Association Between Cardiovascular Health and Cirrhosis and Mortality: Insights From a Comprehensive Cross-sectional Study.

GOAL: We aim to explore the relationship between the newly introduced CVH indicator "Life's Essential 8 (LE8)" and cirrhosis. BACKGROUND: The global burden of cirrhosis is increasing, with a rising number of deaths, leading to significant societal and economic challenges. Cardiovascular health (CVH) has been found to have potential associations with liver diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All participants aged 20 and older from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005 to 2018 were included. CVH was accessed by LE8, consisting of 4 health behaviors (diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, and sleep health) and 4 health factors (body mass index, lipid levels, blood sugar, and blood pressure). Cirrhosis was determined based on abnormal liver function test results, with an aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index >2. Participants' mortality status was obtained by matching with the National Death Index and all-cause mortality served as the follow-up endpoint. RESULTS: This extensive cross-sectional study reveals that LE8 was not associated with cirrhosis. A higher health behaviors score was associated with lower cirrhosis. Moreover, there is an inverse U-shaped relationship between the LE8 score and all-cause mortality in participants with cirrhosis, signifying a decrease in all-cause mortality when LE8 surpasses 60. A greater health behaviors score is linked to a decreased proportion of all-cause mortality in cirrhosis patients. CONCLUSION: Maintaining better health behaviors may be beneficial for cirrhosis, especially through a balanced diet, regular exercise, smoking cessation, and quality sleep.

Preoperative H. pylori Eradication Therapy Facilitates Precise Delineation in Early Gastric Cancer with Current H. pylori Infection.

INTRODUCTION: Early gastric cancer with current Helicobacter pylori infection (HpC-EGC) is common, but it is still unclear whether H. pylori eradication therapy (Hp-ET) or endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) should be performed first. We evaluated Hp-ETs short-term effects on horizontal boundary delineations of HpC-EGC in ESD. METHODS: Prospectively enrolled HpC-EGC patients were randomly assigned to eradication or control groups. Operation scopes of HpC-EGC lesions were delineated with marking dots at 5 mm out of the endoscopic demarcation line by an independent endoscopist, unaware of eradication status, before formal circumferential incision. As representatives, precise delineation rate, the shortest distance of all marking dots to the pathological demarcation line in all slices of one intact resected specimen (Dmin), and negative marking dot specimen rate were examined. RESULTS: Twenty-three HpC-EGC patients (25 lesions) were allocated to eradication group and 26 patients (27 lesions) were allocated to the control group with similar eradication success rates and all were differentiated type. With improving background mucosa inflammation after Hp-ET and similar gastritis-like epithelium rates, 10 lesions (40.0%) in the eradication group were of precise delineation compared to control group with 2 lesions (7.4%) (relative risk = 5.40, 95% CI 1.31-22.28). Dmin of eradication and control groups were 4.17 ± 2.52 mm and 2.67 ± 2.30 mm (p = 0.029), accompanied by 4 (14.8%) and none (0.0%) specimens that exhibited positive marking dots (p = 0.11), respectively. CONCLUSION: For HpC-EGC patients, administrating eradication medication before ESD is beneficial for the precise delineation of lesions and reducing the risk of positive horizontal resection margins.

National trends in nine key minerals intake (quantity and source) among U.S. adults, 1999 to march 2020.

