Objective:To observe the effects of Huatan Quyu Decoction on the protein expressions of β-catenin and GSK-3 β and the expression of anticardiolipin antibody and β-amyloid protein related to cognitive function in rats with vascular dementia based on Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway.Methods:A total of 96 male SD rats were divided into blank group, model group, Donepezil hydrochloride group and Huatan Quyu Decoction low-, midium-, high-dosage group according to random number table method, with 16 rats in each group. Except for the blank group, the rat model of vascular dementia was prepared by modified 2-VO method. Huatan Quyu Decoction low-, medium- and high-dosage groups were administrated with Huatan Quyu Decoction 6.1, 12.1 and 24.2 g/kg, respectively; the Western medicine group was administrated with Donepezil hydrochloride 0.5 mg/kg; the blank group and the model group were administrated with the same amount of normal saline for 28 consecutive days. On the 1st, 7th, 14th and 28th day after administration, the learning and memory ability of rats was evaluated by Morris water maze test, the levels of ACA and Aβ in serum were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the expressions of β-catenin and GSK-3β proteins related to Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway in hippocampus were measured by Western blot.Results:Compared with model group, the escape latency was shortened in the Huatan Quyu Decoction high-dosage group and Donepezil group on 7 and 14 days of administration ( P<0.05), and the times of crossing the platform increased in Huatan Quyu Decoction high-dosage group on 1 and 28 days of administration ( P<0.05). Compared with model group, the serum ACA level in Donepezil group, Huatan Quyu Decoction medium- and high-dosage groups decreased at day 1, 7, 14 and 28 after administration ( P<0.05). The serum Aβ level in Donepezil group, Huatan Quyu Decoction medium- and high-dosage groups decreased at 7, 14 and 28 days after administration ( P<0.05); On the 14th and 28th days after administration, the levels of ACA and Aβ in TCM low-dosage group decreased ( P<0.05). Compared with model group, the expression of β-catenin protein in hippocampus of Donepezil group and Huatan Quyu Decoction medium- and high-dosage groups increased ( P<0.05), while the expression of GSK-3β in hippocampus of Donepezil group and Huatan Quyu Decoction low-, medium- and high-dosage groups decreased ( P<0.01). Conclusion:Huatan Quyu Decoction can activate the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, up-regulate the expression of β-catenin protein in hippocampal tissue of rats, inhibit the expression of GSK-3β, reduce the levels of ACA and Aβ in serum of rats, and improve the cognitive function of rats with vascular dementia.

Humans ; Aortic Valve/surgery* ; Retrospective Studies ; Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement ; Sex Factors ; Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation ; Treatment Outcome ; China ; Aortic Valve Stenosis/surgery* ; Risk Factors ; Risk Assessment

Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter (NHX) gene subfamily plays an important role in plant response to salt stress. In this study, we identified the NHX gene family members of Chinese cabbage and analyzed the expression patterns of BrNHXs gene in response to abiotic stresses such as high temperature, low temperature, drought and salt stress. The results showed that there were 9 members of the NHX gene family in Chinese cabbage, which were distributed on 6 chromosomes respectively. The number of amino acids was 513-1 154 aa, the relative molecular weight was 56 804.22-127 856.66 kDa, the isoelectric point was 5.35-7.68. Members of BrNHX gene family mainly existed in vacuoles, the gene structure is complete, and the number of exons is 11-22. The secondary structures of the proteins encoded by the NHX gene family in Chinese cabbage had alpha helix, beta turn and random coil, and the alpha helix occurred more frequently. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that the gene family members had different responses to high temperature, low temperature, drought and salt stress, and their expression levels differed significantly in different time periods. BrNHX02 and BrNHX09 had the most significant responses to these four stresses, and their expression levels were significantly up-regulated at 72 h after treatments, which could be used as candidate genes to further verify their functions.
Genome, Plant ; Multigene Family ; Stress, Physiological/genetics* ; Brassica/metabolism* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Phylogeny ; Plant Proteins/metabolism*

Objective    To explore the distribution pattern of respiratory symptoms and relevant factors in patients with pulmonary nodules. Methods    Demographic and clinical information were collected from patients who visited the Thoracic Surgery Outpatient Clinic of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital from January 2021 to January 2022. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to assess their anxiety and depression level. Results    A total of 1 173 patients were enrolled, including 449 males and 724 females, with an average age of 46.94±11.43 years. Among the patients with pulmonary nodules, 37.7% of them had at least one respiratory symptom; 24.4% had cough, 14.0% had expectoration, 1.3% had hemoptysis and 14.9% had chest pain. Old age, male, exposure to second-hand smoking or environmental smoke, hair coloring and history of tuberculosis were major risk factors for respiratory symptoms (P<0.05). Middle age, old age, male, exposure to environmental smoke were major risk factors for cough (P<0.05); old age, smoking, larger maximum nodules diameters, exposure to environmental smoke and history of pneumonia were major risk factors for expectoration (P<0.05); male, multiple nodules, hair coloring, exposure to second-hand smoking and history of tuberculosis were major risk factors for chest pain (P<0.05). Symptomatic patients showed generally higher HADS scores than asymptomatic patients (P<0.001). Conclusion    Cough, expectoration and chest pain are the predominant respiratory symptoms for patients with pulmonary nodules. The presentation of respiratory symptoms increases patients' anxiety and depression.

