INTRODUCTION: The diagnosis of sarcopenia relies on key indicators such as handgrip strength, walking speed and muscle mass. Developing a composite index that integrates these measures could enhance clinical evaluation in older adults. This study aimed to standardise and combine these metrics to establish a z score for the sarcopenia composite index (ZoSCI) tailored for the ageing population. Additionally, we explore the risk factors associated with ZoSCI to provide insights into early prevention and intervention strategies. METHOD: This retrospective study analysed data between January 2017 and December 2021 from an elderly health programme in Taiwan, applying the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia criteria to assess sarcopenia. ZoSCI was developed by standardising handgrip strength, walking speed and muscle mass into z scores and integrating them into a composite index. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine optimal cut-off values, and multiple regression analysis identified factors influencing ZoSCI. RESULTS: Among the 5047 participants, the prevalence of sarcopenia was 3.7%, lower than the reported global prevalence of 3.9-15.4%. ROC curve analysis established optimal cut-off points for distinguishing sarcopenia in ZoSCI: -1.85 (sensitivity 0.91, specificity 0.88) for males and -1.97 (sensitivity 0.93, specificity 0.88) for females. Factors associated with lower ZoSCI included advanced age, lower education levels, reduced exercise frequency, lower body mass index and creatinine levels. CONCLUSION This study introduces ZoSCI, a new compo-site quantitative indicator for identifying sarcopenia in older adults. The findings highlight specific risk factors that can inform early intervention. Future studies should validate ZoSCI globally, with international collaborations to ensure broader applicability.
Humans ; Sarcopenia/physiopathology* ; Male ; Aged ; Female ; Retrospective Studies ; Hand Strength ; Taiwan/epidemiology* ; ROC Curve ; Aged, 80 and over ; Risk Factors ; Walking Speed ; Geriatric Assessment/methods* ; Prevalence ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Middle Aged

Good sleep is essential for children′s physical and mental health, growth, and development.Adequate and high-quality sleep positively impacts children′s quality of life, memory, learning, attention, mood, and behavior.Children of different ages have different sleep needs.Children have various sleep problems in different cultures.Therefore, it is significant to guide children to get healthy sleep by popularizing the sleep problems of Chinese children of all ages and in all dimensions.Based on China′s social and cultural background, this paper summarizes the contents related to children′s sleep physiology, good sleep habits, common sleep problems, sleep apnea disorders, hypnagogic sleep, narcolepsy, insomnia, and other issues that interfere with children′s sleep.Chinese sleep experts summarize and interpret the 100 sleep health problems of children that medical workers and parents are most concerned about.To promote children′s sleep health and popularize solutions to sleep problems.

OBJECTIVETo study the absorption and metabolism of five flavonoids of Herba Epimedii (icariin, epimedin A, epi-medin B, epimedin C and baohuoside I) in rat intestine.

METHODUsing the rat intestinal perfusion model, the contents of the five flavonoids in perfusates were measured by HPLC and the permeability coefficients in different intestines were calculated.

RESULTThe permeabilities of five flavonoids in duodenum, jejunum, ileum, colon according to the sequence were as: icariin: 6.365, 5.349, 1.004, 0.601, epimedinA: 4.120, 3.397, 0.401, 0.257, epimedin B: 3.645, 3.135, 0.990 7, 0.434, epimedin C: 3.114, 2.882, 0.688, 0.470, baohuoside I: 2.324, 2.398, 1.529, 1.045, respectively. The analysis of the perfusates showed that icariin, epimedin A, epimedin B, epimedin C could be hydrolyzed in intestine. Icariin had two hydrolytic metabolites, whereas epimedin A, B, C only had one hydrolytic metabolite, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe results indicated that the absorption of all the five flavonoids was significantly different in different intestinal segments, and the permeability in ileum and colon was significantly lower than that of the duodenum and jejunum. The metabolites of icariin, epimedin A, epimedin B, epimedin C were related with their structures and enzymes in intestine, and the metabolites were more in duodenum, jejunum, whereas were less in ileum and colon.

Absorption ; Animals ; Epimedium ; chemistry ; Flavonoids ; metabolism ; pharmacokinetics ; Intestines ; drug effects ; physiology ; Male ; Models, Animal ; Perfusion ; Plant Extracts ; metabolism ; pharmacokinetics ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVE: To optimize the process for extraction and purification of Schisandrin in Fructus Schisandra Chinensis. METHODS: The orthogonal test L9( 34) was adopted to optimize the water extraction process using Schisandrin and its extracts as indicators. The parallel test was used to optimize the parameters of the alcohol precipitation technique. RESULTS: The optimized process for extraction and purification of Schisandrin was as follows: extracting three times using 10- fold water, 1. 5h each time, with filter liquids concentrated to 1. 4g of crude drug mL- 1 then precipitated to 80% ; filtering alcohol liquids, and adjusting pH value to 7. CONCLUSIONS: This method can be used as a reference for the extraction of Fructus Schisandra Chinensis.

AIM:To determine the optimal extraction of effective component from Swertia chirayita(Roxb.ex Flemi) Karsten in Tibet. METHODS: HPLC method was used to determine the yield rate and mango glucoside content,the preference extract methods,extraction solvents and extraction method of Swertia chirayita(Roxb.ex Flemi) Karsten were chose by parallel comparative method. RESULTS: 75% ethanol was used to extract medicine materials by Percolate,the flow rate was 4 mL/min/kg,collecting 6 times liquor after percolate. CONCLUSION: The extraction method is simple and convenient,furthermore the extract stability is good too.

OBJECTIVE: To optimize the extraction process of Fructus Schisandrae Chinensis. METHODS: Taking the contents of schizandrin, schisantherin A, deoxyschizandrin, r-schizandrin as the indexes, the influence on the extraction process by extract solvent and medicinal material particle diameter was examined, and the extraction parameters were optimized. RESULTS: Active components of Fructus Schisandrae Chinensis, after the medicinal material being crushed, can be effectively utilized through extracting by alcohol. The optimized extraction parameters were as follows: the medical material being ground into 40 meshes, extracted twice by 70% alcohol, 2 hours per time. CONCLUSION: The optimized extracting process works better than current technique adopted for formulated granule preparation, and can ensure quality to the highest degree.