Sex-specific longitudinal association between baseline physical activity level and cognitive decline in Chinese over 45 years old: Evidence from the China health and retirement longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether sex-specific associations between baseline PA level and follow up cognitive performance in Chinese subjects exist from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal study (CHARLS). METHOD: A total of 3395 adults aged 45 or old from the CHARLS were used for analysis. The combined scores of measurements of mental status and verbal episodic memory were utilized for assessing cognitive function at baseline in 2011 and the follow-up survey in 2015. Baseline PA level was quantified as the total PA score. Multiple linear regression and logistic regression models were used to examine the association between baseline PA status and global cognitive function and cognitive domains. RESULTS: In the female subjects (n = 1748), compared with individuals of PA level in the lower tertile, those grouped into the upper tertile had the lowest risk of global cognitive decline [odds ratio (OR) =0.273, 95% confidence interval (CI) =0.077-0.960; p = 0.043] and verbal episodic memory decline [OR)=0.257, 95% CI =0.066-1.003; p = 0.051] from 2011 to 2015. However, no significant associations were observed in the male subjects (n = 1647). CONCLUSION: In the female subjects, higher PA level was associated with reduced risk of cognitive decline within 4 years, this might be associated with reduced decline of verbal episodic memory. Our findings confirmed that female sex would positively affect the association between PA levels and cognitive decline.

The use of sel-ligating appliance can reduce inflammatory response to orthodontic force and keep periodontal health in orthodontic treatment.

OBJECTIVE: Orthodontics, as a common way of orthodontic treatment, is usually to maintain oral health and protect periodontal tissue. The self-ligating appliance technique, since its advent in the 1930s, have been rather popular ammong the majority of orthodontists. This study was to determine that self-ligating appliance can reduce inflammation in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of patients receiving orthodontic treatment and keep periodontal health. METHODS: The clinical data of 97 orthodontic patients admitted to the Department of Stomatology of Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fujian Provincial Clinical College of Fujian Medical University from March 2019 to March 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. Among them, 42 patients receiving orthodontic treatment with traditional MBT straight-wire appliance (SWA) were included in the control group (CG) and 55 patients treated with self-ligating appliance were collected as the observation group (OG). The two cohorts were compared with respect to the following aspects: curative effect, pain degree on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th day after wearing the appliance, oral related quality of life (QoL) before and after orthodontic treatment, satisfaction with the orthodontic treatment, periodontal condition, and GCF and inflammatory factor contents before, 3 months and 6 months after orthodontic treatment. RESULTS: OG had significantly higher therapeutic efficacy of orthodontic treatment than CG (P<0.05). At the initial stage of treatment, the pain degree in OG was obviously lower than that in CG (P<0.05). Compared with CG, the plaque index (PLI), sulcus bleeding index (SBI), gingival recession (GR), periodontal probing depth (PPD) and clinical attachment loss (CAL) were better in OG after orthodontic treatment, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The contents of GCF, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) in OG were lower than those in CG after orthodontic treatment, with significant differences between the two groups (P<0.05). Oral related QoL and orthodontic satisfaction were higher in OG, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with traditional SWA, the self-ligating appliance in orthodontic treatment contributes to higher efficacy and satisfaction, less local inflammatory reaction, and significantly improved periodontal condition and oral health of patients.

The effect of orthodontic treatment on temporomandibular joint morphology in adult skeletal class II deep overbite patients.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the morphological changes of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) in adult patients with skeletal class II deep overbite before and after orthodontic treatment, and to analyze the effect of the orthodontic treatment. METHODS: A total of 40 adult skeletal class II deep overbite patients were recruited as the study cohort. For each subject, the morphology and position of the TMJ were determined using cone beam computed tomography. RESULTS: Compared with before the treatment, the morphology of the condyle changed. The maximum cross-sectional area of the condyle in the axial plane and the condyle neck anteroposterior diameter in the coronal plane were reduced. The condylar apex height in the sagittal plane and the anterior condyle oblique inclination increased with statistically significant differences (all P<0.001). There were more patients who showed their condyles moving forward and their condyles in the middlee after the treatment compared with before the treatment, and with a statistically significant difference (P=0.002). The morphology of the glenoid fossa changed after the treatment. The articular eminence to the FH plane angle in the sagittal plane and the inclination of the posterior glenoid increased. The total height of the fossa increased with statistically significant differences (all P<0.001). CONCLUSION: TMJs can be adaptive to reconstruction. Orthodontic treatment shows a favorable efficacy in skeletal class ll deep overbite patients.

Association between urine pH and risk of contrast-associated acute kidney injury among patients after emergency percutaneous coronary intervention: a V-shape relationship?

AIM: We investigated whether perioperative urine pH was associated with contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) in patients undergoing emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: The study enrolled 1109 consecutive patients undergoing emergency PCI. Patients were divided into three groups based on perioperative urine pH (5.0-6.0, 6.5- 7.0, 7.5-8.5). The primary endpoint was the development of CA-AKI, defined as an absolute increase ≥ 0.3 mg/dL or a relative increase ≥ 50% from baseline serum creatinine within 48 h after contrast medium exposure. RESULTS: Overall, 181 patients (16.3%) developed contrast-associated acute kidney injury. The incidences of CA-AKI in patients with urine pH 5.0-6.0, 6.5-7.0, and 7.5-8.5 were 19.7%, 9.8%, and 23.3%, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, perioperative urine pH 5.0-6.0 and 7.5-8.5 remained independently associated with CA-AKI [odds ratio (OR)1.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.82, P = 0.003; OR 2.70, 95% CI 1.5-4.68, P < 0.001, respectively]. The association was consistent in subgroups of patients stratified by several CA-AKI risk predictors. However, the risk of CA-AKI associated with urine pH 7.5-8.5 was stronger in patients with worse renal function (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min/1.73m2) (HR 5.587, 95% CI 1.178-30.599 vs. HR 2.487, 95% CI 1.331-4.579; overall interaction P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The urine pH and CA-AKI may underlie the V-shape relationship.

