Mental health system in China: history, recent service reform and future challenges

This paper summarizes the history of the development of Chinese mental health system; the current situation in the mental health field that China has to face in its effort to reform the system, including mental health burden, workforce and resources, as well as structural issues; the process of national mental health service reform, including how it was included into the national public health program, how it began as a training program and then became a treatment and intervention program, its unique training and capacity building model, and its outcomes and impacts; the barriers and challenges of the reform process; future suggestions for policy; and Chinese experiences as response to the international advocacy for the development of mental health.     

Genetic mapping and comparative analysis of seven mutants related to seed fiber development in cotton

Mapping of genes that play major roles in cotton fiber development is an important step toward their cloning and manipulation, and provides a test of their relationships (if any) to agriculturally-important QTLs. Seven previously identified fiber mutants, four dominant (Li ₁, Li ₂, N ₁ and Fbl) and three recessive (n ₂, sma-4(h _a), and sma-4(fz)), were genetically mapped in six F₂ populations comprising 124 or more plants each. For those mutants previously assigned to chromosomes by using aneuploids or by linkage to other morphological markers, all map locations were concordant except n ₂, which mapped to the homoeolog of the chromosome previously reported. Three mutations with primary effects on fuzz fibers (N ₁, Fbl, n ₂) mapped near the likelihood peaks for QTLs that affected lint fiber productivity in the same populations, perhaps suggesting pleiotropic effects on both fiber types. However, only Li ₁ mapped within the likelihood interval for 191 previously detected lint fiber QTLs discovered in non-mutant crosses, suggesting that these mutations may occur in genes that played early roles in cotton fiber evolution, and for which new allelic variants are quickly eliminated from improved germplasm. A close positional association between sma-4(h _a ), two leaf and stem-borne trichome mutants (t ₁ , t ₂), and a gene previously implicated in fiber development, sucrose synthase, raises questions about the possibility that these genes may be functionally related. Increasing knowledge of the correspondence of the cotton and Arabidopsis genomes provides several avenues by which genetic dissection of cotton fiber development may be accelerated.     

A population-based LD map of the human chromosome 6p

The recent publication of the complete sequence of human chromosome 6 provides a platform from which to investigate genomic sequence variation. We report here a detailed linkage disequilibrium (LD) pattern map across the entire human chromosome 6p by using a set of 1152 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a population of 198 Singaporean Chinese, with 326 SNPs focused in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region. Our analysis shows some unexpectedly high segments of strong LD in a 10-Mb region that includes the extremely polymorphic and gene-rich MHC loci and many non-MHC genes. These include the telomeric peri-MHC region that harbors olfactory receptors, histones and zinc finger clusters, and the centromeric peri-MHC region that contains several unknown open reading frames. The data also help refine a human–mouse synteny break in the region between 28.6 and 29.4 Mb. The population-based LD map presented here will provide an essential resource for understanding the genomic sequence variation of chromosome 6p and LD mapping of disease genes of complex genetic traits. Electronic supplementary material Electronic supplementary material is available for this article at and accessible for authorised users. H. Yu and J.-M. Chia should be regarded as joint first authors.     

Anti-diabetic activity of the semi-purified fractions of Averrhoa bilimbi in high fat diet fed-streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

The present study was designed to investigate the hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activities of the semi-purified fractions of an ethanolic leaf extract of Averrhoa bilimbi (ABe) in high fat diet (HFD)-streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 10 weeks (200-250 g) were fed with a high fat diet obtained from Glen Forrest stock feeders (Western Australia) for 2 weeks prior to intraperitoneal injection with streptozotocin (STZ, 50 mg/kg). The leaves of A.bilimbi were exhaustively extracted with 80% ethanol, concentrated at 40 degrees C using a rotavapor and partitioned successively with butanol, ethylacetate and hexane to get aqueous (AF), butanol (BuF), ethylacetate (EF), and hexane fractions (HF). The fractions were freeze-dried to obtain powders of each. To investigate the effect of long term administration of the hypoglycemic fractions, diabetic animals were treated with vehicle (distilled water), AF (125 mg/kg), or BuF (125 mg/kg), twice a day for 14 days. The long term administration of AF and BuF at a dose of 125 mg/kg significantly (P < 0.05) lowered blood glucose and triglyceride concentrations when compared to the vehicle. The hepatic glycogen content was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in AF-treated rats when compared to diabetic control, however no change was found in the BuF-treated rats. Moreover, AF as well as BuF did not cause any significant change in the total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol. There was also no difference in liver thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and cytochrome P450 values between AF, BuF and vehicle-treated control rats. In conclusion, the results indicate that AF is more potent than BuF in the amelioration of hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia in HFD fed-STZ diabetic rats. Hence, AF is a potential source for the isolation of active principle(s) for oral anti-diabetic therapy.     

