Non-pharmacological interventions to improve mental health outcomes among female carers of people living with a neurological condition: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: This systematic review aims to examine the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for improving mental health outcomes among female carers of people living with a neurological condition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A narrative synthesis of English-language randomized controlled trials was undertaken. RESULTS: 18 unique studies were included. Intervention components that were found to have improved mental health outcomes were: delivered in person, to groups, on an intermittent schedule with ≥10 sessions; had a duration between 3-6 months; and were facilitated by research staff or allied health professionals. As the review had few robust studies, results of mental health outcomes reported in studies assessed as low risk of bias were highlighted in the review. Psychoeducation interventions, cognitive behavioural interventions, and support group interventions were found to improve depression. Psychoeducation interventions were also found to improve burden. CONCLUSIONS: There is a clear need for adequately powered, high-quality randomised controlled trials to determine the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for female carers of people living with a neurological condition.

Female carers experience worse mental health and well-being outcomes and are at a higher risk of developing chronic health issues compared to their male counterparts.This review identified only very few, generally small, randomised controlled trials of non-pharmacological interventions in female carers of patients with neurological conditions.Interventions that provide psychoeducation, are group-based, face-to-face, and have an intervention duration between >3 months and <6 months, may be successful in improving some mental health outcomes, such as depression and coping.

Survival impact of post-operative immunotherapy in resected stage III cutaneous melanomas in the checkpoint era.

BACKGROUND: Checkpoint inhibitors have shown improvement in recurrence-free survival in the post-operative setting for node-positive melanoma and were first approved in late 2015. However, single-agent checkpoint therapies have yet to show benefit to overall survival (OS) for lower-risk stage III cancers. We evaluated the OS benefit of post-operative immunotherapy in the National Cancer Database (NCDB). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patient cases were selected from the NCDB 2020 Participant Use File. Patients diagnosed with stage III cutaneous melanoma between 2016 and 2019 who underwent definitive resection for their melanoma were included. OS between those who received post-operative immunotherapy within 84 days of surgery and those who did not was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Demographic and clinical characteristics between the two groups were compared via Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: 14 978 patients with stage III melanoma were included. Of those, 34.9% (n = 5234) received post-operative immunotherapy and 65.1% (n = 9744) did not. Using the American Joint Committee on Cancer version 8 (AJCCv8) staging, 36-month survival was significantly higher in patients who received post-operative immunotherapy compared to no post-operative systemic therapy in those diagnosed with stage IIIB (88.0% versus 84.7%, P = 0.011), IIIC (75.6% versus 68.1%, P < 0.001), or IIID (59.2% versus 48.4%, P = 0.002). No significant improvement in 36-month survival was seen in patients who received post-operative immunotherapy in patients with stage IIIA disease (93.0% versus 92.2%, P = 0.218). CONCLUSIONS: Post-operative immunotherapy had an OS benefit in patients with AJCCv8 stage IIIB, IIIC, and IIID disease, but had no significant survival benefit for patients with stage IIIA melanomas.

Cost-effectiveness of a real-time spatiotemporal mapping surveillance system for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus prevention.

OBJECTIVES: An infection surveillance system based on a hospital's digital twin [4D-Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (4D-DOSS)] is being developed in Singapore. It offers near-real-time infection surveillance and mapping capabilities. This early economic modelling study was conducted, using meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as the pathogen of interest, to assess the potential cost-effectiveness of 4D-DOSS. METHODS: A Markov model that simulates the likelihood of MRSA colonization and infection was developed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of adopting 4D-DOSS for MRSA surveillance from the hospital perspective, compared with current practice. The cycle duration was 1 day, and the model horizon was 30 days. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted, and the probability of cost-effectiveness was reported. Scenario analyses and a value of information analysis were performed. RESULTS: In the base-case scenario, with 10-year implementation/maintenance costs of 4D-DOSS of $0, there was 68.6% chance that 4D-DOSS would be cost-effective. In a more pessimistic but plausible scenario where the effectiveness of 4D-DOSS in reducing MRSA transmission was one-quarter of the base-case scenario with 10-year implementation/maintenance costs of $1 million, there was 47.7% chance that adoption of 4D-DOSS would be cost-effective. The value of information analysis showed that uncertainty in MRSA costs made the greatest contribution to model uncertainty. CONCLUSIONS: This early-stage modelling study revealed the circumstances for which 4D-DOSS is likely to be cost-effective at the current willingness-to-pay threshold, and identified the parameters for which further research will be worthwhile to reduce model uncertainty. Inclusion of other drug-resistant organisms will provide a more thorough assessment of the cost-effectiveness of 4D-DOSS.

