MX1 and UBE2L6 are potential metaflammation gene targets in both diabetes and atherosclerosis.

Background: The coexistence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and atherosclerosis (AS) is widespread, although the explicit metabolism and metabolism-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) responsible for the correlation are still unclear. Methods: Twenty-four genetically wild-type male Ba-Ma mini pigs were randomly divided into five groups distinguished by different combinations of 90 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ) intravenous injection and high-cholesterol/lipid (HC) or high-lipid (HL) diet feeding for 9 months in total. Pigs in the STZ+HC and STZ+HL groups were injected with STZ first and then fed the HC or HL diet for 9 months. In contrast, pigs in the HC+STZ and HL+STZ groups were fed the HC or HL diet for 9 months and injected with STZ at 3 months. The controls were only fed a regular diet for 9 months. The blood glucose and abdominal aortic plaque observed through oil red O staining were used as evaluation indicators for successful modelling of DM and AS. A microarray gene expression analysis of all subjects was performed. Results: Atherosclerotic lesions were observed only in the HC+STZ and STZ+HC groups. A total of 103 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified as common between them. The most significantly enriched pathways of 103 common DEGs were influenza A, hepatitis C, and measles. The global and internal protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks of the 103 common DEGs consisted of 648 and 14 nodes, respectively. The top 10 hub proteins, namely, ISG15, IRG6, IRF7, IFIT3, MX1, UBE2L6, DDX58, IFIT2, USP18, and IFI44L, drive aspects of DM and AS. MX1 and UBE2L6 were the intersection of internal and global PPI networks. The expression of MX1 and UBE2L6 was 507.22 ± 342.56 and 96.99 ± 49.92 in the HC+STZ group, respectively, which was significantly higher than others and may be linked to the severity of hyperglycaemia-related atherosclerosis. Further PPI network analysis of calcium/micronutrients, including MX1 and UBE2L6, consisted of 58 and 18 nodes, respectively. The most significantly enriched KEGG pathways were glutathione metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, purine metabolism, and metabolic pathways. Conclusions: The global and internal PPI network of the 103 common DEGs consisted of 648 and 14 nodes, respectively. The intersection of the nodes of internal and global PPI networks was MX1 and UBE2L6, suggesting their key role in the comorbidity mechanism of DM and AS. This inference was partly verified by the overexpression of MX1 and UBE2L6 in the HC+STZ group but not others. Further calcium- and micronutrient-related enriched KEGG pathway analysis supported that MX1 and UBE2L6 may affect the inflammatory response through micronutrient metabolic pathways, conceptually named metaflammation. Collectively, MX1 and UBE2L6 may be potential common biomarkers for DM and AS that may reveal metaflammatory aspects of the pathological process, although proper validation is still needed to determine their contribution to the detailed mechanism.

Health literacy and promotion strategies among the elderly populations / 预防医学

Abstract@#The aging process is increasingly accelerating in China, and the improvement of health literacy is a prerequisite to achieving health for all, and is an important strategy to promote healthy aging. Based on recent studies pertaining to health literacy among the elderly, this review, from the perspective of aging, summarizes the level and common influencing factors of health literacy among Chinese elderly populations, and discusses the health literacy promotion strategies among the elderly, so as to provide insights into improving the health literacy surveillance and promotion quality and health literacy levels among the elderly.

Current status of cigarette and electronic cigarette use among adults in Zhejiang Province / 预防医学

Objective@#To investigate the prevalence of cigarette and electronic cigarette ( e-cigarette ) use among adults in Zhejiang Province, so as to provide insights into tobacco control. @*Methods @#Thirty study sites were randomly sampled from Zhejiang Province in 2020 using a multi-stage stratified random sampling method, and permanent residents at ages of 15 to 69 years were selected as study subjects. A questionnaire was designed based on the questionnaire for the China Adult Tobacco Survey to collect subjects' demographic characteristics, cigarette and e-cigarette use, smoking cessation and exposure to secondhand smoke ( SHS ). The weighted prevalence of smoking, current smoking, current e-cigarette smoking, smoking cessation and exposure to SHS was estimated based on the Seventh National Population Census in 2020.@*Results @#A total of 19 200 questionnaires were recovered, and 19 180 were valid, with an effective recovery rate of 99.90%. The respondents had a mean age of ( 50.30±12.90 ) years, with a male to female ratio of 1∶1.06 and an urban/rural population ratio of 1∶1.31. Among all the respondents, there were 6 033 smokers ( 31.45% ), 4 163 current smokers ( 21.70% ), 201 current e-cigarette users ( 1.05% ), 146 cigarette and e-cigarette dual users ( 0.76% ), 1 870 respondents quitting smoking ( 31.00% of smokers ) and 7 189 respondents with exposure to SHS ( 47.87% of non-smokers ). The weighted prevalence of smoking, current e-cigarette use, cigarette and e-cigarette dual uses, smoking cessation and exposure to SHS was 20.49%, 1.34%, 0.94%, 29.56% and 49.53% in Zhejiang Province, respectively, and the prevalence of current smoking, current e-cigarette use, cigarette and e-cigarette dual uses and exposure to SHS was 40.39%, 2.39%, 1.86% and 55.31% among males and 0.35%, 0.28%, <0.01% and 46.02% among females, respectively. The highest prevalence of current smoking was seen among respondents at ages of 55 to 64 years ( 24.24% ), while the highest prevalence of current e-cigarette use and cigarette and e-cigarette dual uses was seen in adults at ages of 25 to 34 years ( 2.18% and 1.58% ).@*Conclusions @#The prevalence of current e-cigarette use was higher among adults in Zhejiang Province in 2020 than the nationwide level in China. The prevalence of cigarette use was lower among adults in Zhejiang Province in 2020 than the nationwide level in China; however, improving the management of tobacco control in public places and the capacity building of smoking cessation services is still required to reduce the use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes.