Metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease-related diseases, cognition and dementia: A two-sample mendelian randomization study.

BACKGROUND: The results of current studies on metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)-related diseases, cognition and dementia are inconsistent. This study aimed to elucidate the effects of MASLD-related diseases on cognition and dementia. METHODS: By using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with different traits of NAFLD (chronically elevated serum alanine aminotransferase levels [cALT], imaging-accessed and biopsy-proven NAFLD), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, and liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, we employed three methods of mendelian randomization (MR) analysis (inverse-variance weighted [IVW], weighted median, and MR-Egger) to determine the causal relationships between MASLD-related diseases and cognition and dementia. We used Cochran's Q test to examine the heterogeneity, and MR-PRESSO was used to identify outliers (NbDistribution = 10000). The horizontal pleiotropy was evaluated using the MR-Egger intercept test. A leave-one-out analysis was used to assess the impact of individual SNP on the overall MR results. We also repeated the MR analysis after excluding SNPs associated with confounding factors. RESULTS: The results of MR analysis suggested positive causal associations between MASLD confirmed by liver biopsy (p of IVW = 0.020, OR = 1.660, 95%CI = 1.082-2.546) and liver fibrosis and cirrhosis (p of IVW = 0.009, OR = 1.849, 95%CI = 1.169-2.922) with vascular dementia (VD). However, there was no evidence of a causal link between MASLD-related diseases and cognitive performance and other types of dementia (any dementia, Alzheimer's disease, dementia with lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia). Sensitivity tests supported the robustness of the results. CONCLUSIONS: This two-sample MR analysis suggests that genetically predicted MASLD and liver fibrosis and cirrhosis may increase the VD risk. Nonetheless, the causal effects of NAFLD-related diseases on VD need more in-depth research.

Risk factors for cognitive impairment in middle-aged type 2 diabetic patients: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate risk factors for cognitive impairment (CI) and explore the relationship between obesity and cognition in hospitalised middle-aged patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). METHODS: Subjects were divided into normal cognitive function (NCF) (n=320) and CI (n=204) groups based on the results of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The risk factors for CI were determined by logistic regression analysis and generalised linear modelling. The associations between obesity parameters (body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC)) and cognitive ability were studied with the use of linear regression analysis, piecewise regression modelling and interaction analysis. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to examine the diagnostic value of influencing factors for cc RESULTS: The prevalence of CI was 38.9% in hospitalised middle-aged T2DM patients (median age, 58 years). Age, WC, hypoglycaemic episode within past 3 months and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) were identified as independent risk factors for CI, while the independent protective factors were education, diabetic dietary pattern, overweight and obesity. BMI was a protective factor for the MoCA score within a certain range, whereas WC was a risk factor for the MMSE and MoCA scores. The area under the curve for the combination of BMI and WC was 0.754 (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Age, education, diabetic dietary pattern, WC, overweight, obesity, hypoglycaemic episode in 3 months and CVD may be potential influencing factors for the occurrence of CI in hospitalised middle-aged population with T2DM. The combination of BMI and WC may represent a good predictor for early screening of CI in this population. Nevertheless, more relevant prospective studies are still needed.

Relationships Between Body Composition and Cognitive Impairment in Hospitalised Middle-Aged Type 2 Diabetic Patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between specific body composition and the risk of Cognitive Impairment (CI) in middle-aged Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 504 hospitalized patients with T2DM from the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Tianjin Union Medical Center. Subjects were grouped by sex, and cognitive status was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The relationship between body composition and cognitive ability was investigated with the use of linear regression analysis. The association between body composition and CI risk was determined by logistic regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of CI was 39.3% in middle-aged T2DM patients. After adjusting for age, education, marriage status, carotid atherosclerosis, cerebrovascular disease and hemoglobin, multiple linear regression analysis showed that lean mass index (LMI), body mass index (BMI) and appendicular skeletal muscle index (SMI) were significant predictors for the MoCA scores in men (p < 0.05). In addition, BMI (OR 0.913, 95% CI 0.840-0.992) and LMI (OR 0.820, 95% CI 0.682-0.916) were independent protective factors for CI in males. After adjusted for age, education, marriage status, dietary control of diabetes and cerebrovascular disease, visceral obesity (VO, OR 1.950, 95% CI 1.033-3.684) and abdominal obesity (AO, OR 2.537, 95% CI 1.191-5.403) were risk factors for CI in female patients. Conclusion: The results suggest that there may be different mechanisms underlying the relationship of body compositions and cognitive performance between middle-aged male and female patients with T2DM. In addition, our finding of potential determinants of cognitive impairment may facilitate the development of intervention programs for middle-aged type 2 diabetic patients. Nevertheless, more large prospective studies looking at cognition and changes in body composition over time are needed in the future to further support their association.

An aptamer-based, fluorescent and radionuclide dual-modality probe.

