Kcnq1 overlapping transcript 1 (kcnq1ot1), an imprinted antisense lncRNA in the kcnq1 locus, acts as a potential contributor to cardiovascular disease, but its role in atherosclerosis remains ...unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of kcnq1ot1 on atherogenesis and the underlying mechanism. Our results showed that kcnq1ot1 expression was significantly increased in mouse aorta with atherosclerosis and lipid-loaded macrophages. Lentivirus-mediated kcnq1ot1 overexpression markedly increased atherosclerotic plaque area and decreased plasma HDL-C levels and RCT efficiency in apoE
mice fed a Western diet. Upregulation of kcnq1ot1 also reduced the expression of miR-452-3p and ABCA1 but increased HDAC3 levels in mouse aorta and THP-1 macrophages. Accordingly, kcnq1ot1 overexpression inhibited cholesterol efflux and promoted lipid accumulation in THP-1 macrophages. In contrast, kcnq1ot1 knockdown protected against atherosclerosis in apoE
mice and suppressed lipid accumulation in THP-1 macrophages. Mechanistically, kcnq1ot1 enhanced HDAC3 expression by competitively binding to miR-452-3p, thereby inhibiting ABCA1 expression and subsequent cholesterol efflux. Taken together, these findings suggest that kcnq1ot1 promotes macrophage lipid accumulation and accelerates the development of atherosclerosis through the miR-452-3p/HDAC3/ABCA1 pathway.
Dysbiosis, departure of the gut microbiome from a healthy state, has been suggested to be a powerful biomarker of disease incidence and progression
. Diagnostic applications have been proposed for ...inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis and prognosis
, colorectal cancer prescreening
and therapeutic choices in melanoma
. Noninvasive sampling could facilitate large-scale public health applications, including early diagnosis and risk assessment in metabolic
and cardiovascular diseases
. To understand the generalizability of microbiota-based diagnostic models of metabolic disease, we characterized the gut microbiota of 7,009 individuals from 14 districts within 1 province in China. Among phenotypes, host location showed the strongest associations with microbiota variations. Microbiota-based metabolic disease models developed in one location failed when used elsewhere, suggesting that such models cannot be extrapolated. Interpolated models performed much better, especially in diseases with obvious microbiota-related characteristics. Interpolation efficiency decreased as geographic scale increased, indicating a need to build localized baseline and disease models to predict metabolic risks.
We propose a model-independent ansatz M=βx(x+c0)ν+c1 (x=l,nr) and then use it to fit the orbital and radial pion Regge trajectories without the preset values. It is shown that nonzero c1 is ...reasonable and acceptable. Nonzero c1 gives an explanation for the nonlinearity of the pion Regge trajectories in the usually employed (M2,x) plane. As mR or c1 is chosen appropriately, both the orbital and radial pion Regge trajectories are linear in the ((M−mR)2,x) plane whether the π0 is included or not on the Regge trajectories. The fitted pion Regge trajectories suggest 0.45≤ν≤0.5, which indicates the confining potential ra with 9/11≤a≤1. Moreover, it is illustrated in the appendix B that mR can be nonzero for the light nonstrange mesons. We present discussions in the appendix A on the structure of the Regge trajectories plotted in the (M,x) plane and on the structure of the Regge trajectories in the ((M−mR)2,x) plane based on the potential models and the string models.
•Fitting the pion Regge trajectories phenomenologically by a new ansatz M=βx(x+c0)ν+c1 (x=l,nr).•The fitted pion Regge trajectories suggest 0.45≤ν≤0.5, which indicates the confining potential ra with 9/11≤a≤1.•It is reasonable and not foreclosed that π0 is regarded as the first point on the pion Regge trajectories.•Discussing the structure of the Regge trajectories in the (M,x) plane and in the ((M−mR)2,x) plane.•Fitting the Regge trajectories for the light nonstrange mesons in the ((M−mR)2,x) plane.
Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO emerges as a potential route of utilizing emitted CO2. Metal‐N‐C hybrid structures have shown unique activities, however, the active centers and reaction ...mechanisms remain unclear because of the ambiguity in true atomic structures for the prepared catalysts. Herein, combining density‐functional theory calculations and experimental studies, the reaction mechanisms for well‐defined metal–N4 sites were explored using metal phthalocyanines as model catalysts. The theoretical calculations reveal that cobalt phthalocyanine exhibits the optimum activity for CO2 reduction to CO because of the moderate *CO binding energy at the Co site, which accommodates the *COOH formation and the *CO desorption. It is further confirmed by experimental studies, where cobalt phthalocyanine delivers the best performance, with a maximal CO Faradaic efficiency reaching 99 %, and maintains stable performance for over 60 hours.
To the “CO2RR”: Metal phthalocyanines (MePcs) with well‐defined metal–N4 structures were used as model catalysts to study the active centers and reaction mechanisms for the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). Theoretical and experimental studies identify CoPc as the optimum catalyst for the selective electrocatalytic CO2RR to deliver CO. The Co site serves as the active center for achieving a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of up to 99 % with long‐term stability.
Two newly proposed Regge trajectory relations are employed to analyze the heavy-light systems. One of the relations is
M
=
m
1
+
m
2
+
C
′
+
β
x
x
+
c
0
x
,
(
x
=
l
,
n
r
)
. Another reads
M
=
m
1
+
...C
′
+
β
x
2
(
x
+
c
0
x
)
+
4
3
π
β
x
m
2
3
/
2
(
x
+
c
0
x
)
1
/
4
.
M
is the bound state mass.
m
1
and
m
2
are the masses of the heavy constituent and the light constituent, respectively.
l
is the orbital angular momentum and
n
r
is the radial quantum number.
β
x
and
c
0
x
are fitted.
m
1
,
m
2
and
C
′
are input parameters. These two formulas consider both of the masses of heavy constituent and light constituent. We find that the heavy-light diquarks, the heavy-light mesons, the heavy-light baryons and the heavy-light tetraquarks satisfy these two formulas. When applying the first formula, the heavy-light systems satisfy the universal description irrespective of both of the masses of the light constituents and the heavy constituent. When using the second relation, the heavy-light systems satisfy the universal description irrespective of the mass of the heavy constituent. The fitted slopes differ distinctively for the heavy-light mesons, baryons and tetraquarks, respectively. When employing the first relation, the average values of
c
f
n
r
(
c
fl
) are 1.026, 0.794 and 0.553 (1.026, 0.749 and 0.579) for the heavy-light mesons, the heavy-light baryons and the heavy-light tetraquarks, respectively. Upon application of the second relation, the mean values of
c
f
n
r
(
c
fl
) are 1.108, 0.896 and 0.647 (1.114, 0.855 and 0.676) for the heavy-light mesons, the heavy-light baryons and the heavy-light tetraquarks, respectively. Moreover, the fitted results show that the Regge trajectories for the heavy-light systems are concave downwards in the
(
M
2
,
n
r
)
and
(
M
2
,
l
)
planes.
It is illustrated by the fitted Regge trajectories for a large majority of mesons that the radial and orbital Regge trajectories for mesons prefer being concave in the (nr,M2) and (l,M2) planes, ...respectively. The concavity of the meson Regge trajectories is model-independent. The concavity is expected to act as a criterion to choose a newly observed meson or to assign a particle to the unwell-established state. The concavity of the meson Regge trajectories can assist in model construction and in the choice of the appropriate model to describe mesons. The appropriate models should yield the spectra which can produce the concave Regge trajectories according to the concavity of the meson Regge trajectories. If the large majority of the meson Regge trajectories are concave while a few meson Regge trajectories are convex which neither have been confirmed nor have been completely excluded at present, many existing models should be corrected or even be reconstructed, which will lead to the further understanding of the meson dynamics.
