How does perceived residential environment quality influence life satisfaction? Evidence from urban China.

Against the background of fast-paced aging and urbanization in China, the current study proposed a "Residential environment-Emotional health-Life satisfaction" framework to investigate the associations among perceived residential environment quality (PREQ), positive affect (PA), social trust (ST), and life satisfaction (LS) of old adults. Data used were from a nationwide survey and covered 3825 people aged 60 years or older living in urban communities. The partial least squares-structural equation modeling approach was adopted to verify hypotheses. The results found that (1) PREQ, PA, and ST were positively correlated with LS; (2) ST mediated the relationship between PREQ and LS; and (3) people who are men, living without children, high environmental perception, and with a workout habit were more sensitively to PREQ. These findings indicate that improving the residential environment helps to promote the mental health of the Chinese urban elderly, which may have some implications for establishing an age-friendly community.

A Case of an Incidentally Removed Lingual Osseous Choristoma.

Lingual osseous choristoma is a rare benign tumor consisting of normal matured bone tissue. It was first reported in 1913, and less than 100 cases of lingual osseous choristomas, mainly in their twenties and thirties, have been reported in the English literature until now. Here, we report an additional case of lingual osseous choristoma, in an elderly patient, that was incidentally removed by coughing and cured without additional interventions. An 89-year-old male patient was referred to our department for an evaluation of chronic cough. When we examined his oral cavity and pharynx, he expectorated a 10 -mm mass which was histologically diagnosed as an osseous choristoma. We confirmed the well-defined, rounded, high-density mass with a tiny pedicle on the base of the tongue in previous cervical spine CT images. No signs of recurrence were found during the 15-month follow-up examination. Our case serves as a reminder of this rare entity in the diagnosis of tongue masses of the elderly.

The expression and localization of heme oxygenase in the adult guinea pig cochlea.

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction demonstrated the expression of heme oxygenase-1 and heme oxygenase-2 (HO-2) mRNA in the cochlea, but the former was considered to be much lower than the latter. The HO-2-like immunoreactivity was observed mainly in supporting cells in the organ of Corti and in the spiral ganglion cells. However, in the vascular walls of the cochlea little immunoreactivity was detected. These results suggest that HO-2 is involved in the auditory neurotransmission and micromechanics of the organ of Corti.