BackgroundCurrent knowledge about incident dementia is mainly derived from studies undertaken in the West, showing that dementia is related to older age, low socio-economic status, lack of social network, depression and cardiovascular disease risk factors. We know little about incidence and predictors of dementia in China, where the prevalence is increasing and the patterns of risk factors are different.MethodsUsing a standard interview method, we examined 1526 non-demented people aged ≥65 years who had at least minimal educational level in China in a 7.5-year follow up. Incident dementia was diagnosed by GMS-AGECAT algorithms and psychiatrists.ResultsAge-standardised incidence of dementia was 14.7 per 1000 person-years (95%CI 11.3–18.2 per 1000 person-years). The increased risk was significantly associated with age, female gender (adjusted odds ratio 2.48, 95%CI 1.20–5.13), low educational levels, smoking, angina (2.58, 1.01–6.59) and living with fewer family members. Among participants with low educational level, the increased risk was associated with higher income, and with the highest and lowest occupational classes; adjusted odds ratio 2.74 (95%CI 1.12–6.70) for officers/teachers, 3.11 (1.61–6.01) for manual labourers/peasants.ConclusionsOur findings of high incidence of dementia and increased risk among people having low education levels but high income suggest a more potential epidemic and burden of dementia populations in China. Maintaining social network and activities and reducing cardiovascular factors in late life could be integrated into current multi-faceted preventive strategies for curbing the epidemic of dementia.

The “Millipede”, developed by Binnig and co-workers (Bining, G. K.; et al. IBM J. Res. Devel. 2000, 44, 323.), elegantly solves the problem of the serial nature of scanning probe lithography processes, by deploying massive parallelism. Here we fuse the “Millipede” concept with scanning near-field photolithography to yield a “Snomipede” that is capable of executing parallel chemical transformations at high resolution over macroscopic areas. Our prototype has sixteen probes that are separately controllable using a methodology that is, in principle, scalable to much larger arrays. Light beams generated by a spatial modulator or a zone plate array are coupled to arrays of cantilever probes with hollow, pyramidal tips. We demonstrate selective photodeprotection of nitrophenylpropyloxycarbonyl-protected aminosiloxane monolayers on silicon dioxide and subsequent growth of nanostructured polymer brushes by atom-transfer radical polymerization, and the fabrication of 70 nm structures in photoresist by a Snomipede probe array immersed under water. Such approaches offer a powerful means of integrating the top-down and bottom-up fabrication paradigms, facilitating the reactive processing of materials at nanometer resolution over macroscopic areas.

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