Association between dietary diversity changes and frailty among Chinese older adults: findings from a nationwide cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Dietary diversity has been suggested as a potential preventive measure against frailty in older adults, but the effect of changes in dietary diversity on frailty is unclear. This study was conducted to examine the association between the dietary diversity score (DDS) and frailty among older Chinese adults. METHODS: A total of 12,457 adults aged 65 years or older were enrolled from three consecutive and nonoverlapping cohorts from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (the 2002 cohort, the 2005 cohort, and the 2008 cohort). DDS was calculated based on nine predefined food groups, and DDS changes were assessed by comparing scores at baseline and the first follow-up survey. We used 39 self-reported health items to assess frailty. Cox proportional hazard models were performed to examine the association between DDS change patterns and frailty. RESULTS: Participants with low-to-low DDS had the highest frailty incidence (111.1/1000 person-years), while high-to-high DDS had the lowest (41.1/1000 person-years). Compared to the high-to-high group of overall DDS pattern, participants in other DDS change patterns had a higher risk of frailty (HRs ranged from 1.25 to 2.15). Similar associations were observed for plant-based and animal-based DDS. Compared to stable DDS changes, participants with an extreme decline in DDS had an increased risk of frailty, with HRs of 1.38 (1.24, 1.53), 1.31 (1.19, 1.44), and 1.29 (1.16, 1.43) for overall, plant-based, and animal-based DDS, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Maintaining a lower DDS or having a large reduction in DDS was associated with a higher risk of frailty among Chinese older adults. These findings highlight the importance of improving a diverse diet across old age for preventing frailty in later life.

Leisure-time activities and disability among Chinese community-dwelling oldest old: evidence from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study.

With the acceleration of population aging, disability in older adults is a growing public health problem; however, little is known about the role of specific leisure-time activities in affecting disability. This study prospectively examined the association of leisure-time activities with disability among the Chinese oldest old. A total of 14 039 adults aged 80 years or older (median age of 89.8 years) were enrolled from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey from 1998 to 2014. Disability was defined as the presence of concurrent impairment in activities of daily living and physical performance. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the associations between leisure-time activities and disability. During a mean of 4.2 years (2.7 years) of follow-up, 4487 participants developed disability. Compared with participants who never engaged in leisure-time activities, participants who engaged in almost daily activities, including gardening, keeping domestic animals or pets, playing cards or mahjong, reading books or newspapers, and watching TV or listening to the radio had a lower risk of disability, with HRs of 0.78 (0.69-0.88), 0.64 (0.58-0.70), 0.74 (0.63-0.86), 0.74 (0.65-0.84), and 0.84 (0.77-0.90), respectively. Moreover, the risk of disability gradually decreased with participation in an increasing number of those leisure-time activities (P for trend <0.001). Frequent engagement in leisure-time activities was associated with a lower risk of disability among the Chinese oldest old. This study highlights the importance of incorporating a broad range of leisure-time activities into the daily lives of older adults.

Research Progress on Detection of New Psychoactive Substance Piperazines in vivo.

Piperazines are a class of new psychoactive substances with hallucinogenic effects that affect the central nervous system by affecting the level of monoamine neurotransmitters. Abuse of piperazines will produce stimulating and hallucinogenic effects, accompanied by headache, dizziness, anxiety, insomnia, vomiting, chest pain, tachycardia, hypertension and other adverse reactions, and may even cause cardiovascular diseases and multiple organ failure and lead to death, seriously affecting human physical and mental health and public safety. The abuse of new psychoactive substance piperazines has attracted extensive attention from the international community. The study of its pharmacological toxicology and analytical methods has become a research hotspot in the field of forensic medicine. This paper reviews the in vivo processes, sample treatment and analytical methods of existing piperazines, in order to provide reference for forensic identification.

General Method to Synthesize Highly Stable Nanoclusters via Pickering-Stabilized Microemulsions.

The ability to not only control but also maintain the well-defined size of nanoclusters is key to a scientific understanding as well as their practical application. Here, we report a synthetic protocol to prepare and stabilize nanoclusters of different metals and even metal salts. The approach builds on a Pickering stabilization effect inside a microemulsion system. We prove that the emulsion interface plays a critical role in the formation of nanoclusters, which are encapsulated in situ into a silica matrix. The resulting nanocapsule is characterized by a central cavity and a porous shell composed of a matrix of both silica and nanoclusters. This structure endows the nanoclusters simultaneously with high thermal stability, good biocompatibility, and excellent photostability, making them well suited for fundamental studies and practical applications ranging from materials chemistry, catalysis, and optics to bioimaging.

