Association between composite lifestyle factors and cardiometabolic multimorbidity in Chongqing, China: A cross-sectional exploratory study in people over 45 years and older.

Introduction: Modifiable lifestyle factors are considered key to the control of cardiometabolic diseases. This study aimed to explore the association between multiple lifestyle factors and cardiometabolic multimorbidity. Methods: A total of 14,968 participants were included in this cross-sectional exploratory study (mean age 54.33 years, range 45-91; 49.6% male). Pearson's Chi-square test, logistic regression, and latent class analysis were employed. Results: We found that men with 4-5 high-risk lifestyle factors had a 2.54-fold higher risk (95% CI: 1.60-4.04) of developing multimorbidity compared to males with zero high-risk lifestyle factors. In an analysis of dietary behavior, we found that in women compared to men, over-eating (OR = 1.94, P < 0.001) and intra-meal water drinking (OR = 2.15, P < 0.001) were more likely to contribute to the development of cardiometabolic multimorbidity. In an analysis of taste preferences, men may be more sensitive to the effect of taste preferences and cardiometabolic multimorbidity risk, particularly for smoky (OR = 1.71, P < 0.001), hot (OR = 1.62, P < 0.001), and spicy (OR = 1.38, P < 0.001) tastes. Furthermore, "smoking and physical activity" and "physical activity and alcohol consumption" were men's most common high-risk lifestyle patterns. "Physical activity and dietary intake" were women's most common high-risk lifestyle patterns. A total of four common high-risk dietary behavior patterns were found in both males and females. Conclusions: This research reveals that the likelihood of cardiometabolic multimorbidity increases as high-risk lifestyle factors accumulate. Taste preferences and unhealthy dietary behaviors were found to be associated with an increased risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity and this association differed between genders. Several common lifestyle and dietary behavior patterns suggest that patients with cardiometabolic multimorbidity may achieve better health outcomes if those with certain high-risk lifestyle patterns are identified and managed.

De novo genome assembly and analyses of 12 founder inbred lines provide insights into maize heterosis.

Hybrid maize displays superior heterosis and contributes over 30% of total worldwide cereal production. However, the molecular mechanisms of heterosis remain obscure. Here we show that structural variants (SVs) between the parental lines have a predominant role underpinning maize heterosis. De novo assembly and analyses of 12 maize founder inbred lines (FILs) reveal abundant genetic variations among these FILs and, through expression quantitative trait loci and association analyses, we identify several SVs contributing to genomic and phenotypic differentiations of various heterotic groups. Using a set of 91 diallel-cross F1 hybrids, we found strong positive correlations between better-parent heterosis of the F1 hybrids and the numbers of SVs between the parental lines, providing concrete genomic support for a prevalent role of genetic complementation underlying heterosis. Further, we document evidence that SVs in both ZAR1 and ZmACO2 contribute to yield heterosis in an overdominance fashion. Our results should promote genomics-based breeding of hybrid maize.

Polyacrylonitrile Porous Membrane-Based Gel Polymer Electrolyte by In Situ Free-Radical Polymerization for Stable Li Metal Batteries.

Because of their high ionic conductivity, utilizing gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) is thought to be an effective way to accomplish high-energy-density batteries. Nevertheless, most GPEs have poor adaptability to Ni-rich cathodes to alleviate the problem of inevitable rapid capacity decay during cycling. Therefore, to match LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811), we applied pentaerythritol tetraacrylate (PETEA) monomers to polymerize in situ in a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane to obtain GPEs (PETEA-TCGG-PAN). The impedance variations and key groups during the in situ polymerization of PETEA-TCGG-PAN are investigated in detail. PETEA-TCGG-PAN with a high lithium-ion transference number (0.77) exhibits an electrochemical decomposition voltage of 5.15 V. Noticeably, the NCM811|PETEA-TCGG-PAN|Li battery can cycle at 2C for 120 cycles with a capacity retention rate of 89%. Even at 6C, the discharge specific capacity is able to reach 101.47 mAh g-1. The combination of LiF and Li2CO3 at the CEI interface is the reason for the improved rate performance. Moreover, when commercialized LFP is used as the cathode, the battery can also cycle stably for 150 cycles at 0.5C. PETEA and PAN can together foster the transportation of Li+ with the construction of a fast ion transport channel, making a contribution to stable charge-discharge of the above batteries. This study provides an innovative design philosophy for designing in situ GPEs in high-energy-density lithium metal batteries.

DWARF53 interacts with transcription factors UB2/UB3/TSH4 to regulate maize tillering and tassel branching.

Strigolactones (SLs) are a recently identified class of phytohormones that regulate diverse developmental processes in land plants. However, the signaling mechanism of SLs in maize (Zea mays) remains largely unexplored. Here, we identified the maize gene DWARF 53 (ZmD53) and demonstrated that ZmD53 interacts with the SL receptors DWARF 14A/B (ZmD14A/B) in a rac-GR24-dependent manner. Transgenic maize plants expressing a gain-of-function mutant version of Zmd53 exhibited insensitivity to exogenous rac-GR24 treatment and a highly pleiotropic phenotype, including excess tillering and reduced tassel branching, indicating that ZmD53 functions as an authentic SL signaling repressor in maize. In addition, we showed that ZmD53 interacts with two homologous maize SPL transcription factors, UB3 and TSH4, and suppresses their transcriptional activation activity on TB1 to promote tillering. We also showed that UB2, UB3, and TSH4 can physically interact with each other and themselves, and that they can directly regulate the expression of TSH4, thus forming a positive feedback loop. Furthermore, we demonstrated that ZmD53 can repress the transcriptional activation activity of UB3 and TSH4 on their own promoters, thus decreasing tassel branch number. Our results reveal new insights into the integration of SL signaling and the miR156/SPL molecular module to coordinately regulate maize development.

Peak systolic longitudinal rotation: a new tool for detecting left ventricular systolic function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is one of the most prevalent cardiac and cerebrovascular risk factors. The study aimed to find a new way to investigate left ventricle (LV) systolic dysfunction in T2DM patients using two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE). METHODS: Fifty-one untreated T2DM patients and 52 normal control subjects were enrolled for the research. Apical four-chamber view was acquired by two-dimensional echocardiography. Segmental and global peak systolic longitudinal rotation (PSLR) degrees were measured by the software of EchoPAC. RESULTS: In T2DM patients, global PSLR prominently rotated clockwise, while in normal subjects, global PSLR degrees were so small and almost had no PSLR. HBA1c negatively correlated with apex and global PSLR, that is, T2DM patients with higher HBA1c had a larger clockwise apex and global PSLR. ROC analysis showed that PSLR could detect the accuracy of LV systolic dysfunction. CONCLUSION: Cardiac clockwise global PSLR was found in T2DM patients. The cardiac contractile function in T2DM patients was impaired. The new tool of PSLR can conveniently detect cardiac systolic dysfunction in T2DM patients. HBA1c could predict systolic dysfunction in T2DM patients.