Mg-9Al-1Zn (AZ91) cast ingots annealed at 420 deg C for 2 and 24h were hot extruded at 270 deg C, respectively. Microstructural observation showed that dynamic recrystallization (DRX) occurred in ...both cases resulting in fine equiaxed grains. It was revealed that the bar fabricated by extruding short-time annealed ingot had a much smaller average grain size (about 4mum) than that extruded with a long-time annealed ingot (about 30mum). It was found that in the former situation, large amounts of small spherical beta (Mg17Al12) particles (about 0.3-0.8mum) were broken directly from the unresolved beta phases during the hot extrusion process, most of them finally distributing along the recrystallized grain boundaries. Tensile tests showed that the bars extruded from ingot with short annealing time had superior mechanical properties because of the refined microstructure and the small beta particles.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is one of the most common types of chronic neuropathic pain, which seriously affects quality of the life because of pain severity and poor response to the currently ...available treatments. The main strategies for PHN management are medication and invasive interventional therapies; however, these approaches have many adverse effects, so it is important to find another effective and safe treatment for PHN.
A single-center, single-blind randomized clinical trial will evaluate 98 study participants randomized in a 1:1 ratio into control and experimental groups. The control group will receive conventional treatment including medication therapy and invasive interventional therapy. The experimental group will receive extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) in addition to conventional therapy. The primary outcome is pain intensity assessed on a visual analogue scale (VAS); the secondary outcomes are the following: quality of life assessed by the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), psychological state for anxiety and depression measured by the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and sleep quality measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Assessors blinded to the randomization will collect data during the intervention period at baseline and weeks 1, 4, and 12. The plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 will be assessed before and after ESWT to explore the biochemical mechanisms of ESWT in the treatment of PHN.
This randomized controlled trial will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of ESWT in patients with PHN and thus will provide clinical evidence for its use in the management of PHN and explore the potential biochemical mechanisms of this treatment.
www.ChiCTR.org.cn , identifier: ChiCTR1900025828. Registered on 10 September 2019.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Risk prediction models for atrial fibrillation (AF) do not give information about when AF might develop. Restricted mean survival time (RMST) quantifies risk into the time domain. Our objective was ...to use RMST to re-express individualized AF risk predictions.
We included AF-free participants from the Framingham Heart Study community-based cohorts. We predicted new-onset AF over 10-year follow-up according to baseline covariates: age, height, weight, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, current smoking, antihypertensive treatment, diabetes mellitus, prevalent heart failure, and prevalent myocardial infarction. First, we fitted a Cox regression model and estimated the 10-year predicted risk of AF. Second, we fitted an RMST model and estimated the predicted mean time free of AF and alive over a time horizon of 10 years. We included 7586 AF-free participants contributing to 11 088 examinations (mean age 61±11 years, 44% were men). During 10-year follow-up, 822 participants developed AF. The Cox and RMST models were in agreement regarding the direction, strength, and statistical significance of associations for all covariates. Low (<5%), intermediate (5%-15%), and high (>15%) 10-year predicted risk of AF corresponded to predicted mean time alive and free of AF of 9.9, 9.6, and 8.8 years, respectively. A 60-year-old woman with a body mass index of 25 kg/m
, no use of hypertension treatment and no history of heart failure had a predicted mean time alive and free of AF of 9.9 years, whereas a 70-year-old man with a body mass index of 30 kg/m
, use of hypertension treatment, and with prevalent heart failure had a predicted mean time alive and free of AF of 7.9 years.
The RMST can be used to develop risk prediction models to express results in a time scale. RMST may offer a complementary risk communication tool for AF in clinical practice.
Dietary intake among other lifestyle factors influence blood pressure. We examined the associations of an "a priori" diet score with incident high normal blood pressure (HNBP; systolic blood pressure ...(SBP) 120-139 mmHg, or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) 80-89 mmHg and no antihypertensive medications) and hypertension (SBP ≥ 140 mmHg, DBP ≥ 90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication). We used proportional hazards regression to evaluate this score in quintiles (Q) and each food group making up the score relative to incident HNBP or hypertension over nine years in the Atherosclerosis Risk of Communities (ARIC) study of 9913 African-American and Caucasian adults aged 45-64 years and free of HNBP or hypertension at baseline. Incidence of HNBP varied from 42.5% in white women to 44.1% in black women; and incident hypertension from 26.1% in white women to 40.8% in black women. Adjusting for demographics and CVD risk factors, the "a priori" food score was inversely associated with incident hypertension; but not HNBP. Compared to Q1, the relative hazards of hypertension for the food score Q2-Q5 were 0.97 (0.87-1.09), 0.91 (0.81-1.02), 0.91 (0.80-1.03), and 0.86 (0.75-0.98); p(trend) = 0.01. This inverse relation was largely attributable to greater intake of dairy products and nuts, and less meat. These findings support the 2010 Dietary Guidelines to consume more dairy products and nuts, but suggest a reduction in meat intake.
Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is a primary calcium regulatory hormone. Elevated serum PTH concentrations in primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism have been associated with bone disease, hypertension, ...and in some studies, cardiovascular mortality. Genetic causes of variation in circulating PTH concentrations are incompletely understood. We performed a genome-wide association study of serum PTH concentrations among 29,155 participants of European ancestry from 13 cohort studies (
=22,653 and
=6502 in discovery and replication analyses, respectively). We evaluated the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with natural log-transformed PTH concentration adjusted for age, sex, season, study site, and principal components of ancestry. We discovered associations of SNPs from five independent regions with serum PTH concentration, including the strongest association with rs6127099 upstream of
(
=4.2 × 10
), a gene that encodes the primary catabolic enzyme for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and 25-dihydroxyvitamin D. Each additional copy of the minor allele at this SNP associated with 7% higher serum PTH concentration. The other SNPs associated with serum PTH concentration included rs4074995 within
(
=6.6 × 10
), rs219779 adjacent to
(
=3.5 × 10
), rs4443100 near
(
=8.7 × 10
), and rs73186030 near
(
=4.8 × 10
). Of these five SNPs, rs6127099, rs4074995, and rs219779 replicated. Thus, common genetic variants located near genes involved in vitamin D metabolism and calcium and renal phosphate transport associated with differences in circulating PTH concentrations. Future studies could identify the causal variants at these loci, and the clinical and functional relevance of these variants should be pursued.
This study aims to assess the prevalence of the
gene among carbapenem-resistant
(CRE) isolated from clinical specimens and to further investigate the clinical significance and microbiological ...characteristics of CRE carrying the
gene.
Four hundred and twenty-three CRE isolates were screened for the presence of the
gene. After identification, their clinical significance, antibiotic susceptibility, and antibiotic resistance mechanisms including the ESBL gene, carbapenemase gene, outer membrane protein (OMP), and plasmid sequencing were assessed.
Only four (0.9%) isolates of carbapenem-resistant
were found to carry the
gene and demonstrated different pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns and sequence types (ST). While one patient was considered as having
-positive carbapenem-resistant
(CREC) colonization, the other three
-positive CREC-related infections were classified as nosocomial infections. Only amikacin and tigecycline showed good in vitro activity against these four isolates, and three of them had a minimum inhibitory concentration with colistin of ≥4 mg/L. In the colistin-susceptible isolate,
was nonfunctional due to the insertion of another gene. In addition, all of the mcr-1-positive CREC contained various resistant genes, such as
,
,
,
, and
. In addition, one strain (EC1037) had loss of the OMP.
The emergence of the
gene among CRE, especially
, remains worth our attention due to its resistance to most antibiotics, and a further national survey is warranted.
The clinical utility of polygenic risk scores (PRS) for coronary artery disease (CAD) has not yet been established.
To investigate the ability of a CAD PRS to potentially guide statin initiation in ...primary prevention after accounting for age and clinical risk.
This was a longitudinal cohort study with enrollment starting on January 1, 2006, and ending on December 31, 2010, with data updated to mid-2021, using data from the UK Biobank, a long-term population study of UK citizens. A replication analysis was performed in Biobank Japan. The analysis included all patients without a history of CAD and who were not taking lipid-lowering therapy. Data were analyzed from January 1 to June 30, 2022.
Polygenic risk for CAD was defined as low (bottom 20%), intermediate, and high (top 20%) using a CAD PRS including 241 genome-wide significant single-nucleotide variations (SNVs). The pooled cohort equations were used to estimate 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk and classify individuals as low (<5%), borderline (5-<7.5%), intermediate (7.5-<20%), or high risk (≥20%).
Myocardial infarction (MI) and ASCVD events (defined as incident clinical CAD including MI, stroke, or CV death).
A total of 330 201 patients (median IQR age, 57 40-74 years; 189 107 female individuals 57%) were included from the UK Biobank. Over the 10-year follow-up, 4454 individuals had an MI. The CAD PRS was significantly associated with the risk of MI in all age groups but had significantly stronger risk prediction at younger ages (age <50 years: hazard ratio HR per 1 SD of PRS, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.56-1.89; age 50-60 years: HR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.38-1.53; age >60 years: HR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.37-1.48; P for interaction <.001). In patients younger than 50 years, those with high PRS had a 3- to 4-fold increased associated risk of MI compared with those in the low PRS category. A significant interaction between CAD PRS and age was replicated in Biobank Japan. When CAD PRS testing was added to the clinical ASCVD risk score in individuals younger than 50 years, 591 of 4373 patients (20%) with borderline risk were risk stratified into intermediate risk, warranting initiation of statin therapy and 3198 of 7477 patients (20%) with both borderline or intermediate risk were stratified as low risk, thus not warranting therapy.
