Association between neurodegenerative diseases and pneumonia: a retrospective population-based study

Multiple Metabolites Derived from Mushrooms and Their Beneficial Effect on Alzheimer's Diseases

Mushrooms with edible and medicinal potential have received widespread attention because of their diverse biological functions, nutritional value, and delicious taste, which are closely related to their rich active components. To date, many bioactive substances have been identified and purified from mushrooms, including proteins, carbohydrates, phenols, and vitamins. More importantly, molecules derived from mushrooms show great potential to alleviate the pathological manifestations of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which seriously affects the health of elderly people. Compared with current therapeutic strategies aimed at symptomatic improvement, it is particularly important to identify natural products from resource-rich mushrooms that can modify the progression of AD. This review summarizes recent investigations of multiple constituents (carbohydrates, peptides, phenols, etc.) isolated from mushrooms to combat AD. In addition, the underlying molecular mechanisms of mushroom metabolites against AD are discussed. The various mechanisms involved in the antiAD activities of mushroom metabolites include antioxidant and anti-neuroinflammatory effects, apoptosis inhibition, and stimulation of neurite outgrowth, etc. This information will facilitate the application of mushroom-derived products in the treatment of AD. However, isolation of new metabolites from multiple types of mushrooms and further in vivo exploration of the molecular mechanisms underlying their antiAD effect are still required.

Statin use and pneumonia risk in Parkinson's disease

INTRODUCTION

Previous studies reported that statin use was related to a lower risk of pneumonia in the general population. This study investigated the association between statin use and pneumonia risk in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

METHODS

Patients that had been newly diagnosed with PD between 2004 and 2006 in the 2002-2017 National Health Insurance Service database in South Korea were identified. PD patients who had received one or more statin prescriptions, and experienced pneumonia during the observation period were included in the self-controlled case series (SCCS) analysis. Patients who had no previous statin prescription record were included in the Cox proportional hazard model with a time-varying covariate (statin use). The risk of pneumonia in PD patients with statin use was estimated after adjusting potential confounders.

RESULTS

Of the 10,159 patients with PD, 337 individuals were eligible for the SCCS analysis. The median duration of statin exposure was 2.63 years (IQR, 0.83-5.83). The incidence of pneumonia was reduced in the statin-exposed period compared to the unexposed period (incidence rate ratio, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.86-0.91). A total of 8,022 patients were included in the Cox proportional hazard model. Statin use was related to a significantly reduced pneumonia risk (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.62-0.78).

CONCLUSIONS

Statin use was associated with a lower risk of pneumonia in PD patients. Statins might affect pneumonia occurrence by lowering cholesterol levels or slowing the progression of PD as neuroprotective agents. Further clinical studies are needed to delineate our findings with the underlying biological mechanisms.