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The mud crab (Scylla paramamosain) is an important mariculture species, which has been successfully cultivated in inland saline-alkaline water of China. However, the study on the flavor quality of mud crab cultivated in inland saline-alkaline water has not been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the non-volatile flavor substances in the hepatopancreas and muscles of mud crabs cultured in inland saline-alkaline water (IS, 1.5 psu), coastal low salinity seawater(CS, 5 psu) and normal salinity seawater(NS, 13 psu). The results showed that there were no significant differences in total free amino acids (TAA) and essential amino acids (EAA) in muscle and hepatopancreas among the three groups. The contents of glycine (Gly) and alanine (Ala) in muscle and hepatopancreas in IS group were significantly higher than those in NS and CS groups. Taurine (Tau) content in IS-♂ group was significantly higher than that in NS-♂ group. The results of the principal component analysis showed that the similarity of amino acid composition and content in muscle and hepatopancreas of each population was related to the culture environment. To sum up, the mud crabs cultured in inland low saline-alkaline water can maintain the balance of total amino acid and essential amino acid content, the sweet flavor of edible parts was slightly enhanced, while the equivalent umami concentration was decreased. ● Inland saline-alkaline culture is a new way for the development of mud crab industry. ● Inland low saline-alkaline culture has an influence on the flavor of mud crabs. ● The contents of Gly and Ala in the muscle of saline-alkaline mud crabs are higher. ● The changes of free amino acids are related to osmoregulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Few studies have examined the relationship between family functioning, social support and quality of life in patients with anxiety disorder. There is a paucity of research on anxiety disorders and their predictors in China. Aims: This study aimed to explore family functioning, social support and quality of life for patients with anxiety disorder and examine the relationship between these elements. Methods: A total of 107 patients who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) criteria for anxiety disorder and 80 healthy controls completed the McMaster Family Assessment Device, the Perceived Social Support Scale and the short form of the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire. Results: The findings indicate that patients with anxiety disorder in China tend to have poor family functioning and quality of life, as well as a higher subjective perception of social support. There were strong correlations between family functioning, social support and quality of life. Affective involvement and not living with parents were identified as risk factors for anxiety disorders, while a high family income was a protective factor. Conclusion: Anxiety disorder is associated with reduced family functioning and poorer quality of life for Chinese patients. In addition, the Family Assessment Device is a suitable instrument for evaluating family functioning in Chinese patients with anxiety disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Biological age (BA) has been recognized as a more accurate indicator of aging than chronological age (CA). However, the current limitations include: insufficient attention to the incompleteness of medical data for constructing BA; Lack of machine learning-based BA (ML-BA) on the Chinese population; Neglect of the influence of model overfitting degree on the stability of the association results. Methods and results: Based on the medical examination data of the Chinese population (45–90 years), we first evaluated the most suitable missing interpolation method, then constructed 14 ML-BAs based on biomarkers, and finally explored the associations between ML-BAs and health statuses (healthy risk indicators and disease). We found that round-robin linear regression interpolation performed best, while AutoEncoder showed the highest interpolation stability. We further illustrated the potential overfitting problem in ML-BAs, which affected the stability of ML-Bas' associations with health statuses. We then proposed a composite ML-BA based on the Stacking method with a simple meta-model (STK-BA), which overcame the overfitting problem, and associated more strongly with CA (r = 0.66, P < 0.001), healthy risk indicators, disease counts, and six types of disease. Conclusion: We provided an improved aging measurement method for middle-aged and elderly groups in China, which can more stably capture aging characteristics other than CA, supporting the emerging application potential of machine learning in aging research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Taking ischemic and bleeding risks into consideration, insufficient data exist on dual antiplatelet therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention in elderly Chinese patients with coronary artery disease. Objective: We aimed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of ticagrelor in comparison with clopidogrel on a background of aspirin for elderly Chinese patients with coronary artery disease 12 months after percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study was conducted. Selected from patients with coronary artery disease aged ≥ 75 years from January 2010 to July 2019, 908 eligible subjects receiving dual antiplatelet therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention for up to 12 months were consecutively enrolled in the study. The included patients received ticagrelor in combination with aspirin (n = 264) or clopidogrel in combination with aspirin (n = 644). Effectiveness endpoints were evaluated by the major adverse cardiovascular events, encompassing all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and clinically driven revascularization. The safety endpoints were recorded as the incidence of Bleeding Academic Research Consortium bleeding. Results: The patients who were treated with ticagrelor were slightly younger than those who were treated with clopidogrel (79.1 ± 3.7 vs 80.7 ± 4.5 years, p < 0.01). The ticagrelor cohort contained a higher percentage of patients undergoing a prior percutaneous coronary intervention (37.9% vs 24.5%, p < 0.01), and a lower percentage of smokers (19.3% vs 27.2%, p < 0.05), compared with the clopidogrel cohort. The levels of glucose, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol in the ticagrelor group were higher while the level of triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol were lower (p < 0.05) than those in the clopidogrel group. Left main percutaneous coronary intervention was performed more frequently among the ticagrelor-treated patients (23.5% vs 9.3%, p < 0.01), while patients in the clopidogrel group underwent more left circumflex percutaneous coronary intervention (34.3% vs 23.1%, p < 0.01). We found that ticagrelor was associated with a lower incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events than clopidogrel using the inverse probability of treatment weighting model (odds ratio, 0.493; 95% confidence interval 0.356–0.684). There was no difference in terms of the risk of Bleeding Academic Research Consortium bleeding between the two groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Ticagrelor was associated with a lower incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events than clopidogrel at 12 months in elderly Chinese patients with coronary artery disease, without a significant increase of Bleeding Academic Research Consortium bleeding events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]