Newer therapeutic approaches towards the management of diabetes mellitus: an update.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic condition characterized by an elevation of blood glucose levels, resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. The prevalence of the disease has been rapidly rising all over the globe at an alarming rate. Despite advances in the management of diabetes mellitus, it remains a growing epidemic that has become a significant public health burden due to its high healthcare costs and its complications. There is no cure has yet been found for the disease, however, treatment modalities include insulin and antidiabetic agents along with lifestyle modifications are still the mainstay of therapy for diabetes mellitus. The treatment spectrum for the management of diabetes mellitus has rapidly developed in recent years, with new class of therapeutics and expanded indications. This article focused on the emerging therapeutic approaches other than the conventional pharmacological therapies, which include stem cell therapy, gene therapy, siRNA, nanotechnology and theranostics.

Prospective associations of circulating thrombospondin-2 level with heart failure hospitalization, left ventricular remodeling and diastolic function in type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Circulating thrombospondin-2 (TSP2) levels were associated with the development of heart failure (HF) in recent studies. However, these studies included only a minority of patients with type 2 diabetes, which is associated with an increased HF risk. As hyperglycemia induces TSP2 expression and its tissue expression increases in type 2 diabetes, we investigated the prospective association of circulating TSP2 with incident HF hospitalization (HHF), and its associations with longitudinal changes of echocardiographic parameters in type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Baseline serum TSP2 levels were measured in 4949 patients with type 2 diabetes to determine its association with incident HHF using multivariable Cox regression analysis. In the echocardiographic study, baseline serum TSP2 levels were measured in another 146 patients with type 2 diabetes but without cardiovascular diseases who underwent detailed transthoracic echocardiography at baseline and after 1 year. RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 7.8 years, 330 of 4949 patients (6.7%) developed incident HHF. Baseline serum TSP2 levels were independently associated with the development of HHF (HR 1.31, 95%CI 1.06-1.62, p = 0.014) after adjustments for baseline conventional cardiovascular risk factors, atrial fibrillation, estimated glomerular filtration rate, albuminuria and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level, use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, loop-diuretics, aspirin, insulin, metformin and sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors. Moreover, baseline serum TSP2 levels were independently associated with increase in average E/e' and left atrial volume index (p = 0.04 and < 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSION: Serum TSP2 levels were independently associated with both incident HHF and deterioration in diastolic function in type 2 diabetes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not Applicable.

Development of a prediction score (ThyroCOVID) for identifying abnormal thyroid function in COVID-19 patients.

PURPOSE: Thyroid dysfunction in COVID-19 carries clinical and prognostic implications. In this study, we developed a prediction score (ThyroCOVID) for abnormal thyroid function (TFT) on admission amongst COVID-19 patients. METHODS: Consecutive COVID-19 patients admitted to Queen Mary Hospital were prospectively recruited during July 2020-May 2021. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4) and free triiodothyronine (fT3) were measured on admission. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify independent determinants of abnormal TFTs. ThyroCOVID was developed based on a clinical model with the lowest Akaike information criteria. RESULTS: Five hundred and forty six COVID-19 patients were recruited (median age 50 years, 45.4% men, 72.9% mild disease on admission). 84 patients (15.4%) had abnormal TFTs on admission. Patients with abnormal TFTs were more likely to be older, have more comorbidities, symptomatic, have worse COVID-19 severity, higher SARS-CoV-2 viral loads and more adverse profile of acute-phase reactants, haematological and biochemical parameters. ThyroCOVID consisted of five parameters: symptoms (malaise), comorbidities (ischaemic heart disease/congestive heart failure) and laboratory parameters (lymphocyte count, C-reactive protein, and SARS-CoV-2 cycle threshold values). It was able to identify abnormal TFT on admission with an AUROC of 0.73 (95% CI 0.67-0.79). The optimal cut-off of 0.15 had a sensitivity of 75.0%, specificity of 65.2%, negative predictive value of 93.5% and positive predictive value of 28.1% in identifying abnormal TFTs on admission amongst COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSION: ThyroCOVID, a prediction score to identify COVID-19 patients at risk of having abnormal TFT on admission, was developed based on a cohort of predominantly non-severe COVID-19 patients.

