SUMMARY Background: Frequent use of Facebook and other social networks is thought to be associated with certain behavioral changes, and some authors have expressed concerns about its possible detrimental effect on mental health. In this work, we investigated the relationship between social networking and depression indicators in adolescent population. Subjects and methods: Total of 160 high school students were interviewed using an anonymous, structured questionnaire and Back Depression Inventory – second edition (BDI-II-II). Apart from BDI-II-II, students were asked to provide the data for height and weight, gender, average daily time spent on social networking sites, average time spent watching TV, and sleep duration in a 24hour period. Results: Average BDI-II-II score was 8.19 (SD=5.86). Average daily time spent on social networking was 1.86h (SD=2.08h), and average time spent watching TV was 2.44 h (SD=1.74h). Average body mass index of participants was 21.84 (SD=3.55) and average sleep duration was 7.37 (SD=1.82). BDI-II-II score indicated minimal depression in 104 students, mild depression in 46 students, and moderate depression in 10 students. Statistically significant positive correlation (p<0.05, R=0.15) was found between BDI-II-II score and the time spent on social networking. Conclusions: Our results indicate that online social networking is related to depression. Additional research is required to determine the possible causal nature of this relationship.

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Association between online social networking and depression in high school students: behavioral physiology viewpoint

http://www.ideal-ageing.eu/uploads/publicaties/2014_bacalini_mechagdev.pdf

Present and future of anti-ageing epigenetic diets.

Iron-based nanoparticles in wastewater treatment: A review on synthesis methods, applications, and removal mechanisms

Fractal characteristics of chromatin, revealed by light or electron microscopy, have been reported during the last 20 years. Fractal features can easily be estimated in digitalized microscopic images and are helpful for diagnosis and prognosis of neoplasias. During carcinogenesis and tumor progression, an increase of the fractal dimension (FD) of stained nuclei has been shown in intraepithelial lesions of the uterine cervix and the anus, oral squamous cell carcinomas or adenocarcinomas of the pancreas. Furthermore, an increased FD of chromatin is an unfavorable prognostic factor in squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity and the larynx, melanomas and multiple myelomas. High goodness-of-fit of the regression line of the FD is a favorable prognostic factor in acute leukemias and multiple myelomas. The nucleus has fractal and power-law organization in several different levels, which might in part be interrelated. Some possible relations between modifications of the chromatin organization during carcinogenesis and tumor progression and an increase of the FD of stained chromatin are suggested. Furthermore, increased complexity of the chromatin structure, loss of heterochromatin and a less-perfect self-organization of the nucleus in aggressive neoplasias are discussed.

Fractal dimension of chromatin: potential molecular diagnostic applications for cancer

/pdf/fractal-dimension-of-chromatin-potential-molecular-4s2r6iitnq.pdf

Fractal dimension of chromatin: potential molecular diagnostic applications for cancer prognosis

Iron-based nanoparticles and their potential toxicity: Focus on oxidative stress and apoptosis

Aim

To determine whether complexity of chromatin structure in kidney macula densa cells (MDC) decreases during postnatal development in mice.



Methods

The levels of chromatin structural complexity were measured by determining fractal dimension of MDC nuclei. Kidney tissue was obtained from the total of 32 male Swiss albino mice divided into four age groups (n = 8): newborn (0 days), 10 days old, 20 days old and 30 days old. For a total of 640 MDC chromatin structures, fractal dimension, lacunarity, as well as parameters of Grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) texture were determined.



Results

Chromatin fractal dimension in animals aged 10 days, 20 days and 30 days was significantly lower (P   0.05) in both chromatin angular second moment and inverse difference moment between the age groups.



Conclusion

Our results indicate that age-related nuclear intrinsic factors which do not influence chromatin texture may have an important role in MDC postnatal development.

Complexity reduction of chromatin architecture in macula densa cells during mouse postnatal development.

Despite recent advances in hematopoietic tissue research, effects of aging on hematopoietic erythroid precursor (EP) cells are unclear. In this article we present results suggesting that chromatin textural entropy of EP cells in mouse spleen increases with age, while chromatin homogeneity decreases. The experiment was conducted on a total of 32 male Swiss white mice. Spleen tissue was acquired from four age groups: 10 days, 1 month, 4 months, and 7 months old mice. A total of 640 randomly selected, nonoverlapping EP cell nuclei (20 per animal) were analyzed using the gray level co-occurrence matrix method. There was statistically highly significant difference between the age groups, both in chromatin entropy (ANOVA, F = 12.99, p < 0.0001) and in homogeneity (ANOVA, F = 7.05, p < 0.001). When the individual groups were compared (ANOVA post hoc test), statistical difference was detected in all group pairs, except between the animals 4 months and 7 months old, either in chromatin entropy or homogeneity. The detected increase of chromatin disorder in mouse juvenile period/early adulthood suggests that cell intrinsic factors such as epigenetic dysregulation and DNA damage accumulation may have an important role in EP cell aging.

Jovana Paunovic

Papers

Iron-based nanoparticles and their potential toxicity: Focus on oxidative stress and apoptosis

Complexity reduction of chromatin architecture in macula densa cells during mouse postnatal development.

Aging increases nuclear chromatin entropy of erythroid precursor cells in mice spleen hematopoietic tissue.

Age-related reduction of structural complexity in spleen hematopoietic tissue architecture in mice.

Age-related reduction of chromatin fractal dimension in toluidine blue - stained hepatocytes.