The impact of social participation on Subjective Wellbeing in the older adult: the mediating role of anxiety and the moderating role of education.

Introduction: The study aims to examine the mediating role of anxiety in the relationship between social participation and Subjective Wellbeing among Chinese older adults. Additionally, it investigates the moderating ed of education in this relationship. Methods: The data came from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) published by peking University, with a sample size of 10,626 individuals aged 60 years and above. SPSS 21.0 was used for the statistical analysis of the data, and Mplus 8.0 was used for the statistical processing of the mediating and moderating effects analysis. Results: (1) The social participation significantly and positively predicated Subjective Wellbeing; (2) Anxiety partially mediated the eect between social participation and Subjective Wellbeing. The mediating eect value was 0.103; (3) Education plays a moderating role in the impact of social participation on subjective Wellbeing. Discussion: In summary, social participation can reduce the anxiety and enhance their Subjective Wellbeing. Meanwhile, the eet of social participation on Subjective Wellbeing was the greatest for the older adult with high education. The findings suggest that community-led activities can be initiated to improve social participation in the older adult. Furthermore, educational courses could be to support the healthy aging of older adults in China.

Impact of paternal education on epigenetic ageing in adolescence and mid-adulthood: a multi-cohort study in the USA and Mexico.

BACKGROUND: Both parental and neighbourhood socio-economic status (SES) are linked to poorer health independently of personal SES measures, but the biological mechanisms are unclear. Our objective was to examine these influences via epigenetic age acceleration (EAA)-the discrepancy between chronological and epigenetic ages. METHODS: We examined three USA-based [Coronary Artery Risk Disease in Adults (CARDIA) study, Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) and Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment and Social Stressors (PROGRESS)] and one Mexico-based (Project Viva) cohort. DNA methylation was measured using Illumina arrays, personal/parental SES by questionnaire and neighbourhood disadvantage from geocoded address. In CARDIA, we examined the most strongly associated personal, parental and neighbourhood SES measures with EAA (Hannum's method) at study years 15 and 20 separately and combined using a generalized estimating equation (GEE) and compared with other EAA measures (Horvath's EAA, PhenoAge and GrimAge calculators, and DunedinPoAm). RESULTS: EAA was associated with paternal education in CARDIA [GEEs: ßsome college = -1.01 years (-1.91, -0.11) and ß

Low skeletal muscle mass predicts poor clinical outcomes in patients with abdominal trauma.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate whether low skeletal muscle mass is associated with clinical outcomes in patients with abdominal trauma. METHODS: Patients presenting to our institution with abdominal trauma from January 2010 to April 2020 were retrospectively included. Low skeletal muscle mass was defined, using computed tomography, as skeletal muscle index (SMI) at the third lumbar vertebra below the lowest sex-specific quartile within 1 wk of admission. Clinical outcomes such as complications, hospital stay, and hospital cost were recorded, and univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. RESULTS: Among 684 patients, 451 were eligible. Of these, 112 (24.8%) were classified as having low skeletal muscle mass, based on SMI diagnostic cutoff values (42.08 cm2/m2 for men and 37.35 cm2/m2 for women). Low skeletal muscle mass was significantly associated with longer hospital length of stay, longer intensive care length of stay, higher cost, higher frequency of mechanical ventilation, longer duration of vasopressor use, and higher incidence of massive transfusion and overall complications (P < 0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that pneumonia, acute gastrointestinal dysfunction, cholecystitis, digestive tract fistula, gastric fistula, and intestinal fistula were significantly associated with low skeletal muscle mass (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that low skeletal muscle mass was an independent risk factor for overall complications (odds ratio [OR], 2.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-4.49; P = 0.004), hospital length of stay (OR, 3.49; 95% CI, 1.96-6.20; P < 0.001), and hospital cost (OR, 2.67; 95% CI, 1.48-4.80; P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Low skeletal muscle mass could be an independent predictor of poor clinical outcomes in patients with abdominal trauma.

Wheat straw vinegar: A more cost-effective solution than chemical fungicides for sustainable wheat plant protection.

