Participation in mahjong and the associated smoking and alcohol consumption behaviors among Chinese older adults.

This study examined the relationship of playing mahjong with smoking and alcohol consumption behaviors among Chinese older adults. We used a large and nationally representative dataset, the 8th wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Older adults who were 65 years old or above were included in the final analysis sample (n = 10,954). Multivariable logistic regressions were used to examine the associations of playing mahjong with current and former smoking/alcohol consumption status. Additionally, we used negative binomial and multiple linear regressions to investigate the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the amount of alcohol consumed per day. Compared with older adults who did not play mahjong, those who played mahjong at least once per month were more likely to report both current and prior smoking/alcohol consumption habits (all p < 0.05). The sub-analysis revealed that older adults who played mahjong at least once per week tended to smoke more cigarettes per day (all p < 0.05) than those who did not play mahjong at all. When public health practitioners advocate for the health benefits of playing mahjong, they should also consider its associations with smoking/alcohol consumption behaviors among Chinese older adults.

Alternatives to animal models to study bacterial infections.

Animal testing has made a significant and unequalled contribution to important discoveries and advancements in the fields of research, medicine, vaccine development, and drug discovery. Each year, millions of animals are sacrificed for various experiments, and this is an ongoing process. However, the debate on the ethical and sensible usage of animals in in vivo experimentation is equally important. The need to explore and adopt newer alternatives to animals so as to comply with the goal of reduce, refine, and replace needs attention. Besides the ever-increasing debate on ethical issues, animal research has additional drawbacks (need of trained labour, requirement of breeding area, lengthy protocols, high expenses, transport barriers, difficulty to extrapolate data from animals to humans, etc.). With this scenario, the present review has been framed to give a comprehensive insight into the possible alternative options worth exploring in this direction especially targeting replacements for animal models of bacterial infections. There have been some excellent reviews discussing on the alternate methods for replacing and reducing animals in drug research. However, reviews that discuss the replacements in the field of medical bacteriology with emphasis on animal bacterial infection models are purely limited. The present review discusses on the use of (a) non-mammalian models and (b) alternative systems such as microfluidic chip-based models and microdosing aiming to give a detailed insight into the prospects of these alternative platforms to reduce the number of animals being used in infection studies. This would enlighten the scientific community working in this direction to be well acquainted with the available new approaches and alternatives so that the 3R strategy can be successfully implemented in the field of antibacterial drug research and testing.

Kinematic and kinetic demands on better roundhouse kick performances.

The roundhouse kick is one of the most widely applied techniques in a taekwondo competition. Because the scoring system of taekwondo has been changed, the skill of roundhouse kick has been affected. Therefore, coaches and athletes are attempting to better understand how to control the movement of the kick to gain points more effectively. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in the biomechanical characteristics between the roundhouse kicks with higher and lower impact magnitude using an electronic body protector. Eighteen elite college Taekwondo athletes participated in this study. A motion capture system measured the kinematics data of the kicking leg. The results indicated that elite athletes can obtain a high-impact index of the electrical body protector through increasing the peak linear velocity of shank, even with the same foot velocity level. In regard to kinetic skills, the roundhouse kicks a high impact. The velocity of proximal kicking limb could predominantly contribute to the powerful roundhouse kicks to achieve the high-impact force for electrical body protector. Moreover, when the kick cannot be effectively scored during the game, coaches and masters should consider adjusting to increase the velocity of proximal kicking.

Preventive Effect of Gonggan (Citrus Reticulata Blanco Var. Gonggan) Peel Extract on Ethanol/HCl-Induced Gastric Injury in Mice via an Anti-oxidative Mechanism.

Gonggan (Citrus reticulata Blanco var. gonggan) is one of the most popular citruses. In this study, the effect of Gonggan peel extract (GPE) on gastric injury was investigated. The components in GPE were analysed by HPLC and the gastric injury model in mice was established by ethanol/hydrochloric acid. After treatment by GPE, the pathological changes of gastric tissue were observed by optical microscope. The levels of oxidative stress and inflammation were measure by kit. And the mRNA expression of related gene was determined by qPCR assay. HPLC result showed GPE mainly contained the flavonoids narirutin, hesperidin, nobiletin, tangeretin and 5-demethylnobiletin. Morphological and pathological analysis of gastric tissue revealed that GPE could relieve gastric injury. Also, GPE increased the levels of SOD, GSH-Px, and CAT and decreased the level of MDA. Moreover, GPE decreased the levels of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1ß, and IL-6 to suppress inflammation. In addition, the q-PCR results showed that GPE upregulated the mRNA expression of SOD1, SOD2, γ-GCS, GSH-Px, CAT, and IκBα and downregulated the mRNA expression of NF-κB. In conclusion, GPE alleviated gastric injury caused by ethanol/hydrochloric acid by inhibiting oxidative stress and the inflammatory response. The mechanism by which GPE protects gastric tissues may involve the antioxidative pathway. Therefore, GPE has great potential to be developed as a product to prevent gastric injury.

