Image: Fang Bing Huang Zai | Written by: Pencil | Editor-in-Charge: Suzuran
Hello everyone, the new issue of "No. 11 Lab" is meeting with you again, what interesting research we will bring to you in this issue, come and take a look at it~
In this issue you will see:
Can't think of anything, this disease turns out to be easier to find women
The pain of sexism does not exist only psychologically
Cat slave gospel, this fungus on kittens makes you healthier!
The first batch of HPV vaccine data is out! The incidence of cervical cancer can be reduced by 80%.
Can't think of anything
This disease turns out that it is easier to find women
Alzheimer's disease (commonly known as Alzheimer's disease) must have been heard of, it is a slow-moving neurodegenerative disease that continues to worsen over time.
The most common early symptom of Alzheimer's disease is loss of short-term memory (difficulty remembering recent events), and as the disease progresses, symptoms may gradually increase, including language disorders, disorientation (including easy to get lost), emotional instability, inability to take care of themselves, and other behavioral problems.
When the condition worsens, patients are often disconnected from family or society. Not only that, this disease will greatly affect people's life span, so that patients gradually lose physical functions, and eventually lead to patients in the process of gradually forgetting their loved ones around them to die. The average remaining life of an Alzheimer's patient after diagnosis is about three to nine years.
In order to have a deeper understanding of this disease, recently, led by Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, and organized the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases, Fudan University School of Public Health, Shanghai Mental Health Center and other unit experts jointly wrote the "China Alzheimer's Disease Report 2021", filling the gap in domestic research on the disease.
▲Image source: References[1]
The survey results show that the prevalence and mortality rate of AD and other dementias in China are slightly higher than the global average. It should be noted that the relevant data for women are higher than those of men, among which the prevalence rate of Chinese women (11.889/100,000) and the mortality rate (30.8/100,000) are higher than those of men (669.3/100,000) and mortality (14.6/100,000), respectively, both of which are higher than those of men.
Although there is currently no definitive and effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease. However, through the analysis of the data, the difference in incidence in different genders has been obtained, which may become the next direction of disease research.
The pain of sexism
It's not just psychological
Have you ever experienced sexism? Do you think there are many incidents of sexism happening around you? Have you ever suffered serious psychological harm in sexism?
In today's society, sexism is still a serious social problem, and the harm to women is particularly profound. Not only does it bring psychological wounds that are difficult for women to heal, but studies have shown that sexism can also bring physical harm to women.
▲Image source: References[2]
Past neuroimaging studies have found that experiencing social pain activates brain regions associated with physiological pain, such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), basal nucleus, and the right ventral prefrontal cortex (rVPFC) associated with emotion.
Thus, it has been hypothesized that discrimination is associated with social pain, and that discriminated individuals can feel negative sensations (such as unpleasant and uncomfortable feelings) similar to those experienced when they experience physical pain.
To demonstrate this hypothesis, the researchers recruited 33 healthy women to participate in the study, using task-based fMRI, to observe changes in brain activity when women view sexist pictures and when they experience heat pain.
The researchers found that the active brain regions of the brain were very similar during the picture viewing phase and the pain phase, and the activity of dACC and basal nucleus was significantly enhanced under discriminatory conditions. That said, the negative suffering of persistent discrimination does create chronic physiological pain for the victim.
So the psychological harm caused by sexism, it can really cause physical pain. Although this problem has existed for too long since ancient times, it is impossible to eliminate it all at once. But I believe that as long as everyone works hard, gender discrimination will definitely cause less and less harm to people.
The Gospel of the Cat Slave
This fungus on kittens makes you healthier
Smoking cats and dogs has become a popular trend in recent years, and it is not difficult to see how much the cute little animals have contributed to alleviating the pressure of modern humans.
The help of small animals to human health is not only on a psychological level, researchers have found a unique "bacterium" in kittens, this unique strain contains ingredients that help the skin heal and can help treat stubborn skin infections.
▲Image source: References[3]
Staphylococcus aureus is a common pathogen that causes skin infections. Since the advent of penicillin in the 1940s, Staphylococcus aureus has been under control. But the good times did not last long, and drug-resistant strains slowly appeared in the population of Staphylococcus aureus.
