Prognostic value of geriatric nutritional risk index in patients with stable coronary artery disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition increases the risk of poor prognosis in patients with cardiovascular disease, and our current research was designed to assess the predictive performance of the Geriatric Nutrition Risk Index (GNRI) for the occurrence of poor prognosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) and to explore possible thresholds for nutritional intervention. METHODS: This study retrospectively enrolled newly diagnosed SCAD patients treated with elective PCI from 2014 to 2017 at Shinonoi General Hospital, with all-cause death as the main follow-up endpoint. Cox regression analysis and restricted cubic spline (RCS) regression analysis were used to explore the association of GNRI with all-cause death risk and its shape. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis and piecewise linear regression analysis were used to evaluate the predictive performance of GNRI level at admission on all-cause death in SCAD patients after PCI and to explore possible nutritional intervention threshold points. RESULTS: The incidence of all-cause death was 40.47/1000 person-years after a mean follow-up of 2.18 years for 204 subjects. Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that subjects at risk of malnutrition had a higher all-cause death risk. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, each unit increase in GNRI reduced the all-cause death risk by 14% (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.77, 0.95), and subjects in the GNRI > 98 group had a significantly lower risk of death compared to those in the GNRI < 98 group (HR 0.04, 95% CI 0.00, 0.89). ROC analysis showed that the baseline GNRI had a very high predictive performance for all-cause death (AUC = 0.8844), and the predictive threshold was 98.62; additionally, in the RCS regression analysis and piecewise linear regression analysis we found that the threshold point for the GNRI-related all-cause death risk was 98.28 and the risk will be significantly reduced when the subjects' baseline GNRI was greater than 98.28. CONCLUSIONS: GNRI level at admission was an independent predictor of all-cause death in SCAD patients after PCI, and GNRI equal to 98.28 may be a useful threshold for nutritional intervention in SCAD patients treated with PCI.

miR156-PvSPL2 controls culm development by transcriptional repression of switchgrass CYTOKININ OXIDASE/DEHYDROGENASE4.

Culm development in grasses can be controlled by both miR156 and cytokinin. However, the crosstalk between the miR156-SPL module and the cytokinin metabolic pathway remains largely unknown. Here, we found CYTOKININ OXIDASE/DEHYDROGENASE4 (PvCKX4) plays a negative regulatory role in culm development of the bioenergy grass Panicum virgatum (switchgrass). Overexpression of PvCKX4 in switchgrass reduced the internode diameter and length without affecting tiller number. Interestingly, we also found that PvCKX4 was always upregulated in miR156 overexpressing (miR156OE) transgenic switchgrass lines. Additionally, upregulation of either miR156 or PvCKX4 in switchgrass reduced the content of isopentenyl adenine (iP) without affecting trans-zeatin (tZ) accumulation. It is consistent with the evidence that the recombinant PvCKX4 protein exhibited much higher catalytic activity against iP than tZ in vitro. Furthermore, our results showed that miR156-targeted SPL2 bound directly to the promoter of PvCKX4 to repress its expression. Thus, alleviating the SPL2-mediated transcriptional repression of PvCKX4 through miR156 overexpression resulted in a significant increase in cytokinin degradation and impaired culm development in switchgrass. On the contrary, suppressing PvCKX4 in miR156OE transgenic plants restored iP content, internode diameter, and length to wild-type levels. Most strikingly, the double transgenic lines retained the same increased tiller numbers as the miR156OE transgenic line, which yielded more biomass than the wild type. These findings indicate that the miR156-SPL module can control culm development through transcriptional repression of PvCKX4 in switchgrass, which provides a promising target for precise design of shoot architecture to yield more biomass from grasses.

Predictive value of insulin resistance surrogates for the development of diabetes in individuals with baseline normoglycemia: findings from two independent cohort studies in China and Japan.

