Background The complex pathophysiology of epilepsy hampers the development of effective treatments. Although more than ten kinds of anti-seizures drugs (ASDs) have good effects on seizure control worldwide, about 30% of patients still display pharmacoresistance against ASDs. Neuroinflammation seems to play a crucial role in disease progression. G protein-coupled receptor 120 (GPR120) has been shown to negatively regulate inflammation and apoptosis. However, the role of GPR120 in epilepsy remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to explore the mechanism of GPR120 in epilepsy. Methods Male adult C57BL/6 mice were intracranially injected with kainic acid (KA) to establish epilepsy model, and the adeno associated virus (AAV) was administered intracranially at 3 weeks before KA injection. VX765 was administered by intragastric administration at 30 min before KA induced and an equal dose administrated twice a day (10 a.m. and 4 p.m.) lasting 7 days until the mice were killed. Western blot analysis, immunofluorescence staining, video monitoring of seizure, LFP recording, Nissl staining were performed. Results GPR120 was increased in both the hippocampus and cortex in the KA-induced model with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and both were most highly expressed at 7 days after KA injection. Overexpression of GPR120 significantly alleviated epileptic activity, reduced neuronal death after status epilepticus (SE), downregulated the expression of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, whereas knockdown GPR120 showed the opposite effect. The effects of GPR120 knockdown were reversed by VX765 inhibition cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-1 (Caspase-1). Conclusion GPR120 modulates epileptic seizure activity and affects neuronal survival in KA-induced mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy. Furthermore, GPR120 regulated neuroinflammation in epileptic animals through NLRP3/Caspase-1/IL-1β signaling pathway.

Background COVID-19 is erupting globally. Mass quarantine had been implemented all around China which could influence the psychological status of patients with memory disorders and their caregivers. Aim To investigate the psychological impact of mass quarantine on patients with memory disorders and their caregivers in China. Methods We completed a cross-sectional study in 787 patients and their caregivers registered from 2010 to 2019 in Memory Clinic, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, by telephone interviews. The performance in neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs), sleep, nutrition, chronic diseases of patients, and the burden of care, anxiety and depression of caregivers was assessed by six assessment scales (MNA-SF, PSQI, NPI, RSS, PHQ-9 and GAD-7). Results Only 68 (8.6%) patients worried about the outbreak of COVID-19. The prevalence of NPSs among all subjects was nearly 60.0%. Approximately 50.0% of the caregivers reported distress. More than 70.0% of patients remained stable in NPSs. However, anxiety, depression, aberrant motor disorder and delusion were exacerbated (22.9%, 18.6%, 17.1% and 16.8%, respectively). Appetite and eating disorder led alleviation rate by 25.8% while disappearing rate of agitation led by 5.8%. 7.5% of caregivers manifested depressive symptoms while 4.9% expressed anxiety symptoms, and 40.8% showed care burden. The coefficients of RSS and PHQ-9, RSS and GAD-7, RSS and NPI-D, PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were 0.7, 0.5, 0.5 and 0.6, respectively ( p < 0.01). Conclusion Changes in NPSs during COVID-19 were observed in some patients with memory disorders and their caregivers, and adherence to medication contributed to the stabilization of NPSs. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40520-021-01911-1.

Background: Malnutrition is one of the health problems in the elderly population, which increases the risk of poor clinical outcomes. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the nutritional status and cognitive function of an elderly Chinese population, to explore the association between malnutrition and cognitive condition as well as the cognitive domain.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2365 participants aged 60 years or above from January 2013 to September 2019. We used the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF), and the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) to assess the impact of malnutrition on cognitive function.Nutrition-associated factors were analyzed.Results: 33.45% of the participants were identified as malnutrition risk and 5.54% were malnourished, while 36.74% had cognitive impairments. 48.63% had nutritional deficits and 53.65% had cognitive impairment in those over 80 years old. Malnutrition is associated with global cognition (ρ= 0.349, P < 0.0001) and the cognitive domain particularly in orientation (ρ= 0.343, P < 0.0001). The impact was extended to attention and calculation (ρ=0.310, P < 0.0001) as well as language (ρ= 0.302, P < 0.0001) of those over 80 years of age. Malnutrition is an independent risk factor for cognitive impairment after adjusting for other variables (OR=2.004, 95% CI: 1.621-2.479).Conclusion: The prevalence of malnutrition and cognitive impairment was relatively high and increased with age. Malnutrition leads to cognitive decline and disorientation, and also contributes to attention problems, calculation problem and language impairment in the oldest old. Thus, clinicians should assess the nutritional and cognitive status of the elderly regularly to the early dictation and timely intervention.

