The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) has three 7-item subscales (depression, anxiety, and stress). The current study aims assess the gender-based measurement invariance of the DASS-21 questionnaire in a Chinese university student sample from five different cities. The sample was composed of 13208 participants (62.3% female, mean age of 19.7 years, and SD age = 1.8). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported full measurement invariance for the three subscales. The findings support the measurement invariance of DASS-21 scores across gender. Future research on the DASS should include additional validation across ethnicities and testing of all versions of the DASS.

Objective: Ghrelin promotes a positive energy balance, e.g. by increasing food intake. Stimulation of the activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis promotes a negative energy balance, e.g. by increasing energy expenditure. We therefore hypothesized that ghrelin suppresses the HPT axis in humans, counteracting its energy-saving effect. Design and methods: In this single-blind, randomized, cross-over study, we determined secretion patterns of free triiodothyronine (fT 3 ), free thyroxine (fT 4 ), TSH, and thyroid-binding globulin (TBG) between 2000 and 0700 h in 20 healthy adults (10 males and 10 females, 25.3G2.7 years) receiving 50 mg ghrelin or placebo at 2200, 2300, 0000, and 0100 h. Results: FT 4 plasma levels were significantly higher after ghrelin administration than after placebo administration from 0000 h until 0620 h except for the time points at 0100, 0520, and 0600 h. TSH plasma levels were significantly lower from 0200 until the end of the study at 0700 h except for the time points at 0540, 0600, and 0620 h. The relative increase of fT 4 (area under the curve (AUC) 0130-0700 h (ng/dl!min): placebo: 1.31G0.03; ghrelin: 1.39G0.03; PZ0.001) was much weaker than the relative decrease of TSH (AUC 0130-0700 h (mIU/ml!min): placebo: 1.74G0.12; ghrelin: 1.32G0.12; PZ0.007). FT 3 and TBG were not affected. Conclusions: This is the first study to report that ghrelin affects the HPT axis in humans. The early fT 4 increase was possibly induced by direct ghrelin action on the thyroid where ghrelin receptors have been identified. The TSH decrease might have been caused by ghrelin-mediated inhibition at hypothalamic level by feedback inhibition through fT 4 , or both.

Various aerobic culturable bacteria (1,133 isolates) were isolated from the gut of Apostichopus japonicus (black adult, green adult, black small, green small, black juvenile, and green juvenile sea cucumbers) and from the sea sediment and the seawater using different culture conditions and without enrichment culture. By molecular analysis of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences of 231 isolates, they were tentatively affiliated with 53 described species in the phyla Firmicutes (42 species), Proteobacteria (9 species) and Actinobacteria (2 species). Eighteen species were often found among the intestines and the sea sediment. High diversity was observed in the genus Bacillus (20 species), Oceanobacillus and Virgibaillus but there were no isolates affiliated to members of the genus Vibrio, well-known sea pathogens. There were no clear differences in the bacterial communities among the hosts varied in size and color. Most isolates showed various polysaccharide degradation activities, suggesting their possible contributions in the digestion of organic matters in the gut.

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