A Pummerer Reaction-Enabled Modular Synthesis of Alkyl Quinoline-3-carboxylates and 3-Arylquinolines from Amino Acids.

Concise synthesis of functionalized quinolines has received continuous research attention owing to the biological importance and synthetic potential of bicyclic N-heterocycles. However, synthetic routes to the 2,4-unsubstituted alkyl quinoline-3-carboxylate scaffold, which is an important motif in drug design, remain surprisingly limited, with modular protocols that proceed from readily available materials being even more so. We herein report an acidic I2-DMSO system that converts readily available aspartates and anilines into alkyl quinoline-3-carboxylate. This method can be extended to a straightforward synthesis of 3-arylquinolines by simply replacing the aspartates with phenylalanines. Mechanistic studies revealed that DMSO was activated by HI via a Pummerer reaction to provide the C1 synthon, while the amino acid catabolized to the C2 synthon through I2-mediated Strecker degradation. A formal [3 + 2 + 1] annulation of these two concurrently generated synthons with aniline was responsible for the selective formation of the quinoline core. The synthetic utility of this protocol was illustrated by the efficient synthesis of human 5-HT4 receptor ligand. Moreover, an unprecedented chemoselective synthesis of 2-deuterated, 3-substituted quinoline, featuring this reaction, has been established.

An I2-DMSO catalytic manifold enabled aromatization for C-ring editing of podophyllotoxone.

The precise aromatization of the C-ring of podophyllotoxone to access value-added dehydropodophyllotoxin derivatives conventionally requires the use of equivalent amounts of unsustainable oxidants and suffers from inefficiencies. Taking advantage of the hydridic character of the C8 and C8' of podophyllotoxone, we have developed an I2-DMSO catalytic manifold that enables a green and selective dehydrogenative aromatization to overcome these synthetic challenges. An unprecedented dehydrogenative amination of podophyllotoxone derivatives was also realized using aniline as the reaction partner.

Aniline assisted dimerization of phenylalanines: convenient synthesis of 2-aroyl-3-arylquinoline in an I2-DMSO system.

We herein report an efficient synthesis of 2-aroyl-3-arylquinolines from phenylalanines and anilines. The mechanism involves I2-mediated Strecker degradation enabled catabolism and reconstruction of amino acids and a cascade aniline-assisted annulation. Both DMSO and water act as oxygen sources in this convenient protocol.

Alpha lipoamide inhibits diabetic kidney fibrosis via improving mitochondrial function and regulating RXRα expression and activation.

Previous studies have shown mitochondrial dysfunction in various acute kidney injuries and chronic kidney diseases. Lipoic acid exerts potent effects on oxidant stress and modulation of mitochondrial function in damaged organ. In this study we investigated whether alpha lipoamide (ALM), a derivative of lipoic acid, exerted a renal protective effect in a type 2 diabetes mellitus mouse model. 9-week-old db/db mice were treated with ALM (50 mg·kg-1·d-1, i.g) for 8 weeks. We showed that ALM administration did not affect blood glucose levels in db/db mice, but restored renal function and significantly improved fibrosis of kidneys. We demonstrated that ALM administration significantly ameliorated mitochondrial dysfunction and tubulointerstitial fibrotic lesions, along with increased expression of CDX2 and CFTR and decreased expression of ß-catenin and Snail in kidneys of db/db mice. Similar protective effects were observed in rat renal tubular epithelial cell line NRK-52E cultured in high-glucose medium following treatment with ALM (200 µM). The protective mechanisms of ALM in diabetic kidney disease (DKD) were further explored: Autodock Vina software predicted that ALM could activate RXRα protein by forming stable hydrogen bonds. PROMO Database predicted that RXRα could bind the promoter sequences of CDX2 gene. Knockdown of RXRα expression in NRK-52E cells under normal glucose condition suppressed CDX2 expression and promoted phenotypic changes in renal tubular epithelial cells. However, RXRα overexpression increased CDX2 expression which in turn inhibited high glucose-mediated renal tubular epithelial cell injury. Therefore, we reveal the protective effect of ALM on DKD and its possible potential targets: ALM ameliorates mitochondrial dysfunction and regulates the CDX2/CFTR/ß-catenin signaling axis through upregulation and activation of RXRα. Schematic figure illustrating that ALM alleviates diabetic kidney disease by improving mitochondrial function and upregulation and activation of RXRα, which in turn upregulated CDX2 to exert an inhibitory effect on ß-catenin activation and nuclear translocation. RTEC renal tubular epithelial cell. ROS Reactive oxygen species. RXRα Retinoid X receptor-α. Mfn1 Mitofusin 1. Drp1 dynamic-related protein 1. MDA malondialdehyde. 4-HNE 4-hydroxynonenal. T-SOD Total-superoxide dismutase. CDX2 Caudal-type homeobox transcription factor 2. CFTR Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator. EMT epithelial mesenchymal transition. α-SMA Alpha-smooth muscle actin. ECM extracellular matrix. DKD diabetic kidney disease. Schematic figure was drawn by Figdraw ( www.figdraw.com ).

