中南大学学报(医学版)最新文献

Objectives: Parenting styles and psychological resilience are closely associated with suicidal tendencies among adolescents with depression. This study aims to examine the influence of parenting styles on suicidal ideation and suicidal risk in depressed adolescents and to analyze the mediating role of psychological resilience.

Methods: Depressed adolescents who attended the Department of Mental Health at the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University from March 2023 to August 2024 were enrolled. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Short Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (S-EMBU), and the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSI) were used to assess psychological resilience, parenting styles, and suicidal tendencies. Mediating effects were tested using Stata 17.

Results: A total of 131 adolescents with depression were included, with a mean age of (15±2) years; 82 participants (62.6%) were female. Correlation analyses showed that psychological resilience was significantly negatively correlated with parental overprotection and suicidal risk (r=-0.210 and r=-0.233, respectively; both P<0.01). Parental emotional warmth was significantly negatively correlated with suicidal ideation and suicidal risk (r=-0.141 and r=-0.214, respectively; both P<0.05). Parental overprotection was significantly positively correlated with suicidal ideation (r=0.200, P<0.01). Mediation analysis showed that psychological resilience significantly mediated the relationship between parental overprotection and suicidal risk, accounting for 28.5% of the total effect (P<0.05); however, the mediation effect on suicidal ideation was not statistically significant(P>0.05). Bootstrap analysis further confirmed that this indirect effect was nonsignificant. Parental emotional warmth demonstrated significant mediating effects through psychological resilience on both suicidal ideation and suicidal risk, accounting for 16.7% and 10.5% of the total effects, respectively (both P<0.05). Although the direct effects of parental rejection on suicidal ideation and suicidal risk were not significant(P>0.05), its indirect effects through psychological resilience on both outcomes were significant (accounting for 25.0% and 22.2% of the total effects, respectively; both P<0.05).

Conclusions: Parenting styles exert substantial influence on suicidal tendencies among adolescents with depression, and psychological resilience plays a mediating role in these associations. Reducing parental overprotection and rejection while enhancing emotional warmth may help strengthen adolescents' psychological resilience, thereby lowering their suicide risk.

Objectives: Public health and social measures are essential tools for countries to control epidemic transmission but may also disrupt normal socioeconomic activities. This study aims to analyze differences in public health and social measures policy stringency, temporal trends, and their association with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) control outcomes in 118 countries from January 2020 to September 2022, providing evidence to support the formulation of scientifically grounded public health and social measures policies.

Methods: Boxplots were used to describe the distribution of overall and individual public health and social measures policy stringency scores across 118 countries during the pandemic. Linear and nonlinear models were fitted to examine temporal trends in public health and social measures policy stringency. A two-way fixed-effects model was applied to analyze the association between public health and social measures policy stringency and the effective reproduction number of COVID-19.

Results: The overall public health and social measures stringency scores across the 188 countries ranged from 7.78 to 69.75. Among these countries, temporal trend models for public health and social measures stringency were statistically significant in 108 countries (all third-order polynomial models), with coefficients of determination exceeding 0.25. Overall public health and social measures stringency increased over time in 59 countries but decreased in 49 countries. After adjusting for covariates, country-level fixed effects, and time fixed effects, the overall public health and social measures policy stringency score was negatively associated with effective reproduction number (β'=-0.076, P<0.05). Five individual public health and social measures components, school closures, workplace closures, gathering restrictions, domestic movement restrictions, and mask-wearing policies, were each negatively associated with the effective reproduction number (β'=-0.020, β'=-0.046, β'=-0.032, β'=-0.011, and β'=-0.030, respectively; all P<0.05). In contrast, international travel restrictions were positively associated with the effective reproduction number (β'=0.053, P<0.05).

Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the average intensity of public health and social measures implementation varied widely across 118 countries. School closures, workplace closures, gathering restrictions, domestic movement restrictions, and mask-wearing measures effectively curbed COVID-19 transmission, whereas the effectiveness of international travel restrictions diminished over time.