Aptamers which are promising and effective molecular probes, can deliver either fluorescent materials or radionuclides to tumors. This study aimed to develop a novel both fluorescent and radionuclide dual-modality probe based on a truncated aptamer and evaluate its stability and binding affinities in vitro. The aptamer JHIT2 with binding specifically to HepG2 cells was previously generated by Cell-SELEX. Using mfold and RNAstructure software to predict the secondary structure folded by a middle random sequence to truncate the primer sequences at both ends of the aptamer JHIT2 to yield the aptamer JHIT2e, with a similar secondary structure to JHIT2 and the same specificity and affinity as JHIT2. Attaching carboxyfluorescein (FAM) readily to the aptamer JHIT2e and then attaching iodine-131 to the FAM moiety which has multiple sites for iodine labeling to develop a novel both fluorescent and radionuclide dual-modality probe, termed 131I-FAM-JHIT2e. Cell uptake and fluorescence imaging assays in vitro confirmed that 131I-FAM-JHIT2e had both FAM fluorescence signal and radio-activity signal and maintained specific binding ability to the human hepatoma cell line HepG2. This work formed a basis for aptamer-based, dual-modality imaging probe that contains both fluorescent and radionuclide tags, which also is potential for theranostics.

[Prediction on spatial migration of suitable distribution of Elaeagnus mollis under climate change conditions in Shanxi Province, China]. / æ°”å€™å˜åŒ–æ¡ä»¶ä¸‹å±±è¥¿ç¿ æžœæ²¹æ ‘é€‚å®œåˆ†å¸ƒåŒºçš„ç©ºé—´è¿ç§»é¢„æµ‹.

The impacts of climate change on biodiversity and its adaptation will directly affect the efficiency of biodiversity conservation. Predicting spatial variation of suitable habitats of threatened species under future climate change has important theoretical and practical significance for biodiversity conservation. In this study, we predicted the suitable distribution of Elaeagnus mollis, an endemic endangered plant in China, under climate change at regional scales. Then, we simulated the spatial variation and migration tend of suitable distribution under different climate change scenarios by spatial analysis. The results from Maxent model showed that the two suitable distribution areas of E. mollis presented different migration trends under the future climate change scenarios: the suitable areas of Lyuliang Mountain would fluctuate slightly in latitudinal direction, while that in Zhongtiao Mountain would migrate to high elevation. Analysis of the spatial pattern change of the suitable areas indicated that the areas with obvious change occurred at the boundary of the suitable areas of E. mollis, including new suitable area and lost suitable area. The new suitable areas were scattered in the marginal of the original, with the increase rate of 9.1% to 20.9%, and the lost suitable areas were concentrated in the northern Lyuliang Mountain suitable areas and the southeast Zhongtiao Mountain suitable areas, with the loss rate of 16.4% to 31.1%. These regions were more sensitive to climate change. Using the classification statistical tool of Zonal, we found that the central points of the Lyuliang Mountain suitable areas showed southward migration trend under the future climate change, with the maximum migration distance of 7.451 km, while the center point of the Zhongtiao Mountain suitable areas showed migration trend to the northwest, with the maximum migration distance of 8.284 km. Our results indicated that the response of E. mollis distribution in Shanxi to climate change was intense.

[Effects of whole field-surface plastic mulching and planting in furrow on soil temperature, soil moisture, and corn yield in arid area of Gansu Province, Northwest China].

Taking spring corn (Zea mays) cultivar Shendan 16 as test material, a field experiment was conducted to study the effects of the treatments whole-field surface plastic mulching and planting in furrow (PMF), whole-field surface sand mulching and flat planting (SM), and uncovered and flat planting (CK) on the soil temperature, soil moisture, and corn yield on the dry land of arid area (annual average precipitation 415 mm) in middle Gansu Province. Comparing with CK, treatments PMF and SM increased the average temperature in 0-25 cm soil layer before tasselling stage, with the highest increment in treatment PMF. As for the soil water consumption, its depth in the three treatments increased with increasing years of planting. In the first year of planting, the soil water consumption was the most in 20-120 cm soil layer; whereas in the second year, the consumption was the most in 120-200 cm soil layer, with the soil water loss being the highest in treatment PMF. Treatment PMF had the highest grain number, grain weight per spike, and 100-grain weight, followed by treatment SM, and CK. In 2009 and 2010, the average grain number, average grain weight per spike, and average 100-grain weight in treatment PMF were increased by 13.5% and 114.2%, 29.8% and 321.1%, and 14.4% and 95.4% respectively, as compared to treatments SM and CK, and the grain yield and water use efficiency in treatments PMF and SM were increased by 333.1% and 240.2%, and 290.6% and 227.6%, respectively, as compared to CK. After two years continuous cropping of corn, the soil water loss in 120-200 cm soil layer in treatment PMF was up to 72 mm, being significantly higher than that in treatments SM (45 mm) and CK (40 mm). It was suggested that PMF could increase the soil temperature at seedling-tasselling stage, promote the corn growth in its early growth period, improve the soil water use by corn, and consequently, increase the grain number per spike and 100-grain weight, manifesting a good effect in improving corn yield and water use efficiency. However, PMF also induced more soil water consumption in 100-200 cm soil layer, which was not beneficial to the water balance through years.