Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Prehypertension among Young and Middle-Aged Health Check-Up Population in Guangzhou

Objective: To provide basic information and theories for prehypertension early intervention, a systematic analysis of the epidemic status and risk factors among young and middle-aged was carried out here. Methods: This study relied on the data bank of a health check-up population of a class a tertiary general hospital in Guangdong province in 2015. Total 9540 young and middle-aged adults were enrolled, and 733 people were included to find out the effect with lifestyle in these crowd. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of Factor (FA) was used to identify dietary patterns. The logistic regression model was used to find the risk factors of prehypertension. Results: Among 9540 young and middle-aged cases, the incidence of prehypertension was 36.6%. Moreover, the average age, proportion of male gender, overweight, FBG (fasting blood glucose), dyslipidemia, and hyperuricemia were significantly higher in the prehypertension group than in the optimal BP group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that age, total cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, body mass index and HR (heart rate) were risk factors, and female was a protective factor for prehypertension. Among 733 cases, the incidence of prehypertension was 35.1%. The proportion of smoking, drinking, physical workers, moderate and severe physical activity, and the intake of meat, dietary energy were significantly higher in the prehypertension group than in the optimal BP group. Dietary patterns included “meat model”, “spice model”, “main vegeTables model” and “high protein model”. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that age, drinking were risk factors for prehypertension, while dietary milk intake, dietary magnesium intake were protective factors. Conclusions: Prehypertension is highly prevalent in Guangzhou. However, education about effective lifestyle modifications as an alcohol limit, increasing the intake of dairy products, and magnesium may intervene in the development of prehypertension. But how to develop targeted interventions for such groups need to be further explored. The present study would lay the theoretical foundation and basic data for the next step

Protective effect of human serum amyloid P on CCl4-induced acute liver injury in mice.

Human serum amyloid P (hSAP), a member of the pentraxin family, inhibits the activation of fibrocytes in culture and inhibits experimental renal, lung, skin and cardiac fibrosis. As hepatic inflammation is one of the causes of liver fibrosis, in the present study, we investigated the hepatoprotective effects of hSAP against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver injury. Our data indicated that hSAP attenuated hepatic histopathological abnormalities and significantly decreased inflammatory cell infiltration and pro-inflammatory factor expression. Moreover, CCl4-induced apoptosis in the mouse liver was inhibited by hSAP, as measured by terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay and cleaved caspase-3 expression. hSAP significantly restored the expression of B cell lymphoma/leukemia (Bcl)-2 and suppressed the expression of Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) in vivo. The number of hepatocytes in early apoptosis stained with Annexin V was significantly reduced by 28-30% in the hSAP treatment group compared with the CCl4 group, and the expression of Bcl-2 was increased, whereas the expression of Bax and cleaved caspase-3 were significantly inhibited in the hSAP pre-treatment group compared with the CCl4 group. hSAP administration also inhibited the migration and activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in CCl4-injured liver and suppressed the activation of isolated primary HSCs induced by transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 in vitro. Collectively, these findings suggest that hSAP exerts a protective effect againts CCl4-induced hepatic injury by suppressing the inflammatory response and hepatocyte apoptosis, potentially by inhibiting HSC activation

Optimization of Extraction Process of Polysaccharide from Black Corn Kernel by Response Surface Method and Analysis of Its Antioxidant Activity

In order to explore the optimum extraction process of polysaccharide and antioxidant activity in vitro in black corn kernel. In this study, black corn kernel was used as raw material, ultrasonic-assisted extraction was applied to extract polysaccharides from black corn kernel. To explore the effects of ultrasonic power, solid-liquid ratio, extraction time, temperature and frequency on the yield of polysaccharide. The extraction process of polysaccharide from black corn kernel was optimized by response surface methodology. Besides, the antioxidant activity of the polysaccharide was investigated by measuring its scavenging ability on DPPH·, ABTS+·, and ·OH. The results showed that the extraction yield of polysaccharide from black corn kernel could reach up to 41.09%±0.59%, in these conditions: The solid-liquid ratio was 1:20 g/mL, the extraction temperature was 74 ℃, the extraction time was 60 min and the extraction frequency was 3 times. The IC50 values of scavenging rates on DPPH·, ABTS+· and ·OH were 1.959, 1.529 and 0.3554 mg/mL, respectively. Moreover, the scavenging rates showed a certain dose-effect relationship with the sample concentration, indicating that the polysaccharide had a strong antioxidant activity, thus providing a theoretical basis for further research and utilization

