AIM: To study the effect of food intake on weight, memory, staying balance and power, and some biochemical indexes in mice. METHODS: In accordance with the average food intake everyday, the animals were divided into five groups: group A took the average food intake fully, group B took 75% of the average food intake, group C took 50% of the average food intake, group D took 25% of the average food intake, and group E did not take any food at all. The weights, memory, staying balance and power were recorded every three days, the biochemical index was recorded on the 10th day. RESULTS: On the 3rd day, the weight and staying balance and power of mice in group E decreased. On the 6th and 9th day, the weight of mice in group ABC increased. Compared with group B and C, the memory group A and D decreased. On the 10th day, the blood glucose concentratoin in of group D decreased, total cholesterol and triglyceride also decreased with the reduction of food intake. CONCLUSION: A food intake of 75%-50% in all helpes to keep a good body status and memory, decreases total cholesterol and triglyceride in blood.

Objective To investigate the effect of the revision of Chinese Versions of Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test(RME) on the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer's dementia (AD).Methods We compared performance on the cognitive test battery between 96 patients with MCI and 55 patients with AD and 95 control individuals.Neuropsychological tests, encompassing RME-T, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), were conducted on 96 patients with MCI, 55 patients with AD and 95 healthy control individuals.Completion rate of RME-T in the normal group and the total scores and each item score of RME-T were analyzed, and the feature between RME-T and RME-S (RME-short) was compared.Results The total score of RME-T was (23.7±4.7) in normal group, (19.9 ± 4.9) in MCI group,and (19.9±7.5) in AD group.There were significant differences in the total score of RME-T among the three groups (t=13.9, P＜0.01).The differences in the total score of RME-T between normal group and AD group, between normal group and MCI group were also significant (both P＜0.01).RME-S was composed of 20 items after rejecting 16 items of RME T whose project completion rate was lower than 50％ in the normal group and in which there was no significant difference among normal, MCI and AD groups.The correlations between the total score of RME-T and 3 item scores of RME-T were not significant (P＞0.05).However, the total score of RME-S was highly correlated with each item score of RME-S (P＜0.01).The total score of RME-T and RME S were highly correlated with each total score of the cognitive test battery (P＜0.01).With the normal and MCI groups, normal and AD groups as the subjects, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis found that AUC(RME-S) was＞ AUC(RME-T) in normal and AD groups (P＜0.01), whereas, AUC(RME-S) was＜AUC(RME-T) in normal and MCI groups (P＞0.05).Conclusions RME has good reliability and validity, and RME-S is better than RME-T in internal consistency, which is more suitable for identifying mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease in Chinese population, and it is worthy of further popularization and application.

This paper is to report the study of the pharmacokinetics of a fusion protein TAT-haFGF(14-154) for human acidic fibroblast growth factor and transcriptional activator protein in rat plasma, and the investigation of their penetration across blood-brain barrier in mice and rats, in order to provide a basis for clinical development and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine concentration of TAT-haFGF(14-154) in rat plasma and in mouse brain homogenate; and immunohistochemistry was used to analyze the distribution in brain. The concentration-time curve fitted two-compartment open model which was linear kinetics elimination after a single intravenous injection of TAT-haFGF(14-154) in rat at the dose of 300 microg x kg(-1). The half life time was 0.049 +/- 0.03 h for distribution phase and 0.55 +/- 0.05 h for elimination phase, and the weight was 1/C2. The result showed that TAT-haFGF(14-154) could be detected in the brain by ELISA and immunohistochemistry, the elimination of TAT-haFGF(14-154) in rat was swift, and TAT-haFGF(14-154) could penetrate across the blood-brain barrier, distribute in pallium and hippocampus and locate in the nucleus.

AIM: To observe the effects of the human acidic fibroblast growth factor mutant (mhaFGF), lacking 27 amino acids at N-terminal, on the proliferation and signal transduction of the hepatocarcinoma cells. METHODS: The hepatocarcinoma cells were treated with human acidic fibroblast growth factor (haFGF) and mhaFGF, respectively. The expression levels of the signal proteins, Grb2 and Erk1/2, in the hepatocarcinoma cells were detected by semi-quantitative Western-blotting after treated for 15 min. The mitogenic activity of both haFGF and mhaFGF was detected by MTT method and the cell cycle was analysed by flow cytometer (FCM) after treated for 48 h. RESULTS: The mitogenic activity and the ratio of G 1 and S phase cells in mhaFGF-treated cells were markedly lower than that of the haFGF, and close to that of the control group. The expression level of both Grb2 and Erk1/2 in the mhaFGF-treated cells were lower than those in the haFGF- treated cells. CONCLUSION: The decrease in the mitogenic activity of mhaFGF is probably associated to its down-regulating the expression of the signal molecular, MAPK-ERK1/2 and Grb2.

