OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical characteristics of overlapping syndromes of low muscle mass in Chinese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their impact on physical function. METHODS: Consecutive patients with RA were recruited from September 2019 to April 2024 at Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital. Clinical data including disease acti-vity, physical function and radiographic assessment were collected. All patients also finished measurement of body composition, grip strength, and gait speed, and overlapping syndromes of low muscle mass as well as malnutrition, sarcopenia, sarcopenic obesity, and cachexia were evaluated. The Stanford health assessment questionnaire- disability index (HAQ-DI) was used to evaluate physical function. Logistic regression was used to analyze the related factors of physical dysfunction. RESULTS: A total of 1 016 RA patients were recruited. Their mean age was (52.4±12.5) years, and 82.5% were female. There were 557 cases (54.8%) with overlapping syndromes of low muscle mass and all of them were malnutrition. On this basis, 326 cases (32.1%) exhibited sarcopenia, 124 (12.2%) sarcopenic obesity, and 33 (3.2%) cachexia. There were 584 (57.4%) of RA patients having physical dysfunction, with varying degrees of severity 421 (41.4%) mild, 124 (12.2%) moderate, and 39 (3.8%) severe. Compared with patients without overlapping syndromes of low muscle mass (n=459) or with malnutrition only (n=231), RA patients with both malnutrition and sarcopenia (n=326) had significantly higher core disease activity indicators and higher rate of physical dysfunction (69.6% vs. 42.0% vs. 56.6%). However, compared with patients without overlapping syndromes of low muscle mass, patients with malnutrition only had lower HAQ-DI score (median 0.0 vs. 0.1) and lower rate of physical dysfunction (42.0% vs. 56.6%). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that simultaneously overlapping malnutrition and sarcopenia were associated factors of physical dysfunction (OR=2.021, 95%CI: 1.067-3.828), but malnutrition only was not. CONCLUSION Simultaneously overlapping malnutrition and sarcopenia can deteriorate disease activity and physical dysfunction in RA patients. The screening and evaluation of overlapping syndromes of low muscle mass, especially sarcopenia should be emphasized in patients with RA.
Humans ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/physiopathology* ; Female ; Male ; Sarcopenia/complications* ; Middle Aged ; Cachexia/diagnosis* ; Malnutrition/etiology* ; Obesity/physiopathology* ; Body Composition ; Syndrome ; Hand Strength ; Adult ; Muscle, Skeletal/physiopathology* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Objective:To explore the psychometric characteristics of the Chinese version of the health-related social capital scale.Methods:From March to May 2020, after the original scale was translated into Chinese following the Brislin improved translation model, 251 community-dwelling senior citizens aged 65 and above were selected by convenient sampling method. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0, including tests of significance, correlation analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis.Results:Exploratory factor analysis extracted three factors: social participation, social cohesion, and reciprocity, which accounted for a cumulative contribution rate of 61.72%. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the three-factor model fitted well(χ 2/ df=1.22, RMSEA=0.04, CFI=0.98, GFI=0.93, IFI=0.98, TLI=0.97). Social capital was significantly correlated with perceived social support positively ( r=0.36, P<0.01), and with loneliness negatively ( r=-0.30, P<0.01). The three factors were significantly correlated with the total scale ( r=0.85, 0.50 and 0.52, respectively, all P<0.01). And correlations between the items of each factor were 0.24-0.55, 0.30-0.59, 0.44-0.70, respectively(all P<0.01). The Cronbach's α coefficients of the total scale and three factors were 0.74, 0.72, 0.65 and 0.62, respectively(all P<0.01), and their retest reliability were 0. 92, 0. 87, 0. 82 and 0. 96, respectively(all P<0.01). Conclusion:The Chinese version of health-related social capital scale conforms to the three-factor model with good reliability and validity, which can be used to assess the social capital status of community-dwelling older adults in China.

Objective To investigate the roles of TrkA and TrkB in radiation-induced hippocampal neurogenesis impairment.Methods Fifty-six rats were randomized into radiation group and sham control group.Radiation group received whole brain irradiation at a single dose of 10 Gy.The hippocampus were separated from rats in day 1,day 3,day 14 and 1 month after irradiation.Western blot and RT-PCR were applied to detect the protein levels and mRNA levels.Golgi staining was used to observe the dendritic spine of hippocampus.Immunofluorescence was performed to detect neural precursor's proliferation.Results Compared with control group,the numbers of dendritic spine significantly decreased after irradiation and its shape change obviously.Immunofluorescence showed a significant decrease in neural precursor's proliferation comparing with control group (t =6.49,P ＜ 0.05).Protein level of TrkA expression increased (t =2.64,3.06,4.80,2.64,P ＜ 0.05),while the levels of TrkB protein expression decreased significantly (t =4.59,3.06,2.81,2.57,P ＜ 0.05).The mRNA level of TrkA expressions increased (t =4.57,3.06,5.39,5.86,P ＜ 0.05),while the mRNA level of TrkB decreased (t =14.87,11.69,4.98,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions As a signaling pathways downstream of NGF and BDNF,TrkA and TrkB may play an important role in radiation-induced neurogenesis impairment.