ABSTRACT
The main lysosomal protease cathepsin D (cathD) is essential for maintaining tissue homeostasis via its degradative function, and its loss leads to ceroid accumulation in the mammalian nervous system, which results in progressive neurodegeneration. Increasing evidence implies non-proteolytic roles of cathD in regulating various biological processes such as apoptosis, cell proliferation, and migration. Along these lines, we here showed that cathD is required for modulating dendritic architecture in the nervous system independent of its traditional degradative function. Upon cathD depletion, class I and class III arborization (da) neurons in Drosophila larvae exhibited aberrant dendritic morphology, including over-branching, aberrant turning, and elongation defects. Re-introduction of wild-type cathD or its proteolytically-inactive mutant dramatically abolished these morphological defects. Moreover, cathD knockdown also led to dendritic defects in the adult mushroom bodies, suggesting that cathD-mediated processes are required in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Taken together, our results demonstrate a critical role of cathD in shaping dendritic architecture independent of its proteolytic function.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of different serum sodium levels on heart function and prognosis in very elderly patients with heart failure. Methods Totally 152 elderly patients(aged ≥ 85 years)with hyponatremia were enrolled.Based on the serum sodium level ,they were divided into mild(125 mmol/L ≤ Na+ < 135 mmol/L) ,moderate(125 mmol/L ≤ Na+ < 135 mmol/L) ,and severe hyponatremia(Na+ < 115 mmol/L)groups ,and 76 patients with normal blood sodium level(Na+ ≥ 135 mmol/L)were selected as control group. The general data ,levels of serum creatinine and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP)and prognosis were compared among the above groups. Results Compared with the control group ,patients with severe hyponatremia were much older ,with more diuretics administration ,higher level of serum creatinine , lowerlevelofeGFRandleftventricularejectionfractions[(38.1±3.9)％ vs.(45.2±9.7)％ ].There were higher incidences of coronary atherosclerotic heart disease [72.4％ (n=21)vs. 56.6％ (n=43)] ,diabetes[41.4％ (n=12)vs. 23.7％ (n=18)] ,chronic renal insufficiency [22.6％ (n=8)vs. 11.8％ (n=9)] ,stroke[20.6％ (n=6)vs. 9.2％ (n=7)]in patients with severe hyponatremia compared with other groups. The severe hyponatremia group showed significantly higher levels of NTproBNP [(4823. 9 ± 588. 1 )ng/L v s. (1124. 4 ± 349. 1 )ng/L ,(1836. 2 ± 369. 3 )ng/L ,(2894. 1 ± 687. 3 )ng/L ]and higher rates of mortality [27.6％ (n=8) vs.5.3％ (n=4) ,7.6％ (n=6) ,13.6％ (n=6)]as compared to the control group ,mild and moderate hyponatremia groups. Furthermore ,length of stay in hospital were markedly longer in patients with severe hyponatremia than those with mild and moderate hyponatremia[(11.1 ± 7.1)d vs. (19.6 ± 5.7)d ,(16.1 ± 4.2)d] . Conclusions Hyponatremia is a common type of electrolyte disorder in very elderly patients with heart failure ,and severe hyponatremia may predictand increased risk of death.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the influencing factors on serum homocysteine level in healthy retired-elderly people in Tianjin,in order to provide theoretical basis and guidance for clinical intervention therapy.Methods A total of 184 participants meeting the standard of Chinese healthy elderly people (2013) were selected from 1247 retired-elderly people who took healthy physical examination in three grade Ⅲ-A hospitals in Tianjin from June to August in 2014.They were divided into two groups based on plasma Hcy level:hyper-homocystinemia group (≥15 μmol/L) and normal plasma Hcy level group (＜15μmol/L).The influencing factors on plasma Hcy level were analyzed by multiple stepwise regression and logistic regression analysis.Results The proportion of healthy retired-elderly people accounted for 14.76 ％,with men at 82.61％ and women at 17.39 ％,mean age (78.37±6.88) years.The Hcy level was higher in healthy males than in healthy females [(16.90± 6.86) μmol/L vs.(12.89 ± 5.97) μmol/L,P＜0.005].The proportion of people with hyper-homocystinemia accounted for 45.65％,and the mean Hcy concentration was (21.39±6.98) μmol/L.The age of people with hyper-homocystinemia was higher than that with normal Hcy [(80.58±6.09) years vs.