Tianzhi granule improves cognition and BPSD of vascular dementia: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Tianzhi granule (TZ) is usually used for patients with vascular dementia (VaD) in China. The aim was to assess the effect of TZ by a randomized clinical trial (RCT). METHODS: A 24-week RCT was conducted in 16 centres. Participants were grouped into TZ, donepezil or placebo. The co-primary outcomes were the Vascular Dementia Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (VADAS-cog) and Clinician's Interview-based Impression of Change-plus caregiver information (CIBIC-plus). RESULTS: A total of 543 patients with mild to moderate VaD were enrolled, of whom 242 took TZ granules, 241 took donepezil, and 60 took placebo. The least-squares mean changes from baseline and 95% CI were 6.20 (5.31, 7.09) (TZ group), 6.53 (5.63, 7.42) (donepezil group) and 3.47 (1.76, 5.19) (placebo group), both TZ and donepezil showed small but significantly improvement compared with placebo group. The percent of improvement on the global impression which was measured by CIBIC-plus was 73.71% in TZ and 58.18% in placebo, there was significant different between TZ and placebo group (P = 0.004). No significant differences were observed between TZ and donepezil. No significant differences of adverse events were found. CONCLUSIONS: TZ and donepezil could bring symptomatic benefit for mild to moderate VaD. Trial registration The protocol had retrospectively registered at clinical trial.gov, Unique identifier: NCT02453932, date of registration: May 27, 2015; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02453932?term=NCT02453932&rank=1.

Analysis of the alcohol drinking behavior and influencing factors among emerging adults and young adults: a cross-sectional study in Wuhan, China.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between alcohol use in adolescents and young adults and outcomes has not been widely researched in China. The aim of the current study was to understand the current status of drinking behavior of Chinese youth transitioning into adulthood. METHODS: The cross-sectional study included 1634 participants between 18 and 34 years of age. The participants were randomly chosen from 13 administrative districts in Wuhan, and invited to complete a questionnaire. Univariate analysis was performed to describe the demographic distribution of alcohol consumption and the association with drinking status. Stepwise Logistic regression analysis was undertaken analyzing the factors influencing the drinking behaviors. The data were weighted to the population in Wuhan and analyzed using SAS version 9.3. RESULTS: For our sample of emerging and young Chinese adults the prevalence of drinking alcohol was 45.84%. The non-drinkers predominated, accounting for 54.16% and light drinkers accounted for 42.94%, while moderate and heavy drinkers were in the minority (2.90%). The earlier the age of first alcohol drinking or the age of first being intoxicated, the greater the likelihood of being a moderate or heavy drinker. People with high emerging adulthood were more likely to have moderate or heavy drinking behaviors. The logistic regression analysis indicated that heavy drinkers were more likely to not be married and to be classified as high emerging adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that the drinking pattern should be further evaluated over time to explore the ways in which social and cultural factors shape the drinking route of this age group. Effective drinking behavior prevention and interventions and appropriate guidance should be formulated to establish an appropriate attitude towards drinking alcohol and develop a drinking behavior which is conducive to physical and mental health between this particular demographic.

Objective secondhand smoke exposure in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients without active smoking: the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2012.

BACKGROUND: Secondhand smoke (SHS) may be related to worse outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the reported SHS prevalence in different studies varied from 27% to 65% and the effects of SHS are still questionable among these patients. The study aims were to estimate the objective SHS prevalence and explore the SHS impact on outcomes among COPD patients without active smoking. METHODS: A cross-sectional design combined with longitudinal death outcome. We selected COPD patients over 40 years old based on the spirometry from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2012), and used the tobacco-specific biomarkers [cotinine and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanonol] to determine exposure statuses (active smoking, SHS exposure, or no smoke exposure). Then we estimated the short-term (past 2-4 days) and medium-term (past 6-12 weeks) SHS prevalence among 334 patients without active smoking. Weighted multiple regressions were performed to assess the associations between medium-term SHS exposure and outcomes (symptoms, health status, medical institution visits, and death). RESULTS: Among the patients without active smoking, the objective prevalence rates of short-term and medium-term SHS were 66.65% [95% confidence interval (CI), 59.63-73.67%] and 34.91% (95% CI, 28.86%-40.96%), respectively. Medium-term SHS exposure showed a significant effect (odds ratio, 3.57; 95% CI, 1.22-10.40) on more chronic coughing after adjusting for the covariates and indicated a trend of unadjusted increasing death risk (log-rank test, P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Among COPD patients without active smoking, both short-term and medium-term SHS exposure are prevalent. Chronic cough may be the most susceptible patient-centred outcome related to medium-term SHS exposure. The crude longitudinal trend of elevated death risk associated with medium-term SHS exposure deserves further study.

Associations between blood cadmium levels and cognitive function in a cross-sectional study of US adults aged 60 years or older.