BACKGROUND: Changes in economy and dietary guidelines brought a great shock to diet quality and meal behaviors, but if these transformations have extended to minerals intake and their sources was still poorly understood. It is essential to evaluate time trends in minerals intake and their sources to inform policy makers. OBJECTIVE: To investigate trends in minerals intake and their sources among U.S. adults. METHODS: This analysis used dietary data collected by 24-h recalls from U.S. adults (≥ 20 years) in NHANES (1999-March 2020). Minerals intake, age-adjusted percentage of participants meeting recommendations, and minerals sources were calculated among all participants and by population subgroups in each NHANES survey cycle. Weighted linear or logistic regression models were used to examine the statistical significance of time trends. RESULTS: A total of 48223 U.S. adults were included in this analysis. From 1999 to March 2020, intake of calcium (from 0.94 to 1.02 g/day), magnesium (from 308.07 to 321.85 mg/day), phosphorus (from 1.24 to 1.30 g/day), and sodium (from 3.24 to 3.26 mg/day) from food and beverages (FB) and dietary supplements (DSs) significantly increased, and intake of iron (from 19.17 to 16.38 mg/day), zinc (from 16.45 to 14.19 mg/day), copper (from 1.79 to 1.38 mg/day), and potassium (from 2.65 to 2.50 g/day) from FB + DSs decreased (all FDR < 0.05). Additionally, age-adjusted percentage of participants meeting recommendations for calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and selenium significantly increased, that for iron, potassium, zinc, and copper decreased (all FDR < 0.05). Minerals intake and time trends in minerals intake were highly variable depending on age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, and income. For example, white, higher socioeconomic status participants had a higher minerals intake (e.g. iron, zinc, and copper), but had a greater decrease in minerals intake. Furthermore, the percentage of minerals from milks and DSs decreased, and that from beverages increased. CONCLUSION: From 1999 to March 2020, both minerals intake and their sources experienced a significant alteration among U.S. adults. Many differences in minerals intake and their food sources across sociodemographic characteristics appeared to narrow over time. Although some improvements were observed, important challenges, such as overconsumption of sodium and underconsumption of potassium, calcium, and magnesium, still remained among U.S. adults.

Transcriptome Sequencing Reveals the Mechanism of Auxin Regulation during Root Expansion in Carrot.

Carrot is an important vegetable with roots as the edible organ. A complex regulatory network controls root growth, in which auxin is one of the key players. To clarify the molecular mechanism on auxin regulating carrot root expansion, the growth process and the indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) content in the roots were measured in this experiment. It was found that the rapid expansion period of the root was from 34 to 41 days after sowing and the IAA content was the highest during this period. The root growth then slowed down and the IAA levels decreased. Using the transcriptome sequencing database, we analyzed the expression of IAA-metabolism-related genes and found that the expression of most of the IAA synthesis genes, catabolism genes, and genes related to signal transduction was consistent with the changes in IAA content during root expansion. Among them, a total of 31 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, including 10 IAA synthesis genes, 8 degradation genes, and 13 genes related to signal transduction. Analysis of the correlations between the DEGs and IAA levels showed that the following genes were closely related to root development: three synthesis genes, YUCCA10 (DCAR_012429), TAR2 (DCAR_026162), and AMI1 (DCAR_003244); two degradation genes, LPD1 (DCAR_023341) and AACT1 (DCAR_010070); and five genes related to signal transduction, IAA22 (DCAR_012516), IAA13 (DCAR_012591), IAA27 (DCAR_023070), IAA14 (DCAR_027269), and IAA7 (DCAR_030713). These results provide a reference for future studies on the mechanism of root expansion in carrots.

Vitamin K2 supplementation improves impaired glycemic homeostasis and insulin sensitivity for type 2 diabetes through gut microbiome and fecal metabolites.

BACKGROUND: There is insufficient evidence for the ability of vitamin K2 to improve type 2 diabetes mellitus symptoms by regulating gut microbial composition. Herein, we aimed to demonstrate the key role of the gut microbiota in the improvement of impaired glycemic homeostasis and insulin sensitivity by vitamin K2 intervention. METHODS: We first performed a 6-month RCT on 60 T2DM participants with or without MK-7 (a natural form of vitamin K2) intervention. In addition, we conducted a transplantation of the MK-7-regulated microbiota in diet-induced obesity mice for 4 weeks. 16S rRNA sequencing, fecal metabolomics, and transcriptomics in both study phases were used to clarify the potential mechanism. RESULTS: After MK-7 intervention, we observed notable 13.4%, 28.3%, and 7.4% reductions in fasting serum glucose (P = 0.048), insulin (P = 0.005), and HbA1c levels (P = 0.019) in type 2 diabetes participants and significant glucose tolerance improvement in diet-induced obesity mice (P = 0.005). Moreover, increased concentrations of secondary bile acids (lithocholic and taurodeoxycholic acid) and short-chain fatty acids (acetic acid, butyric acid, and valeric acid) were found in human and mouse feces accompanied by an increased abundance of the genera that are responsible for the biosynthesis of these metabolites. Finally, we found that 4 weeks of fecal microbiota transplantation significantly improved glucose tolerance in diet-induced obesity mice by activating colon bile acid receptors, improving host immune-inflammatory responses, and increasing circulating GLP-1 concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: Our gut-derived findings provide evidence for a regulatory role of vitamin K2 on glycemic homeostasis, which may further facilitate the clinical implementation of vitamin K2 intervention for diabetes management. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered at https://www.chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR1800019663).

