Influences of combined traffic noise on the ability of learning and memory in mice.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to evaluate the influences of combined traffic noise (CTN) on the ability of learning and memory in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice were exposed to CTN from highways and high-speed railways for 42 days, whose day-night equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (Ldn) was 70 dB(A). On the basis of behavioral reactions in Morris water maze (MWM) and the concentrations of amino acid neurotransmitters in the hippocampus, the impacts of CTN on learning and memory in mice were examined. RESULTS: The MWM test showed that the ability of learning and memory in mice was improved after short-term exposure (6-10 days, the first batch) to 70 dB(A) CTN, which showed the excitatory effect of stimuli. Long-term exposure (26-30 days, the third batch; 36-40 days, the fourth batch) led to the decline of learning and memory ability, which indicated the inhibitory effect of stimuli. Assays testing amino acid neurotransmitters showed that the glutamate level of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group in the first batch. However, the former was lower than the latter in the third and fourth batches. Both, behavioral reactions and the concentrations of amino acid neurotransmitters, testified that short-term exposure and long-term exposure resulted in excitatory effect and inhibitory effect on the ability of learning and memory, respectively. CONCLUSION: The effects of 70 dB(A) CTN on the ability of learning and memory were closely related to the exposure duration. Furthermore, those effects were regulated and controlled by the level of glutamate in the hippocampus.

Emotion recognition from sound stimuli based on back-propagation neural networks and electroencephalograms.

This research aims to explore the feasibility of using back-propagation (BP) neural networks and electroencephalograms (EEGs) to recognize the emotional reactions induced by sound stimuli in the dimensions of pleasure and arousal, as well as compare the recognition performance of each method on these two dimensions. It could provide an aided design on choosing proper sounds to induce or regulate individuals' emotional states under specific situations for potential users at the design stage. Emotional reactions to different sound stimuli are investigated by Self-Assessment Manikin. The results of BP neural network indicate that the arousal predictions are more satisfactory than the pleasure predictions, and the recognition rates can be improved by optimizing input parameters. EEG signals induced by sound stimuli are recorded. The results show that when induced by each pleasant sound, the Average Power of Electroencephalogram of the α wave in the left frontal pole electrode is significantly lower than that in the right frontal pole electrode, while when induced by each unpleasant sound, the former is significantly higher than the latter. This finding indicates that pleasant and unpleasant sounds can be identified based on the asymmetry of the α wave between the left and right frontal pole electrodes.

Annoyance and activity disturbance induced by high-speed railway and conventional railway noise: a contrastive case study.

BACKGROUND: High-speed railway (HR, Electrified railway with service speed above 200 km/h.) noise and conventional railway (CR, Electrified railway with service speed under 200 km/h.) noise are different in both time and frequency domain. There is an urgent need to study the influence of HR noise and consequently, develop appropriate noise evaluation index and limits for the total railway noise including HR and CR noise. METHODS: Based on binaural recording of HR and CR noises in a approximate semi-free field, noise annoyance and activity disturbance induced by maximal train pass-by events in China were investigated through laboratory subjective evaluation. 80 students within recruited 102 students, 40 males and 40 females, 23.9 ± 2.1 years old, were finally selected as the subjects. After receiving noise stimulus via headphone of a binaural audio playback system, subjects were asked to express the annoyance or activity disturbance due to railway noise at a 0-100 numerical scale. RESULTS: The results show that with the same annoyance rating (A) or activity disturbance rating (D), the A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level (LAeq) of CR noise is approximately 7 dB higher than that of HR noise. Linear regression analysis between some acoustical parameters and A (or D) suggests that the coefficient of determination (R2) is higher with the instantaneous fast A-weighted sound pressure level (LAFmax) than that with LAeq. A combined acoustical parameter, LHC = 1.74LAFmax + 0.008LAFmax(Lp-LAeq), where Lp is the sound pressure level, was derived consequently, which could better evaluate the total railway noise, including HR and CR noise. More importantly, with a given LHC, the noise annoyance of HR and CR noise is the same. CONCLUSIONS: Among various acoustical parameters including LHC and LAeq, A and D have the highest correlation with LHC. LHC has been proved to be an appropriate index to evaluate the total railway noise, including both HR and CR. However, it should be pointed out that this study provides suggestive evidence, rather than a final proof. Further study is expected to elucidate conclusions above by additional measurements.

Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells mitigate chemotherapy-associated tissue injury in a pre-clinical mouse model.

BACKGROUND AIMS: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have been shown to be a promising candidate for tissue regeneration and cancer therapy. However, their therapeutic potential against chemotherapy-induced side-effects remains unclear. METHODS: We treated murine Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) and xenograft human colon tumors with adriamycin (ADM) for 3 consecutive days followed by one intravenous (i.v.) injection of human umbilical cord (hUC) MSC for several cycles. RESULTS: MSC treatment mitigated ADM-induced cardiomyopathy, reduced the extent of ADM-induced apoptosis in intestinal crypts, suppressed body weight loss in mice treated with ADM and increased the survival rate of mice treated with a lethal dose of ADM. The examination of hematologic parameters indicated a moderate recovery in MSC-injected mice. Systemic administration of MSC did not increase the growth of murine LLC cells and human colon carcinoma in vivo while it strongly inhibited the lung metastases of LLC cells. CONCLUSIONS: We evaluated the prophylactic and therapeutic action of hUC MSC on the chemotherapy agent ADM-induced side-effects in two different tumor models. Our observations suggest that MSC can be used as auxiliary means in chemotherapy for certain tumor types.

[Effects of total saponin from Panax japonicus on acute myocardial ischemia injury induced by ligating coronary artery left anterior descending branch in rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the cardioprotective effects of total saponin from Panax japonicus pretreating on acute myocardial ischemia injury induced by ligating coronary artery left anterior descending branch (LAD) in rats. METHODS: Rats were divided into sham group, model group and total saponin group. The treatment group was given total saponin of Panax japonicus. After pretreating for 7 days, the rats' acute myocardial ischemia model was induced by LAD. The electrocardiogram, hemodynamics, infarct size and histomorphology were assessed 12 h after LAD, the serum levels of phosphokinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were also measured. RESULTS: Compared with the model group, total saponin from Panax japonicus significantly improved heart function, heart histomorphology, opposed ECG T wave decreased and decreased infarct size; Remarkably decreased the contents of LDH, CK and MDA, increased the activity of SOD, CAT. CONCLUSION: Total saponin from Panax japonicus has cardioprotective effects on acute myocardial ischemic injury and the mechanism may be related to antioxidation.

Therapeutic effect of secretome from TNF-α stimulated mesenchymal stem cells in an experimental model of corneal limbal stem cell deficiency.

AIM: To explore the secretome efficacy in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α stimulated mouse mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in a murine model of corneal limbal alkali injury. METHODS: Corneal limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) was created in the eyes of male C57 mice. Concentrated conditioned medium from TNF-α stimulated MSCs (MSC-CMT) was applied topically for 4wk, with basal medium and conditioned medium from MSCs as controls. Corneal opacification, corneal inflammatory response, and corneal neovascularization (NV) were evaluated. Corneal epithelial cell apoptosis, corneal conjunctivation, and inflammatory cell infiltration were assessed with TUNEL staining, CK3 and Muc-5AC immunostaining, and CD11b immunofluorescence staining, respectively. The effect of TSG-6 was further evaluated by knockdown with short hairpin RNA (shRNA). RESULTS: Compared to the controls, topical administration of MSC-CMT significantly ameliorated the clinical symptoms of alkali-induced LSCD, with restrained corneal NV, reduced corneal epithelial cell apoptosis, and inhibition of corneal conjunctivation. In addition, MSC-CMT treatment significantly reduced CD11b+ inflammatory cell infiltration, and inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1ß, TNF-α and IL-6). Furthermore, the promotion of corneal epithelial reconstruction by MSC-CMT was largely abolished by TSG-6 knockdown. CONCLUSION: Our study provides evidence that MSC-CMT enhances the alleviation of corneal alkali injuries, partially through TSG-6-mediated anti-inflammatory protective mechanisms. MSC-CMT may serve as a potential strategy for treating corneal disorders.