The relationship between gut microbiota and depressive disorder has become a research focus in recent years. Within the microbiota-gut-brain axis, the gut microbiota influences the onset and progression of depressive disorder primarily through the tryptophan metabolic pathway. Tryptophan, an essential amino acid in humans, is subject to dual regulation by intestinal microorganisms, which modulate its metabolic balance via inflammatory stimulation and microbial metabolite production. In depression, excessive activation of the kynurenine branch of tryptophan metabolism leads to the accumulation of proinflammatory and neurotoxic metabolites, thereby exacerbating neuroinflammation in the brain. Intervention studies indicate that the antidepressant-like effects of probiotics and traditional Chinese medicine are associated with remodeling of the gut microbiota, restoration of tryptophan metabolic balance, and alleviation of neuroinflammation. Furthermore, targeted inhibition of kynurenine 3-monooxygenase can mitigate neuroinflammation by regulating microglial activity, thus improving depressive-like behaviors. In summary, the metabolite-inflammation axis represents a central node in the interaction regulation between tryptophan metabolism and the microbiota-gut-brain axis. This provides a theoretical foundation for developing novel therapeutic strategies targeting depression through modulation of gut microbiota-mediated tryptophan metabolism.

Objectives: The application of photodynamic therapy in solid tumors has attracted increasing attention in recent years, and the efficiency of photosensitizers is a crucial determinant of therapeutic efficacy. This study aims to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of a novel photosensitizer, PEG-MTPABZ-PyC, in photodynamic therapy against gastric cancer cells.

Methods: Gastric cancer MKN45 cells were treated with PEG-MTPABZ-PyC. A high-content live-cell imaging system was used to assess the cellular uptake kinetics and subcellular localization of the photosensitizer. The cytotoxic effects of PEG-MTPABZ-PyC-mediated photodynamic therapy were examined using the cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and flow cytometry, while the intrinsic cytotoxicity of the photosensitizer alone was verified by the CCK-8 assay. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation after photodynamic therapy was detected using 2'-7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA).

Results: PEG-MTPABZ-PyC alone exhibited no cytotoxicity toward MKN45 cells, indicating excellent cytocompatibility. The compound efficiently entered cells within 6 hours and localized predominantly in lysosomes. Upon light irradiation, PEG-MTPABZ-PyC-mediated photodynamic therapy induced significant cytotoxicity compared with the control group (P<0.05) and generated abundant intracellular ROS.

Conclusions: The novel photosensitizer PEG-MTPABZ-PyC demonstrates potent photodynamic cytotoxicity against gastric cancer cells, showing promising potential for further development in gastric cancer photodynamic therapy.

Objectives: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior is increasingly prevalent among adolescents. Parental emotional socialization plays a critical role in adolescents' emotional regulation and behavioral development. Sadness, as an affective precursor of depressive mood, may influence adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems when neglected by parents through emotion-regulation mechanisms. Adopting a triadic perspective of fathers, mothers, and adolescents, this study examined the pathways through which parental neglect of adolescents' sadness contributes to NSSI behaviors and tested the mediating role of depressive mood.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among junior high school students and their parents in a secondary school in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province. Parental neglect of sadness was measured using the Childhood Emotional Scale; adolescent depressive mood was assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL); and NSSI behaviors were evaluated with the Adolescent Self-Injury Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the relationships among parental neglect, maternal neglect, adolescent depressive mood, and NSSI behaviors. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the measurement model's fit.

Results: A total of 374 family triads were included. Both paternal and maternal neglect significantly predicted higher levels of adolescent depressive mood, with maternal neglect showing a stronger effect (β=0.318, 95% CI 0.156 to 0.479, P=0.001) than paternal neglect (β=0.214, 95% CI 0.052 to 0.375, P=0.030). Adolescent depressive mood directly predicted NSSI behaviors (β=0.546, 95% CI 0.486 to 0.605, P<0.001). Depressive mood fully mediated the relationship between parental neglect and NSSI, with indirect effects of 0.173 for maternal neglect and 0.117 for paternal neglect.