BACKGROUND: Insulin resistance (IR) plays a crucial role in the occurrence and progression of diabetes. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the predictive value of four IR surrogates, including the triglycerides glucose (TyG) index, TyG and body mass index (TyG-BMI), triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio, and the metabolic score for IR (MetS-IR) for diabetes in two large cohorts. METHODS: A total of 116,661 adult participants from the China Rich Healthcare Group and 15,464 adult participants from the Japanese NAGALA cohort were included in the study. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the standardized hazard ratio (HR) of the TyG index, TyG-BMI, TG/HDL-C ratio, and MetS-IR directly associated with diabetes. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and time-dependent ROC curve analysis were performed to evaluate and compare the predictive value of the four IR surrogates for diabetes. RESULTS: In the two independent cohorts, the average follow-up time was 3.1 years in the China cohort, with 2681(2.30%) incident cases of diabetes recorded, and 6.13 years in the Japan cohort, with 373 incident cases (2.41%) of diabetes recorded. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, we found that among the four IR surrogates, TyG-BMI and MetS-IR showed stronger associations with diabetes. The stronger associations persisted even after further stratification by age, sex, hypertension, and obese subgroups. In terms of diabetes prediction, based on ROC analysis, TyG-BMI demonstrated the highest predictive accuracy for diabetes in the Chinese population, while both TyG-BMI and MetS-IR showed the highest predictive accuracy in the Japanese population. The results of further subgroup ROC analysis confirmed the robustness of these findings. Furthermore, the time-dependent ROC results indicated that among the four IR surrogates, MetS-IR exhibited the highest accuracy in predicting future diabetes at various time intervals in the Japanese population. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that evaluating TyG-BMI and MetS-IR as IR surrogates may be the most useful for predicting diabetes events and assessing the risk of developing diabetes in East Asian populations.

Mitogenomes Provide Insights into the Species Boundaries and Phylogenetic Relationships among Three Dolycoris Sloe Bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) from China.

(1) Background: The three sloe bugs, Dolycoris baccarum, Dolycoris indicus, and Dolycoris penicillatus, are found in the Chinese mainland and are morphologically similar. The species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships of the three species remain uncertain; (2) Methods: In this study, we generated multiple mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) for each of the three species and conducted comparative mitogenomic analysis, species delimitation, and phylogenetic analysis based on these data; (3) Results: Mitogenomes of the three Dolycoris species are conserved in nucleotide composition, gene arrangement, and codon usage. All protein-coding genes (PCGs) were found to be under purifying selection, and the ND4 evolved at the fastest rate. Most species delimitation analyses based on the COI gene and the concatenated 13 PCGs retrieved three operational taxonomic units (OTUs), which corresponded well with the three Dolycoris species identified based on morphological characters. A clear-cut barcode gap was discovered between the interspecific and intraspecific genetic distances of the three Dolycoris species. Phylogenetic analyses strongly supported the monophyly of Dolycoris, with interspecific relationship inferred as (D. indicus + (D. baccarum + D. penicillatus)); (4) Conclusions: Our study provides the first insight into the species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships of the three Dolycoris species distributed across the Chinese mainland.

Evaluation of the role of atherogenic index of plasma in the reversion from Prediabetes to normoglycemia or progression to Diabetes: a multi-center retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis is closely linked with glucose metabolism. We aimed to investigate the role of the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) in the reversal of prediabetes to normal blood glucose levels or its progression to diabetes. METHODS: This multi-center retrospective cohort study included 15,421 prediabetic participants from 32 regions across 11 cities in China, under the aegis of the Rich Healthcare Group's affiliated medical examination institutions. Throughout the follow-up period, we monitored changes in the glycemic status of these participants, including reversal to normal fasting glucose (NFG), persistence in the prediabetic state, or progression to diabetes. Segmented regression, stratified analysis, and restricted cubic spline (RCS) were performed based on the multivariable Cox regression model to evaluate the association between AIP and the reversal of prediabetes to NFG or progression to diabetes. RESULTS: During a median follow-up period of 2.9 years, we recorded 6,481 individuals (42.03%) reverting from prediabetes to NFG, and 2,424 individuals (15.72%) progressing to diabetes. After adjusting for confounders, AIP showed a positive correlation with the progression from prediabetes to diabetes [(Hazard ratio (HR) 1.42, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.24-1.64)] and a negative correlation with the reversion from prediabetes to NFG (HR 0.89, 95%CI:0.81-0.98); further RCS demonstrated a nonlinear relationship between AIP and the reversion from prediabetes to NFG/progression to diabetes, identifying a turning point of 0.04 for reversion to NFG and 0.17 for progression to diabetes. In addition, we observed significant differences in the association between AIP and reversion from prediabetes to NFG/progression to diabetes across age subgroups, specifically indicating that the risk associated with AIP for progression from prediabetes to diabetes was relatively higher in younger populations; likewise, a younger age within the adult group favored the reversion from prediabetes to NFG in relation to AIP. CONCLUSION: Our study, for the first time, reveals a negative correlation between AIP and the reversion from prediabetes to normoglycemia and validates the crucial role of AIP in the risk assessment of prediabetes progression. Based on threshold analysis, therapeutically, keeping the AIP below 0.04 was of paramount importance for individuals with prediabetes aiming for reversion to NFG; preventatively, maintaining AIP below 0.17 was vital to reduce the risk of diabetes onset for those with prediabetes.

Blocking miR528 function promotes tillering and regrowth in switchgrass.

