OBJECTIVE: Decreased cardiac vagal control (CVC) has been proposed in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the results are mixed. Analyses with larger sample sizes and better methodology are needed. METHODS: Thirty-two drug-naive survivors with current PTSD, 32 survivors without PTSD and 192 matched controls were recruited for a case-control analysis. We used the PTSD checklist-civilian version (PCL-C) to assess posttraumatic symptoms severity. Cardiac autonomic function was evaluated by measuring heart rate variability (HRV) parameters. Frequency-domain indices of HRV were obtained. The obtained results were evaluated in association with personality traits assessed by the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). RESULTS: PTSD patients exhibited decreased LF-HRV and HF-HRV as compared to survivors without PTSD and to matched controls. The PTSD symptoms severity was associated with reduced mean RR intervals, Var-HRV, LF-HRV and HF-HRV. The harm avoidance score (which has been suggested to be associated with serotonergic activity) was negatively correlated with Var-HRV, LF-HRV and HF-HRV. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that PTSD is accompanied by decreased CVC, highlighting the importance of assessing HRV in PTSD patients. In view of the increased risk for cardiovascular diseases in these vulnerable individuals, one might consider the treatment to restore their autonomic function while reducing PTSD symptoms.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Case-Control Studies ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Sample Size ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; Survivors

OBJECTIVE: Decreased heart rate variability (HRV) has been reported in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), but the results are mixed. Little is known about the impact of comorbid major depression (MD) on HRV in GAD patients. Both issues necessitate further investigation. METHODS: Twenty unmedicated, physically healthy GAD patients, 20 GAD patients with a secondary diagnosis of MD, 40 MD patients and 60 matched controls were recruited. We used the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale to assess anxiety and depression severity, respectively. Cardiac autonomic function was evaluated by measuring HRV parameters. Frequency-domain indices of HRV were obtained. RESULTS: Three patient groups had more anxiety and depression symptoms than control subjects, but heart rates (HRs) were significantly elevated only in GAD patients with comorbid depression. Relative to controls, GAD patients had reduced HRV while GAD patients with comorbid depression displayed the greatest reductions in HRV among three patients groups. Correlation analyses revealed anxiety/depression severity significantly associated with HRs, variance, LF-HRV and HF-HRV. However, separately analyzing among individual groups and adjusting for HRV-associated covariables rendered the correlations non-significant. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that reduction in HRV is a psychophysiological marker of GAD and individuals with comorbid GAD and MD may be distinguished based on psychophysiological correlates (for example, HF-HRV) from non-comorbid GAD patients. Taken into account that comorbid depression may confer increased risks for cardiovascular events in GAD patients, this subgroup of GAD patients may benefit better from cardiovascular risk reduction strategies.
Anxiety Disorders* ; Anxiety* ; Case-Control Studies* ; Depression* ; Diagnosis ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Risk Reduction Behavior ; Taiwan*

OBJECTIVE: Anxiety trait, anxiety and depression states have all been reported to increase risks for cardiovascular disease (CVD), possibly through altering cardiac autonomic regulation. Our aim was to investigate whether the relationship between harm avoidance (HA, an anxiety-related personality trait) and cardiac autonomic regulation is independent of anxiety and depression states in healthy adults. METHODS: We recruited 535 physically and mentally healthy volunteers. Participants completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Tri-dimensional Personality Questionnaire. Participants were divided into high or low HA groups as discriminated by the quartile value. Cardiac autonomic function was evaluated by measuring heart rate variability (HRV). We obtained the time and frequency-domain indices of HRV including variance (total HRV), the low-frequency power (LF; 0.05-0.15 Hz), which may reflect baroreflex function, the high-frequency power (HF; 0.15-0.40 Hz), which reflects cardiac parasympathetic activity, as well as the LF/HF ratio. RESULTS: The BDI and HA scores showed associations with HRV parameters. After adjustment for the BDI scores and other control variables, HA is still associated with reduced variance, LF and HF power. Compared with the participants with low HA, those with high HA displayed significant reductions in variance, LF and HF power and a significant increase in their LF/HF ratio. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the independent role of HA in contributing to decreased autonomic cardiac regulation in healthy adults and provides a potential underlying mechanism for anxiety trait to confer increased risk for CVD.
Adult* ; Anxiety ; Baroreflex ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Depression ; Healthy Volunteers ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans

OBJECTIVETo assess the associations between schizophrenia and six functional genes: dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2), dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4), 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor gene (5-HT2A), 5-HT6 receptor gene (5-HT6), catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (COMT) and dopamine transporter gene (DAT1).

METHODSWith the techniques of Amp-RFLP and Amp-FLP, association analysis was made between schizophrenia and the six genes in 67 schizophrenic patients from Chinese Han population.

