MPA/control)×2(emotion regulation strategy: CR/ES)×3(image type: positive expression/negative expression/neutral expression) was conducted. We found the MPA group recognized the negative expression faster than control group after both emotion regulation strategies, indicating ES and CR were both impaired for MPA. The implications of these results were further discussed.</p

A high performance wearable strain sensor with advanced thermal management for motion monitoring

Though stretchable strain sensors are attractive for next-generation applications due to their high sensitivity, heat generated in these devices limits their reliability. Here, the authors report boron nitride nanosheet-based stretchable strain sensors with enhanced thermal management

Stem cells and diabetic cardiomyopathy: from pathology to therapy

The worldwide increase trend in the prevalence of diabetes has highlighted the need for increased research efforts into treatment options for both the disease itself and its associated complications. Diabetes has been widely recognized as a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease and hypertension. Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a main complication of diabetes, contributing to specific forms of heart failure independent from ischemia or hypertension. Without considerably effective approaches, a dire need exists to further explore the mechanisms and potential therapeutic strategies to prevent or reverse the progression of DCM. In the past decades, stem cell-based therapies have held promises to various diseases including DCM. The aim of the present review was to summarize the current literature with regard to the pathological changes of diabetic cardiomyopathy, endogenous stem cells in diabetes, and the exogenous stem cells transplantation for DCM. If the best use is made of the advantages of stem cells and their mechanism of action is explicitly explored, stem cell-based therapies could served as an important tool for the prevention and treatment of DCM patients

Preconditioning via angiotensin type 2 receptor activation improves therapeutic efficacy of bone marrow mononuclear cells for cardiac repair.

BACKGROUND: The therapeutic efficiency of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) autologous transplantation for myocardial infarction (MI) remains low. Here we developed a novel strategy to improve cardiac repair by preconditioning BMMNCs via angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AT2R) stimulation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Acute MI in rats led to a significant increase of AT2R expression in BMMNCs. Preconditioning of BMMNCs via AT2R stimulation directly with an AT2R agonist CGP42112A or indirectly with angiotensin II plus AT1R antagonist valsartan led to ERK activation and increased eNOS expression as well as subsequent nitric oxide generation, ultimately improved cardiomyocyte protection in vitro as measured by co-culture approach. Intramyocardial transplantation of BMMNCs preconditioned via AT2R stimulation improved survival of transplanted cells in ischemic region of heart tissue and reduced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and inflammation at 3 days after MI. At 4 weeks after transplantation, compared to DMEM and non-preconditioned BMMNCs group, AT2R stimulated BMMNCs group showed enhanced vessel density in peri-infarct region and attenuated infarct size, leading to global heart function improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Preconditioning of BMMNCs via AT2R stimulation exerts protective effect against MI. Stimulation of AT2R in BMMNCs may provide a new strategy to improving therapeutic efficiency of stem cells for post MI cardiac repair

Human endometrial stem cells confer enhanced myocardial salvage and regeneration by paracrine mechanisms

Human endometrial stem cells (EnSCs) have the potential to be ‘off the shelf’ clinical reagents for the treatment of heart failure. Here, using an immunocompetent rat model of myocardial infarction (MI), we provide evidence that the functional benefits of EnSC transplantation are principally and possibly exclusively through a paracrine effect. Human EnSCs were delivered by intramyocardial injection into rats 30 min. after coronary ligation. EnSC therapy significantly preserved viable myocardium in the infarct zone and improved cardiac function at 28 days. Despite increased viable myocardium and vascular density, there was scant evidence of differentiation of EnSCs into any cardiovascular cell type. Cultured human EnSCs expressed a distinctive profile of cytokines that enhanced the survival, proliferation and function of endothelial cells in vitro. When injected into the peri‐infarct zone, human EnSCs activated AKT, ERK1/2 and STAT3 and inhibited the p38 signalling pathway. EnSC therapy decreased apoptosis and promoted cell proliferation and c‐kit+ cell recruitment in vivo. Myocardial protection and enhanced post‐infarction regeneration by EnSCs is mediated primarily by paracrine effects conferred by secreted cytokines that activate survival pathways and recruit endogenous progenitor stem cells. Menstrual blood provides a potentially limitless source of biologically competent ‘off the shelf’ EnSCs for allogeneic myocardial regenerative medicine