Blood clearance kinetics and organ delivery of medium-chain triglyceride and fish oil-containing lipid emulsions: Comparing different animal species.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Medium-chain triglycerides (TG) (MCT) and fish oil (FO) TG are incorporated as the core TG component into intravenous (IV) lipid emulsions for infusion in parenteral nutrition. Bolus injections of IV emulsions, on the other hand, have emerged as a novel therapeutic approach to treat various acute disorders. However, intravascular metabolism and organ delivery of acute IV injection of emulsions containing both MCT and FO are not fully defined, nor have they been characterized across common experimental animal models. We characterized and compared blood clearance kinetics and organ distribution of bolus injections of MCT/FO emulsions among different animal species. We also examined whether sex differences or feeding status can affect catabolic properties of MCT/FO lipid emulsions. DESIGN: Blood clearance rates of lipid emulsions with specific TG composition were compared in rats IV injected with [3H]cholesteryl hexadecyl ether labeled pure n-6 long-chain (LCT) and n-3 FO TG lipid emulsions, or emulsions containing MCT and FO at different ratios (wt/wt), which include 8:2 (80% MCT: 20% FO), 5:4:1 (50% MCT: 40% LCT: 10% FO) and SMOF (30% LCT: 30% MCT: 25% olive oil: 10% FO). Dose-response effects (0.016 mg-1.6 mg TG/g body weight) of the MCT/FO 8:2 emulsions on blood clearance properties and organ delivery were determined in both mice and rats. Blood clearance kinetics and organ uptake of MCT/FO 8:2 emulsions were compared between male and female rats and between fed and fasted rats. Changes in plasma lipid profiles after acute injections of MCT/FO 8:2 lipid emulsion at different doses (0.043, 0.133, and 0.4 mg TG/g body weight) were characterized in non-human primates (Cynomolgus monkeys). RESULTS: MCT/FO 8:2 emulsion was cleared faster in rats when compared with other emulsions with different TG contents. Mice had faster blood clearance and higher fractional catabolic rates (FCR) when compared with the rats injected with MCT/FO 8:2 emulsions regardless of the injected doses. Mice and rats had similar plasma TG and free fatty acid (FFA) levels after low- or high-dose injections of the MCT/FO emulsion. Tissue distribution of the MCT/FO 8:2 lipid emulsion are comparable between mice and rats, where liver had the highest uptake per recovered dose among all organs (>60%). Feeding status and sex differences did not alter the blood clearance rate of the MCT/FO 8:2 emulsion in rats. In a nonhuman primate model, dose-response increases in plasma TG and FFA were observed after IV injection of MCT/FO 8:2 emulsions within the 1st 10 min. CONCLUSION: A lipid emulsion containing both MCT and FO TG is cleared rapidly in blood and readily available for organ uptake in rodent and primate animal models. Characterization of the blood clearance properties of the MCT/FO 8:2 emulsion administered in various animal models may provide further insight into the safety and efficacy profiles for future therapeutic use of bolus injections of MCT/FO emulsions in humans.

MOF-derived ZnCo2O4 porous micro-rice with enhanced electro-catalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction and glucose oxidation.

A porous ZnCo2O4 micro-rice like microstructure was synthesized via calcination of a Zn-Co MOF precursor at an appropriate temperature. The as-prepared ZnCo2O4 sample presented good electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction performance with a small overpotential (η 10 = 389 mV) and high stability in basic electrolyte. Furthermore, in basic medium, the as-synthesized ZnCo2O4 micro-rice also showed good electrocatalytic activity for glucose oxidation. A ZnCo2O4 micro-rice modified glass carbon electrode may be used as a potential non-enzymatic glucose sensor. The excellent electrocatalytic OER and glucose oxidation performances of ZnCo2O4 might be attributed to the unique porous structure formed by the nanoparticles. The porous architecture of the micro-rice can provide a large number of electrocatalytically active sites and high electrochemical surface area (ECSA). The result may offer a new way to prepare low-cost and high performance oxygen evolution reaction and glucose oxidation electrocatalysts.

Flexible fibers wet-spun from formic acid modified chitosan.

The rigidity and low strain of chitosan fibers hindered their broader utility for biomedical applications. In present work, formic acid was employed as an efficient modifier for chitosan to prepare flexible fibers wet-spun from the formic acid modified chitosan solution. The formation of amide linkages between chitosan and formic acid was confirmed by FTIR, (13)C NMR, (1)H NMR and XRD measurements. The degree of formylation evaluated by (1)H NMR spectra was varied from 14.1% to 37.2% as a function of the reaction temperature. The results of the mechanical properties showed that the as-spun fibers exhibited an enhanced ductility with a maximum elongation at break of 21.7% compared with that spun from the chitosan dissolved in diluted acetic acid. The novel flexible chitosan fibers were anticipated to be used as comfortable wound dressing and bandages in biomedical fields.

Decreased expression of KLF6 and its significance in gastric carcinoma.

To study the expression of the Krüppel-like transcription factor 6 (KLF6) in human gastric carcinoma and normal gastric mucosa tissues, and to explore the role of KLF6 in the carcinogenesis and tumor progression and its clinical significance. Expression of KLF6, P21WAF1 and PCNA was investigated by immunohistochemistry for 69 surgically resected gastric carcinoma tissues and corresponding normal gastric mucosa tissues, respectively. The correlations of KLF6 expression with clinicopathological characteristics, P21WAF1 and PCNA were examined. Positive-expression of KLF6 was 64 out of 69 cases (92.8%) in normal gastric mucosa and only 23 cases (33.3%) in gastric carcinoma. Expression of KLF6 in the gastric carcinoma was remarkably lower than normal gastric mucosa. Decreased expression of KLF6 in gastric carcinoma was significantly associated with histological differentiation (P<0.01), TNM stage (P<0.05), lymph node metastasis (P<0.01) and distant metastasis (P<0.05). There was no significant correlation between KLF6 expression and sex, age. Meanwhile, expression of KLF6 was associated with expression of P21WAF1 in both normal gastric mucosa and gastric carcinoma (P<0.05). In addition, decreased expression of KLF6 in gastric carcinoma was positively associated with PCNA level (r=0.719, P<0.01) by association analysis. Down-regulation of KLF6 might play an important role in the carcinogenesis and development of human gastric carcinoma and have significant clinical value.