Total Tau Protein Mediates the Association of Ischemic Cerebrovascular Disease with Cognitive Decline.

Background: Patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or ischemic stroke demonstrate an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction. Accumulating evidence indicates that ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICVD) may interact with the amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration (AT[N]) biomarkers to promote dementia. However, the precise pathological mechanisms remain to be fully characterized. Objective: To elucidate the interrelationships among ICVD, ATN biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and cognition. Methods: A total of 2524 participants were recruited from the CABLE study. ICVD referred to TIA/ischemic stroke. Cognitive performance was assessed by China Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (CM-MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment-b (MoCA-b). Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to evaluate the associations of ICVD with CSF ATN biomarkers and cognition. Causal mediation analyses were used to identify whether the association was mediated by ATN biomarkers. Results: ICVD was associated with higher total-tau (t-tau) (p = 2.828×10-2) and poorer cognition (CM-MMSE: p = 1.539×10-5, MoCA-b: p = 4.552×10-6). Additionally, no discernible correlation surfaced between ICVD and amyloid-ß (Aß) 42 (p = 6.910×10-1) or phosphorylated tau (p-tau) (p = 4.324×10-1). The influence of ICVD on cognitive function was partially mediated by CSF t-tau (CM-MMSE: proportion: 2.74%, MoCA-b: proportion: 2.51%). Subgroup analyses revealed the influences of t-tau were especially evident in male (CM-MMSE: proportion: 5.45%, MoCA-b: proportion: 5.38%) and mid-life group (CM-MMSE: proportion: 9.83%, MoCA-b: proportion: 5.31%). Conclusions: These results delineated t-tau as a potential mediator for the influence of ICVD on cognition. Targeting brain ischemia and alleviating neuronal injury induced by ischemia may be a promising approach for preventing cognitive decline.

ANU-ADRI scores, tau pathology, and cognition in non-demented adults: the CABLE study.

BACKGROUND: It has been reported that the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) could be predicted by the Australian National University Alzheimer Disease Risk Index (ANU-ADRI) scores. However, among non-demented Chinese adults, the correlations of ANU-ADRI scores with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) core biomarkers and cognition remain unclear. METHODS: Individuals from the Chinese Alzheimer's Biomarker and LifestyLE (CABLE) study were grouped into three groups (low/intermediate/high risk groups) based on their ANU-ADRI scores. The multiple linear regression models were conducted to investigate the correlations of ANU-ADRI scores with several biomarkers of AD pathology. Mediation model and structural equation model (SEM) were conducted to investigate the mediators of the correlation between ANU-ADRI scores and cognition. RESULTS: A total of 1078 non-demented elders were included in our study, with a mean age of 62.58 (standard deviation [SD] 10.06) years as well as a female proportion of 44.16% (n = 476). ANU-ADRI scores were found to be significantly related with MMSE (ß = -0.264, P < 0.001) and MoCA (ß = -0.393, P < 0.001), as well as CSF t-tau (ß = 0.236, P < 0.001), p-tau (ß = 0.183, P < 0.001), and t-tau/Aß42 (ß = 0.094, P = 0.005). Mediation analyses indicated that the relationships of ANU-ADRI scores with cognitive scores were mediated by CSF t-tau or p-tau (mediating proportions ranging from 4.45% to 10.50%). SEM did not reveal that ANU-ADRI scores affected cognition by tau-related pathology and level of CSF soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (sTREM2). CONCLUSION: ANU-ADRI scores were associated with cognition and tau pathology. We also revealed a potential pathological mechanism underlying the impact of ANU-ADRI scores on cognition.

Linking Microbial Functional Gene Abundance and Daqu Extracellular Enzyme Activity: Implications for Carbon Metabolism during Fermentation.

Daqu is the starter of Baijiu, it provides the microbes and enzymes necessary for fermentation. Studies have already established carbohydrate metabolism as the primary functional module in Daqu fermentation. The present study investigated the changes in microbial functions and the relationship between carbohydrate metabolism-related functional genes and extracellular enzyme activity during the Daqu fermentation. Amplicon sequencing identified 38 bacterial and 10 fungal phyla in Daqu samples, while shotgun metagenomic sequencing classified and annotated 40.66% of the individual features, of which 40.48% were prokaryotes. KEGG annotation showed that the pathways related to metabolites were less in the early fermentation stage, but higher in the middle and late stages. The functional genes related to pyruvate metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, and propanoate metabolism were relatively high in the early and late stages of fermentation, while that for start and cross metabolism was relatively low. The study also found that amino sugar and nucleoside sugar metabolism were dominant in the middle stage of fermentation. Finally, the correlation network analysis showed that amylase activity positively correlated with many carbon metabolism-related pathways, while liquefaction activity negatively correlated with these pathways. In conclusion, the present study provides a theoretical basis for improving and stabilizing the quality of Daqu.

Application of hyperspectral technology in detection of agricultural products and food: A Review.

Food is the foundation of human survival. With the development and progress of society, people increasingly focus on the problems of food quality and safety, which is closely related to human's health. Thus, the whole industrial chain from farmland to dining table need to be strictly controlled. Traditional detection methods are time-consuming, laborious, and destructive. In recent years, hyperspectral technology has been more and more applied to food safety and quality detection, because the technology can achieve rapid and nondestructive detection of food, and the requirement to experimental condition is low; operability is strong. In this paper, hyperspectral imaging technology was briefly introduced, and its application in agricultural products and food detection in recent years was systematically summarized, and the key points in the research process were deeply discussed. This work lays a solid foundation for the peers to the following in-depth research and application of this technology.

Systematic review on Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Asian populations.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a meta-analysis to investigate the value of EBV DNA in diagnosis of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) in Asian populations, and provide important evidence for screening. METHODS: Prospective or respective case-control or cohort studies regarding the detection role of EBV DNA for NPC were included in our study. We conducted a comprehensive literature search in PubMed, EMBASE, and the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM database between January 1980 and March 2012. RESULTS: A total of 18 studies with 1492 NPC cases and 2641 health controls were included. Almost of the included studies were conducted in China, and only one other conducted in Thailand. The overall results demonstrated that the pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood (+ LR) and negative likelihood (-LR) were 0.73 (0.71-0.75), 0.89 (0.88-0.90), 8.84 (5.65-13.84) and 0.19(0.11-0.32), respectively. The overall EBV DNA detection showed the largest area of 0.932 under the summary receiver operator curve (SROC). The accuracy of detection by plasma for NPC (0.86) was higher than in serum (0.81), with largest areas under the SROC of 0.97 and 0.91, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated the EBV DNA detection in plasma or serum has high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of NPC, especially in Chinese populations with a high risk of cancer.