Associations between modifiable lifestyle factors and multidimensional cognitive health among community-dwelling old adults: stratified by educational level.

ABSTRACTBackground:Cognition is multidimensional, and each domain plays a unique and crucial part in successful daily life engagement. However, less attention has been paid to multi-domain cognitive health for the elderly, and the role of lifestyle factors in each domain remains unclear. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 3,230 older adults aged 60+ years in Xiamen, China, in 2016. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to measure general cognition and six specific sub-domains. To account for educational effects, we adjusted the MoCA score and divided respondents into three education-specific groups (low, moderate, and high education groups with ≤5, 6~8, and ≥9 years of education, respectively). A series of proportional odds models were used to detect the associations between two categories of lifestyle factors - substance abuse (cigarette and alcohol) and leisure activity (TV watching, reading, smartphone use, social activity, and exercise) - and general cognition and the six sub-domains in those three groups. RESULTS: Among the 3,230 respondents, 2,617 eligible participants were included with a mean age of 69.05 ± 7.07 years. Previous or current smoking/drinking was not associated with MoCA scores in the whole population, but unexpectedly, the ex-smokers in the low education group performed better in general cognition (OR = 2.22) and attention (OR = 2.05) than their never-smoking counterparts. Modest TV watching, reading, and smartphone use also contributed to better cognition among elderly participants in the low education group. For the highly educated elderly, comparatively longer reading (>3.5 hours/week) was inversely associated with general cognition (OR = 0.53), memory (OR = 0.59), and language (OR = 0.54), while adequate exercise (5~7 days/week) was positively related to these factors with OR = 1.48, OR = 1.49, and OR = 1.53, respectively. For the moderately educated elderly, only modest reading was significantly beneficial. CONCLUSIONS: Lifestyle factors play different roles in multidimensional cognitive health in different educational groups, indicating that individual intervention strategies should be designed according to specific educational groups and different cognitive sub-domains.

Transcriptome analysis of drought-responsive genes regulated by hydrogen sulfide in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) leaves.

Drought is an environmental factor that deeply impacts wheat yield and quality. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a known regulator of drought resistance in plants. To preliminarily elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of H2S on drought tolerance, the effects of H2S on drought-responsive genes were investigated by transcriptome analysis. As a result, a total of 7552 transcripts not only responded to drought stress but also exhibited differential expression relative to the polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment (P) and the NaHS pretreatment with PEG treatment (SP). GO categories of 'transport' were especially enriched under the SP treatment and ion transport categories (especially 'iron ion transport') were more significantly enriched among up-regulated transcripts in SP versus P treatments (SP.vs.P). Indeed, a higher translocation of iron from root to shoot and iron availability in shoots was detected in SP compared to P. The KEGG pathway of 'ribosome biogenesis in eukaryotes', 'protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum', 'fatty acid degradation', and 'cyanoamino acid metabolism' was induced by H2S under drought stress. Further, H2S was involved in plant hormones signal transduction, and drought-induced transcription factors, protein kinases, and functional genes exhibited higher expression levels under SP relative to P. Additionally, several effectors or master regulatory genes of H2S were identified genome-wide. Summarily, these results showed that H2S alleviated drought damage probably related to transport systems, plant hormones signal transduction, protein processing pathway, fatty acids and amino acids metabolism, which provides a guide for future experimentation to analyze hydrogen sulfide-dependent drought tolerance mechanisms in wheat.

Comparative proteomic analysis of the membrane proteins of two Haemophilus parasuis strains to identify proteins that may help in habitat adaptation and pathogenesis.

BACKGROUND: Haemophilus parasuis is the causative agent of Glässer's disease characterized by polyserositis, arthritis, and meningitis in pig, leading to serious economic loss. Despite many years of study, virulence factors and the mechanisms of the entire infection process remain largely unclear. So two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry were used to search for distinctions at the membrane protein expression level between two H. parasuis isolates aimed at uncovering some proteins potentially involved in habitat adaption and pathogenesis. RESULTS: A comparative proteomic approach combining two-dimensional gel electrophoresis with mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry was employed to explore the differences among membrane proteomes of a virulent Haemophilus parasuis strain isolated from the lung of a diseased pig and an avirulent strain isolated from the nasal swab of a healthy pig. Differentially expressed protein spots identified by mass spectrometry were annotated and analyzed by bioinformatic interpretation. The mRNA level was determined by quantitative real-time PCR. Proteins representing diverse functional activities were identified. Among them, the tonB-dependent siderophore receptor was a new discovery highlighted for its activity in iron uptake. In addition, periplasmic serine protease and putrescine/spermidine ABC transporter substrate-binding protein were given focus because of their virulence potential. This study revealed that the differentially expressed proteins were important in either the habitat adaption or pathogenesis of H. parasuis. CONCLUSIONS: The outcome demonstrated the presence of some proteins which raise the speculation for their importance in helping in habitat adaption or pathogenesis within the host.

Comparative proteome analysis of the extracellular proteins of two Haemophilus parasuis strains Nagasaki and SW114.

This study used a comparative proteomics approach to distinguish between the two-dimensional electrophoresis profiles of extracellular proteins in Nagasaki and SW114. Protein spots were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The ten proteins unique to Nagasaki were putative adhesin AidA protein, putative extracellular serine protease (autotransporter) (771aa), putative extracellular serine protease (autotransporter) (780aa), protective surface antigen D15, 30S ribosomal protein S2, periplasmic serine protease do/hhoA-like protein, acid phosphatase, membrane protein, protein-disulfide isomerase, and iron ABC transporter substrate-binding protein. Meanwhile, the two proteins unique to SW114 were C4-dicarboxylate ABC transporter substrate-binding protein and peptide ABC transporter substrate-binding protein. Quantitative PCR was used to analyze the mRNA transcript levels of three randomly selected proteins. The afuA, AidA, and ompD15 genes encoding iron ABC transporter substrate-binding protein, putative adhesin AidA protein and protective surface antigen D15 respectively demonstrated significantly higher mRNA transcript levels (39.606, 3.924, and 36.668, respectively) in Nagasaki than in SW114. These observations suggest the levels of differentially expressed proteins were directly proportional to their cellular mRNA levels. Three virulence-related proteins, namely, putative adhesin AidA protein, putative extracellular serine protease (autotransporter) (771aa) and putative extracellular serine protease (autotransporter) (780aa) were identified in Nagasaki.