Background. Invasive breast carcinoma (BRCA) is a common type of breast cancer with a high clinical incidence. Thus, it is significant to find effective biomarkers for BRCA diagnosis and treatment. Although some members of armadillo (ARM) repeat family of proteins are confirmed to be biomarkers in cancers, the role of armadillo repeat-containing 1 (ARMC1) in BRCA remains unknown. Methods. We firstly analyzed the ARMC1 expression in normal breast tissues and BRCA samples and its association with overall survival by the public database. Next, the χ 2 test was used to evaluate the prognostic significance of ARMC1 expression in TCGA-BRCA patient samples. The ARMC1 mutations in BRCA were explored in the cBioportal database. Besides, the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were used to explore the biological functions of ARMC1 in BRCA. Finally, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining were performed to validate the ARMC1 expression in BRCA. Results. ARMC1 expression in tumor samples was significantly higher than that in normal tissues, and higher expression of ARMC1 was related to lower survival. Moreover, the tumor stage and histology of BRCA patients were associated with ARMC1 expression. ARMC1 genetic mutations occurred in 32% of BRCA patients, and the amplification and high expression of ARMC1 accounted for most of them. Furthermore, functional enrichment analysis suggested that ARMC1 might be involved in the cell cycle in BRCA. Ultimately, increased ARMC1 expression was found in clinical breast carcinoma tissues by our confirmatory experiments. Conclusions. ARMC1 may play a significant role in BRCA and act as a biomarker, which provides valuable clues for the treatment and diagnosis of BRCA.

BackgroundThe follow-up study on neuropsychiatric changes after the lifting of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quarantine in patients with cognitive impairment and their caregivers is still lacking, and relative information is needed to formulate more comprehensive healthcare prevention measures worldwide.AimsTo provide data on the changes in neuropsychiatric performance after the lifting of COVID-19 quarantine in patients with cognitive disorders and their caregivers.MethodsTwo surveys in Chongqing, China were conducted via telephonic interview with 531 patients and their caregivers. The baseline survey was performed from February 11 to 23, 2020, and the follow-up was from October 24 to November 9, 2020. The data of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs), sleep, nutrition, and chronic diseases of patients, as well as the burden of care, anxiety, and depression of caregivers were evaluated.ResultsSignificant alleviation of NPSs after the lifting of COVID-19 quarantine was observed in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia (both P &lt; 0.05). Compared with baseline, the prevalence for NPSs of all participants dropped from 57.94 to 38.82%. Among NPS subdomains, apathy displayed the biggest decline at follow-up by 10.72%, followed by nighttime behavior by 8.65%. Mixed effect generalized estimation equation analysis showed significant amelioration in hallucination, depression, apathy, irritability, aberrant motor behavior, and nighttime behavior (all P &lt; 0.05), with the most prominent changes in nighttime behavior and apathy. Among the patients with unsatisfactory control of chronic disease, the medication adherence rate dropped by approximately 30% after the lifting of quarantine. More importantly, around 13% increase of care burden was observed among the caregivers at follow-up, with both depression and anxiety rising by nearly 4%.ConclusionThe prolonged quarantine may exacerbate NPS in patients with memory disorders, while the care burden and mental stability of the caregivers after the pandemic should also be concerned.