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ObjectiveTo study theory of mind(TOM) of youngsters in alexithymia,and to assess the impairment in TOM by analysing affective and cognitive TOM and the first and second order judgment.MethodsTOM of 31 alexithymics and 30 healthy control subjects get be examined by the Chinese version of “Yoni task” and series of tests.ResultsThere were significant differences in affective TOM accuracy scores between alexithymics and healthy controls ( ( 35.81 ± 6.30) vs ( 39.83 ± 6.02),t =-2.55,P ＜ 0.05 ).Particularly,alexithymics got significantly lower accuracy scores in the second order judgement of affective TOM ( (24.55 ±6.01 ) vs (28.80 ± 6.04),t =-2.76,P ＜ 0.01 ).However,there were no in cognitive TOM accuracy scores between alexithymics and health controls ( ( 19.00 ± 2.11 ) vs ( 19.43 ± 2.13 ),t =-0.80,P ＞ 0.05 ).ConclusionAlexithymics are impaired in affective TOM,specially the second order judgement.

Objective To investigate the serum levels of semaphorin 3E(Sema3E)in patients with intracranial aneurysms,revealing the correlation between Sema3E and 1-month poor prognosis after interventional embolization.Methods This study was a prospective single-center cohort study,recruiting 102 consecutive patients with intracranial aneurysms who underwent interventional surgery from June 2020 to January 2022 in our hospital.Among them,11 patients were excluded.Clinical and radiological profiles were collected.Peripheral blood was collected after admission,and serum Sema3E levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.All the aneurysms were treated with endovascular coil embolization or stent-assisted coil embolization.The primary outcome was evaluated with the Glasgow Outcome Scale(GOS)1 month after interventional therapy.The favorable outcome was defined as a GOS score of 4-5,and a poor outcome was defined as a GOS score of 1-3(severe disability,vegetative state,or death).Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify potential prognostic factors after interventional therapy.Results The average age of 91 patients with intracranial aneurysm was 59.9±11.0 years old,including 70 cases(76.9%)with favorable prognosis and 21 cases(23.1%)with poor prognosis.The mean preoperative Glasgow Coma Scale(GCS)score of the poor prognosis group(9.4±4.5)was significantly lower than that of the favorable prognosis group(13.3±2.5;P<0.001).In the poor prognosis group,the Hunt-Hess grade(3.6±0.6 vs.2.0±1.3,P<0.001)and the serum Sema3E levels[(6.21±1.58)μg/L vs.(4.38±1.77)μg/L,P<0.001]were significantly higher than those in the favorable prognosis group.Logistic regression analysis showed the Hunt-Hess grade(OR =7.150,P =0.003),stent-assisted coil embolization(OR =15.777,P =0.010),and the serum Sema3E level(OR =1.756,P =0.027)were independent prognostic factors for intracranial aneurysms after interventional therapy.Conclusions The serum Sema3E level is closely correlated with the severity of intracranial aneurysms.The serum Sema3E level is a prognostic factor for interventional treatment,which can be used as a biomarker for predicting poor outcomes.

Objective:To investigate the alterations of cholinergic and monoamine neurotransmitters in cerebrospinal fluid in patients with postoperative delirium.Methods:Sixty-eight patients with normal preoperative cognitive functions were enrolled.They were diagnosed with spinal extramedullary intradural space-occupying lesion and underwent surgical resection.Among these patients, 18 developed postoperative delirium (delirium group), 46 had no postoperative delirium (control group), and the diagnosis of delirium was unclear in four cases (excluded). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was collected before the surgical resection of lesions and on the third day postoperatively.The concentrations of acetylcholine (Ach), norepinephrine (NE), adrenaline (E), dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) were measured using the high-performance liquid chromatography/electrochemical method.Results:Prior to the surgical resection, there were no significant differences in the Ach, NE, E, DA or 5-HT baseline levels in the CSF between the delirium group and the control group (all P>0.05). After surgery, the Ach level in the delirium group ((0.63±0.26) μmol/L) was significantly lower than that in the control group ((0.77±0.19) μmol/L) ( P=0.032), and there were no significant differences in other neurotransmitter levels (all P>0.05). In the delirium group, the level of Ach in the CSF after surgery ((0.63±0.26) μmol/L) was significantly lower than the baseline level ((0.75±0.19) μmol/L) ( P=0.021). The postoperative NE level ((1.58±0.28) μmol/L) was significantly higher than the baseline level ((1.49±0.21) μmol/L) ( P=0.036). There was no significant difference in the adrenaline level ( P=0.497). The postoperative DA level ((0.86±0.18) μmol/L) was significantly higher than the baseline level ((0.82±0.15) μmol/L) ( P=0.045), and the postoperative 5-HT level ((2.94±0.28) μmol/L) was also significantly higher than the baseline level ((2.75±0.35) μmol/L) ( P=0.022). In the control group, only the postoperative 5-HT level ((2.90±0.31) μmol/L) was significantly higher than the baseline level ((2.76±0.26) μmol/L) ( P=0.016), while the postoperative levels of other neurotransmitters were not significantly changed when compared to the baseline levels (all P>0.05). Conclusion:The cholinergic neurotransmitter levels were reduced while the monoamine neurotransmitter levels were increased in the cerebrospinal fluid in patients with postoperative delirium, which suggests that cholinergic hypoactivity and monoaminergic hyperexcitability may be important pathophysiological processes in the occurrence and development of postoperative delirium.

Objective:To develop rapid screening tools for assessing the risk of mild cognitive impairment(MCI)based on neuropsychological scales and cognitive paradigms.Methods:Two baseline datasets from the Beijing Ageing Brain Rejuvenation Initiative(BABRI)cohort were studied: dataset 1 contained 5 593 subjects, with 1 500 cases with MCI and 4 093 cases with normal cognitive function(the control group); dataset 2 consisted of 588 subjects, with 92 cases with MCI and 496 cases with normal cognitive function(the control group). Dataset 1 was used to simplify the Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE), and the sub-item combination with the strongest MCI discriminative ability was selected to integrate into the cognitive rapid assessment(BABRI-mini MMSE). Dataset 2 with scores of encoding-recognition episodic memory task was used for further MCI discriminant analysis and was adapted into an episodic memory test(BABRI-EMT). We applied the receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC)for those analyses.Results:The control group and the MCI group showed significant differences in multi-domain cognitive ability and episodic memory task performance( P<0.01). Among sub-items of MMSE measured using dataset 1, MMSE12 and MMSE19 had the highest discriminative accuracy for MCI, and the area under the ROC(AUC)was 0.699 and 0.631, respectively.Dataset 2 was used to investigate the discriminative ability of the episodic memory score in combination with the above two MMSE sub-items for MCI, and the AUC value was 0.732, the sensitivity was 0.731, and the specificity was 0.656. Conclusions:The BABRI-mini MMSE and BABRI-EMT are suitable for the large-scale universal screening of MCI risk.