MiRNAs have been reported to be the key regulators involving a wide range of biological processes in diverse plant species, but their functions in switchgrass, an important biofuel and forage crop, are largely unknown. Here, we reported the novel function of miR528, which has expanded to four copies in switchgrass, in controlling biomass trait of tillering number and regrowth rate after mowing. Blocking miR528 activity by expressing short tandem target mimic (STTM) increased tiller number and regrowth rate after mowing. The quadruple pvmir528 mutant lines derived from genome editing also showed such improved traits. Degradome and RNA-seq analysis, combined with in situ hybridization assay revealed that up-regulation of two miR528 targets coding for Cu/Zn-SOD enzymes, might be responsible for the improved traits of tillering and regrowth in pvmir528 mutant. Additionally, natural variations in the miR528-SOD interaction exist in C3 and C4 monocot species, implying the distinct regulatory strength of the miR528-SOD module during monocot evolution. Overall, our data illuminated a novel role of miR528 in controlling biomass traits and provided a new target for genetic manipulation-mediated crop improvement.

Alanine aminotransferase to high- density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio is positively correlated with the occurrence of diabetes in the Chinese population: a population-based cohort study.

Objective: Both alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are closely related to glucose homeostasis in the body, and the main objective of this study was to investigate the association between ALT to HDL-C ratio (ALT/HDL-C ratio) and the risk of diabetes in a Chinese population. Methods: The current study included 116,251 participants who underwent a healthy physical examination, and the study endpoint was defined as a diagnosis of new-onset diabetes. Multivariate Cox regression models and receiver operator characteristic curves were used to assess the association of the ALT/HDL-C ratio with diabetes onset. Results: During the average observation period of 3.10 years, a total of 2,674 (2.3%) participants were diagnosed with new-onset diabetes, including 1,883 (1.62%) males and 791 (0.68%) females. After fully adjusting for confounding factors, we found a significant positive association between the ALT/HDL-C ratio and the risk of diabetes [Hazard ratios 1.06, 95% confidence intervals: 1.05, 1.06], and this association was significantly higher in males, obese individuals [body mass index ≥ 28 kg/m2] and individuals aged < 60 years (All P interaction < 0.05). In addition, the ALT/HDL-C ratio was significantly better than its components ALT and HDL-C in predicting diabetes in the Chinese population. Conclusion: There was a positive relationship between ALT/HDL-C ratio and diabetes risk in the Chinese population, and this relationship was significantly stronger in males, obese individuals, and individuals younger than 60 years old.

The predictive significance of lipid accumulation products for future diabetes in a non-diabetic population from a gender perspective: an analysis using time-dependent receiver operating characteristics.

Objective: The increasing prevalence of diabetes is strongly associated with visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and gender differences in VAT remarkably affect the risk of developing diabetes. This study aimed to assess the predictive significance of lipid accumulation products (LAP) for the future onset of diabetes from a gender perspective. Methods: A total of 8,430 male and 7,034 female non-diabetic participants in the NAGALA (NAfld in the Gifu Area, Longitudinal Analysis) program were included. The ability of LAP to assess the risk of future new-onset diabetes in both genders was analyzed using multivariate Cox regression. Subgroup analysis was conducted to explore the impact of potential modifiers on the association between LAP and diabetes. Additionally, time-dependent receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curves were used to assess the predictive power of LAP in both genders for new-onset diabetes over the next 2-12 years. Results: Over an average follow-up of 6.13 years (maximum 13.14 years), 373 participants developed diabetes. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed a significant gender difference in the association between LAP and future diabetes risk (P-interaction<0.05): the risk of diabetes associated with LAP was greater in females than males [hazard ratios (HRs) per standard deviation (SD) increase: male 1.20 (1.10, 1.30) vs female 1.35 (1.11, 1.64)]. Subgroup analysis revealed no significant modifying effect of factors such as age, body mass index (BMI), smoking history, drinking history, exercise habits, and fatty liver on the risk of diabetes associated with LAP (All P-interaction <0.05). Time-dependent ROC analysis showed that LAP had greater accuracy in predicting diabetes events occurring within the next 2-12 years in females than males with more consistent predictive thresholds in females. Conclusions: This study highlighted a significant gender difference in the association between LAP and future diabetes risk. The risk of diabetes associated with LAP was greater in females than in males. Furthermore, LAP showed superior predictive ability for diabetes at different time points in the future in females and had more consistent and stable predictive thresholds in females, particularly in the medium and long term.

