Study on Bulk-Surface Transport Separation and Dielectric Polarization of Topological Insulator Bi1.2Sb0.8Te0.4Se2.6.

This study successfully fabricated the quaternary topological insulator thin films of Bi1.2Sb0.8Te0.4Se2.6 (BSTS) with a thickness of 25 nm, improving the intrinsic defects in binary topological materials through doping methods and achieving the separation of transport characteristics between the bulk and surface of topological insulator materials by utilizing a comprehensive Physical Properties Measurement System (PPMS) and Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) to extract electronic transport information for both bulk and surface states. Additionally, the dielectric polarization behavior of BSTS in the low-frequency (10-107 Hz) and high-frequency (0.5-2.0 THz) ranges was investigated. These research findings provide crucial experimental groundwork and theoretical guidance for the development of novel low-energy electronic devices, spintronic devices, and quantum computing technology based on topological insulators.

Causal Effects of Plasma Proteome on Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis.

The two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study revealed a causal association of plasma proteins with osteoporosis (OP) and osteoarthritis (OA). Bone mineral density (BMD) is the gold standard for the clinical assessment of OP. Recent studies have shown that plasma proteins play an essential role in the regulation of bone development. However, the causal association of plasma proteins with BMD and OA remains unclear. We estimated the effects of 2889 plasma proteins on 2 BMD phenotypes and 6 OA phenotypes using two-sample MR analysis based on the genome-wide association study summary statistics. Then, we performed sensitivity analysis and reverse-direction MR analysis to evaluate the robustness of the MR analysis results, followed by gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway analysis to explore the functional relevance of the identified plasma proteins. Overall, we observed a total of 257 protein-estimated heel BMD associations, 17 protein-total-body BMD associations, 2 protein-all-OA associations, and 2 protein-knee-OA associations at PFDR < 0.05. Reverse-direction MR analysis demonstrated that there was little evidence of the causal association of BMD and OA with plasma proteins. GO enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway analysis identified multiple pathways, which may be involved in the development of OP and OA. Our findings recognized plasma proteins that could be used to regulate changes in OP and OA, thus, providing new insights into protein-mediated mechanisms of bone development.

Screening Plasma Proteins for the Putative Drug Targets for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the most common work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The present study sought to identify putative causal proteins for CTS. We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to evaluate the causal association between 2859 plasma proteins (N = 35,559) and CTS (N = 1,239,680) based on the published GWAS summary statistics. Then we replicated the significant associations using an independent plasma proteome GWAS (N = 10,708). Sensitivity analyses were conducted to validate the robustness of MR results. Multivariate MR and mediation analyses were conducted to evaluate the mediation effects of body mass index (BMI), type 2 diabetes (T2D), and arm tissue composition on the association between putative causal proteins and CTS. Colocalization analysis was used to examine whether the identified proteins and CTS shared causal variant(s). Finally, we evaluated druggability of the identified proteins. Ten plasma proteins were identified as putative causal markers for CTS, including sCD14, PVR, LTOR3, CTSS, SIGIRR, IFNL3, ASPN, TM11D, ASIP, and ITIH1. Sensitivity analyses and reverse MR analysis validated the robustness of their causal effects. Arm tissue composition, BMI, and T2D may play a fully/partial mediating role in the causal relationships of ASIP, TM11D, IFNL3, PVR, and LTOR3 with CTS. The association of ASPN and sCD14 with CTS were supported by colocalization analysis. Druggability assessment demonstrated that sCD14, CTSS, TM11D, and IFNL3 were potential drug therapeutic targets. The present study identified several potential plasma proteins that were causally associated with CTS risk, providing new insights into the pathogenesis of protein-mediated CTS and offering potential targets for new therapies.

LncRNA nuclear-enriched abundant transcript 1 aggravates cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury through activating early growth response-1/RNA binding motif protein 25 axis.