A discussion on the minimum required number of tests in two common pooling test methods for SARS-CoV-2.

Pooling of samples in detecting the presence of virus is an effective and efficient strategy in screening carriers in a large population with low infection rate, leading to reduction in cost and time. There are a number of pooling test methods, some being simple and others being complicated. In such pooling tests, the most important parameter to decide is the pool or group size, which can be optimised mathematically. Two pooling methods are relatively simple. The minimum numbers required in these two tests for a population with known infection rate are discussed and compared. Results are useful for identifying asymptomatic carriers in a short time and in implementing health codes systems.

A discussion on implementing pooling detection tests of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) for a large population.

A pooled sample analysis strategy for novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)) is proposed for a large population in this paper. The population to be tested is divided into divisions based on earlier observed detection rate of SARS-CoV-2 first. Samples collected are then grouped in appropriate pooled size. The number of tests per person in that population is expressed as a function of two variables: the observed detection rate and the pooled size or number of samples grouped. The minimum number of tests per person can be further shown to be a function of only one of these two variables, because these two parameters are found to be related at this minimum. A management scheme on grouping the samples is proposed in order to reduce the number of tests, to save time, which is of utmost importance in fighting an epidemic. The proposed testing scheme will be useful for supporting the government in making decisions to handle regular routine detection tests for identifying asymptomatic patients and implementing health code system in large population of millions of citizens. Another important point is to use smaller number of test kits, allowing more resources to speed up the mass screening tests, particularly in places not so rich.

Upskilling the surgical workforce for vascular access provision during the COVID-19 pandemic - The Salisbury experience.

A vascular access device is defined as a catheter inserted into veins allowing fluids and medicines to be delivered intravenously1. The need for such devices in acutely unwell patients has remained steady throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe here our experience of up-skilling the resident plastic surgery and maxillofacial surgical registrars to provide a vascular access service to reduce the workload on our intensive care colleagues. We hope that our practice and an 'all hands on deck' approach to the utilisation of baseline skills within the existing workforce will inform other departments to help ease the burden on critical care departments as we progress through the next stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Potential role of fibroblast growth factor 21 in the deterioration of bone quality in impaired glucose tolerance.

PURPOSE: Findings on trabecular bone score (TBS), an index of bone quality, have been reported in prediabetes defined by impaired fasting glucose or HbA1c. Here, we assessed the bone mineral density (BMD) and TBS in prediabetes individuals with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and investigated the association of these bone parameters with serum levels of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), a hormone implicated in bone metabolism and with higher levels in IGT. METHODS: Chinese postmenopausal women aged 55-80 years, without diabetes, were recruited from the Hong Kong Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence Study in 2016-2018. Normal glucose tolerance (NGT) was defined by fasting glucose < 5.6 mmol/L and 2-h plasma glucose (2hG) < 7.8 mmol/L, and IGT by 2hG 7.8-11 mmol/L. Serum levels of FGF21 and other bone metabolism regulators were measured. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by the Matsuda index. Independent determinants of TBS were evaluated using multivariable stepwise linear regression. RESULTS: 173 individuals with NGT and 73 with IGT were included. TBS was lower in those with IGT compared to those with NGT, while BMD was comparable. Individuals with IGT had significantly higher serum FGF21 levels, which in turn showed an independent inverse relationship with TBS, attenuated after inclusion of the Matsuda index. Serum FGF21 levels, however, did not correlate with BMD. CONCLUSION: Among Chinese postmenopausal women, bone quality was worse in IGT, despite comparable bone density. FGF21 levels showed a significant independent inverse relationship with TBS, partly attributed to insulin resistance. Whether FGF21 contributes to the impaired bone quality in IGT remains speculative.

