Objective. To examine the distribution of traditional and novel risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with PsA compared with healthy controls. Methods. We compared risk factors for ...CVD between 102 consecutive PsA patients and 82 controls, adjusting for BMI. We also assessed the role of inflammation on the CVD risk factor by using a BMI and high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP)-adjusted model. Results. The BMI of PsA patients were significantly higher than healthy controls. After adjusting for the BMI, PsA patients still have a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) odds ratio (OR) 9.27, 95% CI 2.09, 41.09) and hypertension (OR 3.37, 95% CI 1.68, 6.72), but a lower prevalence of low high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (OR 0.16, 95% CI 0.07, 0.41). PsA patients have significantly increased systolic and diastolic blood pressures, insulin resistance and inflammatory markers (hsCRP and white cell count) compared to controls. PsA patients have higher HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein (Apo) A1 levels; and lower total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels; and a lower TC/HDL ratio. However, the Apo B level (P < 0.05), and the Apo B/Apo A1 ratio (P = 0.07) were higher in PsA patients. Further adjustment for hsCRP level rendered the differences in the prevalence of hypertension and DM; the TC, and sugar levels; and white cell count non-significant between the two groups; while the differences in other parameters remained significant. Conclusion. These data support the hypothesis that PsA may be associated with obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and insulin resistance because of the shared inflammatory pathway.
Flexoelectricity refers to electric polarization generated by heterogeneous mechanical strains, namely strain gradients, in materials of arbitrary crystal symmetries. Despite more than 50 years of ...work on this effect, an accurate identification of its coupling strength remains an experimental challenge for most materials, which impedes its wide recognition. Here, we show the presence of flexoelectricity in the recently discovered polar vortices in PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices based on a combination of machine-learning analysis of the atomic-scale electron microscopy imaging data and phenomenological phase-field modeling. By scrutinizing the influence of flexocoupling on the global vortex structure, we match theory and experiment using computer vision methodologies to determine the flexoelectric coefficients for PbTiO3 and SrTiO3. Our findings highlight the inherent, nontrivial role of flexoelectricity in the generation of emergent complex polarization morphologies and demonstrate a viable approach to delineating this effect, conducive to the deeper exploration of both topics.
Many breakthroughs in the laboratories often do not bridge the gap between research and commercialization. However, silicon photonics bucked the trend, with industry observers estimating the ...commercial market to close in on a billion dollars in 2020 <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref45">45 . Silicon photonics leverages the billions of dollars and decades of research poured into silicon semiconductor device processing to enable high yield, robust processing, and most of all, low cost. Silicon is also a good optical material, with transparency in the commercially important infrared wavelength bands, and is a suitable platform for large-scale photonic integrated circuits. Silicon photonics is therefore slated to address the world's ever-increasing needs for bandwidth. It is part of an emerging ecosystem which includes designers, foundries, and integrators. In this paper, we review most of the foundries that presently enable silicon photonics integrated circuits fabrication. Some of these are pilot lines of major research institutes, and others are fully commercial pure-play foundries. Since silicon photonics has been commercially active for some years, foundries have released process design kits (PDK) that contain a standard device library. These libraries represent optimized and well-tested photonic elements, whose performance reflects the stability and maturity of the integration platforms. We will document the early works in silicon photonics, as well as its commercial status. We will provide a comprehensive review of the development of silicon photonics and the foundry services which enable the productization, including various efforts to develop and release PDK devices. In this context, we will report the long-standing efforts and contributions that previously IME/A * STAR and now AMF has dedicated to accelerating this journey.
Nano-grained (NG) metals are believed to be strong but intrinsically brittle: Free-standing NG metals usually exhibit a tensile uniform elongation of a few percent. When a NG copper film is confined ...by a coarse-grained (CG) copper substrate with a gradient grain-size transition, tensile plasticity can be achieved in the NG film where strain localization is suppressed. The gradient NG film exhibits a 10 times higher yield strength and a tensile plasticity comparable to that of the CG substrate and can sustain a tensile true strain exceeding 100% without cracking. A mechanically driven grain boundary migration process with a substantial concomitant grain growth dominates plastic deformation of the gradient NG structure. The extraordinary intrinsic plasticity of gradient NG structures offers their potential for use as advanced coatings of bulk materials.
