Institutional Residence Protects Against Cognitive Frailty: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Based on the complex aging background, more and more older people have to live in an institution in later life in China. The prevalence of cognitive frailty (CF) is more higher in institutions than in communities. Rarely studies were conducted on the relationship between institutional residence and CF. Hence, this study were performed to determine the relationship between institutional residence (living in a nursing home) and CF in older adults. A total of 1004 older community residents and 111 older nursing home residents over 50 years of age from Hefei, Anhui Province, China were recruited. CF included physical frailty (PF) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). PF was assessed using the Chinese version of the Fried frailty scale, MCI was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and the common associated factors including sedentary behavior, exercise, intellectual activity, comorbidity, medication, chronic pain, sleep disorders, nutritional status and loneliness were analyzed using regression logistic models. Multivariate regression logistic analysis showed that exercise (P = .019, odds ratio [OR] = 0.494, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.274-0.891), intellectual activity (P = .019, OR = 0.595, 95% CI: 0.380-0.932), medication use (P = .003, OR = 2.388, 95% CI: 1.339-4.258), chronic pain (P = .003, OR = 1.580, 95% CI: 1.013-2.465) and loneliness (P = .000, OR = 2.991, 95% CI: 1.728-5.175) were significantly associated with CF in community residents; however, only sedentary behavior (P = .013, OR = 3.851, 95% CI: 1.328-11.170) was significantly associated with CF in nursing home residents. Our findings suggest that nursing homes can effectively address many common risk factors for CF, including lack of exercise and intellectual activity, medication use, chronic pain, and loneliness, better than the community setting. Thus, residing in a nursing home is conducive to the intervention of CF.

A novel thiolysis-high-performance liquid chromatography method for the determination of proanthocyanidins in grape seeds.

A novel thiolysis-high-performance liquid chromatography method for the quantitative determination of total proanthocyanidins and the mean degree of polymerization in grape seeds has been developed. Following thiolysis with formic acid and benzyl mercaptan, reaction products were separated and purified. Three proanthocyanidin monomers and three derivatives were obtained and their structures were identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, FTIR spectroscopy, and NMR spectroscopy. A decomposition model of the thiolysis products and a correction formula for proanthocyanidins concentration were established. This thiolysis-high-performance liquid chromatography method displayed good calibration linearity (R2  > 0.999 over the concentration range 0.01 to 10 mg/mL), excellent accuracy (recoveries of 97.9-99.6%), and precision (repeatability relative standard deviations of 0.45-0.75%). This method is suitable for the quantitative analysis of proanthocyanidins in grape seed products.

Role of tissue transglutaminase and effect of cantharidinate in human colorectal cancer.

The role of tissue transglutaminase (tTG) in cancer development remains an important field of study. The aim of the current study was to understand the involvement of tTG in cancer and the inhibitory effect of cantharidinate on the expression of tTG in human colorectal cancer (CRC) using immunohistochemical and PCR analysis. The results showed that the expression of tTG increased in human CRC and cantharidinate inhibited the expression of tTG. These results suggested that tTG is significant in human CRC and that tTG may be an important target for tumor chemoprevention and treatment. Cantharidinate may be considered as a novel co­therapy for controlling tTG expression in human CRC.