Hearing loss (HL) has been related to cardiovascular risk factors as well as prevalence of cardiovascular disease itself. We evaluated the association of HL with overall, injury-related, and cardiovascular mortality. A cohort study included 580,798 Korean adults (mean age: 39.7) who attended a screening exam between 2002 and 2016 with a follow-up of up to 17 years. HL was defined as a pure-tone average of thresholds at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 kHz ≥25 dB (decibels) in the better ear and further categorized into mild (25–<40 dB) and moderate-to-severe (≥40 dB). Overall and cause-specific mortality was ascertained through linkage to national death records. During median follow-up of 8.4 years, 6581 overall deaths, 977 cardiovascular deaths, and 1161 injury-related deaths were identified. Compared to participants with normal hearing, multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for overall mortality among participants with mild and moderate-to-severe HL were 1.13 (1.05–1.21) and 1.30 (1.16–1.46), respectively. Corresponding HRs (95% CIs) for cardiovascular mortality were 1.32 (1.10–1.58) and 1.53 (1.16–2.01), respectively, and corresponding HRs (95% CIs) for injury-related mortality were 1.03 (0.81–1.31) and 1.64 (1.13–2.36), respectively. In this large cohort, HL was positively and independently associated with overall, cardiovascular, and injury-related mortality. A significantly elevated risk of cardiovascular mortality started from mild HL.

The stress responses in human body lead to secretion of cortisol hormone. The present study investigated the cellular responses on cell growth and cellular differentiation into adipocytes by exposure of synthetic stress hormone, dexamethasone (DEX) in various human cancer and normal cells. After prolonged exposure of cells with 1 μg/ml DEX for 2 weeks, population doubling time (PDT) was significantly (P < .05) increased by inhibited cell growth in A-549 and MCF-7 cancer cells, and was unchanged in MDA-MB-231 cancer cells, normal MRC-5 fibroblasts, umbilical cord matrix-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UCMSCs) and dental papilla tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (DSCs). Whereas, PDT was significantly (P < .05) decreased in U87-MG cancer cells by increased cell growth. Glucose uptake was significantly (P < .05) increased in all the cancer cell lines compared to that in normal cell lines. Further, adiposome-like vesicles were noted in A-549 and MCF-7 cancer cells indicating retarded cell growth by DEX treatment, and the vesicles were stained with Oil-Red O solution. Further, the expression of adipocyte-specific genes such as glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4), glucocorticoid receptors β (GRβ) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) were significantly (P < .05) increased in A-549 and MCF-7 with lipid vesicles. The level of telomerase activity was found to be significantly (P < .05) downregulated in DEX-treated A-549 and MCF-7 cancer cells. Our results have clearly shown that DEX treatment induces inhibition of cell growth by differentiating into adipocyte-like cells in dexamethasone sensitive cancer cells.

BackgroundWe investigated the association between long workhours and marital status change from married to divorced or separated status that might have bad health effects.MethodsA total of 40,654 participants with married status in 2014 were followed up in 2015. Weekly workhours were categorized into four groups: ≤ 40, 41–52, 53–60, and > 60 hours per week. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the relationship between groups of workhours and marital status change after adjusting for age, total monthly household income, working type, and depression with sex stratification.ResultsThe study populations consisted of 8,346 (20.5%) females and 32,308 (79.5%) males. Odd ratios (ORs) of marital status change for females working for more than 60 hours per week was 4.26 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.25–14.5), when working less than or equal to 40 hours per week was used as reference in the crude model. ORs of working more than 60 hours per week was 4.57 (95% CI: 1.02–20.5) in female workers when considering age, total household earning per month, working type of daytime, and depression in a dose-response manner. However, for male workers, long workhours were not significantly related to change of marriage status.ConclusionsLong workhours for more than 60 hours per week had significantly higher risk of divorce or separation in females, but not in males. Further follow-up studies are needed to evaluate long term effects of long workhours on divorce risk.