A study on the impact of Internet use on depression among Chinese older people under the perspective of social participation.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the role of social participation in the relationship between internet use and depressive symptoms among Chinese older adults and investigate how the internet use interact with social participation to reduce the risk of depressive symptoms. METHODS: Based on the survey from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2018, we identified 4645 subjects and used the Ordinary Least Square method (OLS) and Propensity Score Matching method (PSM) to identify the association between Internet use and depression of older people, and further test how social participation played a role in the relationship. RESULTS: The level of depression of older people was significantly reduced in those who using internet in China, and the effect was still robust under different identification methods. The mental health was improved when using internet because of the increase of social participation and social capital. Further, The positive effect was stronger especially in those who were female, living in rural areas, has low education attainments and were 70-79 years old. CONCLUSIONS: The popularity of internet use has a positive effect on the depressive symptoms of Chinese older adults. Effective measures were encouraged to improve the friendliness of internet for older people and promote the popularization of the Internet and older group, achieving the spiritual well-being of them in the Internet society.

[Influence of different preparation on the content of carbohydrate and physicochemical properties of polysaccharides from raw paeoniae radix alba and stir-baked paeoniae radix alba].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the difference of two preparation methods on the content of carbohydrate and physicochemical properties of polysaccharides from raw Paeoniae Radix Alba and stir-baked Paeoniae Radix Alba. METHODS: Polysaccharides extracted from raw Paeoniae Radix Alba and stir-baked Paeoniae Radix Alba with water were precipitated by ethanol and named as BSEP-S and BSEP-C, respectively. In the same way, those deposited by acetone were named as BSAP-S and BSAP-C. Their physicochemical properties, including extraction yield, the content of carbohydrate, elemental composition and monosaccharide composition, were determined. RESULTS: Extraction yield, sugar content and uronic acid content of BSEP-S was 1.56%, 80.56% and 3.33% , BSEP-C 1.18%, 80.79% and 5.47%, BSAP-S 1.58%, 86.50% and 3.79%, and BSAP-C 1.54%, 81.64% and 3.25%, respectively. In addition, monosaccharide compositions showed that glucose was the main monosaccharide and successively reached 92.21%, 87.30%, 91.45% and 86.62%. CONCLUSION: Yield and content of carbohydrate from raw Paeoniae Radix Alba and stir-baked Paeoniae Radix Alba by water extraction-ethanol precipitation are a little higher than that by water extraction-acetone precipitation, but monosaccharide compositions are almost the same. Different preparation has significant impact on the yield and the content of carbohydrate in Paeoniae Radix Alba by stir-baked method, and it can decrease the dissolution of polysaccharide.

The effect of retirement on obesity in women: Evidence from China.

Introduction: Retirement has been shown to impact individual health as an important life course, and we examined the impact of retirement on the prevalence of obesity in women based on a female perspective. Methods: We use data from the five waves of the China Family Panel Study (CFPS) data from 2010 to 2018, with the body mass index (BMI) as the obesity measure. Fuzzy regression discontinuity design (FRDD) is used to overcome the endogeneity of retirement behavior and obesity. Results: After retirement, the obesity rate among women increased 23.8%-27.4% (p < 0.05). The mechanism is that the activity consumption has not changed significantly, but the energy intake has increased significantly. In addition, we found that the effect of retirement on female obesity was strong heterogeneity. Conclusions: The study found that retirement will increase the probability of obesity in women.

Pivotal regulatory roles of traditional Chinese medicine in ischemic stroke via inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Many studies have demonstrated the powerful neuroprotection abilities of multiple traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) against NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated ischemic cerebral injury. These TCMs may be in the form of TCM prescriptions, Chinese herbal medicines and their extracts, and TCM monomers. AIM OF THE STUDY: This review aimed to analyze and summarize the existing knowledge on the assembly and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and its role in the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke (IS). We also summarized the mechanism of action of the various TCMs on the NLRP3 inflammasome, which may provide new insights for the management of IS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed recently published articles by setting the keywords "NLRP3 inflammasome" and "traditional Chinese medicines" along with "ischemic stroke"; "NLRP3 inflammasome" and "ischemic stroke" along with "natural products" and so on in Pubmed and GeenMedical. RESULTS: According to recent studies, 16 TCM prescriptions (officially authorized products and clinically effective TCM prescriptions), 7 Chinese herbal extracts, and 29 TCM monomers show protective effects against IS through anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative stress, anti-apoptotic, and anti-mitochondrial autophagy effects. CONCLUSIONS: In this review, we analyzed studies on the involvement of NLRP3 in IS therapy. Further, we comprehensively and systematically summarized the current knowledge to provide a reference for the further application of TCMs in the treatment of IS.