The cardiotoxicology of anthracycline chemotherapeutics: translating molecular mechanism into preventative medicine

Anthracyclines remain a mainstay of chemotherapy in spite of their well-recognized cardiotoxicity. Recent experience with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and anthracycline therapy has prompted a detailed analysis of the function of erbB2 in the heart. These studies demonstrate a cardioprotective effect of neuregulin, the endogenous ligand for the erbB4/erbB2 heterodimeric receptor complex. Although the mechanisms of cytoprotection remain incompletely understood, these studies have triggered the question of whether physiological manipulation of cardioprotective pathways that involve erbB can be used to improve outcome in patients treated with anthracyclines. The local activation of cardioprotection by cardiovascular exercise may be such a manipulation and warrants further investigation.     

Comparison of protein and peptide prefractionation methods for the shotgun proteomic analysis of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Proteome analysis by gel-free "shotgun" proteomics relies on the simplification of a peptide mixture before it is analyzed in a mass spectrometer. While separation on a reverse-phase (RP) liquid chromatographic column is widely employed, a variety of other methods have been used to fractionate both proteins and peptides before this step. We compared six different protein and peptide fractionation workflows, using Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, a useful model cyanobacterium for potential exploitation to improve its production of hydrogen and other secondary metabolites. Pre-digestion protein separation was performed by strip-based isoelectric focusing, one-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, or weak anion exchange chromatography, while pre-RP peptide separation was accomplished by isoelectric focusing (IEF) or strong cation exchange chromatography. Peptides were identified using electrospray ionization quadrupole time of flight-tandem mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem mass spectra were analyzed using ProID software employing both a single organism database and the entire NCBI non-redundant database, and a total of 776 proteins were identified using a stringent set of selection criteria. Method comparisons were made on the basis of the results obtained (number and types of proteins identified), as well as ease of use and other practical aspects. IEF-IEF protein and peptide fractionation prior to RP gave the best overall performance.     

Differential effects of the C1431T and Pro12Ala PPARgamma gene variants on plasma lipids and diabetes risk in an Asian population

We investigated the association of C1431T and Pro12Ala polymorphisms at the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) locus with plasma lipids and insulin resistance-related variables, according to diabetes status, in a large and representative Asian population from Singapore consisting of 2,730 Chinese, 740 Malays, and 568 Indians. Moreover, we estimated the diabetes risk and examined gene-nutrient interactions between these variants and the ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acid to saturated fat (SFA) in determining body mass index (BMI) and fasting insulin. We found differential effects of these gene variants. The Pro12Ala polymorphism was more associated with plasma lipids and fasting glucose concentrations, whereas the C1431T polymorphism was related to the risk of diabetes. Carriers of the 12Ala allele had higher HDL-cholesterol than did Pro12Pro homozygotes (P < 0.05), and the effect of the 12Ala allele on fasting glucose was modified by diabetes status (P < 0.001). After controlling for confounders, carriers of the T allele had decreased risk of diabetes compared with CC homozygotes [odds ratio (OR) 0.73, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.58-0.93; P = 0.011]; this effect was stronger in Indians (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.15-0.92; P = 0.032). For both polymorphisms, normal subjects carrying the less prevalent allele had higher BMI (P < 0.05). The PUFA/SFA did not modify the effect of these polymorphisms on BMI or insulin.