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Hippocampal disruptions represent potential neuropathological biomarkers in depressed adolescents with cognitive dysfunctions. Given heterogeneous outcomes of whole-hippocampus analyses, we investigated subregional abnormalities in depressed adolescents and their associations with symptom severity and cognitive dysfunctions.
Methods
MethodsSeventy-nine first-episode depressive patients (ag = 15.54 ± 1.83) and 71 healthy controls (age = 16.18 ± 2.85) were included. All participants underwent T1 and T2 imaging, completed depressive severity assessments, and performed cognitive assessments on memory, emotional recognition, cognitive control, and attention. Freesurfer was used to segment each hippocampus into 12 subfields. Multivariable analyses of variance were performed to identify overall and disease severity-related abnormalities in patients. LASSO regression was also conducted to explore the associations between hippocampal subfields and patients’ cognitive abilities.
Results
Depressed adolescents showed decreases in dentate gyrus, CA1, CA2/3, CA4, fimbria, tail, and molecular layer. Analyses of overall symptom severity, duration, self-harm behavior, and suicidality suggested that severity-related decreases mainly manifested in CA regions and involved surrounding subfields with disease severity increases. LASSO regression indicated that hippocampal subfield abnormalities had the strongest associations with memory impairments, with CA regions and dentate gyrus showing the highest weights.
Conclusions
Hippocampal abnormalities are widespread in depressed adolescents and such abnormalities may spread from CA regions to surrounding areas as the disease progresses. Abnormalities in CA regions and dentate gyrus among these subfields primarily link with memory impairments in patients. These results demonstrate that hippocampal subsections may serve as useful biomarkers of depression progression in adolescents, offering new directions for early clinical intervention.
Accumulating evidence suggests that altered immunity contributes to the
development of major depressive disorder (MDD).
Aims
To examine whether complement factor H (CFH), a regulator of activation
of the alternative pathway of the complement cascade, confers
susceptibility to MDD.
Method
Expression analyses were tested in 53 unmedicated people with MDD and 55
healthy controls. A two-stage genetic association analysis was performed
in 3323 Han Chinese with or without MDD. Potential associations between
CFH single nucleotide polymorphisms and age at MDD
onset were evaluated.
Results
CFH levels were significantly lower in the MDD group at
both protein and mRNA levels (P = 0.009 and
P = 0.014 respectively). A regulatory variant in the
CFH gene, rs1061170, showed statistically significant
genotypic and allelic differences between the MDD and control groups
(genotypic P = 0.0005, allelic P =
0.0001). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed that age at onset of MDD
was significantly associated with the C allele of
rs1061170 (log rank statistic χ2 = 6.82, P =
0.009). The C-allele carriers had a younger age at onset
of MDD (22.2 years, s.d. = 4.0) than those without the C
allele (23.6 years, s.d. = 4.3).
Conclusions
CFH is likely to play an important role in the
development of MDD. rs1061170 has an important effect on age at onset of
MDD in Han Chinese and may therefore be related to early pathogenesis of
MDD, although further study is needed.
Research on bullying began relatively later in China than in many western nations, and consequently, Chinese bullying intervention programs have been limited. This chapter reports on a five-week intervention program with an action research method in a primary school in Jinan. This represented the first attempt at bullying-intervention in mainland China. The goals of the program were to help the participating school reduce the incidence of bullying and build a more respectful, cooperative, helpful and safe classroom and school atmosphere; and to explore practical intervention strategies to tackle school bullying problems that can be generalized into Chinese primary and junior high schools. A signifiacant reduction was observed both in the incidence (proportion of victims) and extent of the severity (frequency) of victimization among the students of the experimental group both on the way to school and on the way home. Future researchers should consider the assessment of the long term effect of such intervention programs.
China and England possess different cultural values, with China characterized by collectivism and strong social norms, and England by individualism. These cultural features could have important implications on children’s experience of school bullying in each country. The current study explored these issues with samples of Chinese and English primary and secondary school children, using the same methodology in each country to assess the prevalence of general bullying/victimization and different types of victimization, and children’s attitudes towards it. The findings revealed both similarities and differences. Regarding similarities, in both cultures, primary school children and boys were more likely to take part in school bullying than secondary school children; verbal victimization was the most prevalent form; and primary school children and girls held more positive attitudes towards bullying/victimization than secondary school children. Regarding differences, these were found in the prevalence of general bullying/victimization and its various forms; in gender differences in relational bullying; and in children’s attitudes. The differences between China and England could be attributed to their different positions in the cultural dimensions of collectivism vs. individualism and tightness vs. looseness. The design of effective intervention programs should take these commonalities and cultural variations into consideration.
Although the problem of bullying/victimization among children in Chinese schools has been a major concern for the government and the public, scientific research on school bullying in mainland China only has a very brief history. This chapter starts by considering the etymological research of Qifu, the term nearest to western bullying. A review is then presented of the characteristics of school bullying and victimization in Mainland China, starting with prevalence, age differences, types of bullying and victimization, gender differences, and some other characteristics. There is a section on children’s attitudes against bullying, considering here gender, grade and role differences, and dimensions of attitudes against bullying (feelings and action). A following section is on the socio-ecology of bullies and victims, considering individual characteristics (personality, social behaviour, academic functioning), the peer context (peer status, friendship), family context, school context (teachers, class norms, school climate). A following section is on adjustment of bullies and victims. The chapter concludes with consideration of bullying or Qifu and Chinese culture.
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