The newly proposed alanine aminotransferase to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio has shown effectiveness in identifying non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Objective: Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are important predictive factors for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of this study was to analyze the association between the ALT/HDL-C ratio and NAFLD. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from 14,251 individuals participating in the NAGALA project's health screening program. The presence of NAFLD was diagnosed based on the participants' alcohol consumption status and liver ultrasonography images. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the association between the ALT/HDL-C ratio and NAFLD. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to determine and compare the effectiveness of ALT, HDL-C, the aspartate aminotransferase to HDL-C (AST/HDL-C) ratio, the gamma-glutamyl transferase to HDL-C (GGT/HDL-C) ratio and the ALT/HDL-C ratio in identifying NAFLD. Results: We observed a significant positive association between the ALT/HDL-C ratio and the prevalence of NAFLD. For each standard deviation (SD) increase in the ALT/HDL-C ratio, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for NAFLD among the participants was 3.05 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.63, 3.53], with the highest quartile of ALT/HDL-C ratio having a 9.96-fold increased risk compared to the lowest quartile. In further subgroup analyses stratified by gender, age, and waist circumference (WC), we observed a significantly higher risk of NAFLD associated with the ALT/HDL-C ratio among individuals aged ≥45 years, males, and those who were abdominal obesity. Furthermore, based on the results of ROC analysis, we found that the ALT/HDL-C ratio [area under the curves (AUC): 0.8553] was significantly superior to ALT, HDL-C, AST/HDL-C ratio and GGT/HDL-C ratio in identifying NAFLD (All Delong P<0.05); the threshold of suggested ALT/HDL-C ratio for identifying NAFLD was 15.97. Conclusion: This population-based study demonstrates a positive association between the ALT/HDL-C ratio and NAFLD. The ALT/HDL-C ratio can effectively identify individuals with NAFLD.

Assessing the usefulness of a newly proposed metabolic score for visceral fat in predicting future diabetes: results from the NAGALA cohort study.

Objective: Visceral adipose tissue assessment holds significant importance in diabetes prevention. This study aimed to explore the association between the newly proposed Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) and diabetes risk and to further assess the predictive power of the baseline METS-VF for the occurrence of diabetes in different future periods. Methods: This longitudinal cohort study included 15,464 subjects who underwent health screenings. The METS-VF, calculated using the formula developed by Bello-Chavolla et al., served as a surrogate marker for visceral fat obesity. The primary outcome of interest was the occurrence of diabetes during the follow-up period. Established multivariate Cox regression models and restricted cubic spline (RCS) regression models to assess the association between METS-VF and diabetes risk and its shape. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to compare the predictive power of METS-VF with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and visceral adiposity index (VAI) for diabetes, and time-dependent ROC analysis was conducted to assess the predictive capability of METS-VF for the occurrence of diabetes in various future periods. Results: During a maximum follow-up period of 13 years, with a mean of 6.13 years, we observed that the cumulative risk of developing diabetes increased with increasing METS-VF quintiles. Multivariable-adjusted Cox regression analysis showed that each unit increase in METS-VF would increase the risk of diabetes by 68% (HR 1.68, 95% CI 1.13, 2.50), and further RCS regression analysis revealed a possible non-linear association between METS-VF and diabetes risk (P for non-linearity=0.002). In addition, after comparison by ROC analysis, we found that METS-VF had significantly higher predictive power for diabetes than other general/visceral adiposity indicators, and in time-dependent ROC analysis, we further considered the time-dependence of diabetes status and METS-VF and found that METS-VF had the highest predictive value for predicting medium- and long-term (6-10 years) diabetes risk. Conclusion: METS-VF, a novel indicator for assessing visceral adiposity, showed a significantly positive correlation with diabetes risk. It proved to be a superior risk marker in predicting the future onset of diabetes compared to other general/visceral adiposity indicators, particularly in forecasting medium- and long-term diabetes risk.

Assessing temporal differences in the predictive power of baseline TyG-related parameters for future diabetes: an analysis using time-dependent receiver operating characteristics.

BACKGROUND: It is known that measuring the triglyceride glucose (TyG) index and TyG-related parameters [triglyceride glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI), triglyceride glucose-waist circumference (TyG-WC), and triglyceride glucose-waist to height ratio (TyG-WHtR)] can predict diabetes; this study aimed to compare the predictive value of the baseline TyG index and TyG-related parameters for the onset of diabetes at different future periods. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study involving 15,464 Japanese people who had undergone health physical examinations. The subject's TyG index and TyG-related parameters were measured at the first physical examination, and diabetes was defined according to the American Diabetes Association criteria. Multivariate Cox regression models and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to examine and compare the risk assessment/predictive value of the TyG index and TyG-related parameters for the onset of diabetes in different future periods. RESULTS: The mean follow-up period of the current study cohort was 6.13 years, with a maximum of 13 years, and the incidence density of diabetes was 39.88/10,000 person-years. In multivariate Cox regression models with standardized hazard ratios (HRs), we found that both the TyG index and TyG-related parameters were significantly and positively associated with diabetes risk and that the TyG-related parameters were stronger in assessing diabetes risk than the TyG index, with TyG-WC being the best parameter (HR per SD increase: 1.70, 95% CI 1.46, 1.97). In addition, TyG-WC also showed the highest predictive accuracy in time-dependent ROC analysis for diabetes occurring in the short-term (2-6 years), while TyG-WHtR had the highest predictive accuracy and the most stable predictive threshold for predicting the onset of diabetes in the medium- to long-term (6-12 years). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the TyG index combined with BMI, WC, and WHtR can further improve its ability to assess/predict the risk of diabetes in different future periods, where TyG-WC was not only the best parameter for assessing diabetes risk but also the best risk marker for predicting future diabetes in the short-term, while TyG-WHtR may be more suitable for predicting future diabetes in the medium- to long-term.

