The effects of solution composition and temperature on the microstructure and corrosion resistance of stannate conversion coatings on AZ61 magnesium alloys were investigated. The conversion coating ...consisted of a porous layer as under layer intimately contacted with the magnesium plate and a hemispherical particle layer as major overlay formed right on top of the porous layer. During the coalescence of the hemispherical particles to form a complete coating on the magnesium alloy, some sites of discontinuity inevitably left and determined the corrosion resistance of the coating evaluated using a salt spray test. Increasing bath stannate ion concentration and lowering bath pH increased the population density of the hemispherical particles whose size was accordingly reduced. The corrosion resistance of the conversion coating was improved with finer particles, which were preferably formed at less alkaline solution with higher stannate ion contents. Furthermore, the conditions favoring the formation of finer particles also reduced the immersion time necessary for producing the conversion coating with optimal corrosion resistance.
Background and purpose
Dementia is a neurodegenerative disorder that presents a progressive decline in cognitive function and loss of short‐term memory with age. Several studies have shown that ...statin, an oral lipid‐lowering drug, may reduce the risk of developing dementia. The objective of this study is to explore the association between statin and the development of dementia.
Methods
The data analyzed in this study were retrieved from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. The sample consisted of 123 300 patients ≥ 20 years of age, including 61 650 dementia patients with statin use and 61 650 patients without statin use who were eligible for inclusion in this study. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were performed to measure the effects of statin use on the risk of dementia.
Results
The beneficial effect of statin on dementia was significant after adjusting for sociodemographic factors and comorbidities (adjusted hazard ratio of 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.86–0.98). The sex‐ and age‐specific analysis of adjusted hazard ratios showed a higher beneficial effect from statin treatment in women than in men, and the effect became more significant with age.
Conclusion
Statin therapy may help prevent the development of dementia, and both hydrophilic and lipophilic statins produce similar effects. However, the preventive characters and associated mechanisms must be further explored and identified.
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Summary
We investigated the association between fasting plasma glucose variability (FPG-CV) and the risk of hip fracture in elderly diabetic patients. Our finding showed a temporal association ...between FPG-CV and hip fracture as patients categorized as FPG-CV greater than 25.4 % showed an increased risk in hip fractures.
Introduction
Hip fracture is a major health burden in the population and is associated with high rates of mortality and morbidity especially in elderly. It is evident that diabetes mellitus is a risk factor of osteoporosis which is a significant risk factor of hip fracture. However, epidemiological studies exploring the risks of hip fracture among type 2 diabetic patients are limited.
Methods
A retrospective study of 26,501 ethnic Chinese older persons enrolled in the National Diabetes Care Management program in Taiwan was conducted; related factors were analyzed with extended Cox proportional hazards regression models to competing risk data on hip fracture incidence.
Results
The results show a temporal association between FPG-CV and hip fracture as patients categorized as FPG-CV greater than 25.4 % showed an increased risk in hip fractures, confirming a linear relationship between the two. After multivariate adjustment, the risk of hip fracture increased among patients with FPG-CV of 25.4–42.3 % and >42.3 % compared with patients with FPG-CV of ≦ 14.3 % (hazard ratio, 1.35; 95 % confidence interval 1.14–1.60 and 1.27; 1.07–1.52, respectively). Significant linear trends among various FPG-CV were observed.
Conclusions
Thus, the present study demonstrated the importance of glucose stability for fracture prevention in older persons with type 2 diabetes. Future studies should be conducted to explore whether reduction in glucose oscillation in older adults with diabetes mellitus can reduce the risk of hip fracture.
This study aims at investigating the effects of MSW incinerator fly ash (FA) and bottom ash (BA) on the anaerobic co-digestion of OFMSW with FA or BA. It also simulates the biogas production from ...various dosed and control bioreactors. Results showed that suitable ashes addition (FA/MSW 10 and 20
g
L
−1 and BA/MSW 100
g
L
−1) could improve the MSW anaerobic digestion and enhance the biogas production rates. FA/MSW 20
g
L
−1 bioreactor had the higher biogas production and rate implying the potential option for MSW anaerobic co-digestion. Modeling studies showed that exponential plot simulated better for FA/MSW 10
g
L
−1 and control bioreactors while Gaussian plot was applicable for FA/MSW 20
g
L
−1 one. Linear and exponential plot of descending limb both simulated better for BA/MSW 100
g
L
−1 bioreactor. Modified Gompertz plot showed higher correlation of biogas accumulation than exponential rise to maximum plot for all bioreactors.