Clinical significance of matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression in papillary thyroid carcinoma: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and pathological indexes in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). EVIDENCE OBTAINED: The database was searched in PubMed, Embase, CNKI, and Web of Science databases for relevant clinical trials. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) show the effect of MMP-9 expression and age, tumour size, gender, lymph node metastasis (LNM), and TNM (tumour, lymph node, metastasis) stage. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using Stata 17.0. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: A total of 1433 patients with PTC were included in this meta-analysis. MMP-9 expression was significantly correlated with LNM (OR = 3.92, 95% CI = 2.71-5.65, P = 0.000), tumour size (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.13-2.52, P = 0.011), and TNM stage (OR = 2.95, 95% CI = 2.10-4.13, P = 0.000), but not with gender (OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.66-1.22, P = 0.487) and age (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 0.93-1.98, P = 0.115). CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis showed that MMP-9 was significantly associated with LNM, tumour size, and TNM stage; therefore, MMP-9 may be a reliable prognostic biomarker for patients with PTC. However, more high-quality studies are needed to support these findings further.

Low-Temperature Oxidation of Heavy Oil Asphaltene with and without Catalyst.

In this study, the asphaltene extracted from Luntai heavy oil was oxidized by a mixture of propionic anhydride and hydrogen peroxide without and with a catalyst. Elemental analysis and infrared spectroscopy results indicated the occurrence of oxygen addition, condensation, and side chain cleavage reactions in the oxidation process. Oxidation products were divided into methanol solubles and methanol insolubles. The H/C and O/C atomic ratios of the MeOHS in the oxidation products without a catalyst were higher than those of the Luntai asphaltene. MeOHS had fewer aromatic rings than Luntai asphaltene. Compared with the oxidative reaction without a catalyst, the total mass of oxidation products and the proportion of MeOHS in oxidation products both increased after catalytic oxidation. This low-temperature oxidation technology can be used to upgrade asphaltenes, and thus can promote the exploitation and processing of heavy oil.

Dibromoacetic acid exposure is associated with abnormal melatonin rhythm in rats via inhibition of p-CREB1-AANAT signalling pathway.

Dibromoacetic acid (DBA) is a by-product of disinfection in drinking water, which could cause many adverse effects in test animals. However, little research on its neurotoxicity has been conducted, and its mechanism has not been elucidated. In the present study, ninety Sprague-Dawley rats were administered DBA at doses of 0, 30, and 90 mg/kg body weight for 28 days via oral gavage. We found that DBA could induce obvious neurotoxicity in the pineal gland as indicated by histological changes and impaired rhythm of melatonin in pineal and serum. In the mechanism study, transcriptome data showed that DBA exposure could induce 732 differential expression genes. Besides, GO and KEGG analysis results indicated that these genes were enriched in circadian rhythms, among which CREB1 had the most significant fold change. And immunofluorescence staining (IF) and immunohistochemical staining (IHC) results showed that the number of amber-colored masculine neurons for the p-CREB1 in the 90 mg/kg group was markedly lower, and staining for the p-CREB1 was weaker. Moreover, the results of PCR and western blot showed that DBA exposure could down-regulate the expressions of CREB1 and p-CREB1, leading to the decreased expressions of gene and protein of arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AANAT), and then resulting in the impaired melatonin synthesis in the pineal and serum. In conclusion, DBA exposure is associated with abnormal melatonin rhythm via inhibition of the p-CREB1-AANAT signalling pathway.

Isolation of aristolochic acid I from herbal plant using molecular imprinted polymer composited ionic liquid-based zeolitic imidazolate framework-67.

