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Given inevitable age-related decreases in physical or mental capacity, studies on health-related behaviour (HRB) clustering in older people provide an opportunity to reduce health-care costs and promote healthy ageing. This study explores the clustering of HRBs and transition probabilities of cluster memberships over time, and compares sociodemographic characteristics of these clusters among Chinese and Japanese middle-aged and older adults. Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2015 (N = 19614) and the Japanese Study of Ageing and Retirement (JSTAR) from 2007 to 2011 (N = 7,080), Latent Transition Analysis was applied to investigate the clustering and change in clustering memberships of smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and body mass index. Multivariate logistic regression was used to explore the sociodemographic characteristics of these longitudinal HRB cluster members. We identified four common clusters in CHARLS and JSTAR: 'smoking', 'overweight or obese', 'healthy lifestyle' and 'current smoking with drinking', and an additional cluster named 'ex-smoking with drinking' in JSTAR. Although HRB cluster members were largely stable in both cohorts, participants in China tended to move towards an unhealthy lifestyle, while participants in Japan did the opposite. We also found that participants who smoked and drank were more likely to be male, younger, less educated and unmarried in both cohorts, but the overweight or obese participants were female, urban and higher income in CHARLS but not JSTAR. Our study not only contributes to the knowledge of longitudinal changes in health-related behavioural clustering patterns in an Asian elderly population, but may also facilitate the design of targeted multi-behavioural interventions to promote healthy lifestyles among older people in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Azilsartan (AZL), the active metabolite of azilsartan medoxomil, is the newest angiotensin receptor blocker that has been approved for the treatment of hypertension in 2012 in Japan. The present study aimed to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetic properties of AZL in healthy Chinese subjects. We performed 2 phase 1 studies to investigate the pharmacokinetics and safety of AZL in healthy Chinese adults after a single dose (20 mg or 40 mg) or multiple doses of AZL (40 mg/d for 7 days; Study I) and after a single 40‐mg dose under the fasted and fed conditions (Study II). Noncompartmental analysis and nonlinear mixed‐effects modeling were used to analyze the pharmacokinetic properties of AZL. Twenty‐seven healthy volunteers (14 men and 13 women) aged 20‐32 years were enrolled and completed the study. During single dosing of AZL, the pharmacokinetics of AZL exhibited a linear profile between dosage and area under the concentration‐time curve. There is no AZL accumulation after multiple doses. Food had no effect on the pharmacokinetic characteristics of AZL. AZL concentrations were best fit with a 2‐compartment model, and the typical value of clearance was 1.63 L/h. Body weight had an impact on both the apparent clearance and peripheral volume of distribution. The pharmacokinetic parameters were consistent with previous studies in non‐Chinese subjects. Model‐based simulations indicated that a 45‐kg subject would have approximately double the AZL exposure of a 90‐kg subject. Whether the exposure difference has clinical significance needs to be confirmed in further studies among patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: According to the Weller’s allometric model, the slope of the self-thinning exponent α x of a partial organ was calculated from the allometric constants θ x and δ x obtained from the allometric relationships of mean tree height and of organ mass density to mean organ mass . The self-thinning exponent, α x(=1/{1−(δ x + θ x)}), was estimated to be 1.519 for stem, 1.515 for branch, 1.095 for leaf, and 1.482 for aboveground. The α x-value obtained from the estimates θ x and δ x cannot be used for its significance test because these two estimators are dependent of each other. The allometric relationship of the mean occupied area per tree to gives the self-thinning exponent α xk, calculated as 1/ϕ x, which is mathematically and statistically (by ordinary least squares) equivalent to 1/{1−(δ x + θ x)}. The ϕ x -value was 0.6582 for stem, 0.6601 for branch, 0.9129 for leaf, and 0.6748 for aboveground mass. The ϕ x -value was not significantly different from 2/3, but it was significantly different from 3/4 for stem, branch, and aboveground. This means that self-thinning exponents for woody parts were not significantly different from 3/2. This result suggests that the self-thinning exponent was close to 3/2 rather than 4/3. On the other hand, the ϕ L -value for leaf was significantly different from both 2/3 and 3/4, but it was not significantly different from 1.0. This means that stand leaf biomass was constant regardless of population density. The self-thinning exponent for leaf had a negligible effect on that for aboveground because of the small amount of leaf mass compared with the combined mass of the woody organs. Therefore, the present results based on the allometric model of partial organs roughly support the 3/2 power law for aboveground self-thinning. For overcrowded Bruguiera gymnorrhiza stands, self-thinning could be explained by a simple geometric model rather than a metabolic model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: To disentangle the direction between health-related behaviours (HRBs) and depression in East Asia, we examined the bidirectional longitudinal relationship of HRBs clustering and depression in Chinese and Japanese ageing populations gender-specifically., Methods: Data were drawn from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) (N = 18,739) (2011-2015) and the Japan Study of Ageing and Retirement (JSTAR) (N = 7116) (2007-2011). Cross-lagged panel models (CLPM) were applied to assess bidirectional longitudinal relationships between HRB clustering and depression in adjacent waves, stratified by cohort and gender. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to explore key risk factors in risky clusters., Results: The prevalence of baseline depression was approximately 20 % in China and 4 % in Japan, with over 70 % of participants belonging to the risky cluster. A unidirectional negative association between the risky cluster and depression was observed only in Chinese females (β standardized  = -0.039, 95%CI: -0.054 to -0.024, P < 0.001). However, no association was found in Japanese females or males in either country. Further sensitivity analyses revealed that this association was primarily driven by overweight/obesity cluster. Sensitivity analyses also identified a positive effect of depression on the smoking and drinking cluster and a negative effect on the overweight/obesity cluster in Chinese females., Limitation: This study was limited by reliance on self-report data, the CES-D cannot be used to diagnose depression and some other confounding factors were not considered (e.g., use of antidepressants)., Conclusions: Our findings highlight a unidirectional negative association of the risky cluster on depression in Chinese females, with notable variations observed across different countries and genders., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None declared., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)