Potential Joint Effects Research Articles

Potential joint effects of perceptions related to COVID-19 and future social development on depressive symptoms: a Chinese population-based study

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant negative socio-political, economic, and psychological consequences. Aims To investigate the impact of individual-level (illness representations of COVID-19) and structurally derived (anticipated social-political development in the economy, security, and social harmony in the next year) factors, and their potential moderation effects on depressive symptoms. Methods An anonymous population-based telephone survey was conducted among the general public of Hong Kong, China during 3–10 April 2020 (n = 300, response rate 56%). Depressive symptoms were assessed by the validated Chinese version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Results Of the participants, 8.7% showed probable moderate-to-severe depression. Hierarchical linear regression models showed that illness representations of personal/treatment control and emotional responses and anticipated deterioration in social harmony were independently and significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Anticipated deterioration in security significantly moderated the associations between perceived consequence/treatment control of COVID-19 and depressive symptoms, such that the associations were stronger among people who anticipated a strong deterioration in security. Conclusions The findings suggested that perceptions of COVID-19 and future social-political development jointly and interactively contributed to depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental health professionals and promotions should take the multiple-level mental health determinants into account.

Several anthropometric measurements and cancer mortality: predictor screening, threshold determination, and joint analysis in a multicenter cohort of 12138 adults

Anthropometric measurements (AMs) are cost-effective surrogates for evaluating body size. This study aimed to identify the optimal prognostic AMs, their thresholds, and their joint associations with cancer mortality. We performed an observational cohort study including 12138 patients with cancer at five institutions in China. Information on demographics, disease, nutritional status, and AMs, including the body mass index, mid-arm muscle circumference, mid-arm circumference, handgrip strength, calf circumference (CC), and triceps-skinfold thickness (TSF), was collected and screened as mortality predictors. The optimal stratification was used to determine the thresholds to categorize those prognostic AMs, and their associations with mortality were estimated independently and jointly by calculating multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs). The study included 5744 females and 6394 males with a mean age of 56.9 years. The CC and TSF were identified as better mortality predictors than other AMs. The optimal thresholds were women 30 cm and men 32.8 cm for the CC, and women 21.8 mm and men 13.6 mm for the TSF. Patients in the low CC or low TSF group had a 13% (HR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.03-1.23) and 22% (HR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.12-1.32) greater mortality risk compared with their normal CC/TSF counterparties, respectively. Concurrent low CC and low TSF showed potential joint effect on mortality risk (HR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.25-1.55). These findings support the importance of assessing the CC and TSF simultaneously in hospitalized cancer patients to guide interventions to optimize their long-term outcomes.

Air Pollution, Neonatal Immune Responses, and Potential Joint Effects of Maternal Depression.

Prenatal maternal exposure to air pollution may cause adverse health effects in offspring, potentially through altered immune responses. Maternal psychosocial distress can also alter immune function and may increase gestational vulnerability to air pollution exposure. We investigated whether prenatal exposure to air pollution is associated with altered immune responses in cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMCs) and potential modification by maternal depression in 463 women recruited in early pregnancy (1999–2001) into the Project Viva longitudinal cohort. We estimated black carbon (BC), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), residential proximity to major roadways, and near-residence traffic density, averaged over pregnancy. Women reported depressive symptoms in mid-pregnancy (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) and depression history by questionnaire. Immune responses were assayed by concentrations of three cytokines (IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α), in unstimulated or stimulated (phytohemagglutinin (PHA), cockroach extract (Bla g 2), house dust mite extract (Der f 1)) CBMCs. Using multivariable linear or Tobit regression analyses, we found that CBMCs production of IL-6, TNF-a, and IL-10 were all lower in mothers exposed to higher levels of PM2.5 during pregnancy. A suggestive but not statistically significant pattern of lower cord blood cytokine concentrations from ever (versus never) depressed women exposed to PM2.5, BC, or traffic was also observed and warrants further study.