Association of predicted fat mass and lean body mass with diabetes: a longitudinal cohort study in an Asian population.

Objective: The relationship between body composition fat mass (FM) and lean body mass (LBM) and diabetes risk is currently debated, and the purpose of this study was to examine the association of predicted FM and LBM with diabetes in both sexes. Methods: The current study was a secondary analysis of data from the NAGALA (NAfld in the Gifu Area, Longitudinal Analysis) cohort study of 15,463 baseline normoglycemic participants. Predicted LBM and FM were calculated for each participant using anthropometric prediction equations developed and validated for different sexes based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database, and the outcome of interest was diabetes (types not distinguished) onset. Multivariate Cox regression analyses were applied to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations of predicted FM and LBM with diabetes risk and further visualized their associations using a restricted cubic spline function. Results: The incidence density of diabetes was 3.93/1000 person-years over a mean observation period of 6.13 years. In women, predicted LBM and FM were linearly associated with diabetes risk, with each kilogram increase in predicted LBM reducing the diabetes risk by 65% (HR 0.35, 95%CI 0.17, 0.71; P < 0.05), whereas each kilogram increase in predicted FM increased the diabetes risk by 84% (HR 1.84, 95%CI 1.26, 2.69; P < 0.05). In contrast, predicted LBM and FM were non-linearly associated with diabetes risk in men (all P for non-linearity < 0.05), with an L-shaped association between predicted LBM and diabetes risk and a saturation point that minimized the risk of diabetes was 45.4 kg, while predicted FM was associated with diabetes risk in a U-shape pattern and a threshold point with the lowest predicted FM-related diabetes risk was 13.76 kg. Conclusion: In this Asian population cohort, we found that high LBM and low FM were associated with lower diabetes risk according to anthropometric equations. Based on the results of the non-linear analysis, we believed that it may be appropriate for Asian men to keep their LBM above 45.4 kg and their FM around 13.76 kg.

The role of predicted lean body mass and fat mass in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in both sexes: Results from a secondary analysis of the NAGALA study.

Objective: High body mass index (BMI) is an important risk factor for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the association of body composition such as fat mass (FM) and lean body mass (LBM) with NAFLD has not been adequately studied. The purpose of this study was to clarify the contribution of body composition FM and LBM to NAFLD. Methods: We analyzed data from 7,411 men and 6,840 women in the NAGALA cohort study. LBM and FM were estimated for all subjects using validated anthropometric prediction equations previously developed from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Using multiple logistic regression and restricted cubic spline (RCS) to analyze the association and the dose-response curve of predicted LBM and FM with NAFLD in both sexes. Results: The prevalence of NAFLD in man and woman subjects was 27.37 and 6.99%, respectively. Predicted FM was positively and linearly associated with NAFLD in both sexes, with each 1 kg increase in predicted FM associated with a 27 and 40% increased risk of NAFLD in men and women, respectively. In contrast, predicted LBM was negatively associated with NAFLD in both sexes, with each 1 kg increase in predicted LBM reducing the risk of NAFLD by 4 and 19% in men and women, respectively. In addition, according to the RCS curve, the risk of NAFLD did not change in men when the predicted LBM was between 47 and 52 kg, and there seemed to be a saturation effect; further, the threshold value of the saturation effect was calculated to be about 52.08 kg by two-piecewise logistic regression, and the protective effect on NAFLD would be significantly enhanced when the man predicted LBM was greater than 52.08 kg. Conclusion: The current findings suggested that body composition LBM and FM had opposite associations with NAFLD in both sexes, with higher LBM associated with a lower risk of NAFLD and higher FM increasing the risk of NAFLD, especially in women.

First Report of Neopestalotiopsis piceana Causing Gray Blight in Camellia sinensis L. in China.

