Integrated physical and mental management for China's elderly: insights from Long-gang District, Shenzhen.

China is in a period of rapid population aging. The total population of the elderly aged 60 and above in mainland China was 264 million in 2020, and is the country with the largest elderly population in the world, which is home to 1/5 of the world's older people. The urgency of actively coping with the aging population has never been greater, and China has raised it to the height of national strategy. To this end, China has issued several plans and projects on aging work. Many of them include multiple overlapping components. The management of physical illness and mental illness in the elderly is over-differentiated and segmented. However, it is common for older adults with complex health problems. The body and mind are inherently integrated and interact with each other, and should not be separated. There is an urgent need for integrated healthcare services for the physical and mental health of the elderly population. The national basic public health services play an important role in early detection and awareness of health problems for the elderly in community health services. This paper introduces the elderly health management services, one of the national basic public health projects, and the psychological care project for the elderly in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. Taking Long-gang District's exploration of the joint management of physical and mental health of the elderly as an example, this review discusses the difficulties of the elderly health work, and the feasibility of integrating the elderly mental health and physical health in medical care. We outlook to build an integrated platform for physical and mental health of the elderly in China. Focus on the needs of older population, strengthen community health services, build a integrative team, fully publicize and improve health literacy of the elderly, link up and down and work together, improve coordination between providers of medical care and social services. It is of great significance to construct a strong public health system for the elderly and promote the realization of the grand goal of Healthy China.

Effects of traditional Chinese medicine Wei-Wei-Kang-Granule on the expression of EGFR and NF-KB in chronic atrophic gastritis rats.

Wei-Wei-Kang-Granule(WWKG) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparation for the treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). We examined the pathologic change and the effects of Wei-Wei-Kang-Granule (WWKG) on the expression of EGFR (epiderminal growth factor receptors) and NF-kB (nuclear transcription factor KappaB) in rats with chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), and evaluated the possible mechanisms. Ninety rats were randomly divided into control group and four experimental groups. CAG rat models were induced by repeated stimulating experiments in the experimental groups. After modeled rats were intragastrically injected (i.g.) with WWKG at 6000mg/kg (large dose WWKG group), WWKG at 3000mg/kg (small dose WWKG group), San-Jiu-Wei-Tai-Granule(SJWTG) at 1600mg/kg(SJWTG group), and normal saline(0.9%)at 20ml/kg (model group and control group), respectively, once a day for 30 days. After 30 days, all rats were sacrificed and samples were taken from the sinus ventriculi and body of stomach. The gastric specimens were prepared for microscopic view with hematoxylin and eosin (H-E). The immunohistochemistry method was used to observe the expression of protein of EGFR and NF-kB in gastric tissue. The data were analyzed in pre-and post-treatment by computer image automatic analysis system. Immunohistochemistry detection showed that the average optical density of EGFR and NF-kB in antrum was lower in large and small dose WWKG groups than the model group (P<0.01). CAG in rats was related with the damage of barrier in gastric mucosa and the misbalance of cell proliferation and apoptosis. One of the mechanisms is perhaps to reduce the expressing of EGFR and NF-Kb in gastric mucosa.

Mechanisms of apigenin-7-glucoside as a hepatoprotective agent.

OBJECTIVE: Ixeris chinesis (Thunb.) Ankai has been used as a Chinese folk medicine, but only scanty information is available on the physiological and biochemical functions of the compounds extracted from I. chinesis. In the present study the effects of apigenin-7-glucoside (APIG) isolated from I. chinesis against liver injury caused by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) were investigated. METHODS: The contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), and reduced glutathione (GSH) were evaluated by spectrophotography. The content of 8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) was measured with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipped with electrochemical and UV detection methods. The antioxidant activity of APIG was evaluated using chemiluminescence single photon counting technology. RESULTS: CCl4 significantly increased the enzyme activities of GPT and GOT in blood serum, as well as the level of MDA and 8-OHdG in liver tissue, and decreased the levels of GSH. Pretreatment with APIG was able not only to suppress the elevation of GPT, GOT, MDA and 8-OHdG, and inhibit the reduction of GSH in a dose-dependent manner in vivo, but also to reduce the damage of hepatocytes in vitro. On the other hand, we also found that APIG had strong antioxidant activity against reactive oxygen species (ROS) in vitro in a concentration-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: The hepatoprotective activity of APIG is possibly due to its antioxidant properties, acting as scavengers of ROS. These results obtained in vivo and in vitro suggest that APIG has protective effects against hepatic oxidative injury induced by chemicals. Further studies on the pharmaceutical functions and immunological responses of APIG may help its clinical application.

Redifferentiation of human gastric cancer cells induced by ascorbic acid and sodium selenite.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects and mechanisms of ascorbic acid (AA) and sodium selenite (SS) on growth inhibition and redifferentiation in human gastric cancer cells. METHODS: In the present study, trypan blue dye exclusion method was used to determine the cell growth curve and mitotic index, cell electrophoresis and colonogenic potential were used as the indexes of redifferentiation. In order to find out the mechanisms of redifferentiation, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and catalase (CAT) were assayed, the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and H2O2 were evaluated. RESULTS: After treatment with AA 3 mol/L + SS 2 mu mol/L, the growth rate and mitotic index of human gastric cancer cells (MGc-803) decreased remarkably. The indexes related with cell malignancy were alleviated. For example, cell surface charge was obviously decreased, the electrophoresis rate was dropped from 2.21 to 1.15 mu m.s-1.V-1.cm-1. The indexes related with cell redifferentiation were promoted. For example, the colonogenic potential was decreased to 93.5%. These results indicated that redifferentiation of human gastric cancer cells was successfully induced by AA + SS. The activities of SOD and GPX were significantly higher, while the activity of CAT was slower in treated group than that in the control. The content of MDA was slightly decreased, GSH was sharply decreased, and H2O2 content was dramatically increased. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that combination of ascorbic acid and sodium selenite may induce the redifferentiation of human gastric cancer cells and inhibit cell growth by virtue of enhancing the activities of antioxidative enzymes and inducing the formation of H2O2, and altering the cell redox status. Combination of ascorbic acid and sodium selenite may be a potent anticancer agent for human gastric cancer.