Self-Assessment of INTERHEART Risk Stratification among the Middle-Aged Community in Malaysia.

Research background and Objectives: Age is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), but CVD risk factors are preventable, and lack of awareness of its risk factors is a contributing factor to CVDs. Middle-aged people may be more likely to engage in unhealthy lifestyle behaviours which can increase the risk of CVD. Health self-assessment is crucial for early detection and management of health issues and early lifestyle intervention for better personalised health management. This study aims to determine the self-assessment of INTERHEART risk classification among the middle-aged community in Malaysia. Method: Local community members aged 40-60 years and who are currently residing in Malaysia were recruited via non-randomised sampling. Sociodemographic characteristics and dietary pattern related to salt, fibre, fat (deep fried/snacks), poultry/meat intakes, and other cardiovascular risk factors (waist-hip ratio, medical history related to diabetes/hypertension, history/exposure of tobacco use, psychosocial status, and level of physical activity) were assessed; INTERHEART risk scores were then computed and stratified into low, medium and high risks. Results: Approximately 45% (n = 273/602) of middle-aged respondents in Malaysia are at moderate-to-high risk of cardiovascular events, with men being more likely to develop CVD compared to women. The results of the survey indicated that poultry/meat intake (61%), physical inactivity (59%), and second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure (54%) are the most prevalent risk factors among the respondents. One-third of the respondents consumed excessive salty food and deep fried foods/snacks/fast food, and only one-third of them consumed vegetables/fruits at a recommended level. It is worrying that about a quarter of the respondents felt several periodical/permanent stresses and even felt sad/blue/depressed for two weeks or more in a row. Males, labour workers, and those with lower educational levels are more likely to develop CVD events. Conclusions: This study found that 45% of the middle-aged respondents were having moderate-to-high risk for cardiovascular events with multiple risk factors related to unhealthy lifestyle habits and environmental factors. In addition to non-modifiable factors such as gender and age, sociodemographic factors, i.e., educational level and occupation, are equally important factors to determine CVD risk. Overall, the findings of this study emphasize the clinical relevance of assessing multiple factors in the determination of CVD risks for early prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases.

Purple sweet potato delphinidin-3-rutin represses glioma proliferation by inducing miR-20b-5p/Atg7-dependent cytostatic autophagy.

Glioma is the most common primary malignant intracranial tumor. Owing to highly aggressive invasiveness and metastatic properties, the prognosis of this disease remains poor even with surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Rutin is a glycoside natural flavonoid that modulates microglia inflammatory profile and improves anti-glioma activity. Here, a glycoside flavonoid was extracted and named purple sweet potato delphinidin-3-rutin (PSPD3R). In an experiment using the subcutaneous xenograft model of human glioblastoma (GBM) and alamar blue assay, we found that PSPD3R suppressed the glioma proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. Flow cytometry assay and transmission electron microscopy observation revealed that PSPD3R stimulated glioma cell autophagy and apoptosis. High-throughput microRNA (miRNA) sequencing showed that PSPD3R substantially affected the miRNA expression of U251 cells. Acridine orange staining and immunoblotting indicated that PSPD3R regulated autophagy via Akt/Creb/miR-20b-5p in glioma cells. Luciferase reporter assays showed that autophagy-related gene 7 (Atg7) mRNA was the target gene of miR-20b-5p. The downregulation of miR-20b-5p inhibited glioma proliferation in vivo. In summary, PSPD3R regulated autophagy in glioma via the Akt/Creb/miR-20b-5p/Atg7 axis. This work unraveled the molecular mechanism of PSPD3R-induced autophagy in glioma and revealed its potential as a therapeutic agent for glioma treatment.

PEGylated PAMAM dendrimers loading oxaliplatin with prolonged release and high payload without burst effect.