Tea plants (Camellia sinensis L.) are an important cash crop and are cultivated worldwide for their commercial value (Palanisamy et al. 2014). Tea gray blight is an important tea plant disease as it can cause a decline in tea quality and reduce yields by 20-30% (Sanjay et al. 2008). In August 2018, a disease survey was conducted on 400 ha of organic tea plantations in the Pu'er area of Yunnan Province (22.48° N, 100.58° E). The survey found that widespread disease was causing damage to 40% of the tea plantations and that the most seriously affected tea variety was Yunkang No. 10, which had an average disease incidence of 30-35%. The affected leaves grew small yellow-green spots on their tips or margins in the early stage that expanded into round or irregular brown spots with distinct concentric whorls and black conidial disks arranged in whorls when the humidity was high (Fig. 1A-B), which is consistent with tea gray blight disease (Zheng et al. 2021). Twenty-four diseased leaf samples were collected from four different tea plantations and transported to the Pu-Erh Tea Research Laboratory. Leaves with disease spots were cut into 4 mm ×4 mm square pieces, surface-sterilized with 75% alcohol for 1 min, disinfected with 1% sodium hypochlorite for 3 min, and washed thrice with sterile water. The tissue pieces were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates containing 100 µg ml-1 of chloramphenicol (Wang et al. 2021). After 3 d of culturing in the dark at 28 C, twenty pure cultures with similar morphology were obtained, and two representative isolates were selected and transferred into new PDA media. After 7 d, circular fungal colonies with dense aerial mycelium produced black, wet spore masses that grew on the PDA media (Fig. 1C-D). The conidia were spindle-shaped with four septa, measuring 25.0 (21.0-26.0) × 6.0 (4.5-7.0) µm (n=15). The conidia had three median cells, two of which were dark brown in color with unclear separations, with a single basal hyaline appendage 3.8 (3.5-4.5) µm (n=30) in length and 2-3 apical hyaline appendages 31 (27-35) µm in length (n=30) (Fig. 1E), similar to the conidial characteristics of Neopestalotiopsis piceana (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2014). Two isolates were selected for DNA extraction. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1-α) gene, and partial ß-tubulin (tub2) gene were amplified using the ITS1F-ITS4 primer set (White et al 1990), the EF-1α-F and EF-1α-R primer sets (Li et al. 2018), and the tub1 and tub2 primers, respectively (Chauhan et al. 2007). The ITS (OP535632 to OP535632), tef1-α (OP589285,OP589287), and tub2 (OP589286,OP589288) sequences were submitted to NCBI GenBank. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool analysis demonstrated that these sequences were 100% similar to those of N. piceana isolates available in GenBank. The sequences were compared using the Mafft software package, and sequences with the same ID were concatenated using scripts. A maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was constructed using the MEGA (ver. 5.1) software package based on the concatenated sequences (ITS, tef1-α, and tub2). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that C-5 and B-3 showed 95% bootstrap support with N. piceana isolates in references (Fig. 2). According to the morphology and molecular characterization, C-5 and B-3 were identified as N. piceana. Pathogenicity tests on these two isolates were conducted using 36 healthy tea plants. The leaves were scratched slightly with sterile toothpick tips, after which pathogen cakes (6 mm diameter) were placed on the wounds with the mycelial side facing down and covered with sterile absorbent cotton to maintain a moist environment. Control leaves were wounded and covered with sterile PDA plugs (three replicates per treatment, three plants per replicate). Seven days later, the inoculated leaves exhibited similar symptoms observed under natural conditions, whereas the control leaves exhibited no symptoms. The same isolates as the introduced strains were isolated from the diseased tea leaves, completing Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of N. piceana causing gray blight on tea leaves in China. These results provide valuable information for the prevention and management of gray blight on tea leaves. References: Chauhan, J. B., et al. 2007. Indian J Biotechnol. 6: 404-406 Li, D. X., et al. 2018. J. Trop. Crops. 39:1827-1833. Maharachchikumbura, S. N., et al. 2014. Stud. Mycol. 79:121-186. Palanisamy, S., et al. 2014. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 172:216-223. Sanjay, R., et al. 2008. Crop Protect. 27(3-5): 689-694. Wang, Q. M., et al. 2021. Front. Microbiol. 12:774438. White, T. J., et al. 1990. Academic, San Diego. 315-322 Zheng, S., et al. 2021. Plant Dis. 105:3723-3726.

Evaluation of the value of conventional and unconventional lipid parameters for predicting the risk of diabetes in a non-diabetic population.

