Sleep duration and patterns in Chinese older adults: A comprehensive meta-analysis

This meta-analysis examined the mean sleep duration and patterns in Chinese older adult population. A literature search was systematically conducted covering major English (PubMed, Embase and PsycINFO) and Chinese (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang and SinoMed) databases. Data in studies with the mean and standard deviation of sleep duration and/or the proportion of short and long sleep durations in Chinese older adults were extracted and pooled using random-effects models. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to gender, region, area, survey time and sample size. A total of 36 studies with 150,616 subjects were included for analyses. The pooled mean sleep duration of 21 studies with available data was 6.82 hours/day (95% CI: 6.59–7.05 hours/day). The estimated proportions of sleep duration \u3c5 hours/day, \u3c6 hours/day, \u3c7 hours/day were 18.8% (95% CI: 1.7%–35.9%), 26.7% (95% CI: 19.7%–33.7%) and 42.3% (95% CI: 34.8%–49.8%), respectively. The pooled proportions for long sleepers were 22.6% (95% CI: 13.9%–31.4%) (\u3e8 hours/day) and 17.6% (95% CI: 12.4%–22.9%) (\u3e9 hours/day). Given the adverse effects of unhealthy sleep patterns, health professionals should pay more attention to sleep patterns in this population in China

Efficacy of combined traditional Chinese medicine spray with premature ejaculation desensitization therapy for the treatment of primary premature ejaculation

Objectives: We recommend a new kind of spray made from eight kinds of traditional Chinese medicine, we aimed to investigate the safety and clinical efficacy of combined traditional Chinese medicine spray (TCMS) with premature ejaculation desensitization therapy (PEDT) for the treatment of primary premature ejaculation (PPE).Methods: A total of 90 patients with PPE were randomly assigned to receive TCMS, PEDT monotherapy or TCMS plus PEDT combination therapy for 6 weeks. Intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) and Chinese index of sexual function for premature ejaculation (CIPE-5) were measured to evaluate the effect of each treatment.Results: Eighty six (86) participants completed the study voluntarily. Both IELT and CIPE-5 in these three groups increased after treatment when compared with baseline levels (p< 0.01). IELT and CIPE-5 after treatment in TCMS plus PEDT group were significantly higher than those in the other two groups (both p <0.05). Additionally, clinical efficacy in TCMS plus PEDT group (89.7%) was significantly higher than in TCMS (65.5%) and PEDT group (67.9%) (p< 0.01).Conclusion: The self-made TCMS was safe and effective for the treatment of PPE, a combination of TCMS and PEDT therapy was more effective than the TCMS or PEDT monotherapy.Keywords: Primary premature ejaculation (PPE); traditional Chinese mdicine spray (TCMS); premature ejaculation desensitization training therapy (PEDT); Intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT); Chinese index of sexual function for premature ejaculation (CIPE-5

Efficacy of combined traditional Chinese medicine spray with premature ejaculation desensitization therapy for the treatment of primary premature ejaculation.

Objectives: We recommend a new kind of spray made from eight kinds of traditional Chinese medicine, we aimed to investigate the safety and clinical efficacy of combined traditional Chinese medicine spray (TCMS) with premature ejaculation desensitization therapy (PEDT) for the treatment of primary premature ejaculation (PPE). Methods: A total of 90 patients with PPE were randomly assigned to receive TCMS, PEDT monotherapy or TCMS plus PEDT combination therapy for 6 weeks. Intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) and Chinese index of sexual function for premature ejaculation (CIPE-5) were measured to evaluate the effect of each treatment. Results: Eighty six (86) participants completed the study voluntarily. Both IELT and CIPE-5 in these three groups increased after treatment when compared with baseline levels (p< 0.01). IELT and CIPE-5 after treatment in TCMS plus PEDT group were significantly higher than those in the other two groups (both p <0.05). Additionally, clinical efficacy in TCMS plus PEDT group (89.7%) was significantly higher than in TCMS (65.5%) and PEDT group (67.9%) (p< 0.01). Conclusion: The self-made TCMS was safe and effective for the treatment of PPE, a combination of TCMS and PEDT therapy was more effective than the TCMS or PEDT monotherapy

