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In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the cardioprotective effect of neoandrographolide (Neo) on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R) models and explore its possible mechanism. We randomly and equally divided male mice into sham‐operation, I/R, and I/R + Neo groups. H9C2 cell line and primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were induced into the simulated I/R's status and used to further validate the Neo's role in vitro. Heart systolic function, indexes of myocardial injury (IMI), infarct size, pathological change, cell apoptosis, inflammatory cytokines, and indexes related to apoptotic and NF‐κB signaling pathways were analyzed in vivo or in vitro after the Neo treatment. Compared to the I/R group, Neo significantly suppressed IMI, infarct size, inflammatory cell infiltration, cell apoptosis, inflammatory cytokines, bax, cleaved caspase‐3, P‐IKBa, and P‐NF‐κB protein expressions, and the translocation of NF‐kB subunit p65 from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in vivo or in vitro. Still, ejected fraction, fractional shortening, and the bcl‐2 protein expression were notably increased after the Neo treatment. Neo could be developed into a new drug for treating myocardial I/R by inhibiting myocardial inflammation and apoptosis, which was closely related to suppressing the activation of bax/bcl‐2 and NF‐κB signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading causes of death in China. Little is known about the CVD burden and risk factors in Henan Province, China. To analyze the CVD burden and main risk factors between 1990 and 2017 in the Henan Province in China. The methodological framework and analytical strategies adopted in the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 were used. (1) Age-standardized mortality rate attributed to CVDs increased from 355.0 per 100,000 persons in 1990 to 364.1 per 100,000 persons in 2017 in Henan. (2) Age-standardized disability adjusted life years (DALYs) rate fell by 3.9% from 1990 to 2017. However, the number of DALYs attributed to CVDs increased by 75.9% from 4.2 million person-years in 1990 to 7.3 million person-years in 2017. (3) The age-standardized years lived with disability (YLDs) rate increased by 27.5% from 1990 to 2017. However, years of life lost (YLLs) rate decreased by 6.7% from 1990 to 2017. The contribution of YLLs to the DALYs decreased from 91.4% in 1990 to 89.2% in 2017. (4) Stroke (52.3%) and ischemic heart diseases (38.8%) accounted for 91.1% of total CVDs DALYs among adults in 2017. (5) Dietary factors such as high intake of sodium, alcohol use and low intake of fruits, high systolic blood pressure, and tobacco use were the top risk factors for CVDs, and the estimated population attributable fraction in 2017 was 69.4%, 56.7% and 25.2%, respectively. The absolute burden of CVDs in Henan is still high, although age-standardized DALYs declined between 1990 and 2017. The prevention and control of stroke and ischemic heart diseases should focus on a few modifiable risk factors which mainly contributed to the burden of CVDs, such as dietary factors, high systolic blood pressure, and tobacco use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the association between blood pressure and all-cause mortality in Shanxi, China. The '2002 China Nutrition and Health Survey' baseline data in Shanxi province was used. A retrospective investigation was performed in 2015. The effects of SBP and DBP on the all-cause mortality were analyzed using the Cox regression model. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated by the sex and age groups. The follow-up rate was 76.52% over 13 years, while the cumulative mortality rate for all participants was 917.12/100,000 person-years. The mortality rose with an increasing SBP (χ2 trend = 270.537, P < 0.001) or DBP level (χ2 trend = 57.240, P < 0.001). After adjustment for the confounding factors, a significant association between mortality and high SBP (≥ 160 mmHg) and high DBP (≥ 100 mmHg), with adjusted HR ranging from 1.405- to 2.179-fold for SBP and 1.550- to 2.854-fold for DBP, was noted. Significant HRs for most DBP subgroups were found in > 60-year-old participants. Males with DBP ≥ 100 mmHg had a significantly higher mortality, with an HR (95% CI) of 2.715 (1.377–5.351). Adults with SBP > 160 mmHg and DBP > 100 mmHg had a higher mortality risk. Sex and age difference was noted in both DBP and mortality risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess the association of waist circumference (WC) with all-cause mortality among Chinese adults. The baseline data were from Shanxi Province of 2002 China Nutrition and Health Survey. The death investigation and follow-up visit were conducted from December 2015 to March 2016. The visits covered up to 5,360 of 7,007 