Family Income Level, Income Structure, and Dietary Imbalance of Elderly Households in Rural China.

In rural areas, the aging of households is becoming increasingly severe, and the issue of dietary imbalance among the elderly is becoming increasingly prominent. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), the negative binomial regression method was used to investigate the impact of household income level on dietary imbalance among rural elderly people, and to explore the heterogeneity of household income structure and its role in the relationship between the two. Research has found that an increase in total household income significantly improves the dietary quality of rural elderly people, and the income structure variable enhances its negative pulling effect on dietary imbalance. For elderly people with moderate dietary imbalance, the effect of increased family income is most significant. In different income groups, the impact of total household income on dietary imbalance in the high-income group is greater than that in the low-income group, and there is also a significant difference in the role played by the proportion of net income from agricultural operations. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the non working income of the elderly, strengthen social responsibility for elderly care, and alleviate the problem of dietary imbalance among rural elderly people.

Activation of SGK1/ENaC Signaling Pathway Improves the Level of Decidualization in Unexplained Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion.

Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is one of the most common complications during pregnancy and seriously affects women's physical and mental health. About 50% of RSA cases are of unknown etiology. Our previous study found that the decidual tissue of patients with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA) had low expression levels of serum and glucocorticoid-induced protein kinase (SGK) 1. Endometrial decidualization is a key link in the early stage of pregnancy and is crucial to the development and maintenance of pregnancy. Decidualization is the proliferation and differentiation of endometrial stromal cells into deciduals, which involves a complex physiological process such as ovarian steroid hormones (estrogen, progesterone, prolactin, etc.), growth factors, and intercellular signaling. The binding of estrogen and its receptor stimulates the synthesis of endometrial deciduating markers prolactin (PRL) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 (IGFBP-1), which mediates the occurrence of decidualization. Among them, SGK1/ENaC is a signaling pathway closely related to decidualization. The purpose of this study was to further investigate the expression of SGK1 and decidualization-related molecules in the decidual tissue of URSA patients and to explore the potential mechanism of SGK1's protective effect in URSA patients and in mouse models. Decidual tissue samples from 30 URSA patients and 30 women who actively terminated pregnancy were collected, and a URSA mouse model was established and treated with dydrogesterone. Expression levels of SGK1 and its signaling pathway-related proteins (p-Nedd4-2, 14-3-3 protein and ENaC-a), estrogen and progesterone receptors (ERß, PR), and decidualization markers (PRLR, IGFBP-1) were assessed. Our study found that SGK1, p-Nedd4-2, 14-3-3 proteins, and ENaC-a expression levels were reduced in the decidual tissue, the SGK1/ENaC signaling pathway was inhibited, and the expression levels of the decidualization markers PRLR and IGFBP-1 were downregulated in the URSA group compared with the controls. Additionally, the concentrations of E2, P, and PRL in the serum of mice were decreased in the URSA group compared with the controls. However, SGK1/ENaC pathway-related proteins, estrogen and progesterone and their receptors, and decidualization-related molecules were upregulated by dydrogesterone. These data suggest that estrogen and progesterone can induce decidualization by activating the SGK1/ENaC signaling pathway; disruption of this pathway can lead to the development of URSA. Dydrogesterone can increase the expression level of SGK1 protein in decidual tissue.

Shoutai Wan regulates glycolysis imbalance at the maternal-fetal interface in threatened abortion mice.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Threatened abortion is a common disease among women of childbearing age. Its high incidence rate and unclear etiology, seriously threaten women's physical and mental health. Shoutai Wan (STW) is a traditional Chinese medicine decoction for treating abortion. It has a long history of treating threatened abortion by tonifying the kidney and calming the fetus. However, the mechanism of STW remains unclear. AIM OF STUDY: To study the mechanism and potential benefit of STW in pregnant mice with hydrocortisone and mifepristone-induced threatened abortion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The STW compounds were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. STW-H, STW-M, or STW-L was separately given 3 mg/ml, 1.5 mg/ml and 0.75 mg/ml STW in the morning, and 2 mg/ml hydrocortisone in the afternoon from gestation day (D) 1-9 and once with 0.4 mg/kg mifepristone on D10. Didroxyprogesterone (0.1 mg/ml) and equal dose pure water were used to replace STW in didroxyprogesterone (DYD) group and model group respectively. The control group used pure water to replace STW, hydrocortisone, and mifepristone. We performed morphological and histological analyses of the maternal-fetal interface on day 10. RESULTS: The embryo loss rate in the STW-H and DYD groups was lower than that in the model group. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining suggested that the morphology of maternal-fetal interface was improved in the STW-H and DYD groups. Immunohistochemical (IHC), Quantitative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reactionstaining (qRT-PCR), and Western blot (WB) results indicated that HIF-1α expression in the maternal-fetal interface of the STW-H and DYD groups was higher than that in model group. The activities of HK, PKM, LDH and the concentration of lactic acid in the STW-H and DYD groups were higher than those in model group. Furthermore, the protein and mRNA levels of HK2, PKM2, LDHA, MCT4, and GPR81 were higher in the STW-H and DYD groups than those in the model group. CONCLUSIONS: STW can reduce the pregnancy loss rate by regulating the glycolysis balance at the maternal-fetal interface of kidney deficiency threatened abortion model mice.

How does capability reconfiguration impact the innovation performance of Chinese manufacturing firms?

This study explores the relationship between capability reconfiguration and firm innovation performance by analyzing a sample of 375 manufacturing firms in China. The results suggest that the relationship between capability reconfiguration and innovation performance is affected by both the catch-up stage and the mode of capability reconfiguration (evolution or substitution). The catch-up stage of enterprises significantly impacts the moderating effects of innovation magnitude on the relationship between capability substitution and firm innovation performance, however, it has no obvious effects on the moderation of innovation magnitude on the relationship between capability evolution and innovation performance. This study contributes to the theory of dynamic capability and catch-up by revealing how innovation magnitude affects capability reconfiguration and subsequent innovation performance in different catch-up stages. The implication of this study is to remind managers to take full account of the innovation magnitude and catch-up stage in their decision-making.