Volunteer Service and Well-Being of Older People in China.

Purpose: The social support theory suggested that involving older people in social activities could increase their level of social participation and interaction, which in turn improved their well-being. However, there has been a heated controversy about whether participating in volunteer services could enhance the well-being of older people, especially for the Chinese sample. Method: Based on the data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2013, this paper used an ordered probit model to examine the impact of older people's participation in volunteer services on their well-being, as well as the differences in the impact across groups and the specific transmission mechanism. Result: The empirical study found that Chinese older people's participation in volunteerism significantly enhanced their well-being, which remained robust after eliminating the possible effects of self-selection. Further heterogeneity analysis revealed that for female, non-party members and older adults with good economic status, participation in volunteerism has a higher increase in well-being. The mediating effect test indicated that older people's participation in volunteerism affected well-being mainly through enhancing positive emotions. Conclusion: It is necessary to promote the participation of older people in volunteer services and to clarify the role of government support and advocacy. Proper guidance is given to change the role of older people as care recipients to that of service providers and caregivers, and to continuously enrich the programmes and content of volunteer service to safeguard the well-being of older people.

Aqua-bis-(5-butyl-pyridine-2-carboxyl-ato)zinc monohydrate.

In the title complex, [Zn(C(10)H(12)NO(2))(2)(H(2)O)]·H(2)O, the Zn(II) ion is coordinated by two N and two O atoms from two 5-n-butyl-pyridine-2-carboxyl-ato ligands and one O atom from a water mol-ecule in a distorted square-pyramidal geometry. In the crystal, inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link mol-ecules into a two-dimensional supramolecular structure parallel to (001).

3,6,8-Trihy-droxy-3,4,5,7-tetra-methyl-3,4-dihydro-isocoumarin.

In the title compound, C(13)H(16)O(5), one of the three hy-droxy groups is involved in intra-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The other two hy-droxy groups contribute to the three-dimensional hydrogen-bonding network, which consolidates the crystal packing.

3-Hy-droxy-4-(3-hy-droxy-phen-yl)-2-quinolone monohydrate.

In the title compound, also known as viridicatol monohydrate, C(15)H(11)NO(3)·H(2)O, the dihedral angle between the benzene ring and quinoline ring system is 64.76 (5)°. An intra-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bond occurs. The crystal structure is stabilized by classical inter-molecular N-H⋯O and O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and weak π-π inter-actions with a centroid-centroid distance of 3.8158 (10) Å.

[Paeoniflorin increases beta-defensin expression and attenuates lesion in the colonic mucosa from mice with oxazolone-induced colitis].

Previous studies have demonstrated that the Chinese medicine paeoniflorin, derived from the Ranunculaceae plant peony, peony, purple peony root, was able to have anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, anti-hypersusceptibility and anti-oxidation activity. In order to elucidate the pesticide effect and the mechanisms by which paeoniflorin exerts its effect of anti-inflammation and immunoregulation on oxazolone-induced colitic mice, disease activity index (DAI) and histological grading of colitis (HGC) were evaluated in animal model. Moreover, the expressions of HBD-2, IL-6 and IL-10 of mice with experimental colitis were observed with immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR in this study. Results showed that DAI and HGC of oxazolone control group was significantly higher than that of normal control group, and that paeoniflorin groups and 5-ASA group, compared with oxazolone control group, could alleviate the symptoms and histological damages of colitic mice (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The expression of HBD-2 and IL-6 cytokine on the colon of colitic mice was higher than that of normal control, paeoniflorin and 5-ASA groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), but the expression of IL-10 is lower than that of normal control, paeoniflorin and 5-ASA groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The positive correlations were demonstrated between the expression of (HBD-2 and IL-6) and DAI (Pearson r = 0.728, Pearson r = 0.758, P < 0.01, respectively), (HBD-2 and IL-6) and HGC (Pearson r = 0.819, Pearson r = 0.825, P < 0.01, respectively), whereas, the negative correlations were demonstrated between the expression of IL-10 and DAI (Pearson r = -0.789, P < 0.01), IL-10 and HGC (Pearson r = -0.725, P < 0.01). It can be concluded that to some extent paeoniflorin effectively alleviate the symptoms of oxazolone-induced colitis through regulating the expression of HBD-2, IL-6 and IL-10.

