Psychological Status of High School Students 1 Year After the COVID-19 Emergency

Background: With the control of the epidemic, adolescents\u27 mental outlook might have improved. However, little evidence existed with regard to the psychological status of adolescents in post-COVID-19 era. This present study aimed to explore the psychological status of high school students after the epidemic getting eased. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional survey was used to obtain data from three high schools, including the demographic information, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), the Self-Rating Scale of Sleep (SRSS), and self-designed general recent-status questionnaire. Correlation analysis was performed to explore potential associations between the depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep status. The PHQ-9 and GAD-7 differences between nowadays data and the data enrolled 12 months before were also compared. Result: A total of 1,108 qualified questionnaires were obtained. The prevalence of depressive and anxious symptoms was 27.5 and 21.3%, respectively, from mild to severe in all students, while 11.8% of these high students got sleep disturbances. Both the rate and the severity of depression, anxiety and sleep problems of female students were higher than male students. Grade three students suffered higher prevalence and severer mental disturbances than the other two grades. There were significant correlations between the depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep status. The psychological status has been improved in nowadays high school students compared with the sample enrolled 12 months before. Conclusion: As a supplement to our former study, this present research provided a perspective on the psychological status of high school students 1 year after the COVID-19 pandemic being well controlled. We should pay attention to the psychological status of high school students, and should also notice the progresses made by this special group after the epidemic

Was the Ediacaran Shuram Excursion a globally synchronized early diagenetic event? Insights from methane-derived authigenic carbonates in the uppermost Doushantuo Formation, South China

The Ediacaran Period is characterized by the most profound negative carbon isotope (

Prevalence of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms of High School Students in Shandong Province During the COVID-19 Epidemic

© Copyright © 2020 Zhang, Zhai, Yang, Zhang, Zhou, Yang, Duan and Zhou. Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) has brought physical risks as well as psychological challenges to the whole world. High school students are a special group suffering from both the academic pressure and the threat of the epidemic. The present study aims to conduct an online survey to investigate the psychological status of high school students in Shandong Province. Methods: Using a web-based cross-sectional survey, data was collected from 1,018 voluntary high school students assessed with demographic information, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and a self-designed online-study effect survey. Correlation analysis was performed to explore the relationships between depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and study effect. Result: The prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and a combination of depressive and anxiety symptoms was 52.4, 31.4, and 26.8%, respectively, among high school students in Shandong Province during the COVID-19 epidemic. And from moderate to severe severity level, the rates of depressive symptoms and anxious symptoms were 17.6 and 4.6%. Female students exhibited a higher rate and severity of mental symptoms than male, and grade one senior high school students got a higher rate and severity of mental symptoms than the other two grades. Nearly half of the students were not satisfied with their online-study effect. The PHQ-9 score had a strong positive correlation with the GAD-7 score. Both the PHQ-9 score the GAD-7 score had a negative correlation with the study-effect survey score. Conclusion: Quite a number of high school students suffered from depression and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 epidemic. Sufficient attentions should be paid, and necessary supports should be provided, to protect the mental health of this special group

Implications for Ediacaran biological evolution from the ca. 602 Ma Lantian biota in China

The morphologically differentiated benthic macrofossils of algae and putative animal affinities of the Lantian biota in China represents the oldest known Ediacaran macroscopic eukaryotic assemblage. Although the biota provides remarkable insights into the early evolution of complex macroeukaryotes in the Ediacaran, the uncertainty in its age has hampered any robust biological evaluation. We resolve this issue by applying a petrographic-guided rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) organic-bearing sedimentary unit study on the Lantian biota. This work confines a minimum age for the first appearance of the Lantian biota to 602 ± 7 Ma (2σ, including decay constant uncertainty). This new Re-Os date confirms that the Lantian biota is of early–mid Ediacaran age and temporally distinct from the typical Ediacaran macrobiotas. Our results indicate that the differentiation and radiation of macroscopic eukaryotes, and the evolution of the primitive, erect epibenthic ecosystem, occurred in the early–mid Ediacaran and were associated with highly fluctuating oceanic redox conditions. The radiogenic initial 187Os/188Os ratios derived from the Lantian (1.14 ± 0.02) and other Ediacaran shales invoke oxidative weathering of upper continental crust in the early–middle Ediacaran, which may have stimulated the evolution of life and oceanic-atmospheric oxygenation. Integrated with published Ediacaran chronological and geochemical data, our new Re-Os geochemical study of the Lantian black shale provides a refined, time-calibrated record of environment and eukaryote evolution during the Ediacaran

