Trends and risk factors of anaemia among the nutrition improvement program for rural compulsory education students aged 6-15 years, Hunan Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the prevalence of anemia among students aged 6-15 years old participated in the Nutrition Improvement Program for Rural Compulsory Education Program in 2012-2021 in Hunan Province, and to explore associated factors.@*Methods@#A cluster random sampling method was used. The survey was conducted among compulsory education students who came from counties in Hunan Province where nutrition improvement plan and key surveillance were carried out. Height and weight were measured, hemoglobin, dietary habits and health knowledge were collected.@*Results@#Since the implementation of nutrition improvement plan in 2012, the anemia rate decreased from 12.8% to 9.3%, the average hemoglobin content decreased from 133.9 g/L to 130.0 g/L. The proportion of students eating meat every day increased from 20.4% to 47.3%. Students eating three or more servings of table tennis ball size of meal increased from 21.4% to 47.3%. The proportion of students eating more than three kinds of vegetables per day was 39.1% in 2016 and 32.6% in 2019, and less than 30% in other years. The proportion of students eating three or more servings of table tennis ball size of vegetables increased from 19.5% to 39.6%, and the proportion of students eating snack less than once a day increased from 13.1% to 76.9%. The proportion of students drinking beverages less than once a day increased from 36.5% to 90.7%. Girls, older than 12 years, not eating meat every day, and who eat less than 1 serving of table tennis ball size of meat, eat less than 3 servings of table tennis ball size of vegetables and fruit at one time, and who eat less than 3 kinds of vegetables every day, and those who grow slowly had higher risk of anemia. Potential factors of anemia in students varied by survey year.@*Conclusion@#The implementation of the compulsory education has improved the nutritional status of compulsory education students in rural areas of Hunan Province, but anemia still occurs. Potential factors associated with childhood anemia are changing. Child health literacy education should adapt to the changing social and economic enviornment, as well as lifestyles. Targeted and appropriate nutritional education and intervention are greatly needed.

Redistribution of Monocarboxylate 1 and 4 in Hippocampus and Spatial Memory Impairment Induced by Long-term Ketamine Administration.

The monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) MCT1, MCT2, and MCT4 are essential components of the astrocyte-neuron lactate shuttle (ANLS), which is a fundamental element of brain energetics. Decreased expression of MCTs can induce cognitive dysfunction of the brain. In the present study, we established a mouse model of long-term ketamine administration by subjecting mice to a 6-month course of a daily intraperitoneal injection of ketamine. These mice demonstrated learning and memory deficits and a significant decline in MCT1 and MCT4 proteins in the hippocampal membrane fraction, while cytoplasmic MCT1 and MCT4 protein levels were significantly increased. In contrast, the levels of global MCT2 protein were significantly increased. Analysis of mRNA levels found no changes in MCT1/4 transcripts, although the expression of MCT2 mRNA was significantly increased. We suggest that redistribution of hippocampal MCT1 and MCT4, but not MCT2 up-regulation, may be related to learning and memory deficits induced by long-term ketamine administration.

Long-term ketamine administration causes Tau protein phosphorylation and Tau protein-dependent AMPA receptor reduction in the hippocampus of mice.

As a recreational drug of abuse and an injectable anesthetic, ketamine has been shown to cause cognitive dysfunction and induce psychotic states. Although the specific mechanism is still unclear, it may be linked to synaptic receptors, including the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionic acid (AMPA) receptor. Recent evidence suggests that Tau protein phosphorylation and targeted delivery to the postsynaptic area is involved in maintaining neuronal plasticity, indicating that the neurotoxicity induced by ketamine may be related to the transfer of Tau protein after phosphorylation. In this study, we established a model of long-term (6 months) ketamine administration in wild-type (C57BL/6) and Tau knockout mice to investigate the effects of different doses of ketamine administration on Tau protein expression and phosphorylation in the mouse hippocampus. We also investigated changes in AMPA receptor expression in the synaptic membrane of wild-type and Tau knockout mice. Our results showed that long-term ketamine administration led to excessive Tau protein phosphorylation at Ser202/Thr205 and Ser396, but not at Ser199, Ser262 and Ser404. Most importantly, long-term ketamine administration decreased AMPA receptor levels in the hippocampal cell membrane in a Tau protein-dependent manner. Our results reveal the role of Tau protein phosphorylation in the mechanism of ketamine neurotoxicity, suggesting that the changes of membrane AMPA receptor and synaptic function induced by ketamine are mediated by abnormal phosphorylation of Tau protein at specific sites.

Regulation of Tau Protein on the Antidepressant Effects of Ketamine in the Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress Model.

Tau protein is known to play an important role in maintaining microtubule assembly and stabilization, and maintaining the normal morphology of neurons, but several studies have found that chronic stress leads to Tau hyperphosphorylation. A large number of clinical trials have found that ketamine, which is an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, produces a rapid, long-lasting, and potent antidepressant effect in patients suffering from major depression. This rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine, which involves many mechanisms, has attracted wide attention. However, the relationship between ketamine's antidepressant effects and Tau protein has rarely been examined. We used C57BL/6 and Tau KO mice exposed to 42 days of chronic unpredictable mild stress (the CUMS model) to investigate the effect of ketamine on behavioral changes and synaptic functioning of the hippocampus. The results showed that a single treatment of ketamine rapidly relieved the CUMS-induced anhedonia, depression-like, and anxious behaviors of the C57BL/6 mice. The abnormal behaviors were accompanied by increased levels of specific alterations of hyperphosphorylated Tau protein in cytoplasm and synapse in the hippocampus of the C57BL/6 mice, but ketamine reduced the aggregation of hyperphosphorylated Tau protein only in the synapse. We also found that CUMS exposure reduced the levels of GluA1 and PSD95 in the hippocampus of the C57BL/6 mice and that these deficits were reversed by ketamine. However, the Tau KO mice did not develop any stress-induced depressive behaviors or deficits of hippocampal function. The antidepressant effect of ketamine may decrease the levels of hyperphosphorylated Tau protein in synapse of C57BL/6 mice.