Disparities in acute lymphoblastic leukemia risk and survival across the lifespan in the United States of America

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer but is less frequent in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) and is rare among older adults. The 5-year survival of ALL is above 90% in children, but drops significantly in AYAs, and over half of ALL-related deaths occur in older adults. In addition to diagnosis age, the race/ethnicity of patients consistently shows association with ALL incidence and outcomes. Here, we review the racial/ethnic disparities in ALL incidence and outcomes, discuss how these vary across the age spectrum, and examine the potential causes of these disparities. In the United States, the incidence of ALL is highest in Hispanics/Latinos and lowest in Black individuals across all age groups. ALL incidence is rising fastest in Hispanics/Latinos, especially in AYAs. In addition, survival is worse in Hispanic/Latino or Black ALL patients compared to those who are non-Hispanic White. Different molecular subtypes of ALL show heterogeneities in incidence rates and survival outcomes across age groups and race/ethnicity. Several ALL risk variants are associated with genetic ancestry, and demonstrate different risk allele frequencies and/or effect sizes across populations. Moreover, non-genetic factors including socioeconomic status, access to care, and environmental exposures all likely influence the disparities in ALL risk and survival. Further studies are needed to investigate the potential joint effects and interactions of genetic and environmental risk factors. Improving survival in Hispanic/Latino and Black patients with ALL requires advances in precision medicine approaches, improved access to care, and inclusion of more diverse populations in future clinical trials.

Work stress, family stress, and suicide ideation: A cross-sectional survey among working women in Shenzhen, China

BackgroundThis study aimed to explore the associations of work characteristics, work stress, and family stress with suicide ideation among working women, further to detect potential joint effects between different types of stress. MethodsFrom March to June in 2015, a cross-sectional survey on working women were conducted in Shenzhen, China. Demographic and work characteristics, work stress, family stress, and suicide ideation were collected. Multivariate logistic regression models were applied to assess possible associations by calculating the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confident intervals (CI). ResultsTotally 968 working women were included with a mean age of 31.62 (standard deviation: 7.43) years. The prevalence of suicide ideation was 19.4%. We found that night shift work, sickness absence, work stress, and family stress were positively associated with suicide ideation, after adjusting for age, education level, marital status, and occupation type. None joint effect on multiplicative or additive scale of work stress and family stress on suicide ideation was found (P for multiplicative and additive interaction: 0.736 and 0.595, respectively), however, women with both high work stress and high family stress appeared more than five-time odds of suicide ideation (OR: 5.253, 95%CI: 2.982∼9.252). LimitationsWe did not collect information on other psychosocial profiles and failed to explore potential mediated effects within current associations. ConclusionsThis study lends support to suicide prevention that immediate relief allocated to working women with both high level of work stress and family stress is warranted of necessity.

Metabolic syndrome and risk of pancreatic cancer: A population‐based prospective cohort study

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components may link to pancreatic cancer risk; however, current epidemiological evidence is limited, and the potential mechanisms underlying the associations remain unclear. To investigate this, we carried out this prospective cohort study of 474 929 participants without a diagnosis of cancer based on UK Biobank dataset. MetS was defined according to the International Diabetes Federation criteria and pancreatic cancer was identified through linkage to UK cancer registries (median follow-up time: 6.6 years). We evaluated hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) with Cox proportional hazards regression, adjusting for demography and lifestyle factors. Restricted cubic spline was performed for each MetS component to investigate their possible nonlinear associations with risk of pancreatic cancer. During 3 112 566 person-years of follow-up, 565 cases of pancreatic cancer were identified. Individuals with MetS (HR = 1.31, 95% CI, 1.09-1.56), central obesity (HR = 1.24, 95% CI, 1.02-1.50) and hyperglycemia (HR = 1.60, 95% CI, 1.31-1.97) had increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Higher waist circumference (WC) and blood glucose were independently associated with pancreatic cancer, with no evidence against nonlinearity. Although elevated CRP (≥1.00 mg/dL) showed a positive association with the risk for pancreatic cancer, the effect was substantially increased only in participants with MetS and CRP ≥1.00 mg/dL. Our study demonstrated a positive association between MetS and increased risk of pancreatic cancer, with two of the MetS components, WC and blood glucose, showing independent associations in linear manner. Our study also suggested a potential joint effect of MetS and CRP in pancreas tumorigenesis.

Social protection and revenue collection: How they can jointly contribute to strengthening social cohesion

AbstractSocial protection and revenue collection are often regarded as potential drivers of social cohesion. The article joins this debate, providing three main contributions. First, we carefully discuss the concept of social cohesion and endorse one specific definition. Second, we propose using the concept of the “fiscal contract” as the key theoretical lens to understand the often neglected potential joint effects of social protection and revenue collection policies on social cohesion. Third, we illustrate three main mechanisms through which these policies can have positive or negative impacts on the different components of social cohesion and highlight the relevance of these for policy‐makers deliberations.