PRDM1/BLIMP-1, a master regulator of plasma-cell differentiation, is frequently inactivated in activated B-cell-like (ABC) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients. Little is known about its ...genetic aberrations and relevant clinical implications. A large series of patients with de novo DLBCL was effectively evaluated for PRDM1/BLIMP-1 deletion, mutation, and protein expression. BLIMP-1 expression was frequently associated with the ABC phenotype and plasmablastic morphologic subtype of DLBCL, yet 63% of the ABC-DLBCL patients were negative for BLIMP-1 protein expression. In these patients, loss of BLIMP-1 was associated with Myc overexpression and decreased expression of p53 pathway molecules. In addition, homozygous PRDM1 deletions and PRDM1 mutations within exons 1 and 2, which encode for domains crucial for transcriptional repression, were found to show a poor prognostic impact in patients with ABC-DLBCL but not in those with germinal center B-cell-like DLBCL (GCB-DLBCL). Gene expression profiling revealed that loss of PRDM1/BLIMP-1 expression correlated with a decreased plasma-cell differentiation signature and upregulation of genes involved in B-cell receptor signaling and tumor-cell proliferation. In conclusion, these results provide novel clinical and biological insight into the tumor-suppressive role of PRDM1/BLIMP-1 in ABC-DLBCL patients and suggest that loss of PRDM1/BLIMP-1 function contributes to the overall poor prognosis of ABC-DLBCL patients.
HIAF (High Intensity heavy ion Accelerator Facility), a new facility planned in China for heavy ion related researches, consists of two ion sources, a high intensity Heavy Ion Superconducting Linac ...(HISCL), a 45 Tm Accumulation and Booster Ring (ABR-45) and a multifunction storage ring system. The key features of HIAF are unprecedented high pulse beam intensity and versatile operation mode. The HIAF project aims to expand nuclear and related researches into presently unreachable region and give scientists possibilities to conduct cutting-edge researches in these fields. The general description of the facility is given in this article with a focus on the accelerator design.
Objectives
This study aimed to determine the changing prevalence of five chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs)- hypertension, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary ...disease (COPD), and asthma— and its multimorbidity (refers to the co-existence of two or more chronic diseases in an individual) across socioeconomic spectra in rural southwest China.
Measurements
Two cross-sectional health interviews and examination surveys were conducted among individuals aged ≥35 years in rural China. An individual socioeconomic position (SEP) index was constructed using principal component analysis. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, and post-bronchodilator spirometry tests were recorded for each participant.
Results
The mean age and proportion of men was 56.1 years and 48.4% in 2011, while was 56.6 years and 49.4% in 2021. From 2011 to 2021, the overall prevalence of hypertension, stroke and COPD increased from 26.1%, 1.1%, and 8.7% to 40.4%, 2.4%, and 12.8%, respectively (P < 0.01), while prevalence of CHD (2.1% vs. 2.2%) and asthma (1.4% vs. 1.5%) did not differ between the two study years (P > 0.05). The prevalence of NCDs multimorbidity increased from 2.3% to 9.7%, and was also observed among subgroups categorized by sex, age, ethnicity, level of education, income, and SEP (P < 0.01). In addition, the relative increases in the prevalence of multimorbidity were greater among men, old individuals, ethnic minorities, and those with low level of education and low SEP. Both in 2011 and 2021, ethnic minorities and individuals with lower level of education and low SEP had a higher prevalence of multimorbidity of the five studied chronic NCDs than their counterparts (P <0.01).
Conclusions
The prevalence of NCDs multimorbidity increased substantially across all socioeconomic gradients in rural southwest China. Future interventions to further manage NCDs and their multimorbidity must be tailored to address socioeconomic factors.
The c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway represents one subgroup of MAP kinases that are activated primarily by cytokines and exposure to environmental stress. Autophagy is a protein-degradation ...system characterized by the formation of double-membrane vacuoles termed autophagosomes. Autophagy-related gene beclin 1 plays a key role in autophagosome formation. However, the relationships between activation of JNK pathway, autophagy induction and Beclin 1 expression remain elusive. In this study, we used human cancer cell lines CNE2 and Hep3B to investigate the role of JNK-mediated Beclin 1 expression in ceramide-induced autophagic cell death. Ceramide-treated cells exhibited the characteristics of autophagy (that is, acidic vesicular organelle formation and the LC3-II generation). JNK was activated in these two cell lines exposed to ceramide and the phosphorylation of c-Jun also increased. In the meantime, we found that ceramide upregulated Beclin 1 expression in cancer cells. The upregulation of Beclin 1 expression could be blocked by SP600125 (a specific inhibitor of JNK) or a small interfering RNA (siRNA) directed against JNK1/2 or c-Jun. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter analysis revealed that c-Jun was involved in the regulation of beclin 1 transcription in response to ceramide treatment. In addition, inhibition of JNK activity by SP600125 could inhibit autophagy induction by ceramide. Furthermore, Beclin 1 knockdown by siRNA also inhibited ceramide-mediated autophagic cell death. JNK-mediated Beclin 1 expression was also observed in topotecan-induced autophagy. These data suggest that activation of JNK pathway can mediate Beclin 1 expression, which plays a key role in autophagic cell death in cancer cells.
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