Electroencephalographic slowdowns during sleep are associated with cognitive impairment in patients who have obstructive sleep apnea but no dementia.

OBJECTIVES: To research the relationship between quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) and impaired cognitive function patients who have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but no dementia. METHODS: Subjects who complained of snoring between March 2020 and April 2021 in the Sleep Medicine Center of Weihai Municipal Hospital were included. All subjects underwent overnight in-laboratory polysomnography (PSG) and were assessed using a neuropsychological scale. Standard fast fourier transform (FFT) was used to obtain the electroencephalogram (EEG) power spectral density curve, and to calculate the delta, theta, alpha, and beta relative power and the ratio between slow and fast frequencies. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the risk factors for cognitive impairment in patients who had OSA but no dementia. Correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship between qEEG and cognitive impairment. RESULTS: A total of 175 participants without dementia who met the inclusion criteria were included in this study. There were 137 patients with OSA, including 76 with mild cognitive impairment (OSA + MCI), 61 without mild cognitive impairment (OSA-MCI), and 38 participants without OSA (non-OSA). The relative theta power in the frontal lobe in stage 2 of non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM 2) in OSA + MCI was higher than that in OSA-MCI (P = 0.038) and non-OSA (P = 0.018). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the relative theta power in the frontal lobe in NREM 2 was negatively correlated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) Beijing version scores, and MoCA subdomains scores (visual executive function, naming, attention, language, abstraction, delayed recall and orientation) outside language. CONCLUSIONS: In patients who had OSA but no dementia, the EEG slower frequency power increased. The relative theta power in the frontal lobe in NREM 2 was associated with MCI of patients with OSA. These results suggest that the slowing of theta activity may be one of the neurophysiological changes in the early stage of cognitive impairment in patients with OSA.

Causal Involvement of Immune Cells in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: The immune cells play a substantial role in the development and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We aim to investigate the causal involvement of immune cells in COPD via a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Methods: Published genome-wide association studies (GWAS) statistics on immune cells were analyzed, with genetic variants identified as instrumental variables (IVs). Inverse-variance weighting (IVW), weighted median, and MR-Egger regression methods were employed, along with simple mode and weighted mode adopted in the two-sample MR analysis. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine the heterogeneity, horizontal pleiotropy, and stability of the causal relationship. Results: IVW results suggested that CCR2 on CD62L+ plasmacytoid dendritic cells (DC), CCR2 on plasmacytoid DC, CD11b on CD66b++ myeloid cells, CD19 on CD20- CD38- CD24+ memory B cell subset, CD25 on transitional B cells, and CD25++CD8br %CD8br T cells were risk factors for the development of COPD. Besides, CD127 on effector memory-like cytotoxic T lymphocytes lacking expression of co-stimulatory molecule 28 (CD28-EM CTLs) and HLA DR+ NK ACs expressing human leukocyte antigen DR molecules while being natural killer cells (%NK ACs) were protective factors for COPD. Conclusion: This study unveiled a causal relationship between immune cell phenotype and COPD. These findings offer new insights for the prevention and treatment of COPD using COPD-associated immune cells.

Effect of Vitamin D3 on Lung Damage Induced by Cigarette Smoke in Mice.

Cigarette smoking is known to induce serious lung diseases, but there is not an effective method to solve this problem. The present study investigated vitamin D3 on over-expression of CXCR3 and CXCL10 in mice induced by cigarette smoking. A pulmonary airway model was designed, and morphological assessment of emphysema, IL-4, IFN-γ and CXCL10 concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, expression of CXCR3 and CXCL10 were detected. Emphysema of the mice only exposed to cigarette smoke was significant, and concentration of IL-4, IFN-γ and CXCL10 was also increased. In addition, CXCR3 and CXCL10 were over-expressed. The degree of emphysema, concentration of IL-4, IFN-γ and CXCL10, and expression of CXCR3 and CXCL10 in mice administrated with low dose vitamin D3 were similar to the normally treated mice. Low dose of vitamin D3 can effectively protect the lung from the damage induced by cigarette smoke.

Effect of ball-milling on the physicochemical properties of maize starch.

The effect of ball-milling on physicochemical properties of maize starch was evaluated. Results found that the cold water solubility (CWS) of maize starch was positively correlated with the time of milling up to 3 h. There was no significant influence of using a ceramic pot versus a stainless steel pot on CWS. However, following 5 h of ball-milling CWS increased quite dramatically in the ceramic pot (72.6%) and in the stainless steel pot (70.7%), as compared to the untreated maize starches (2.9%). In addition, as CWS increased, the regions of amorphism enlarged at the expense of the crystalline regions, resulting in a change from the native starch state (oval with a smooth surface) to having more of a rough, abrasive surface. Finally, the transparency of the starch increased as CWS increased and that the syneresis of freeze-thawed ball-milled maize starch also increased with an increase in the number of freeze-thaw cycles.