Pricing and Channel Coordination in Online-to-Offline Supply Chain Considering Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Lateral Inventory Transshipment

In this study, we investigate pricing policy and coordination conditions in an online-to-offline supply chain considering corporate environmental responsibility and lateral inventory transshipment. First, we provide demand functions to capture effects of price, corporate environmental responsibility level, and preference degree of the consumer to online channel. Then, we build profit functions and develop three joint pricing and corporate environmental responsibility-level decision models for centralized decision (Scenario CD), retailer Stackelberg game (Scenario RS), and manufacturer Stackelberg game (Scenario MS). Furthermore, we determine the optimal decision policies by solving developed models, and conduct sensitivity analysis of significant factors. Finally, we use a revenue-sharing contract to realize supply chain coordination and find coordination conditions for Scenario RS and MS, and further show the impacts of revenue-sharing rate and investment cost sensitivity on the conditions using numerical studies. We find that optimal joint decision policies can be affected by significant factors to a varying degree. In certain conditions, the revenue-sharing contract can coordinate online-to-offline supply chains considering corporate environmental responsibility and lateral inventory transshipment. Our study proposes a new decision problem, constructs new joint decision models, determines new optimal joint policies, conducts new coordination analysis, and thus contributes to the research on supply chain operations considering corporate environmental responsibility and lateral inventory transshipment

Customer-Oriented Strategic Planning for Hotel Competitiveness Improvement Based on Online Reviews

The hotel industry has been facing fierce competition in recent years. It is important for hotels to conduct effective strategic planning for competitiveness improvement to achieve sustainable development. Prior studies on hotel strategic planning mainly use questionnaire data or hotel internal data, which have the problems of insufficient data or neglecting customer perspectives. The purpose of this study was to develop an integrated method for customer-oriented strategic planning for hotel competitiveness improvement based on text mining of online reviews. First, text mining of online reviews was conducted to extract customer-concerned service attributes and evaluate customer concern level and the performance of the service attributes through Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and sentiment analysis. Second, the competitive structures of the hotels were analyzed and the main competitors were identified from the competitive hotels through correspondence analysis. Third, SWOT analysis of the target hotel toward the main competitors was conducted, and the priorities of factors in each SWOT category were determined. An empirical study on a five-star hotel is given to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method can help managers in strategic planning to obtain more specific strategies for hotel competitiveness improvement

Customer-Oriented Strategic Planning for Hotel Competitiveness Improvement Based on Online Reviews

The hotel industry has been facing fierce competition in recent years. It is important for hotels to conduct effective strategic planning for competitiveness improvement to achieve sustainable development. Prior studies on hotel strategic planning mainly use questionnaire data or hotel internal data, which have the problems of insufficient data or neglecting customer perspectives. The purpose of this study was to develop an integrated method for customer-oriented strategic planning for hotel competitiveness improvement based on text mining of online reviews. First, text mining of online reviews was conducted to extract customer-concerned service attributes and evaluate customer concern level and the performance of the service attributes through Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and sentiment analysis. Second, the competitive structures of the hotels were analyzed and the main competitors were identified from the competitive hotels through correspondence analysis. Third, SWOT analysis of the target hotel toward the main competitors was conducted, and the priorities of factors in each SWOT category were determined. An empirical study on a five-star hotel is given to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method can help managers in strategic planning to obtain more specific strategies for hotel competitiveness improvement

Construction of Smart Biomaterials for Promoting Diabetic Wound Healing

Diabetes mellitus is a complicated metabolic disease that has become one of the fastest-growing health crises in modern society. Diabetic patients may suffer from various complications, and diabetic foot is one of them. It can lead to increased rates of lower-extremity amputation and mortality, even seriously threatening the life and health of patients. Because its healing process is affected by various factors, its management and treatment are very challenging. To address these problems, smart biomaterials have been developed to expedite diabetic wound closure and improve treatment outcomes. This review begins with a discussion of the basic mechanisms of wound recovery and the limitations of current dressings used for diabetic wound healing. Then, the categories and characteristics of the smart biomaterial scaffolds, which can be utilized as a delivery system for drugs with anti-inflammatory activity, bioactive agency, and antibacterial nanoparticles for diabetic wound treatment were described. In addition, it can act as a responsive system to the stimulus of the pH, reactive oxygen species, and glucose concentration from the wound microenvironment. These results show that smart biomaterials have an enormous perspective for the treatment of diabetic wounds in all stages of healing. Finally, the advantages of the construction of smart biomaterials are summarized, and possible new strategies for the clinical management of diabetic wounds are proposed

