Predicted 10-year Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Its Association with Sleep Duration among Adults in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to predict 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and explore its association with sleep duration among Chinese urban adults. METHODS: We analyzed part of the baseline data of a cohort that recruited adults for health screening by cluster sampling. The simplified Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Framingham 10-year risk score (FRS) were used to measure sleep duration and CVD risk. Demographic characteristics, personal history of chronic diseases, lifestyle factors were collected using a questionnaire. Height, weight, total cholesterol (TC), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were also measured. Multiple logistic regression models were performed to explore the association of sleep duration with the predicted CVD risk. RESULTS: We included 31, 135 participants (median age 44 years, 53.02% males) free of CVD, cerebral stroke, and not taking lipid-lowering agents. Overall, 14.05%, and 25.55% of participants were at medium and high predicted CVD risk, respectively. Short sleep was independently associated with increased odds of medium to high risk of predicted 10-year CVD among males ( OR = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.01-1.19) and increased odds of medium to high and high risk of predicted 10-year CVD among females ( OR = 1.23; 95% CI: 1.08-1.40; OR = 1.27; 95% CI: 1.11-1.44). In contrast, long sleep had no association with cardiovascular risk. CONCLUSION: A substantial number of adults free of CVD were at high 10-year CVD risk. Short sleep was associated with increased odds of predicted CVD risk.

Mechanochemically induced synthesis of anorthite in MSWI fly ash with kaolin.

The process of mechanical milling has been found to effectively stabilize heavy metals in municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) fly ash, as well as to restrain the evaporation of heavy metals during thermo-treatment. This method is adopted in this study and the composition and degree of amorphization adjusted to improve the efficiency of crystalline anorthite synthesis. Different milling times (1, 5, 10 and 20 h) and different sintering temperatures (900, 950, 1000, 1100, 1200 and 1300 °C) are utilized. The extracted fly ash and kaolin (KEFA) were mixed to simulate an anorthite composite. The experimental results indicate that the degree of amorphization of the KEFA increased as the milling time increased. Furthermore, the synthesis of crystalline anorthite increased as the degree of amorphization increased. The milling process allowed a reduction in the synthesization temperature from 1300 °C to 950 °C. The heavy metals are sealed in during the liquid sintering phase, which reduces the amount of heavy metals released from the sintered specimens.

A sensitive amperometric immunosensor for alpha-fetoprotein based on carbon nanotube/DNA/Thi/nano-Au modified glassy carbon electrode.

A novel amperometric immunosensor for the determination of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was constructed using films of multi-wall carbon nanotubes/DNA/thionine/gold nanoparticles (nano-Au). Firstly, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) dispersed in poly(diallydimethlammonium chloride) (PDDA) were immobilized on the nano-Au film which was electrochemically deposited on the surface of glassy carbon electrode. Then a negatively charged DNA film was absorbed on the positively charged PDDA. Subsequently, thionine was attached to the electrode via the electrostatic interaction between thionine and the DNA. Finally, the nano-Au was retained on the thionine film for immobilization of AFP antibody (anti-AFP). The modification process was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The factors possibly influenced the performance of the proposed immunosensors were studied in detail. Under optimal conditions, the proposed immunosensor exhibited good electrochemical behavior to AFP in a two concentration ranges: 0.01-10.0 and 10.0-200.0 ng/mL with a relatively low detection limit of 0.04 ng/mL at three times the background noise. Moreover, the selectivity, repeatability and stability of the proposed immunosensor were acceptable.

Functionalized SiO2 labeled CA19-9 antibodies: a new strategy for signal amplification of antigen-antibody sensing processes.

A new strategy was described for amplifying the response of the antigen-antibody sensing processes by functionalizing SiO(2) nanoparticles labeled secondary antibodies based on a sandwich immunoassay in this work. At first, the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were individually dispersed in the aqueous bovine serum albumin (BSA) to obtain BSA molecules coated CNTs (BSA-CNTs). Then the gold colloids (nano-Au) were absorbed on the BSA-CNTs surface by the amido and disulfide groups of BSA. Later, a functionalized gold/carbon nanotube composite nanohybrid (DpAu/nano-Au/BSA-CNTs) modified electrode was developed by electrochemical deposition of Au(3+) onto nano-Au/BSA-MWNTs surface. Thus, a sensitive immunosensor for carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) has been constructed by further employment of Nafion coated SiO(2) nanoparticles labeled secondary antibody (SiO(2)-Ab(2)) for the signal amplification. More importantly, the loading of SiO(2)-Ab(2) can not only cause the construction of the dielectric antigen-antibody immunocomplex layer but also introduce the insulated Nafion coated SiO(2) nanoparticles which demonstrate the relatively high resistance, resulting in a strong detection signal. The proposed sensing strategy provides a wide linear dynamic range from 0.15 to 150 U mL(-1) with a low detection limit of 0.06 U mL(-1) at 3 times the background noise. Moreover, the extremely high stability of the functionalized gold/carbon nanotube composite nanohybrid monolayer allows the designed biosensing interface to obtain a good stability and long-term life.