Conclusions: Parental neglect of adolescents' sadness indirectly increases the risk of NSSI by exacerbating depressive mood, with maternal neglect showing a stronger predictive effect. The findings highlight gender-specific roles in parental emotion socialization and suggest the need for targeted interventions to enhance parental emotional responsiveness, particularly maternal emotion awareness and paternal emotional support strategies.

Objectives: The core pathology of osteoporosis lies in bone resorption exceeding bone formation; thus, promoting osteogenesis is a key therapeutic strategy. The osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) forms the biological basis of bone formation. Astragaloside IV (A-IV), a major active component of Astragalus membranaceus, is known to enhance osteogenesis, but its precise molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the effects of A-IV on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs from osteoporotic rats and to elucidate its molecular mechanism through the regulation of microRNA-21 (miR-21) and Notch2 expression.

Methods: After 1 week of adaptive feeding, mature female SD rats were randomly divided into a sham-operated (Sham) group (n=4) and an ovariectomized (OVX) group (n=8) to establish an osteoporosis model. Twelve weeks after surgery, BMSCs were isolated from femoral bone marrow and cultured. Cells were divided into a S-BMSCs group (from Sham), an O-BMSCs group (from OVX), and an A-BMSCs group (from OVX-derived BMSCs treated with A-IV). S-BMSCs and O-BMSCs were induced for osteogenic differentiation using osteogenic induction medium, whereas A-BMSCs were treated with A-IV before induction. Flow cytometry was used to identify mesenchymal stem cell surface markers (CD29) and hematopoietic stem cell marker (CD34) to confirm BMSC characteristics. Cell proliferation was assessed using the methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. Alizarin red staining was performed to quantify calcium nodule formation, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assays were used to evaluate osteogenic differentiation. Real-time reverse transcription PCR (real-time RT-PCR) was used to detect changes in osteogenic-related genes, runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and osteopontin (OPN), as well as miR-21 expression. Western blotting was performed to assess Runx2, OPN, and Notch2 protein expression.

Results: Flow cytometry confirmed that O-BMSCs retained the phenotypic characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells. A-IV significantly enhanced the proliferation of BMSCs from osteoporotic rats (P<0.05), increased ALP activity, and upregulated the mRNA and protein expression of Runx2 and OPN (P<0.05). Bioinformatic and experimental analyses demonstrated that miR-21 directly targeted Notch2. A-IV treatment increased miR-21 expression while suppressing Notch2 protein expression and inhibiting activation of the Notch signaling pathway (P<0.05).

Conclusions: Astragaloside IV promotes the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs derived from osteoporotic rats by upregulating miR-21 expression and inhibiting the key Notch signaling protein Notch2, thereby relieving the Notch2-mediated suppression of osteogenesis.

Congenital fibrosis of extraocular muscles (CFEOM) syndrome is a genetically determined congenital disorder characterized by non-progressive ophthalmoplegia, restrictive ocular fixation, and ptosis. Its estimated incidence is approximately 1 in 230 000 to 250 000. This paper reports a family with type 3 CFEOM diagnosed at the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. The proband was a 10-year-old female who presented with right esotropia and right upper eyelid ptosis. Whole-exome sequencing revealed a heterozygous c.904G>A mutation in the TUBB3 gene. Genetic testing of family members identified that the proband's mother carried the same mutation and exhibited left eyelid ptosis. The child underwent strabismus correction followed by ptosis repair, both of which led to marked postoperative improvement. For children presenting with congenital extraocular movement restriction and ptosis, genetic testing plays a crucial role in confirming the diagnosis and guiding family analysis. Additionally, individualized surgical intervention can significantly improve both ocular function and cosmetic appearance.