Objective:To analyze the correlation between peripheral blood eosinophil (EOS) level and clinical characteristics of patients with pneumoconiosis complicated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) .Methods:From January 2007 to November 2020, newly diagnosed patients with pneumoconiosis complicated with COPD in Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, were retrospectively analyzed. These patients were stratified into EOS<100 cells/μl group and EOS≥100 cells/μl group, taking 100 cells/μl as the cut-off value. Demographic characteristics, clinical symptoms, lung function and laboratory indexes were compared between the two groups.Results:The median EOS count of patients with pneumoconiosis complicated with COPD was 100 (40, 180) cells/μl. 50.2% (160/319) had blood eosinophil counts ≥100 cells/μl, and 11.0% (35/319) had blood eosinophil counts ≥300 cells/μl. In comparison with EOS<100 cells/μl group, EOS≥100 cells/μl group were older ( P=0.035), had higher body mass index ( P=0.008), and had lower forced respiratory volume in the first second ( P=0.017), had higher the ratio of residual volume to total lung volume ( P=0.010), and had lower diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide ( P=0.008). Arterial partial pressure of oxygen was significantly reduced in EOS≥100 cells/μl group ( P=0.039). The peripheral blood EOS count was negatively correlated with forced vital capacity, forced breathing volume in the first second, carbon monoxide diffusion, peak expiratory flow, and maximum mid expiratory flow as a percentage of expected values ( rs=-0.22, -0.18, -0.19, -0.19, -0.19, P=0.000, 0.001, 0.003, 0.008, 0.002), and positively correlated with the ratio of residual air volume to total lung volume ( rs=0.17, P=0.002) . Conclusion:There was a correlation between blood EOS count and pulmonary function parameters, can proide reference for the diagnosis and treatment of chnoric obstuctive pulmmory disease in clinical practice.

Objective:To analyze the correlation between peripheral blood eosinophil (EOS) level and clinical characteristics of patients with pneumoconiosis complicated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) .Methods:From January 2007 to November 2020, newly diagnosed patients with pneumoconiosis complicated with COPD in Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, were retrospectively analyzed. These patients were stratified into EOS<100 cells/μl group and EOS≥100 cells/μl group, taking 100 cells/μl as the cut-off value. Demographic characteristics, clinical symptoms, lung function and laboratory indexes were compared between the two groups.Results:The median EOS count of patients with pneumoconiosis complicated with COPD was 100 (40, 180) cells/μl. 50.2% (160/319) had blood eosinophil counts ≥100 cells/μl, and 11.0% (35/319) had blood eosinophil counts ≥300 cells/μl. In comparison with EOS<100 cells/μl group, EOS≥100 cells/μl group were older ( P=0.035), had higher body mass index ( P=0.008), and had lower forced respiratory volume in the first second ( P=0.017), had higher the ratio of residual volume to total lung volume ( P=0.010), and had lower diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide ( P=0.008). Arterial partial pressure of oxygen was significantly reduced in EOS≥100 cells/μl group ( P=0.039). The peripheral blood EOS count was negatively correlated with forced vital capacity, forced breathing volume in the first second, carbon monoxide diffusion, peak expiratory flow, and maximum mid expiratory flow as a percentage of expected values ( rs=-0.22, -0.18, -0.19, -0.19, -0.19, P=0.000, 0.001, 0.003, 0.008, 0.002), and positively correlated with the ratio of residual air volume to total lung volume ( rs=0.17, P=0.002) . Conclusion:There was a correlation between blood EOS count and pulmonary function parameters, can proide reference for the diagnosis and treatment of chnoric obstuctive pulmmory disease in clinical practice.

Centenarians are known as the "model population" in the study of healthy aging. Understanding their characteristics of health and longevity and its related influencing factors would facilitate the exploration of the possible path to achieve health and longevity under the background of population aging in China. In recent years, the population based observational studies, including China Hainan Centenarian Cohort Study (CHCCS), have found the main health characteristics of centenarians and their relationship with quality of life. This paper summarizes the relevant research results from CHCCS in recent years, and compare them with the results of similar domestic studies. The main health indicators include blood pressure, blood lipid, blood glucose, hemoglobin, body measurement and renal function. The health outcomes including diet, nutrition, health-related quality of life, activities of daily living, geriatric syndrome. The results are expected to provide epidemiological evidence for the development of healthy aging policies.

