Mitochondria have been proposed as the major source of reactive oxygen species in somatic cells and human spermatozoa. However, no data regarding the role of mitochondrial ROS production in stallion ...spermatozoa are available. To shed light on the role of the mitochondrial electron transport chain in the origin of oxidative stress in stallion spermatozoa, specific inhibitors of complex I (rotenone) and III (antimycin-A) were used. Ejaculates from seven Andalusian stallions were collected and incubated in BWW media at 37 °C in the presence of rotenone, antimycin-A or control vehicle. Incubation in the presence of these inhibitors reduced sperm motility and velocity (CASA analysis) (p<0.01), but the effect was more evident in the presence of rotenone (a complex I inhibitor). These inhibitors also decreased ATP content. The inhibition of complexes I and III decreased the production of reactive oxygen species (p<0.01) as assessed by flow cytometry after staining with CellRox deep red. This observation suggests that the CellRox probe mainly identifies superoxide and that superoxide production may reflect intense mitochondrial activity rather than oxidative stress. The inhibition of complex I resulted in increased hydrogen peroxide production (p<0.01). The inhibition of glycolysis resulted in reduced sperm velocities (p<0.01) without an effect on the percentage of total motile sperm. Weak and moderate (but statistically significant) positive correlations were observed between sperm motility, velocity and membrane integrity and the production of reactive oxygen species. These results indicate that stallion sperm rely heavily on oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) for the production of ATP for motility but also require glycolysis to maintain high velocities. These data also indicate that increased hydrogen peroxide originating in the mitochondria is a mechanism involved in stallion sperm senescence.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Despite years of research, the mechanisms governing the onset, relapse, symptomatology, and treatment of schizophrenia (SZ) remain elusive. The lack of appropriate analytic tools to deal with the ...heterogeneity and complexity of SZ may be one of the reasons behind this situation. Deep learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) inspired by the nervous system, has recently provided an accessible way of modeling and analyzing complex, high-dimensional, nonlinear systems. The unprecedented accuracy of deep learning algorithms in classification and prediction tasks has revolutionized a wide range of scientific fields and is rapidly permeating SZ research. Deep learning has the potential of becoming a valuable aid for clinicians in the prediction, diagnosis, and treatment of SZ, especially in combination with principles from Bayesian statistics. Furthermore, deep learning could become a powerful tool for uncovering the mechanisms underlying SZ thanks to a growing number of techniques designed for improving model interpretability and causal reasoning. The purpose of this article is to introduce SZ researchers to the field of deep learning and review its latest applications in SZ research. In general, existing studies have yielded impressive results in classification and outcome prediction tasks. However, methodological concerns related to the assessment of model performance in several studies, the widespread use of small training datasets, and the little clinical value of some models suggest that some of these results should be taken with caution.
Summary Background Studies of the effect of macroeconomic fluctuations on mortality in different socioeconomic groups are scarce and have yielded mixed findings. We analyse mortality trends in Spain ...before and during the Great Recession in different socioeconomic groups, quantifying the change within each group. Methods We did a nationwide prospective study, in which we took data from the 2001 Census. All people living in Spain on Nov 1, 2001, were followed up until Dec 31, 2011. We included 35 951 354 people alive in 2001 who were aged between 10 and 74 years in each one of the four calendar years before the economic crisis (from 2004 to 2007) and in each one of the first four calendar years of the crisis (from 2008 to 2011), and analysed all-cause and cause-specific mortality in those people. We classified individuals by socioeconomic status (low, medium, or high) using two indicators of household wealth: household floor space (<72 m2 , 72–104 m2 , and >104 m2 ) and number of cars owned by the residents of the household (none, one, and two or more). We used Poisson regression to calculate the annual percentage reduction (APR) in mortality rates during 2004–07 (pre-crisis) and 2008–11 (crisis) in each socioeconomic group, as well as the effect size, measured by the APR difference between the pre-crisis and crisis period. Findings The annual decline in all-cause mortality in the three socioeconomic groups was 1·7% (95% CI 1·2 to 2·1) for the low group, 1·7% (1·3 to 2·1) for the medium group, and 2·0% (1·4 to 2·5) for the high group in 2004–07, and 3·0% (2·5 to 3·5) for the low group, 2·8% (2·5 to 3·2) for the medium group, and 2·1% (1·6 to 2·7) for the high group in 2008–11 when individuals were classified by household floor space. The annual decline in all-cause mortality when people were classified by number of cars owned by the household was 0·3% (–0·1 to 0·8) for the low group, 1·6% (1·2 to 2·0) for the medium group, and 2·2% (1·6 to 2·8) for the high group in 2004–07, and 2·3% (1·8 to 2·8) for the low group, 2·4% (2·0 to 2·7) for the medium group and 2·5% (1·9 to 3·0) for the high group in 2008–11. The low socioeconomic group showed the largest effect size for both wealth indicators. Interpretation In Spain, probably due to the decrease in exposure to risk factors, all-cause mortality decreased more during the economic crisis than before the economic crisis, especially in low socioeconomic groups. Funding None.
