Search

The bodily expressive action stimulus test (BEAST) is developed to provide a set of standardized emotional stimuli for experimental investigations of emotion and attention, and the consistency has been validated in adult populations abroad. However, the consistency of this test in the Chinese population is unclear. To this end, 42 images of each category of emotion (happiness, sadness, fear, and anger) were selected from 254 images of the original stimulus set to further examine the consistency of the BEAST in Chinese population. Thirty‐one Chinese college students and 41 Chinese preschool children participated in this study. All of them were asked to complete an emotion recognition and judgment task. Results showed that adults had a high degree of consistency in rating these pictures, while the children's consistency was at a medium level. For adults, sadness was the easiest to recognize, followed by fear and anger, while happiness was the hardest to recognize. For children, fear was the easiest to recognize, anger and sadness were second, and happiness was also the hardest to recognize. At the same time, adults were more accurate in identifying happiness and sadness than children. For adults, they were more likely to confuse positive emotions with negative emotions. They tended to mistake sadness, fear, and anger for happiness. For children, they were more likely to identify sadness as fear and happiness. They also tended to recognize anger as fear. These results indicate that the recognition performance of BEAST images for Chinese and Western adults are roughly the same, however, in the same cultural context, the recognition performance of adults and children are very different, and generally the recognition accuracy rate of adults is higher than that of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the motor system, intervertebral disc (IVD) is a complicated tissue with multiple components. The degeneration of IVD may result in low back pain (LBP), which strongly impairs quality of life. Various causes are related to the degeneration of IVD, including cell senescence, hydration lost, and inflammation. Stem cells founded in different tissues have attracted the interest of the researchers and clinicians to study the implication of these cells in the treatment for tissue injury and degeneration. In this report, we will review the study of stem cells in the treatment for IVD degeneration. On the other hand, the effect of exercise on IVD degeneration and the relationship between IVD degeneration and musculoskeletal disorders like sarcopenia are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intestinal epithelial cellular senescence contributes to the physiological decline of intestine and induces age-associated intestinal diseases. Therefore, the intestine is a vital target to delay intestinal epithelial cellular senescence and extend healthy lifespan. Alginate oligosaccharides (AOSs) have a wide range of biological and pharmacological activities. However, there are no related reports of AOSs on intestinal epithelial cellular senescence. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of AOSs on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced senescent intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-6) and its antiaging mechanism. A senescent model was successfully constructed by H2O2 (200 μmol/L) treatment on IEC-6 for 4 hours. Different concentrations of AOSs (10, 50, 100 μg/mL) were used to intervene in H2O2-induced senescent IEC-6. The number of β-galactosidase staining-positive cells was significantly reduced by AOS intervention. The expression levels of p21 and p16, known as the senescent biomarkers, were also decreased. In addition, AOSs alleviated oxidative stress by reducing reactive oxygen species and improving antioxidative ability. To understand how AOSs rejuvenate H2O2-induced senescent IEC-6, we detected the expression level of genes in autophagy process. The results indicated that AOSs restored the expression level of Beclin 1, Atg7, and LC3 to enhance autophagy process by activating activated protein kinase (AMPK) and inhibiting mammalian target of rapamycin in H2O2-induced senescent IEC-6. Compound C, an AMPK inhibitor, abolished the effect of AOSs on activating autophagy and rejuvenating senescent IEC-6. Altogether, our study suggests that AOS is a promising drug for delaying intestinal epithelial cellular senescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Chinese government implemented the dynamic COVID-zero strategy. We hypothesized that pandemic mitigation measures might have reduced the incidence, mortality rates, and case fatality ratios (CFRs) of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 2020–2022. Method: We collected HIV incidence and mortality data from the website of the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China from January 2015 to December 2022. We compared the observed and predicted HIV values in 2020–2022 with those in 2015–2019 using a two-ratio Z-test. Results: From January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2022, a total of 480,747 HIV incident cases were reported in mainland China, of which 60,906 (per year) and 58,739 (per year) were reported in 2015–2019 (pre-COVID-19 stage) and 2020–2022 (post-COVID-19 stage), respectively. The average yearly HIV incidence decreased by 5.2450% (from 4.4143 to 4.1827 per 100,000 people, p < 0.001) in 2020–2022 compared with that in 2015–2019. However, the average yearly HIV mortality rates and CFRs increased by 14.1076 and 20.4238%, respectively (all p < 0.001), in 2020–2022 compared with those in 2015–2019. During the emergency phase in January 2020 to April 2020, the monthly incidence was significantly lower (23.7158%) than that during the corresponding period in 2015–2019, while the