A combined preoperative red cell distribution width and carcinoembryonic antigen score contribute to prognosis prediction in stage I lung adenocarcinoma.

AIMS: Hematological markers that can be used for prognosis prediction for stage I lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) are still lacking. Here, we examined the prognostic value of a combination of the red cell distribution width (RDW) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), namely, the RDW-CEA score (RCS), in stage I LUAD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study with 154 patients with stage I LUAD was conducted. Patients were divided into RCS 1 (decreased RDW and CEA), RCS 2 (decreased RDW and increased CEA, increased RDW and decreased CEA), and RCS 3 (increased RDW and CEA) subgroups based on the best optimal cutoff points of RDW and CEA for overall survival (OS). The differences in other clinicopathological parameters among RCS subgroups were calculated. Disease-free survival (DFS) and OS among these groups were determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis, and risk factors for outcome were calculated by a Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: Seventy, 65, and 19 patients were assigned to the RCS 1, 2, and 3 subgroups, respectively. Patients ≥ 60 years (P < 0.001), male sex (P = 0.004), T2 stage (P = 0.004), and IB stage (P = 0.006) were more significant in the RCS 2 or 3 subgroups. The RCS had a good area under the curve (AUC) for predicting DFS (AUC = 0.81, P < 0.001) and OS (AUC = 0.93, P < 0.001). The DFS (log-rank = 33.26, P < 0.001) and OS (log-rank = 42.05, P < 0.001) were significantly different among RCS subgroups, with RCS 3 patients displaying the worst survival compared to RCS 1 or 2 patients. RCS 3 was also an independent risk factor for both DFS and OS. CONCLUSIONS: RCS is a useful prognostic indicator in stage I LUAD patients, and RCS 3 patients have poorer survival. However, randomized controlled trials are needed to validate our findings in the future.

The use of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs during radical resection correlated with the outcome in non-small cell lung cancer.

AIMS: The use of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is conventional in management of postoperative pain in cancer patients, and further investigations have reported that some of these drugs correlated with the outcome in cancers. However, the prognostic value of the use of NSAIDs during surgery in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients has been less addressed. METHODS: NSCLC patients staged I-III are retrospectively enrolled, and the data of the use of NSAIDs during surgery are collected. Patients are divided into two subgroups according to the use intensity (UI) (low or high) of the NSAIDs, which was calculated by the accumulate dosage of all the NSAIDs divided by the length of hospitalization. The differences of the clinical features among these groups were checked. And the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) differences in these groups were compared by Kaplan-Meier analysis; risk factors for survival were validated by using a Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: The UI was significant in predicting the DFS (AUC = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.57-0.73, P = 0.001) and OS (AUC = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.59-0.81, P = 0.001). Clinical features including type of resection (P = 0.001), N stages (P < 0.001), and TNM stages (P = 0.004) were significantly different in UI low (< 74.55 mg/day) or high (≥ 74.55 mg/day) subgroups. Patients in UI-high subgroups displayed significant superior DFS (log rank = 11.46, P = 0.001) and OS (log rank = 7.63, P = 0.006) than the UI-low ones. At last, the UI was found to be an independent risk factor for DFS (HR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.28-0.95, P = 0.034). CONCLUSIONS: The use of NSAIDs during radical resection in NSCLC patients correlated with the outcome and patients with a relative high UI has better outcome.

