[Epidemiological research progress on the relationship between children's dietary patterns and health]

As food preferences and eating habits form early in life, the development of healthy eating habits in early childhood is a way to prevent diet-related diseases. The dietary pattern approach examines the effect of an overall diet on health outcomes, instead of individual foods or nutrients, thereby presenting a comprehensive evaluation of children's dietary intake. This article reviews the current literature to summarize the main methods for assessing dietary patterns and explore relationships between children's dietary patterns and obesity, puberty onset, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodevelopment. The purpose of this review is to provide evidence-based support for reducing the risk of diet-related diseases in children and recommendations for future research directions.

Possible antidepressant mechanisms of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids acting on the central nervous system

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can play important roles in maintaining mental health and resistance to stress, and omega-3 PUFAs supplementation can display beneficial effects on both the prevention and treatment of depressive disorders. Although the underlying mechanisms are still unclear, accumulated evidence indicates that omega-3 PUFAs can exhibit pleiotropic effects on the neural structure and function. Thus, they play fundamental roles in brain activities involved in the mood regulation. Since depressive symptoms have been assumed to be of central origin, this review aims to summarize the recently published studies to identify the potential neurobiological mechanisms underlying the anti-depressant effects of omega-3 PUFAs. These include that of (1) anti-neuroinflammatory; (2) hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis; (3) anti-oxidative stress; (4) anti-neurodegeneration; (5) neuroplasticity and synaptic plasticity; and (6) modulation of neurotransmitter systems. Despite many lines of evidence have hinted that these mechanisms may co-exist and work in concert to produce anti-depressive effects, the potentially multiple sites of action of omega-3 PUFAs need to be fully established. We also discussed the limitations of current studies and suggest future directions for preclinical and translational research in this field.

Glycated albumin as a biomarker for diagnosis of diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Glycated albumin (GA), the non-enzymatic glycation product of albumin in plasma, became a glycemic marker in the beginning of the 21st century. The assay is not affected by hemoglobin levels and reflects the glycemic status over a shorter period as compared to HbA1c measurements. Thus, GA may contributes as an intermediate glucose index in the current diabetes mellitus (DM) diagnostic system.

AIM

To search and summarize the available data on glycated albumin measurements required for the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus.

METHODS

Databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), among others, were systematically searched. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool was applied for the assessment of quality, and the bivariate model was used to pool the sensitivity and specificity. The hierarchical summary receiver operator characteristic curves (HSROC) model was utilized to estimate the summary receiver operating characteristics curve (SROC). Sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the association of the study design and patient characteristics with the test accuracy and meta-regression to find the source of heterogeneity.

RESULTS

Three studies regarding gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and a meta-analysis of 16 non-GDM studies, comprising a total sample size of 12876, were included in the work. Results reveal that the average cut-off values of GA reported for the diagnosis of GDM diagnosis was much lower than those for non-GDM. For non-GDM cases, diagnosing DM with a circulating GA cut-off of 14.0% had a sensitivity of 0.766 (95%CI: 0.539, 0.901), specificity of 0.687 (95%CI: 0.364, 0.894), and area under the curve of 0.80 (95%CI: 0.76, 0.83) for the SROC. The estimated SROC at different GA cut-off values for non-GDM exhibited that the average location parameter lambda of 16 non-GDM studies was 2.354 (95%CI: 2.002, 2.707), and the scale parameter beta was -0.163 (95%CI: -0.614, 0.288). These non-GDM studies with various thresholds had substantial heterogeneity, which may be attributed to the type of DM, age, and body mass index as possible sources.

CONCLUSION

Glycated albumin in non-DM exhibits a moderate diagnostic accuracy. Further research on the diagnostic accuracy of GA for GDM and combinational measurements of GA and other assays is suggested.

Application of 3D printing technology on the treatment of complex proximal humeral fractures (Neer3-part and 4-part) in old people

PURPOSE

This study was conducted to investigate the feasibility and clinical potential of using the 3D printing technology (3DPT) versus typical strategy (thin-layer CT scan) for the treatment of complicated proximal humeral fractures (PHFs) in old people.