Results of this cohort study suggest that the predictive ability of a CAD PRS was greater in younger individuals and can be used to better identify patients with borderline and intermediate clinical risk who should initiate statin therapy.
Data from epidemiological studies and clinical trials suggest an influence of dietary and circulating polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on the hemostasis profile. Genome-wide association studies ...(GWAS) have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to plasma PUFAs levels. We aimed to investigate whether the SNPs related to plasma PUFAs levels were also associated with plasma levels of hemostatic variables.
We tested the associations between 9 PUFA-related SNPs and 6 hemostatic variables in 9035 European Americans (EAs) and 2702 African Americans (AAs) in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. We then conducted a replication study by looking-up our novel observed associations in three published GWAS for hemostatic factors in different EA populations.
We observed a novel linoleic acid-related locus at the JMJD1C region associated with factor VII activity (FVIIc): rs10740118 and rs1935, Beta (p) = −1.31 (1 × 10−3) and 1.37 (5 × 10−4) in EAs, respectively, and − 1.24 (5 × 10−4) and 1.28 (3 × 10−4) in meta-analysis of EAs and AAs of ARIC. This novel association was replicated in two of three independent EA populations (p = 0.01 and 0.03 in meta-analyses). We confirmed previously reported associations at the docosapentaenoic acid-related GCKR locus with protein C and FVIIc and at JMJD1C with fibrinogen. Adjustment for plasma PUFAs did not abolish the associations between these loci and hemostatic variables.
Our study identified a novel association for FVIIc at JMJD1C, a histone demethylase that plays a role in DNA repair and possibly transcription regulation and RNA processing.
•We identified a novel genetic association for factor VII activity at JMJD1C•This association was replicated in independent populations•We also replicated the association of JMJD1C gene with fibrinogen•The JMJD1C gene has been reported to show pleiotropic effects on other phenotypes
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•Parabens were extracted from foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals by two methods.•VA-DLLME-SFO reduced the consumption of toxic solvents and extraction times.•SA-CPE allowed facile recovery of the ...extraction phase through salt addition.•Both methods were coupled with capillary LC-UV to decrease waste generation.•This method exhibited good linearity, precision, and accuracy.
Parabens are common preservatives and environmental hormones. As such, possible detrimental health effects could be amplified through their widespread use in foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products. Thus, the determination of parabens in such products is of particular importance. This study explored vortex-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction techniques based on the solidification of a floating organic drop (VA-DLLME-SFO) and salt-assisted cloud point extraction (SA-CPE) for paraben extraction. Microanalysis was performed using a capillary liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection system. These techniques were modified successfully to determine four parabens in 19 commercial products. The regression equations of these parabens exhibited good linearity (r2=0.998, 0.1–10μg/mL), good precision (RSD<5%) and accuracy (RE<5%), reduced reagent consumption and reaction times (<6min), and excellent sample versatility. VA-DLLME-SFO was also particularly convenient due to the use of a solidified extract. Thus, the VA-DLLME-SFO technique was better suited to the extraction of parabens from complex matrices.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Background/Purpose Several studies have indicated an inverse association between the incidence of diabetes mellitus and magnesium and dietary fiber intake. Few studies have examined both of these ...associations together, not to mention in Asian populations with prospective study design. We therefore aimed to study how dietary magnesium and fiber intake levels affect diabetes incidence separately or in combination, in a prospective study in Taiwan. Methods The study subjects were recruited for a longitudinal study, CardioVascular Disease risk FACtor Two-township Study cycle 2 from November 1990. Data from complete baseline information on dietary and biochemical profile and at least one additional follow-up visit were gathered on a total of 1604 healthy subjects aged 30 years and over. Cox proportional hazard model was used to study the association between diabetes incidence and dietary magnesium and fiber intake level estimated from a food frequency questionnaire. Results A total of 141 diabetes mellitus events were identified and confirmed during the 4.6 years of follow-up (7365.1 person-years). A significantly higher diabetes risk was observed for people in the lowest quintile of total dietary fiber intake (hazard ratio = 2.04; 95% CI = 1.17–3.53) and magnesium intake (hazard ratio = 2.61; 95% CI = 1.42–4.79) compared with the highest quintile after adjusting for traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors. Similar inverse associations for total dietary fiber were also shown for vegetable fiber and fruit fiber. Conclusion Lower magnesium, lower total dietary fiber intake, or lower intake of both was associated with higher risk of diabetes in the Taiwanese population. Clinical trials are required to confirm the protective effects of the adequate intake of fiber, magnesium, and/or their combination.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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