Trajectories of large respiratory droplets in indoor environment: A simplified approach.

The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has brought about tremendous impact on every aspect of human activities all over the world. The main route of transmission is believed to be through coronavirus-bearing respiratory droplets. The respiratory droplets have a wide spectrum in droplet size, ranging from very small droplets (aerosol droplets) to large droplets of tens and even hundreds of µm in size. The large droplets are expected to move like projectiles under the action of gravity force, buoyancy force and air resistance. Droplet motion is complicated by droplet evaporation, which reduces droplet size in its trajectory and affects the force acting on it. The present work attempts to determine the trajectories of the large droplets by using a simplified single-droplet approach. It aims at providing a clear physical picture to elucidate the mechanics involved in single droplet motion and the various factors affecting the range. Assuming an indoor environment with an air temperature of 18 °C and relative humidity of 50%, the horizontal range L x of large respiratory droplets (diameter 120 µm-200 µm) in common respiratory activities are as follows: Speaking, L x ≈ 0.16 m-0.68 m, coughing, L x ≈ 0.58 m-1.09 m, and sneezing, L x ≈ 1.34 m-2.76 m. For the smaller droplets (diameter < 100 µm), the droplets are reduced to aerosol droplets (≤5 µm) due to evaporation, and will remain suspended in the air instead of falling onto the ground like a projectile.

Antiretroviral Adherence, Drug Resistance, and the Impact of Social Determinants of Health in HIV-1 Patients in the US.

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is critical to achieving viral suppression. However, social determinants of health (SDoH) can undermine patient adherence to ART, resulting in drug resistance that compromises future treatment options. We assessed ART adherence and HIV-1 drug resistance at the national and state levels in the US and investigated their associations with SDoH and other HIV-related outcomes. Data were obtained from Symphony Health's Integrated Dataverse (IDV), Monogram/LabCorp Database, as well as national and publicly available databases, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Community Survey (ACS), and J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). Inferential analyses were performed to investigate associations using patient-level data, and the results were reported by state and overall within the nation. Correlations between continuous variables were estimated by the Spearman's test, and that between continuous variable and categorical variable were estimated using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). State-level rates of poor adherence and resistance ranged from 26 to 55% and 20 to 54%, respectively. Female gender, non-white race, low education, poverty, and unemployment were associated with poor adherence; female gender was associated with drug resistance. Both adherence and resistance were correlated to HIV prevalence rates. Our findings suggest that US patients living with HIV face great challenges associated with poor ART adherence and HIV-1 drug resistance.

Impaired cerebral blood flow in type 2 diabetes mellitus - A comparative study with subjective cognitive decline, vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease subjects.

The link between non-demented type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and different types of cognitive impairment is controversial. By controlling for co-morbidities such as cerebral macrovascular and microvascular changes, cerebral atrophy, amyloid burden, hypertension or hyperlipidemia, the current study investigated the cerebral blood flow of T2DM individuals as compared to cognitively impaired subjects recruited from a memory clinic. 15 healthy control (71.8 ± 6.1 years), 18 T2DM (62.5 ± 3.7 years), as well as 8 Subjective Cognitive Decline (69.5 ± 7.5 years), 12 Vascular Dementia (79.3 ± 4.2 years) and 17 Alzheimer's Disease (75.1 ± 8.2 years) underwent multi-parametric MRI brain scanning. Subjects with T2DM and from the memory clinic also had 18-F Flutametamol PET-CT scanning to look for any amyloid burden. Pseudocontinuous Arterial Spin Labeling (PCASL), MR Angiography Head, 3D FLAIR and 3D T1-weighted sequences were used to quantify cerebral blood flow, cerebrovascular changes, white matter hyperintensities and brain atrophy respectively. Vascular risk factors were retrieved from the medical records. The 37 subjects from memory clinic were classified into subjective cognitive decline (SCD), vascular dementia (VD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) subgroups by a multi-disciplinary panel consisting of a neuroradiologist, and 2 geriatricians. Absolute cortical CBF in our cohort of T2DM, SCD, VD and AD was significantly decreased (p < 0.01) as compared to healthy controls (HC) in both whole brain and eight paired brain regions, after age, normalized grey matter volume and gender adjustment and Bonferroni correction. Subgroup analysis between T2DM, SCD, VD, and AD revealed that CBF of T2DM was not significantly different from AD, VD or SCD. By controlling for co-morbidities, impaired cortical CBF in T2DM was not related to microangiopathy or amyloid deposition, but to the interaction of triple risk factors (such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia). There was statistically significant negative correlation (p ≤ 0.05) between adjusted CBF and HbA1c in all brain regions of T2DM and HC (with partial correlation ranging from -0.30 to -0.46). Taken together, altered cerebral blood flow in T2DM might be related to disruption of cerebrovascular autoregulation related to vascular risk factors, and such oligemia occurred before clinical manifestation due to altered glycemic control.