Ischemic stroke is a major global health issue. Ischemia and subsequent reperfusion results in stroke-related brain injury. Previous studies have demonstrated that nuclear-enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEATa and early growth response 1 (EGR1) are involved in ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury). In this study, we aimed to explore the roles of NEAT1/EGR1 axis as well as its downstream effector RNA binding motif protein 25 (RBM25) in cerebral IR injury. Oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) and middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) were used to establish in vitro and in vivo models of cerebral IR injury, respectively. According to our data, NEAT1, EGR1, and RBM25 levels were elevated in OGD/R-exposed SK-N-SH and SH-SY5Y cells and cerebral cortex of MCAO mice. NEAT1, EGR1, or RBM25 knockdown effectively reduced infarct volumes and apoptosis, and improved neurological function. Mechanistically, NEAT1 directly interacted with EGR1, which restrained WW domain containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1 (WWP1)-mediated ubiquitination of EGR1 and subsequently caused EGR1 accumulation. EGR1 bound to RBM25 promoter and transcriptionally activated RBM25. Rescue experiments indicated that RBM25 overexpression abolished the therapeutic effects of NEAT1 knockdown. In conclusion, this work identified a novel NEAT1/EGR1/RBM25 axis in potentiating brain injury after IR insults, suggesting a potential therapeutic target for ischemic stroke.

Frictional Reduction with Partially Exfoliated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as Water-Based Lubricant Additives.

In this work, partially exfoliated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Px-CNTs) were prepared by oxidizing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and applied into water-based lubricant as a kind of new additives, resulting in an outstanding anti-friction effect. The Px-CNTs have the structures of both MWCNTs and graphene oxide nanoribbons (GONRs). The special structure could prevent aggregation in water-based lubricant and reduce friction effectively. At the same time, Px-CNTs generate both sliding and rolling friction like MWCNTs and GONRs simultaneously. The friction force of Px-CNTs tended to go up after declining with increasing its loading, suggesting the existence of optimum additive amount of additions. Compared with water, water with 0.5 wt% Px-CNTs further reduced the friction force up to 66.4%. Compared with CNTs-COOH and GONRs dispersed in water via a similar method, Px-CNTs in water displays remarkable friction characteristic, suggesting that the friction force of water with 0.5 wt% Px-CNTs is decreased by 19.82% and 13.82% compared with water with 0.3 wt% MWCNTs and GONRs.

Multi-genic pattern found in rare type of hypopituitarism: a whole-exome sequencing study of Han Chinese with pituitary stalk interruption syndrome.

Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) is a rare type of hypopituitarism manifesting various degrees of pituitary hormone deficiency. Although mutations have been identified in some familial cases, the underpinning mechanisms of sporadic patients with PSIS who are in a vast majority remain elusive, necessitating a comprehensive study using systemic approaches. We postulate that other genetic mechanisms may be responsible for the sporadic PSIS. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a study in 24 patients with PSIS of Han Chinese with no family history using whole-exome sequencing (WES) and bioinformatic analysis. We identified a group of heterozygous mutations in 92% (22 of 24) of the patients, and these genes are mostly associated with Notch, Shh, Wnt signalling pathways. Importantly, 83% (20 of 24) of the patients had more than one mutation in those pathways suggesting synergy of compound mutations underpin the pathogenesis of sporadic PSIS.

Correlation between Pituitary Stalk Interruption Syndrome and Prokineticin Receptor 2 and Prokineticin 2 Mutations.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the correlation between pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) and prokineticin receptor 2 (PROKR2) and prokineticin 2 (RROK2) mutations. METHODS: PROKR2 and RROK2 genotypes were identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction analysis with exon-flanking primers and by automated sequencing techniques with peripheral blood DNA samples from 59 patients with PSIS. RESULTS: Of these 59 PSIS patients, 6 showed intragenic deletions at the PROKR2 locus. Of them, 5 patients exhibited intragenic subsititution of exon 2 (c.991G>A), and the remaining one patient exhibited intragenic subsititution of exon 2 (c.1057C>T). No PROK2 mutation was found in these PSIS patients. CONCLUSION: PROKR2 may be the susceptibility gene of PSIS.

