Causal Association Between Tea Consumption and Gout: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

OBJECTIVE: Evidence from prospective studies on the consumption of tea and risk of gout is conflicting and limited. We aimed to investigate the potential causal effects of tea intake on gout using Mendelian randomization (MR). METHODS: Genome-wide association studies in UK Biobank included 349 376 individuals and successfully discovered single-nucleotide polymorphisms linked to consumption of one cup of tea per day. Summary statistics from the Chronic Kidney Disease Genetics consortium included 13 179 cases and 750 634 controls for gout. Two-sample MR analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between tea consumption and gout risk. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was used for primary analysis, and sensitivity analyses were also conducted to validate the potential causal effect. RESULTS: In this study, the genetically predicted increase in tea consumption per cup was associated with a lower risk of gout in the IVW method (OR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.82-0.98). Similar results were found in weighted median methods (OR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.78-1.00), while no significant associations were found in MR-Egger (OR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.71-1.11), weighted mode (OR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.65-0.99), and simple mode (OR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.75-1.36). In addition, no evidence of pleiotropy was detected by MR-Egger regression (P=0.95) or MR-PRESSO analysis (P=0.07). CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence for the daily consumption of an extra cup of tea to reduce the risk of gout.

Photovoltaic molecules with ultra-high light energy utilization for near-infrared laser triggered synergetic photodynamic and photothermal therapy.

Photovoltaic molecules possess strong absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region and are suitable for NIR laser-triggered phototherapy. Herein, the star molecule IEICO of organic photovoltaic materials, which has a narrow bandgap and large A-D-A conjugated structure, was prepared into water dispersive nanoparticles (NPs) through a simple self-assembly method. The obtained IEICO NPs showed a strong NIR absorption peak at 800 nm and a high 1O2 quantum yield of 11% and photothermal conversion efficiency of 85.4% under 808 nm laser irradiation. The ultra-high light energy utilization efficacy (∼96.4%) of the IEICO NPs enables their excellent phototherapeutic effect on tumors. The present work suggested the huge application potential of organic photovoltaic materials in the biomedical field.

A-DA'D-A Structured Organic Phototheranostics for NIR-II Fluorescence/Photoacoustic Imaging-Guided Photothermal and Photodynamic Synergistic Therapy.

Multimodal imaging-guided combinational phototherapies triggered by a single near-infrared (NIR) laser are highly desirable. However, their development is still a big challenge. Herein, we have developed an "acceptor-donor-acceptor'-donor-acceptor" structured organic phototheranostics (Y16-Pr) with strong light-harvesting ability in the NIR region. After being modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG), the obtained biocompatible nanoparticles (Y16-Pr-PEG NPs) could conduct NIR-II fluorescence imaging (FLI) and photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and perform photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) simultaneously. Notably, Y16-Pr-PEG NPs showed an impressive photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE) of 82.4% under 808 nm laser irradiation. The irradiated NPs could also produce hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and singlet oxygen (1O2) for type I and type II PDT, respectively. In vivo and in vitro experiments revealed that the Y16-Pr-PEG NPs significantly inhibit tumor cell growth without apparent toxic side effects under laser irradiation. Overall, the single-laser-triggered multifunctional phototheranostic Y16-Pr-PEG NPs can achieve NIR-II FLI/PAI-guided synergistic PTT/PDT against tumors.