RESULTS(1) Neither genotypes nor alleles of DRD2, 5-HT2A, 5-HT6 and COMT gene showed significant differences between patients and controls (P>0.05). (2) Six repeats (6R) in DRD4 gene, the allele of 480 bp and the genotype of 480/520 in DAT1 gene were found to be of significant differences between the two groups (P<0.05). (3) Only one negative association was observed between the 480 bp allele of DAT1 gene and schizophrenia (OR=0.441, 95% CI:0.202-0.963, Z=2.05, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe 480 bp allele of DAT1 gene is negatively associated with schizophrenia in Chinese Han population, which stands for the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia.

Adult ; Alleles ; Catechol O-Methyltransferase ; genetics ; DNA ; genetics ; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; genetics ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; Membrane Transport Proteins ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT2A ; Receptors, Dopamine D2 ; genetics ; Receptors, Dopamine D4 ; Receptors, Serotonin ; genetics ; Schizophrenia ; genetics

Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Chemokine CXCL12 ; metabolism ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; metabolism ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Receptors, CXCR4 ; metabolism

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the progression risk of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) with different clinical managements. METHODS: Women with their first diagnosis of ASCUS cytology were retrieved from the national cervical cancer screening database and linked to the national health insurance research database to identify the management of these women. The incidences of developing cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 and invasive cervical cancer (CIN3+) were calculated, and the hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using a Cox proportional hazards model. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the National Taiwan University Hospital and is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT02063152). RESULTS: There were total 69,741 women included. Various management strategies including colposcopy, cervical biopsies and/or endocervical curettage, and cryotherapy, failed to reduce the risk of subsequent CIN3+ compared with repeat cervical smears. Loop electrosurgical excision procedure/conization significantly decreased risk of subsequent CIN3+ lesions (HR=0.22; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.07–0.68; p=0.010). Women in their 40s–50s had an approximately 30% risk reduction compared to other age groups. Women with a previous screening history >5 years from the present ASCUS diagnosis were at increased risk for CIN3+ (HR=1.24; 95% CI=1.03–1.49; p=0.020). CONCLUSION: In women of first-time ASCUS cytology, a program of repeat cytology can be an acceptable clinical option in low-resource settings. Caution should be taken especially in women with remote cervical screening history more than 5 years.
Atypical Squamous Cells of the Cervix* ; Biopsy ; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia* ; Cohort Studies* ; Colposcopy ; Cryotherapy ; Curettage ; Diagnosis ; Ethics Committees, Research ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mass Screening ; National Health Programs ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Risk Reduction Behavior ; Taiwan ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; Vaginal Smears

OBJECTIVE: Since the inflammatory process has been implicated in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorder, an important issue emerging is to assess the test-retest reliability of cytokine measurement in healthy individuals and patients with schizophrenia. The objective of the present study was to investigate the test-retest reliability of bead-based multiplex immunoassay technology (BMIT) for cytokine measurement by using a Bland-Altman plot (BAP). METHODS: Twenty healthy individuals and twenty patients with schizophrenia were enrolled, and a 17-plex cytokine assay was used to measure inflammatory biomarkers at baseline and two weeks later. The test-retest reliability was examined by BAP, 95% limits of agreement (LOA), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and coefficient of repeatability (CoR). RESULTS: In the healthy controls, only interleukin (IL)-2, IL-13, IL-10, IL-17, and macrophage inflammatory protein-1β showed excellent ICC. The BAP with 95% LOA determined that 13 cytokines showed acceptable 95% LOA for a 2-week test-retest reliability, and only IL-1β, IL-12 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α had significant test-retest bias. The CoR of cytokines varied significantly, ranging from 1.72 to 218.1. Compared with healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia showed significantly higher levels of IL-5, IL-13, and TNF-α and significantly lower levels of IL-4, IL-12, and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). Of these six cytokines, IL-12 and TNF-α were considered suboptimal reliability. CONCLUSION: The findings from ICC and CoR implied that the test-retest reliability of BMIT for cytokine measurement were suboptimal. However, the BAP with 95% LOA confirmed that BMIT can reliably distinguish schizophrenia from healthy individuals in cytokine measurement, while significant within-subject variation and between-group overlapping were evident in cytokine expression.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Biomarkers ; Cytokines ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; Inflammation ; Interferon-gamma ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-12 ; Interleukin-13 ; Interleukin-17 ; Interleukin-4 ; Interleukin-5 ; Interleukins ; Loa ; Macrophages ; Reproducibility of Results ; Schizophrenia ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Area Under Curve ; Esophagitis, Peptic ; diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; ROC Curve ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUNDThe prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection varies by geographic locations. Studies indicate that the infection rate of H. pylori was previously high in China but that rates had been declining worldwide over recent decades.

THE AIMS OF OUR STUDY WERE(1) to determine the current prevalence of H. pylori infection among children and adults residing in areas with high (Muping County, Shandong) and low (Yanqing County, Beijing) incidences of gastric cancer in China, and (2) to compare the prevalence for 2006 with the prevalence for the early 1990s.

