Serotonin transporter 5-HTTLPR genotype is associated with intrusion and avoidance symptoms of DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Chinese earthquake survivors

Background and Objectives: Prior studies have found that the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) interacts with trauma exposure to increase general risk for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, there is little knowledge about the effects of the interaction on distinct symptom clusters of PTSD. This study aimed to investigate the relation between the interaction of 5-HTTLPR and earthquake-related exposures and a contemporary phenotypic model of DSM-5 PTSD symptoms in a traumatised adult sample from China.

Design: A cross-sectional design with gene-environment interaction (G?×?E) approach was adopted. Methods: Participants were 1131 survivors who experienced 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. PTSD symptoms were assessed with the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). The 5-HTTLPR polymorphism was genotyped with capillary electrophoresis (CE) in ABI 3730xl genetic Analyzer.

Results: Although there was no significant interaction between 5-HTTLPR and traumatic exposure on total PTSD symptoms, respondents with the LL genotype of 5-HTTLPR who were highly exposed to the earthquake experienced lower intrusion and avoidance symptoms than those with the S-allele carriers.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that the 5-HTTLPR may have an important impact on the development of PTSD and add to the extant knowledge on understanding and treating of posttraumatic psychopathology.     

Early Childhood Care Trends and Associations with Child Health Well-being in China: Evidence from the CHNS 1991 to 2011 Data

It has become increasingly common for young children to be taken care of by multiple caregivers in China after the socio-economic reforms. Complex migration patterns and high female labour force participation have led to children receiving care from various individuals in different contexts. However, little is known about how childcare arrangements are associated with child health well-being. This study examines various early childhood caregivers and their influences on children’s physical health in China. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS 1991–2011) with 3,470 children aged 2 to 6, we first identified different types of childcare arrangements in and outside of the household based on who provides the care, where they provide the care, and the intensity of the care. Then we examined the relationship between various childcare arrangements and health outcomes for children. Overall, household members undertook early childhood care tasks in China, with an increase in grandparents as primary caregivers between 1991 and 2011. The proportion of children receiving formal childcare fluctuated around 20% during this period. The findings suggest that: 1) primary caregiver in the household other than parents is not associated with undesirable physical health outcomes; 2) formal childcare outside the household is associated with higher height and lower BMI scores; 3) primary caregivers in the household, particular grandparents, moderate the association between childcare arrangements outside the household and children’s health outcomes. It yields an implication that early childhood care policies incorporating multiple caregivers would benefit children’s well-being in China.

     

A robust vision-based method for staircase detection and localization

A robust vision-based staircase identification method is proposed, which comprises 2D staircase detection and 3D staircase localization. The 2D detector pre-screens the input image, and the 3D localization algorithm continues the task of retrieving geometry of the staircase on the reported region in the image. A novel set of principal component analysis-based Haar-like features are introduced, which extends the classical Haar-like features from local to global domain and are extremely efficient at rejecting non-object regions for the early stages of the cascade, and the Viola–Jones rapid object detection framework is improved to adapt the context of staircase detection, modifications have been made on the scanning scheme, multiple detections integrating scheme and the final detection evaluation metrics. The V-disparity concept is applied to detect the planar regions on the staircase surface and locate 3D planes quickly from disparity maps, and then, the 3D position of staircase is localized robustly. Finally, experiments show the performance of the proposed method.     

中学生自我隐瞒倾向:因素结构与发展特点

本研究旨在探讨自我隐瞒量表在中学生样本中的适用性 ,以及中学生自我隐瞒倾向的特点。一个由 51 3名中学生组成的样本接受了自我隐瞒量表和中学生应付方式量表的测试。结果发现中文版自我隐瞒量表具有较好结构效度和较好的效标效度以及较好的信度 ,因此中文版自我隐瞒量表可在今后的有关研究中使用。研究还发现男生的自我隐瞒倾向同女生相比相对较高 ,而且无论男生和女生 ,中学生的自我隐瞒倾向显著地高于大学生。这些结果可能表明 ,处于心理“断乳期”的中学生的心理具有一定闭锁性 ,而男生的自我隐瞒倾向高于女生 ,则可能表明自我隐瞒跟男生的独立性较强有关     

起点即终点--从高尔吉亚的命题看西方哲学的发展轨迹

对于西方哲学的发展历程,存在着一个公认的说法,即西方哲学从诞生到现在,共经历了两次被称为“转向”的研究主题的切换。第一次转向是从古代的本体论哲学到近代哲学的“认识论转向”。第二次转向是从近代的认识论向现代哲学的“语言转向”。古希腊哲人高尔吉亚因其命题而著称于世。塞克斯都的《反数学家》记载到,“高尔吉亚一连提出了三个原则:———第一,无物存在;第二,如果有物存在,人也无法认识它;第三,即便可以认识它,也无法把它告诉别人”。[1]与上述的哲学转向联系起来看,我们惊奇地发现,高尔吉亚命题竟暗含着预示哲学发展方向与命运…