The Biological Functions and Clinical Applications of Integrins in Cancers.

Integrins are the adhesion molecules and receptors of extracellular matrix (ECM). They mediate the interactions between cells-cells and cells-ECM. The crosstalk between cancer cells and their microenvironment triggers a variety of critical signaling cues and promotes the malignant phenotype of cancer. As a type of transmembrane protein, integrin-mediated cell adhesion is essential in regulating various biological functions of cancer cells. Recent evidence has shown that integrins present on tumor cells or tumor-associated stromal cells are involved in ECM remodeling, and as mechanotransducers sensing changes in the biophysical properties of the ECM, which contribute to cancer metastasis, stemness and drug resistance. In this review, we outline the mechanism of integrin-mediated effects on biological changes of cancers and highlight the current status of clinical treatments by targeting integrins.

1H and 13C NMR assignments for two lignans from the heartwood of Streblus asper.

In our ongoing investigation of the bioactive constituents from plants, two new lignans, magnolignan A-2-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside and strebluslignanol were isolated from heartwood of Streblus asper, along with three known lignans, magnolignan A, magnolol, and magnaldehyde D. 1D and 2D NMR experiments, including COSY, HMQC, and HMBC, and other spectroscopic methods, including UV, IR, and MS were used for the determination of the structures and NMR assignments. Primary bioassays showed that magnolignan A-2-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside and strebluslignanol have medium cytotoxic activity against HEp-2 and HepG2 cells, with IC(50) of 13.3 microM, 46.4 microM and 10.1 microM, 21.7 microM, respectively.

Anticancer activity and mechanism investigation of beauvericin isolated from secondary metabolites of the mangrove endophytic fungi.

One known cyclic peptide, beauvericin, was isolated from the secondary metabolites of mangrove endophytic fungi Fusarium sp. (No. DZ27) in South China Sea. Its structure was determined by spectral analyses and comparisons with reference data from literatures. Beauvericin inhibited growth of KB and KBv200 cells potently with IC50 values of 5.76 ± 0.55 and 5.34 ± 0.09 µM, respectively. Furthermore, beauvericin induced apoptosis through mitochondrial pathway, including decrease of relative oxygen species generation, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, release of cytochrome c, activation of Caspase-9 and -3, and cleavage of PARP. Additionally, regulation of Bcl-2 or Bax was not involved in the apoptosis induced by beauvericin in KB and KBv200 cells.

Antimycobacterial activity of fusaric acid from a mangrove endophyte and its metal complexes.

Due to the increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, there is an urgent need for new antituberculosis drugs that have novel mechanisms of action. As part of our ongoing search for antimycobacterial metabolites from mangrove endophytes, chemical analysis of the active extract of a strain of Fusarium sp. was performed, which led to the isolation of fusaric acid as the predominant constituent. A variety of metal complexes of fusaric acid were prepared. Antimycobacterial assays showed that Cadmium (II) and Copper (II) complexes exhibited potent inhibitory activity against the M. bovis BCG strain [minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) = 4 µg/mL] and the M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain (MIC = 10 µg/mL), respectively. This is the first report of the antimycobacterial activity of the mangrove Fusarium metabolite and its coordinating metal complexes.

A new hTopo I isomerase inhibitor produced by a mangrove endophytic fungus no. 2240.

A new hTopo I isomerase inhibitor, (+)-3,3',7,7',8,8'-hexahydroxy-5,5'-dimethylbianthraquinone (2240A), was isolated from the mangrove endophytic fungus no. 2240 collected from an estuarine mangrove at the South China Sea coast. Its structure was elucidated by spectral analyses including two-dimensional NMR, HR-EI-MS, IR, and UV. The hTopo I isomerase inhibition experiment showed that 2240A (1) possessed strong inhibiting activity. When its inhibition concentration was 4.65 micromol/l, its percent inhibition rate was 59.1%, while the lowest inhibition concentration of the positive control camptothecin was 1.00 x 10(3) micromol/l.