Displaying 1 - 4 of 4
Zuotai, a famous Tibetan medicinal mixture containing β-HgS, has been used to combine with herbal remedies for treating diseases for more than 1 300 years. The target organ for inorganic mercury toxicity is generally considered to be the kidney. Therefore, it is crucial to reveal the chemical speciation, spatial distribution and potential nephrotoxicity of mercury from Zuotai in kidney. To date, this remains poorly understood. We used X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and micro X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) imaging based on synchrotron radiation to study mercury chemical forms and mercury special distribution in kidney after mice were treated orally with Zuotai, β-HgS or HgCl2. Meanwhile, the histopathology of kidney was observed. Mice exposed with Zuotai showed kidney with significant proportion of mercury ions bound to sulfydryl biomolecules (e.g. Cys-S-Hg-S-Cys) plus some of unknown species, but without methylmercury cysteine, which is the same as β-HgS and HgCl2. The mercury is mainly deposited in renal cortex in mouse treated with Zuotai, β-HgS or HgCl2, but with a low level of mercury in medulla. The total mercury in kidney of mice treated with HgCl2 was much higher than that of β-HgS, and the later was higher than that of Zuotai. And, HgCl2 cause severe impairments in mouse kidney, but that was not observed in the Zuotai and β-HgS groups. Meanwhile, the bio-metals (Ca, Zn, Fe and Cu) micro-distributions in kidney were also revealed. These findings elucidated the chemical nature, spatial distribution and toxicity difference of mercury from Zuotai, β-HgS and HgCl2 in mouse kidney, and provide new insights into the appropriate methods for biological monitoring.
This study explored whether dispositional mindfulness moderated the relationship between depression and posttraumatic growth. A total of 435 Chinese adolescents who experienced a tornado in Yancheng city reported their level of depressive symptoms (The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children; CES-DC), posttraumatic growth (Posttraumatic Growth Inventory; PTGI) and dispositional mindfulness (Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale; MAAS). The current study found that for individuals with higher dispositional mindfulness, their depression was associated with more posttraumatic growth, while the individuals with lower dispositional mindfulness showed no such association. These findings suggest that individuals high in dispositional mindfulness possess the potential to benefit from the process of adaptive coping in response to depression following a traumatic experience. The implications of the results for research and mindfulness-based interventions targeting depression were discussed.
Long-term imprisonment can cause severe emotional problems, which in turn can trigger behavioral problems, self-harm, and suicide. Mindfulness-based intervention can enhance emotional health. This study investigated the effects of a 6-week mindfulness training program on the emotional health of long-term male Chinese prison inmates. Forty long-term male prisoners completed a pretest and posttest, with 19 in the mindfulness training group and 21 in the waitlist control group. The treatment group showed a significant improvement in mindfulness level, anxiety, depression, tension-anxiety, depression-dejection, anger-hostility, confusion-bewilderment, and total mood disturbance. Implications and limitations of this study were discussed. These results support the use of a mindfulness-based intervention to enhance the emotional health of long-term male prison inmates.
Previous studies have shown that mindfulness is associated with less negative traumatic outcomes in people who experienced traumatic events. The present study investigated how mindfulness is related to posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) symptoms, depression and social functioning impairment in Chinese traumatized adolescents by considering the role of posttraumatic cognitive change (PCC). A total of 247 Chinese adolescents, who had experienced a severe tornado six months prior to this study, were recruited to complete a series of questionnaires. Results showed that the proposed model fitted the data very well (χ2 = 16.200, df = 8, χ2/df = 2.025, GFI = 0.983, CFI = 0.991, TLI = 0.976, RMSEA = 0.063). Further analyses revealed that PCC mediated the relation between dispositional mindfulness and all negative posttraumatic outcomes (including PTSD symptoms, depression and social functioning impairment). Limitations, clinical implications, and directions for future research were discussed.