To this end, scientists have developed a semi-synthetic penicillin, methicillin, to control drug-resistant disease strains. After methicillin was used for a period of time, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA) appeared. The strain is resistant to almost all antibiotics.
To control the growth of bacteria, it may be really difficult to achieve by "killing" alone. But scientists have found that our skin is colonized with hundreds of species of bacteria that balance each other and play an important role in skin health, immunity and anti-infection.
Therefore, if you want to control a certain pathogenic bacteria, "planting good bacteria" may be safer and more effective than "killing bad bacteria".
Recently, researchers isolated a cat bacterium called Staphylococcus felis in cats, which can inhibit the growth of MRSP and a variety of Gram-positive pathogens, and kill MRSP by destroying the cell wall of MRSP and increasing the production of toxic free radicals.
Knowing this, the lucky boy with a hairy child, don't grab the Xiu cat next to you to rub it well, let the cat owner reward you with some beneficial bacteria~
The first batch of HPV vaccine data is out!
The incidence of cervical cancer can be reduced by 80%.
The friends who pay attention to the "Eleventh Consultation Room" must be familiar with HPV and HPV vaccines, after all, they have talked about it too many times. If you still don't know what it is, let's make up the lessons
HPV, also known as human papillomavirus, is the most common sexually transmitted virus worldwide. HPV infection is usually quiet, and while most infections are cleared naturally, some long-term, high-risk HPV infections can cause cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is one of the most common gynecological malignancies, with the fourth highest number of cases and deaths among female cancers.
Therefore, the invention of the HPV vaccine is a gospel for the majority of women. Then the impact of HPV vaccination on the incidence of cervical cancer in women has begun to appear in recent years.
On November 4, 2021, a real-world data published in the authoritative medical journal "The Lancet" showed that the incidence of cervical cancer plummeted among women vaccinated against HPV in England. The study was led by King's College London and Public Health England.
▲Image source: References[4]
In September 2008, England introduced the BIVALENT Vaccine (Cervarix) HPV immunization programme. Routine vaccination is provided to girls aged 12 to 13 years and complementary vaccinations are provided to women aged 14 to 18 years. The researchers quantified the early effects of this immune program on cervical cancer and precancerous lesions (cervical carcinoma in situ, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade III).
They assessed diagnostic data on cervical cancer and precancerous lesions in women aged 20 to 64 years living in England between 1 January 2006 and 30 June 2019.
The researchers found the largest decline in cervical cancer and precancerous lesion rates among the youngest women who were vaccinated.
Specifically, compared with the control cohort of those not vaccinated against HPV, cervical cancer incidence decreased by 87% in women vaccinated at age 12 to 13 years, 62% in women vaccinated at age 14 to 16, and 34% in women vaccinated at age 16 to 18 years.
According to the previous data, the global new cases of cervical cancer in 2020 are about 604,000, and the number of deaths is about 342,000. Among them, the new cases of cervical cancer in China are about 110,000, and the number of deaths is about 59,000. In November 2020, the World Health Organization launched the Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer, and 194 countries, including China, committed for the first time to eradicate the cancer.
In this way, it seems that the elimination of cervical cancer is not an unattainable luxury.
Well, today's research sharing is here, what new knowledge and new research do you want to know or be interested in, welcome to tell us in the comments section
If you think the popular science content is still good or helpful to you, welcome to forward the circle of friends, family group, or click a concern and like! Thank you all for your encouragement!
I love the world!
bibliography
Ren Rujing, Yin Peng, Wang Zhihui, et al., Alzheimer's disease report in China 2021[J]. Diagnostics - Theory & Practice, 2021, 20(04): 317-337.
[2] Zhang, M., Zhang, Y., Mu, Y., Wei, Z., & Kong, Y., Gender discrimination facilitates fMRI responses and connectivity to thermal pain[J]. NeuroImage, 2021, 244, 118644.
[3] Alan M , Kate A , et al., Antimicrobials from a feline commensal bacterium inhibit skin infection by drug-resistant S. pseudintermedius[J]. eLife 2021;10:e66793.
[4] Falcaro M, Casta on A, Ndlela B, et al. The effects of the national HPV vaccination programme in England, UK, on cervical cancer and grade 3 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia incidence: a register-based observational study. Lancet[J]. 2021;398(10316):2084-2092.