HbA1c variability, in addition to mean HbA1c, predicts incident hip fractures in Chinese people with type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk of hip fractures. We hypothesize that long-term glycemic variability predicts incident hip fractures. We demonstrated that HbA1c variability predicted incident hip fractures independent of mean HbA1c, suggesting the potential benefits of minimizing glycemic variability in addition to optimizing mean glycemia for bone health. INTRODUCTION: Type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk of hip fractures, and a linear relationship between HbA1c levels and hip fracture incidence has been observed. We hypothesize that HbA1c variability also predicts incident hip fractures in type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Chinese individuals with type 2 diabetes aged ≥ 60 years were identified from electronic health records in Hong Kong between 2008 and 2012 and observed for incident hip fractures. Hip fracture was defined by the International Classification of Diseases (Ninth Revision) code 820. HbA1c variability was determined using standard deviation, adjusted standard deviation, and coefficient of variation of HbA1c measurements in the 5 years preceding the entry date. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate associations between HbA1c variability and incident hip fractures. RESULTS: A total of 83,282 participants were included. Their mean age was 71.3 ± 7.5 years, duration of diabetes 11.7 ± 7.7 years, baseline HbA1c 56.6 ± 13.5 mmol/mol (7.33 ± 1.23%), and median follow-up 6.8 years. All indices of HbA1c variability were significant independent predictors of incident hip fractures, with an adjusted hazard ratio of up to 1.29 (all p < 0.001), and remained to be independent predictors across groups of different intensity of glycemic control. Mean HbA1c ≥ 64 mmol/mol (8.0%) was associated with a 25% increase in incident hip fractures compared with mean HbA1c < 53 mmol/mol (7.0%). CONCLUSION: HbA1c variability is an independent positive predictor of hip fracture in type 2 diabetes, across the spectrum of varying degree of glycemic control, while a high HbA1c is also not advisable from the perspective of bone health.

Whole-grain intake and its inverse relationships with fatty acids intake among multiethnic Malaysian schoolchildren.

INTRODUCTION: Little is known about the relationship of whole-grain intake with dietary fatty acids intake. The present study aimed to assess the whole-grain intake and its relationships with dietary fatty acids intake among multiethnic schoolchildren in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 392 schoolchildren aged 9-11 years, cluster sampled from five randomly selected schools in Kuala Lumpur. Whole-grain and fatty acids intakes were assessed by 3-day, 24-h diet recalls. All whole-grain foods were considered irrespective of the amount of whole grain they contained. RESULTS: In total, 55.6% (n = 218) were whole-grain consumers. Mean (SD) daily intake of whole grain in the total sample was 5.13 (9.75) g day-1 . In the whole-grain consumer's only sample, mean (SD) intakes reached 9.23 (11.55) g day-1 . Significant inverse associations were found between whole-grain intake and saturated fatty acid (SAFA) intake (r = -0.357; P < 0.001), monosaturated fatty acid (MUFA) (r = -0.373; P < 0.001) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) (r = -0.307; P < 0.001) intake. Furthermore, whole-grain intake was a significant predictor of SAFA (ß = -0.077; P = 0.004), MUFA (ß = -0.112; P = <0.001) and PUFA (ß = -0.202; P = <0.001) intakes, after controlling for sex, age and ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Whole-grain intake in Malaysia was well below recommendations. Schoolchildren who consumed higher whole grain tend to reduce fat intake; however, it would also reduce the SAFA, MUFA and PUFA intakes. Future collaboration may be conducted between industry, government and universities to promote unsaturated fatty acids-rich foods and whole-grain food, although not to promote processed whole-grain foods with a high sugar and salt content.