Assessing L2 listening at a Japanese university: Effects of input type and response format

Large-scale and classroom-based tests of L2 listening comprehension typically employ audio-only listening texts and a multiple-choice response format. However, the effect of these test task characteristics on test-taker performance remains elusive, and begs the question as to whether they are the best option in terms of construct validity. Furthermore, the interaction between these test task characteristics and their potential joint effect on performance has not been sufficiently explored. To address this gap, a study was conducted at a Japanese university which investigated the effect of input type (audio-only vs. video) and response format (multiple-choice vs. short answer) on L2 listening test performance. Participants were divided into four groups to take an academic listening test with one of four combinations of input and response format: (1) audio-only with multiple-choice questions; (2) video with multiple-choice questions; (3) audio-only with short answer questions; and (4) video with short answer questions. Results of a 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA revealed a statistically significant effect of response format on test-taker performance. No significant effect for input type was found and no significant interaction among the variables was detected. Results suggest that visual input and audiovisual literacy need to be more clearly articulated within the construct definition of academic listening, if they are to be included at all.

When Servant Leaders Inspire Followers to Become Organizational Citizens? Empirical Evidence From Vietnam

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the existing servant leadership literature, especially at the individual level of analysis in new settings, by examining the potential joint effects of servant leadership, dyadic duration, and job self-efficacy, with organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) as the dependent variable. We, after analyzing survey data from 148 leader–follower dyads collected from an engineering venture, find that dyadic duration is a significant moderator of the relationship between servant leadership and OCB. Furthermore, the moderating effect of dyadic duration on the relationship between servant leadership and OCB depends on job self-efficacy, such that the interaction effect is neutralized when job self-efficacy is high rather than low. The findings about interactive effects can provide useful information that will help to better deploy servant leadership in organizations to create positive follower outcomes.

Combination of sulfonamides, silver antimicrobial agents and quorum sensing inhibitors as a preferred approach for improving antimicrobial efficacy against Bacillus subtilis

More and more antibacterial agents are used together to treat bacterial infections in diverse fields, but the overuse of antibacterial agents may cause the environmental pollution of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). In order to reduce the use of antimicrobial agents, the potential joint effects of quorum-sensing inhibitors (QSIs) and traditional antimicrobial agents have been proposed to be effective. In this study, the joint effects of traditional antimicrobial agents, represented by sulfonamides (SAs) and silver antibacterial agents (silver nitrate (AgNO3) and nanosilver (AgNP, 5 nm)), and five potential QSIs, were investigated using B. subtilis. It was found that AgNP showed higher toxicity than AgNO3, whereas the joint effects on B. subtilis showed no difference between AgNO3 and AgNP when they combined with SAs or QSIs, respectively. In general, AgNO3 and AgNP presented synergetic and additive effects with QSIs, but additive and antagonistic effects with SAs; SAs exhibited synergetic, additive and antagonistic effects with different QSIs whether in binary or ternary mixed system. Moreover, it was found that the use of antimicrobials was reduced and the synergistic combined toxicity of antimicrobial agents on B. subtilis was increased through the addition of the QSIs. This study can offer a valuable reference for the combined medication of the different antimicrobial agents, which will benefit the environmental and human health.

Joint effects of heatwaves and air quality on ambulance services for vulnerable populations in Perth, western Australia

As the frequency, intensity, and duration of heatwaves increases, emergency health serviceutilization, including ambulance service, has correspondingly increased across the world. The negative effects of air pollution on health complicate these adverse health effects. This research work is the first known study to analyze the joint effects of heatwaves and air quality on the ambulance service in Western Australia (WA). The main objective is to investigate the potential joint effects of heatwaves and air quality on the ambulance service for vulnerable populations in the Perth metropolitan area. A time series design was used. Daily data on ambulance callouts, temperature and air pollutants (CO, SO2, NO2, O3, PM10 and PM2.5) were collected for the Perth metropolitan area, WA from 2006 to 2015. Poisson regression modeling was used to assess the association between heatwaves, air quality, and ambulance callouts. Risk assessments on age, gender, socio-economic status (SES), and joint effects between heatwaves and air quality on ambulance callouts were conducted. The ambulance callout rate was higher during heatwave days (14.20/100,000/day) compared to non-heatwave days (13.95/100,000/day) with a rate ratio of 1.017 (95% confidence interval 1.012, 1.023). The ambulance callout rate was higher in males, people over 60 years old, people with low SES, and those living in coastal areas during period of heatwaves. Exposure to CO, SO2, O3 and PM2.5 increased risk on ambulance callouts and exposure to NO2 showed joint effect with heatwave and increased risk of ambulance callouts by 3% after adjustment of all other risk factors. Ambulance callouts are an important indicator for evaluating heatwave-related emergency morbidity in WA. As the median concentrations of air pollutants in WA were lower than the Australian National Standards, the interactive effects of heatwaves and air quality on ambulance service need to be further examined, especially when air pollutants exceed the standards.