Although bamboo is one of the most important woody crops in Asia, information on its genome is still very limited. To investigate the relationship among Poaceae members and to understand the ...mechanism of albino mutant generation in vitro, the complete chloroplast genome of two economically important bamboo species, Dendrocalamus latiflorus Munro and Bambusa oldhamii Munro, was determined employing a strategy that involved polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using 443 novel primers designed to amplify the chloroplast genome of these two species. The lengths of the B. oldhamii and D. latiflorus chloroplast genomes are 139,350 and 139,365 bp, respectively. The organization structure and the gene order of these two bamboos are identical to other members of Poaceae. Highly conserved chloroplast genomes of Poaceae facilitated sequencing by the PCR method. Phylogenetic analysis using both chloroplast genomes confirmed the results obtained from studies on chromosome number and reproductive organ morphology. There are 23 gaps, insertions/deletions > 100 bp, in the chloroplast genomes of 10 genera of Poaceae compared in this study. The phylogenetic distribution of these gaps corresponds to their taxonomic placement. The sequences of these two chloroplast genomes provide useful information for studying bamboo evolution, ecology and biotechnology.
This study examined the prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD), and the correlations and co-morbid conditions associated with MDD, in the adult Taiwanese population, which a previous estimate ...in the 1980s had found to be at the lower end of the spectrum worldwide. Possible explanations for the reported low prevalence of MDD were evaluated.
As part of a survey of common psychiatric disorders in a nationally representative sample of individuals aged ≥ 18 years who were non-institutionalized civilians in Taiwan, a face-to-face interview using the paper version of the World Mental Health Survey of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI) was conducted between 2003 and 2005. Functional impairment and help-seeking behaviors were compared between Taiwanese subjects with MDD and their counterparts in the USA.
Among the 10 135 respondents, the lifetime prevalence of MDD was 1.20% standard error (S.E.)=0.2%. Individuals who were divorced or widowed, aged ≤ 40 years, and female were at increased risk, whereas rural residents were at lower risk for MDD. The proportion of MDD cases co-morbid with other psychiatric disorders in this study was much lower than in the US study. Only one-third of Taiwanese individuals with MDD sought help despite having twice the number of lost workdays compared with the US sample.
Despite the low prevalence of MDD in Taiwanese adults, the pattern of low help-seeking behavior and profound functional impairment indicates much room for improvement in the early detection of and intervention in major depression in this population.
REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia characterized by the loss of normal skeletal muscle atonia during REM sleep with prominent motor activity accompanying dreaming. The terminology ...relating to RBD, and mechanisms underlying REM sleep without atonia and RBD based on data in cat and rat are presented. Neuroimaging data from the few published human cases with RBD associated with structural lesions in the brainstem are presented, in which the dorsal midbrain and pons are implicated. Pharmacological manipulations which alter RBD frequency and severity are reviewed, and the data from human neuropathological studies are presented. An anatomic framework and new schema for the pathophysiology of RBD are proposed based on recent data in rat regarding the putative flip-flop switch for REM sleep control. The structure in man analogous to the subcoeruleus region in cat and sublaterodorsal nucleus in rat is proposed as the nucleus (and its associated efferent and afferent pathways) crucial to RBD pathophysiology. The association of RBD with neurological disease (‘secondary RBD’) is presented, with emphasis on RBD associated with neurodegenerative disease, particularly the synucleinopathies. The hypothesized pathophysiology of RBD is presented in relation to the Braak staging system for Parkinson's disease, in which the topography and temporal sequence of synuclein pathology in the brain could explain the evolution of parkinsonism and/or dementia well after the onset of RBD. These data suggest that many patients with ‘idiopathic’ RBD are actually exhibiting an early clinical manifestation of an evolving neurodegenerative disorder. Such patients may be appropriate for future drug therapies that affect synuclein pathophysiology, in which the development of parkinsonism and/or dementia could be delayed or prevented. We suggest that additional clinicopathological studies be performed in patients with dementia or parkinsonism, with and without RBD, as well as in patients with idiopathic RBD, to further elucidate the pathophysiology and also characterize the clinical and pathophysiological relevance of RBD in neurodegenerative disease. Furthermore, longitudinal studies in patients with idiopathic RBD are warranted to characterize the natural history of such patients and prepare for future therapeutic trials.