BACKGROUND: Conventional and unconventional lipid parameters are associated with diabetes risk, the comparative studies on lipid parameters for predicting future diabetes risk, however, are still extremely limited, and the value of conventional and unconventional lipid parameters in predicting future diabetes has not been evaluated. This study was designed to determine the predictive value of conventional and unconventional lipid parameters for the future development of diabetes. METHODS: The study was a longitudinal follow-up study of 15,464 participants with baseline normoglycemia. At baseline, conventional lipid parameters such as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured/calculated, and unconventional lipid parameters such as non-HDL-C, remnant cholesterol (RC), LDL/HDL-C ratio, TG/HDL-C ratio, non-HDL/HDL-C ratio, TC/HDL-C ratio and RC/HDL-C ratio were calculated. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated by Cox proportional hazard regression adjusting for demographic and diabetes-related risk factors. The predictive value and threshold fluctuation intervals of baseline conventional and unconventional lipid parameters for future diabetes were evaluated by the time-dependent receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curve. RESULTS: The incidence rate of diabetes was 3.93 per 1000 person-years during an average follow-up period of 6.13 years. In the baseline non-diabetic population, only TG and HDL-C among the conventional lipid parameters were associated with future diabetes risk, while all the unconventional lipid parameters except non-HDL-C were significantly associated with future diabetes risk. In contrast, unconventional lipid parameters reflected diabetes risk better than conventional lipid parameters, and RC/HDL-C ratio was the best lipid parameter to reflect the risk of diabetes (HR: 6.75, 95% CI 2.40-18.98). Sensitivity analysis further verified the robustness of this result. Also, time-dependent ROC curve analysis showed that RC, non-HDL/HDL-C ratio, and TC/HDL-C ratio were the best lipid parameters for predicting the risk of medium-and long-term diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: Unconventional lipid parameters generally outperform conventional lipid parameters in assessing and predicting future diabetes risk. It is suggested that unconventional lipid parameters should also be routinely evaluated in clinical practice.

LATERAL BRANCHING OXIDOREDUCTASE, one novel target gene of Squamosa Promoter Binding Protein-like 2, regulates tillering in switchgrass.

Strigolactones (SLs) play a critical role in regulating plant tiller number. LATERAL BRANCHING OXIDOREDUCTASE (LBO) encodes an important late-acting enzyme for SL biosynthesis and regulates shoot branching in Arabidopsis. However, little is known about the function of LBO in monocots including switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), a dual-purpose fodder and biofuel crop. We studied the function of PvLBO via the genetic manipulation of its expression levels in both the wild-type and miR156 overexpressing (miR156OE ) switchgrass. Co-expression analysis, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), transient dual luciferase assay, and chromatin immunoprecipitation-qPCR were all used to determine the activation of PvLBO by miR156-targeted Squamosa Promoter Binding Protein-like 2 (PvSPL2) in regulating tillering of switchgrass. PvLBOtranscripts dramatically declined in miR156OE transgenic switchgrass, and the overexpression of PvLBO in the miR156OE transgenic line produce fewer tillers than the control. Furthermore, we found that PvSPL2 can directly bind to the promoter of PvLBO and activate its transcription, suggesting that PvLBO is a novel downstream gene of PvSPL2. We propose that PvLBO functions as an SL biosynthetic gene to mediate tillering and acts as an important downstream factor in the crosstalk between the SL biosynthetic pathway and the miR156-SPL module in switchgrass.

Association of body mass index with risk of prediabetes in Chinese adults: A population-based cohort study.

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: Overweight and obesity in adults are strongly associated with an increased risk of prediabetes, and this study set out to gain a better understanding of the optimal body mass index (BMI) range for assessing the risk of prediabetes in the Chinese population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The cohort study included 100,309 Chinese adults who underwent health screening. Participants were divided into six groups based on the cut-off point for BMI recommended by the World Health Organization (underweight: <18.5 kg/m2 , normal-weight: 18.5-24.9 kg/m2 , pre-obese: 25.0-29.9 kg/m2 , obese class I: 30.0-34.9 kg/m2 , obese class II: 35.0-39.9 kg/m2 , and obese class III ≥40 kg/m2 ). The association of BMI with prediabetes and the shape of the correlation were modeled using multivariate Cox regression and restricted cubic spline regression, respectively. RESULTS: In the multivariate Cox regression model, with normal weight as the control group, underweight people had a lower risk of developing prediabetes, whereas obese and pre-obese people had a higher risk of prediabetes. Additionally, in the restricted cubic spline model, we found that the association of BMI with prediabetes follows a positive dose-response relationship, but does not conform to the pattern of obesity paradox. Among the general population in China, a BMI of 23.03 kg/m2 might be a potential intervention threshold for prediabetes. CONCLUSIONS: The national cohort study found that the association of BMI with prediabetes follows a positive dose-response relationship, rather than a pattern of obesity paradox. For Chinese people with normal weight, more attention should be paid to glucose metabolism when BMI exceeds 23.03 kg/m2 .