Since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) 18 years ago, a large number of SARS-related coronaviruses (SARSr-CoVs) have been discovered in their natural reservoir host, bats
. ...Previous studies have shown that some bat SARSr-CoVs have the potential to infect humans
. Here we report the identification and characterization of a new coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which caused an epidemic of acute respiratory syndrome in humans in Wuhan, China. The epidemic, which started on 12 December 2019, had caused 2,794 laboratory-confirmed infections including 80 deaths by 26 January 2020. Full-length genome sequences were obtained from five patients at an early stage of the outbreak. The sequences are almost identical and share 79.6% sequence identity to SARS-CoV. Furthermore, we show that 2019-nCoV is 96% identical at the whole-genome level to a bat coronavirus. Pairwise protein sequence analysis of seven conserved non-structural proteins domains show that this virus belongs to the species of SARSr-CoV. In addition, 2019-nCoV virus isolated from the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of a critically ill patient could be neutralized by sera from several patients. Notably, we confirmed that 2019-nCoV uses the same cell entry receptor-angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2)-as SARS-CoV.
We investigate the structure of the meson Regge trajectories based on the quadratic form of the spinless Salpeter-type equation. It is found that the forms of the Regge trajectories depend on the ...energy region. As the employed Regge trajectory formula does not match the energy region, the fitted parameters neither have explicit physical meanings nor obey the constraints although the fitted Regge trajectory can give the satisfactory predictions if the employed formula is appropriate mathematically. Moreover, the consistency of the Regge trajectories obtained from different approaches is discussed. And the Regge trajectories for different mesons are presented. Finally, we show that the masses of the constituents will come into the slope and explain why the slopes of the fitted linear Regge trajectories vary with different kinds of mesons.
C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein 12 (CTRP12), a conserved paralog of adiponectin, is closely associated with cardiovascular disease. However, little is known about its role in atherogenesis. ...The aim of this study was to examine the influence of CTRP12 on atherosclerosis and explore the underlying mechanisms. Our results showed that lentivirus-mediated CTRP12 overexpression inhibited lipid accumulation and inflammatory response in lipid-laden macrophages. Mechanistically, CTRP12 decreased miR-155-5p levels and then increased its target gene liver X receptor α (LXRα) expression, which increased ATP binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1)- and ABCG1-dependent cholesterol efflux and promoted macrophage polarization to the M2 phenotype. Injection of lentiviral vector expressing CTRP12 decreased atherosclerotic lesion area, elevated plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, promoted reverse cholesterol transport (RCT), and alleviated inflammatory response in apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE
) mice fed a Western diet. Similar to the findings of in vitro experiments, CTRP12 overexpression diminished miR-155-5p levels but increased LXRα, ABCA1, and ABCG1 expression in the aortas of apoE
mice. Taken together, these results suggest that CTRP12 protects against atherosclerosis by enhancing RCT efficiency and mitigating vascular inflammation via the miR-155-5p/LXRα pathway. Stimulating CTRP12 production could be a novel approach for reducing atherosclerosis.
The use of CH4 and CO2 to produce value‐added chemicals via direct C−C coupling is a challenging chemistry problem because of the inertness of these two molecules. Herein, mass spectrometric ...experiments and high‐level quantum‐chemical calculations have identified the first diatomic species (CuB+) that can couple CH4 with CO2 under thermal collision conditions to produce ketene (H2C=C=O), an important intermediate in synthetic chemistry. The order to feed the reactants (CH4 and CO2) is important and CH4 should be firstly fed to produce the C2 product. Molecular‐level mechanisms including control of product selectivity have been revealed for coupling of CH4 with CO2 under mild conditions.
Reactive clusters: Direct coupling of CH4 and CO2 mediated by diatomic CuB+ to the C2 product H2C=C=O under thermal collision conditions has been identified by mass spectrometric experiments. The experimental findings are supported by and consistent with high‐level quantum‐chemical calculations.
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