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Background: The role of interleukins in sarcopenia development has been acknowledged, yet the specifics of their involvement remain to be fully understood. This study aimed to explore alterations in interleukin levels among sarcopenia patients. Methods: Searches were conducted in Embase, Medline, and the Cochrane Library for literature published up to May 2023. Eligible observational studies with a diagnosis of sarcopenia were included. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale was utilized for quality assessment. For data synthesis, a random-effects model was used, and the Mantel–Haenszel method was used for pooled estimates. Results: Of the 7685 articles screened, 37 met the inclusion criteria. Statistically significant differences in the levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-10 were detected in sarcopenia patients. Specifically, IL-1β (95 % CI: 0.33 [0.12, 0.54], P

Objectives: We aimed to investigate longitudinal associations of overall social support and its sub-domains with risk of sarcopenia and its related traits in community-dwelling Chinese aged ≥ 50 years. We also explored interaction effects of potential factors on such associations. Design: A prospective cohort study. Setting: Community-based setting in western China. Participants: We included participants aged ≥50 years with complete information necessary for analysis from the WCHAT study who did not have sarcopenia at baseline (2018) and had sufficient data for sarcopenia assessment during 2021–2023. Measurements: Exposures included overall social support, subjective support, objective support and support utilization, which were assessed with the Social Support Rating Scale. Outcomes included sarcopenia, low muscle mass (LMM), low muscle strength and low physical performance, which were diagnosed with the 2019 AWGS consensus. Longitudinal associations between the exposures and outcomes were estimated by logistic regression, with generalized estimating equations (GEE) as sensitivity analyses. Subgroup analyses by potential covariates were conducted to detect interaction effects. Results: A total of 1905 participants were finally included in the analytic sample, of whom 326 (17.1%) developed incident sarcopenia during 5-year follow-up. After controlling for confounders, higher degree of overall social support (OR = 0.87, 95%CI 0.76−0.99), subjective support (OR = 0.88, 95%CI 0.77−0.99) and support utilization (OR = 0.87, 95%CI 0.77−0.99) correlated with lower sarcopenia risk, among which higher support utilization degree was indicative of lower risk for LMM (OR = 0.88, 95%CI 0.79−0.98). GEE further revealed that overall support degree was negatively associated with risk for sarcopenia (OR = 0.86, 95%CI 0.76−0.98) and LMM (OR = 0.87, 95%CI 0.77−0.99). Objective support was neither significantly associated with sarcopenia nor its traits. No significant interaction effect was observed between overall support and the concerned confounders on sarcopenia (interaction P-value > 0.05). Conclusion: Overall social support degree was negatively associated with sarcopenia risk, possibly primarily through affecting muscle mass rather than muscle strength or physical performance, and such an association remained robust across subgroups with distinct characteristics. This holds implications for policymakers to conduct population-based risk assessment, and supportive strategies against sarcopenia should focus on enhancing subjective support and support utilization rather than objective support alone.

As the college students have been a most active user group in various social media, it remains significant to make effective sentiment analysis for college public opinions. Capturing the direction of public opinion in the student community in a timely manner and guiding students to develop the right values can help in the ideological management of universities. Universally, the recurrent neural networks have been the mainstream technology in terms of sentiment analysis. Nevertheless, the existing research works more emphasized semantic characteristics in vertical direction, yet failing to capture sematic characteristics in horizonal direction. In other words, it is supposed to increase more balance into sentiment analysis models. To remedy such gap, this paper presents a novel sentiment analysis method based on multi-scale deep learning for college public opinions. To fit for bidirectional semantic characteristics, a typical sequential neural network with two propagation paths is selected as the backbone. It is then extended with more layers in horizonal direction. Such design is able to balance both model depth and model breadth. At last, some experiments on a real-world social media dataset are conducted for evaluation, well acknowledging efficiency of the proposed analysis model.