Tea Plants With Gray Blight Have Altered Root Exudates That Recruit a Beneficial Rhizosphere Microbiome to Prime Immunity Against Aboveground Pathogen Infection.

Tea gray blight disease and its existing control measures have had a negative impact on the sustainable development of tea gardens. However, our knowledge of safe and effective biological control measures is limited. It is critical to explore beneficial microbial communities in the tea rhizosphere for the control of tea gray blight. In this study, we prepared conditioned soil by inoculating Pseudopestalotiopsis camelliae-sinensis on tea seedling leaves. Thereafter, we examined the growth performance and disease resistance of fresh tea seedlings grown in conditioned and control soils. Next, the rhizosphere microbial community and root exudates of tea seedlings infected by the pathogen were analyzed. In addition, we also evaluated the effects of the rhizosphere microbial community and root exudates induced by pathogens on the performance of tea seedlings. The results showed that tea seedlings grown in conditioned soil had lower disease index values and higher growth vigor. Soil microbiome analysis revealed that the fungal and bacterial communities of the rhizosphere were altered upon infection with Ps. camelliae-sinensis. Genus-level analysis showed that the abundance of the fungi Trichoderma, Penicillium, and Gliocladiopsis and the bacteria Pseudomonas, Streptomyces, Bacillus, and Burkholderia were significantly (p < 0.05) increased in the conditioned soil. Through isolation, culture, and inoculation tests, we found that most isolates from the induced microbial genera could inhibit the infection of tea gray blight pathogen and promote tea seedling growth. The results of root exudate analysis showed that infected tea seedlings exhibited significantly higher exudate levels of phenolic acids and flavonoids and lower exudate levels of amino acids and organic acids. Exogenously applied phenolic acids and flavonoids suppressed gray blight disease by regulating the rhizosphere microbial community. In summary, our findings suggest that tea plants with gray blight can recruit beneficial rhizosphere microorganisms by altering their root exudates, thereby improving the disease resistance of tea plants growing in the same soil.

Overexpression of PvWOX3a in switchgrass promotes stem development and increases plant height.

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is an important perennial, noninvasive, tall ornamental grass that adds color and texture to gardens and landscapes. Moreover, switchgrass has been considered a forage and bioenergy crop because of its vigorous growth, low-input requirements, and broad geography. Here, we identified PvWOX3a from switchgrass, which encodes a WUSCHEL-related homeobox transcription factor. Transgenic overexpression of PvWOX3a in switchgrass increased stem length, internode diameter, and leaf blade length and width, all of which contributed to a 95% average increase in dry weight biomass compared with control plants. Yeast one-hybrid and transient dual-luciferase assays showed that PvWOX3a can repress the expression of gibberellin 2-oxidase and cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase through apparently direct interaction with their promoter sequences. These results suggested that overexpression of PvWOX3a could increase gibberellin and cytokinin levels in transgenic switchgrass plants, which promotes cell division, elongation, and vascular bundle development. We also overexpressed PvWOX3a in a transgenic miR156-overexpressing switchgrass line that characteristically exhibited more tillers, thinner internodes, and narrower leaf blades. Double transgenic switchgrass plants displayed significant increases in internode length and diameter, leaf blade width, and plant height but retained a tiller number comparable to that of plants expressing miR156 alone. Ultimately, the double transgenic switchgrass plants produced 174% more dry-weight biomass and 162% more solubilized sugars on average than control plants. These findings indicated that PvWOX3a is a viable potential genetic target for engineering improved shoot architecture and biomass yield of horticulture, fodder, and biofuel crops.

Triglyceride glucose-body mass index in identifying high-risk groups of pre-diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Triglyceride glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI) has been recommended as an alternative indicator of insulin resistance. However, the association between TyG-BMI and pre-diabetes remains to be elucidated. METHODS: More than 100,000 subjects with normal glucose at baseline received follow-up. The main outcome event of concern was pre-diabetes defined according to the diagnostic criteria recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in 2018 and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1999. A Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to evaluate the role of TyG-BMI in identifying people at high risk of pre-diabetes. RESULTS: At a mean observation period of 3.1 years, the incidence of pre-diabetes in the cohort was 3.70 and 12.31% according to the WHO and ADA diagnostic criteria for pre-diabetes, respectively. The multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that TyG-BMI was independently positively correlated with pre-diabetes, and there was a special population dependence phenomenon. Among them, non-obese people, women and people under 50 years old had a significantly higher risk of TyG-BMI-related pre-diabetes (P-interaction< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that a higher TyG-BMI significantly increases an individual's risk of pre-diabetes, and this risk is significantly higher in women, non-obese individuals, and individuals younger than 50 years of age.