Clinical Features of Pituitary Stalk Interruption Syndrome in 114 Cases.

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of pituitary stalk interruption syndrome(PSIS). Methods The clinical data including clinical manifestations,laboratory tests,and imaging findings of 114 PSIS patients in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Results Of these 114 PSIS patients,102 cases (89.4%) were male. The average age was 21.1?6.1 years. A history of breech delivery was documented in 91 cases (91.9%). Short stature was found in 89 cases (71.8%) and bone age delayed (6.1?5.1) years. Secondary sex characteristics were poor or undeveloped in most patients. The prevalence of deficiencies in growth hormone,gonadotropins,corticotropin,and thyrotropin were 100.0%,94.0%,84.2%,and 74.6%,respectively. Hyperprolactinemia was found in 28.1% of patients. Three or more pituitary hormone abnormalities were found in 105 cases(92.1%). Compared with the 5 cases with history of cephalic delivery,no difference were found in the aspects of height(t=0.297,P=0.634),penile length(t=1.205,P=0.882),testicular volume (U=99.000,P=0.348),growth hormone peak (U=89.000,P=0.186),adrenocorticotropic hormone peak(U=131.000,P=0.967),luteinizing hormone peak(U=98.500,P=0.582),thyroid-stimulating hormone (U=82.000,P=0.162),and the height of anterior pituitary (t=1.676,P=0.107) in the 53 cases with history of breech delivery. Conclusions The clinical manifestations,symptoms,hormone deficiencies were severe in our series. The condition severities were not remarkably different in patients with different delivery ways.

Usefulness of the heart-rate variability complex for predicting cardiac mortality after acute myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies indicate that decreased heart-rate variability (HRV) is related to the risk of death in patients after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, the conventional indices of HRV have poor predictive value for mortality. Our aim was to develop novel predictive models based on support vector machine (SVM) to study the integrated features of HRV for improving risk stratification after AMI. METHODS: A series of heart-rate dynamic parameters from 208 patients were analyzed after a mean follow-up time of 28 months. Patient electrocardiographic data were classified as either survivals or cardiac deaths. SVM models were established based on different combinations of heart-rate dynamic variables and compared to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) and deceleration capacity (DC) of heart rate. We tested the accuracy of predictors by assessing the area under the receiver-operator characteristics curve (AUC). RESULTS: We evaluated a SVM algorithm that integrated various electrocardiographic features based on three models: (A) HRV complex; (B) 6 dimension vector; and (C) 8 dimension vector. Mean AUC of HRV complex was 0.8902, 0.8880 for 6 dimension vector and 0.8579 for 8 dimension vector, compared with 0.7424 for LVEF, 0.7932 for SDNN and 0.7399 for DC. CONCLUSIONS: HRV complex yielded the largest AUC and is the best classifier for predicting cardiac death after AMI.

Study of dielectric polarization and electrical transport in Bi1·2Sb0·8Te0·4Se2.6 nanofilms.

Studying the dielectric response of topological insulators (TIs) can unveil their unique physical mechanisms such as charge transport and spin-orbit coupling effects. However, due to the manifestation of material's topological nature and band structure primarily in nanofilm, such thickness poses challenges for dielectric testing. To date, research on TI dielectric aspects remains relatively unexplored. Therefore, this paper successfully synthesizes nanofilm of quaternary topological insulator Bi1·2Sb0·8Te0·4Se2.6 (BSTS) using laser molecular beam epitaxy (LMBE) technique. Utilizing a wide-frequency dielectric spectrometer and a comprehensive physical properties measurement system (PPMS), we measured and thoroughly analyzed the dielectric polarization and charge transport characteristics of BSTS. We observed various polarization responses in the frequency range of 101-103 Hz, with the dipole orientation gradually failing to keep pace with the frequency increase in the range of 103-105 Hz, and the relaxation polarization unable to establish itself in the range of 105-107 Hz, with polarization primarily contributed by displacement polarization. Subsequently, we further analyzed the dependence of BSTS dielectric polarization response on temperature and film thickness, which will help reveal the influence of external factors on TI dielectric response, providing crucial insights for controlling TI materials' dielectric response. This not only deepens our understanding of the fundamental physical properties of this novel material but also offers important scientific basis and technological support for its applications in quantum computing, photonics, spintronics, and other fields.

