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Limited information is available on the relationship between metabolic syndrome and stroke in the Chinese population. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the Chinese population and the relationship between stroke and metabolic syndrome in that population. 2,173 subjects aged 45 years and above without a history of stroke were recruited from six communities in Chongqing city, China. The participants were followed for incident stroke events (ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke) for 5 years. Incidence rates and hazard ratios (HRs) for both subtypes of stroke were stratified by the presence or absence of metabolic syndrome and by each component. Among the subjects, women had a higher prevalence rate of metabolic syndrome than men (26 vs. 19%). As the number of metabolic syndrome components increased, HRs increased significantly, up to 5.1 (95% CI, 1.9–7.4) for ischemic stroke and 3.3 (95% CI, 1.7–5.7) for hemorrhagic stroke. We found that abdominal obesity had the highest HR (2.12, P < 0.001) for ischemic stroke, followed by metabolic syndrome (HR 1.65, P < 0.001). For hemorrhagic stroke, high blood pressure had the highest HR (2.17, P < 0.001), followed by abdominal obesity (HR 1.83, P < 0.001). After 5-year follow-up, the survival rates of stroke events were 94.2% among those with metabolic syndrome and 96.9% among those without. As the number of metabolic syndrome components increased, survival rates decreased progressively, from 99.6% for individuals with none of the components to 90.1% for those with four to five components. The results showed that metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent among the Chinese adult population and is associated with an increased risk for both ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dehydroandrographolide succinate (DAS) injection, which was approved in China for the treatment of viral pneumonia and upper respiratory tract infections, is often off-label used for nebulization therapy to avoid the adverse drug reactions associated with the injection. However, the aerodynamic properties and pulmonary fate of nebulized DAS was largely uninvestigated. In this study, the main objectives were to evaluate the in vitro aerodynamic deposition profiles of nebulizer generated aerosols and comparatively investigate the local drug availability and anti-inflammatory efficacy of DAS between intratracheal and intravenous dosing. The in vitro evaluation of aerodynamic characteristics and droplet size distribution showed more than 50% aerosol particles with size being <5 μm, allowing the aerosols to reach the lower respiratory tract. Following intratracheal administration, the drug underwent pulmonary absorption into the bloodstream, rendering an absolute bioavailability of 47.3%. Compared to the intravenous delivery, the intratracheal administration dramatically increased the drug availability in the lung tissue in rats by more than 80-fold, leading to an improved and prolonged local anti-inflammatory efficacy in a lipopolysaccharide induced lung injury model in mice. The present results demonstrated that inhalation delivery of DAS is a convenient and effective alternative to intravenous injections. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]