Aristolochic acid I is a toxic compound found in the genus of Aristolochia plants, which are commonly used as herbal cough treatment medicines. To remove the aristolochic acid I in extract efficiently and selectively, a molecularly imprinted polymer composed of ethylimidazole ionic liquid-based zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 was synthesized and used as the adsorbent. Under the conditions optimized by the software design expert, the sorbent showed highest adsorption amount of 34.25 mg/g in methanol/water (95:5, v/v) at 39°C for 138 min. The sorbent was then applied to solid phase extraction to isolate aristolochic acid I from the extract of the herbal plant Fibraurea Recisa Pierre. 0.043 mg/g of aristolochic acid I was obtained after the loading, washing, and elution processes. The limit of detection of 2.41 × 10-5  mg/mL and good recoveries provided evidence for the accuracy of this method.

Standardized patient methodology in mainland China: a nationwide survey.

BACKGROUND: To describe the current status of standardized patient (SP) practice in mainland China. METHODS: We conducted a nationwide survey in 2016. One hundred and eighty-three SP educators (SPEs) responded to the questionnaire, representing 80 medical centers from 25 provinces in mainland China. All of these centers were affiliated with China Standardized Patients Practice Teaching Guidance. In the survey, we assessed the methods of SPs' recruitment, hourly wage, how SPs were used and challenges of SP role. We also compared these data among the 4 different regions in China. RESULTS: In mainland China, the most frequent range of SPs' age was between 30 and 40 years (24.8%). The SPs were usually recruited by recommendations from the SPEs or a current SP (43.8%), as well as advertising in the hospitals (43.8%). The mean hourly wage was US$12.60 for teaching activities and US$18.82 for medical examinations. The median frequency for training SPs was 12.9 times per year. The SPs were used in areas such as internal medicine (89.6%), surgery (79.2%) and pediatrics (56.3%). The most challenging parts for the SPs were to remember all of the key points of the cases (51.9%) and portraying the emotions of the case (51.9%). Almost half of the SPs reported that, when interacting with medical students, they had difficulty in providing feedback in consistent with students' learning objectives. SPs' gender, age, rewards and scenarios playing were different significantly among the 4 geographic regions in China (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This survey provided the reliable data on the current situation of SP application in China. SP activities have had an encouraging progress but regional development imbalance.

Model to identify early-stage gastric cancers with deep invasion of submucosa based on endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography findings.

BACKGROUND: Conventional endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) are used to estimate the invasion depth of early-stage gastric cancers (EGCs), but estimates made by either technique are often inaccurate. We developed a model to determine the invasion depth of EGCs using conventional endoscopy and EUS findings, with pathology results as the reference. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of 195 patients (205 lesions) diagnosed with gastric cancers who underwent endoscopy and EUS followed by resection. Based on pathology analyses, lesions (n = 205) were assigned to categories of: mucosa invasion or minute invasion into the submucosal layer less than 500 µm from the muscularis mucosae (M-SM1) or penetration of 500 µm or more (≥SM2). The lesions were randomly assigned to derivation (138 lesions) and validation sets (67 lesions). A depth predictive model was proposed in the derivation set using multivariate logistic regression analyses. The discriminative power of this model was assessed in both sets. RESULTS: Remarkable redness (OR 5.42; 95% CI 1.32-22.29), abrupt cutting of converging folds (OR 8.58; 95% CI 1.65-44.72), lesions location in the upper third of the stomach (OR 10.26; 95% CI 2.19-48.09), and deep invasion based on EUS findings (OR 16.53; 95% CI 4.48-61.15) significantly associated with ≥SM2 invasion. A model that incorporated these 4 variables discriminated between M-SM1 and ≥SM2 lesions with the area under the ROC curve of 0.865 in the derivation set and 0.797 in the validation set. In the derivation set, a cut-off score of 8 identified lesions as ≥SM2 with 54% sensitivity and 97% specificity. The model correctly predicted the invasion depth 89.86% of lesions; it overestimated the depth of 2.17% of lesions. CONCLUSIONS: We developed a model to identify EGCs with invasion depth ≥SM2 based on endoscopy and EUS findings. This model might reduce overestimation of gastric tumor depth and prevent unnecessary gastrectomy.

Prognostic and clinicopathological significance of TLR4 expression in patients with breast cancer: a meta-analysis.

