Background: The prevalence of mental health problems in medical students has continuously increased and is higher than the prevalence of mental health problems in students with other majors, which could lead to undesirable consequences for the students and their future patients. In China, the current states of medical education and healthcare workplaces differ in certain areas from those in Western or other Asian countries. However, the mental health status of Chinese medical students has not been systematically analyzed. Objectives: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to summarize the prevalence of mental health problems in Chinese medical students. Methods: All cross-sectional studies that investigated the prevalence of any mental health problem among Chinese medical students were retrieved from the following databases: EMBASE, PubMed, PsycINFO, OVID, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. We accepted each individual trial's inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants. The National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies was adopted to appraise the methodological quality of each study. RevMan (version 5.3) was used to analyze the data. Results: Ten cross-sectional studies involving a total of 30,817 Chinese medical students were included. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and eating disorders were 29%, 21%, 11%, and 2%, respectively. Subgroup analysis revealed no significant differences in the prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation between genders and no significant difference in the prevalence of depression between individuals of different ages (20 years and older or younger than 20 years). Conclusions and implications of key findings: Chinese medical students have relatively high prevalence of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation but a low prevalence of eating disorders. Mental health problems in Chinese medical students should be taken seriously, and timely screening of and proper intervention in these mental health problems are highly recommended.

Early brain development can be influenced by numerous genetic and environmental factors, with long-lasting effects on brain function and behavior. The identification of these factors is facilitated by recent innovations in high-throughput screening. However, large-scale screening in whole organisms remains challenging, in particular when studying changes in brain function or behavior in vertebrate model systems. In this study, we present a novel imaging system for high-throughput analyses of behavior in zebrafish larvae. The three-camera system can image twelve multiwell plates simultaneously and is unique in its ability to provide local visual stimuli in the wells of a multiwell plate. The acquired images are converted into a series of coordinates, which characterize the location and orientation of the larvae. The developed imaging techniques were tested by measuring avoidance behaviors in seven-day-old zebrafish larvae. The system effectively quantified larval avoidance and revealed an increased edge preference in response to a blue or red ‘bouncing ball’ stimulus. Larvae also avoid a bouncing ball stimulus when it is counter-balanced with a stationary ball, but do not avoid blinking balls counter-balanced with a stationary ball. These results indicate that the seven-day-old larvae respond specifically to movement, rather than color, size, or local changes in light intensity. The imaging system and assays for measuring avoidance behavior may be used to screen for genetic and environmental factors that cause developmental brain disorders and for novel drugs that could prevent or treat these disorders.

ContextImplicit bias affects health professionals’ clinical decision-making; nevertheless, published reports of medical education curricula exploring this concept have been limited. This research documents a recent approach to teaching implicit bias.MethodsMedical students matriculating during 2014 and 2015 participated in a determinants of health course including instruction about implicit bias. Each submitted a reflective essay discussing implicit bias, the experience of taking the Implicit Association Test (IAT), and other course content. Using grounded theory methodology, student essays that discussed reactions to the IAT were analyzed for content themes based on specific statements mapping to each theme. Twenty-five percent of essays underwent a second review to calculate agreement between raters regarding identification of statements mapping to themes.OutcomeOf 250 essays, three-quarters discussed students’ results on the IAT. Theme comments related to: a) experience taking the IAT, b) bias in medicine, and c) prescriptive comments. Most of the comments (84%) related to students’ acknowledging the importance of recognizing implicit bias. More than one-half (60%) noted that bias affects clinical decision-making, and one-fifth (19%) stated that they believe it is the physician’s responsibility to advocate for dismantling bias.ConclusionsThrough taking the IAT and developing an understanding of implicit bias, medical students can gain insight into the effect it may have on clinical decision-making. Having pre-clinical medical students explore implicit bias through the IAT can lay a foundation for discussing this very human tendency.

Functionalized nanomaterials with near-infrared (NIR) responsive capacity are quite promising for theranostic treatment of tumors, but formation of NIR responsive nanomaterials with enhanced theranostic ability and excellent biocompatibility is still very challenging. Herein, PEGylated indocyanine green (ICG)-loaded polypyrrole nanoparticles (PPI NPs) were designed and successfully formed through selecting polydopamine as the linkage between each component, demonstrating enhanced NIR responsive theranostic ability against tumor. By combining in vitro cell study with in vivo assay, the formed PPI NPs were proven to be fantastically biocompatible while effectively internalization in HeLa cells and retention in HeLa tumor were demonstrated by in vitro flow cytometry/confocal measurement and in vivo photoacoustic imaging assay. With the guidance of photoacoustic imaging, successful photothermal ablation of tumor was achieved by treatment with PPI NPs plus laser, which was much more effective than the group treated with NPs free of ICG. The combined enhanced photoacoustic and photothermal effect is mainly ascribed to the functionalized polypyrrole nanoparticles, which could accumulate in the tumor site more effectively with a relatively longer retention time taking advantage of the nanomaterial-induced endothelial leakiness phenomenon. All these results demonstrating that this designed PPI NPs possessing enhanced NIR responsive property hold great promise for tumor NIR theranostic applications.