participants, representing a response rate of 76.5%. The Cox regression model and floating absolute risk were used to estimate hazard ratio and 95% floating CI of death by gender and age groups (≥ 60 and < 60 years old). Sensitivity analysis was performed by excluding current smokers; participants with stroke, hypertension, and diabetes; participants who accidentally died; and participants who died during the first 2 years of follow-up. This study followed 67,129 person-years for 12.5 years on average, including 615 deaths. The mortality density was 916 per 100,000 person-years. Low WC was associated with all-cause mortality among men. Multifactor-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) were 1.60 (1.35–1.90) for WC < 75.0 cm and 1.40 (1.11–1.76) for WC ranging from 75.0 cm to 79.9 cm. Low WC (< 70.0 cm and 70.0–74.9 cm) and high WC (≥ 95.0 cm) groups had a high risk of mortality among women. The adjusted HR s of death were 1.43 (1.11–1.83), 1.39 (1.05–1.84), and 1.91 (1.13–3.22). WC was an important predictor of death independent of body mass index (BMI). WC should be used as a simple rapid screening and predictive indicator of the risk of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity is recognized as a significant risk factor for diabetes and hypertension. The present study aimed to examine the associations between adults' obesity risk and childhood and parental obesity. A total of 204 children aged 6-17 years were recruited in 2002 with an average follow-up period of 13.2 years. Height and body weight were measured by trained staffs. Overweight and obesity were defined based on the Chinese standard for children and adults. T-test, analysis of variance, and Chi-square analysis were used for single factor analysis. Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were used to perform multifactor analysis. The percentage of non-obese children who grew up to be non-obese adults was 62.6%, and that of obese children who grew up to be obese adults was 80.0%. There was a significant association between childhood body mass index (BMI) and adulthood BMI with a β regression coefficient of 3.76 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.36-6.16], and between childhood obesity and adulthood obesity with an odds ratio of 5.76 (95% CI : 1.37-24.34). There was no statistical difference between parental obesity at baseline and children's adulthood obesity, after adjustment of confounders. Male participants and those aged 10.0-13.0 years had a higher risk of adulthood obesity with odds ratios of 2.50 (95% CI : 1.12-5.26) and 3.62 (95% CI : 1.17-11.24), respectively. Childhood obesity is an important predictor of adulthood obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid and simple short-end injection microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) method was developed for the routine analysis of alpinetin and cardamonin in Alpinia katsumadai Hayata in combination with microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). The key parameters affecting separation and extraction were investigated and optimized. The optimal MAE was performed at 800 W for 12 min with 100% ethanol as the extraction solvent, which gave a better extraction efficiency and required a significantly shorter time than conventional heat reflux extraction (HRE) and ultrasonic extraction (USE). When this detection system based on ethyl acetate oil-based MEEKC and short-end injection was applied, the analysis was completed in less than 1.5 min. In the method validation, the relative standard deviations of the migration times and peak areas of the two constituents were 0.74, 1.86% for alpinetin and 0.63, 2.05% for cardamonin, respectively. The recoveries ranged from 94.6 to 105.8%. Compared with previously reported methods, the present method offers a dramatic decrease in overall analysis time, and has the further advantages of easy operation and low running costs. Graphical abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To retrospectively investigate the nutritional risk and nutritional support treatments hospitalized patients with gastric cancer in Tumor Hospital of Yunnan Province, from January 1, 1998 to June 30, 2011. Methods The questionnaire of NRS2002 was used to screen the nutritional risk in patients with gastric cancer, and investigate the nutritional support treatment in these patients. Results (1) A total of 320 patients with gastric cancer had nutritional risk. (2) The levels of serum albumin were not always lower in those patients with nutritional risk; the proportion of these patients with lower normal body mass index (BMI) was significantly higher than those patients without nutritional risk, while some patients with nutritional risk had normal body ma index (BMI); There was no statistical significant difference in nutritional risk between different genders (P = 