The ratio of CRP to prealbumin levels predict mortality in patients with hospital-acquired acute kidney injury

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Animal and human studies suggest that inflammation and malnutrition are common in acute kidney injury (AKI) patients. However, only a few studies reported CRP, a marker of inflammation, albumin, prealbumin and cholesterol, markers of nutritional status were associated with the prognosis of AKI patients. No study examined whether the combination of inflammatory and nutritional markers could predict the mortality of AKI patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>155 patients with hospital-acquired AKI were recruited to this prospective cohort study according to RIFLE (Risk, Injury, Failure, Lost or End Stage Kidney) criteria. C-reactive protein (CRP), and the nutritional markers (albumin, prealbumin and cholesterol) measured at nephrology consultation were analyzed in relation to all cause mortality of these patients. In addition, CRP and prealbumin were also measured in healthy controls (n = 45), maintenance hemodialysis (n = 70) and peritoneal dialysis patients (n = 50) and then compared with AKI patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared with healthy controls and end-stage renal disease patients on maintenance hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, patients with AKI had significantly higher levels of CRP/prealbumin (<it>p </it>< 0.001). Higher level of serum CRP and lower levels of albumin, prealbumin and cholesterol were found to be significant in the patients with AKI who died within 28 days than those who survived >28 days. Similarly, the combined factors including the ratio of CRP to albumin (CRP/albumin), CRP/prealbumin and CRP/cholesterol were also significantly higher in the former group (<it>p </it>< 0.001 for all). Multivariate analysis (Cox regression) revealed that CRP/prealbumin was independently associated with mortality after adjustment for age, gender, sepsis and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA, <it>p </it>= 0.027) while the others (CRP, albumin, prealbumin, cholesterol, CRP/albumin and CRP/cholesterol) became non-significantly associated. The hazard ratio was 1.00 (reference), 1.85, 2.25 and 3.89 for CRP/prealbumin increasing according to quartiles (<it>p </it>= 0.01 for the trend).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Inflammation and malnutrition were common in patients with AKI. Higher level of the ratio of CRP to prealbumin was associated with mortality of AKI patients independent of the severity of illness and it may be a valuable addition to SOFA score to independent of the severity of illness and it may be a valuable addition to SOFA score to predict the prognosis of AKI patients.</p

The porcine piRNA transcriptome response to Senecavirus a infection

IntroductionSenecavirus A (SVA) belongs to the genus Senecavirus in the family Picornaviridae. PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are a class of small Ribonucleic Acids (RNAs) that have been found in mammalian cells in recent years. However, the expression profile of piRNAs in the host during SVA infection and their roles are poorly understood.MethodsHere, we found the significant differential expression of 173 piRNAs in SVA-infected porcine kidney (PK-15) cells using RNA-seq and 10 significant differentially expressed (DE) piRNAs were further verified by qRT-PCR.ResultsGO annotation analysis showed that metabolism, proliferation, and differentiation were significantly activated after SVA infection. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis revealed that significant DE piRNAs were mainly enriched in AMPK pathway, Rap1 pathway, circadian rhythm and VEGF pathway. It was suggested that piRNAs may regulated antiviral immunity, intracellular homeostasis, and tumor activities during SVA infection. In addition, we found that the expression levels of the major piRNA-generating genes BMAL1 and CRY1 were significantly downregulated after SVA infection.DiscussionThis suggests that SVA may affect circadian rhythm and promote apoptosis by inhibiting the major piRNA-generating genes BMAL1 and CRY1. The piRNA transcriptome in PK-15 cells has never been reported before, and this study will further the understanding of the piRNA regulatory mechanisms underlying SVA infections