OBJECTIVES: The relationship between cadmium exposure and cognition has been well studied in children. However, the association between environmental cadmium exposure and cognitive function has not been researched extensively in older adults. Our goal was to evaluate the association between cognitive function and blood cadmium levels in US adults aged 60 years or older. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: The US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2068 adults aged 60 years or older who completed four cognitive assessment tests and blood cadmium detection in two waves of NHANES (2011-2014). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cognitive assessment was conducted by household interview or at a Mobile Examination Center (MEC) using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) Word List Learning Test, the CERAD Word List Recall Test, the Animal Fluency Test and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). We created a composite cognitive z-score to represent global cognitive function. RESULTS: The median blood cadmium concentration in the study participants was 0.35 µg/L, and the IQR was 0.24-0.56 µg/L. In linear regression analyses, adjusting for demographics, behaviour and medical history, blood cadmium as a continuous variable was inversely associated with the composite z-score (µg/L, ß=-0.11, 95% CI -0.20 to -0.03). Similarly, there was a significant association between quartiles of blood cadmium and composite z-score, with somewhat lower scores in the upper quartile of exposure (blood cadmium ≥0.63 µg/L) compared with those in the lower quartile of exposure (blood cadmium <0.25 µg/L) (µg/L, ß=-0.14, 95% CI -0.25 to -0.03), and there was a trend by quartiles of blood cadmium (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that increased blood cadmium is associated with worse cognitive function in adults aged 60 years or older in the USA.

Associations of sleep duration and prediabetes prevalence in a middle-aged and elderly Chinese population with regard to age and hypertension: The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study baseline survey.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to examine the age-specific associations between self-reported sleep duration and prevalent prediabetes in middle-aged and elderly Chinese with or without hypertension. METHODS: In all, 2985 Chinese adults aged ≥45 years from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) baseline survey were selected for analysis. Sleep duration was assessed by structured questionnaires and then categorized into three groups (≤6, 6-8, and >8 h). The prevalence of prediabetes was defined using fasting plasma glucose (100-125 mg/dL) and/or HbA1c (5.7%-6.4%) in conjunction with no previous diabetes diagnosis and no antidiabetic medication. Relationships between self-reported sleep duration and prevalent prediabetes were examined according to age (45-60 years, middle-aged; ≥60 years, elderly) and hypertension groups using Poisson regression models to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: Compared with the reference group of 6-8 h sleep/night, short sleep (≤6 h/night) was associated with an increased risk of prediabetes in the whole sample (PR 1.09, 95% CI 1.01-1.17) after adjusting for confounders. This association was more pronounced in elderly participants without hypertension (PR 1.27, 95% CI 1.07-1.51). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that participants with a short sleep period are at a moderately increased risk of prediabetes, particularly in elderly subjects without hypertension. Aging and hypertension may be important in the relationship between short sleep and impaired glucose metabolism.

Incidence of Cancer in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province during 2001-2015: A Retrospective Population-Based Study.

Cancer is a serious public health issue and the leading cause of death around the world. This article aimed to estimate the cancer incidence and the trend in standardized cancer incidence in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, South China during 2001-2015 by analyzing the cancer data of the population-based cancer registry in Shenzhen. Data were collected from the cancer registry in Shenzhen, which was conducted during 2001-2015. In this registry, the crude incidence rates, age-specific incidence rates, age-standardized incidence rates and cumulative incidence rates were calculated in every five years. Trends for standardized incidence rates of cancers were analyzed by using the joinpoint regression analysis. In total, 33,374.3 thousand person-years (17,593.9 thousand for males and 15,780.4 thousand for females) were monitored over this time period. The number of new cancer cases during 2001-2015 was 59,218 (30,144 and 29,074 for males and females, respectively). The crude incidence during 2001-2005 was 136.44 per 100,000 persons, while the age-standardized rates by Chinese standard population (ASR-China) and by world standard population (ASR-world) were 165.13 and 212.48 per 100,000 persons, respectively. The crude incidence during 2006-2010 was 179.01 per 100,000 persons, while the ASR-China and ASR-world were 168.08 and 214.44 per 100,000 persons, respectively. The crude incidence during 2011-2015 was 196.53 per 100,000 persons, while the ASR-China and ASR-world were 171.44 and 219.99 per 100,000 persons, respectively. During 2001 and 2015, the joinpoint regression analysis showed that the ASR-China of cancer had an overall increase of 0.96% per year and 0.84% per year for males and females respectively, although both of these values (males and females) were non-significant increases. The leading cancer types during 2011-2015 were lung, colorectal, thyroid gland, breast, liver, stomach, cervix, nasopharynx, leukemia and lymphoma. For males, the top five common cancers were lung, liver, colorectal, stomach and thyroid gland. For females, the top five common cancers were breast, thyroid gland, lung, colorectal and cervix. The results of this study showed a heavy cancer burden among the population of Shenzhen, China. Future researches of the etiology and prevention of cancers should be planned in order to reduce the incidence associated with cancers in the future.