Abstract
Background
The health hazards of indoor air pollution are well-established but studies of the health effects due to pollution from heating are rare. This study investigated the association ...of heating and disability for activities of daily living among Chinese middle-aged and elderly.
Methods
We used two consecutive surveys in a cohort of over 17,000 adults aged 45 or older, who were interviewed first in 2011–2012 and then in 2013. In these surveys, taking advantage of random survey time, we applied a random effects logit regression model that included an interaction between pollution-producing heating fuel and a dummy variable, which measured interview time based on whether or not it was heating season.
Results
Exposure to pollution-producing heating fuel was associated with a 39.9% (OR 1.399; 95%CI 1.227–1.594) and 71.0% (OR 1.710; 95%CI 1.523–1.920) increase in the likelihood of disability in activities of daily living (DADL) and disability in instrumental activities of daily living (DIADL), respectively. In heating season between year 2011 and 2013, moving from clean heating energy for heating to pollution-producing fuel was linked with an increase in the likelihoods having DADL and DIADL, with the OR of 2.014 (95%CI 1.126–3.600) and 1.956 (95%CI 1.186–3.226), respectively. However, disability increases due to change from clean energy to pollution-producing heating energy did not appear in advantaged education respondents.
Conclusions
We found that exposure to heating by burning of coal, wood, or crop residue was associated with disability in performing daily living activities. Health policymakers should take indoor pollution due to heating into consideration as it is a major determinant of activities of daily living in elderly people; especially, such policy should focus on elderly people who have disadvantaged education.
Though there are many inconsistencies in the literature, in market economies periods of economic growth, i.e., expansions, have been generally found associated with better mental health than economic ...contractions, i.e., recessions. This study investigates the association of economic conditions and mental health in China using three consecutive surveys of a cohort of over 17,000 adults aged 45 or older interviewed in 2011–12, 2013, and 2015 for the CHARLS study, totaling over 42,000 observations. Mental health was assessed by indicators of depression symptoms, cognition impairment, and life dissatisfaction. We found higher rates of GDP growth per capita associated with a deterioration of mental health, manifested by higher scores of depression symptoms, cognitive impairment, and life dissatisfaction. The effects were small in size, quite similar in men and women and were modified by level of income, with the population of lower income being the most harmed by economic growth.
•Economic growth is associated with a deterioration of mental health in China.•The effects are small in size, quite similar in men and women.•Individuals with low income are the most harmed by economic growth.
Background
Observational studies suggest that asthma/wheezing improves after adenotonsillectomy (AT). However, there is a paucity of randomized clinical trial (RCT) specifically studying the effects ...of AT in asthma/wheezing. Therefore, we conducted a post‐hoc analysis of the Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Trial (CHAT), the largest RCT of AT in children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to test the hypothesis that AT would result in fewer wheezing episodes.
Methods
In the CHAT study, 464 children with OSA, aged 5–9 years, were randomized to early AT (n = 226) or watchful waiting with supportive care (WWSC) (n = 227). For this post‐hoc analysis, children were categorized as having “any wheezing” versus “no wheezing” at baseline and at 7 months of follow‐up. A multivariate analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between “any wheezing” at follow‐up and treatment group after controlling for several potential confounders.
Results
Children in the “any wheezing” group were predominantly black, had more allergic rhinitis, eczema, second‐hand smoke exposure, body mass index, apnea–hypopnea index (AHI), and had lower maternal education and family income than those in the “no wheezing group.” In the AT arm, the prevalence of wheezing significantly decreased from baseline to follow‐up (at 7 months of the intervention) (47% vs. 21.6%, p < 0.001); while in the WWSC arms did not change (45.2% vs. 43.1%, p = 0.67). In the multivariate analysis, second‐hand smoke exposure, wheezing at baseline, and belong to WWSC arm (odds ratio: 3.65 2.16–6.19) increase the risk of wheezing at follow‐up.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that AT decreased the risk of wheezing at 7 months of follow‐up.