New Method to Prepare Mitomycin C Loaded PLA-Nanoparticles with High Drug Entrapment Efficiency

The classical utilized double emulsion solvent diffusion technique for encapsulating water soluble Mitomycin C (MMC) in PLA nanoparticles suffers from low encapsulation efficiency because of the drug rapid partitioning to the external aqueous phase. In this paper, MMC loaded PLA nanoparticles were prepared by a new single emulsion solvent evaporation method, in which soybean phosphatidylcholine (SPC) was employed to improve the liposolubility of MMC by formation of MMC–SPC complex. Four main influential factors based on the results of a single-factor test, namely, PLA molecular weight, ratio of PLA to SPC (wt/wt) and MMC to SPC (wt/wt), volume ratio of oil phase to water phase, were evaluated using an orthogonal design with respect to drug entrapment efficiency. The drug release study was performed in pH 7.2 PBS at 37 °C with drug analysis using UV/vis spectrometer at 365 nm. MMC–PLA particles prepared by classical method were used as comparison. The formulated MMC–SPC–PLA nanoparticles under optimized condition are found to be relatively uniform in size (594 nm) with up to 94.8% of drug entrapment efficiency compared to 6.44 μm of PLA–MMC microparticles with 34.5% of drug entrapment efficiency. The release of MMC shows biphasic with an initial burst effect, followed by a cumulated drug release over 30 days is 50.17% for PLA–MMC–SPC nanoparticles, and 74.1% for PLA–MMC particles. The IR analysis of MMC–SPC complex shows that their high liposolubility may be attributed to some weak physical interaction between MMC and SPC during the formation of the complex. It is concluded that the new method is advantageous in terms of smaller size, lower size distribution, higher encapsulation yield, and longer sustained drug release in comparison to classical method

Post-collisional magmatism associated with the final closure of the Rushan-Pshart Meso-Tethys Ocean in Pamir, Tajikistan: Inference from Cretaceous igneous rocks of the Pshart accretionary complex

The Pamir orogen was formed by the subducted accretion and amalgamation of Cimmerian terranes from the northern margin of Gondwana with the southern margin of Eurasia. The Mesozoic magmatic rocks are widespread in Pamir and record the tectonic evolution in different stages. The Rushan–Pshart suture zone represents an ancient ocean between Central and Southern Pamir. This paper reports the petrography, geochronology, and geochemistry of Cretaceous granites and diabase dikes that intrude into the Pshart complex. The granites were emplaced between 124 and 118 Ma, based on their zircon U-Pb ages. These granites are characterized by high-K calc-alkaline, low magnesian, and high SiO2, A/CNK, and K2O+Na2O values. They also display strong depletion of Ba, Sr, Eu, and Ti and comparatively weak negative Nb anomalies in spidergrams. Thus, we proposed in this study that these are highly fractionated, strongly peraluminous S-type granites. They were generated by the partial melting of the metasedimentary rocks in the plagioclase stability field and underwent subsequent fractional crystallization during their ascent. The diabase dikes contain low SiO2, and high MgO levels and negative Nb and Ta anomalies, which were interpreted to form in an extensional environment. Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous closure of the Rushan–Pshart Ocean and subsequent foundering of its oceanic lithosphere caused local extension and upwelling of the asthenospheric mantle. The underplating of mafic magma provided a heat source to melt the metasedimentary-derived granitic that formed in the initial post-collisional environment. The subsequent local extension caused the emplacement of diabase dikes. Based on our new data and combined with data from previous studies, we concluded that the Rushan–Pshart suture zone is the remnant of the Meso-Tethys Ocean and may represent the western continuation of the Bangong–Nujiang suture of the Tibetan Plateau