No abstract

Short or long sleep duration was an important sleep-related factor independently associated with memory impairment and may be a useful marker for increased risk of cognitive impairment in older people.

The orientation of plant root growth is modulated by developmental as well as environmental cues. Among the environmental factors, gravity has been extensively studied because of its overpowering effects in modulating root growth direction. However, our knowledge of the effects of other abiotic signals that influence root growth direction is largely unknown. Recently, we have shown that high salinity can modify root growth direction by inducing rapid amyloplast degradation in root columella cells of Arabidopsis thaliana. By exploiting salt overly sensitive (sos) mutants and PIN2 expression analyses, we have shown that the altered root growth direction in response to salt is mediated by ion disequilibrium and is correlated with PIN2 mRNA abundance and expression and localization of the protein. Our study demonstrates that the SOS pathway may mediate this process. Here we discuss our data from broader perspectives. We propose that salt-induced modification of root growth direction is a salt-avoidance behavior, which is an active adaptive mechanism for plants grown under saline conditions. Furthermore, high salinity also stimulates alteration of gravitropic growth of shoots. These findings illustrate that plants have a fine and sophisticated sensory and communication system that enable plants to dynamically and efficiently cope with rapidly changing environment.

This study provides little support for environmental mismatch over the life course increasing obesity in this rapidly transitioning southern Chinese population. However, our findings highlight different effects of the epidemiologic transition in men and women, perhaps with pre-adult exposures as a critical window for sex-specific effects.

BackgroundBirth weight is negatively associated with cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, but the associations are less well-established in developing populations where birth weight is often unavailable. We studied the association of birth weight and cardiovascular risk, using birth rank as an instrumental variable, in Southern China.MethodsWe used published data on birth weight by birth rank from an appropriate population and baseline data from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study phases 2 & 3 (2005-8) to examine the adjusted associations, using instrumental variable analysis, of birth weight with clinically measured cardiovascular risk factors and the metabolic syndrome in older (≥ 50 years) men (n = 5,051) and women (n = 13,907).ResultsEstimated birth weight was associated with lower blood pressure (systolic -0.25 mm Hg 95% confidence interval (CI), -0.53 to 0.03 and diastolic -0.33 mm Hg 95% CI -0.48 to -0.18 per standard deviation higher birth weight), but had little association with glucose, lipids, waist-hip ratio, body mass index or the metabolic syndrome, adjusted for age, sex, early environment and number of offspring.ConclusionBirth weight may impact blood pressure; however associations of birth weight with other cardiovascular risk factors may not be related to foetal exposures, but speculatively could be an historical co-incidence, with corresponding implications for prevention.

Intergenerational 'mismatch' between maternal and adult environments, common in developing economies, has been hypothesized as contributing to obesity. In a rapidly developing population, we examined whether maternal conditions, proxied by maternal literacy, were associated with adult adiposity, proxied by body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) and whether these associations were modified by later life conditions, proxied by socio-economic position (SEP) at three life stages. We also examined if maternal conditions had sex-specific associations with adult adiposity. In a cross-sectional study of 19,957 adults (> or =50 years) from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study (phases 2 and 3 in 2005-2008), we used multivariable linear regression to assess the association of maternal literacy with BMI and WHR, and whether the associations varied with sex, age or SEP. The adjusted association of maternal literacy with WHR varied with sex. In women, but not men, maternal illiteracy was associated with higher WHR and BMI, adjusted for age; these associations remained, although attenuated, after adjusting for lifestyle, life course SEP and paternal literacy. There was little evidence that associations varied with SEP at any stage, although continuity of poor conditions into early life may have exacerbated the association of maternal illiteracy with higher WHR in women. Poor maternal conditions in developing populations may increase vulnerability to adiposity in women. Whether such sex-specific intergenerational effects are driven by epigenetics, maternal sex hormones or other mechanisms, remains to be determined. However, mismatched maternal and later life conditions do not appear to be associated with adiposity. Our findings, although preliminary, imply that a transient epidemic of obesity may occur in the first generation of women who experience economic development.

Aim To assess RR of type 2 diabetes (T2DM), overall and acute cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular events in persons with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Materials and Methods According to population based study among 2508 adults, 3-year risk of T2DM, overall and acute cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction and stroke, coronary heart disease) was estimated in people with IFG, IGT, IFG+IGT diagnosed in 2006 in comparison with normal glucose tolerance. RR and regression coefficient (B) was calculated. RR of T2DM, cardiovascular events was adjusted for age, sex, BMI, systolic blood pressure, smoking. Results Highest percent of transformation to T2DM and adjusted RR of T2DM was in IFG+IGT (33.3% and 11.2 [3.93e31.65], p<0.01). Lowest percent of transformation to T2D and RR of T2DM was in isolated IGT (10.3% and 3.92 [1.11e13.90], p¼0.034). Adjusted RR of cardiovascular mortality was significantly 3.2-fold higher in IFG. IGT and newly diagnosed T2D had significantly 3.6-fold and 2.3-fold greater risk of overall mortality. RR of cardiovascular events was significantly increased 2.2-fold in IFG and 2.7-fold in newly diagnosed T2D. There was not linear association between blood glucose levels and cardiovascular mortality risk (p¼0.095) in contrast to the continuous linear relationship observed between blood glucose levels and coronary heart disease risk B¼0.273 (p¼0.001). Conclusion 3-year risk of developing T2DM is not equal at different early glucose metabolism impairments. IFG increased 3-year risk of acute cardiovascular mortality. These may provide insights, that hyperinsulinemia influence on acute cardiovascular mortality risk.

Objective: To examine the association between aortic arch calcification (AAC) and vascular disease in an older Chinese sample. Methods: For this study, 30,203 Chinese aged 50–85 years were recruited with baseline information on socioeconomic position, lifestyle and vascular risk factors. The presence and severity of AAC were diagnosed independently from chest X-ray by two radiologists. Results: The age-adjusted prevalence of AAC was significantly higher in women than men [34.6% (95% CI 33.9–35.3) vs. 27.9% (95% CI 26.8–28.8), p < 0.001]. Severity of AAC was significantly associated with physician-diagnosed ischemic heart disease (adjusted OR = 1.55, 95% CI 1.35–1.79) and combined vascular disease (OR = 1.48, 95% CI 1.30–1.69) after adjusting for multiple potential confounders. Increasing severity of AAC was associated with increased risk for ischemic heart disease and vascular disease (p for trend = 0.02 to <0.001). No association between AAC and stroke was found. Conclusions: AAC was strongly and independently associated with vascular disease, suggesting that assessment of AAC from chest X-ray, which is noninvasive and relatively inexpensive, can provide useful information for risk stratification of vascular disease, and should be routinely incorporated in chest X-ray examination.