Wealth Inequality and Mental Disability Among the Chinese Population: A Population Based Study

In the study described herein, we investigated and explored the association between wealth inequality and the risk of mental disability in the Chinese population. We used nationally represented, population-based data from the second China National Sample Survey on Disability, conducted in 2006. A total of 1,724,398 study subjects between the ages of 15 and 64, including 10,095 subjects with mental disability only, were used for the analysis. Wealth status was estimated by a wealth index that was derived from a principal component analysis of 10 household assets and four other variables related to wealth. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for mental disability for each category, with the lowest quintile category as the referent. Confounding variables under consideration were age, gender, residence area, marital status, ethnicity, education, current employment status, household size, house type, homeownership and living arrangement. The distribution of various types and severities of mental disability differed significantly by wealth index category in the present population. Wealth index category had a positive association with mild mental disability (p for trend <0.01), but had a negative association with extremely severe mental disability (p for trend <0.01). Moreover, wealth index category had a significant, inverse association with mental disability when all severities of mental disability were taken into consideration. This study’s results suggest that wealth is a significant factor in the distribution of mental disability and it might have different influences on various types and severities of mental disability

Phellinus Linteus Extract Sensitizes Advanced Prostate Cancer Cells to Apoptosis in Athymic Nude Mice

Phellinus linteus (PL) mushroom possesses anti-tumor property. We previously reported that the treatment with PL caused cultured human prostate cancer cells to undergo apoptosis. To further studying the mechanisms of PL-mediated apoptosis, we performed xenograft assay, together with in vitro assays, to evaluate the effect of PL on the genesis and progression of the tumors formed from the inoculation of prostate cancer PC3 or DU145 cells. After the inoculation, nude mice were injected with PL every two days for 12 days. Although PL treatment did not prevent the formation of the inoculated tumors, the growth rate of the tumors after PL treatment was dramatically attenuated. We then tested the effect of PL on the tumors 12 days after the inoculation. After inoculated tumors reached a certain size, PL was administrated to the mice by subcutaneous injection. The histochemistry or immunochemistry analysis showed that apoptosis occurred with the activation of caspase 3 in the tumors formed by inoculating prostate cancer DU145 or PC3 cells. The data was in a good agreement with that from cultured cells. Thus, our in vivo study suggests that PL not only is able to attenuate tumor growth, but also to cause tumor regression by inducing apoptosis

The Sombor index and coindex of two-trees

The Sombor index of a graph $G$, introduced by Ivan Gutman, is defined as the sum of the weights $\sqrt{d_G(u)^2+d_G(v)^2}$ of all edges $uv$ of $G$, where $d_G(u)$ denotes the degree of vertex $u$ in $G$. The Sombor coindex was recently defined as $\overline{SO}(G) = \sum_{uv\notin E(G)}\sqrt{d_G(u)^2+d_G(v)^2}$. As a new vertex-degree-based topological index, the Sombor index is important because it has been proved to predict certain physicochemical properties. Two-trees are very important structures in complex networks. In this paper, the maximum and second maximum Sombor index, the minimum and second minimum Sombor coindex of two-trees and the extremal two-trees are determined, respectively. Besides, some problems are proposed for further research

The corneal biomechanical changes after SMILE and LASIK refractive surgery were compared based on finite element analysis

The three-dimensional (3D) finite element model of human eye was established, and the intraocular pressure (IOP) was loaded to simulate refractive surgery. The biomechanical properties of human cornea after SMILE and LASIK surgery were studied from the stress, strain and induced wavefront aberration. Our results showed that SMILE had less impact on the biomechanics, having less stress and strain changes than LASIK. However, the stress and strain of the cornea increased with the increase of the diopter and were concentrated in the central region. We also investigated the changes in wavefront aberrations of the cornea after surgery, and the results indicated that the defocus and vertical commotion were significantly affected by SMILE and LASIK surgery, while the remaining aberrations were approximately unchanged. In conclusion, both SMILE and LASIK sergury procedures changed the postoperative corneal biomechanics, but SMILE had less impact on the biomechanics of corneal

Simulation of Optical Coherence Elastography in Agar Based on Finite Element Analysis

The finite element method is used to simulate the optical coherent elastic imaging in Agar. The shear wave velocity in Agar was measured by ARF-OCE system, and then the Agar model was established by finite element method, and then the shear wave velocity in Agar model was measured. The shear wave velocity in experiment and finite element simulation were compared and analyzed. The shear wave velocity obtained in the experiment is 2.50 m/s, and the range of shear wave velocity obtained in the finite element simulation is 2.4802m/s, and the average wave velocity is 2.5167m/s. The finite element method can express tissue elasticity directly and clearly, and it plays a great guiding role in corneal elastography

Research on the Influencing Factors of Air-puff Test after SMILE Based on Finite Element Analysis

