Establishment of colloidal gold immunochromatography strip for rapid detection of Karen mikimotoi and its application.

In China, harmful algal blooms (HABs) are one of the most prominent ecological disasters in the coastal areas. Among the harmful algae species that cause HABs, Karen mikimotoi is a kind of algae that appear frequently. It can secrete hemolytic toxins and fish toxins such as glycolipids and unsaturated fatty, posing a significant threat to marine life. In order to establish a fast and effective detection technology for Karen mikimotoi that can be promoted and applied on site, we have developed a test strip which is based on monoclonal antibody technology and the colloidal gold immune-chromatography assay (GICA). The experimental results show that this test strip can detect different growth stages including growth, and stable and recession period of Karen mikimotoi. The detection results can be displayed within 3-15 min. It had high sensitivity and specificity, with a detection limit of 754 cells/mL. A colorimetric card was made to further determine the concentration of algae detected. What is more, we had developed a method that can be used for on-site enrichment of algae cells using a syringe to detect lower concentrations of Karen mikimotoi, with a minimum detection concentration of 100 cells/mL. Also the test strip was used for on-site testing along the coast of China. This test strip not only serves as a warning for the outbreak of red tide, but also provides a new approach for the development of rapid detection technology for red tide algae.

The Neural Correlates of the Recognition of Emotional Intensity Deficits in Major Depression: An ERP Study.

Purpose: Deficits in facial emotional intensity recognition have been associated with social cognition in patients with major depression. The study examined multiple event-related potential (ERP) components in patients with major depression and investigated the relationships between ERPs, social cognition, and clinical features. Participants and Methods: Thirty-one patients met DSM-IV diagnosis of depression and 31 healthy participants completed the emotion intensity recognition task (EIRT), while ERPs were recorded. Data on ERP components (P100, N170, P200, and P300) were analyzed. Results: The behavioral results showed that patients with major depression performed worse on EIRT, including all six categories of emotions (sadness, disgust, happiness, surprise, anger, and fear), compared to healthy participants. The ERP results showed that patients with major depression exhibited higher P100 amplitudes for sad and happy faces than healthy participants; P300 amplitudes induced by sad and surprise faces were also higher than in healthy participants, mainly in the central and temporal lobes. A positive correlation was found between sadness intensity scores and P100 amplitudes in patients with major depression. Conclusion: Patients with major depression are biased in their identification of facial expressions indicating emotional intensity. Specifically, they have emotional biases in the early and late stages of cognitive processing, mainly in the form of sensitivity to sad stimuli. It may lead to a persistent rumination of sadness that is detrimental to the remission of depression. Additionally, patients with major depression devote different amounts of cognitive resources for different intensities of sad faces during the preconscious stage of cognitive processing. The more intense their perception of sadness, the more cognitive resources they devote. Therefore, the assessment of the intensity of facial expressions is an important research topic, with clinical implications on social cognitive function in patients with major depression.

Development of a test strip for rapid detection of Gymnodinium catenatum.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are major ecological and environmental problems in China's coastal waters and seriously threaten the stability of the marine ecosystem and human health. Gymnodinium catenatum is a toxic red tide dinoflagellate. It can produce paralytic shellfish toxins (PSP), which cause serious hazards to marine organisms, public health, and safety. In this paper, a test strip based on colloidal gold immunochromatography (GICG) was developed for the rapid detection of Gymnodinium catenatum. The experimental results showed that the test strip has good specificity and sensitivity. It not only detects the different components of Gymnodinium catenatum but also may detect algal toxins. The lowest density of Gymnodinium catenatum that can be detected by this test strip is approximately 120 cells/mL. Cross-reaction indicated that the test strip had a high specificity for Gymnodinium catenatum. This test strip provides a rapid method for in situ detection of Gymnodinium catenatum and a reference method for the monitoring of other harmful algae to serve as an early warning of upcoming red tides. It also provides a new way to prepare more detection methods for toxic algal toxins.

The neural correlates of interference control dysfunction of working memory in major depressive disorder: An event-related potential study.

Interference control function is a key function in a series of specific functions of working memory (WM), which is usually impaired in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Event-related potentials (ERPs) have advantages in exploring the neural processing of interference control and WM impairment, and therefore, it is helpful to further understand the neural mechanism of MDD. In the present study, 44 patients with MDD and 44 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. All participants completed a 4-gradient difficulty Brown-Peterson task (BPT), whose difficulty was manipulated by changing the demand of interspersed distraction tasks. High-density EEG was simultaneously recorded. The hit rate and reaction time (RT) toward the target stimulus as well as the underlying ERP features were analyzed. The results showed that, when compared with HCs, MDD patients had significantly lower hit rates and longer RTs among all four difficulties of BPT. For ERP components, no significant between-group difference was found in either N100 or P200 average amplitudes; however, the centroparietal late positive potential (LPP) amplitude of both MDD group and HC group decreased with the increase of BPT difficulty, despite the pattern of the HC group was relative moderate. For both groups, the LPP amplitude was significantly smaller in high-order difficult BPT tasks than in low-order difficult tasks. Moreover, LPP amplitude in high-order difficult tasks was much smaller in MDD group than that of HC group. Our findings suggest that failure to control interference well may play a critical role in the impairment of WM in patients with MDD, and provided new evidence that the neural correlates of interference control dysfunction of WM in MDD.