Long-term air pollution exposure, habitual physical activity, and incident chronic kidney disease.

Both air pollution and physical inactivity contribute to the increased risk of incident chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, the detrimental effects of air pollution exposure could be augmented by an elevated intake of air pollutants during exercise. In the present study, we analyzed 367,978 participants who were CKD-free at baseline (2006-2010) based on the UK Biobank. Air pollutants included fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOX). Physical activity (PA) was obtained by the self-reported questionnaire. Using Cox proportional hazards models, hazard ratios (HRs) for incident CKD related to air pollution, PA, and incident CKD were evaluated. During a median of 12.4 years of follow-up, 14,191 incident CKD events were documented. High PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and NOX increased CKD risks by 11 %, 15 %, 14 %, and 12 %, respectively, while moderate and high PA reduced CKD risks by 18 % and 22 %, respectively. Participants with high PA and low air pollution exposure had 29 %, 31 %, 30 %, and 30 % risks of incident CKD than those with low PA and high air pollution exposure for the four air pollutants, with multivariable-adjusted HRs of 0.71 (95 % confidence intervals [CI]: 0.65-0.76) for PM2.5, 0.69 (95 % CI: 0.64-0.75) for PM10, 0.70 (95 % CI: 0.64-0.75) for NO2, and 0.70 (95 % CI: 0.64-0.75) for NOX. No clear interactions were observed between each air pollutant exposure and PA (all P for interaction > 0.05). The findings that reducing air pollution exposure and increasing PA were both independently correlated with a diminished risk of incident CKD suggest that PA could be targeted to prevent CKD generally regardless of air pollution levels. Further research is needed in areas polluted moderately and severely to examine our findings.

Combined preoperative prognostic nutritional index and D-dimer score predicts outcome in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and D-dimer (DD) levels represent useful prognostic indicators in colorectal cancer (CRC); however, a combination of these indicators, namely, the PNI and DD score (PDS) was less addressed. METHODS: A retrospective study with 183 patients after curative surgery was conducted. Patients were divided into 3 subgroups: PDS 0, decreased PNI and increased DD levels; PDS 1, decreased or increased PNI and DD levels; PDS 2, increased PNI and decreased DD levels. The differences in disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared among these subgroups, and risk factors for outcome were determined. RESULTS: A total of 56, 65 and 62 patients were assigned to the PDS 0, 1 and 2 subgroups, respectively. PDS was significant in predicting both the DFS (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.68, P < 0.001) and OS (AUC = 0.74, P < 0.001). PDS 0 patients were more likely to be associated with old age (P = 0.032), laparotomy (P < 0.001), elevated CEA (P = 0.001), T3 + T4 (P = 0.001) and advanced TNM stage (P = 0.031). PDS 0 patients had significantly inferior DFS (log rank = 18.35, P < 0.001) and OS (log rank = 28.34, P < 0.001) than PDS 1 or 2 patients. PDS was identified as an independent risk factor for both DFS (PDS 1: HR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.30-1.00, P = 0.049; PDS 2: HR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.20-0.79, P = 0.009) and OS (PDS 1: HR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.22-0.88, P = 0.020; PDS 2: HR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.06-0.45, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The PDS is a useful prognostic indicator for CRC patients after curative surgery, and PDS 0 patients have inferior survival. Additional future studies are needed to validate these findings.

The Prognosis-Predictive and Immunoregulatory Role of SUMOylation Related Genes: Potential Novel Targets in Prostate Cancer Treatment.

SUMOylation is an important part of post-translational protein modifications and regulates thousands of proteins in a dynamic manner. The dysregulation of SUMOylation is detected in many cancers. However, the comprehensive role of SUMOylation in prostate cancer (PCa) remains unclear. Using 174 SUMOylation-related genes (SRGs) from the MigDSB database and the transcript data of PCa from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), we constructed a SUMOylation-related risk score and correlated it with prognosis, tumor mutation burden (TMB), tumor microenvironment (TME) infiltration, and response to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Moreover, we validated two vital SRGs by RT-qPCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. Two vital SRGs (DNMT3B and NUP210) were finally selected. The risk score based on these genes exhibited excellent predictive efficacy in predicting the biochemical recurrence (BCR) of PCa. A nomogram involving the risk score and T stage was established to further explore the clinical value of the risk score. We found the high-score group was correlated with worse prognosis, higher TMB, a more suppressive immune microenvironment, and a better response to Docetaxel but worse to PD-1/CTLA-4 blockade. Meanwhile, we validated the significantly higher expression level of NUP210 in PCa at mRNA and protein levels. This study elucidated the comprehensive role of SUMOylation-related genes in PCa. Importantly, we highlighted the role of an important SRG, NUP210, in PCa, which might be a promising target in PCa treatment. A better understanding of SUMOylation and utilizing the SUMOylation risk score could aid in precision medicine and improve the prognosis of PCa.