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum, is a destructive and widespread wheat disease. Chemical fungicides are becoming less effective at reducing the disease severity of FHB, and there is a need to find a more effective, low-cost natural product. A by-product of the pyrolysis of wheat straw is a condensate known as wheat straw vinegar, which was hypothesized to be an effective F. graminearum inhibitor in wheat. The organic and mineral compositions of wheat straw vinegar were analyzed. The results of GC-MS indicated that the major organic compounds in wheat straw vinegar are phenolics and acetic acid. The main inorganic elements in the liquid were K, Ca, S and Mg. A bio-test of wheat straw vinegar showed strong antifungal activity on F. graminearum growth and production of deoxynivalenol (DON) with an EC50 (concentration for 50% of maximal effect) value of 3.1 µl ml-1. Field tests showed that the application of wheat straw vinegar diluted 200-fold significantly decreased the wheat FHB infection rate and DON content by 66% and 69%, respectively. The control efficacy of wheat straw vinegar at a dilution of 200-fold was similar to that of typical chemical fungicide applications. The use of wheat straw vinegar may increase farmers' income by reducing the net fungicide costs. Therefore, wheat straw vinegar has high potential as a natural fungicide for the control of FHB and can reduce the dependence on synthetic fungicides.

Resistance risk assessment for fludioxonil in Sclerotinia homoeocarpa in China.

Sclerotinia homoeocarpa causes dollar spot disease on turfgrass and is a serious problem on many species worldwide. Fludioxonil, a phenylpyrrole fungicide, is not currently registered for dollar spot control in China. In this study, the baseline sensitivity to fludioxonil was established using an in vitro assay for 105 isolates of S. homoeocarpa collected from 10 locations in different regions of China. Results indicate that the frequency distribution of effective concentration for 50% inhibition of mycelial growth (EC50) values of the S. homoeocarpa isolates was unimodal (W = 0.9847, P = .2730). The mean EC50 value was 0.0020 ±â€¯0.0006 µg/ml with a range from 0.0003 to 0.0035 µg/ml. A total of 7 fludioxonil-resistant mutants were obtained in laboratory, the mutants were stable in fludioxonil sensitivity after the 10th transfer, with resistance factor (RF) ranging from 4.320 to >13,901.4. The mutants showed a positive cross-resistance between fludioxonil and the dicarboximide fungicide iprodione, but not propiconazole, fluazinam, and thiophanate-methyl. When mycelial growth rate, pathogenicity and osmotic sensitivity were assessed, the mutants decreased in the fitness compared with their parental isolates. Sequence alignment of the histidine kinase gene Shos1 revealed a 13-bp fragment deletion only in one mutant, no mutations were observed on Shos1 in the rest resistant mutants.

Constant light exposure aggravates POMC-mediated muscle wasting associated with hypothalamic alteration of circadian clock and SIRT1 in endotoxemia rats.

Constant light exposure is widespread in the intensive care unit (ICU) and could increase the rate of brain dysfunction as delirium and sleep disorders in critical patients. And the activation of hypothalamic neuropeptides is proved to play a crucial role in regulating hypercatabolism, especially skeletal muscle wasting in critical patients, which could lead to serious complications and poor prognosis. Here we investigated the hypothesis that constant light exposure could aggravate skeletal muscle wasting in endotoxemia rats and whether it was associated with alterations of circadian clock and hypothalamic proopiomelanocortin(POMC) expression. Fifty-four adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were intraperitoneally injected with lipopolysaccharide(LPS) or saline, subjected to constant light or a 12:12 h light-dark cycle for 7 days. On day 8, rats were sacrificed across six time points in 24 h and hypothalamus tissues and skeletal muscle were obtained. Rates of muscle wasting were measured by 3-methylhistidine(3-MH) and tyrosine release as well as expression of two muscle atrophic genes, muscle ring finger 1(MuRF-1) and muscle atrophy F-box(MAFbx). The expression of circadian clock genes, silent information regulator 1(SIRT1), POMC and hypothalamic inflammatory cytokines were also detected. Results showed that LPS administration significantly increased hypothalamic POMC expression, inflammatory cytokine levels and muscle wasting rates. Meanwhile constant light exposure disrupted the circadian rhythm, declined the expression of SIRT1 as well as aggravated hypothalamic POMC overexpression and skeletal muscle wasting in rats with endotoxemia. Taken together, the results demonstrated that constant light exposure could aggravate POMC-mediated skeletal muscle wasting in endotoxemia rats, which is associated with alteration of circadian clocks and SIRT1 in the hypothalamus.

Estimating and testing high-dimensional mediation effects in epigenetic studies.