Adult stem cell transplantation combined with conventional therapy for the treatment of end-stage liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

End-stage liver disease (ESLD) is characterized by the deterioration of liver function and a subsequent high mortality rate. Studies have investigated the use of adult stem cells to treat ESLD. Here, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine the efficacy of a combination therapy with adult stem cell transplantation and traditional medicine for treating ESLD. Four databases-including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library-were investigated for studies published before January 31, 2021. The main outcome indicators were liver function index, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores, and Child‒Turcotte‒Pugh (CTP) scores. Altogether, 1604 articles were retrieved, of which eight met the eligibility criteria; these studies included data for 579 patients with ESLD. Combination of adult stem cell transplantation with conventional medicine significantly improved its efficacy with respect to liver function index, CTP and MELD scores, but this effect gradually decreased over time. Moreover, a single injection of stem cells was more effective than two injections with respect to MELD and CTP scores and total bilirubin (TBIL) and albumin (ALB) levels, with no significant difference in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. With respect to the TBIL levels, patients receiving mononuclear cells (MNCs) experienced a significantly greater therapeutic effect-starting from twenty-four weeks after the treatment-whereas with respect to ALB levels, CD34+ autologous peripheral blood stem cells (CD34+ APBSCs) and MNCs had similar therapeutic effects. Severe complications associated with adult stem cell treatment were not observed. Although the benefits of combination therapy with respect to improving liver function were slightly better than those of the traditional treatment alone, they gradually decreased over time.Systematic review registration: PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021238576.

Role and mechanism of action of Yinchenhao Decoction in inhibiting ferroptosis of hepatocytes in mice with autoimmune hepatitis / 临床肝胆病杂志

ObjectiveTo investigate the role and mechanism of action of Yinchenhao Decoction in inhibiting ferroptosis of hepatocytes in mice with autoimmune hepatitis. MethodsA total of 18 specific pathogen-free female C57BL/6 mice were selected and divided into normal group， model group， and treatment group using a random number table， with 6 mice in each group. The mice in the model group and the treatment group were injected with concanavalin A （Con A） via the caudal vein to establish a mouse model of autoimmune hepatitis， and those in the normal group were injected with normal saline. The mice in the treatment group were given prophylactic treatment with Yinchenhao Decoction （4.68 g crude drug/kg） by gavage at 14 days before modeling， and Con A was injected after the last gavage. The levels of alanine aminotransferase （ALT）， aspartate aminotransferase （AST）， interferon gamma （IFN-γ）， tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， iron ion， glutathione （GSH）， reactive oxygen species （ROS）， adenosine triphosphate （ATP）， and malondialdehyde （MDA） were measured； liver index and spleen index were calculated； the expression levels of GPX4 and SLC7A11 were measured； liver histopathological changes were compared between groups. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between three groups， and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups. ResultsCompared with the normal group， the model group had significant increases in liver index， spleen index， ALT， AST， IFN-γ， TNF-α， iron ion， ROS and MDA （all P<0.05） and significant reductions in the content of GSH and ATP and the protein expression levels of GPX4 and SLC7A11 （all P<0.05）. Compared with the model group， the treatment group had significant reductions in liver index， spleen index， ALT， AST， IFN-γ， TNF-α， iron ion， ROS and MDA （all P<0.05） and significant increases in the content of GSH and ATP and the protein expression levels of GPX4 and SLC7A11 （all P<0.05）. HE staining showed that compared with the normal group， the model group showed massive hepatocyte degeneration and necrosis and inflammatory cell aggregation at the portal area， and compared with the model group， the treatment group had alleviation of liver necrosis and inflammatory infiltration. ConclusionLiver injury induced by Con A may be associated with ferroptosis. Yinchenhao Decoction can increase the protein expression levels of SLC7A11 and GPX4 protein and thus inhibit ferroptosis of hepatocytes induced by Con A.