The three-dimensional finite element model of the postoperative whole human eye after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) surgery and the axisymmetric air-puff model were established, the influencing factors in the Air-puff test were explored from the displacement nephogram on anterior corneal surface. Our results showed that the maximum depression displacement was positively correlated with the corrected diopter when the peak pressure of ejection and air-puff center location were constant, but the highest concavity radius of concave curvature was negatively correlated with the corrected diopter. At the same time, we also found that when the decentration of air-puff center position was 1mm, the maximum depression displacement of the anterior corneal surface was reduced by 8.3% under the condition of constant correction diopter and peak air-puff pressure, compared with the maximum depression displacement of the anterior corneal surface when the decentration of air-puff center position was 0 mm. In conclusion, the corrected diopter and decentration of air-puff position have an important effect on the results of air-puff test after SMILE

Effects of intraocular pressure and aspheric transition zone ablation profile on corneal biomechanics after conventional refractive surgery

Our Purpose is to study the effects of intraocular pressure (IOP) and aspheric transition zone (ATZ) on corneal biomechanics after pure hyperopia correction by using the finite element analysis (FEA). The values of IOP were changed, and 1-5# aspheric transition zones were designed in 1-5D hyperopia correction model. Simulate and calculate the wavefront aberration, stress and vertex displacement of cornea. The results show that with the increase of IOP and diopter, defocus increases positively and sphere increases negatively. Diopter and IOP have slight influence on coma. At 22mmHg, the maximum value of defocus was 1.367mm at 5D-1#, and the maximum value of sphere was -0.32mm at 5D-5#. IOP and diopter have great influence on the stress in the marginal region of the anterior corneal surface, and 1D-1 # has the maximum value at 22mmHg. With the increase of IOP and diopter, the vertex displacement of posterior corneal surface increased. The ATZ ablation profile has little effects on the wavefront aberration and displacement. We can draw a conclusion that refractive surgery destroys the physiological structure of cornea and has a great influence on the biomechanical properties of cornea. IOP plays an important role in maintaining the physiological structure of cornea

UPRmt scales mitochondrial network expansion with protein synthesis via mitochondrial import [preprint]

As organisms develop, individual cells generate mitochondria to fulfill physiologic requirements. However, it remains unknown how mitochondrial network expansion is scaled to cell growth and impacted by environmental cues. The mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) is a signaling pathway mediated by the transcription factor ATFS-1 which harbors a mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS)1. Here, we demonstrate that ATFS-1 mediates an adaptable mitochondrial expansion program that is active throughout normal development. Developmental mitochondrial network expansion required the relatively inefficient MTS2 in ATFS-1, which allowed the transcription factor to be responsive to parameters that impact protein import capacity of the entire mitochondrial network. Increasing the strength of the ATFS-1 MTS impaired UPRmt activity throughout development due to increased accumulation within mitochondria. The insulin-like signaling-TORC13 and AMPK pathways affected UPRmt activation4,5 in a manner that correlated with protein synthesis. Manipulation to increase protein synthesis caused UPRmt activation. Alternatively, S6 kinase inhibition had the opposite effect due to increased mitochondrial accumulation of ATFS-1. However, ATFS-1 with a dysfunctional MTS6 constitutively increased UPRmt activity independent of TORC1 function. Lastly, expression of a single protein with a strong MTS, was sufficient to expand the muscle cell mitochondrial network in an ATFS-1-dependent manner. We propose that mitochondrial network expansion during development is an emergent property of the synthesis of highly expressed mitochondrial proteins that exclude ATFS-1 from mitochondrial import, causing UPRmt activation. Mitochondrial network expansion is attenuated once ATFS-1 can be imported

UPR(mt) scales mitochondrial network expansion with protein synthesis via mitochondrial import in Caenorhabditis elegans

As organisms develop, individual cells generate mitochondria to fulfill physiological requirements. However, it remains unknown how mitochondrial network expansion is scaled to cell growth. The mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR(mt)) is a signaling pathway mediated by the transcription factor ATFS-1 which harbors a mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS). Here, using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans we demonstrate that ATFS-1 mediates an adaptable mitochondrial network expansion program that is active throughout normal development. Mitochondrial network expansion requires the relatively inefficient MTS in ATFS-1, which allows the transcription factor to be responsive to parameters that impact protein import capacity of the mitochondrial network. Increasing the strength of the ATFS-1 MTS impairs UPR(mt) activity by increasing accumulation within mitochondria. Manipulations of TORC1 activity increase or decrease ATFS-1 activity in a manner that correlates with protein synthesis. Lastly, expression of mitochondrial-targeted GFP is sufficient to expand the muscle cell mitochondrial network in an ATFS-1-dependent manner. We propose that mitochondrial network expansion during development is an emergent property of the synthesis of highly expressed mitochondrial proteins that exclude ATFS-1 from mitochondrial import, causing UPR(mt) activation