The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of attribution retraining group therapy (ARGT) with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Subjects were sequentially recruited and randomized into two groups, one receiving ARGT (n = 63) and the other SSRIs (n = 66) for 8 weeks. Fifty-four ARGT outpatients with MDD (n = 19), GAD (n = 19), and OCD (n = 16) and 55 SSRI outpatients with MDD (n = 19), GAD (n = 19), and OCD (n = 17) completed the study. All subjects were assessed using the Hamilton Depression Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Scale before and after treatment. The 10-item Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale was employed only for OCD subjects. Plasma levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, cortisol, and adrenocorticotropic hormone were also measured at baseline and 8 weeks after completion of treatment. Symptom scores were significantly reduced (P < 0.001) in both the ARGT and SSRI groups at the end of treatment. However, MDD, GAD and OCD patients in the ARGT group had significantly lower plasma cortisol concentrations compared to baseline (P < 0.05), whereas MDD and OCD patients receiving SSRIs showed significantly increased plasma levels of serotonin (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that ARGT may modulate plasma cortisol levels and affect the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis as opposed to SSRIs, which may up-regulate plasma serotonin levels via a different pathway to produce an overall improvement in the clinical condition of the patients.

No tillage is being populanzed for the rainfed maize production in Northeast China. In order to evalúate its effects on the nutrient contents and enzymatic charactenstics in upland soils of Northeast China, surface (0-20 cm) meadow brown soil samples were collected from the plots under no tillage and conventional tillage in a 7-year field experiment under maize cropping in Shenyang, with the soil pH, contents of total C, N, P and S and available N, activities of α- and (β-galactosidase, α- and (β-glucosidase, urease, protease, phosphomonoesterase, phosphodiesterase, and arylsulphatase, and kinetic parameters of (β-glucosidase, protease, phosphomonoesterase, phosphodiesterase, and arylsulphatase determined. Comparing with conventional tillage, no tillage increased the contents of soil total C, N, and S and available N, the activities of test enzymes, and the Vmax/Km of soil urease, protease, and phosphomonoesterase, but decreased the activity of soil α-galactosidase and the VmaxKm of soil (β-glucosidase significantly. All the results suggest that long term no tillage for the maize production on meadow brown soil of Northeast China could enhance soil nutrients storage and the turnover of soil N and P, but had definite negative effects on the transformation of soil C.

The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of different land uses on soil glycosidase activities (a- and (β-glucosidase, α- and (β-galactosidase), water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) and their relationships. Glycosidase activities showed significant differences under different land use types, the highest one was woodland. (β-glucosidase had the highest activity among the four glycosidases. The activities of these glycosidases decreased with increasing soil depth, being all significantly affected by change of soil depth. Except grassland, the four glycosidase activities intercorrelated each other. Woodland had the highest content of WSOC in the soil depth of 0-20 cm and at increasing soil depth, WSOC content decreased sharply under woodland and grassland. Glycosidase activities had positive and significant relationships with WSOC. Glycosidase activities and WSOC all had significant correlations with soil total organic carbon (TOC) and pH, which were sensitive to different land use types. We found that glycosidase activity indirectly impacts on nutrient recycling and energy flow in soil under different land use types.

The kinetic characteristics of soil urease have attracted great attention, but little information was available on its kinetic and thermodynamic behaviors as affected by urease inhibitors and temperature. With black soil (Pachic Udic Mollisol) in Heilongjiang Province of Northeast China as a test soil, an incubation test was conducted to investigate the effect of urease inhibitors (hydroquinone, HQ; phenyl phosphorodiamidate, PPD; N-(n-Butyl) thiophosphoric triamide, NBPT) on kinetic and thermodynamic behaviors of soil urease at 10°C, 20°C and 30°C. The results showed that all tested inhibitors increased Km and decreased Vmax, behaving as mixed inhibitors to soil urease. With increasing temperature, the Km and Vmax values increased significantly. With incubation time, Km decreased, while Vmax significantly increased. Compared with control, treatment HQ decreased soil urease thermodynamic parameters Ea, AH, and Qi0, but in PPD and NBPT treatments, the parameters increased slightly. The Qio and AH of soil urease decreased slightly with increasing temperature. Among test inhibitors, PPD and NBPT were more effective in influencing the kinetic and thermodynamic behaviors of urease in black soil. The variations in kinetic and thermodynamic parameters indicated that the effects of urease inhibitors on soil urease are greater on kinetic behaviors rather than on thermodynamic ones.

An incubation test with black soil (Phaeozem), Albic soil (Albic Luvisols), brown soil (Cambisols), and cinnamon soil (Chromic Luvisol) from Northeast China was conducted under the conditions of 10%, 20% and30 % field capacity, and the kinetic parameters of soil urease, phosphatase, and arylsulphatase were determined, aimed to study the changes in the catalytic potential of these enzymes under different soil moisture conditions. All test enzymes exhibited typical Michaelis-Menten kinetic behaviors. The test enzymes exhibited the highest enzyme-substrate affinity (l/Km) at 20% or 30% field capacity. With increasing soil moisture content, the Fmax of test soil urease decreased, while that of soil phosphatase and arylsulphatase increased, with the maximum Vmax/Km of urease at 20% field capacity and that of phosphatases and arylsulphatase at 30% field capacity. To control soil moisture condition could be a feasible way in regulating the biochemical transformation processes of soil nutrients catalyzed by soil hydrolases.

Glassy carbon (GC) has been high-pressure high-temperature treated. An interesting morphology evolution from the pristine sample to the high pressure products was observed. It is found that GC can be graphitized under pressure at a temperature much lower than that at ambient condition. Furthermore the in-situ structure and electrical measurements of GC and graphitized glassy carbon (GGC) under high temperature and high pressure have been investigated up to 30 GPa. We particularly emphasize the unusual magnetic properties of GC treated under high pressures and high temperatures. A paramagnetic to ferromagnetic-like, and then to superconducting (a diamagnetic signal with hysteresis magnetic response) -like behavior, which can be observed at temperatures as high as 80 K, appears as a successive evolution from the initial GC to GGC in accordance with three regions distinguished by the graphitization temperature. This interesting evolution of magnetic properties probably evokes the new understanding of carbon element.