Decisional conflict, anxiety, and social support among Chinese pregnant women making further prenatal testing decisions.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine decisional conflict and identify its predictors in Chinese pregnant women who were making decisions about further prenatal testing after receiving a screening result of high-risk for Down syndrome. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2020 to July 2021 in Guangzhou, China. Two-hundred and sixty pregnant women receiving a screening result of high-risk for Down syndrome completed a questionnaire comprising the Decisional Conflict Scale, Self-rating Anxiety Scale, and Social Support Rating Scale. RESULTS: The mean decisional conflict score was 28.8 ± 13.6, representing a moderate level. Advanced age (≥35 years), having a religious belief, not knowing about non-invasive or invasive prenatal testing, choosing NIPT for further prenatal testing, high levels of anxiety, and low levels of social support were significant predictors of decisional conflict, explaining 28.4% of its variance (F = 18.115, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results highlighted the necessity of assessing patients' decisional conflict and providing adequate interventions along the prenatal care trajectory. The results also showed that providing good support has an essential value for women by relieving their decisional conflict.

Irregular delay of adjuvant chemotherapy correlated with poor outcome in stage II-III colorectal cancer.

AIMS: Adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) plays an important role in improving the survival of stage II-III colorectal cancer (CRC) patients after curative surgery. However, the prognostic role of irregular delay of ACT (IDacT) for these patients has been less studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 117 stage II-III CRC patients who underwent radical resection and received at least 3 months ACT were enrolled retrospectively. The significance of IDacT, including total delay (TD) and delay per cycle (DpC), in predicting disease-free survival (DFS) was determined using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis. The survival differences between the TD, DpC-short and DpC-long subgroups were tested using Kaplan-Meier analysis, and risk factors for prognosis were determined using a Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: Using 35.50 and 3.27 days as the optimal cut-off points for TD and DpC, respectively, ROC analysis revealed that TD and DpC had sensitivities of 43.60% and 59.00% and specificities of 83.30% and 62.80%, respectively, in predicting DFS (both P < 0.05). No differences in the clinicopathological parameters were found between the TD, DpC-short or -long subgroups except histological differentiation in different TD subgroups and combined T stages in different DpC subgroups (both P = 0.04). Patients in the TD or DpC-long group exhibited significantly worse survival than in the -short group (TD: Log rank = 9.11, P < 0.01; DpC: Log rank = 6.09, P = 0.01). DpC was an independent risk factor for prognosis (HR = 2.54, 95% CI: 1.32-4.88, P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: IDacT had a profound effect on the outcome for stage II-III CRC. Although TD and DpC were significant for the prognosis, DpC was more robust, and patients who presented DpC for a long time had a significantly worse DFS.

Switching Over of the Chemoselectivity: I2-DMSO-Enabled α,α-Dichlorination of Functionalized Methyl Ketones.

Precise control of the chemoselectivity of the halogenation of a substrate equipped with multiple nucleophilic sites is highly demanding and challenging. Most reported chlorinations of methyl ketones show poor compatibility or even exclusive selectivity toward electron-rich arene, olefin, and alkyne residues. This is attributed to the direct or in situ employment of electrophilic Cl2/Cl+ species. Here, we reported that, even bearing those competitive residues, methyl ketones can still undergo dichlorination to afford α,α-dichloroketones in a chemo-specific manner. Enabled by the I2-dimethyl sulfoxide catalytic system, in which hydrochloric acid only acts as a nucleophilic Cl- donor, this straightforward dichlorination reaction is safe and operator-friendly and has high atomic economy, giving access to structurally diverse α,α-dichloroketones in good yields and with good functional-group tolerance.

Screening of radiation gastrointestinal injury biomarkers in rat plasma by high-coverage targeted lipidomics.