MOTIVATION: High-dimensional DNA methylation markers may mediate pathways linking environmental exposures with health outcomes. However, there is a lack of analytical methods to identify significant mediators for high-dimensional mediation analysis. RESULTS: Based on sure independent screening and minimax concave penalty techniques, we use a joint significance test for mediation effect. We demonstrate its practical performance using Monte Carlo simulation studies and apply this method to investigate the extent to which DNA methylation markers mediate the causal pathway from smoking to reduced lung function in the Normative Aging Study. We identify 2 CpGs with significant mediation effects. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: R package, source code, and simulation study are available at https://github.com/YinanZheng/HIMA CONTACT: lei.liu@northwestern.edu.

Insulin ameliorating endotoxaemia-induced muscle wasting is associated with the alteration of hypothalamic neuropeptides and inflammation in rats.

OBJECTIVES: Septic patients always develop muscle wasting, which delays the rehabilitation and contributes to the increased complications and mortality. Previous studies have implied the crucial role of central inflammation and neuropeptides in the energy balance and muscle metabolism. Insulin has been confirmed to attenuate muscle degradation and inhibit inflammation. We tested the hypothesis whether insulin ameliorating muscle wasting was associated with modulating hypothalamic inflammation and neuropeptides. DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: Thirty-two adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were in intraperitoneally injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (5 mg/kg) or saline, followed by subcutaneous injection of insulin (5 IU/kg) or saline. Twenty-four hours after injection, skeletal muscle and hypothalamus tissues were harvested. Muscle wasting was measured by the mRNA expression of two E3 ubiquitin ligases, muscle ring finger 1 (MuRF-1) and muscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx), as well as 3-methylhistidine (3-MH) and tyrosine release. Hypothalamic inflammatory markers and neuropeptides expression were also measured in four groups. RESULTS: LPS injection led to significant increase in hypothalamic inflammation as well as muscle wasting. Also, increased hypothalamic neuropeptides, proopiomelanocortin (POMC), cocaine and amphetamine-related transcript (CART) and neuropeptides Y (NPY) and decreased agouti-related protein (AgRP) were observed. Insulin treatment ameliorated endotoxaemia-induced muscle wasting and hypothalamic inflammation, and attenuated the alteration of neuropeptides, POMC, CART and AgRP. CONCLUSION: Hypothalamic inflammation and neuropeptides are involved in the endotoxaemia-induced muscle wasting. Insulin treatment can reduce muscle wasting, which is associated with reduced hypothalamic inflammation and alteration of hypothalamic neuropeptides.

Monodisperse hollow silica nanospheres for nano insulation materials: synthesis, characterization, and life cycle assessment.

The application of manufactured nanomaterials provides not only advantages resulting from their unique properties but also disadvantages derived from the high energy use and CO(2) burden related to their manufacture, operation, and disposal. It is therefore important to understand the trade-offs of process economics of nanomaterial production and their associated environmental footprints in order to strengthen the existing advantages while counteracting disadvantages. This work reports the synthesis, characterization, and life cycle assessment (LCA) of a new type of superinsulating materials, nano insulation materials (NIMs), which are made of hollow silica nanospheres (HSNSs) and have great flexibility in modifying their properties by tuning the corresponding structural parameters. The as-prepared HSNSs in this work have a typical inner pore diameter of about 150 nm and a shell thickness of about 10-15 nm and exhibit a reduced thermal conductivity of about 0.02 W/(m K) because of their size-dependent thermal conduction at the nanometer scale. The energy and raw material consumption related to the synthesis of HSNSs have been analyzed by the LCA method. The results indicate that the recycle of chemicals, up-scaling production, and use of environmentally friendly materials can greatly affect the process of environmental footprints. New synthesis routes for NIMs with improved thermal performance and energy and environmental features are also recommended on the basis of the LCA study.

[Assessment of velopharyngeal status of postoperative cleft palate patients in silent mode by visual analog scale].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the velopharyngeal status of cleft palate patients after operation in silent mode by visual analog scale. METHODS: A total of 82 patients with cleft lip and palate after operation were examined by nasopharyngeal fiber endoscopy with 11 voice samples. The velopharyngeal status was evaluated by three experienced experts using qualitative method and visual analog scale (VAS) method in silent mode. The Spearman correlation relationship was analyzed between VAS value and qualitative grade. The VAS value range of 10 non-nasal consonant voice samples was divided according to qualitative classification. RESULTS: VAS values could accurately reflect the outcome of the qualitative classification. The poorer the velopharyngeal status was, the lower the VAS value, and vice versa. The whole effectiveness of value range was greater than 70%. CONCLUSIONS: VAS values can accurately reflect the outcome of the qualitative classification about velopharyngeal function, and VAS value grading velopharyngeal status is reliable. This study proposed VAS values range standards for different velopharyngeal qualitative classification.