Association of social support with cognition among older adults in China: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the relationship between social support and its sub-domains and cognitive performance, and the association with cognitive impairment among older adults in China. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting and participants: We included 865 community-based individuals aged 65 and above from Hubei province, China. Methods: The level of social support was evaluated using the social support rating scale (SSRC). The Mini-Mental State Examination was adopted to assess cognitive function, and its cut-offs were used to determine cognitive impairment among the participants. Multiple linear regression models and logistic regression models were used to estimate the ß and odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% CIs, respectively. Results: The participants were divided into quartiles 1-4 (Q1-Q4), according to the total scores of SSRC. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, and history of diseases, for MMSE scores, compared to these in Q1, the ß of Q2-Q4 were -0.22 (-0.88, 0.43), 0.29 (-0.35, 0.94), and 0.86 (0.19, 1.53), respectively; For cognitive impairment, the ORs of Q2-Q4 were 1.21 (0.80, 1.82), 0.62 (0.40, 0.94), and 0.50 (0.32, 0.80), respectively. Considering SSRC scores as the continuous variable, per 1-unit increase, the ß was 0.05 (0.02, 0.09) for the cognitive score, and the OR was 0.95 (0.92, 0.98) for cognitive impairment. In addition, higher levels of both subjective support and support utilization were related to better MMSE performance and lower risks of cognitive impairment. Conclusion and implications: Among the older adults in China, as expected, there is a positive relationship between social support and cognitive performance, and high levels of social support, particularly in support utilization, were related to low risks of cognitive impairment. More social support should be provided in this population to improve cognitive function and reduce the risks of cognitive impairment.

A comprehensive transcriptomic analysis of infant and adult mouse ovary.

Ovary development is a complex process involving numerous genes. A well-developed ovary is essential for females to keep fertility and reproduce offspring. In order to gain a better insight into the molecular mechanisms related to the process of mammalian ovary development, we performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis on ovaries isolated from infant and adult mice by using next-generation sequencing technology (SOLiD). We identified 15,454 and 16,646 transcriptionally active genes at the infant and adult stage, respectively. Among these genes, we also identified 7021 differentially expressed genes. Our analysis suggests that, in general, the adult ovary has a higher level of transcriptomic activity. However, it appears that genes related to primordial follicle development, such as those encoding Figla and Nobox, are more active in the infant ovary, whereas expression of genes vital for follicle development, such as Gdf9, Bmp4 and Bmp15, is upregulated in the adult. These data suggest a dynamic shift in gene expression during ovary development and it is apparent that these changes function to facilitate follicle maturation, when additional functional gene studies are considered. Furthermore, our investigation has also revealed several important functional pathways, such as apoptosis, MAPK and steroid biosynthesis, that appear to be much more active in the adult ovary compared to those of the infant. These findings will provide a solid foundation for future studies on ovary development in mice and other mammals and help to expand our understanding of the complex molecular and cellular events that occur during postnatal ovary development.

Transcriptomic analysis reveals key regulators of mammogenesis and the pregnancy-lactation cycle.

An organ unique to mammals, the mammary gland develops 90% of its mass after birth and experiences the pregnancylactation-involution cycle (PL cycle) during reproduction. To understand mammogenesis at the transcriptomic level and using a ribo-minus RNA-seq protocol, we acquired greater than 50 million reads each for the mouse mammary gland during pregnancy (day 12 of pregnancy), lactation (day 14 of lactation), and involution (day 7 of involution). The pregnancy-, lactation- and involution-related sequencing reads were assembled into 17344, 10160, and 13739 protein-coding transcripts and 1803, 828, and 1288 non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), respectively. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were defined in the three samples, which comprised 4843 DEGs (749 up-regulated and 4094 down-regulated) from pregnancy to lactation and 4926 DEGs (4706 up-regulated and 220 down-regulated) from lactation to involution. Besides the obvious and substantive up- and down-regulation of the DEGs, we observe that lysosomal enzymes were highly expressed and that their expression coincided with milk secretion. Further analysis of transcription factors such as Trps1, Gtf2i, Tcf7l2, Nupr1, Vdr, Rb1, and Aebp1, and ncRNAs such as mir-125b, Let7, mir-146a, and mir-15 has enabled us to identify key regulators in mammary gland development and the PL cycle.

BIGrat: a repeat resolver for pyrosequencing-based re-sequencing with Newbler.