Bibliometric and bioinformatics analysis of genetic literature on susceptibility to noise induced hearing loss / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

Objective: To summarize and analyse of literature on the susceptibility genes of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) , and the key genes were screened and obtained by bioinformatics method, so as to provide reference for the prevention research of NIHL. Methods: In September 2021, Based on CNKI, NCBI Pubmed database and Web of Science database, this paper conducted bibliometric analysis and bioinformatics analysis on the genetic literature related to the susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss from 1999 to 2020. Endnote X9 software and the WPS office software were used for bibliometric analysis, and online software STRING and Cytoscape software were used for bioinformatics analysis. Results: A total of 131 literatures were included in the study, involving 40 genes in total. Bibliometric analysis shows that 131 papers which included 36 Chinese articles and 95 English articles were published in 63 biomedical journals; the highest number of published articles was 19 in 2020. Bioinformatics analysis suggests that GAPDH、SOD2、SOD1、CAT、CASP3、IL6 and other genes play a key role in the interaction network. The involved pathways mainly include MAP2K and MAPK activations, PTEN regulation, P53-depardent G1 DNA damage response, signaoling by BRAF and RAF fusions and soon. Conclusion: The study of noise induced hearing loss involves multi gene biological information, and bioinformatics analysis is helpful to predict the occurrence and development of noise induced hearing loss.

Association of serum biomarkers with frailty in elderly hospitalized patients / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:To evaluate the association of different biomarkers with frailty in elderly hospitalized patients.Methods:In this cross-sectional study, a total of 319 elderly patients aged 65 years or older hospitalized in Beijing Hospital between September 2018 and February 2019 were enrolled.Patients had a mean age of(75.0±6.6)years and 151(47.3%)were women.Based on the Fried phenotype, patients were divided into a non-frail group(244 cases, 76.5%)and a frail group(75 cases, 23.5%). The clinical characteristics and biomarker levels of the two groups were compared.The association of different biomarkers with frailty was evaluated by using the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.The Youden index was used for the optimal cutoff values and the area under the curve(AUC)were calculated.AUCs of different biomarkers were compared to assess their correlations with frailty.Results:Hemoglobin, lipid levels(triglycerides, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and prealbumin were significantly lower in the frail group than in the non-frail group( P<0.05), while N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide(NT-proBNP)and high-sensitivity C reactive protein(hsCRP)levels were significantly higher than in the non-frail group( P<0.05). Thyrotropin(TSH)and free triiodothyronine(FT3)levels were significantly lower( P<0.05)and trans-triiodothyronine(rT3)was significantly higher( P<0.05)in the frail group.The combination of six biomarkers[hemoglobin, prealbumin, hsCRP, 25-dihydroxy vitamin D3[25(OH)D3], rT3 and NT-pro BNP]had the most powerful correlation with frailty(AUC=0.705, 95% CI: 0.652-0.755), but the correlation was not significantly different from that of the combination of 3 markers(hemoglobin, rT3 and hsCRP)(ROC=0.010, 95% CI: -0.0106-0.0306, P>0.05). Either of the two combinations was significantly better than the combination of 2 markers(hemoglobin and rT3)(ROC=0.143, 95% CI: 0.0406-0.245; ROC=0.153, 95% CI: 0.0498-0.256; all P<0.01). Conclusions:Hemoglobin, lipids, prealbumin, TSH and FT3 levels decrease while NT-proBNP and hsCRP levels increase in elderly hospitalized frail patients.The 6-biomarker combination[hemoglobin, prealbumin, hsCRP, 25(OH)D3, rT3 and NT-pro BNP]and 3-biomarker combination(hemoglobin, rT3 and hsCRP)have better correlation with frailty than the 2-biomarker combination(hemoglobin and rT3).

Comparison of frailty assessment and related tools in elderly hospitalized patients with atrial fibrillation / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:We evaluated frailty in elderly hospitalized patients with atrial fibrillation and analyzed the relevance, consistency, and diagnostic power of different frailty tools.Methods:From September 2018 to April 2019, a total of 197 elderly patients with atrial fibrillation aged ≥ 65 years in Beijing Hospital, Chinese PLA General Hospital, and Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital were prospectively enrolled.Five frailty tools, including the clinical frailty scale(CFS), FRAIL scale(FRAIL), Fried frailty phenotype(Fried), Edmonton frail scale(EFS), and comprehensive geriatric assessment-frailty index(CGA-FI), were used for frailty assessment.Results:A total of 197 hospitalized elderly patients with atrial fibrillation were enrolled, with an average age of(77.5±7.1)years old(57.4% male). The prevalence of frailty, according to the five frailty tools, were 25.4%(FRAIL), 27.9%(EFS), 34.5%(Fried), 40.6%(CFS), and 42.6%(CGA-FI), respectively.CFS had a good correlation(correlation coefficient 0.80)and and consistency(Kappa value 0.71, 95% CI 0.61~0.81)with CGA-FI.The combined frailty index was used as the gold standard for frailty diagnosis.The results showed that CFS and CGA-FI had high diagnostic sensitivity(95.9 % and 98.0 %, respectively)and specificity(77.7 % and 75.7 %, respectively). Conclusions:Frailty is common in elderly hospitalized patients with atrial fibrillation, showing multidimensional features, and physical weakness is not prominet.CFS and CGA-FI are recommended for the assessment of frailty in patients with atrial fibrillation, which had good correlation and consistency.

A low rank Hankel matrix reconstruction method for ultrafast magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy has many important applications in bio-engineering while acquiring high dimensional spectroscopy is usually time consuming. Non-uniformly sampling can speed up the data acquisition but the missing data points have to be restored with proper signal models. In this work, a specific two dimensional (2D) magnetic resonance signal, in which the first dimension lies in frequency domain while the second dimension lies in time domain, is reconstructed with a proposed low rank Hankel-matrix method. This method explores two general properties: 1) the rank of a structured matrix, converted from a 2D exponential signal, is equal to the number of 2D spectral peaks; 2) this rank is small if the spectrum is sparse. Results on real magnetic resonance spectroscopy show that proposed method outperforms the state-of-compressed sensing method on recovering low-intensity spectral peaks.

Projected Iterative Soft-Thresholding Algorithm for Tight Frames in Compressed Sensing Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Compressed sensing (CS) has exhibited great potential for accelerating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In CS-MRI, we want to reconstruct a high-quality image from very few samples in a short time. In this paper, we propose a fast algorithm, called projected iterative soft-thresholding algorithm (pISTA), and its acceleration pFISTA for CS-MRI image reconstruction. The proposed algorithms exploit sparsity of the magnetic resonance (MR) images under the redundant representation of tight frames. We prove that pISTA and pFISTA converge to a minimizer of a convex function with a balanced tight frame sparsity formulation. The pFISTA introduces only one adjustable parameter, the step size, and we provide an explicit rule to set this parameter. Numerical experiment results demonstrate that pFISTA leads to faster convergence speeds than the state-of-art counterpart does, while achieving comparable reconstruction errors. Moreover, reconstruction errors incurred by pFISTA appear insensitive to the step size.