Dementia care is a chronic stressor severely influencing on physical and mental health and social life of family caregivers.In the research field of dementia care,the studies are inadequate regarding to the influence of caregiving stress on physical and mental health,especially on the risk of suffering from common chronic disease of family caregivers.So far,the studies are mainly based on hypotheses associated with chronic stress-induced three perspectives,i.e.,excessive activation of sympathetic nervous system,endothelial injury,and excessive activation of pro-inflammatory and procoagulant factors.This paper summarizes the research progress from these three perspectives.

Objective To examine the effect of a Caregiving Self-Management Support (C-SMS) Program on self-efficacy, social support for family caregivers of people with dementia and psychological symptom of patients. Methods Using the convenient sampling method, 41 caregivers of dementia patients were selected as the study objects from September 2016 to September 2017 in the Memory Disorders Outpatient Department of two ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals in Shanghai. They were divided into the experimental group(n=26) and control group(n=15) according to their willingness. Totally 4 participants in each of the two groups dropped out of the study in the middle. In the experimental group, a total of 6 times, once in 2 weeks social support group activities were carried out; in the control group, a total of 3 telephone instruction, once a month was carried out, all participants were distributed with the Caregiver Educational Booklet prepared by the research team and participated 3 education seminars during the follow-up visit. Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Chinese Family Caregivers(SEQCFC) and Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey(MOS-SSS) and Revised Memory and Behaviour Problems Checklist(RMBPC) were used to compare the effect of intervention. Results The time effect of the total score of SEQCFC was significant (P＜ 0.01). There was a statistically significance in the interaction on social support score between groups and time (P＜ 0.05). After intervention and follow-up, the self-efficacy scores of family caregivers in the experimental group were higher than the baseline (P＜0.05). There were significant time effect in the total score of behavioral and psychological symptom behavioral symptoms, memory and depression related problems (P＜0.05). The total score of behavioral and psychological symptom, score of the disruptive behaviour dimension after follow-up visit, scores of the depression dimension after intervention and follow-up visit in the experimental group were all lower than the baseline (P＜ 0.05). Conclusions The self-management support project of caregivers can improve the self-efficacy of family caregivers and alleviate the behavioral and psychological symptom of dementia patients.

Objective:To explore the mediating effect of self-efficacy of family caregivers of dementia patients between patient-related impairment and caregivers' health-related quality of life.Methods:This study was a aross-sectional study. Using the convenient sampling method, family caregivers of dementia patients who accompanied patients in two ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals in Shanghai from December 2015 to September 2019 were selected as the research objects. Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Chinese Family Caregivers (SEQCFC) , the MOS 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Chinese Version of the Relevant Outcome Scale for Alzheimer's disease (CROSA) were used to conduct the questionnaire survey. SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0 software were used for statistical analysis, Pearson correlation was used to calculate the correlation between variables and structural equation model was established to test the relationship between variables.Results:A total of 291 caregivers who met the inclusion criteria completed the questionnaire assessment, and the completion rate of the questionnaire was 100%. The impairment score of dementia patients was (87.13±23.88) , the total score of self-efficacy of care givers was (57.49±16.42) , the overall physical health score of health-related quality of life was (41.33±9.71) and the total score of mental health was (48.85±7.69) . The results of Pearson correlation analysis showed that in addition to the self-efficacy of the support dimension, the total score of the patients' dementia-related impairment was positively correlated with the total score of the caregivers' self-efficacy and the self-efficacy of the care giving behavior dimensions ( P< 0.05) . The total score of dementia-related impairment of patients was positively correlated with the total score of physical health and the total score of mental health of caregivers ( P<0.01) . The total score of caregivers' self-efficacy and the self-efficacy of each dimension of caregiving behavior were positively correlated with the total score of physical health and mental health of caregiver ( P<0.01) . Caregivers' self-efficacy was a partial mediator between dementia-related impairment and physical and mental health related quality of life of caregivers, and the mediation effect accounted for 29.79% and 43.67% of the total effect, respectively. Conclusions:The dementia-related damage of patients can directly affect the caregivers' health-related quality of life and it can also indirectly affect the caregivers' health-related quality of life through the caregivers' sense of self-efficacy. Therefore, it can reduce effects of dementia-related impairment on health-related quality of life of caregivers by improving caregivers' sense of self-efficacy.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of cognitive impairment. Beyond clinical diagnosis, AD pathologic changes are considered as "gold standard" for mechanistic research or new drug development studies. According to AD research framework, neurodegeneration occurs after amyloid-β and Tau protein deposition and before cognitive decline. Due to lower-and medium-field MRI limitation, most of these neurodegenerative characteristics identified at present appear at middle or late stage of AD, hardly being an early warning signal. 7T MRI system, representing the most advanced field strength MRI presently, is characterized by its exceptional resolution and sensitivity that facilitate the early identification of neurodegeneration. This article reviews the recent advance in 7T MRI in AD spectrum and brain structures associated with AD, aiming to enhance the utilization of 7T MRI in this field.