Abstract Biological rhythm is a natural physiological phenomenon of the human body, which is regulated by the biological rhythm system, including the sleep cycle, body temperature fluctuation, endocrine level, biological metabolism, and so on. Sleep disturbance is one of the main manifestations of circadian biological rhythm disorder, which has a serious impact on people's work and quality of life. Studies have shown that gut microbiota and circadian rhythms can interact through the brain–gut pathway. Tea polyphenols can effectively modulate the composition of the intestinal microbiota. The interaction between circadian rhythm and the gut microbiota suggests that intervention with tea polyphenols is a possible way for improving sleep. Therefore, through investigating the circadian regulation mechanism of tea polyphenols mediated by gut microbiota, we can shed new light on the relationship between sleep and metabolic disturbances, as well as the beneficial effect of tea polyphenols on sleep improving.

Abstract Objective Standard modalities recommended for sarcopenia diagnosis may be unavailable in primary care settings. We aimed to comprehensively evaluate and compare associations of some better popularized nutritional risk-related indexes with sarcopenia presence and their value in sarcopenia diagnosis in community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly adults, including geriatric nutrition risk index (GNRI), albumin (ALB), calf circumference (CC), mid-arm circumference (MAC), triceps skinfold thickness (TST) and body mass index (BMI). Methods Based on the West China Health and Aging Trend study, the current study included participants aged 50 or older who were recruited in 2018. Sarcopenia-related assessment and diagnosis were in line with Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019. For each single index, we assessed its association with sarcopenia presence by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis; we also computed diagnostic measures including the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and sensitivity, specificity, accuracy at the optimal cut-off value determined according to Youden’s index. Results A total of 3829 subjects were included, consisting of 516 and 3313 subjects in the sarcopenia and non-sarcopenia groups, respectively. Regarding the risk for sarcopenia presence, the fully adjusted odds ratios of GNRI, ALB, CC, MAC, TST and BMI per standard deviation decrease were 2.95 (95% CI 2.51–3.47, P GNRI (0.80, 95% CI 0.78–0.82), CC (0.83, 95% CI 0.81–0.85), BMI (0.81, 95% CI 0.79–0.83) > TST (0.72, 95% CI 0.70–0.74) > ALB (0.62, 95% CI 0.60–0.65). At the relevant optimal cut-off values, the sensitivity was the highest for CC (0.83, 95% CI 0.80–0.87) and MAC (0.80, 95% CI 0.77–0.84), while GNRI showed the highest specificity (0.79, 95% CI 0.78–0.81) and accuracy (0.78, 95% 0.76–0.79). Conclusion Overall diagnostic performance was the best for MAC, followed by GNRI, CC, BMI, and the worst for TST, ALB in distinguishing sarcopenia from non-sarcopenia in middle-aged and elderly adults in community-based settings. CC or MAC might do better in reducing missed diagnosis, while GNRI was superior in reducing misdiagnosis.

BACKGROUND The development potential of tight gas reservoirs of the Shanxi Formation in the southeastern Ordos Basin is huge. High-pressure mercury injection has been one of the most important methods for analyzing the pore-throat structure, however, it has seldom been applied in this area. The high-pressure mercury injection experiment can effectively characterize the pore-throat structure at a lower cost. OBJECTIVES To apply high-pressure mercury injection to characterize pore-throat distribution of the tight gas reservoirs in the southeastern Ordos Basin. METHODS Typical cores of tight gas reservoirs in the Shanxi Formation are selected for high-pressure mercury injection experiments. The research was carried out using the mercury withdrawal curve to represent the process of mercury withdrawal in the throat and the decimal capillary pressure interval division method, and then a completely separated double peak feature was shown according to the pore-throat radius distribution curves. The small and large pore-throat areas were defined, and their influence on physical property parameters was analyzed. RESULTS The experiment results showed that the main capillary pressure ranges of the total pore-throat and the single pore-throat were 0.1-1MPa and 1-10MPa, respectively. The throat determined the pore-throat ratio and mercury ejection efficiency. The average relative volume of small and large pore-throat areas were 91.59% and 8.41%, respectively. The small pore-throat area controlled the reservoir seepage capacity, while the large pore-throat zone controlled the reservoir capacity. CONCLUSIONS Based on the experimental results, the application research of the high-pressure mercury injection method further revealed that the small pore-throat area determines the development of pores and throats, and the large pore-throat area determines the early productivity of gas wells. The research shows that the high-pressure mercury injection test has a good application prospect in the characterization of integral pore-throat distribution and early productivity evaluation of tight gas reservoirs, which can effectively enrich the knowledge about the distribution characteristics of tight gas reservoir pore-throat and provide ideas for scientific development in this area.