METHODSUsing Warthin-Starry silver staining of gastric mucosal biopsy specimens and H. pylori stool antigen tests (HpSA), we tested a total of 2065 asymptomatic children aged 8 - 15 years and adults aged 40 - 79 years in the above two regions from May to July 2006. We evaluated 520 children and 526 adults from Muping, and 516 children and 503 adults from Yanqing. Subjects were selected randomly and H. pylori status was determined by HpSA in children and either HpSA or histology of gastric biopsies in adults. Data obtained in the early 1990s in the same two areas of China were also collected and studied.

RESULTSFor children, the prevalence of H. pylori infection was significantly higher in Muping (37.69%) than it was in Yanqing (25.58%, P < 0.001). In both regions, the prevalence of H. pylori increased with age but was not related to gender. A significant difference was observed between 8 - 9-years old and 10 - 11-years old (P < 0.05), but not between other adjoining age groups (P > 0.05). From 1991 to 2006 H. pylori prevalence among 8 - 10-year-old children decreased in Muping (60.00% vs 32.07%, P < 0.001), but not Yanqing (24.06% vs 19.10%, P > 0.05). In the adult group, H. pylori prevalence was 50.95% in Muping, which was significantly higher than the 41.35% positive rate in Yanqing (P < 0.01). But there were no statistically significant differences between different age groups of 40 - 49, 50 - 59, and 60 - 79 years, or between males and females. A significant decrease in H. pylori prevalence in both regions was observed when the results of 2006 were compared with the data obtained in 1990 in Muping (50.95% vs 73.78%, P < 0.001) and in 1992 in Yanqing (41.35% vs 55.35%, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSAfter fifteen years, the prevalence of H. pylori infection among both children and adults remained significantly higher in areas with a high incidence of gastric cancer in China compared with that in areas with a low incidence of gastric cancer. H. pylori infection rates have decreased in the general Chinese population during recent years.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; Antigens, Bacterial ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Helicobacter Infections ; epidemiology ; immunology ; Helicobacter pylori ; immunology ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Stomach Neoplasms ; epidemiology ; immunology ; microbiology

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of Dangua Recipe (DGR) on glycolipid metabolism, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and its mRNA expression level of transgenic Apo E(-/-) mouse with spontaneous atherosclerosis, thus revealing its partial mechanism for curing diabetes mellitus (DM) with angiopathy.

METHODSDiabetic model was prepared by peritoneally injecting streptozotocin (STZ) to Apo E(-/-) mouse. Totally 32 modeled mice were stratified by body weight, and then divided into 4 groups referring to blood glucose levels from low to high by random digit table, i.e., the model group (MOD, fed with sterile water, at the daily dose of 15 mL/kg), the DGR group (fed with DGR at the daily dose of 15 mL/kg), the combination group (COM, fed with DGR at the daily dose of 15 mL/kg and pioglitazone at the daily dose of 4.3 mg/kg), and the pioglitazone group (PIO, at the daily dose of 4.3 mg/kg), 8 in each group. Another 8 normal glucose C57 mouse of the same age and strain were recruited as the control group. All interventions lasted for 12 weeks by gastrogavage. The fasting blood glucose (FBG), body weight, food intake, water intake, skin temperature, the length of tail, and the degree of fatty liver were monitored. The hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), total cholesterol (TC), and LDL-C were determined. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) was determined by radioimmunoassay. Nitrogen monoxidum (NO) was determined by nitrate reductase. The kidney tissue VCAM-1 level was analyzed with ELISA. The expression of VCAM-1 mRNA in the kidney tissue was detected with real time quantitative PCR.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, the body weight and food intake decreased, water intake increased in all the other model groups (P < 0.05). Besides, the curve of blood glucose was higher in all the other model groups than in the control group (P < 0.01). Compared with the model group, the body weight increased; levels of HbAlc, TC, LDL-C, ET-1, and VCAM-1 were significantly lower; and skin temperature was higher in the DGR group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Compared with the PIO group, body weight, the increment of body weight, FBG, TC, and LDL-C were lower (P < 0.05, P < 0.01); food intake and water intake increased more and the tail length was longer in the DRG group (P < 0.01). There was no statistical difference in the level of NO among groups. The degree of fatty liver in the model group was significantly severer than that in the control group (P < 0.05). It was obviously alleviated in the DGR group (P < 0.05) when compared with the model group and the PIO group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). But it was severer in the PIO group than in the model group (P < 0.01). The degree of fatty liver in the combination group ranged between that of the DGR group and the PIO group (P < 0.05). The level of VCAM-1 mRNA expression was significantly lower in the DGR group than in the model group, the PIO group, and the combination group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSDGR had effect in lowering blood glucose and blood lipids, and fighting against fatty liver of transgenic Apo E(-/-) mouse with spontaneous atherosclerosis. DGR played an effective role in preventing and treating DM with angiopathy by comprehensively regulating glycolipid metabolism and promoting the vascular function.

Animals ; Apolipoproteins E ; genetics ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; blood ; drug therapy ; Diabetic Angiopathies ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Lipids ; blood ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Random Allocation ; Thiazolidinediones ; pharmacology ; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 ; genetics ; metabolism