The CYP2E1 inhibitor DDC up-regulates MMP-1 expression in hepatic stellate cells via an ERK1/2- and Akt-dependent mechanism

DDC (diethyldithiocarbamate) could block collagen synthesis in HSC (hepatic stellate cells) through the inhibition of ROS (reactive oxygen species) derived from hepatocyte CYP2E1 (cytochrome P450 2E1). However, the effect of DDC on MMP-1 (matrix metalloproteinase-1), which is the main collagen degrading matrix metalloproteinase, has not been reported. In co-culture experiments, we found that DDC significantly enhanced MMP-1 expression in human HSC (LX-2) that were cultured with hepatocyte C3A cells either expressing or not expressing CYP2E1. The levels of both proenzyme and active MMP-1 enzyme were up-regulated in LX-2 cells, accompanied by elevated enzyme activity of MMP-1 and decreased collagen I, in both LX-2 cells and the culture medium. H2O2 treatment abrogated DDC-induced MMP-1 up-regulation and collagen I decrease, while catalase treatment slightly up-regulated MMP-1 expression. These data suggested that the decrease in ROS by DDC was partially responsible for the MMP-1 up-regulation. ERK1/2 (extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2), Akt (protein kinase B) and p38 were significantly activated by DDC. The ERK1/2 inhibitor (U0126) and Akt inhibitor (T3830) abrogated the DDC-induced MMP-1 up-regulation. In addition, a p38 inhibitor (SB203580) improved MMP-1 up-regulation through the stimulation of ERK1/2. Our data indicate that DDC significantly up-regulates the expression of MMP-1 in LX-2 cells which results in greater MMP-1 enzyme activity and decreased collagen I. The enhancement of MMP-1 expression by DDC was associated with H2O2 inhibition and coordinated regulation by the ERK1/2 and Akt pathways. These data provide some new insights into treatment strategies for hepatic fibrosis

Connexin 43 dephosphorylation at serine 282 induces spontaneous arrhythmia and increases susceptibility to ischemia/reperfusion injury

Background: Connexin 43 (Cx43), the predominant gap junction protein in hearts, is modified by specific (de)phosphorylation events under physiological and pathological states to affect myocardium function and structure. Previously we found that deficiency in Cx43 S282 phosphorylation could impair intercellular communication and contribute to cardiomyocyte apoptosis by activating p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK)/factor-associated suicide (Fas)/Fas-associating protein with a novel death domain (FADD) pathway, which is involved in myocardium injury in ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) heart. In addition, mutant at Cx43 S282 substituted with alanine heterozygous mice (S282A+/−) exhibited different degrees of ventricular arrhythmias and only some underwent myocardium apoptosis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of Cx43 pS282 in different cardiac pathological phenotypes. Methods: We examined cardiac function, structure, and relevant protein expression in S282A+/− mice (aged 2, 10 and 30 weeks) by electrocardiograph, echocardiography, histological staining, and co-immunoprecipitation followed by Western blot. Intraperitoneal isoprenaline injection and I/R surgery were applied in S282A+/− mice as external stimulus. 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining was used for myocardium infarction evaluation. Results: Adult S282A+/− mice (aged 10 and 30 weeks) still exhibited spontaneous arrhythmia. Unlike neonatal stage (aged around 2 weeks), no apoptosis-related manifestations and the activation of p38 MAPK-Fas-FADD apoptotic pathway were observed in adult S282A+/− hearts. S282A+/− neonatal mice with cardiomyocytes apoptosis exhibited more than 60% dephosphorylation at Cx43 S282 than WT mice, while less than 40% S282 dephosphorylation were found in adult S282A+/− mice. In addition, although S282A+/− mice displayed normal cardiac function, they were highly susceptible to isoproterenol-induced ECG alternans and prone to cardiac injury and deaths upon I/R attack. Conclusions: These results reinforce that Cx43 S282 dephosphorylation acts as a susceptibility factor in regulating cardiomyocyte survival and cardiac electrical homeostasis in basal conditions and contributes to myocardium injury in the setting of I/R. Cx43 S282 phosphorylation was competent to induce spontaneous arrhythmias, cardiomyocyte apoptosis and deaths based on the degree of S282 dephosphorylation