Tandem autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for treatment of adult T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma: a multiple center prospective study in China

T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) is a highly aggressive form of lymphoma with poor clinical outcomes and lacks of a standard treatment regimen. In this study, we assessed the safety and efficacy of tandem autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) strategy for adult T-LBL and evaluated prognostic factors affecting survival. 181 Newly-diagnosed adult T-LBL patients were enrolled, 89 patients were treated with chemotherapy alone, 46 patients were allocated to single auto-HSCT group, 46 patients were treated with tandem auto-HSCT. The median follow-up time was 37 months, the 3-year progression/relapse rate of the tandem auto-HSCT group was significantly lower than that of the single auto-HSCT group and chemotherapy group (26.5% vs 53.1% and 54.8%). The 3-year PFS and OS rate of the tandem auto-HSCT group (73.5% and 76.3%) were significantly higher than those of the single auto-HSCT group (46.9% and 58.3%) and the chemotherapy group (45.1% and 57.1%). In the tandem auto-HSCT group, age and disease status after the first transplantation impacted the OS and PFS. Multivariate analysis identified that disease status after the first transplantation was the only independent prognostic factor for patients treated with tandem-HSCT. In addition, diagnostic models of the initial CD8+CD28+/CD8+CD28- T cell ratio in predicting the disease status were found to be significant. Taken together, tandem auto-HSCT can be considered an optimal strategy for adult T-LBL patients (ChiCTR-ONN-16008480)

Cytokine-induced killer cells efficiently kill stem-like cancer cells of nasopharyngeal carcinoma via the NKG2D-ligands recognition

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are considered to be the root cause for cancer treatment failure. Thus, there remains an urgent need for more potent and safer therapies against CSCs for curing cancer. In this study, the antitumor activity of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells against putative CSCs of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) was fully evaluated in vitro and in vivo. To visualize putative CSCs in vitro by fluorescence imaging, and image and quantify putative CSCs in tumor xenograft-bearing mice by in vivo bioluminescence imaging, NPC cells were engineered with CSC detector vector encoding GFP and luciferase (Luc) under control of Nanog promoter. Our study reported in vitro intense tumor-killing activity of CIK cells against putative CSCs of NPC, as revealed by percentage analysis of side population cells, tumorsphere formation assay and Nanog-promoter-GFP-Luc reporter gene strategy plus time-lapse recording. Additionally, time-lapse imaging firstly illustrated that GFP-labeled or PKH26-labeled putative CSCs or tumorspheres were usually attacked simultaneously by many CIK cells and finally killed by CIK cells, suggesting the necessity of achieving sufficient effector-to-target ratios. We firstly confirmed that NKG2D blockade by anti-NKG2D antibody significantly but partially abrogated CIK cell-mediated cytolysis against putative CSCs. More importantly, intravenous infusion of CIK cells significantly delayed tumor growth in NOD/SCID mice, accompanied by a remarkable reduction in putative CSC number monitored by whole-body bioluminescence imaging. Taken together, our findings suggest that CIK cells demonstrate the intense tumor-killing activity against putative CSCs of NPC, at least in part, by NKG2D-ligands recognition. These results indicate that CIK cell-based therapeutic strategy against CSCs presents a promising and safe approach for cancer treatment

Implicating genes, pleiotropy, and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multi-ancestry meta-analysis

Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).Background: Genetic variants within nearly 1000 loci are known to contribute to modulation of blood lipid levels. However, the biological pathways underlying these associations are frequently unknown, limiting understanding of these findings and hindering downstream translational efforts such as drug target discovery. Results: To expand our understanding of the underlying biological pathways and mechanisms controlling blood lipid levels, we leverage a large multi-ancestry meta-analysis (N = 1,654,960) of blood lipids to prioritize putative causal genes for 2286 lipid associations using six gene prediction approaches. Using phenome-wide association (PheWAS) scans, we identify relationships of genetically predicted lipid levels to other diseases and conditions. We confirm known pleiotropic associations with cardiovascular phenotypes and determine novel associations, notably with cholelithiasis risk. We perform sex-stratified GWAS meta-analysis of lipid levels and show that 3–5% of autosomal lipid-associated loci demonstrate sex-biased effects. Finally, we report 21 novel lipid loci identified on the X chromosome. Many of the sex-biased autosomal and X chromosome lipid loci show pleiotropic associations with sex hormones, emphasizing the role of hormone regulation in lipid metabolism. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings provide insights into the biological mechanisms through which associated variants lead to altered lipid levels and potentially cardiovascular disease risk.Peer reviewe