incidence during the routine stage in May 2020–December 2022 increased by 27.4334%, (all p < 0.001). The observed incidence and mortality rates for HIV decreased by 16.55 and 18.1052% in 2020, by 25.1274 and 20.2136% in 2021, and by 39.7921 and 31.7535% in 2022, respectively, compared with the predicted values, (all p < 0.001). Conclusions: The findings suggest that China's dynamic COVID-zero strategy may have partly disrupted HIV transmission and further slowed down its growth. Without China's dynamic COVID-zero strategy, HIV incidence and deaths in the country would have likely remained high in 2020–2022. There is an urgent need to expand and improve HIV prevention, care, and treatment, as well as surveillance in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43) is a presynaptic phosphoprotein in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The ε4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE) is an important genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). We aimed to evaluate the association of CSF GAP-43 with cognition and whether this correlation was related to the APOE ε4 status. We recruited participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database, and they were divided into cognitively normal (CN) ε4 negative (CN ε4−), CN ε4 positive (CN ε4+), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) ε4 negative (MCI ε4−), MCI ε4 positive (MCI ε4+), AD ε4 negative (AD ε4−), and AD ε4 positive (AD ε4+) groups. Spearman's correlation was utilized to evaluate the relationship between CSF GAP-43 and core AD biomarkers at the baseline. We performed receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of CSF GAP-43. The correlations between CSF GAP-43 and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores and brain atrophy at baseline were assessed by using multiple linear regression, while the association between CSF GAP-43 and MMSE scores at the follow-up was tested by performing the generalized estimating equation (GEE). The role of CSF GAP-43 in the conversion from MCI to AD was evaluated using the Cox proportional hazard model. We found that the CSF GAP-43 level was significantly increased in MCI ε4+, AD ε4− and AD ε4+ groups compared with CN ε4− or MCI ε4− group. The negative associations between the CSF GAP-43 and MMSE scores at the baseline and follow-up were found in MCI ε4− and MCI ε4+ groups. In addition, baseline CSF GAP-43 was able to predict the clinical progression from MCI to AD. CSF GAP-43 may be a promising biomarker to screen cognition for AD. The effects of CSF GAP-43 on cognition were suspected to be relevant to APOE ε4 status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sarcopenia is reported to be associated with depression. Recently, serum creatinine to cystatin C ratio (CCR) has been recommended as a promising biomarker for detecting sarcopenia. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between CCR and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults using the baseline data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).Methods: This study included 7083 participants aged 45 and older. A score of 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10) ≥ 12 was used as the cut-off of having depressive symptoms. CCR was calculated by serum creatinine (mg/dL)/cystatin C (mg/L). The t-test and Chi-squared test were applied to compare the differences between the depressive symptoms group and no depressive symptoms group in both sexes. Unadjusted and adjust logistic regression models were used to further investigate the relationship between CCR and depressive symptoms.Results: In the fully adjusted logistic regression models, higher CCR was significantly correlated with a lower incidence of depressive symptoms in males (OR = 0.486, P = 0.001, 95 % CI = 0.314-0.752), but not in females (OR = 0.775 P = 0.184, 95 % CI = 0.532-1.129).Limitations: 1. Self-reported method was used to define depressive symptoms by CESD-10; 2. History of chronic diseases were all self-reported; 3. Residual bias was still possible after controlling for many confounding factors.Conclusions: Lower CCR was significantly correlated with increased depressive symptoms in males, but not in females. More studies are needed to further confirm this conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sarcopenia is usually characterized by the loss of skeletal muscle mass and impaired muscle function which is commonly seen in the elderly. It has been found to be associated with poorer prognoses in many types of cancer. Computed tomography (CT) scan is frequently used to assess skeletal muscle mass and further calculate skeletal muscle index (SMI) at the third lumbar vertebra level (L3), which is used to define sarcopenia. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the prognostic value of sarcopenia for overall survival (OS) in patients with rectal cancer. Methods: We performed a systematic search to find relevant studies published up to 14 January 2021 in PubMed, Embase, Web of science and Scopus. In our meta-analysis, studies comparing OS in rectal cancer patients with sarcopenia versus those without were included. Quality assessment for included studies was evaluated according to the Quality in Prognosis Studies (QUIPS) tool. We directly extracted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in both univariate and multivariate analyses from each study. The Cochrane Collaboration's Review Manager 5.4 software was applied to analyze data. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines and website GRADEpro. Results: Finally, a total of 7 studies involving 2377 patients were included. The pooled HRs were 2.10 (95% CI 1.33–3.32, P = 0.001) and 2.37 (95% CI 1.13–4.98, P = 0.02) using random-effects models in univariate and multivariate analyses, respectively. The results showed a significant association between sarcopenia and OS in patients with rectal cancer. The quality of the evidence for OS was moderate for both univariate and multivariate analyses. Conclusion: CT-defined sarcopenia is an independent predictor for worse OS in patients with rectal cancer. Future studies with a more stringent definition of sarcopenia are required to further confirm our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver ageing not only damages liver function but also harms systemic metabolism. To better understand the mechanisms underlying liver ageing, we transplanted the livers of young rats to young and old rats and performed untargeted metabolomics to detect changes in the metabolites in the liver tissues and sera. A total of 153 metabolites in the livers and 83 metabolites in the sera were different between the old and young rats that did not undergo liver transplantation; among these metabolites, 7 different metabolites were observed in both the livers and sera. Five weeks after liver transplantation, the levels of 25 metabolites in the young donor livers were similar to those in the old rats, and this result probably occurred due to the effect of the whole‐body environment of the older recipients on the young livers. The 25 altered metabolites included organic acids and derivatives, lipids and lipid‐like molecules, etc. In the sera, the differences in 78 metabolites, which were significant between the young and old rats, were insignificant in the old recipient rats and made the metabolic profile of the old recipients more similar to that of the young recipients. Finally, combining the above metabolomic data with the transcriptomic data from the GEO, we found that the altered metabolites and genes in the liver were enriched in 9 metabolic pathways, including glycerophospholipid, arachidonic acid, histidine and linoleate. Thus, this study revealed important age‐related metabolites and potential pathways as well as the interaction between the liver and the whole‐body environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ectodysplasin A (EDA), a new hepatokine, may be involved in energy metabolism. This study aims to 1) investigate the role of EDA in hepatic steatosis in C57BL/6 mice and HepG2 cells; 2) evaluate serum EDA in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in human. This study comprises an experimental study in vitro and in vivo and a hospital based case-control study. Western blotting, qPCR and ELISA were used to measure EDA levels. siRNA and shRNA were performed to knockdown EDA. An Adipokine Magnetic Bead Panel was performed to measure serum adipokines. Increased levels of hepatic and secreted EDA were detected in steatosis, in vivo and in vitro. Steatosis was ameliorated by EDA knockdown in vitro , while intrahepatic triglycerides content and liver enzymes were improved in vivo. Furthermore, knockdown of EDA upregulated lipolytic genes and suppressed lipogenic genes. Serum EDA in subjects with NAFLD was higher. Moreover, it reveals associations between circulating EDA and higher odds of NAFLD, while circulating EDA presented a practicable performance to identify NAFLD. Lastly, serum EDA level was dependent on BMI, TNF-α, T2DM and obesity. EDA aggravates steatosis by striking balance between lipid deposition and elimination. It was a potential biomarker of NAFLD. • Ectodysplasin A (EDA), a new hepatokine, involves in energy metabolism. • The role of EDA was evaluated in hepatic steatosis in C57BL/6 mice and HepG2 cells. • Circulating EDA was measured in a hospital-based case-control study. • EDA aggravates steatosis by striking balance of lipid deposition and elimination. • It suggests circulating EDA as a biomarker for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Previous studies regarding the relationship between acne and prostate cancer risk have reported inconsistent results. We performed the present meta-analysis of observational studies to summarize the evidence on this association. Methods: A comprehensive literature search up to March 2018 was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. Summary odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated with a random effects model. The Q statistic and the I2 index were used to evaluate the heterogeneity across the studies. Results: Eight studies were ultimately included in this meta-analysis. In the overall analysis, no significant association was found between acne and prostate cancer risk (OR = 1.08, 95% CI 0.93–1.25). A significant heterogeneity was observed across studies (P = 0.006, I2 = 64.5%). In the subgroup analysis by study design, a significant association was observed in the cohort studies (OR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.19–1.93) but not in the case-control studies (OR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.86–1.12). Conclusions: In summary, this meta-analysis did not find an association between acne in adolescence and prostate cancer risk. However, because there was some heterogeneity in the overall analysis and a significant association was observed in the meta-analysis of the cohort studies, further well-designed large prospective studies are warranted to confirm our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background CTRP3, a novel adipokine, has been linked with a variety of physiological functions, including adipokines secretion, energy metabolism, through an endocrine mean. This study evaluated the role of serum CTRP3 levels in the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods The hospital-based longitudinal study recruited urban residents who took health examination. Serum CTRP3 levels were evaluated by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to assess the relationship between baseline serum CTRP3 and incidence