BackgroundIn Western countries, a history of major depression (MD) is associated with reports of received parenting that is low in warmth and caring and high in control and authoritarianism. Does a similar pattern exist in women in China?MethodReceived parenting was assessed by a shortened version of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) in two groups of Han Chinese women: 1970 clinically ascertained cases with recurrent MD and 2597 matched controls. MD was assessed at personal interview.ResultsFactor analysis of the PBI revealed three factors for both mothers and fathers: warmth, protectiveness, and authoritarianism. Lower warmth and protectiveness and higher authoritarianism from both mother and father were significantly associated with risk for recurrent MD. Parental warmth was positively correlated with parental protectiveness and negatively correlated with parental authoritarianism. When examined together, paternal warmth was more strongly associated with lowered risk for MD than maternal warmth. Furthermore, paternal protectiveness was negatively and maternal protectiveness positively associated with risk for MD.ConclusionsAlthough the structure of received parenting is very similar in China and Western countries, the association with MD is not. High parental protectiveness is generally pathogenic in Western countries but protective in China, especially when received from the father. Our results suggest that cultural factors impact on patterns of parenting and their association with MD.

NaI(Tl+Li) (NaIL) is a promising new inorganic scintillator for thermal neutron detection with the ability for pulse shape discrimination (PSD). In this study, we first built a dual-gamma/neutron sensitive detector based on a NaIL scintillator, a photomultiplier tube and a custom-built circuit. Then, we investigated its temperature response and optimized the PSD parameters, obtaining a figure of merit (FOM) of up to 4.5 at 0–50°C. Also, we examined the effect of the count rate on the detector's neutron and gamma discrimination performance; after optimization, we obtained an FOM of above 3.0 at 5000–40000 counts per second. Lastly, we estimated the neutron detection efficiency of this detector, which is about 13 cps/nv. This detector gave an excellent performance in neutron/gamma discrimination, and can be used widely in the detection of mixed radiation fields.