Associations Among Outdoor Time, Skin Tanning, and the Risk of Surgically Treated Cataract for Australians 45 to 65 Years of Age.

Purpose: To investigate the association between outdoor time and the risk of cataract surgery in a large Australian population. Methods: This was a population-based prospective cohort study with 137,133 participants 45 to 65 years of age and without prior history of cataract surgery from the 45 and Up Study. Outdoor hours per day on weekdays and weekends, as well as tanning with repeated sun exposure, were assessed by a self-administered baseline questionnaire. Cataract surgery events were confirmed by the Medicare Benefits Schedule from baseline until the end of follow-up in 2016. Results: During a mean follow-up of 9 years, 14,338 participants received cataract surgery with a corresponding incidence of 10.5%. Multiple Cox regression analysis showed that more outdoor hours on weekends (P trend < 0.001) and the ability to get tanned by repeated sun exposure (P trend = 0.041) were significantly associated with a lower risk of cataract surgery, whereas more outdoor hours on weekdays were nominally significantly associated (P trend = 0.055). Participants who spent 10+ hours outdoors on weekends had 9% decreased risk compared with those who spent ≤2 hours outdoors. In addition, compared to participants who got very tanned by repeated sun exposure, those less likely to get tanned had a 5% to 7% increased risk of cataract surgery. Conclusions: In this large Australian cohort 45 to 65 years of age, more outdoor time and ease of tanning with sun exposure were associated with a lower incidence of cataract surgery. Translational Relevance: With proper sun protection, more outdoor time may lead to a lower risk of severe cataracts requiring surgery.

Grape Seed Procyanidin B2 Protects Porcine Ovarian Granulosa Cells against Oxidative Stress-Induced Apoptosis by Upregulating let-7a Expression.

Oxidative stress is a causal factor and key promoter of all kinds of reproductive disorders related to granulosa cell (GC) apoptosis that acts by dysregulating the expression of related genes. Various studies have suggested that grape seed procyanidin B2 (GSPB2) may protect GCs from oxidative injury, though the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Therefore, whether the beneficial effects of GSPB2 are associated with microRNAs, which have been suggested to play a critical role in GC apoptosis by regulating the expression of protein-coding genes, was investigated in this study. The results showed that GSPB2 treatment protected GCs from a H2O2-induced apoptosis, as detected by an MTT assay and TUNEL staining, and increased let-7a expression in GCs. Furthermore, let-7a overexpression markedly increased cell viability and inhibited H2O2-induced GC apoptosis. Furthermore, the overexpression of let-7a reduced the upregulation of Fas expression in H2O2-treated GCs at the mRNA and protein levels. Dual-luciferase reporter assay results indicated that let-7a directly targets the Fas 3'-UTR. Furthermore, the overexpression of let-7a enhanced the protective effects of GSPB2 against GC apoptosis induced by H2O2. These results indicate that GSPB2 inhibits H2O2-induced apoptosis of GCs, possibly through the upregulation of let-7a.

Selection of antioxidants against ovarian oxidative stress in mouse model.

Oxidative stress (OS) plays an important role in the process of ovarian granulosa cell apoptosis and follicular atresia. The aim of this study was to select antioxidant against OS in ovary tissue. Firstly, we chose the six antioxidants and analyzed the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in the ovary tissue. The results showed that proanthocyanidins, gallic acid, curcumin, and carotene decrease the ROS level compared with control group. We further demonstrated that both proanthocyanidins and gallic acid increase the antioxidant enzymes activity. Moreover, change in the ROS level was not observed in proanthocyanidins and gallic acid group of brain, liver, spleen, and kidney tissues. Finally, we found that proanthocyanidins and gallic acid inhibit pro-apoptotic genes expression in granulosa cells. Taken together, proanthocyanidins and gallic acid may be the most acceptable and optimal antioxidants specifically against ovarian OS and also may be involved in the inhibition of granulosa cells apoptosis in mouse ovary.

Critical Role of FoxO1 in Granulosa Cell Apoptosis Caused by Oxidative Stress and Protective Effects of Grape Seed Procyanidin B2.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are closely related to the follicular granulosa cell apoptosis. Grape seed procyanidin B2 (GSPB2) has been reported to possess potent antioxidant activity. However, the GSPB2-mediated protective effects and the underlying molecular mechanisms in granulosa cell apoptosis process remain unknown. In this study, we showed for the first time that GSPB2 treatment decreased FoxO1 protein level, improved granulosa cell viability, upregulated LC3-II protein level, and reduced granulosa cell apoptosis rate. Under a condition of oxidative stress, GSPB2 reversed FoxO1 nuclear localization and increased its level in cytoplasm. In addition, FoxO1 knockdown inhibited the protective effects of GSPB2 induced. Our findings suggest that FoxO1 plays a pivotal role in regulating autophagy in granulosa cells, GSPB2 exerts a potent and beneficial role in reducing granulosa cell apoptosis and inducing autophagy process, and targeting FoxO1 could be significant in fighting against oxidative stress-reduced female reproductive system diseases.

[Progress of diabetes research in traditional Chinese medicine in recent years].

Progress of diabetes researches in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), mainly the work on herb extracts or ingredients at cellular or molecular levels in recent years, was reviewed. The Chinese herbs investigated mostly are qi-invigorating drugs and heat-clearing and detoxifying drugs. It shows that TCM therapy bears positive effect on diabetes mellitus.

[Pondering over some blunders on scientificity in diabetic researches by integrated Chinese and western medicine].

Scientificity was emphasized in researches on diabetes mellitus in integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine abroad. In clinical researches, random and double-blind method, placebo control and auto-cross-over experiment were employed, and the diet, activity, drug dosage and body weight were under strict control, although such kind of researches was rare. During the past few decades, there were also some good achievements in the researches on diabetes mellitus in integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine in China, but most of the researches were duplicated work at low level. There existed some problems, such as the selection of investigated objects, control of the facts besides of the drugs, randomized grouping, blind method, auto-cross-over control, integrated research of multi-center, selection of indexes, methods of index detection, selection of complex prescription, single drug or monome, animal model, etc. The scientificity of the researches in China should be further improved.