METHODS

Sixty-six old patients age ranging from 61 to 76 years with persistent complicated PHFs were randomly assigned to two groups as per the controlled randomization table (34 cases in the test group and 32 cases in the control group). In the test group, 3DPT was applied to build the 3D facture model of a patient, according to the data acquired from the thin-layer CT scan and subsequently processed with Mimics software. This helped to confirm the diagnosis, design the individual operation plan, simulate the surgical procedures and perform the surgery as plan. In the control group, only thin-layer CT scan was applied for the design of the operation plan prior to the surgery. Here, parameters including surgery duration, blood loss volume during surgery, the number of fluoroscopy, time to union were statistically analyzed for two groups after the operation. The screw lengths designed before the surgery and measured during the surgery were compared.

RESULTS

The 3D PHF model generated using 3DPT was able to provide the visual display and omni-directional observation of the direction and severity of the fracture dislocation, which facilitated preoperative diagnosis, operation planning and design, data measurement, preselection of internal fixator and surgical outcome simulation. According to the follow-up ranging from 12∼28 months for the 66 patients, the results showed no significant difference in time to union between the two groups (P>0.05). Apart from that, less surgery duration, less blood loss during surgery, less number of fluoroscopy can be observed compared with the control group (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, 3DPT showed great clinical feasibility of the treatment of complicated PHFs. The 3D-print PHF model had the ability to clearly display the fracture and thus was useful to determine the fracture classification and the magnitude of fracture injury. It benefited surgeons to gain a better understanding of complicated PHFs, design a most suitable operation plan prior to surgery and facilitate the doctor-patient communication. This therefore enabled the reduction of intraoperative injury and the optimization of surgical outcomes.

Long-term treadmill exercise improves spatial memory of male APPswe/PS1dE9 mice by regulation of BDNF expression and microglia activation

Increasing evidence suggests that physical activity could delay or attenuate the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). But the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. To investigate the effect of long-term treadmill exercise on the spatial memory of AD mice and the possible role of β-amyloid, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and microglia in the effect, male APPswe/PS1dE9 AD mice aged 4 months were subjected to treadmill exercise for 5 months with 6 sessions per week and gradually increased load. A Morris water maze was used to evaluate the spatial memory. Expression levels of β-amyloid, BDNF and Iba-1 (a microglia marker) in brain tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry. Sedentary AD mice and wildtype C57BL/6J mice served as controls. The results showed that 5-month treadmill exercise significantly decreased the escape latencies (P < 0.01 on the 4th day) and improved the spatial memory of the AD mice in the water maze test. Meanwhile, treadmill exercise significantly increased the number of BDNF-positive cells and decreased the ratios of activated microglia in both the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus. However, treadmill exercise did not significantly alleviate the accumulation of β-amyloid in either the cerebral cortex or the hippocampus of the AD mice (P > 0.05). The study suggested that long-term treadmill exercise could improve the spatial memory of the male APPswe/PS1dE9 AD mice. The increase in BDNF-positive cells and decrease in activated microglia might underpin the beneficial effect.

Surfactant free fabrication of polymeric nanoparticles by combined liquid–liquid phase separation and solvent/nonsolvent mixing technology

It is generally agreed that, in most cases, surfactants are required to obtain stable polymeric nanoparticle dispersions. Here, we report a method which can be used to produce surfactant free yet stable polymeric nanoparticle dispersions. This method is based on explored mechanism of selective solvation of nanoparticles and EPD (electron pair donor)/EPA (electron pair acceptor) complexes formed among solvent and nonsolvent molecules. Using polyimide P84 (copolyimide 3,3(') 4,4(')-benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride and 80% methylphenylene diamine+20% methylene dianiline) as the model polymer, this mechanism was realized through a combined liquid-liquid phase separation and solvent/nonsolvent mixing technology. Surfactant-free polyimide nanoparticles (<100 nm) were produced. Experimental details and principles of this technology were given based on the ternary diffusion, the liquid-liquid phase separation and the advanced nucleation and growth theory. Two types of methods [denoted as the forward titration method and the backward titration (BT) method] were examined. It was found that the BT method is extremely helpful to prepare polyimide nanoparticles (<100 nm). As another important aspect, explored stabilization mechanism of the resultant nanoparticle dispersions was supported by the comparative experiments, implying that selective solvation of nanoparticles and EPD/EPA complexes may play key roles in stabilization.