Association between body mass index and health-related quality of life among Chinese elderly-evidence from a community-based study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the effects of (body mass index) BMI on health related quality of life (HRQoL) among the elderly in Jiangsu, China. METHODS: A total of 10,257 community dwelling elderly (≥60 years old) were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. HRQoL was measured via the Eq-5d-3 L. Chi-square tests and one-way ANOVA analyses were used to compare the frequencies and scores of Eq-5d responses among different BMI groups (defined as "underweight", "normal weight", "overweight" and "obese"). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between BMI and HRQoL. RESULTS: Among the subjects, the proportion of "normal weight", "underweight", "overweight" and "obese" were 66.0, 8.3, 23.1, and 2.6%, respectively. The score of the Eq-5d index among total participants was 0.8036 and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score was 75.47. For both the responses frequency and scores of Eq-5d-3 L, there were significant differences among BMI groups (P < 0.001). The Logistic regression model showed that both in men and women, underweight elderly were more likely to suffer low HRQoL. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) for Eq-5d index/VAS was 2.03 (1.48, 2.79)/1.83 (1.34, 2.50) in men and 1.47(1.09,1.98)/1.52(1.20,1.91) in women. Overweight women more likely to have a low Eq-5d index, while overweight men were less likely to have a low Eq-5d VAS. CONCLUSION: This study shows that underweight is an explicit risk factor of low HRQoL in both the male and female elderly, while the effect of overweight on low HRQoL varies slightly by gender.

[Effects of combining siRNA-TR and TERT upon telomerase activity and in vitro growth inhibition in transitional cancer of bladder BIU-87 cell line].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of combining RNAi-hTR plus hTERT genes upon the telomerase activity of bladder cancer BIU-87 cell line and provide new methods and evidence for RNAi in gene therapy of bladder transitional cell cancer. METHODS: Three hTR-specific double-stranded siRNAs and 3 hTERT-specific double-stranded siRNAs were designed targeting different regions of hTR and hTERT mRNA. siRNAs (systems-PhTR-siRNA, PhTERT-siRNA and combining systems-PhTR plus PhTERT-siRNA) were transfected into bladder transitional cancer BIU-87 cell line. And hTR and hTERT mRNA expression were determined by fluorescence quantitative RT-PCR while telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) was applied to detect the telomerase activity and the growth inhibition of BIU-87 cells detected by MTT assay. RESULTS: RNAi-pRNAT-hTERT-III, RNAi-pRNAT-hTR-III and combining RNAi-hTR plus hTERT could inhibit the expression of hTERT and hTR mRNA in bladder cancer BIU-87 cell lines by RNAi-pRNAT-hTERT-III hTERTmRNA 67%, RNAi-pRNAT-hTR-III hTRmRNA 41% and pRNAT-hTR-III hTRmRNA:57%, pRNAT-hTERT-III, pRNAT-hTR-III hTERTmRNA:70% (P < 0.05). The growth of bladder cancer BIU-87 cell was inhibited and telomerase activity considerably decreased, especially in combining RNAi-hTR and hTERT. CONCLUSION: hTR-siRNA, hTERT-siRNA and combing siRNA hTR plus hTERT have been successfully designed and constructed. They can suppress specifically and effectively both hTR and hTERT mRNA expression and telomerase activity, especially in combining siRNA-hTR+hTERT. Combining siRNA-hTR plus hTERT are needed to explore its clinical applications.