Association between Menopausal Women's Quality of Life and Aging Anxiety: The Role of Life Satisfaction and Depression.

Background and Objectives: This study investigated the links among quality of life, life satisfaction, depression, and aging anxiety in menopausal middle-aged women. The objective was to establish an understanding of how these factors are associated, which would be the foundation for developing programs aimed at enhancing the health and well-being of menopausal women. Materials and Methods: An online survey was administered to 993 middle-aged women, aged 45 to 65, residing in Seoul, Korea. The survey evaluated menopausal quality of life, life satisfaction, depression, and aging anxiety. Additionally, a Process Macro Model 4 was used to assess the links between life satisfaction, depression, menopausal quality of life, and aging anxiety. Results: Aging anxiety in middle-aged women was associated with a lower score on the menopausal quality of life scale (r = 0.37, p < 0.001), lower life satisfaction (r = -0.46, p < 0.001), and higher depression (r = 0.42, p < 0.001). In addition, there was an indirect effect-mediated by depression (95% CI = 0.025, 0.058) and life satisfaction (95% CI = 0.038, 0.064)-between menopausal quality of life and aging anxiety. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated a direct effect of low menopausal quality of life on aging anxiety and a mediating effect of low depression and higher life satisfaction on aging anxiety. These results suggest the need for programs to increase menopausal quality of life, decrease depression and improve life satisfaction to reduce aging anxiety.

Effect of Household Type on the Prevalence of Climacteric Syndrome among Middle-Aged Men.

Research on climacteric syndrome among middle-aged men remains scant compared to the research among women. Research is also lacking on climacteric syndrome among older adults living alone, particularly men, who are more vulnerable than females living alone. This cross-sectional study investigated whether the prevalence of climacteric syndrome is associated with the type of household middle-aged men live in and identified the determinants of climacteric syndrome based on the household type. Six hundred middle-aged men living in multi-person households and six hundred living alone were surveyed about general characteristics, diet-related factors, and climacteric syndrome. Data were analyzed using Pearson's chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression. The risk of climacteric syndrome in single-person households was found to be 1.6 times higher than that among multi-person households (p = 0.006). In multi-person households, income and breakfast frequency predicted climacteric syndrome (p < 0.05), while age, breakfast frequency, dinner frequency, and weekly eating out frequency predicted climacteric syndrome in single-person households (p < 0.05). Thus, dietary factors are more closely linked to the prevalence of climacteric syndrome in single-person households than in multi-person households. This highlights the need for climacteric syndrome interventions for middle-aged men, whose health concerns may persist into older adulthood.

A novel paper MAP method for rapid high resolution histological analysis.

Three-dimensional visualization of cellular and subcellular-structures in histological-tissues is essential for understanding the complexities of biological-phenomena, especially with regards structural and spatial relationships and pathologlical-diagnosis. Recent advancements in tissue-clearing technology, such as Magnified Analysis of Proteome (MAP), have significantly improved our ability to study biological-structures in three-dimensional space; however, their wide applicability to a variety of tissues is limited by long incubation-times and a need for advanced imaging-systems that are not readily available in most-laboratories. Here, we present optimized MAP-based method for paper-thin samples, Paper-MAP, which allow for rapid clearing and subsequent imaging of three-dimensional sections derived from various tissues using conventional confocal-microscopy. Paper-MAP successfully clear tissues within 1-day, compared to the original-MAP, without significant differences in achieved optical-transparency. As a proof-of-concept, we investigated the vasculature and neuronal-networks of a variety of human and rodent tissues processed via Paper-MAP, in both healthy and diseased contexts, including Alzheimer's disease and glioma.

Comparative Study on the EC50 Value in Single and Mixtures of Dimethylformamide, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, and Toluene.

The aim of this research was to improve our understanding of human toxicity due to exposure to DMF, MEK, or TOL individually as compared to exposure to DMF-MEK or DMF-TOL mixtures, by comparing EC50 values as well as the morphological changes in HepG2 cells treated with these substances. We found that there was marked cell necrosis in the groups treated with mixtures than in those treated with the compounds alone, and that the amount of cell death and the EC50 value were more dependent on MEK and TOL than on DMF. Moreover, analysis of the changes in effective concentration curves revealed that MEK had an antagonistic effect on the human toxicity of DMF, whereas TOL had a synergistic effect. Accordingly, these results suggest that in workplaces involved in the manufacture of synthetic leather, mixtures of DMF and TOL should be avoided as much as possible in order to minimize environmental toxicity and protect the health of the workers.

The neuroprotective effects of carnosine in early stage of focal ischemia rodent model.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to elucidate neuroprotective effect of carnosine in early stage of stroke. METHODS: Early stage of rodent stroke model and neuroblastoma chemical hypoxia model was established by middle cerebral artery occlusion and antimycin A. Neuroprotective effect of carnosine was investigated with 100, 250, and 500 mg of carnosine treatment. And antioxidant expression was analyzed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and western blot in brain and blood. RESULTS: Intraperitoneal injection of 500 mg carnosine induced significant decrease of infarct volume and expansion of penumbra (p<0.05). The expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) showed significant increase than in saline group in blood and brain (p<0.05). In the analysis of chemical hypoxia, carnosine induced increase of neuronal cell viability and decrease of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. CONCLUSION: Carnosine has neuroprotective property which was related to antioxidant capacity in early stage of stroke. And, the oxidative stress should be considered one of major factor in early ischemic stroke.

Stress-induced activation of ovarian heat shock protein 90 in a rat model of polycystic ovary syndrome.

AIM: Polycystic ovarian syndrome is the most common endocrine disorder affecting infertile women of reproductive age. This study evaluated the activation of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp 90) during the formation of stress-induced polycystic ovaries. MATERIAL & METHODS: Female Sprague-Dawley rats (180-200 g) were subjected to one of two stress-inducing conditions; animals were either treated with adrenocorticotropic hormone daily for 18 days or were exposed to daily cold stress for three weeks. Non-treated rats sampled during proestrus or diestrous served as controls. Blood samples were collected from the left ventricles of anesthetized rats and concentrations of follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, estradiol, testosterone and corticosterone were measured in all rats. The expression of messenger RNA for androgen receptor, estrogen receptor-α and -ß, nerve growth factor receptor, and glucocorticoid receptor, and protein expression for Hsp 90 was also assessed in the rat ovaries. RESULTS: Stress increased glucocorticoid receptor and androgen receptor expression, and decreased estrogen expression. Nerve growth factor receptor expression was greater in treated than diestrous rats and less in treated than proestrous rats. Ovarian Hsp 90 protein expression was increased in rats treated with adrenocorticotropic hormone or cold stress. Serum follicle-stimulating hormone levels were reduced and testosterone and corticosterone levels increased by stress, whilst luteinizing hormone and estradiol levels were similar to levels in diestrous and proestrus control rats respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that stress, via the activation of ovarian Hsp 90 and changes in steroid hormone receptor expression and serum reproductive hormone levels, may be involved in the induction of polycystic ovaries in rats.