Exome-Wide Sequencing Study Identified Genetic Variants Associated With Sarcopenic Obesity.

Sarcopenic obesity (SO) is an age-related disease characterized by the coexistence of excessive adiposity and low muscle mass or function. Although obesity and sarcopenia are heritable conditions, the genetic determinants of SO have not been fully understood. We conducted a large-scale exome-wide association analysis of SO in a sequenced sample of 2 887 cases and 113 284 controls and an imputed sample of 4 003 cases and 161 990 controls in the UK Biobank cohort. Single-variant association analysis identified one locus 1q41 (lead SNP rs1417066, LYPLAL1-AS1, odds ratio [OR] = 1.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.11-1.19], p = 1.75 × 10-14) that was significantly associated with SO at the exome-wide significance level (p < 1 × 10-8). Colocalization analysis in the Genotype-Tissue Expression expression quantitative trait locus database showed that LYPLAL1-AS1 was colocalized with SO in multiple musculoskeletal-related tissues. Gene-based burden test of rare loss-of-function variants identified 5 genes at the gene-wise significance level (p < 4.3 × 10-6): PDE3B (OR = 2.48, p = 1.10 × 10-6), MYOZ3 (OR = 25.49, p = 1.41 × 10-7), SLC15A3 (OR = 4.75, p = 6.82 × 10-7), RNF130 (OR = 25.83, p = 4.07 × 10-6), and TNK2 (OR = 4.25, p = 8.75 × 10-8). Overall, our study uncovered the genetic effects of both common and rare variants on SO susceptibility, expanded existing knowledge of the genetic architecture of SO, and improved understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying SO.

Preparation and Space Charge Properties of Functionalized Zeolite/Crosslinked Polyethylene Composites with High Thermal Conductivity.

Nanocomposite doping is an effective method to improve the dielectric properties of polyethylene. Meanwhile, the introduction of thermal conductivity groups in crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) is also an effective way to improve the thermal conductivity. Nano-zeolite is an inorganic material with a porous structure that can be doped into polyethylene to improve the insulation performance. In this paper, hyperbranched polyarylamide (HBP) with a high thermal conductivity and an auxiliary crosslinking agent (TAIC) was grafted on the surface of ZSM-5 nano-zeolite successively to obtain functionalized nano-zeolite (TAICS-ZSM-5-HBP) (the "S" in TAICS means plural). The prepared functionalized nano-zeolite was doped in polyethylene and grafted under a thermal crosslinking reaction to prepare nanocomposites (XLPE/TAICS-ZSM-5-HBP). The structural characterization showed that the nanocomposite was successfully prepared and that the nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed in the polyethylene matrix. The space charge of the TAICS-ZSM-5-HBP 5wt% nanocomposite under a high electric field was obviously inhibited. The space charge short-circuit test showed that the porous structure of the nano-zeolite introduced more deep traps, which made the trapped charge difficult to break off, hindering the charge injection. The introduction of TAICS-ZSM-5-HBP particles can greatly improve the thermal conductivity of nanocomposites. The thermal conductivity of the XLPE/5wt% and XLPE/7wt% TAICS-ZSM-5-HBP nanocomposites increased by 42.21% and 69.59% compared to that of XLPE at 20 °C, and by 34.27% and 62.83% at 80 °C.

Development of sensory integration therapy in Mainland China: A comprehensive study with bibliometrics and visualization techniques.