Joint effect of heatwaves and air quality on emergency department attendances for vulnerable population in Perth, Western Australia, 2006 to 2015

BackgroundAs global warming and the frequency and intensity of heatwaves increases, health service utilization, including emergency department attendances (EDA) have correspondingly increased across the world. The impact of air quality on health adds to the complexity of the effects. Potential joint effects between heatwaves and air quality on EDA have been rarely reported in the literature, prompting this study. ObjectivesTo investigate the potential joint effect of heatwaves and air quality on the EDA for vulnerable populations in the Perth metropolitan area, Western Australia. MethodsA time series design was used. Daily data on EDA, heatwaves (excess heat factor>0) and air pollutants (CO, SO2, NO2, O3, PM10 and PM2.5) were collected for Perth, Western Australia from 2006 to 2015. Poisson regression modelling was used to assess the associations between heatwaves, air quality, and EDA. Risk assessments on age, gender, Aboriginality, socio-economic status (SES), and joint effect between heatwaves and air quality on EDA were conducted. ResultsThe EDA rate was higher in heatwave days (77.86/100,000/day) compared with non-heatwave days (73.90/100,000/day) with rate ratio of 1.053 (95% confidence interval 1.048, 1.058). The EDA rate was higher in males, people older than 60 years or younger than 15 years, Aboriginal people, and people with low SES. Exposure to CO, SO2, O3 and PM2.5 increased risk on EDA and exposure to PM2.5 showed joint effect with heatwave and increased risk of EDA by 6.6% after adjustment of all other risk factors. ConclusionsEDA is an important indicator to evaluate heatwave related morbidity for emergency medical service as EDA rate increased during heatwaves with relative high concentrations of air pollutants. As all air pollutants measured in the study were lower than the Australian National Standards, the joint effect of heatwaves and air quality needs to be further examined when it exceeds the standards.

Experimental Evaluation of the Joint Effects of Exercise and Sedentary Behavior on Cognitive Function.

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to evaluate the potential joint effects of sedentary behavior and exercise on cognitive function.MethodsParticipants (Mage = 20 yrs) were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups. The No Exercise Group (n = 19) was instructed to reduce steps to less than 5000/day and were not allowed to exercise for one-week; the Reduced MVPA (moderate-to-vigorous PA) Group (n = 18) was instructed to reduce steps to less than 5000/day but exercised for 50% of their previously reported vigorous PA for one-week; and the Control Group (n = 20) maintained normal activity for one-week. Cognitive functions (via Stroop and Trail Making tasks) were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and after one week of resumed normal activity for the intervention groups.ResultsStatistically significant main effects for time were observed for Stroop Congruent (Ftime = 11.7, p < 0.001, η2 p = 0.18), Stroop Incongruent (Ftime = 19.4, p < 0.001, η2 p = 0.26), Stroop Control (Ftime = 54.4, p > 0.001, η2 p = 0.50), Trail Making-A (Ftime = 19.1, p < 0.001, η2 p = 0.26) and Trail Making-B (Ftime = 13.8, p < 0.001, η2 p = 0.21) tasks. However, there were no statistically significant group x time interactions (all p’s > 0.05) for any of the cognitive parameters.ConclusionThese experimental findings do not suggest an interaction effect between sedentary behavior and physical activity on cognitive function.

Systematically Ensuring the Confidence of Real-Time Home Automation IoT Systems

Recent advances and industry standards in Internet of Things (IoT) have accelerated the real-world adoption of connected devices. To manage this hybrid system of digital real-time devices and analog environments, the industry has pushed several popular home automation IoT (HA-IoT) frameworks, such as If-This-Then-That (IFTTT), Apple HomeKit, and Google Brillo. Typically, users author device interactions by specifying the triggering sensor event and the triggered device command. In this seemingly simple software system, two dominant factors govern the system confidence properties with respect to the physical world. First, IoT users are largely nonexperts who lack the comprehensive consideration regarding potential impact and joint effect with existing rules. Second, while the increasing complexity of IoT devices enables fine-grained control (e.g., heater temperature) of continuous real-time environments, even two simply connected devices can have a huge state space to explore. In fact, bugs that wrongfully control devices and home appliances can have ramifications on system correctness and even user physical safety. It is crucial to help users to make sure the system they created meets their expectation. In this article we introduce how techniques from hybrid automata can be practically applied to assist nonexpert IoT users in the confidence checking of such hybrid HA-IoT systems. We propose an automated framework for end-to-end programming assistance. We build and check the Linear Hybrid Automata (LHA) model of the system automatically. We also present a quantifier elimination-based method to analyze the counterexample found and synthesize fix suggestions. We implemented a platform, MenShen, based on this framework and proposed techniques. We conducted sets of real HA-IoT case studies with up to 46 devices and 65 rules. Empirical results show that MenShen can find violations and generate rule fix suggestions in only 10 seconds.