Oxaliplatin (OXA) was coupled to PEGylated polyamidoamine dendrimers of fourth generation (G4-PEG@OXA) in the comparison to PEGylated ones of odd generation (G3.5-PEG@OXA). Proton nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy were used to confirm the successful incorporation of OXA as well as the synthesis of carrier systems. Both two types of carrier systems exhibited in sphere nanoparticle shape with size of less than 100 nm that was in the range being able to cause toxicity on cancer cells. The average drug loading efficiency (DLE) of G4-PEG@OXA was obtained at 84.63% that was higher than DLE of G3.5-PEG of 75.69%. The release kinetic of G4-PEG@OXA and G3.5-PEG@OXA did not show any burst release phenomenon while free OXA was released over 40% at the first hour. The sustainable release of OXA was achieved when it was encapsulated in these carriers, but the G4 generation liberated OXA (3.4%-6.4%) slower than G3.5 one (11.9%-22.8%). The in vitro cytotoxicities of G4-PEG@OXA were evaluated in HeLa cell lines using resazurin assay and live/dead staining test. Although the free OXA showed a rather moderate killing ability, the G4-PEG@OXA still displayed the low viability of HeLa that was better to the result of G3.5-PEG@OXA due to released OXA amount. The benefit of this system was to overcome the burst release phenomenon to minimize OXA toxicity without compromising its efficiency.

Soil radon gas in some soil types in the rainy season in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Field experiments on soil radon and radium concentrations were carried out in eighteen locations in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Soil radon depth profiles (10-100 cm) of loam, sand and clay soil samples in the rainy season were measured using RAD7 radon detector. Mean concentrations of 222Rn and 226Ra were found to be 28.6 ±â€¯2.0 Bq.kg-1 and (1.56 ±â€¯0.06) × 104 Bq.m-3 in clay soil while they are 31.2 ±â€¯2.5 Bq.kg-1 and (1.15 ±â€¯0.05) × 104 Bq.m-3 in loam soil. They are 30.7 ±â€¯2.0 Bq.kg-1 and (9.37 ±â€¯0.52) × 103 Bq.m-3 in sandy soil, respectively. Values of radon diffusion length and diffusion coefficient for different soils were obtained using semi-empirical fit method linked to the poor diffusion of gas in clay soil (0.2 × 10-6 m2 s-1), the moderate diffusion coefficient (0.9 × 10-6 m2 s-1) in loam and good diffusion of radon gas in sandy soil (1.4 × 10-6 m2 s-1). An unexpectedly unclear linear relation was found between soil radon concentration and radium content. The grain size smaller than 0.1 mm was dominant reason for the lowest (0.15 ±â€¯0.01) and highest (0.40 ±â€¯0.03) values emanation coefficient for sand and clay soil, respectively. A strong positive correlation was found between radon concentration and soil pH level leads to soil pH is an indirect dynamic parameter affecting the migration of radon in soil.

Let-7b-mediated suppression of basigin expression and metastasis in mouse melanoma cells.

Basigin (Bsg), also called extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN), is highly expressed on the surface of tumor cells and stimulates adjacent fibroblasts or tumor cells to produce matrix metalloproteinases (mmps). It has been shown that Bsg plays an important role in growth, development, cell differentiation, and tumor progression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of short endogenous non-protein coding RNAs of 20-25 nucleotides (nt) that function as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression by base-pairing to their target mRNAs and thereby mediate cleavage of target mRNAs or translational repression. In this study, let-7b, one of the let-7 family members, was investigated for its effect on the growth and invasiveness of the mouse melanoma cell line B16-F10. We have shown that let-7b can suppress the expression of Bsg in B16-F10 cells and also provided evidence that this suppression could result in the indirect suppression of mmp-9. The ability of B16-F10 cells transfected with let-7b to invade or migrate was significantly reduced. In addition, let-7b transfected B16-F10 cells displayed an inhibition of both cellular proliferation and colony formation. Furthermore, it was shown that the overexpression of let-7b in B16-F10 cells could reduce lung metastasis. Taken together, the present study identifies let-7b as a tumor suppressor that represses cancer cell proliferation and migration as well as tumor metastasis in mouse melanoma cells.