Body roundness index and mental health in middle-aged and elderly adults: a prospective cohort study.

The global rise in mental disorders presents a significant public health challenge, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of their underlying risk factors. Existing studies on obesity and brain health primarily rely on metrics such as body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio, which inadequately capture central obesity, a fat distribution strongly associated with increased health risks. This underscores the need for more precise metrics, with the body roundness index (BRI) emerging as a promising option.

Associations of Ultra-Processed Food Intake and Its Circulating Metabolomic Signature with Mental Disorders in Middle-Aged and Older Adults.

Background: The global rise in ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and the persistent burden of mental disorders have raised growing public health concerns. Emerging evidence suggests that unfavorable dietary patterns, particularly with high UPF intake, contribute to the development of mental disorders.

Objective: To assess the associations of UPF-related metabolic signatures and mental disorders.

Long-term exposure to low-concentration sulfur dioxide and mental disorders in middle-aged and older urban adults.

The World Health Organization loosened the air quality guideline for daily sulfur dioxide (SO) concentrations from 20 μg/m to 40 μg/m. However, the guideline for SO concentrations in 2021 raised public concerns since there was no sufficient evidence that low-concentration SO exposure is harmless to the population's health, including mental health. We analyzed the associations between low-concentration SO exposure and incidence risks of total and cause-specific mental disorders, including depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation and Brain Structure in the Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults.

Low-grade inflammation (LGI) mainly acted as the mediator of the association of obesity and inflammatory diet with numerous chronic diseases, including neuropsychiatric diseases. However, the evidence about the effect of LGI on brain structure is limited but important, especially in the context of accelerating aging. This study was then designed to close the gap, and we leveraged a total of 37,699 participants from the UK Biobank and utilized inflammation score (INFLA-score) to measure LGI.

Nanoparticle-Based Photodynamic Inhibition of Biofilms with Interfering Quorum Sensing.

Biofilm formation is a critical event in the pathogenesis and virulence of fungal infections caused by , giving rise to about a 1000-fold increase in the resistance to antifungal agents. Although photodynamic treatment (PDT) has been excellently implicated in bacterial infections, studies on its potential against fungal infection through the clearance of fungal biofilm formation remain at its infancy stage. Here, we have designed photodynamic nanoparticles with different sizes, modifications, and the ability of generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) to examine their effects on inhibiting biofilm formation and destructing mature biofilms of .

Evolution law of comet-shaped defects in magnetorheological finishing.

Ultraprecision optical systems such as high-energy laser systems have very strict requirements for surface defects of optical components. Comet-shaped defects are common in magnetorheological finishing, which is one of the main ultraprecision manufacturing technologies. Computational fluid dynamics is used to simulate the pressure and velocity of the magnetorheological fluid in pits during magnetorheological finishing for the first time, to the best of our knowledge.

Albocycline-type Macrolides with Antibacterial Activities from Streptomyces sp. 4205.

The actinomycete genus Streptomyces is characterized by producing bioactive secondary metabolites, including antibiotics. In this study, chemical and biological investigations were carried out on Streptomyces strain 4205 isolated from the paddy soil, leading to the identification and characterization of 10 albocycline-type macrolides, among which 4 compounds were new, namely albocyclines A-D (1-4). The structures of 1-10 were identified according to the 1D- and 2D-NMR spectroscopic data.