Sentencing other people’s children: the intersection of race, gender, and juvenility in the adult criminal court

ABSTRACTIn light of the punitive transformation of the juvenile justice system in recent years, several scholars have explored disparities in criminal punishments between adult offenders and juveniles who have been transferred to the adult criminal court, and these findings have been somewhat mixed. While juvenility in itself might influence sentencing outcomes, it is theoretically possible that Black and Hispanic male transferred youth may be sentenced particularly harshly relative to other juvenile and adult offenders. Indeed, previous research suggests that the issue of youth crime as well as the practice of transfer to adult court are conceptually associated with Black and Hispanic males. However, no prior work on the influence of extralegal offender characteristics in sentencing has assessed potential joint effects among race, gender, and juvenility. Analysis of data on felony offenders in Florida circuit courts (n = 1,107,233) reveals that Black male juveniles are sentenced more harshly than many other juvenile and adult defendant subgroups and, for two of the four sentencing outcomes considered, receive the most severe punishments of all offenders.

Body size and risk of atrial fibrillation: a cohort study of 1.1 million young men.

Whilst tall stature has been related to lower risk of vascular disease, it has been proposed as a risk factor for atrial fibrillation. Little is known about other anthropometric measures and their joint effects on risk of atrial fibrillation. We aim to investigate associations and potential joint effects of height, weight, body surface area (BSA) and body mass index (BMI) with risk of atrial fibrillation. In a cohort covering 1 153 151 18-year-old men participating in the Swedish military conscription (1972-1995), Cox regression was used to investigate associations of height, weight, BSA and BMI with risk of atrial fibrillation. During a median of 26.3 years of follow-up, higher height was associated with higher risk of atrial fibrillation (hazard ratio [HR] 2.80; 95% CI 2.63-2.98; for 5th vs. 1st quintile) and so was larger BSA (HR 3.05; 95% CI 2.82-3.28; for 5th vs. 1st quintile). Higher weight and BMI were to a lesser extent associated with risk of atrial fibrillation (BMI: 1.42; 95% CI 1.33-1.52, for 5th vs. 1st quintile). We found a multiplicative joint effect of height and weight. Adjusting for muscle strength, exercise capacity and diseases related to atrial fibrillation attenuated these measures. Higher height and weight are strongly associated with higher risk of atrial fibrillation. These associations are multiplicative and independent of each other and are summarized in a strong association of body surface area with risk of atrial fibrillation. The mechanisms remain unknown but may involve increased atrial volume load with larger body size.

A large Chinese pedigree of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A with a novel C634Y/D707E germline mutation in RET exon 11.

The present study identified the clinical features of the largest multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) A pedigree from China, with a novel double missense rearranged during transfection (RET) mutation (C634Y/D707E). To the best of our knowledge, the D707E mutation has not been identified to date. In the present study, a total of 101 family members who originated from a large pedigree (134 members in total) underwent RET mutation screening by next-generation sequencing and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, followed by direct bidirectional DNA sequencing. The clinical features of this pedigree were carefully reviewed retrospectively, and statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS software. A total of 33 (32.67%) carriers were identified to exhibit the C634Y/D707E RET germline mutation. The mean age of the patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) identified by RET screening was 38.4±16.5 years (n=11; range, 14–65 years). Only 4 patients with pheochromocytoma with a median age of 37 years were identified. No hyperparathyroidism was diagnosed. Persistent or recurrent disease developed in the patients of the present study who underwent inappropriate initial thyroid surgeries that were performed in previous decades (III10, III23, III24, III27 and IV46, as they had undergone two surgeries prior to the present study). A total of 66.70% (6/9) of patients, following thyroidectomy, continued to develop persistent or recurrent disease during the present screening study. In total, 3 patients succumbed to MTC or distant metastasis in the present study. The increase in carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels correlated with the increase in basal serum calcitonin (Ct) levels according to Pearson correlation analysis in patients with MTC without surgery. Ct and CEA levels were also significantly correlated with tumor volumes. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to identify a novel double RET missense mutation in the largest MEN2A pedigree from China. Additional in-depth study is necessary to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the D707E mutation and its potential joint effects with the other C634Y mutation in the pedigree of the present study.