BACKGROUND: As more and more reference genome sequences are assembled, it becomes practical to assemble individual genomes from large amount of raw read data based on a reference sequence. However, most available assembly tools are designed for de-novo genome assembly. There is one commercial tool box (Newbler) developed for re-sequencing projects based on the Roche 454 sequencing platform. However, the genome with large repeat regions cannot be well assembled in Newbler. FINDINGS: We developed a new sequence assembly tool (BIGrat, Beijing Institute of Genomics Re-Assembly Tool) for pyrosequencing-based re-sequencing projects, such as data generated from Roche 454 and IonTorrent platforms. BIGrat improves the output of Newbler when evaluated on genome assemblies including chloroplast, mitochondrial, bacterial, and plant nuclear genomes. CONCLUSION: We presented a novel sequence assembly tool BIGrat for pyrosequencing-based re-sequencing projects, which can easily be integrated into Newbler pipelines for next-generation sequencing assembly and analysis.

Oxidative stress and cell-cycle change induced by coexposed PCB126 and benzo(a) pyrene to human hepatoma (HepG2) cells.

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) never exists in the environment as a single compound but always coexists with other chemicals. These chemicals may affect the toxicity of BaP. Our previous study confirmed that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were recently found coexisting with BaP in various environmental media, dramatically enhanced the genotoxicity of BaP. But the known mechanisms associated with this phenomenon are limited. Because BaP's genotoxicity is highly associated with its ability to induce the oxidative stress, we propose that the coexistence of PCBs may enhance BaP's genotoxicity by affecting BaP-induced oxidative stress. In this study, the HepG2 cells were treated with either BaP (50 µM), 3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB126) (0.01, 0.1, 1, and 10 nM), or pretreated with PCB126 followed by a coexposure to BaP and PCB126. We found that the exposure to BaP alone effectively increased the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and the percentage of cells in G0/G1 phase, but decreased the percentage of S-phase cells. Compared to BaP alone, coexposure to both BaP and PCB126 effectively enhanced the levels of ROS and MDA as well as the percentage of cells in S phase, but decreased the levels of GSH and percentage of cells in G0/G1 phase. Our findings suggest that increasing oxidative stress and impairing the normal cell-cycle control may be mechanisms by which PCB126 enhances the genotoxity of BaP exposure.

[Effect of selenium and arsenic on oxidative stress, DNA oxidative damage and repair in HepG2 cells].

OBJECTIVE: To study alone and combined effect of selenium and arsenic on oxidative stress, DNA oxidative damage and repair. METHODS: HepG2 cells were treated with selenium (2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 micromol/L sodium selenite) alone, arsenic (1.56, 3.13, 6.25, 12.5 and 25.0 micromol/L arsenious acid) alone and combined selenium plus arsenic. The quantitative analysis of malondialdehyde (MDA), 8-OHdG and hOGG1 was carried out by fluorometric method, HPLC-EC and Western Blot to represent oxidative stress, DNA oxidative damage and repair, respectively. RESULTS: Under the condition of alone treatment, sodium selenite (5.0 and 10.0 micromol/L) as well as arsenious acid (6.25, 12.5 and 25.0 micromol/L) resulted in significant increased levels of MDA and 8-OHdG, and inhibition of hOGG1 expression in HepG2 cells compared with solvent control (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Sodium selenite at the relative low dose (2.5 micromol/L) displayed certain anti-oxidative ability (P > 0.05). Combined treatment of sodium selenite (2.5 micromol/L) and arsenious acid (6.25 micromol/L) caused significant lower levels of MDA and 8-OHdG than those of correspondent arsenic alone treatment (P < 0.05). hOGG1 expression showed no difference between combined treatment (2.5 micromol/L of selenium selenite plus 6.25, 12.5 and 25.0 micromol/L of arsenious acid, respectively) and correspondent arsenic alone treatment (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Sodium selenite at the concentrations of 5.0, 10.0 micromol/L and arsenious acid at the concentrations of 6.25, 12.5, 25.0 micromol/L induced enhanced oxidative stress and 8-OHdG production, and inhibition of hOGG1 expression, respectively. Selenium at certain concentration (2.5 micromol/L of selenium selenite) has ameliorative effects on oxidative stress and DNA oxidative damage induced by arsenic, but no effect on repair of DNA oxidative damage.