Lumbar-disc degeneration (LDD) is a polygenic disease. Susceptibility genes reported so far are mainly extracellular matrix proteins. D14 allele of asporin (
ASPN) is associated with osteoarthritis ...(OA). Candidate-gene association studies showed that the D14 allele is also significantly associated with LDD in Chinese and Japanese individuals. Meta-analysis showed that individuals harboring a D14 allele had higher risk with a summary odds ratio of 1.70 (p = 0.000013).
ASPN expression in vertebral discs increased with age and degeneration. Our results indicate
ASPN is a LDD gene in Asians, and common risk factors may be considered for OA and LDD.
Aims To assess the diagnostic accuracy of 256-row computed tomographic angiography (CTA) in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). Non-invasive imaging of the coronary artery by CTA ...has increasingly been used in recent years. The accuracy of 256-row CTA has not yet been studied. We sought to assess the accuracy of 256-row CTA compared with invasive coronary angiography (ICA) in the diagnosis and assessment of CAD. Methods and results We prospectively evaluated 104 consecutive individuals who accepted CTA and then underwent ICA. The presence of stenosis ≥50% was considered obstructive. The diagnostic accuracy of CTA for detecting obstructive stenosis was compared with that of ICA. The area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CTA relative to ICA. A total of 86 patients had obstructive CAD. The patient-based analysis of CTA for detecting stenosis ≥50% according to ICA revealed an AUC of 0.744 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.572–0.916, with a sensitivity of 98.8%, a specificity of 50%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 92.4%, and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 87.5%. The segment-based analysis revealed an AUC of 0.915 (95% CI, 0.847–0.982), with a sensitivity of 93.5%, a specificity of 95%, a PPV of 77.6%, and an NPV of 98.7%. The vessel-based analysis revealed an AUC of 0.887 (95% CI, 0.808–0.966), with a sensitivity of 94.3%, a specificity of 87.3%, a PPV of 82.7%, and an NPV of 95.9%. Conclusion 256-Row CTA is a highly sensitive test of CAD and has a high predictive value. 256-Row CTA may be a potential alternative to detect coronary artery stenosis and rule out CAD in suspected patients.
Background Data comparing outcomes in heart failure (HF) across Asia are limited. We examined regional variation in mortality among patients with HF enrolled in the ASIAN-HF (Asian Sudden Cardiac ...Death in Heart Failure) registry with separate analyses for those with reduced ejection fraction (EF; <40%) versus preserved EF (≥50%). Methods and Results The ASIAN-HF registry is a prospective longitudinal study. Participants with symptomatic HF were recruited from 46 secondary care centers in 3 Asian regions: South Asia (India), Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore), and Northeast Asia (South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China). Overall, 6480 patients aged >18 years with symptomatic HF were recruited (mean age: 61.6±13.3 years; 27% women; 81% with HF and reduced rEF). The primary outcome was 1-year all-cause mortality. Striking regional variations in baseline characteristics and outcomes were observed. Regardless of HF type, Southeast Asians had the highest burden of comorbidities, particularly diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease, despite being younger than Northeast Asian participants. One-year, crude, all-cause mortality for the whole population was 9.6%, higher in patients with HF and reduced EF (10.6%) than in those with HF and preserved EF (5.4%). One-year, all-cause mortality was significantly higher in Southeast Asian patients (13.0%), compared with South Asian (7.5%) and Northeast Asian patients (7.4%;
<0.001). Well-known predictors of death accounted for only 44.2% of the variation in risk of mortality. Conclusions This first multinational prospective study shows that the outcomes in Asian patients with both HF and reduced or preserved EF are poor overall and worst in Southeast Asian patients. Region-specific risk factors and gaps in guideline-directed therapy should be addressed to potentially improve outcomes. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT01633398.
LAMP ends up in purple/red: The incorporation of 11‐mercaptoundecanoic acid‐modified gold nanoparticles into loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) reaction enables as few as 200 copies of a ...target DNA sequence to be detected by the naked eye. The color is controlled by magnesium ion‐templated aggregation, and in the presence of the target, the LAMP reaction by‐product pyrophosphate ion leads to particle deaggregation.
Aim
To examine the prevalence and prognosis of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis in post‐acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients.