Sensory integration therapy (SIT) is an intervention to improve the developmental and learning problems in children. It was introduced in China from late 1980 s to early 1990 s and has received considerable attention from scholars. However, due to its late development in China and its specialised nature, it is worth exploring in depth whether it is recognized by the general public and how it is researched by academics. Therefore, we used Internet survey approach to explore the actual feedback of users towards SIT through the Internet. At the same time, bibliometric method and visualization techniques were used to study 892 journal articles on SIT in CNKI, Wanfang Database and VIP Database to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution, subject distribution, keyword co-occurrence, and keyword clustering of SIT research in mainland China since it came to China mainland. We found that the research on SIT in mainland China has been fruitful. However, the public is less aware of its basic function, therapeutic effects, and necessity. Our findings point to the need to raise awareness of sensory integration disorder and sensory integration therapy among the general public, and to strengthen academic research on sensory integration therapy.

Causal associations between type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 infection and prognosis: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

INTRODUCTION: It has been suggested that type 1 diabetes was associated with increased COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. However, their causal relationship is still unclear. Herein, we performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to investigate the causal effect of type 1 diabetes on COVID-19 infection and prognosis. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The summary statistics of type 1 diabetes were obtained from two published genome-wide association studies of European population, one as a discovery sample including 15 573 cases and 158 408 controls, and the other data as a replication sample consisting of 5913 cases and 8828 controls. We first performed a two-sample MR analysis to evaluate the causal effect of type 1 diabetes on COVID-19 infection and prognosis. Then, reverse MR analysis was conducted to determine whether reverse causality exists. RESULTS: MR analysis results showed that the genetically predicted type 1 diabetes was associated with higher risk of severe COVID-19 (OR=1.073, 95% CI: 1.034 to 1.114, pFDR=1.15×10-3) and COVID-19 death (OR=1.075, 95% CI: 1.033 to 1.119, pFDR=1.15×10-3). Analysis of replication dataset showed similar results, namely a positive association between type 1 diabetes and severe COVID-19 (OR=1.055, 95% CI: 1.029 to 1.081, pFDR=1.59×10-4), and a positively correlated association with COVID-19 death (OR=1.053, 95% CI: 1.026 to 1.081, pFDR=3.50×10-4). No causal association was observed between type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 positive, hospitalized COVID-19, the time to the end of COVID-19 symptoms in the colchicine treatment group and placebo treatment group. Reverse MR analysis showed no reverse causality. CONCLUSIONS: Type 1 diabetes had a causal effect on severe COVID-19 and death after COVID-19 infection. Further mechanistic studies are needed to explore the relationship between type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 infection and prognosis.

Mendelian randomization analysis identified causal Association of Childhood Obesity with adult major depressive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is associated with adult major depressive disorder (MDD), but their causality is not clear. METHODS: We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to explore the causality of childhood body mass index (BMI) and childhood obesity on MDD, followed by a multivariable MR (MVMR) analysis to investigate the potential role of adult BMI in mediating such effect. We accessed genome-wide association summary statistics of childhood BMI, childhood obesity, adult BMI and adult MDD from the Early Growth Genetics consortium (nBMI  = 47 541, nobesity  = 24 160), the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits consortium (nadult_BMI  = âˆ¼700 000) and the Psychiatric Genomics consortium (nMDD  = 500 199), respectively. The MR-PRESSO test was performed to remove SNPs with potential pleiotropic effect. The MR analysis was performed by inverse-variance weighted test. Further sensitivity analyses, including the MR-Egger intercept test and leave-one-out analysis, were performed to evaluate the reliability of the results. RESULTS: Our study found that childhood obesity might increase the odds of developing MDD in adults (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01-1.06, p = 2.6 × 10-3 ). Children with higher BMI were more likely to develop MDD in adulthood, with an OR of 1.12 per standard deviation score (SDS) increase in BMI (95% CI: 1.07-1.17, p = 4.4 × 10-7 ). Sensitivity analyses verified the reliability of the causality between childhood BMI/obesity and MDD. Further MVMR results revealed that the impact of childhood BMI on MDD risk was predominantly mediated by adult BMI. CONCLUSION: Our findings provided evidence of a causal relationship between childhood BMI/obesity and adult MDD, thus providing new insights into the prevention of MDD.