of NAFLD at follow-up. Results Of the 814 participants at baseline, 313 subjects were included at follow-up. At baseline, serum CTRP3 level was lower in subjects with NAFLD (283.3 [159.6–375.0] ng/ml) than it in non-NAFLD subjects (295.0 [184.0–398.0] ng/ml) ( p = 0.006). Meanwhile, serum CTRP3 level was inversely correlated with body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, triglycerides and fasting plasma glucose. After a 3-y follow-up, the CTRP3 concentrations decreased from the baseline (206.7 [136.3–322.6] ng/ml) to the follow-up (177.4 [112.1–295.5] ng/ml, p < 0.001) in the subjects who developed NAFLD ( n = 55). Compared with the 1st Quartile of baseline serum CTRP3, the subjects in the 3rd Quartile and 4th Quartile indicated lower risks of NAFLD progression at 3-y (adjusted OR = 0.451, 95% CI [0.270–0.755], p = 0.002 and adjusted OR = 0.468, 95% CI [0.310–0.707], p < 0.001). Conclusion Serum level of CTRP3 was inversely associated with the progress of NAFLD independently at 3-y. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study was aimed to identify the expression pattern of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to explore its potential correlation with the progression of NSCLC. Methods: Gene expression profile GSE39345 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Twenty healthy controls and 32 NSCLC samples before chemotherapy were analyzed to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Then pathway enrichment analysis of the DEGs was performed and protein-protein interaction networks were constructed. Particularly, VEGF genes and the VEGF signaling pathway were analyzed. The sub-network was constructed followed by functional enrichment analysis. Results: Total 1666 up-regulated and 1542 down-regulated DEGs were identified. The down-regulated DEGs were mainly enriched in the pathways associated with cancer. VEGFA and VEGFB were found to be the initiating factor of VEGF signaling pathway. In addition, in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), VEGFA and VEGFB associated sub-network, kinase insert domain receptor (KDR), fibronectin 1 (FN1), transforming growth factor beta induced (TGFBI) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were found to interact with at least two of the three hub genes. The DEGs in this sub-network were mainly enriched in Gene Ontology terms related to cell proliferation. Conclusion: EGFR, KDR, FN1, TGFBI and PCNA may interact with VEGFA to play important roles in NSCLC tumorigenesis. These genes and corresponding proteins may have the potential to be used as the targets for either diagnosis or treatment of patients with NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in lens epithelial cells plays an important role in cataract formation, and its prevention may be of therapeutic interest. This study was performed to investigate the protective effect and mechanisms of honokiol on H2O2-induced apoptosis in human lens epithelial (HLE) cells. HLE cells (SRA01-04) were pretreated with honokiol at concentrations of 5μM, 10μM and 20μM before 50μM H2O2 treatment. The results demonstrated that pretreatment of honokiol inhibited the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9 and downregulated the expression of Bcl-2. Mechanistically, honokiol suppressed H2O2-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), JNK and Akt. Honokiol also inhibited H2O2-induced nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)/p65 phosphorylation and translocation in HLE cells. These results demonstrate that honokiol suppresses H2O2-induced HLE cell apoptosis via interference with the MAPKs, Akt and NF-κB signaling, suggesting that honokiol might have a potential effect against cataract formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The microbiomes of humans are associated with liver and lung inflammation. We identified and verified alterations of the oropharyngeal microbiome and assessed their association with cirrhosis and pneumonia.Methods: Study components were as follows: (1) determination of the temporal stability of the oropharyngeal microbiome; (2) identification of oropharyngeal microbial variation in 90 subjects; (3) quantitative identification of disease-associated bacteria. DNAs enriched in bacterial sequences were produced from low-biomass oropharyngeal swabs using whole genome amplification and were analyzed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis.Results: Whole genome amplification combined with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis monitored successfully oropharyngeal microbial variations and showed that the composition of each subject's oropharyngeal microbiome remained relatively stable during the follow-up. The microbial composition of cirrhotic patients with pneumonia differed from those of others and clustered together in subgroup analysis. Further, species richness and the value of Shannon's diversity and evenness index increased significantly in patients with cirrhosis and pneumonia versus others (p < 0.001, versus healthy controls; p < 0.01, versus cirrhotic patients without pneumonia). Moreover, we identified variants of Bacteroides, Eubacterium, Lachnospiraceae, Neisseria, Actinomyces, and Streptococcus through phylogenetic analysis. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays revealed that the populations of Bacteroides, Neisseria, and Actinomycetes increased, while that of Streptococcus decreased in cirrhotic patients with pneumonia versus others (p < 0.001, versus Healthy controls; p < 0.01, versus cirrhotic patients without pneumonia).Conclusions: Alterations of Bacteroides, Neisseria, Actinomyces, and Streptococcus populations in the oropharyngeal microbiome were associated with liver cirrhosis and pneumonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]