Objective To observe the effects of massage on inflammation,oxidative stress and autophagy during the repair of acute contusion of skeletal muscles so as to explore its biological mechanisms.Methods Forty-two adult Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a control group (n =6),a model group (n =18),and a treatment group (n =18).Acute contusion of the gastrocnemius muscles of the rats in the model and treatment groups was inflicted using a home-made impactor.Beginning forty-eight hours later,15 minutes of massage was administered daily for two weeks.After one,7 and 14 days of the massage treatment,the injured gastrocnemius was resected from 6 rats of both the model and treatment groups.Morphological changes were observed using haematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining.The serum content of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α),interleukin1β (IL-1 β),C reactive protein (CRP) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The serum content of superoxide (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were detected using spectrophotometry.The expression of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3),Bcl-2 homeodomain protein Beclin1 and ubiquitin binding protein P62 were detected using Western blotting.Results The HE staining showed more significant collapse and swelling of cells in the model group than in the control group at each time point.New muscle cells were observed at days 7 and 14 in the model group.At each time point,significantly better recovery was observed in the treatment group compared to the model group,with more new muscle cells and better cell morphology.According to the ELISA results,a significant increase in serum pro-inflammatory factors occurred in the model group compared to the control group and compared to the treatment group after one day and 7 days of treatment.The average serum content of SOD and MDA in the model group was significantly higher than in the control group,while the average serum content of SOD in the treatment group was significantly higher than in the model group and that of MDA was significantly lower.Western blotting showed a significant decrease in LC3 (Ⅱ/Ⅰ) and Beclin1,as well as a significant increase in P62 in the model group at each time point compared with the treatment group and the controls.Conclusion Inflammation and oxidative stress increase significantly in a skeletal muscle after injury,but autophagy decreases significantly.Massage can effectively reduce the inflammatory response and oxidative stress and promote autophagy,which leads to quicker repair of skeletal muscles.

Objective To investigate the associations of cognitive function with apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene polymorphism and chronic diseases among long-lived people in Zhongxiang City of Hubei Province.Methods A total of 110 long-lived elderly residents aged 90 years and over were collected.Their cognitive function was determined face-to-face using questionnaires by trained interviewers.According to mini-mental state examination(MMSE) scores,subjects were divided into a no dementia risk group and a high dementia risk group.General demographic characteristics,activities of daily living,depression state and nutrition status were compared between the two groups.Correlations of dementia with APOE gene polymorphism and chronic diseases were analyzed.Results The average MMSE score was 22.3±4.8.Among the 110 long-lived people,18 cases had a high risk for dementia,accounting for 16.4％,and 92 cases had no risk of dementia,accounting for 83.6％.The risk of dementia in long-lived elderly people was correlated with activities of daily living,mental state,nutritional status and falls(all P＜0.05).There were 8 cases with the APOE gene ε4/ε3 genotype in the high dementia risk group and 16 cases with the APOE gene ε4/e3 genotype in the no dementia risk group,with the former group showing a higher frequency of the APOE ε4/ε3 genotype (44.4％ vs.17.4％,x2 =6.46,P＜0.05).The former group also seemed to have a higher APOE ε4 frequency,but the difference was not statistically significant(22.2 ％ vs.10.3 ％,x2 =3.96,P =0.055)Chronic diseases prevalent in the long-lived people were hypertension(86 cases,78.2 ％),hearing loss (72 cases,65.5％),hyperlipidemia(56 cases,50.9％),anemia(43 cases,39.1％),impaired vision(39 cases,35.5 ％),chronic kidney diseases(25 cases,22.7 ％),chronic heart diseases (18 cases,16.4 ％) and osteoarthritis(18 cases,16.4％).No correlation was found between the risk of dementia and chronic diseases(P＞0.05).Conclusions Cognitive function is highly correlated with activities of daily living,mental state and nutritional status among long-lived elderly people in Zhongxiang City.The risk of dementia has a correlation with the APOE gene e4/e3 genotype but not with chronic diseases in long-lived people.