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Abstract Background The COVID-19 has spread rapidly and world-widely, which elicits public panic and psychological problems. Public protective behaviors and perception play crucial roles in controlling the spread of illness and psychological status. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional online survey in the hardest-hit Hubei province and other areas in China affected by COVID-19 outbreak. Questions about their basic information, the perception of the COVID-19 outbreak, recent preventive or avoidance behaviors, and self-reported mental health scales including the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) were included. Binary logistic regressions were used to investigate the association between personal variables/perceptions and psychological distress. Results 6,261 people were included for analysis, with 3,613 (57.7%) in Hubei province (1,743 in Wuhan). A majority of people have adopted preventive and avoidance behaviors. People from Hubei, with contact history, and people who or whose family members were infected had much higher depression or anxiety prevalence. Providing truthful and sufficient information, informing the public about the severity of the disease, and perceptions that the outbreak will be control by protective behaviors were associated with lower depression and anxiety prevalence. Conclusions Assessing the public response, perception, and psychological burden during the outbreak may help improve public health recommendations and deliver timely psychological intervention. Further researches can focus on the psychological status of a specialized group to identify ways for better support based on public response and psychological demand.

Background With the rapid development of information technology and mobile devices, an increasing number of mobile medical services and platforms have emerged. However, China’s current mental health situation necessitates further discussion and research on how to provide more patient-centered services in the face of many challenges and opportunities. Objective This study aims to explore the attitudes and preferences of mental health service stakeholders regarding mobile mental health services and discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by mobile technology developers in China. Methods A web-based survey was conducted by following the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES) checklist. A total of 586 valid questionnaires were collected. Respondents included 184 patients or their family members, 225 mental health professionals, and 177 people from the general population. Data analysis was completed using SPSS 24.0. Results Among the various problems perceived regarding the current mental health medical environment, difficulty in finding appropriate psychologists and limited visit times ranked highest. Social media (n=380/586, 64.9%) was the most preferred platform among all participants, whereas professionals showed a higher preference for smartphone apps (n=169/225, 75.1%). Professional instruction, psychological consultation, and mental health education (ranked top 3) were the most commonly identified needs. Mental health professionals generally emphasized more on treatment-related mobile mental health service needs, especially medication reminders (χ22=70.7; P<.001), symptom monitoring (χ22=24.0; P<.001), and access to mental health resources (χ22=38.6; P<.001). However, patients and their family members focused more on convenient web-based prescriptions (χ22=7.7; P=.02), with the general population interested in web-based psychological consultation (χ22=23.1; P<.001) and mental health knowledge (χ22=9.1; P=.01). Almost half of the participants regarded mobile mental health services as highly acceptable or supported their use, but less than 30% of participants thought mobile mental health services might be very helpful. Concerns about mobile mental health mainly focused on information security. Service receivers also suspected the quality and professionalism of content, and mental health professionals were worried about time and energy consumption as well as medical safety. Conclusions In terms of service flow, mobile services could be used to expand service time and improve efficiency before and after diagnosis. More individualized mobile mental health service content in more acceptable forms should be developed to meet the various needs of different mental health stakeholders. Multidisciplinary training and communication could be incorporated to facilitate the integration and cooperation of more well-rounded service teams. A standard medical record system and data format would better promote the development of future intelligent medical care. Issues such as ensuring service quality, solving safety risks, and better integrating mobile services with regular medical workflows also need to be addressed.

Schizophrenia is a chronic, debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder. Multiple transcriptomic gene expression profiling analysis has been used to identify schizophrenia-associated genes, unravel disease-associated biomarkers, and predict clinical outcomes. We aimed to identify gene expression regulation, underlying pathways, and their roles in schizophrenia pathogenesis. We searched the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database for microarray studies of fibroblasts, lymphoblasts, and post-mortem brains of schizophrenia patients. Our analysis demonstrated high FOS expression in non-neural peripheral samples and low FOS expression in brain tissues of schizophrenia patients compared with healthy controls. FOS exhibited predictive value for schizophrenia patients in these datasets. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis revealed that “amphetamine addiction” was among the top 10 significantly enriched KEGG pathways. FOS and FOSB, which are implicated in the amphetamine addiction pathway, were up-regulated in schizophrenia fibroblast samples. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis revealed that proteins closely interacting with FOS-encoded protein were also involved in the amphetamine addiction pathway. Pearson correlation test indicated that FOS showed positive correlation with genes in the amphetamine pathway. The results revealed that FOS was acceptable as a biomarker for schizophrenia and may be involved in schizophrenia pathogenesis.

Background: To investigate the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination coverage and the influential factors of vaccination among patients with mental disorders, we conducted a cross-sectional study in China. Method: The anonymous questionnaires including demographic data, vaccination status, intention to be vaccinated and its reasons were collected in the Second Xiangya Hospital, one of the biggest four psychiatric centers in China. Mental health of these participants were measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 items (GAD-7). The influential factors associated with vaccination status were analyzed by Fisher exact tests and binary logistical analysis. Result: 1328 patients and 922 family members completed the survey. The vaccination rate of patients included was 69.4%, whereas 85.5% patients were willing to be vaccinated. Being hospitalized (aOR 0.41, 95% CI:0.27–0.60), suffering from schizophrenia (aOR 0.38, 95% CI: 0.19–0.75) and secondary school educational background (aOR 0.58, 95% CI: 0.37–0.93) were significantly associated with less likelihood to get vaccinated. Uptaking vaccines could reduce depressive (aOR 0.63, 95% CI: 0.41–0.98) or anxious symptoms (aOR 0.40, 95% CI: 0.25–0.63) in these patients for a short period. Conclusion: Further COVID-19 immunization programme should prioritize hospitalized psychiatric patients and schizophrenic patients since their demands for vaccination had been partly ignored during the current inoculation.

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