Background: The prognostic value of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in breast cancer remains to be determined. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct a meta-analysis to assess the correlation between TLR4 and clinicopathological indicators as well as survival outcomes in breast cancer. Method: Related literature retrieved from Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and China Wanfang. The search deadline is April 12, 2023. The outcome measures employed in the study comprised hazard ratio (HR), odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (CI) as effective indices. The data analysis was conducted using Stata 17.0 software. Results: High TLR4 expression was associated with lymph node metastasis (OR=2.077, 95%CI=1.160-3.717, P= 0.014), tumor size (≥2 cm) (OR=2.194, 95%CI= 1.398-3.445, P= 0.001), PR expression (OR = 0.700, 95% CI = 0.505-0.971, P= 0.033), and clinical stage (OR = 3.578, 95%CI= 3.578-5.817, P<0.05), but not with histological grade (95%CI= 0.976-1.735, P= 0.072), ER expression (OR = 1.125, 95% CI = 0.492-2.571,P= 0.781), and HER-2 status (OR = 1.241, 95% CI = 0.733-2.101, P = 0.422). In addition, TLR4 overexpression was an independent prognostic indicator of DFS (HR= 1.480, 95%CI= 1.028- 2.130, p= 0.035) in breast cancer patients, but not related to OS(HR=1.730, 95%CI= 0.979-3.057, P= 0.059). Conclusions: From our main analysis results, high TLR4 expression is associated with lymph node metastasis, larger tumor size (≥2 cm), later clinical stage, negative PR expression and shorter DFS, suggesting poor prognosis in breast cancer patients.

Synthesis and demulsification performance of a novel low-temperature demulsifier based on trimethyl citrate.

A significant amount of water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion is generated during petroleum extraction. However, the current commercial demulsifiers are expensive to produce and requires high demulsification temperatures, leading to increased energy and economic consumption. To enhance the efficiency of demulsifiers and reduce the cost of demulsifying W/O emulsions, we have successfully developed a novel demulsifier named TCED through a straightforward two-step process. This demulsifier features trimethyl citrate as the hydrophilic core grafted with three hydrophobic chains. Its structure was characterized using EA, FT-IR and 1H NMR spectroscopy, and the demulsification performance was comprehensively evaluated. At a low demulsification temperature of 40 °C, TCED demonstrated a remarkable demulsification efficiency (DE) of 99.06% and 98.74% in emulsions containing water contents of 70% (E70) and 50% (E50), respectively. Especially, a DE of 100% could be obtained in both E70 and E50 emulsions at a concentration of 600 mg/L. Moreover, TCED displayed a high DE even at high salinity levels of 50,000 mg/L and across a wide pH range of 2-10. Additionally, the phase interface was consistently clear after demulsification. To investigate the demulsification mechanism of TCED, various adsorption kinetics experiments were conducted, including measurements of interfacial tension (IFT), surface tension (SFT), interfacial competitive adsorption, and stability of interfacial film. The results obtained from the experiments indicated that TCED possessed remarkable diffusion and replacement capabilities within the emulsions. As a result, it effectively disrupted the original interfacial active substances, such as asphaltenes aggregates found in crude oil. TCED exhibits a high DE at low concentration and temperature. This characteristic highlights its significant potential for low-temperature demulsification applications in the petroleum industry.

Sustainable remediation of Cr(VI)-contaminated soil by soil washing and subsequent recovery of washing agents using biochar supported nanoscale zero-valent iron.

Soil contamination by Cr(VI) has attracted widespread attention globally in recent years, but it remains a significant challenge in developing an environmentally friendly and eco-sustainable technique for the disposal of Cr(VI)-contaminated soil. Herein, a sustainable cyclic soil washing system for Cr(VI)-polluted soil remediation and the recovery of washing agents using biochar supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI-BC) was established. Citric acid (CA) was initially screened to desorb Cr(VI) from contaminated soil, mobilizing Cr from the highly bioaccessible fractions. The nZVI-BC exhibited superior properties for Cr(VI) and Cr(total) removal from spent effluent, allowing effective recovery of the washing agents. The elimination mechanism of Cr(total) by nZVI-BC involved the coordinated actions of electrostatic adsorption, reduction, and co-precipitation. The contributions to Cr(VI) reduction by Fe0, surface-bound Fe(II), and soluble Fe(II) were 0.6 %, 39.8 %, and 59.6 %, respectively. Meanwhile, CA favored the activity of surface-bound Fe(II) and Fe0 in nZVI-BC, enhancing the production of soluble Fe(II) to strengthen Cr(VI) removal. Finally, the recovered washing agent was proven to be reused three times. This study showcases that the combined soil washing using biodegradable chelant CA and effluent treatment by nZVI-BC could be a sustainable and promising strategy for Cr(VI)-contaminated soil remediation.

