Abnormal decision-making processes have been observed in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, it is unresolved whether MDD patients show abnormalities in decision making in a social interaction context, in which decisions have actual influences on both the self-interests of the decision makers per se and those of their partners. Using a well-studied ultimatum game (UG), which is frequently used to investigate social interaction behavior, we examined whether MDD can be associated with abnormalities in social decision-making behavior by comparing the acceptance rates of MDD patients (N = 14) with those of normal controls (N = 19). The acceptance rates of the patients were lower than those of the normal controls. Additionally, unfair proposals were accepted at similar rates from computer partners and human partners in the MDD patients, unlike the acceptance rates in the normal controls, who were able to discriminatively treat unfair proposals from computer partners and human partners. Depressed patients show abnormal decision-making behavior in a social interaction context. Several possible explanations, such as increased sensitivity to fairness, negative emotional state and disturbed affective cognition, have been proposed to account for the abnormal social decision-making behavior in patients with MDD. This aberrant social decision-making behavior may provide a new perspective in the search to find biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of MDD.

Objective: We aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of the psychological stress experienced by healthcare workers, frontline workers, and the general public and to assess the factors associated with psychological stress in each of these groups.Methods: We conducted an online survey targeting healthcare workers, frontline workers, and the general public. Psychological stress was assessed with the revised impact of event scale (IES-R). Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted.Results: We surveyed 1,336 participants (64.6% female; mean age, 36.6). The occupation group distribution of respondents was 50.7% healthcare workers, 27.2% frontline workers, and 22.1% general public. The healthcare (23.6 ± 15.8) and frontline (23.6 ± 17.8) workers had higher IES-R scores than the general public (15.3 ± 10.6; p < 0.01). Poor health perception and perception of infection avoidance were associated with psychological stress in the healthcare and frontline workers, but not in the general public.Conclusion: Both healthcare and frontline workers are suffering elevated psychological stress, compared to the general public, and this elevated stress may be related especially to their perceptions of their own health and infection risk. Interventions addressing these factors should be developed to alleviate psychological stress in these populations, and thus reduce their risk of mental illness pathogenesis.

Objective: This research seeks to explore the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as an intervention on a depression mouse model and its impact on blood tryptophan metabolism. Methods: In this study, 24 mice were randomly divided into three groups: Sham, CUMS, and CUMS + rTMS, with each group comprising eight mice. The depression model was established using the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) method. High‐performance liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC‐MS/MS) was employed to measure the levels of tryptophan and its metabolites in the mice's blood. The CUMS + rTMS group received rTMS treatment in addition to CUMS. Depressive‐like behaviors of mice in the CUMS group and the CUMS + rTMS group were evaluated and compared through the sucrose preference test, open field test, and tail suspension test. Results: Blood serotonin levels, a tryptophan metabolite, were notably lower in the CUMS group than in the Sham group. Conversely, the levels of 5‐hydroxyindole‐3‐acetic acid, xanthurenate, and indole‐3‐acetaldehyde were significantly higher in the CUMS group than in the Sham group. Additionally, the sucrose preference rate was lower, and the duration of immobility during the tail suspension test was longer in the CUMS group than in the Sham group; all these differences were statistically significant ( p < 0.05). Following rTMS treatment, the CUMS+ rTMS group showed significantly lower blood levels of 5‐hydroxyindole‐3‐acetic acid, xanthurenate, and indole‐3‐acetaldehyde, while serotonin levels were significantly higher than those in the CUMS group. Compared with the CUMS group, mice in the CUMS + rTMS group showed higher sucrose preference and shorter immobility duration in the tail suspension test ( p < 0.05). Conclusion: rTMS can affect tryptophan metabolism in the blood of mice and reduce symptoms similar to depression, providing new insights into the antidepressant properties of rTMS.