LncRNA RMRP accelerates autophagy-mediated neurons apoptosis through miR-3142/TRIB3 signaling axis in alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major neurodegenerative disorder. The functions of lncRNA RMRP have been characterized mainly in various human cancers. However, the functional network of RMRP in AD progression remains unknown. METHODS: Human serum samples, AD transgenic (Tg) mice as well as SH-SY5Y cells were used in this study. The RNA expression patterns of RMRP, miR-3142 and TRIB3 were assessed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Levels of apoptosis- or autophagy-associated biomarkers and TRIB3 level were evaluated using immunohistochemistry (IHC), western blotting or immunofluorescence assays, respectively. Bioinformatics methods and luciferase assays were used to predict and validate the interactions among RMRP, miR-3142, and TRIB3. Flow cytometry, TUNEL staining and EdU assays were used to examine the apoptosis and proliferation of neurons, respectively. RESULTS: The elevated RMRP and TRIB3 expressions and activation of autophagy were observed in AD. Knockdown of RMRP restrained neuronal apoptosis and autophagy activation in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, TRIB3 overexpression reversed the biological effects of RMRP silencing on Aß1-42-induced cell apoptosis and autophagy. Further mechanistic analysis showed RMRP acted as a sponge of miR-3142 to elevate TRIB3 level. CONCLUSION: These data illustrated that knockdown of RMRP inhibited autophagy and apoptosis via regulating miR-3142/TRIB3 axis in AD, suggesting that inhibition of RMRP maybe a therapeutic strategy for AD.

Mendelian Randomization Analysis Reveals Causal Effects of Plasma Proteome on Body Composition Traits.

CONTEXT: Observational studies have demonstrated associations between plasma proteins and obesity, but evidence of causal relationship remains to be studied. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the causal relationship between plasma proteins and body composition. METHODS: We conducted a 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis based on the genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics of 23 body composition traits and 2656 plasma proteins. We then performed hierarchical cluster analysis to evaluate the structure and pattern of the identified causal associations, and we performed gene ontology enrichment analysis to explore the functional relevance of the identified proteins. RESULTS: We identified 430 putatively causal effects of 96 plasma proteins on 22 body composition traits (except obesity status) with strong MR evidence (P < 2.53 × 10 - 6, at a Bonferroni-corrected threshold). The top 3 causal associations are follistatin (FST) on trunk fat-free mass (Beta = -0.63, SE = 0.04, P = 2.00 × 10-63), insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 (IGFBP1) on trunk fat-free mass (Beta = -0.54, SE = 0.03, P = 1.79 × 10-57) and r-spondin-3 (RSPO3) on WHR (waist circumference/hip circumference) (Beta = 0.01, SE = 4.47 × 10-4, P = 5.45 × 10-60), respectively. Further clustering analysis and pathway analysis demonstrated that the pattern of causal effect to fat mass and fat-free mass may be different. CONCLUSION: Our findings may provide evidence for causal relationships from plasma proteins to various body composition traits and provide basis for further targeted functional studies.