This study examines the popular practices of Chinese urbanism in which commodification of urban land has been actively pursued by municipal governments as a means of revenue generation in the era of ...neoliberalisation. The research identifies a complex, diverse and self-conflicting internal dynamics that characterised the Chinese state, reveals the political and financial motives of local governments to engage in urbanism and maps out the emerging geography of neoliberal urbanism. Land commodification has become a main source of municipal finance accounting for over 30% of total municipal budgetary revenue and nearly 40% of the fund for urban maintenance and construction. An inverse U-shaped relationship is found between the importance of land commodification to municipal finance and the level of urban economic growth. A similar relationship is identified for land-based municipal finance and degree of openness.
Phytochemicals have been used as potential chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agents. However, there are data suggesting a mutagenic effect of some phytochemicals. We hypothesized that safrole would ...have anticancer effects on human oral squamous cell carcinoma HSC-3 cells. Safrole decreased the percentage of viable HSC-3 cells via induction of apoptosis by an increased level of cytosolic Ca2+ and a reduction in the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ
m
). Changes in the membrane potential were associated with changes in the Bax, release of cytochrome c from mitochondria, and activation of downstream caspases-9 and -3, resulting in apoptotic cell death. In vivo studies also showed that safrole reduced the size and volume of an HSC-3 solid tumor on a xenograft athymic nu/nu mouse model. Western blotting and flow cytometric analysis studies confirmed that safrole-mediated apoptotic cell death of HSC-3 cells is regulated by cytosolic Ca2+ and by mitochondria- and Fas-dependent pathways.
Summary
We measured plasma levels of the oxidative DNA damage marker 8‐hydroxy‐2′‐deoxyguanosine (8‐OHdG) and leucocyte mRNA expression levels of the genes encoding the 8‐OHdG repair enzyme human ...8‐oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (hOGG1), the anti‐oxidant enzymes copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/ZnSOD), manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase‐1 (GPx‐1), GPx‐4, glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione synthetase (GS), the mitochondrial biogenesis‐related proteins mtDNA‐encoded ND 1 polypeptide (ND1), ND6, ATPase 6, mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam), nuclear respiratory factor 1(NRF‐1), pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 component alpha subunit (PDHA1), pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isoenzyme 1 (PDK‐1) and hypoxia inducible factor‐1α (HIF‐1α) and the glycolytic enzymes hexokinase‐II (HK‐II), glucose 6‐phosphate isomerase (GPI), phosphofructokinase (PFK), glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHa). We analysed their relevance to oxidative damage in 85 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, four complicated SLE patients undergoing rituximab treatment and 45 healthy individuals. SLE patients had higher plasma 8‐OHdG levels (P < 0·01) but lower leucocyte expression of the genes encoding hOGG1(P < 0·01), anti‐oxidant enzymes (P < 0·05), mitochondrial biogenesis‐related proteins (P < 0·05) and glycolytic enzymes (P < 0·05) than healthy individuals. The increase in plasma 8‐OHdG was correlated positively with the elevation of leucocyte expression of the genes encoding hOGG1 (P < 0·05), anti‐oxidant enzymes (P < 0·05), several mitochondrial biogenesis‐related proteins (P < 0·05) and glycolytic enzymes (P < 0·05) in lupus patients. The patients, whose leucocyte mtDNA harboured D310 heteroplasmy, exhibited a positive correlation between the mtDNA copy number and expression of ND1, ND6 and ATPase 6 (P < 0·05) and a negative correlation between mtDNA copy number and systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) (P < 0·05), as well as plasma 8‐OHdG (P < 0·05). In particular, four complicated SLE patients with increased expression of the genes encoding the anti‐oxidant enzymes, GAPDH, Tfam and PDHA1, experienced better therapeutic outcomes after rituximab therapy. In conclusion, higher oxidative damage with suboptimal increases in DNA repair, anti‐oxidant capacity, mitochondrial biogenesis and glucose metabolism may be implicated in SLE deterioration, and this impairment might be improved by targeted biological therapy.
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