Although mortality from ischemic heart disease has declined over the past decades in Argentina, ischemic heart disease remains one of the most frequent causes of death. This study aimed to describe ...the role of individual and contextual factors on premature ischemic heart disease mortality and to analyze how educational differentials in premature ischemic heart disease mortality changed during economic fluctuations in two provinces of Argentina from 1990 to 2018. To test the relationship between individual (age, sex, and educational level) and contextual (urbanization, poverty, and macroeconomic variations) factors, a multilevel Poisson model was estimated. When controlling for the level of poverty at the departmental level, we observed inequalities in premature ischemic heart disease mortality according to the educational level of individuals, affecting population of low educational level. Moreover, economic expansion was related to an increase in ischemic heart disease mortality, however, expansion years were not associated with increasing educational inequalities in ischemic heart disease mortality. At the departmental level, we found no contextual association beween area-related socioeconomic level and the risk of ischemic heart disease mortality. Despite the continuing decline in ischemic heart disease mortality in Argentina, this study highlighted that social inequalities in mortality risk increased over time. Therefore, prevention policies should be more focused on populations of lower socioeconomic status in Argentina.
Recent research has shown that after long-term declining trends are excluded, mortality rates in industrial countries tend to rise in economic expansions and fall in economic recessions. In the ...present work, co-movements between economic fluctuations and mortality changes in postwar Japan are investigated by analyzing time series of mortality rates and eight economic indicators. To eliminate spurious associations attributable to trends, series are detrended either via Hodrick-Prescott filtering or through differencing. As previously found in other industrial economies, general mortality and age-specific death rates in Japan tend to increase in expansions and drop in recessions, for both males and females. The effect, which is slightly stronger for males, is particularly noticeable in those aged 45-64. Deaths attributed to heart disease, pneumonia, accidents, liver disease, and senility-making up about 41% of total mortality-tend to fluctuate procyclically, increasing in expansions. Suicides, as well as deaths attributable to diabetes and hypertensive disease, make up about 4% of total mortality and fluctuate countercyclically, increasing in recessions. Deaths attributed to other causes, making up about half of total deaths, don't show a clearly defined relationship with the fluctuations of the economy.
The aims of the present study were to assess the possible interaction between Cognitive Reserve (CR) and State Anxiety (SA) on adrenocortical and physiological responses in coping situations. Forty ...healthy, middle-aged men completed the Cognitive Reserve Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. We used an Observational Fear Conditioning (OFC) paradigm in order to assess emotional learning and to induce stress. Electrodermal activity (EDA) and salivary cortisol concentrations were measured throughout the conditions. Our results indicate that those who indicated having higher state anxiety showed a lower capacity for learning the contingency, along with presenting higher salivary cortisol peak response following the observational fear-conditioning paradigm. The most prominent finding was the interaction between cognitive reserve and state anxiety on cortisol response to the post observational fear-conditioning paradigm. Thus, those who showed a high anxiety-state and, at the same time, a high cognitive reserve did not present an increased salivary cortisol response following the observational fear-conditioning paradigm. Given these results, we postulate that the state anxiety reported by participants, reflects emotional activation that hinders the attention needed to process and associate emotional stimuli. However, cognitive reserve has an indirect relation with conditioning, enabling better emotional learning. In this context, cognitive reserve demonstrated a protective effect on hormonal response in coping situations, when reported anxiety or emotional activation were high. These findings suggest that cognitive reserve could be used as a tool to deal with the effects of stressors in life situations, limiting development of the allostatic load.
Micro- and nanotechnology are tools being used strongly in the area of food technology. The electrospray technique is booming because of its importance in developing micro- and nanoparticles ...containing an active ingredient as bioactive compounds, enhancing molecules of flavors, odors, and packaging coatings, and developing polymers that are obtained from food (proteins, carbohydrates), as chitosan, alginate, gelatin, agar, starch, or gluten. The electrospray technique compared to conventional techniques such as nanoprecipitation, emulsion–diffusion, double-emulsification, and layer by layer provides greater advantages to develop micro- and nanoparticles because it is simple, low cost, uses a low amount of solvents, and products are obtained in one step. This technique could also be applied in the agrifood sector for the preparation of controlled and/or prolonged release systems of fertilizer or agrochemicals, for which more research must be conducted.
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