Empathy is crucial for communication and survival for individuals. Whether empathy in pain contagion shows sex differences and its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we report that pain contagion can occur in stranger female rats, but not in stranger males. Blocking oxytocin receptors in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) suppressed pain contagion in female strangers, while oxytocin administration induced pain contagion in male strangers. In vitro, corticosterone reduces neuronal activation by oxytocin. During male stranger interactions, higher corticosterone decreased oxytocin receptor-positive neuronal activity in the ACC, suppressing pain contagion. These findings highlight the role of oxytocin in pain contagion and suggest that sex differences in empathy may be determined by the balance of oxytocin and corticosterone in the ACC. This study suggests an approach for the treatment of certain mental disorders associated with abnormal empathy, such as autism and depression.
Animals ; Oxytocin/pharmacology* ; Gyrus Cinguli/drug effects* ; Male ; Female ; Corticosterone/pharmacology* ; Empathy/drug effects* ; Sex Characteristics ; Receptors, Oxytocin/antagonists & inhibitors* ; Pain/psychology* ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Neurons/metabolism*

This paper discussed how to set the limit of impurities in the quality standard when the impurities in small-molecular innovative drugs were metabolites.Firstly,through the analysis and interpretation of each relevant guideline,in combination with the review cases of FDA and EMA,found out the conditions for qualification of im-purity,and then establ ish the acceptable limit of impurities based on the test results of multiple batches,the incre-ments of production process and storage process.

Objective:To evaluate the data quality of Shenzhen Type 1 Diabetes Alliance (SZT1D), and to provide a basis for evaluation and improvement for the continuous improvement of data quality.Methods:From December 2018 to July 2021, 697 first-visit type 1 diabetes (T1DM) patients (including 501 in Shenzhen and 196 out-of-Shenzhen) and 120 re-visited T1DM patients (including 113 in Shenzhen and 7 out-of-Shenzhen) who were registered by SZT1D in collaborative research platform network of China Type 1 Diabetes Alliance (hereinafter referred to as China T1D). The data quality was evaluated from three dimensions: data completion, accuracy and revisit. The data completion degree was evaluated by the overall data completion degree and the key indicator completion degree; the data accuracy was evaluated by the probability of abnormal blood glucose value; the patient′s return visit was evaluated by the return visit rate.Results:The main characteristics of T1DM in SZT1D were young and middle-aged adults [age: (34.4±17.1)years] with thin body [BMI: (19.80±3.52)kg/m 2)], half of male and female patients [proportion of male: 52.4%(365/697)]; the main types of diagnosis were classical T1DM [65.22%(150/230)] and latent autoimmune diabetes in adults(LADA) [26.08%(60/230)], and the fasting blood glucose (FPG) [(10.93±6.98)mmol/L] and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA 1c) [(10.63±3.01)%] were high. The average completion rate of the overall data of the first diagnosed patients in SZT1D was only 60% [(62.9±31.5)%]: the number of patients with overall data completion ≥80% in SZT1D was only 50.2%(350/697); the number of patients with overall data completion ≥80% in Shenzhen was less than that outside Shenzhen [44.3%(222/501) vs 65.3%(128/196), P<0.001]. The key indicators with better completion rate of first-visit were disease course [76.2%(531/697)], age of onset [75.8%(528/697)], family history of diabetes [74.9%(522/697)], etc., but none of them had a completion rate of more than 80%, and the diabetes self-management behavior assessment questionnaire and scale score were completely missing; the frequency of daily blood glucose monitoring [46.1%(231/501) vs 64.3%(126/196), P<0.001], current insulin regimen [44.3%(222/501) vs 63.3%(124/196), P<0.001], number of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) since the onset of the disease [45.7%(229/501) vs 64.8%(127/196), P<0.001] and the number of symptomatic hypoglycemia in the past 1 month [39.3%(197/501) vs 63.8%(125/196), P<0.001] were higher in Shenzhen than those reported outside Shenzhen. In addition, the probability of abnormal FPG and postprandial glucose (PPG) [5.2%(24/466); 3.8%(19/236)] were low. The revisit rate was not high [17.2%(120/697)], and the revisit rate in Shenzhen was higher than that outside Shenzhen [22.6%(113/501) vs 3.6%(7/196), P<0.001]. The first revisit rate was 16.2%(113/697) and the second revisit rate was seriously insufficient [1.0%(7/697)]. Conclusions:The data quality of T1DM patients recorded by SZT1D needs to be further improved. Improving the information interconnection between China-T1D and SZT1D, employing quality control personnel and building a systematic data quality evaluation analysis and feedback mechanism are methods to promote the comprehensive, accurate and efficient input of T1DM data and continuously improve the evaluation methods to improve the overall data quality.

Objective:To investigate the prevalence and characteristics of mcr genes in clinical isolates of Aeromonas spp. in our hospital, and provide reference for clinical analysis of the prevalence and expression of colistin resistance genes. Methods:Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect mcr genes in 183 Aeromonas spp. strains. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of colistin and polymyxin against mcr-positive Aeromonas spp. were detected by micro broth dilution method. Broth conjugation and filter mating conjugation were performed. Whole genome sequencing was used to analyze the genetic environment of mcr-3 gene in Aeromonas spp.. A recombinant Escherichia coli ( E. coli) DH5α-pGEM-T: : p mcr-3 strain was constructed to verify the expression of mcr-3 gene. Results:The positive rate of mcr-3 gene in 183 strains of Aeromonas spp. was 2.19% (4/183). No mcr-1 or mcr-2 gene was detected among these isolates. Antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that four mcr-3-carrying Aeromonas hydrophilia ( A. hydrophilia) strains were sensitive to colistin and polymyxin (MIC<2 μg/ml). Conjugation experiments indicated that mcr-3 gene could not be transferred between strains. Whole-genome sequencing analysis suggested that the mcr-3 genes carried by the A. hydrophilia isolates belonged to mcr-3.2 and mcr-3-like variants, and no adjacent transfer element was detected upstream and downstream. The recombinant E. coli DH5α-pGEM-T: : p mcr-3 strain was sensitive to colistin (MIC=2 μg/ml). Conclusions:The clinical isolates of A. hydrophilia in our hospital carried mcr-3 gene, but does not exhibit colistin resistance, and no evidence supported the transfer of mcr-3 gene for the time being.