Investigating 'place effects' on mental health: implications for population-based studies in psychiatry

Background. Interest in features of our local environments that may promote better mental health and wellbeing continues to rise among decision makers. Our purpose was to highlight a selection of these challenges and some promising avenues for enhancing the quality of evidence. Method. An analysis of approximately 267, 000 people was used to test the local relative deprivation hypothesis, wherein the shortfall of a person's socioeconomic circumstances from their neighbours is said to impact negatively upon mental health. This case was used to anchor further discussion of challenges to identifying and interpreting genuine 'place effects' from spurious correlations. Results. A Median Odds Ratio of 1.29 computed via multilevel logistic regression showed that the odds of experiencing psychological distress (as measured by the Kessler score) varied by geographical area. Approximately 67% of this was attributed to a cross-classified measure of household income and neighbourhood deprivation. Compared to people on high incomes living in affluent neighbourhoods, the odds ratio of psychological distress for people on low incomes in affluent areas was 4.73 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 4.39, 5.09), whereas that for people on low incomes in deprived areas was significantly higher at 5.83 (95% CI 5.41, 6.28). Conclusions. While no evidence was found to support local relative deprivation hypothesis, the pattern suggests that more affluent areas may contain features that are conducive to better mental health. Selection of bespoke geographical boundaries, use of directed acyclic graphs and more evaluations of natural experiments are likely to be important in taking the field of enquiry onwards.

Receptor-interacting protein kinase 3 is a predictor of survival and plays a tumor suppressive role in colorectal cancer

Receptor-interacting protein kinase 3 (RIP3) is a member of the RIP Ser/Thr kinase family, plays an important role in regulating cell survival, cell apoptosis and cell necrosis. However, the role of RIP3 in the carcinogenesis of colorectal cancer is still poorly understood.We used quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis to examine RIP3 expression in primary colorectal cancer and paired normal colorectal mucosa. RIP3 clinicopathological significance was assessed by immunohistochemical staining in 112 cases of primary colorectal cancer paired with noncancerous tissues. The biological function of RIP3 overexpression was measured by CCK8 assay and plate colony formation assay. Dual staining with fluorescent Annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) was used to discriminate apoptotic or necrotic cell death.RIP3 expression was significantly lower in colorectal cancer and associated with T stage, M stage and AJCC stage. Cox proportional hazard models showed that RIP3 expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival and disease-free survival in patients with colorectal cancer. Overexpression of RIP3 significantly suppressed the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells in vitro.Our results suggest that RIP3 may function as a novel prognostic indicator after surgery and play a suppressive role in the colorectal carcinogenesis.

Identification of a novel cytochrome P450 gene, CYP321E1 from the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) and RNA interference to evaluate its role in chlorantraniliprole resistance

Insect cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) play an important role in catalysis of many reactions leading to insecticides resistance. Our previous studies on transcriptome analysis of chlorantraniliprole-resistant development in the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella revealed that up-regulation of cytochrome P450s are one of the main factors leading to the development of chlorantraniliprole resistance. Here, we report for the first time a novel cytochrome P450 gene CYP321E1, which belongs to the cytochrome P450 gene family CYP321. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analyses indicated that CYP321E1 was expressed at all developmental stages of P. xylostella but was highest in the fourth-instar larvae; furthermore, the relatively high expression was observed in the midgut of the fourth-instar larvae, followed by fat bodies and epidermis. The expression of CYP321E1 in P. xylostella was differentially affected by three representative insecticides, including alphamethrin, abamectin and chlorantraniliprole. Among them, the exposure to chlorantraniliprole resulted in the largest transcript level of this cytochrome P450 gene. The findings suggested potential involvement of CYP321E1 in chlorantraniliprole resistance of P. xylostella. To assess the functional link of CYP321E1 to chlorantraniliprole resistance, RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated gene silencing by double stranded RNA (dsRNA) injecting was used. Results revealed that injection delivery of dsRNA can greatly reduce gene expression after 24 h. As a consequence of RNAi, a significant increment in mortality of larvae injected CYP321E1 dsRNA was observed after 24 h of exposure to chlorantraniliprole. These results strongly support our notion that this novel cytochrome P450 gene plays an important role in chlorantraniliprole detoxification in the diamondback moth and is partly responsible for its resistance.

Cloning and spatio-temporal expression of bone morphogenetic proteins-2,-4 gene during ovarian development in New Zealand white rabbit

In the transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β) superfamily, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are one of the largest subfamily, among which BMP-2 and BMP-4 are the most powerful molecules in biological activities. They have been shown to be involved in follicle development of ovary in mammals. However, whether these factors are involved in folliculogenesis in rabbit is still unknown. This study was performed to determine the relationships between ovarian development and the expression of BMP (BMP-2,-4) mRNAs in rabbit. Ovaries were removed from different development stages of rabbits (30-, 60-, 120-, 180-day age and 6-day encyesis), and method of RT-PCR was used for the cloning. The relative transcript levels of BMP-2,-4 genes were measured by real-time quantitative PCR, with GAPDH as an internal control. Known from the results, the BMP-2,-4 genes showed similar but also different expression patterns during ovarian development; they both increased significantly (p < 0.05) in the ovary on 60-day compared with 120-day and 6-day encyesis, and the expression of BMP-2 was always higher than that of BMP-4. The expression law of BMP-2,-4 genes presented in this study may lay the theoretical foundation for the study of BMPs' biological function.

A second-generation genetic linkage map for bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) based on microsatellite markers

Bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) is an important aquaculture fish worldwide. Genetic linkage maps for the species were previously reported, but map resolution remained to be improved. In this study, a second-generation genetic linkage map was constructed for bighead carp through a pseudo-testcross strategy using interspecific hybrids between bighead carp and silver carp. Of the 754 microsatellites genotyped in two interspecific mapping families (with 77 progenies for each family), 659 markers were assigned to 24 linkage groups, which were equal to the chromosome numbers of the haploid genome. The consensus map spanned 1917.3 cM covering 92.8% of the estimated bighead carp genome with an average marker interval of 2.9 cM. The length of linkage groups ranged from 52.2 to 133.5 cM with an average of 79.9 cM. The number of markers per linkage group varied from 11 to 55 with an average of 27.5 per linkage group. Normality tests on interval distances of the map showed a non-normal marker distribution; however, significant correlation was found between the length of linkage group and the number of markers below the 0.01 significance level (two-tailed). The length of the female map was 1.12 times that of the male map, and the average recombination ratio of female to male was 1.10:1. Visual inspection showed that distorted markers gathered in some linkage groups and in certain regions of the male and female maps. This well-defined genetic linkage map will provide a basic framework for further genome mapping of quantitative traits, comparative mapping and marker-assisted breeding in bighead carp.