USP18 Curbs the Progression of Metabolic Hypertension by Suppressing JAK/STAT Pathway.

Hypertension is a pathological state of the metabolic syndrome that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Managing hypertension is challenging, and we aimed to identify the pathogenic factors and discern therapeutic targets for metabolic hypertension (MHR). An MHR rat model was established with the combined treatment of a high-sugar, high-fat diet and ethanol. Histopathological observations were performed using hematoxylin-eosin and Sirius Red staining. Transcriptome sequencing was performed to screen differentially expressed genes. The role of ubiquitin-specific protease 18 (USP18) in the proliferation, apoptosis, and oxidative stress of HUVECs was explored using Cell Counting Kit-8, flow cytometry, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Moreover, USP18 downstream signaling pathways in MHR were screened, and the effects of USP18 on these signaling pathways were investigated by western blotting. In the MHR model, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein levels increased, while high-density lipoprotein levels decreased. Moreover, high vessel thickness and percentage of collagen were noted along with increased malondialdehyde, decreased superoxide dismutase and catalase levels. The staining results showed that the MHR model exhibited an irregular aortic intima and disordered smooth muscle cells. There were 78 differentially expressed genes in the MHR model, and seven hub genes, including USP18, were identified. USP18 overexpression facilitated proliferation and reduced apoptosis and oxidative stress in HUVECs treated with Ang in vitro. In addition, the JAK/STAT pathway was identified as a USP18 downstream signaling pathway, and USP18 overexpression inhibited the expression of JAK/STAT pathway-related proteins. Conclusively, USP18 restrained MHR progression by promoting cell proliferation, reversing apoptosis and oxidative stress, and suppressing the JAK/STAT pathway.

The impact of digital economy on rural revitalization: Evidence from Guangdong, China.

Background: Digital technology and economy have profound impact on rural revitalization and become important initiatives to promote rural development. This study analyzes the spatial effect of digital economy on rural revitalization in Guangdong, China. Method: The entropy weight method is used to evaluate the level of rural revitalization and digital economy in 20 prefecture level cities of Guangdong province during 2011-2021. Spatial panel model is used to analyze the spatial spillover effect of digital economy on rural revitalization. Threshold model is employed to analyze the marginal effects of the digital economy on rural revitalization. Heterogeneous analysis is made by grouping the prefecture-level cities into four regions: the Pearl River Delta (PRD), the East Wing, the West Wing and the Mountainous region. Results: Both the level of rural revitalization and digital economy development in every prefecture-level city experienced an increase during 2011-2021 and the PRD region take the lead in both the rural revitalization and digital economy. There is significant spatial spillover effect of digital economy on the rural revitalization as a whole (the coefficient is about 0.3537). However, in the regions with a low level of digital economic development, there is a negative impact (-0.1847) of the digital economy on rural revitalization; while in regions with medium or high level of digital economy, it has a significant positive effect (0.3835) on rural revitalization. The impact of digital economy on rural revitalization development is significantly greater in the PRD (0.3141), the East Wing (0.7215), the West Wing (0.5467) than in the mountainous region (0.2238). Conclusions: There is significant spatial differentiation in the digital economy and rural revitalization. The digital economy has significant spatial spillover effect on the rural revitalization. And this effect is found out to have heterogeneous and non-linear characteristics. In order to promote rural revitalization, it is necessary to make full use of the digital economy and technology in rural areas. Besides, it is important to improve the digital skills and literary of the rural population so that the digital economy could play a greater role in rural revitalization.

Compensating three-dimensional field inhomogeneity in cold atom Efimov-state search by a time-averaged optical potential.

The Efimov effect and its universal property are of paramount importance in quantum few-body physics. Despite this, the predicted ground state Efimov resonance has not yet been observed in 39,40,41K-87Rb mixtures within the currently available observation window. Cooling atoms in the microgravity environment of outer space might overcome this limitation, whereas the residual curvature of the strong magnetic fields may result in significant atom leakage. In this work, we propose an optical method based on far-detuned time-averaged dipole potential to counteract the three-dimensional inhomogeneous field. The target intensity distribution can be conveniently obtained by modulating the central position of the quasi-1D print beam using acoustic optical modulators. Within a volume of 300 × 300 × 400 µm3, the residual potential fluctuations can be reduced by two orders of magnitude to less than 100 pK. The proposed approach offers a realistic prospect of investigating the Efimov-type resonance in the 40K-87Rb Bose-Fermi mixture.

The effect of gum consumption on anthropometric characteristics and cardiac disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE: No systematic review and (or) meta-analysis has been conducted so far to study the effect of gum consumption on anthropometric indices and blood pressure. Thus, our objective was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the randomized controlled trials investigating the effect of gum consumption on anthropometric indices and cardiac disorders. METHODS: The literature search was implemented in the Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed/Medline and Google Scholar databases to discover trials that investigated the impact of gum on obesity indices and cardiac disorders up to April 2019. In order to calculate effect sizes, the random-effects model (using the DerSimonian-Laird method) was applied. RESULTS: Finally, 21 articles were included in this meta-analysis. Combined results indicated that body weight (WMD: -0.60 kg, 95 % CI: -1.13, -0.07, P = 0.026, I2 = 89 %), and WC (WMD: -1.36 cm, 95 % CI: -2.50, -0.22, P = 0.019, I2 = 96 %) changed significantly following gum consumption. Subgroup analyses showed that a gum dosage ≤15 g/day (WMD: -1.23 kg/m2, 95 % CI: -2.03 to -0.43, I2 = 99 %) significantly decreased BMI. Moreover, gum consumption had significant effects on cardiac disorders. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, gum supplementation may be an adjuvant for controlling obesity and can possess potential benefits in the management of cardiac disorders.

Deactivation of isoamylase and ß-amylase in the agitated reactor under supercritical carbon dioxide.

The current research examines the impact of agitation on deactivation of isoamylase and ß-amylase under supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). Our experimental results showed that the activity of either enzyme decreased with increasing pressure or speed of agitation. The degree of enzymatic deactivation caused by pressure became more prominent in the presence of agitation, suggesting that the agitation plays an important role in enzymatic deactivation in SC-CO2 environment. Moreover, the enzymatic deactivation behavior associated with agitation and pressure was further quantitatively analyzed using a proposed inactivation kinetic model. Our analysis indicated that isoamylase and ß-amylase exhibited significantly different relationships between the inverse of percentage residual activity and the product of number of revolution per time and time elapsed under pressurized carbon dioxide. We believe that the outcome from this work may provide a better understanding of the effects of agitation and pressure in enzyme deactivation behavior under SC-CO2.