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the different brain oxygen metabolism statuses in preeclampsia using magnetic resonance imaging and investigate the factors that affect cerebral oxygen metabolism in preeclampsia. Materials and Methods: Forty-nine women with preeclampsia (mean age 32.4 years; range, 18–44 years), 22 pregnant healthy controls (PHCs) (mean age 30.7 years; range, 23–40 years), and 40 non-pregnant healthy controls (NPHCs) (mean age 32.5 years; range, 20–42 years) were included in this study. Brain oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) values were computed using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) plus quantitative blood oxygen level-dependent magnitude-based OEF mapping (QSM + quantitative blood oxygen level-dependent imaging or QQ) obtained with a 1.5-T scanner. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to investigate the differences in OEF values in the brain regions among the groups. Results: Among the three groups, the average OEF values were significantly different in multiple brain areas, including the parahippocampus, multiple gyri of the frontal lobe, calcarine, cuneus, and precuneus (all P-values were less than 0.05, after correcting for multiple comparisons). The average OEF values of the preeclampsia group were higher than those of the PHC and NPHC groups. The bilateral superior frontal gyrus/bilateral medial superior frontal gyrus had the largest size of the aforementioned brain regions, and the OEF values in this area were 24.2 ± 4.6, 21.3 ± 2.4, and 20.6 ± 2.8 in the preeclampsia, PHC, and NPHC groups, respectively. In addition, the OEF values showed no significant differences between NPHC and PHC. Correlation analysis revealed that the OEF values of some brain regions (mainly involving the frontal, occipital, and temporal gyrus) were positively correlated with age, gestational week, body mass index, and mean blood pressure in the preeclampsia group (r = 0.361–0.812). Conclusion Using whole-brain VBM analysis, we found that patients with preeclampsia had higher OEF values than controls.

Objective To identify abnormal cerebral glucose metabolism characteristics in patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD) using 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET imaging. Methods From January 2014 to January 2017, resting-state brain 18 F-FDG PET imaging was performed in 10 CBD patients (5 males, 5 females; average age: (63.4±6.2) years) and 20 age-matched healthy subjects (8 males, 12 female; average age: (63.6±6.2) years). Voxel-based statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was used to analyze images to obtain the CBD-related brain metabolic characteristics. The regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (rCMRglc) was compared between 2 groups by two-sample t test. Results Compared with healthy controls, CBD group demonstrated asymmetrically decreased glucose metabolism mainly in the cere-bral hemisphere opposite to the more clinically affected body side, including the superior, middle and inferi-or frontal gyrus, the precentral gyrus, the superior and inferior parietal lobule, the angular gyrus, the supra-marginal gyrus, the precuneus, the middle occipital gyrus, the middle and inferior temporal gyrus, Heschl gyrus, the fusiform gyrus, the insula and the thalamus. And relatively increased glucose metabolism was present in ipsilateral precentral and postcentral gyrus, hippocampus, insula and putamen, bilateral cerebel-lum, paracentral lobules and pontine. The rCMRglc in those regions was significantly different between CBD patients and healthy controls (t values: 4.236-9.044, all P<0.01). Conclusion The asymmetric cerebral glucose metabolism features in CBD based on 18 F-FDG PET imaging contribute to the differential diagnosis between CBD patients and healthy subjects.