U-shaped association between sleep duration and biological aging: Evidence from the UK Biobank study.

Previous research on sleep and aging largely has failed to illustrate the optimal dose-response curve of this relationship. We aimed to analyze the associations between sleep duration and measures of predicted age. In total, 241,713 participants from the UK Biobank were included. Habitual sleep duration was collected from the baseline questionnaire. Four indicators, homeostatic dysregulation (HD), phenoAge (PA), Klemera-Doubal method (KDM), and allostatic load (AL), were chosen to assess predicted age. Multivariate linear regression models were utilized. The association of sleep duration and predicted age followed a U-shape (All p for nonlinear <0.05). Compared with individuals who sleep for 7 h/day, the multivariable-adjusted beta of ≤5 and ≥9 h/day were 0.05 (95% CI 0.03, 0.07) and 0.03 (95% CI 0.02, 0.05) for HD, 0.08 (95% CI 0.01, 0.14) and 0.36 (95% CI 0.31, 0.41) for PA, and 0.21 (95% CI 0.12, 0.30) and 0.30 (95% CI 0.23, 0.37) for KDM. Significant independent and joint effects of sleep and cystatin C (CysC) and gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT) on predicted age metrics were future found. Similar results were observed when conducting stratification analyses. Short and long sleep duration were associated with accelerated predicted age metrics mediated by CysC and GGT.

[Hennekam syndrome: a case report and review of literature].

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical characteristics of Hennekam syndrome. METHODS: We described a case of long-term iron deficiency anemia, characteristic facial anomalies, growth retardation, and intestinal lymphangiectasia. To our knowledge, this is the first case of Hennekam syndrome reported in China. Meanwhile, relevant literature was also reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 35 cases of Hennekam syndrome were identified, consisting of 18 males and 17 females (age ranging 0 - 40 years old). Lymphangiectasia, lymphedema, facial anomalies (hypertelorism, flat nasal bridge and flat face) and developmental retardation were the major clinical manifestations of the syndrome. CCBE1 mutation may have played an important role in the pathogenesis of the syndrome. Long-term moderate-to-severe iron deficiency anemia was a distinctive feature of our case. Lymphangiography revealed lymphangiectasia of small intestine and lower limb, as well as thoracic outlet obstruction. Complete elimination of anemia and significant increase of serum albumin level were observed several months after the adhesiolysis procedure of the distal end of thoracic duct. However, anemia and severe hypoalbuminemia relapsed after taking greasy food. CONCLUSIONS: Hennekam syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive syndrome characterized by defective lymphatic development. Congenital lymphangiectasia should be considered in the patients with unexplained developmental retardation and hypoalbuminemia. Moreover, intestinal lymphangiectasia can be a rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding.

One-step photodeposition of spatially separated CuOx and MnOx dual cocatalysts on g-C3N4 for enhanced CO2 photoreduction.

The rapid recombination of photogenerated carriers of photocatalysts greatly limits their actual application in CO2 conversion into valuable chemicals. Herein, dual CuOx and MnOx cocatalysts are decorated on g-C3N4 nanosheets via a one-step photodeposition strategy. Benefiting from the repulsion between Cu2+ and Mn2+ cations, a novel g-C3N4-based heterostructure loaded with spatially separated CuOx and MnOx nanoparticle dual cocatalysts has been successfully fabricated. Cu favors the trapping of electrons, while MnOx tends to collect holes. Moreover, the Cu2O/g-C3N4 p-n heterojunction also accelerates the charge separation. As a result, the photogenerated holes and electrons flow into and out of the photocatalyst, respectively, resulting in enhanced charge separation for achieving efficient CO2 photoreduction over CuOx/g-C3N4/MnOx. Accordingly, the optimized CuOx/g-C3N4/MnOx exhibits an improved CO production rate of 5.49 µmol g-1 h-1, which is 27.5 times higher than that of bare g-C3N4.