0.149); There was statistical significant difference in nutritional risk between different TNM stages (P = 0.030), and between different ages (< 60 vs. ≥ = 60 years P = 0.009) .43% patients with nutritional risk were not given nutrition support treatment, but 10% patients without nutritional risk accepted nutrition support treatment. The main ways of nutrition support treatment were parenteral nutrition (PN), enteral nutrition (EN), or parenteral nutrition and enteral nutrition (PN + EN). Conclusions (1) The hospitalized patients with gastric cancer have high incidence of nutritional risk and nutritional risk screening should be usually used to those patients. (2) The levels of serum protein and BMI can't predict nutritional risk. Aged and advanced stage patients have higher incidence of nutritional risk. (3) Nutrition support treatment remains to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The incidence and burden of stroke in China is increasing rapidly. However, little is known about trends in mortality during stroke hospitalization. The objectives of this study were to assess trends of in-hospital mortality among patients with stroke and explore influence factors of in-hospital death after stroke in China. Methods: 109 grade III class A hospitals were sampled by multistage stratified cluster sampling. All patients admitted to hospitals between 2007 and 2010 with a discharge diagnosis of stroke were included. Trends in in-hospital mortality among patients with stroke were assessed. Influence factors of in-hospital death after stroke were explored using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Overall stroke hospitalizations increased from 79,894 in 2007 to 85,475 in 2010, and in-hospital mortality of stroke decreased from 3.16% to 2.30% (P<0.0001). The percentage of severe patients increased while odds of mortality (2010 versus 2007) decreased regardless of stroke type: subarachnoid hemorrhage (OR 0.792, 95% CI = 0.636 to 0.987), intracerebral hemorrhage (OR 0.647, 95% CI = 0.591 to 0.708), and ischemic stroke (OR 0.588, 95% CI = 0.532 to 0.649). In multivariable analyses, older age, male, basic health insurance, multiple comorbidities and severity of disease were linked to higher odds of in-hospital mortality. Conclusions: The mortality of stroke hospitalizations decreased likely reflecting advancements in stroke care and prevention. Decreasing of mortality with increasing of severe stroke patients indicated that we should pay more attention to rehabilitation and life quality of stroke patients. Specific individual and hospital-level characteristics may be targets for facilitating further declines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial infection and osseointegration of implant-biomaterials all play important roles in the success of an orthopedic prosthesis or a dental-implant. In this work, we evaluated the osteogenic gene expression of canine bone marrow stromal cells (CBMSCs) and the adhesion of Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 12598) on different diameter TiO2 nanotube layers. The CBMSCs cultured on 30 and 70 nm nanotubes displayed polygon shape, but obviously elongated when the diameter of nanotubes turned to 120 nm. A significant increase in CBMSCs proliferation by as much as about ∼300%, and osteogenic gene (RUNX-2, OPN, COL-1, and OCN) expression were observed on the 120 nm diameter nanotubes when compared to the smooth Ti. However, the adhesion of bacteria also increased with an increased tube diameter and reached highest value on 120 nm nanotubes after 4 h of incubation. ∼300-400% increase in bacterial attached to 120 nm nanotubes in contract to the smooth Ti. These data suggested reducing bacteria colonization should be considered when larger diameter nanotubes with better osteogenic property would be used as orthopedic implants or dental implants. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The current study aimed at undertaking an investigation to describe health-related quality of life (HRQL) in Chinese people, with a Mandarin version of the 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36) validated. Methods: A total of 3,219 respondents were successfully interviewed under a randomized stratified multi-stage sampling design from April 2007 to January 2008 in five cities of mainland China. Self-finished interview method was applied and the Mandarin version of SF-36 was used for assessing HRQL. Results: As a result, the reliability and validity of SF-36 were acceptable, although some deviations from the hypothesized model still existed. The Chinese population scored higher than other populations in five of the eight SF-36 scales and Chinese men scored higher than women in six of the eight SF-36 scales. Conclusions: Basically, the Mandarin version of SF-36 is a reliable instrument, although minor modifications are needed. The