New patterns emerge after a sustained increase in the incidence of hepatitis C virus infection from 2004 to 2017: a joinpoint regression analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection continues to be a major public health concern in China. There is little information available in the literature about age- and sex-specific HCV incidence trends. The goal of this study was to examine recent trends in HCV incidence rates in Hunan, China, according to age and gender. STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive study was implemented with a joinpoint analysis. METHODS: Based on the annual reported incidence data of hepatitis C in Hunan, China, from 2004 to 2017, we performed a joinpoint regression analysis to examine trends in the annual percentage change (APC) and the average annual percentage change (AAPC) in the incidence of HCV infection throughout the study period; we stratified the analysis by gender and age. The software calculates the APC, AAPC and the 95% confidence intervals for each trend segment and tests whether the slope for each segment has a significant difference from the prior segment using a Z test. RESULTS: From 2004 to 2017, the overall incidence rate of HCV infection rose from 0.93 per 100,000 to 20.88 per 100,000 (AAPC, 25.2%). In particular, women aged ≥65 years had the fastest increasing rate (AAPC, 29.9%). The incidence of different demographic groups showed no significant difference in increasing trends before 2013. However, new patterns emerged after 2013: the incidence of people aged 0-14 years was no longer significantly elevated; a significant yearly decline occurred in the incidence of HCV in people aged 15-29 years; the incidence of HCV in people aged ≥30 years continued to increase, with significantly slower increasing rates than before; and women aged ≥65 years showed a significantly higher yearly increase in incidence than that in men in the same age group (APC, 11.1% in women versus 5.3% in men). CONCLUSION: The overall increasing rate of HCV infection significantly slowed after 2007 and 2013. The differences in incidence trends among demographic groups have obviously increased in the last 5 years, and the reasons underlying these different trends urgently require further study. People in older age groups, especially women aged ≥65 years, still experienced increases in incidence rates in the last 5 years. This finding indicates that programmes for the prevention and control of HCV infection in older people require continued strengthening.

[A Meta analysis of risk factors for asthma in Chinese children].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the main risk factors for asthma in Chinese children, and to provide a reference for the prevention and treatment of asthma. METHODS: The databases including CNKI, Wanfang Data, China Biology Medicine disc, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, Web of Science, and PubMed were searched for studies on risk factors for asthma in Chinese children published up to September 2017. Stata 12.0 was used for the Meta analysis. RESULTS: A total of 24 case-control studies were included, with 5 309 cases in the case group and 6 404 cases in the control group. The Meta analysis showed that a family history of asthma (OR=5.246, 95%CI: 3.435-8.011), a family history of allergy (OR=4.627, 95%CI: 2.450-8.738), atopic constitution (OR=4.659, 95%CI: 2.511-8.644), allergic rhinitis (OR=11.510, 95%CI: 6.769-19.574), a history of eczema/dermatitis (OR=4.919, 95%CI: 3.514-6.886), a history of allergies (OR=4.732, 95%CI: 2.802-7.989), a history of food allergies (OR=5.890, 95%CI: 3.412-10.166), a history of drug allergies (OR=4.664, 95%CI: 2.637-8.252), mold contamination at home (OR=2.483, 95%CI: 1.671-3.690), flowers at home (OR=1.748, 95%CI: 1.383-2.209), a history of house decoration (OR=2.823, 95%CI: 2.206-3.935), and cesarean section (OR=1.894, 95%CI: 1.166-3.077) were risk factors for asthma in children, while breastfeeding was a protective factor against asthma (OR=0.508, 95%CI: 0.396-0.653). CONCLUSIONS: The development of asthma in Chinese children is associated with a variety of factors, among which a family history of asthma, a family history of allergy, atopic constitution, a history of allergies, allergic comorbidities, cesarean section, and bad family environment can increase the risk of asthma in children, while breastfeeding can reduce the risk.

Ectopic expression of human acidic fibroblast growth factor 1 in the medicinal plant, Salvia miltiorrhiza, accelerates the healing of burn wounds.

BACKGROUND: Healing of burns is a complex process and very few effective treatments exist to facilitate the burn recovery process. Human acidic fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF-1) plays an important role in a variety of biological processes, including angiogenesis, and tissue repair. Salvia miltiorrhiza is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine as an herb for the treatment of various diseases, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and traumatic injuries. We present that expression of FGF-1 in S. miltiorrhiza significantly accelerates the healing of burn wounds. RESULTS: The human fgf-1 gene was fused with a barley α-amylase signal peptide DNA sequence and driven by a 35S promoter for constitutive expression in transgenic S. miltiorrhiza plants. The highest yield of recombinant FGF-1 obtained from leaves of transgenic S. miltiorrhiza lines was 272 ng/fresh weight. Aqueous extracts from transgenic S. miltiorrhiza exhibited FGF-1 activity approximately 19.2-fold greater than that of the standard FGF-1. Compared to the standard FGF-1 or the extracts obtained from non-transgenic plants, it stimulated proliferation of Balb/c 3 T3 mouse fibroblast cells assessed with the standard MTT assay and promoted angiogenesis in the chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. Topical application of the extract significantly accelerated the burn wound healing process. CONCLUSIONS: The product appears to retain the biological activity of both FGF-1 as well as the medicinal properties of the plant. The extracts from transgenic S. miltiorrhiza combines the therapeutic functions of FGF-1 and the medicinal plant, S. miltiorrhiza. Topical application of the product can reduce the costs associated with extraction, purification, and recovery.