Inefficient data transmission has been a development bottleneck of Vehicular Ad-hoc NETworks (VANETs), especially in urban areas. It has been proved that many complex IP-based solutions are difficult to be applied in the highly dynamic and link-interrupted vehicular environment. In recent years, Named Data Networking (NDN) has become the most popular realization of Information-Centric Networking (ICN) for future networks. Its characteristics of multi-source, multi-path and in-network caching are helpful for improving the data transmission in VANETs. However, the bottom layer of vehicles cannot provide multiple interfaces to different domains like the routers in wired networks. Thus interface-based forwarding degenerates into directionless broadcasting with low performance and high overhead. Against this problem, we propose COMPASS, a novel named data transmission protocol for VANETs. Firstly, a dynamic directional interface model is built as the cornerstone of our COMPASS. Secondly, the forwarding strategies are improved for rapid interest dissemination and named data retrieving. Besides, an interface remapping method and the update strategies of Forwarding Information Base (FIB) and Pending Interest Table (PIT) are designed to enhance the robustness in high-mobility environment. Finally, the performance of COMPASS is verified on ndnSIM. Compared with the other three state-of-the-art protocols, COMPASS obtains the highest interest satisfaction ratio and the shortest transmission delay in urban traffic scenarios with restricted communication and storage overhead.

The 2-haloacid dehalogenases (EC 3.8.1.X) are industrially important enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of carbon–halogen bonds in 2-haloalkanoic acids, releasing halogen ions and producing corresponding 2-hydroxyl acids. These enzymes are of particular interest in environmental remediation and environmentally friendly synthesis of optically pure chiral compounds due to their ability to degrade a wide range of halogenated compounds with astonishing efficiency for enantiomer resolution. The 2-haloacid dehalogenases have been extensively studied with regard to their biochemical characterization, protein crystal structures, and catalytic mechanisms. This paper comprehensively reviews the source of isolation, classification, protein structures, reaction mechanisms, biochemical properties, and application of 2-haloacid dehalogenases; current trends and avenues for further development have also been included.

ObjectiveThe result interpretation of the captopril challenge test (CCT) for the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism (PA) is not standardized. Superiorities of different indexes in the CCT have not been fully investigated. We aimed to comprehensively evaluate the value and influence factors of different CCT-associated indexes in the diagnosis of PA.MethodsWe enrolled 312, 85, 179 and 97 patients in the groups of PA, essential hypertension (EH), unilateral PA (UPA) and bilateral PA (BPA), respectively. For each single index investigated, we computed diagnostic estimates including the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). We performed pre-specified subgroup analyses to explore influence factors. We assessed the diagnostic value of combined indexes in binary logistic regression models.ResultsPost-CCT aldosterone to renin ratio (ARR) (AUC = 0.8771) and plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) (AUC = 0.8769) showed high value in distinguishing PA from EH, and their combination (AUC = 0.937) was even superior to either alone. The diagnostic efficacy was moderately high for post-CCT aldosterone to angiotensin II ratio (AA2R) (AUC = 0.834) or plasma renin activity (PRA) (AUC = 0.795) but low for the suppression percentage of PAC (AUC = 0.679). Post-CCT PAC had a significantly higher AUC in the UPA than BPA subgroup (AUC = 0.914 vs 0.827, P