Neural correlates of abnormal cognitive conflict resolution in major depression: An event-related potential study.

Abnormal cognitive conflict resolution has been considered as a critical element of executive dysfunctions inpatient with major depression (MD). Further clarifying whether there was a deficit at perceptual encoding stage or the early response-execution stage in conflict control function by event-related potential (ERP) technique in MD would be helpful in understanding the neural mechanism of MD. Participants included twenty-six depressed patients and twenty-six healthy controls (HCs). All participants measured with Hamilton Depression Scale (17-item edition, HAMD) and a Simon task. Electroencephalograms were synchronously recorded when performing the Simon task. The method of residue iteration decomposition was used to analyze the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) and P300 components, which contributed to divides ERP components into a stimulus-locked component (S-cluster), a response-locked component (R-cluster) and an intermediate component cluster (C-cluster) by using latency variability and time markers. Results showed that reactive times (RTs) for both groups were fastest in congruent trials, and slowest in incongruent trials; however, there is no difference in RTs under the three conditions between two groups. Accuracy Rate (ACC) for both groups were the highest in neutral trials, and the lowest in incongruent trials; ACC in MD group were all lower than that of HC group under three conditions. ERP data analyses showed that depressed patients had a deficit in activating the correct response, as reflected by reduced amplitudes of R-LRP, but no abnormality in LRP-S and P300-C. In conclusion, patients with MD present conflict control dysfunction (i.e., abnormal cognitive conflict resolution) at the early response-execution stage, not at perceptual encoding stage, which may be reflected by the reduced R-LRP amplitudes. The abnormal cognitive conflict resolution in activating the correct response might constitute an interesting treatment target.

The Neural Correlates of the Abnormal Implicit Self-Esteem in Major Depressive Disorder: An Event-Related Potential Study.

Implicit self-esteem (ISE) has been considered a critical factor in the development and maintenance of major depressive disorder (MDD). Further investigating the event-related potential (ERP) characteristics underlying abnormal ISE in MDD would be helpful for understanding the neural mechanism of MDD. For this purpose, 32 MDD patients and 31 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in this study. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was used to evaluate explicit self-esteem (ESE), and a self-esteem go/no-go association task (GNAT) was used to assess ISE. Electroencephalograms were synchronously recorded when performing the self-esteem GNAT. Behavioral data and ERP characteristics under different conditions were analyzed and compared within and across groups. The results showed that compared to HCs, MDD patients had significantly lower RSES scores and self-D scores of GNAT, which reflected lower levels of ESE and ISE, respectively. No significant correlation was found between RESE and self-D scores, and only RESE scores were significantly negatively correlated with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) score. The averaged centroparietal go-P3 amplitude under the self-positive condition was significantly smaller in MDD than in HCs. Moreover, HCs had a significantly larger average centroparietal go-P3 amplitude in self-positive than in self-negative conditions, while this pattern was opposite in the MDD group. The neural activity patterns for other conditions were similar between MDD and HCs. Our results suggested that patients with MDD have a decreased level of both ESE and ISE, and ISE might be more independent of clinical symptoms. Decreased neural processing that implicitly associate self with positive conditions (and relatively increased implicit association between self and negative conditions) might be important neural correlates for abnormal ISE in MDD.

Poorer prognosis in patients with advanced gastric squamous cell carcinoma compared with adenocarcinoma of the stomach: Case report.

RATIONALE: Primary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the stomach is a rare disease. The pathogenesis and prognosis of advanced SCC remains to be elucidated. The aim of the current study was to investigate the prognosis of recurrent or metastatic SCC of the stomach. PATIENT CONCERNS: A retrospective study examined the clinical characteristics and survival outcomes of 14 patients diagnosed with recurrent or metastatic SCC of the stomach, including 7 patients followed up in the hospital and 7 patients selected from the PubMed and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database with meta-analysis between January 2003 and January 2016. DIAGNOSES: All patients meet the following diagnoses criteria: histological diagnosis of gastric squamous cell carcinoma; the tumor must not be located in the cardia area or extend into the esophagus; presence of local relapse or distant metastases of gastric SCC in computed tomography (CT) images; and no evidence of secondary SCC in the body. Clinical pathological data and follow-up data were obtained from the medical record or case report of each patient. INTERVENTIONS: Palliative chemotherapy was administered in 14 patients diagnosed with recurrent or metastatic gastric SCC. OUTCOMES: The median age of 14 patients (10 males and 4 females) was 61 years old (range, 28-76). In total, 57% (8/14 cases) of tumors were located on the lesser curvature side of the stomach and 64% (9/14 cases) of metastatic sites were identified in the liver. All patients received systemic chemotherapy, and their median survival was 7.0 months (range, 2.0-22.3 months). LESSONS: The median survival of patients with advanced gastric SCC was shorter than the median survival (11 months) of advanced gastric adenocarcinoma, suggesting that advanced gastric SCC may have a poorer prognosis compared with adenocarcinoma of the stomach in recurrent or metastatic stage.