Low-temperature molten salt synthesis and catalytic mechanism of CoS2/NC as an advanced bifunctional electrocatalyst.

The development of productive and sustainable bifunctional electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays an important role in the commercial evolution of metal-air batteries. In this paper, a low-temperature molten salt template method was adopted to synthesize the composite of CoS2 and nitrogen-doped carbon (CoS2/NC) without the protection of inert gas. The structural characterization studies show that the specific surface area (SSA) and crystal growth kinetics are increased and effectively improved, respectively, by the composite of CoS2 and NC. The as-synthesized CoS2/NC composite demonstrates outstanding bifunctional catalytic activity in alkaline electrolytes and exhibits a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.854 V (vs. RHE) and an overpotential of only 220 mV for the OER at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 (η10). Simultaneously, CoS2/NC also exhibits excellent electrochemical stability. Additionally, density functional theory (DFT) calculations have manifested that the synergistic effect of CoS2 and NC results in a remarkable enhancement in the bifunctional catalytic performance of the composite materials. This study offers a new pathway and theoretical guidance for the fabrication of efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts.

Association of plasma branched-chain amino acid with multiple cancers: A mendelian randomization analysis.

BACKGROUND: Studies have suggested a possible relevance between branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolic enzymes and cancers. However, few studies have explored the variation in circulating concentrations of BCAAs. Our study used bi-directional, two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis for predicting the causality between the BCAA levels and 9 types of cancers. METHODS: The largest genome-wide association studies (GWAS) provided data for total BCAAs, valine, leucine, and isoleucine from the UK Biobank. Data on multiple cancer endpoints were collected from various sources, such as the International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO), the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium 1 (PanScan1), the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC), the FinnGen Biobank, and the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCAC). The mainly analysis method was the inverse-variance-weighted (IVW). For assessing horizontal pleiotropy, the researchers performed MR-Egger regression and MR-PRESSO global test. Finally, the Cochran's Q test served for evaluating the heterogeneity. RESULTS: Circulating total BCAAs levels (OR 1.708, 95%CI 1.168, 2.498; p = 0.006), valine levels (OR 1.747, 95%CI 1.217, 2.402; p < 0.001), leucine levels (OR 1.923, 95%CI 1.279, 2.890; p = 0.002) as well as isoleucine levels (OR 1.898, 95%CI 1.164, 3.094; p = 0.010) positively correlated with the squamous cell lung cancer risk. Nevertheless, no compelling evidence was found to support a causal link between BCAAs and any other examined cancers. CONCLUSIONS: Increased circulating total-BCAAs levels, leucine levels, isoleucine levels and valine levels had higher hazard of squamous cell lung cancer. No such associations were found for BCAAs with other cancers.

Metabolomics analysis of urine from rats given long-term high-protein diet using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Previous studies have indicated high-protein diet (HPD) promotes weight loss and improves metabolic parameters, but most of these studies have focused on the impact of short-term, long-term effects remain unclear. In this study, male Wistar rats were fed two diets for 88 weeks: normal control diet (NCD, 20.5% of energy as protein) or HPD (30.5% of energy as protein). At 88 weeks intervention, compared to NCD rats, HPD rats had lower fat tissue and higher skeletal muscle to body weight ratio, but there were no significantly differences in body weight and food intake. To explore the mechanism underlying metabolism and diet, we further collected rat urine samples at 16, 40, 64 and 88 weeks diet treatment and analyzed metabolomics profiles using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS). Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) scores plots from ESI- or ESI+ model revealed a perfect separation between two diets at four time points. We identified 11 dramatically different metabolites (with VIP cut-off value > 1) in HPD, including 3 up-regulated and 8 down-regulated. And these 11 metabolites were identified as effective biomarkers, which were significantly related to HPD-induced metabolism related outcomes (fat tissue and skeletal muscle to body weight ratio). Our results provided vital information regarding metabolism in long-term HPD and more importantly, a few potentially promising metabolites were firstly identified which may related to metabolic responses.