Integrative Rehabilitation for Hypertrophic Olivary Degeneration after Operation of Brain Stem Cavernous Malformation: A Case Report / 中国康复理论与实践

Objective To summarize the integrative rehabilitation treatment of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine in hypertrophic olivary degeneration (HOD) secondary to the operation of brain stem cavernous malformation. Methods The clinical data of medication, rehabilitation and follow-up of a patient with HOD secondary to operation on brain stem cavernous malformation was retrospectively analyzed. Results Three months after operation, limb static and motor tremor, dysarthria, palate spasm, eye movement disorder and walking difficulty appeared. The patient was diagnosed as HOD according to clinical features and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He was treated with pertinence rehabilitation training combined with TCM including acupuncture and herbs. After integrative rehabilitation, he could stand and walk independently, the tremor was alleviated, the balance function improved, the activities of daily living improved, and the dosage of oral western medicine also decreased. Conclusion After intracranial surgery, secondary neurodegeneration and movement disorder may appear, and it could be improved by integrative rehabilitation treatment of TCM and Western medicine

Integrative Rehabilitation for Hypertrophic Olivary Degeneration after Operation of Brain Stem Cavernous Malformation: A Case Report / 中国康复理论与实践

Objective To summarize the integrative rehabilitation treatment of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine in hypertrophic olivary degeneration (HOD) secondary to the operation of brain stem cavernous malformation. Methods The clinical data of medication, rehabilitation and follow-up of a patient with HOD secondary to operation on brain stem cavernous malformation was retrospectively analyzed. Results Three months after operation, limb static and motor tremor, dysarthria, palate spasm, eye movement disorder and walking difficulty appeared. The patient was diagnosed as HOD according to clinical features and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He was treated with pertinence rehabilitation training combined with TCM including acupuncture and herbs. After integrative rehabilitation, he could stand and walk independently, the tremor was alleviated, the balance function improved, the activities of daily living improved, and the dosage of oral western medicine also decreased. Conclusion After intracranial surgery, secondary neurodegeneration and movement disorder may appear, and it could be improved by integrative rehabilitation treatment of TCM and Western medicine

The correlation between frailty and cardiac autonomic nervous function in elderly patients / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:To assess the correlation between frailty and cardiac autonomic nervous system function in elderly patients.Methods:Elderly hospitalized patients aged 65 years and over were enrolled and assessed for frailty by using the clinical frailty scale.Cardiac autonomic modulation was evaluated by heart rate variability analysis through 24 h electrocardiogram recording.Results:A total of 180 elderly patients were enrolled in this study, including 66 patients with frailty and 114 patients without frailty.The mean age of the frailty group was higher than that of the non-frailty group(79.8±6.0 vs.75.0±6.3, t=5.030, P<0.001). The proportions of patients with hypertension, stroke/transient cerebral ischemia attack(TIA), heart failure and osteoarthritis were higher in the frailty group than in the non-frailty group(all P<0.05). Compared with the non-frailty group, the standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals(SDNN)[103.0(76.0, 121.2) vs.107.5(92.0, 136.0), Z=-2.108, P=0.035], the standard deviation of the averages of NN intervals in all 5-min segments(SDANN)[86.0(67.7, 106.5) vs.97.5(78.0, 126.0), Z=-2.694, P=0.007], normalized low frequency(LFnorm)(53.1±13.0 vs.59.3±13.9, t=-3.024, P=0.003)and low frequency/high frequency(LF/HF)ratio[1.2(1.0, 1.4) vs.1.4(1.1, 1.7), Z=-3.041, P=0.002]were decreased and normalized high frequency(HFnorm)(36.8±9.2 vs.32.2±10.7, t=3.033, P=0.003)was increased in the frailty group.HFnorm in the frailty group was significantly higher than that in the non-frailty group.The incidents of SDANN<92 ms, LFnorm<50 nU, HFnorm>32 nU and LF/HF ratio<1.5 were higher in the frailty group than in the non-frailty group(59.1% or 39/66 vs.41.2% or 47/114, 42.4% or 28/66 vs.22.8% or 26/114, 72.7% or 48/66 vs.49.1% or 56/114, 84.8% or 56/66 vs.65.8% or 75/114, χ2=5.346, 7.660, 9.547, 7.664, P=0.021, 0.006, 0.002, 0.006). Logistic multivariate regression analysis showed that LFnorm, HFnorm and LF/HF ratio were correlated with frailty( OR=0.971, 1.039 and 0.333, all P<0.05), and HFnorm>32 nU and LF/HF ratio<1.5 were risk factors for frailty( OR=2.401 and 2.773, both P<0.05). Conclusions:Cardiac autonomic nerve system function is impaired in elderly frail patients, with the imbalance between the sympathetic and vagus nerves.Therefore particular attention should be paid to heart rate variability in elderly patients with frailty.

