Diffusion Tensor Imaging as a Tool to Evaluate the Cognitive Function of Patients With Vascular Dementia: A Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Vascular dementia (VaD) is the most common type of dementia secondary to Alzheimer's disease. The pathologic mechanism of VaD is complex, and VaD still lacks a more objective diagnosis and evaluation method. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can better detect the organizational structure and functional characteristics compared with any other diagnosis methods. Therefore, DTI has broad application in evaluating the severity and prognosis of VaD. This study aimed to assess the value of DTI in evaluating the cognitive function of patients with VaD. METHODS: Authors searched Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Library, using the search terms, such as "diffusion tensor imaging," "DTI," "Vascular Dementia," "Arteriosclerotic Dementia," "Cognition," and "Cognitive." A voxel-based meta-analysis combined with quality statistics was performed, using the anisotropic effect-size version of the signed differential mapping method. RESULTS: A total of 8 case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis. The sample size of patients ranged from 35 to 60, including 166 patients in the VaD group and 177 healthy individuals. The DTI imaging of the brain tissue of VaD patients was significantly different from that of healthy individuals. CONCLUSIONS: DTI imaging of the brain tissue of VaD patients was clearly different from that of healthy controls. Therefore it may be feasible to use DTI imaging as a diagnostic method for VaD.

Stretching Training Rehabilitation Has Potential to Alleviate Ankylosing Spondylitis in Mice by Inactivating the Wnt/ß-Catenin Pathway.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by invasion of the joints of the central axis that involves soft tissues and joints surrounding the spine. Stretching training rehabilitation (STR) has been widely applied for the treatment of AS. The Wnt/ß-catenin signalling pathway is closely related to AS. In this study, we aimed to explore the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the protective effect of STR on AS both in vitro and in vivo. Male DBA/1 mice were employed to establish an AS animal model. Hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that STR reversed pathological damages in bone tissues and the total antioxidant capacity of AS mice and increased the antioxidant capacity by upregulating superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde expression in DBA/1 mice. The MTT, RT-qPCR, and Western blotting results further indicated that STR improved the survival rate of cells by downregulating the expression of target genes in the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway and by inhibiting cell inflammation and apoptosis. In conclusion, our findings indicated that STR treatment might be an effective therapeutical strategy for AS.

Meta-Analysis of Naoxintong Capsule for Patients with Vascular Dementia.

Background: Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common form of dementia among the elderly. There is currently no unequivocal recommendation of an effective treatment option for VaD. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Naoxintong capsule (NXT) in the treatment of VaD patients. Methods: We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published before September 2021 in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang databases. The trials assessed the efficacy and/or safety of NXT in treating patients with VaD. A meta-analysis was then performed using Stata 14.0 software. Results: A total of 33 studies comprising 2,947 patients with VaD were included in this study. The meta-analysis revealed that NXT improved cognitive function in VaD patients, increased the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score by 3.33 points (WMD = 3.33, 95% CI (2.72, 3.94)), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score by 4.31 points (WMD = 4.31, 95% CI (2.72, 5.90)), and the Hasegawa dementia scale (HDS) by 2.71 points (WMD = 2.71, 95% CI (1.26, 4.17)). Furthermore, NXT significantly improved the daily lives of VaD patients, lowering the activities of daily living (ADL) score by 5.85 points (WMD = -5.85, 95% CI (-7.03, -4.66)). NXT improved the total effective rate (TER) (OR = 2.62, 95% CI (2.09, 3.29)) of the patients without increasing the occurrence of adverse events (AEs; OR = 0.72, 95% CI (0.43, 1.22)). Subgroup analysis revealed that whether NXT was used alone or in combination with western medicine, it could enhance the overall curative effect. Conclusions: NXT may be an effective and safe treatment option for VaD. However, because of the limited number and quality of articles included, this study's findings need to be validated by additional high-quality, large-sample, and multicenter RCTs (Systematic Review Registration Number: PROSPERO; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/CRD42021233199).

Torsional strain inversed chemoselectivity in a Pd-catalyzed atroposelective carbonylation reaction of dibenzothiophenium.

A palladium-catalyzed enantioselective ring-opening/carbonylation of cyclic diarylsulfonium salts is reported. In comparison to thioethers, the sulfonium salts displayed high reactivity and enabled the reaction to be performed under mild conditions (room temperature). The steric repulsion of the two non-hydrogen substituents adjacent to the axis led cyclic diarylsulfonium salts to be distorted, which enabled the ring-opening reaction to proceed with significant preference for breaking the exocyclic C-S bond.

In(III)-TMSBr-Catalyzed Cascade Reaction of Diarylalkynes with Acrylates for the Synthesis of Aryldihydronaphthalene Derivatives.

A combined Lewis acid system comprising of two or more Lewis acids occasionally exhibits augmented catalytic activity in organic transformations which are otherwise unrealizable by either of the components exclusively. On the other hand, the efficient construction of multiple new C-C bonds and polycyclic structures in minimal steps remains a subject of great interest in both academia and industry. Herein we report an efficient method to assemble aryldihydronaphthalene derivatives via a cascade reaction of diarylalkynes with acrylates under the catalysis of a combined Lewis acid derived from In(III) salt and TMSBr.

Preparation of highly substituted (ß-acylamino)acrylates via iron-catalyzed alkoxycarbonylation of N-vinylacetamides with carbazates.

An efficient iron(II)-catalyzed alkoxycarbonylation reaction between N-vinylacetamides and carbazates is reported. The corresponding useful highly substituted (ß-acylamino)acrylates could be obtained in reasonable to good yields and stereoselectivity under mild reaction conditions.

Synthesis of multi-substituted pyrroles using enamides and alkynes catalyzed by Pd(OAc)2 with molecular oxygen as an oxidant.

A cyclization reaction between enamides and alkynes catalyzed by palladium(II) acetate is described. In this method, the molecular oxygen serves as an efficient oxidant for the Pd(II)/Pd(0) catalytic cycle. The simple reaction conditions permit this methodology to be used as a general tool for the preparation of multi-substituted pyrroles.