INTRODUCTION: In the event of radiological accidents and cancer radiotherapies in the clinic, the gastrointestinal (GI) system is vulnerable to ionizing radiation and shows GI injury. Accessible biomarkers may provide means to predict, evaluate, and treat GI tissue damage. The current study investigated radiation GI injury biomarkers in rat plasma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: High-coverage targeted lipidomics was employed to profile lipidome perturbations at 72 h after 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 Gy (60Co γ-rays at 1 Gy/min) total-body irradiation in male rat jejunum. The results were correlated with previous plasma screening outcomes. RESULTS: In total, 93 differential metabolites and 28 linear dose-responsive metabolites were screened in the jejunum. Moreover, 52 lipid species with significant differences both in jejunum and plasma were obtained. Three lipid species with linear dose-response relationship both in jejunum and plasma were put forth, which exhibited good to excellent sensitivity and specificity in triaging different exposure levels. DISCUSSION: The linear dose-effect relationship of lipid metabolites in the jejunum and the triage performance of radiation GI injury biomarkers in plasma were studied for the first time. CONCLUSION: The present study can provide insights into expanded biomarkers of IR-mediated GI injury and minimally invasive assays for evaluation.

Correlation and prognostic implications of intratumor and tumor draining lymph node Foxp3+ T regulatory cells in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic value of intratumor T regulatory cells (Tregs) in colorectal cancer (CRC) was previously reported, but the role of these cells in tumor draining lymph nodes (TDLNs) was less addressed. METHODS: A total of 150 CRC stages I-IV were retrospectively enrolled. Intratumor and TDLN Tregs were examined by immunohistochemical assay. The association of these cells was estimated by Pearson correlation. Survival analyses of subgroups were conducted by Kaplan-Meier curves, and the log-rank test and risk factors for survival were tested by the Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: High accumulation of Tregs in tumors was significant in patients with younger age and good histological grade, where enrichment of these cells in TDLNs was more apparent in those with node-negative disease and early TNM stage disease, both of which were more common in early T stage cases. A significant correlation of intratumoral and TDLN Tregs was detected. Patients with higher intratumoral Tregs displayed significantly better PFS and OS than those with lower Tregs. However, no such differences were found, but a similar prognostic prediction trend was found for these cells in TDLNs. Finally, intratumoral Tregs were an independent prognostic factor for both PFS (HR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-0.99, P < 0.01) and OS (HR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.95-1.00, P = 0.04) in the patients. CONCLUSIONS: Higher intratumor Tregs were associated with better survival in CRC. Although no such role was found for these cells in TDLNs, the positive correlation and similar prognostic prediction trend with their intratumoral counterparts may indicate a parallelized function of these cells in CRC.

Anxiety and social support needs of Chinese women receiving a high-risk screening result for Down syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and the associations between social support and anxiety symptoms among Chinese pregnant women receiving a high-risk screening result for Down syndrome. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Guangzhou, China, from September 2020 to July 2021 among 260 Chinese pregnant women receiving a high-risk screening result for Down syndrome. Measures included the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Social Support Rating Scale. RESULTS: The prevalence of anxiety symptoms (SAS ≥50) was 30.8%. Advanced age (≥35 years), education ≤ high school, pregnancy following in vitro fertilization, and low level of social support were predictors of anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that early routine screening for anxiety symptoms should be carried out among Chinese pregnant women receiving a high-risk screening result for Down syndrome. The importance of social support and the role it can play in decreasing anxiety should be discussed with patients.

Essential Oils from Spices Inhibit Cholinesterase Activity and Improve Behavioral Disorder in AlCl3 Induced Dementia.

The chemical compositions of essential oils (EOs) prepared from six spices including cinnamon, amomum tsao-ko, cardamom, amomum, black pepper and white pepper were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS), which led to identify almost 200 volatile compounds. All EOs of spices showed cholinesterase inhibitory activity. Among them, pepper EO showed most potent acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity with IC50 values of 8.54 µg/mL (black pepper EO) and 5.02 µg/mL (white pepper EO). Molecular docking and in vitro validation suggested that 3-carene, α-pinene and ß-pinene with IC50 value of 1.73, 2.66, and 14.75 µg/mL, respectively, might be active constituents of spices oil in inhibiting AChE. Furthermore, amomum tsao-ko EO and amomum EO can improve behavioral disorder in dementia zebrafish induced by aluminum trichloride (AlCl3 ).