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Objectives: Depressive symptoms are common in older people; most previous research on elderly depression focused on individual-level characteristics or neighborhood socioeconomic status. Modifiable neighborhood characteristics of older people dwelling in low-income communities are under-studied. This study aims to identify potentially modifiable social and physical neighborhood characteristics that influence depressive symptoms independent of individual-level characteristics among older Chinese. Method: Data came from a cross-sectional survey conducted in four low-income public rental housing estates in Hong Kong in 2012. We interviewed a total of 400 elderly residents. The structured questionnaire covered demographics, activities of daily living, recent fall history, neighborhood support networks, and perceived proximity by walk to community facilities. Multiple regression was used to test whether inclusion of neighborhood factors in addition to individual characteristics increases model fit in explaining depressive symptoms in elders with low socioeconomic status. Results: At individual level, activities of daily living and income significantly predicted depressive symptoms. Receiving support from friends or neighbors is associated with fewer depressive symptoms. However, participants who received organizational support had a 1.17 points of increase on the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). At-ease walkable proximity to medical facilities was positively associated with a better GDS score. Conclusion: Neighborhood support networks and perceived proximity by walk to community facilities contribute significantly to depressive symptoms among low-income elders. Programs and policies that facilitate neighborhood support and commuting or promote facility accessibility may help ameliorate depressive symptoms common among low-income elders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) older adults experience various social and health challenges. There is a growing literature linking neighborhood conditions with health, yet few have focused on NHPI older adults. This study examines associations between neighborhood social cohesion and health outcomes (i.e., self-rated health, psychological distress, and memory) in this population. Data from the 2014 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander National Health Interview Survey (n=1,045 with respondents aged 50+) were analyzed with logistic regression models. The level of neighborhood social cohesion was determined by responses to items on perceptions of mutual help, dependability, trust, and close relationships within the neighborhood. Higher perceived neighborhood social cohesion was associated with lower odds of having serious psychological distress or memory problems. There was no statistical association of social cohesion with self-rated health. Socially cohesive neighborhoods are important to the health of NHPI. We discuss methods to improve neighborhood social cohesion as a way to promote health equity for NHPI older adults in the United States (U.S.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have found that pornography consumption is associated with a higher likelihood of having condomless sex. Past research was primarily conducted with Western populations from developed countries. Consequently, less is known about sexual and reproductive health in developing countries and regions. A national sample of 11,957 university-level students was used to investigate the association between pornography consumption, sexual attitudes, and condomless sex. Our findings suggest that a higher frequency of pornography consumption is associated with an increased likelihood of having condomless sex and more positive attitudes toward premarital sex and one-night stand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One novel naphthalene derivative, 2-octa-2′,4′,6′-atriynenaphthalene (1), together with eighteen known compounds (2–19) were isolated from the aerial parts of Dracocephalum moldavica L. Compounds 2, 8, 10, 13, 15–17 and 19 were obtained from the family Lamiaceae for the first time, and compounds 11 and 18 were firstly identified from the genus of Dracocephalum. All the isolates were evaluated for anti-complementary activities through the classical and alternative pathways, and the targets of the most active compounds on the complement activation cascade were also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested the effect of a neonatal-bereavement-support DVD on parental grief after their baby's death in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit compared with standard bereavement care (controls). Following a neonatal death, the authors measured grief change from a 3- to 12-month follow-up using a mixed-effects model. Intent-to-treat analysis was not significant, but only 18 parents selectively watched the DVD. Thus, we subsequently compared DVD viewers with DVD nonviewers and controls. DVD viewers reported higher grief at 3-month interviews compared with DVD nonviewers and controls. Higher grief at 3 months was negatively correlated with social support and spiritual/religious beliefs. These findings have implications for neonatal-bereavement care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the influence of sexuality-related factors on recent two-week morbidity and annual hospitalization in female migrant workers, 880 Chinese rural-to-urban female migrant workers aged 16–57 years were studied. Clustered logistic regression analyses revealed that women who never or seldom experienced lubrication difficulties had a lower risk of recent two-week morbidity (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.17–0.60, P< 0.001; adjusted OR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.18–0.69, P= 0.003) than those who always experienced lubrication difficulties; women who never felt a lack of sexual interest had a significantly lower risk of annual hospitalization (adjusted OR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.20–0.79, P= 0.009) than those who always or seldom lacked sexual interest, and women who never felt sexual satisfaction had a higher risk of annual hospitalization (adjusted OR = 3.08, 95% CI = 1.75–5.42, P< 0.001) than those who always or seldom experienced sexual satisfaction. The independent contributions of sexuality-related factors to the risk of recent two-week morbidity and annual hospitalization were 5.8% and 29.5%, respectively. This study suggests that sexuality may have a modest influence on recent two-week morbidity and a dominant impact on annual hospitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of coptisine against advanced stage of human pancreatic carcinoma PANC-1 cells was investigated in vitro. Coptisine (25–150 μM) treatment for 48 h caused dose-dependent cell growth inhibition by using CCK-8 assay. Additionally, coptisine was found to inhibit PANC-1 cells metastasis by the wound healing assay. Flow cytometry data indicated that coptisine (25–100 μM) exhibited dose-dependent G1 phase arrest and moderate reduction of S phase. Coptisine was also found to inhibit ERK phosphorylation and total ERK levels. Our research suggested that coptisine would be a potential therapeutic drug for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Object: Acoustic stimulation induced LTP in the human auditory cortex was successfully recorded for the first time by electroencephalography (EEG) using a stimulus of 1 kHz pure-tone in 2005. However, it was barely reproduced, given considerable challenges to reliably elicit and accurately record the enhanced potentials in vivo. The purpose of this paper was to explore whether acoustic stimuli other than 1 kHz pure-tone could generate LTP or not. Measures: To answer this question, we proposed a tetanic-stimulation paradigm of pure-tones, narrow-band noises (NBNs) and white noise (WN) to elicit LTP in human subjects. Results: The results showed that pure-tones with different frequency could elicit LTP in human auditory cortex, and proved for the first time that NBNs and WN could also achieve the same goal. Interestingly, it was also shown that the noises with certain bandwidth induced the greatest LTP and the WN induced LTP had the least variation over time and across subjects in comparison with pure-tones and NBNs. Conclusions: In light of the results, we suggested to use the paradigm for broader studies of human in vivo cortical plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusion:This method might be an effective intra-operative way to access hearing threshold under general anesthesia in the operating room. Objective:To develop an intra-operative hearing monitoring method for surgeons to access hearing threshold under general anesthesia in the operating room. Method:System establishment and calibration was done firstly. Normal hearing (NH) and conductive hearing loss (CHL) participants were recruited. This study applied pure tone audiometry (PTA) to all subjects and tone pip ABR (tp-ABR) via loudspeakers in sound booth and operating room for NH and CHL subjects, respectively. For NH subjects, Bland Altman was conducted to compare 1k Hz PTA and tp-ABR threshold. For CHL participants, Pairedt-test, Satterth waitet’-test, and linear correlation analysis were used to compare the two methods.p < .05 was considered statistically different. Results: (1) Bland Altman showed all plots were inside the 95% confidence interval, indicating that there was no difference between the two methods for NH subjects. (2) The two methods had a high correlation (Pearson’s coefficient =0.872 > 0.6,p < .05) in assessing hearing threshold in the operating room. (3) Satterth waitet’-test showed the ossicular chain malfunction enlarged the deviation of threshold by the two methods (.01 < p < .025). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Curcumin, the biologically active compound from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, could inhibit cell growth and induce apoptosis in gastric carcinoma. However, the underlying mechanism of curcumin on gastric carcinoma cells still needs further investigation. In this study, morphological observation indicated that curcumin inhibited the proliferation of AGS cells in a dose-dependent manner. According to the flow cytometric analysis, curcumin treatment resulted in G2/M arrest in AGS cells, accompanied with an increased expression of cyclin B1 and a decreased expression of cyclin D1. In addition, DNA ladders were observed by gel electrophoresis. Meanwhile, the activities of caspase-3, -8, and -9 were also enhanced in curcumin-treated AGS cells. Nevertheless, the increased activities could be inhibited by benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp (OME)-fluoromethylketone (z-VAD-fmk), which suggested that the apoptosis was caspase-dependent. Furthermore, downregulation of rat sarcoma (Ras) and upregulation of extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) were also observed in AGS cells treated with curcumin by Western blot. U0126, an ERK inhibitor, blocked curcumin-induced apoptosis. The results suggested that curcumin inhibited the growth of the AGS cells and induced apoptosis through the activation of Ras/ERK signaling pathway and downstream caspase cascade, and curcumin might be a potential target for the treatment of gastric carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]