Objective: This article describes the development and initial validation of the 90-item Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale (CPYDS), which contains items related to 15 aspects of positive youth development. Method: Adolescents with well adjustment (N = 162) and poor adjustment (N = 160) responded to the CPYDS. Results: The findings showed that the CPYDS measures possess acceptable internal consistency and were able to discriminate the two groups. Although the CPYDS measures were positively related to thriving, life satisfaction, and perceived academic achievement, they were negatively related to substance abuse, delinquency, and behavioral intention to engage in problem behavior. Conclusions: The CPYDS can be used as a global measure of positive youth development in Chinese adolescents, but its dimensionality and subscales should be further examined.

Objectives: Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (C-IRI) for the assessment of empathy in Chinese people were examined. Method: The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) was translated to Chinese, and an expert panel reviewed its content validity and cultural relevance. The translated instrument (C-IRI) was administered to 189 junior high school students and 391 university students. Results: Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a stable hierarchical three-factor structure that was consistent with structure of the English IRI, but the cognitive and emotional aspects of empathy were combined to form a new factor. The subscales of the C-IRI demonstrated acceptable to good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Some evidence for the construct validity of the measure was also found. Conclusions: The C-IRI possessed acceptable psychometric properties in Chinese adolescent samples. The present findings suggest that the cognitive and emotional aspects of empathy are not differentiated in Chinese adolescents.

:  Melatonin (N‐acetyl‐5‐methoxytryptamine) is an indoleamine with a range of antioxidative properties. Melatonin is endogenously produced in the eye and in other organs. Current evidence suggests that melatonin may act as a protective agent in ocular conditions such as photo‐keratitis, cataract, glaucoma, retinopathy of prematurity and ischemia/reperfusion injury. These diseases are sight‐threatening and they currently remain, for the most part, untreatable. The pathogenesis of these conditions is not entirely clear but oxidative stress has been proposed as one of the causative factors. Elevated levels of various reactive oxygen and nitrogen species have been identified in diseased ocular structures. These reactants damage the structure and deplete the eye of natural defense systems, such as the antioxidant, reduced glutathione, and the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase. Oxidative damage in the eye leads to apoptotic degeneration of retinal neurons and fluid accumulation. Retinal degeneration decreases visual sensitivity and even a small change in the fluid content of the cornea and crystalline lens is sufficient to disrupt ocular transparency. In the eye, melatonin is produced in the retina and in the ciliary body. Continuous regeneration of melatonin in the eye offers a frontier antioxidative defense for both the anterior and posterior eye. However, melatonin production is minimal in newborns and its production gradually wanes in aging individuals as indicated by the large drop in circulating blood concentrations of the indoleamine. These individuals are possibly at risk of contracting degenerative eye diseases that are free radical‐based. Supplementation with melatonin, a potent antioxidant, in especially the aged population should be considered as a prophylaxis to preserve visual functions. It may benefit many individuals worldwide, especially in countries where access to medical facilities is limited.

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Oxidative damage to retinal cell membranes can lead to sight-threatening ocular diseases. Pineal indoleamines are naturally located and synthesized in the retina, and they possibly protect the retina from oxidative cell damage. In this study, we compared the efficacy of three different pineal indoleamines (melatonin, N-acetylserotonin, and pinoline) with vitamin E, a well-known antioxidant, against nitric oxide (NO)-induced lipid peroxidation (LPO) in rat retinal homogenates. The possible synergistic effect of these agents was also studied. Retinal homogenates were incubated with sodium nitroprusside, which releases NO*. The LPO product, malondialdehyde (MDA), provided an index of cell damage. The results show that vitamin E and indoleamines significantly reduced MDA levels in a dose-dependent manner. When vitamin E was combined with the indoleamines, the protection was synergistically enhanced. In summary, under conditions where cellular homogenates are used (a) vitamin E and the three pineal indoleamines protected the retinal cells from NO-induced LPO damage; (b) the efficacies of each of these compounds had the following relationships: vitamin E > N-acetylserotonin > pinoline > melatonin; (c) vitamin E acted synergistically with indoleamines in combating oxidative retinal damage. Whether these same associations would exist in vivo after treatment with these compounds is unknown. The pharmacological potential of indoleamines, possibly in combination with vitamin E, in preventing retinal pathogenesis deserves further investigation.

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Background: Social distancing and school suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) may have a negative impact on children's behavior and well-being. Problematic smartphone use (PSU), problematic social media use (PSMU) and perceived weight stigma (PWS) are particularly important issues for children, yet we have a poor understanding of how these may have been affected by lockdowns and physical isolation resulting from COVID-19. This research aimed to understand how these psychosocial and behavioral variables may be associated with psychological distress, and how these associations may have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A total of 489 children completed a three-wave longitudinal study from January 2020 to June 2020. The first wave was conducted before the COVID-19 outbreak. The second wave was conducted during the outbreak. The third wave was conducted during post-COVID-19 lockdown. Questionnaires measured psychological distress, PSU, PSMU, and PWS.Results: PSU, PSMU, PWS and psychological distress were all significantly associated with each other. PSU was significantly higher during outbreak. PWS was significantly higher before outbreak. We found an increased association between PSMU and PWS across three waves in all three models. The association between PSU and depression/anxiety decreased across three waves; however, association between PSMU and depression/anxiety increased across three waves.Conclusions: COVID-19 initiated school suspension and associated lockdowns appear to have exacerbated PSU and depression among children. However, PWS was reduced during this period. Children should use smartphones and social media safely and cautiously, and be aware of the potential exposure to weight stigmatization.

Chromium (Cr) compounds are known occupational and environmental carcinogens. This trace element is found in the workplace primarily in the valence forms Cr(III) and Cr(VI). Cr(III), which was thought originally to be relatively nontoxic, was recently found to be more reactive toward purified DNA than was chromium(VI). Herein, we examined the ability of Cr(III) to induce oxidative DNA damage by measuring the formation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) in purified calf thymus DNA incubated with CrCl3 plus H2O2. In this system we observed that the Cr(III)-induced formation of 8-OH-dG in isolated DNA was both dose- and time-dependent. When melatonin and related molecules, including 6-methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (pinoline), N-acetylserotonin, 6-hydroxymelatonin and indole-3-propionic acid, were co-incubated with CrCl3 plus H2O2, the accumulations of 8-OH-dG in DNA samples were markedly inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner. The concentrations of each indole required to reduce DNA damage by 50%, i.e. the IC50 values, were 0.48, 0.51, 0.88, 1.00 and 3.08 microM for pinoline, melatonin, N-acetylserotonin, 6-hydroxymelatonin and indole-3-propionic acid, respectively. These results suggest that one of the mechanisms by which Cr(III) may induce cancer is via Fenton-type reactions which generate the hydroxyl radical (*OH). The findings also indicate that the protective effects of melatonin and related molecules against Cr(III)-induced carcinogenesis relate to their direct *OH scavenging ability which thereby reduces the formation of the damaged DNA product, 8-OH-dG.