(76.56±7.04) years,P＜0.005].There were no statistically significant differences in blood pressure,lipid and blood glucose levels and the proportion of patients with coronary heart disease,hypertension,type 2 diabetes mellitus,gout,periodontitis and other diseases between the two groups (all P＞0.05).Spearman correlation analysis showed that the level of serum Hcy was positively correlated with serum uric acid levels (P=0.000).Multiple stepwise regression and logistic regression analysis showed that age,gender and serum uric acid level were risk factors for plasma Hcy level in healthy elderly people.Conclusions Age,gender and serum uric acid level are risk factors for serum Hey level in healthy elderly people.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the pattern of antihypertensive medication prescribing in outpatients from the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, and analyze the shortcoming and deficiency compared with 2010 Chinese guidelines for the management of hypertension. Methods A total of 154 262 electronic prescribing for outpatients with hy-pertension, from January-December 2012 in a Grade 3A hospital in Tianjin, were enrolled in this retrospective survey. Data of commonly used antihypertensive medication and combination therapy in patients were analyzed. The patient data collected were divided into different groups according to age, gender, high blood pressure level and the onset of the season. Results (1)The list of the drugs commonly used for treating hypertension in outpatients were calcium antagonist (52.3%), angiotensin receptor blockers (34.0%),βblockers (25.9%), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (12.1%), fixed-dose combination (11.0%) and diuretics (1.4%).(2)The fewer combination therapy was found in outpatients than that of monotherapy (43.9%vs 56.1%). Some prescriptions were not routinely recommended by the Guideline (4.6%).(3)The combination therapy used in patients with stage 3 hypertension was higher than that of patients with stage 1or stage 2 hypertension (44.5%vs 37.7%vs 37.7%, P<0.01). The rate of combination therapy was significantly higher in cardiology department than that of other clini-cal departments (P<0.01). The combination therapy tended to be used in the elderly patients than that of non-elderly pa-tients (P<0.01). The number of prescriptions was lower in summer than that of other seasons,but the rate of combination therapy was higher in summer than that of spring, autumn and winter (P<0.01). Conclusion The prescriptions of combina-tion therapy and diuretic were inadequate in outpatients with hypertension. These findings indicate the difference between clinical prescription and the guideline for the management of hypertension.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the correlative factors affecting the plasma D-dimer level in elderly patients. Methods Five hundred and seventy-eight hospitalized elderly patients were included in this study. All participants were di-vided into normal group (＜0.4 mg/L) and elevated group (≥0.4 mg/L) according to the plasma D-dimer value,which was mea-sured by automated quantitative turbidimetric latex agglutination test. The differences in clinical indicators were compared be-tween two groups. The factors leading to the increased plasma levels of D-dimer in elderly patients were also analyzed. Results It was found that the patient age, C-reactive protein, prothrombin time, proportions of type 2 diabetes mellitus, ma-lignant tumor, bacterial pneumonia and (or) acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis were significant higher in elevated group than those of normal group (P＜0.05), but the levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were lower in elevated group than those of normal group (P＜0.05). There was a positive correlation between serum level of D-dimer and age, C-reactive protein (r=0.254 and 0.265, P ＜ 0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that the factors affecting plasma D-dimer level of elderly patients were aging, elevated C-reactive protein level, existing of malignant tumor, type 2 dia-betes mellitus, and bacterial pneumonia and (or) acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis. Conclusion Aging, existing of type 2 diabetes mellitus, malignant tumor, or acute inflammatory state were the important factors leading elevated plasma D-dimer levels in elderly patients.