Objective:To explore the association between parathyroid hormone (PTH) and all-cause death in the centenarians in Hainan Province.Methods:The study was based on China Hainan Centenarian Cohort Study, a total of 1 002 centenarians were included in the baseline survey, the follow up was conducted to collect the information about their death outcome. The association between baseline PTH level and all-cause death was analyzed by Cox proportional risk regression model using continuous variables, dichotomous variables, and quad variables as independent variables of the centenarians.Results:As of May 31 st, 2021, a total of 522 centenarians had died in the follow up period, the median of the follow up time was 4.16 (1.31,5.04) years, and the mortality rate was 52.10%. After fully adjusting the covariates, the multiple Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed that the risk of all-cause death increased by 3.7% for every 10 pg/ml increase in PTH value, the HR was 1.037 (95% CI: 1.007-1.067) in all the centenarians. The risk of death in the centenarians in the highest PTH group was 1.458 (95% CI: 1.131-1.878) times higher than that in the lowest PTH group. Conclusions:Higher parathyroid hormone level was associated with the elevated risk for all-cause death in the centenarians in Hainan. PTH can be used as a reference index for the prediction of the death risk of long-lived elderly in community.

Objective:To examine the association between depression and all-cause death in centenarians in Hainan Province.Methods:Based on China Hainan Centenarian Cohort Study, 1 002 centenarians with integral data were included in the baseline survey, follow up was conducted to collect the information about their survival status and death outcome. Depression was evaluated by the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) and based on the evaluation scores, the mental status of the centenarians was classified as: severe depressive disorder (MDD; score ≥10), minor depressive disorder (MnDD; score 6-9), and normal status (score ≤5). Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models was used to estimate the hazard ratios ( HRs) and 95% CIs. Results:As of May 31 st, 2021, a total of 522 deaths had been reported, with a mortality density of 152.39/1 000 person-years and a median follow up time M( Q1, Q3) of 4.16 (1.31, 5.04) years, in the centenarians. After adjusting the factors of socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyle, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the risk of all-cause mortality increased by 3.1% for every 1-point increase in GDS-15 score ( HR=1.031, 95% CI: 1.002-1.061). Compared with centenarians with normal status, the risk of mortality in the centenarians with MDD increased by 35.9% ( HR=1.359, 95% CI: 1.023-1.806), the centenarians with MDD had an average 1.94 years of life lost. Among the female centenarians, the risk of mortality in MnDD group and MDD group increased by 29.3% ( HR=1.293, 95% CI: 1.053-1.590) and 42.3% ( HR=1.423, 95% CI: 1.047-1.935) compared with normal group, those with MDD had an average 1.71 years of life lost. Conclusions:Depression was related to the increased risk of all-cause death and life lost in the centenarians in Hainan.

Objective:To describe and analyze the relationship between traditional and new obesity related anthropometric indicators and all-cause death in centenarians in Hainan, the traditional and new obesity related anthropometric indicators included BMI, waist circumference (WC), waist hip ratio (WHR), waist height ratio, calf circumference (CC), waist-calf ratio (WCR), lipid accumulation product (LAP), visceral adiposity index (VAI), Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI), a body shape index (ABSI), a body shape index of Chinese (CABSI) and body roundness index.Methods:A total of 1 002 centenarians in Hainan were selected by cluster sampling. The M( Q1,Q3) follow-up time was 4.16 (1.31, 5.04) years and the outcome was all-cause death. Multiple Cox regression model was used to analyze the relationship between the obesity related anthropometric indicators and all-cause death, and the area under receiver operating characteristic curve was used for comparison. Results:In all the centenarians, CC had the strongest power to predict death, with area under curve (AUC) of 0.61 (95% CI:0.57-0.64), the gender specific results were consistent with that in overall population ( P<0.05), followed by WCR with AUC of 0.58, and then BMI, LAP and WC with AUC of 0.55, 0.55 and 0.54 respectively, while CABSI, WHR and VAI had the weaker power to predict death with AUC of 0.51, 0.50 and 0.50 respectively. Conclusions:This was the first study to prospectively compare and analyze the association between 12 obesity related anthropometric indicators and all-cause death in a large sample cohort of centenarians in China. It was found that CC had the best prediction power for death, and the risk for death decreased with the increase of CC value in a dose-response manner. It is suggested that CC can be used as a reference index for death risk monitoring in the elderly.