ObjectivePrimary adrenal lymphoma (PAL) is easily misdiagnosed as other adrenal masses, such as adrenocortical carcinoma and pheochromocytoma, but patients with PAL benefit little from surgery. The diagnostic method for PAL thus far is limited to adrenal biopsy. In our study, we aimed to develop a quick and efficient diagnostic method for PAL.Methods and ResultsAt the same institution, 505 patients (between 2009 and 2019) and 171 patients (between 2019 and 2020) were separately included in the primary and validation studies. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to evaluate clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, and radiological characteristics. Four determinants (age, bilateral masses, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and lactate dehydrogenase) were selected and further incorporated into a regression model to screen PAL. Accordingly, the nomogram was developed for clinical practice. In the primary study, the nomogram showed good discrimination, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 95.4% (95% CI, 90.6%–100.0%). Further validation study verified the efficacy of the nomogram, with an AUC of 99.0% (95% CI, 96.9%–100.00%) and 100.0% in all patients and patients with bilateral masses, respectively, and a sensitivity/specificity/positive predictive value (PPV)/negative predictive value (NPV) of 66.67%/99.40%/66.67%/99.40%, 66.67%/100%/100%/92.86%, 50%/99.20%/50%/99.20%, and 100%/100%/100%/100%, in all patients, patients with bilateral adrenal masses, patients with nonfunctional adrenal masses, and patients with positive catecholamine results, respectively. The validation study also revealed a diagnostic specificity of 99.35% and 100% for patients with a unilateral adrenal mass and functional PCC, respectively.ConclusionsThe presented nomogram is the first user-friendly diagnostic model for PAL that simplifies the complex diagnostic process into personalized numeric estimates. We deem that patients who score below 50 are less likely to have PAL. We suggest that clinicians should arrange adrenal biopsy and surgery for patients with nonfunctional tumors and overt catecholamine-secreting tumors, respectively, who receive a score of 50 points or higher to confirm the diagnosis as soon as possible.

PurposeThe aim of the present study is to investigate the time to recovery of parathyroid function in patients with protracted hypoparathyroidism at 1 month after total thyroidectomy of papillary thyroid carcinoma.Materials and MethodsAdult patients who underwent total thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid cancer were included. Cases of long-term hypoparathyroidism were studied for recovery of parathyroid function during the follow-up. The duration of recovery and associated variables were recorded.ResultsOut of the 964 patients, 128 (13.28%) developed protracted hypoparathyroidism and of these, 23 (2.39%) developed permanent hypoparathyroidism and 105 (10.89%) recovered: 86 (8.92%) before 6 months, 11 (1.14%) within 6 and 12 months and 8 (0.83%) after 1 year follow-up. Variables significantly associated with the time to parathyroid function recovery were number of autotransplanted parathyroid glands (HR, 1.399; 95% CI, 1.060 – 1.846; P = 0.018), serum calcium concentration >2.07 mmol/L (Hazard ratio [HR], 1.628; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.009 – 2.628; P = 0.046) and PTH level > 1.2 pmol/L (HR, 1.702; 95% CI, 1.083 – 2.628; P = 0.021) at 1 month postoperatively.ConclusionPermanent hypoparathyroidism should not be diagnosed easily by time, since up to one-fifth of the patients will experience recovery after a period of 6 months and a few patients even beyond one year. The number of autotransplanted parathyroid glands is positively associated with the time to parathyroid function recovery.

Although all countries have taken corresponding measures, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still ravaging the world. To consolidate the existing anti-epidemic results and further strengthen the prevention and control measures against the new coronavirus, we are now actively pioneering a novel research idea of regulating the intestinal microbiota through tea polyphenols for reference. Although studies have long revealed the regulatory effect of tea polyphenols on the intestinal microbiota to various gastrointestinal inflammations, little is known about the prevention and intervention of COVID-19. This review summarizes the possible mechanism of the influence of tea polyphenols on COVID-19 mediated by the intestinal microbiota. In this review, the latest studies of tea polyphenols exhibiting their own antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities and protective effects on the intestinal mucosal barrier are combed through and summarized. Among them, (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), one of the main monomers of catechins, may be activated as nuclear factor erythroid 2 p45-related factor 2 (Nrf2). The agent inhibits the expression of ACE2 (a cellular receptor for SARS-CoV-2) and TMPRSS2 to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection, inhibiting the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2. Thus, preliminary reasoning and judgments have been made about the possible mechanism of the effect of tea polyphenols on the COVID-19 control and prevention mediated by the microbiota. These results may be of great significance to the future exploration of specialized research in this field.