Additive Effects of the Risk Alleles of PNPLA3 and TM6SF2 on Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in a Chinese Population.

Recent genome-wide association studies have identified that variants in or near PNPLA3, NCAN, GCKR, LYPLAL1, and TM6SF2 are significantly associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in multiple ethnic groups. Studies on their impact on NAFLD in Han Chinese are still limited. In this study, we examined the relevance of these variants to NAFLD in a community-based Han Chinese population and further explored their potential joint effect on NAFLD. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (PNPLA3 rs738409, rs2294918, NCAN rs2228603, GCKR rs780094, LYPLAL1 rs12137855, and TM6SF2 rs58542926) previously identified in genome-wide analyses, to be associated with NAFLD were genotyped in 384 NAFLD patients and 384 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. We found two out of the six polymorphisms, PNPLA3 rs738409 (OR = 1.52, 95%CI: 1.19–1.96; P = 0.00087) and TM6SF2 rs58542926 (OR = 2.11, 95%CI: 1.34–3.39; P = 0.0016) are independently associated with NAFLD after adjustment for the effects of age, gender, and BMI. Our analysis further demonstrated the strong additive effects of the risk alleles of PNPLA3 and TM6SF2 with an overall significance between the number of risk alleles and NAFLD (OR = 1.64, 95%CI: 1.34–2.01; P = 1.4 × 10-6). The OR for NAFLD increased in an additive manner, with an average increase in OR of 1.52 per additional risk allele. Our results confirmed that the PNPLA3 and TM6SF2 variants were the most significant risk alleles for NAFLD in Chinese population. Therefore, genotyping these two genetic risk factors may help identify individuals with the highest risk of NAFLD.

Catechol-O-methyltransferase val(158)met Polymorphism Interacts with Sex to Affect Face Recognition Ability.

The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val158met polymorphism affects the breakdown of synaptic dopamine. Consequently, this polymorphism has been associated with a variety of neurophysiological and behavioral outcomes. Some of the effects have been found to be sex-specific and it appears estrogen may act to down-regulate the activity of the COMT enzyme. The dopaminergic system has been implicated in face recognition, a form of cognition for which a female advantage has typically been reported. This study aimed to investigate potential joint effects of sex and COMT genotype on face recognition. A sample of 142 university students was genotyped and assessed using the Faces I subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale – Third Edition (WMS-III). A significant two-way interaction between sex and COMT genotype on face recognition performance was found. Of the male participants, COMT val homozygotes and heterozygotes had significantly lower scores than met homozygotes. Scores did not differ between genotypes for female participants. While male val homozygotes had significantly lower scores than female val homozygotes, no sex differences were observed in the heterozygotes and met homozygotes. This study contributes to the accumulating literature documenting sex-specific effects of the COMT polymorphism by demonstrating a COMT-sex interaction for face recognition, and is consistent with a role for dopamine in face recognition.

The Comparison of the Combined Toxicity between Gram-negative and Gram-positive Bacteria: a Case Study of Antibiotics and Quorum-sensing Inhibitors.

Quorum-sensing inhibitors (QSIs) are being used increasingly in diverse fields, and are likely to end up in the environment, where they may encounter the antibiotics and consequently cause joint effects on biological systems. However, the potential joint effects of QSIs and antibiotics have received little attention. In this study, the joint effects of antibiotics, represented by sulfonamides (SAs) and penicillin, as well as three potential QSIs, were investigated using both Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, E. coli) and Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, B. subtilis). It was found that E. coli tend to be more sensitive to the individual drugs than B. subtilis, whereas the joint effects on the two bacteria showed no difference regarding the same combination of antibiotics and QSIs. In general, SAs presented additive effects with γ-Valerolactone and 2-Pyrrolidinone, but antagonistic effects with L-(+)-Prolinol; penicillin exhibited antagonistic effects with all three QSIs. Moreover, it was found that the rate of resistance in E. coli against the individual antibiotics was reduced through the addition of the QSIs, which suggests a promising use of the QSIs in the bacterial infection treatment. This study also offers a valuable reference for the risk assessment of the antibiotics and QSIs in the real environment.