Short-term memory of danger signals or environmental stimuli in mesenchymal stem cells: implications for therapeutic potential.

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) possess some characteristics of immune cells, including a pro-inflammatory phenotype, an immunosuppressive phenotype, antibacterial properties and the expression of Toll-like receptor proteins. Here we show that, similar to immune cells, MSCs retain information from danger signals or environmental stimuli for a period of time. When treated with the pro-inflammatory factors lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), MSCs display increased expression of IL-6, IL-8 and MCP-1. Following re-plating and several rounds of cell division in the absence of stimulating factors, the expression of IL-6, IL-8 and MCP-1 remained higher than in untreated cells for over 7 days. A spike in cytokine secretion occurred when cells were exposed to a second round of stimulation. We primed MSCs with LPS and LPS-primed MSCs had better therapeutic efficacy at promoting skin flap survival in a diabetic rat model than did unprimed MSCs. Finally, we found that several microRNAs, including miR146a, miR150 and miR155, along with the modification of DNA by 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), mediate the MSC response to LPS and TNF-α stimulation. Collectively, our data suggest that MSCs have a short-term memory of environmental signals, which may impact their therapeutic potential.

Subjective annoyance caused by indoor low-level and low frequency noise and control method.

The influence of low-level noise has not been widely noticed. This paper discovered that low-level and low frequency noise (A-weighted equivalent level Leq < 45 dB) causes higher probability of subjective annoyance. The fuzzy mathematic principle was applied to deal with the threshold level of subjective annoyance from noise in this study; there is preferable relationship between the indoor noise and noise annoyance at low frequency noise level. Study indicated at the same centered noise level, the change of annoyance probability is mainly caused by the change of the frequency spectrum characteristic of the indoor noise. Under low noise level environment, without change of the medium-low frequency noise, the slight increase of medium-high frequency noise level with the help of noise sheltering effect can significantly reduce the noise annoyance. This discovery brings a new resolution on how to improve the environmental quality of working or living places. A noise control model is given in this study according to the acoustic analysis.

Predictive value of N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide on outcome of elderly hospitalized non-heart failure patients / 中华心血管病杂志