health-related quality of life in Chinese people were quite high based on the sample of five cities in China; further research is needed to establish the countrywide norm of health-related quality of life in mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• New hyperbolic tangent formula for vegetated mixing layer is proposed. • A formula to predict flow velocity at vegetation top is built. • These new formulae are proved to be effective for various types of vegetation. Flow velocity profile in the vegetal mixing layer was investigated using data collected in the present experiments and those reported in the literature, which indicates that the inflection point of the velocity profile does not coincide with the middle position of the vegetal mixing layer. Aiming to solve this problem, the hyperbolic tangent formula that is applicable to the plane mixing layer is modified by revising the inflection point and applying different characteristic scales in the free flow and penetration regions. For the problem of predicting flow velocity on top of vegetation, we constructed a new calculation method for flow velocity on top of vegetation based on correlation analysis. The proposed formula yields significant improvements in representing measured velocity profiles in the vegetated open channel flows. In comparison with previous ones, the modified formula performs better in exhibiting the similarity of measured velocity profiles over a wide range of flow and vegetation conditions. The research results provide technical support for the high precision calculation of the vegetated mixing layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel N/O functional reticulated TAPT-DMTA-COF was prepared. • PBDEs are captured by electronegative N/O atoms of TAPT-DMTA-COF by halogen bond. • An in-depth understanding of adsorption mechanism was elucidated by DFT study. • This d-SPE technique was used to quantify PBEDs in environmental and food samples. Food and environmental safety issues attributable to the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are gaining increasing attention, and these urge us to establish a high-performance sample-handling technique. In this study, an outstanding adsorption performance with short adsorption time (10 min) was achieved for PBDEs using a novel synthesized dispersive solid-phase extraction adsorbent, a reticulated covalent organic framework with N/O functional groups (i.e., imine linkage, triazine, and methoxy) (TAPT–DMTA–COF). By conducting sufficient experimentation and theoretical simulation on adsorption mechanism, the halogen bond between electronegative N/O atoms of TAPT–DMTA–COF and the electropositive Br atoms of PBDEs were observed to play a more pivotal role than π–π, C–H...π interactions, and hydrophobic effects. Furthermore, the positive linear relation between calculated adsorption energy and Br content directly clarified that enrichment behavior of PBDEs can be attributed to halogen bonding. These data implied that integrated nanostructure (i.e., N/O functional groups and reticulated architecture) effectively enhanced adsorption capacity. In case of PBDE analysis, this approach achieved excellent results with low limits of detection (0.03−0.13 ng L–1). Finally, the promising potential applications of aforementioned method were verified by spiking water, fish, and milk samples with PBDEs; good PBDEs recoveries were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Far-red to near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes with absorption and emission in the spectral region of 600–900 nm are of high interest because of their low autofluorescence interference, deep-tissue penetration, and minimal photodamage to biological samples. In recent years, the Si-substituted xanthenes have attracted considerable attention owing to their remarkable far-red to NIR photophysical properties and biocompatible characteristics. This paper reviews the synthetic methods of silicon-substituted xanthene dyes and the progress in the development of far-red to NIR fluorescent probes based on these dyes, and introduces representative chemosensors along with their fluorescent behavior toward specific analytes. The fluorescent probes in sensing various biological species, including metal ions and anions, intracellular pH changes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), as well as enzymes and other related species, were summarized. The sensing mechanisms and applications of corresponding sensors are also discussed. • The near-infrared fluorescent probes in sensing various species are summarized. • The synthetic approaches for silicon-substituted xanthene dyes are outlined. • The sensing mechanisms and applications of sensors are discussed. • Future trends and prospects of Si-xanthene based probes are envisaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]