Investigation of Electrical Properties of BiFeO3/LDPE Nanocomposite Dielectrics with Magnetization Treatments.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of nano-bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) on the electrical properties of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) under magnetic-field treatment at different temperatures. BiFeO3/LDPE nanocomposites with 2% mass fraction were prepared by the melt-blending method, and their electrical properties were studied. The results showed that compared with LDPE alone, nanocomposites increased the crystal concentration of LDPE and the spherulites of LDPE. Filamentous flake aggregates could be observed. The spherulite change was more obvious under high-temperature magnetization. An agglomerate phenomenon appeared in the composite, and the particle distribution was clear. Under high-temperature magnetization, BiFeO3 particles were increased and showed a certain order, but the change for room-temperature magnetization was not obvious. The addition of BiFeO3 increased the crystallinity of LDPE. Although the crystallinity decreased after magnetization, it was higher than that of LDPE. An AC test showed that the breakdown strength of the composite was higher than that of LDPE. The breakdown strength increased after magnetization. The increase of breakdown strength at high temperature was less, but the breakdown field strength of the composite was higher than that of LDPE. Compared with LDPE, the conductive current of the composite was lower. So, adding BiFeO3 could improve the dielectric properties of LDPE. The current of the composite decayed faster with time. The current decayed slowly after magnetization.

Gut Microbiota and Psychiatric Disorders: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

Evidence supports the observational associations of gut microbiota with a variety of psychiatric disorders, but the causal nature of such associations remains obscure. Aiming to comprehensively investigate their causal relationship and to identify specific causal microbe taxa for psychiatric diseases, we conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis of gut microbiome with 15 psychiatric diseases. Specifically, the microbiome genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 18,473 individuals from the MiBioGen study was used as exposure sample, and the GWAS for 15 psychiatric diseases was used as outcome samples. One-hundred ninety bacterial taxa from six levels were available for analysis. At a multiple-testing corrected significance level (phylum P < 5.56 × 10-3, class P < 3.33 × 10-3, order P < 2.63 × 10-3, family P < 1.67 × 10-3, genus P < 4.90 × 10-4, and species P < 3.33 × 10-3), the following eight causal associations from seven bacterial features (one phylum + three classes + one order + one family + one species) were identified: family Prevotellaceae with autism spectrum disorder (P = 5.31 × 10-4), class Betaproteobacteria with bipolar disorder (P = 1.53 × 10-3), class Actinobacteria with schizophrenia (P = 1.33 × 10-3), class Bacteroidia and order Bacteroidales with Tourette syndrome (P = 2.51 × 10-3 and 2.51 × 10-3), phylum Actinobacteria and class Actinobacteria with extroversion (P = 8.22 × 10-4 and 1.09 × 10-3), and species Clostridium innocuum with neuroticism (P = 8.92 × 10-4). Sensitivity analysis showed no evidence of reverse causality, pleiotropy, and heterogeneity. Our findings offered novel insights into the gut microbiota-mediated development mechanism of psychiatric disorders.

Causal Relationship Between Gut Microbiota and Autoimmune Diseases: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: Growing evidence has shown that alterations in gut microbiota composition are associated with multiple autoimmune diseases (ADs). However, it is unclear whether these associations reflect a causal relationship. Objective: To reveal the causal association between gut microbiota and AD, we conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Materials and Methods: We assessed genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics for gut microbiota and six common ADs, namely, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes (T1D), and celiac disease (CeD), from published GWASs. Two-sample MR analyses were first performed to identify causal bacterial taxa for ADs in discovery samples. Significant bacterial taxa were further replicated in independent replication outcome samples. A series of sensitivity analyses was performed to validate the robustness of the results. Finally, a reverse MR analysis was performed to evaluate the possibility of reverse causation. Results: Combining the results from the discovery and replication stages, we identified one causal bacterial genus, Bifidobacterium. A higher relative abundance of the Bifidobacterium genus was associated with a higher risk of T1D [odds ratio (OR): 1.605; 95% CI, 1.339-1.922; PFDR = 4.19 × 10-7] and CeD (OR: 1.401; 95% CI, 1.139-1.722; PFDR = 2.03 × 10-3), respectively. Further sensitivity analyses validated the robustness of the above associations. The results of reverse MR analysis showed no evidence of reverse causality from T1D and CeD to the Bifidobacterium genus. Conclusion: This study implied a causal relationship between the Bifidobacterium genus and T1D and CeD, thus providing novel insights into the gut microbiota-mediated development mechanism of ADs.