Objective: To investigate the predictive value of N-terminal type B natriuretic peptide（NT-proBNP) on the prognosis of elderly hospitalized patients without heart failure（non-heart failure). Method: Elderly patients aged 65 years or older, who were admitted to Beijing Hospital from September 2018 to February 2019, were enrolled in this study. Patients with clinical diagnosis of heart failure or left ventricular ejection fraction（LVEF)<50% were excluded. The patients were divided into 2 groups based on the serum NT-proBNP level: low NT-proBNP group （<125 ng/L) and high NT-proBNP group（≥125 ng/L). Patients were followed up at 3, 6, and 12 months after enrollment, and the major adverse events were recorded. The composite endpoint events included all-cause mortality, readmission or Emergency Department visits. Cardiovascular events include death, readmission or emergency room treatment due to cardiogenic shock, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, arrhythmia, heart failure or stroke/transient ischemic attack. Results: A total of 600 elderly patients with non-heart failure were included in the analysis. The average age was （74.9±6.5) years, including 304（50.7%) males. The median follow-up time was 344（265, 359) days. One hundred and seventy-eight（29.7%) composite endpoint events were recorded during the follow-up, 19（3.2%) patients died, and 12（2.0%) patients were lost to follow-up. There were 286(47.7%) cases in low NT-proBNP group and 314 cases（52.3%) in high NT-proBNP group. Patients were older, prevalence of atrial fibrillation and myocardial infarction was higher; MMSE scores and ADL scores, albumin and creatinine clearance rate were lower in high NT-proBNP group than in low NT-proBNP group（all P<0.05). At 1-year follow-up, the incidence of composite endpoint events was significantly higher in high NT-proBNP group than in low NT-proBNP group（33.4%（105/314) vs. 24.8%（71/286), P = 0.02). Cardiovascular events were more common in high NT-proBNP group than in low NT-proBNP group（17.5%（55/314) vs. 8.4%（24/286), P = 0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed both composite endpoint events（Log-rank P=0.016) and cardiovascular events（Log-rank P=0.001) were higher in high NT-proBNP group than in low NT-proBNP group. All-cause mortality was also significantly higher in highNT-proBNP group than in lowNT-proBNP group（4.8%（15/314) vs. 1.4%（4/286), P = 0.020), and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated borderline statistical significance（Log-rank P = 0.052). Cox proportional hazard regression analysis showed that after adjusting for age, sex, creatinine clearance rate, myocardial infarction, and atrial fibrillation, NT-proBNP remained as an independent risk factor for composite endpoint events（HR=1.376，95%CI 1.049-1.806, P=0.021), and cardiovascular events（HR=1.777, 95%CI 1.185-2.664, P=0.005), but not for all-cause mortality（P=0.206). Conclusions: NT-proBNP level at admission has important predictive value on rehospitalization and cardiovascular events for hospitalized elderly non-heart failure patients. NT-proBNP examination is helpful for risk stratification in this patient cohort.

Cardiac autonomic nerve function in elderly patients with frailty / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective:To assess the cardiac autonomic nervous function in elderly patients with frailty.Methods:Patients aged ≥ 65 years old admitted in Beijing Hospital from September 2018 to August 2019 were enrolled in this study. Clinical frailty score was used to assess the frailty. The cardiac autonomic modulation was evaluated by sinus heart rate turbulence analysis through 24 h electrocardiogram recording.Results:A total of 129 elderly patients were finally enrolled in this study with a mean age of (77.5±6.4) years, 58.1% of them were male. There were 53 patients in frail group and 76 patients in non-frail group. The age of the frailty group was significantly higher than that of the non-frailty group [(80.5±5.5) vs.(75.3±6.2)]; the prevalence of hypertension [84.9%(45/53)], heart failure [32.1%(17/53)] and peripheral vascular diseases [32.1%(17/53)] in the frailty group was significantly higher than that in the non-frailty group [65.8%(50/76), 1.3%(1/76), 17.1%(13/76); t=5.001, χ 2=5.879, 24.606, 3.921; all P<0.05]. Compared with non-frailty group, turbulence onset (TO) [-0.05(-0.92, 0.82)% vs. -0.74(-1.58, 0)%; Z=2.616, P=0.009] was significantly higher in frailty group, while turbulence slope (TS) [2.34(1.30, 5.00)ms/RR vs. 4.34(2.66, 6.39)ms/RR; Z=-3.048, P=0.002] was significantly lower. The rate of TO abnormality [49.1% (26/53) vs. 26.3%(20/76), χ 2=7.038, P=0.008] and TS abnormality [34.7%(29/53) vs. 21.0%(16/76); χ 2=15.579, P<0.001] in the frailty group was significantly higher than that in the non-frailty group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that TO abnormality( OR=2.970, P=0.010, 95 %CI:1.300-6.785) and TS abnormality( OR=3.618, P=0.003, 95 %CI:1.565-8.364) were correlated with frailty. Conclusion:Cardiac autonomic nerve function may be impaired in elderly frail patients, and decreased vagal nerve tension may be presented.