Intra-operative nasal compression after lateral osteotomy to minimize post-operative Peri-orbital ecchymosis and edema.

INTRODUCTION: Post-operative periorbital ecchymosis and edema following rhinoplasty is a well-known sequela of surgery. Unfortunately, this can be a source of distress for patients, resulting in a longer post-operative recovery time and a delayed return to work. Trauma caused by lateral osteotomies is likely the most significant cause of periorbital edema and ecchymosis in rhinoplasty. There have been various strategies proposed to minimize swelling and ecchymosis with varying success rates and accompanied risks. Intraoperative nasal compression is one potential strategy that may reduce post-operative edema and ecchymosis with minimal risk. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether applying direct lateral nasal pressure intraoperatively immediately after performing lateral osteotomies reduces visible post-operative edema and ecchymosis. METHODS: A prospective, randomized blinded study on consecutive patients undergoing rhinoplasty with lateral osteotomies was conducted in a single academic tertiary care medical center. Each of the participants were randomized into direct pressure application post-lateral osteotomies on the right or the left hand side. Intra-operatively, direct lateral nasal pressure was performed on the pre-determined side for 5 min timed by stopwatch after osteotomy. Post-operatively, standard photographs were taken of the patient on post-operative days 1, 3, and 7. These photographs were then shown to 20 blinded-physicians and the degree of ecchymosis and edema was graded using a previously published scale. RESULTS: A total of 16 patients were included in this study. Based on our blinded-grading, 11 of the 16 patients had a clear global improvement in the degree of peri-orbital post-operative edema and ecchymosis with compression post lateral osteotomies. Based on the 3 blinded expert reviewers, Periorbital ecchymosis was significantly decreased on the ipsilateral side of pressure application in 10 of the 16 patients, and periorbital edema was significantly decreased in 13 of the 16 patients. The differential degree in periorbital ecchymosis was most pronounced on post-operative day 7. Patient factors such as gender, age, skin color, history of nasal trauma, side of pre-operative nasal deviation, and smoking status did not have a significant influence on the effect of pressure application post lateral osteotomies. CONCLUSIONS: Application of direct continual lateral nasal pressure intraoperatively after performing lateral osteotomies can help reduce post-operative edema and ecchymosis up to post-operative day 7. This may lead to an overall improved appearance and subsequently an improved post-operative experience for the patient. Although the effect may be variable to some degree, this is an intervention with no additional risks involved and thus can be used in a safe manner.

Diaheliotropic leaf movement enhances leaf photosynthetic capacity and photosynthetic light and nitrogen use efficiency via optimising nitrogen partitioning among photosynthetic components in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.).

Phototropic leaf movement of plants is an effective mechanism for adapting to light conditions. Light is the major driver of plant photosynthesis. Leaf N is also an important limiting factor on leaf photosynthetic potential. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) exhibits diaheliotropic leaf movement. Here, we compared the long-term photosynthetic acclimation of fixed leaves (restrained) and free leaves (allowed free movement) in cotton. The fixed leaves and free leaves were used for determination of PAR, leaf chlorophyll concentration, leaf N content and leaf gas exchange. The measurements were conducted under clear sky conditions at 0, 7, 15 and 30 days after treatment (DAT). The results showed that leaf N allocation and partitioning among different components of the photosynthetic apparatus were significantly affected by diaheliotropic leaf movement. Diaheliotropic leaf movement significantly increased light interception per unit leaf area, which in turn affected leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf N content (NA ) and leaf N allocation to photosynthesis (NP ). In addition, cotton leaves optimised leaf N allocation to the photosynthetic apparatus by adjusting leaf mass per area and NA in response to optimal light interception. In the presence of diaheliotropic leaf movement, cotton leaves optimised their structural tissue and photosynthetic characteristics, such as LMA, NA and leaf N allocation to photosynthesis, so that leaf photosynthetic capacity was maximised to improve the photosynthetic use efficiency of light and N under high light conditions.