Implicating genes, pleiotropy, and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multi-ancestry meta-analysis

Funding GMP, PN, and CW are supported by NHLBI R01HL127564. GMP and PN are supported by R01HL142711. AG acknowledge support from the Wellcome Trust (201543/B/16/Z), European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007–2013 under grant agreement no. HEALTH-F2-2013–601456 (CVGenes@Target) & the TriPartite Immunometabolism Consortium [TrIC]-Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Grant number NNF15CC0018486. JMM is supported by American Diabetes Association Innovative and Clinical Translational Award 1–19-ICTS-068. SR was supported by the Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics (Grant No 312062), the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, the Sigrid Juselius Foundation, and University of Helsinki HiLIFE Fellow and Grand Challenge grants. EW was supported by the Finnish innovation fund Sitra (EW) and Finska Läkaresällskapet. CNS was supported by American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowships 15POST24470131 and 17POST33650016. Charles N Rotimi is supported by Z01HG200362. Zhe Wang, Michael H Preuss, and Ruth JF Loos are supported by R01HL142302. NJT is a Wellcome Trust Investigator (202802/Z/16/Z), is the PI of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (MRC & WT 217065/Z/19/Z), is supported by the University of Bristol NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC-1215–2001) and the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (MC_UU_00011), and works within the CRUK Integrative Cancer Epidemiology Programme (C18281/A19169). Ruth E Mitchell is a member of the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol funded by the MRC (MC_UU_00011/1). Simon Haworth is supported by the UK National Institute for Health Research Academic Clinical Fellowship. Paul S. de Vries was supported by American Heart Association grant number 18CDA34110116. Julia Ramierz acknowledges support by the People Programme of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme grant n° 608765 and Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant n° 786833. Maria Sabater-Lleal is supported by a Miguel Servet contract from the ISCIII Spanish Health Institute (CP17/00142) and co-financed by the European Social Fund. Jian Yang is funded by the Westlake Education Foundation. Olga Giannakopoulou has received funding from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) (FS/14/66/3129). CHARGE Consortium cohorts were supported by R01HL105756. Study-specific acknowledgements are available in the Additional file 32: Supplementary Note. The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institutes of Health; or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Implicating genes, pleiotropy, and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multi-ancestry meta-analysis

Abstract Background Genetic variants within nearly 1000 loci are known to contribute to modulation of blood lipid levels. However, the biological pathways underlying these associations are frequently unknown, limiting understanding of these findings and hindering downstream translational efforts such as drug target discovery. Results To expand our understanding of the underlying biological pathways and mechanisms controlling blood lipid levels, we leverage a large multi-ancestry meta-analysis (N = 1,654,960) of blood lipids to prioritize putative causal genes for 2286 lipid associations using six gene prediction approaches. Using phenome-wide association (PheWAS) scans, we identify relationships of genetically predicted lipid levels to other diseases and conditions. We confirm known pleiotropic associations with cardiovascular phenotypes and determine novel associations, notably with cholelithiasis risk. We perform sex-stratified GWAS meta-analysis of lipid levels and show that 3–5% of autosomal lipid-associated loci demonstrate sex-biased effects. Finally, we report 21 novel lipid loci identified on the X chromosome. Many of the sex-biased autosomal and X chromosome lipid loci show pleiotropic associations with sex hormones, emphasizing the role of hormone regulation in lipid metabolism. Conclusions Taken together, our findings provide insights into the biological mechanisms through which associated variants lead to altered lipid levels and potentially cardiovascular disease risk