Bienzyme functionalized three-layer composite magnetic nanoparticles for electrochemical immunosensors.

The preparation, characterization and application of a three-layer magnetic nanoparticle composed of an Fe(3)O(4) magnetic core, a Prussian Blue (PB) interlayer and a gold shell (it can be abbreviated as Au-PB-Fe(3)O(4)) for an ultrasensitive and reproducible electrochemical immunosensing fabrication were described for the first time in this work. With the employment of the Au-PB-Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticle, a new signal amplification strategy was developed based on bienzyme (horseradish peroxidase and glucose oxidase) functionalized Au-PB-Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles for an electrochemical immunosensing fabrication by using Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) as model systems, respectively. The experiment results show that the multilabeled Au-PB-Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles exhibit satisfying redox electrochemical activity and high enzyme catalysis activity, which predetermine their utility in high sensitivity antibody detection schemes. Furthermore, this immunosensor could be regenerated by simply using an external magnetic field which ensured a reproducible immunosensor with high sensitivity.

Nanostructured conductive material containing ferrocenyl for reagentless amperometric immunosensors.

This work describes a two-step conjugate synthesis of a porous organometallic nanostructured materials composed of ferrocenemonocarboxylic (Fc-COOH) and 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) and then a reagentless amperometric immunosensor prepared with positively charged gold nanoparticles (PGN) immobilized in this nanostructure conductive film is developed. This nanostructured material containing ferrocenyl (PTC-Fc) could easily form stable film on the electrode surface with efficient redox-activity and excellent conductivity. Furthermore, with the negatively charged surface, this film can be used as an interface to adsorbing the PGN, which was prepared in organic solvents at relatively high concentrations with improved monodispersity compared to those prepared in aqueous solution. The presence of PGN provided a congenial microenvironment for adsorbed biomolecules and decreased the electron-transfer impedance. Thus, with carcinoembryonic antibody (anti-CEA) as a model antibody, the proposed immunosensor showed rapid and highly sensitive amperometric response to carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) with acceptable preparation reproducibility and stability.

Seasonal, spatial, and interspecific variation in quercetin in Apocynum venetum and Poacynum hendersonii, Chinese traditional herbal teas.

Quercetin is of particular importance as it has been found to have functions of suppressing tumors, reducing blood pressure, and scavenging free radicals. It is one of the major flavonoids in Apocynum venetum and Poacynum hendersonii, whose leaves have long been used as traditional herbal teas in China and Japan. Both species are also cultivated as fiber plants because of their outstanding quality of phloem fiber in stems. To obtain high output of both quercetin and fiber, it is necessary to optimize harvesting time for their leaves. Thus, understanding the developmental patterns of quercetin in leaves and fiber in stems is crucial to achieving this goal. In the present study, temporal and interspecific variations in quercetin in the leaves between A. venetum and P. hendersonii and spatial variation among P. hendersonii populations were studied by HPLC during the period from April to October in 1999. The results show that the content of quercetin in both species reached its highest level in summer and its lowest in autumn. The quercetin content in the leaves of P. hendersonii was generally higher than that of A. venetum no matter when their leaves were harvested. There was significant difference in quercetin content among three geographical populations of P. hendersonii, which might be the result of climatic difference-cooler climate might favor accumulation of quercetin in the leaves of P. hendersonii. Furthermore, the developmental patterns of total phenolics in the leaves of the two species were the same as that of the quercetin, that is, summer is an optimal harvesting season for both quercetin and other phenolics. The results obtained here suggest that P. herdersonii is a better material for herbal tea or pharmaceutical purposes, and that the best harvest time of its leaves should be summer.