The cross-sectional association between mean corpuscular volume level and cognitive function in Chinese over 45 years old: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.

Fewer studies have focused on the independent association between mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and cognitive performance. This study was designed to characterize the cross-sectional association between MCV and cognitive performance in a large sample of Chinese residents (age≥45 years) from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A total of 4023 male and 4173 female adults with MCV ≥ 80 fl were included for analysis. By multivariable linear regression analysis, for the total subjects, MCV level was significantly negatively associated with global cognitive function and episodic memory. When adjusted by sex, only in male subjects, higher MCV level was associated with reduced scores for global cognitive function, episodic memory and mental status. Via binary logistic regression analysis, the higher MCV level (MCV>100 fl) was associated with poor global cognitive function (OR = 1.601; 95% CI = 1.198-2.139; p = 0.001), episodic memory (OR = 1.679; 95% CI = 1.281-2.201; p<0.001), and mental status (OR = 1.422; 95% CI = 1.032-1.959; p = 0.031) for the whole participants. When testing this association by sex, the significant relationship between higher MCV level with worse episodic memory was observed both in male (OR = 1.690; 95% CI = 1.211-2.358; p = 0.002) and female (OR = 1.729; 95% CI = 1.079-2.770; p = 0.023) subjects; while the association between higher MCV level and poor global cognitive function (OR = 1.885; 95% CI = 1.329, 2.675; p<0.001) and mental status (OR = 1.544; 95% CI = 1.034, 2.306; p = 0.034) only existed in male subjects. Further studies are warranted to clarify the association between MCV level and cognitive performance by considering sex into consideration both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Association between red blood cell distribution width and long-term mortality among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with previous history of cancer.

Background: The number of patients suffering from coronary heart disease with cancer is rising. There is scarce evidence concerning the biomarkers related to prognosis among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with cancer. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and prognosis in this population.Methods: A total of 172 patients undergoing PCI with previous history of cancer were enrolled in this retrospective study. The endpoint was long-term all-cause mortality. According to tertiles of RDW, the patients were classified into three groups: Tertile 1 (RDW <12.8%), Tertile 2 (RDW ≥12.8% and <13.5%) and Tertile 3 (RDW ≥13.5%).Results: During an average follow-up period of 33.3 months, 29 deaths occurred. Compared with Tertile 3, mortality of Tertile 1 and Tertile 2 was significantly lower in the Kaplan-Meier analysis. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, RDW remained an independent risk factor of mortality (HR: 1.938, 95% CI: 1.295-2.655, p < 0.001). The all-cause mortality in Tertile 3 was significantly higher than that in Tertile 1 (HR: 5.766; 95% CI: 1.426-23.310, p = 0.014).Conclusions: An elevated RDW level (≥13.5%) was associated with long-term all-cause mortality among patients undergoing PCI with previous history of cancer.

Neuroprotective Effect of Ligustilide through Induction of α-Secretase Processing of Both APP and Klotho in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease.

Emerging evidence suggests that alpha-processing single transmembrane proteins, amyloid precursor protein (APP) and anti-aging protein Klotho, are likely to be involved in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The natural phthalide Ligustilide (LIG) has been demonstrated to protect against aging- and amyloid-ß (Aß)-induced brain dysfunction in animal models. The present study is to investigate the effects of LIG on cognitive deficits and metabolism of both APP and Klotho and its underlying mechanism in AD double-transgenic (APP/PS1) mice and cultured human cells. Our results show that treatment with LIG significantly ameliorated memory impairment and Aß levels and plaques burden. Specifically, LIG might act as a potent enhancer of α-secretase, disintegrin, and metalloprotease 10 (ADAM10), leading to upregulation of alpha-processing of both APP and Klotho and subsequent increases in the levels of both soluble APP fragment (sAPPα) and soluble Klotho (sKL) with inhibition of IGF-1/Akt/mTOR signaling in AD mice and cultured cells. Moreover, the specific ADAM10 inhibitor (G1254023X) effectively reversed LIG-induced alpha-processing of both APP and Klotho in vitro, while Klotho gene knockdown by small interfering RNA significantly blunted LIG-mediated inhibition of IGF-1/Akt/mTOR signaling in vitro. Taken together with the reported neuroprotective effects of both sAPPα and sKL as well as autophagy induction by Akt/mTOR pathway inhibition, our findings suggest that neuroprotection of LIG against AD is associated with induction alpha-processing of APP and Klotho and potential Aß clearance. Whether LIG might induce Aß autophagic clearance and the underlying mechanisms need to be further studied.

Z-ligustilide isolated from Radix Angelicae sinensis ameliorates the memory impairment induced by scopolamine in mice.

We investigated the effect of Z-ligustilide (LIG) on scopolamine-induced memory impairment in ICR mice. LIG (2.5-40 mg/kg) or tacrine (10 mg/kg) was orally administrated for 26 days. Behavior was examined in the Morris water maze and Y-maze after scopolamine administration (2 mg/kg, i.p.). The central acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activities were assessed spectrophotometrically. LIG significantly improved spatial long-term memory and short-term memory impairment, inhibited AChE activity and increased ChAT activity. Moreover, LIG and tacrine showed the comparable efficacy in both neurobehavioral and cholinergic evaluation. These data suggest that LIG may alleviate memory deficits probably via enhancing cholinergic function.