Background Comorbidity between depressive and anxiety disorders is common. From network perspective, mental disorders arise from direct interactions between symptoms and comorbidity is due to direct interactions between depression and anxiety symptoms. The current study investigates the network structure of depression and anxiety symptoms in Chinese female nursing students and identifies the central and bridge symptoms as well as how other symptoms in present network are related to depression symptom “thoughts of death”. Methods To understand the full spectrum of depression and anxiety, we recruited 776 Chinese female nursing students with symptoms of depression and anxiety that span the full range of normal to abnormal. Depression symptoms were measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 while anxiety symptoms were measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Questionnaire. Network analysis was used to construct networks. Specifically, we computed the predictability, expected influence and bridge expected influence for each symptom and showed a flow network of “thoughts of death”. Results Nine strongest edges existed in network were from the same disorder. Four were between depression symptoms, like “sleep difficulties” and “fatigue”, and “anhedonia” and “fatigue”. Five were between anxiety symptoms, like “nervousness or anxiety” and “worry too much”, and “restlessness” and “afraid something will happen”. The symptom “fatigue”, “feeling of worthlessness” and “irritable” had the highest expected influence centrality. Results also revealed two bridge symptoms: “depressed or sad mood” and “irritable”. As to “thoughts of death”, the direct relations between it and “psychomotor agitation/retardation” and “feeling of worthlessness” were the strongest direct relations. Conclusions The current study highlighted critical central symptoms “fatigue”, “feeling of worthlessness” and “irritable” and critical bridge symptoms “depressed or sad mood” and “irritable”. Particularly, “psychomotor agitation/retardation” and “feeling of worthlessness” were identified as key priorities due to their strongest associations with suicide ideation. Implications for clinical prevention and intervention based on these symptoms are discussed.

Analysis of the glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene expression in an insecticide-resistant strain of Cydia pomonella using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction is a key step toward more mechanism studies that require suitable reference genes with stable expression. Here, nine commonly used reference genes were selected, and their expression stabilities were analyzed. Results showed that EF-1α was the most stable reference gene in all of the experimental sets. The combinations of EF-1α and 18S, EF-1α and RPL12, and EF-1α and GAPDH were sufficient for normalization of gene expression analysis accurately in developmental stages, tissues, and larvae exposed to sublethal dose of λ-cyhalothrin, respectively. Additionally, the suitability of particular reference genes was verified by analyzing the spatiotemporal and insecticide-induced expression profiles of CpGSTe3, CpGSTd3, and CpGSTd4, which were overexpressed in a λ-cyhalothrin-resistant population from northeast China. These genes were used to confer the practicability of reference genes chosen in this study.

No abstract