Methods
Patients presenting with AMI to a tertiary hospital were ...examined from 2014 to 2021. Hepatic steatosis and advanced hepatic fibrosis were determined using the Hepatic Steatosis Index and fibrosis‐4 index, respectively. The primary outcome was all‐cause mortality. Cox regression models identified determinants of mortality after adjustments and Kaplan–Meier curves were constructed for all‐cause mortality, stratified by hepatic steatosis and advanced fibrosis.
Results
Of 5765 patients included, 24.8% had hepatic steatosis, of whom 41.7% were diagnosed with advanced fibrosis. The median follow‐up duration was 2.7 years. Patients with hepatic steatosis tended to be younger, female, with elevated body mass index and an increased metabolic burden of diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia. Patients with hepatic steatosis (24.6% vs. 20.9% mortality, P < .001) and advanced fibrosis (45.6% vs. 32.9% mortality, P < .001) had higher all‐cause mortality rates compared with their respective counterparts. Hepatic steatosis (adjusted hazard ratio 1.364, 95% CI 1.145‐1.625, P = .001) was associated with all‐cause mortality after adjustment for confounders. Survival curves showed excess mortality in patients with hepatic steatosis compared with those without (P = .002).
Conclusions
Hepatic steatosis and advanced fibrosis have a substantial prevalence among patients with AMI. Both are associated with mortality, with an incrementally higher risk when advanced fibrosis ensues. Hepatic steatosis and fibrosis could help risk stratification of AMI patients beyond conventional risk factors.
The problem of ascertaining the dynamical stability and the existence of Landau damping in static, isotropic 'collisionless' star clusters is addressed. The second-order formalism of Kandrup and ...Sygnet (1985) is applied to a homogeneous and isotropic plasma, demonstrating formally that the unperturbed configuration will always be stable and that the modes must be purely oscillatory. The form of these modes is explicitly examined, culminating in an analytic expression for the time evolution of the density induced by an initial perturbation. It is shown how these considerations can be adapted trivially to localized, nonradial disturbances of a self-gravitating system of stars. The possible existence of gravitational Landau damping for more generic perturbations is discussed.
Gold nanoparticles have proven to be promising for decentralized nucleic acid testing by virtue of their simple visual readout and absorbance-based quantification. A major challenge toward their ...practical application is to achieve ultrasensitive detection without compromising simplicity. The conventional strategy of thermocycling amplification is unfavorable (because of both instrumentation and preparation of thermostable oligonucleotide-modified gold nanoparticle probes). Herein, on the basis of a previously unreported co-precipitation phenomenon between thiolated poly(ethylene glycol)/11-mercaptoundecanoic acid co-modified gold nanoparticles and magnesium pyrophosphate crystals (an isothermal DNA amplification reaction byproduct), a new ultrasensitive and simple DNA assay platform is developed. The binding mechanism underlying the co-precipitation phenomenon is found to be caused by the complexation of carboxyl and pyrophosphate with free magnesium ions. Remarkably, poly(ethylene glycol) does not hinder the binding and effectively stabilizes gold nanoparticles against magnesium ion-induced aggregation (without pyrophosphate). In fact, a similar phenomenon is observed in other poly(ethylene glycol)- and carboxyl-containing nanomaterials. When the gold nanoparticle probe is incorporated into a loop-mediated isothermal amplification reaction, it remains as a red dispersion for a negative sample (in the absence of a target DNA sequence) but appears as a red precipitate for a positive sample (in the presence of a target). This results in a first-of-its-kind gold nanoparticle-based DNA assay platform with isothermal amplification and real-time monitoring capabilities.
Myopia is the most common human eye disorder and it results from complex genetic and environmental causes. The rapidly increasing prevalence of myopia poses a major public health challenge. Here, the ...CREAM consortium performs a joint meta-analysis to test single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) main effects and SNP × education interaction effects on refractive error in 40,036 adults from 25 studies of European ancestry and 10,315 adults from 9 studies of Asian ancestry. In European ancestry individuals, we identify six novel loci (FAM150B-ACP1, LINC00340, FBN1, DIS3L-MAP2K1, ARID2-SNAT1 and SLC14A2) associated with refractive error. In Asian populations, three genome-wide significant loci AREG, GABRR1 and PDE10A also exhibit strong interactions with education (P<8.5 × 10(-5)), whereas the interactions are less evident in Europeans. The discovery of these loci represents an important advance in understanding how gene and environment interactions contribute to the heterogeneity of myopia.
BACKGROUNDSome observational studies and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have reported an association between calcium supplementation and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Previous ...meta-analyses on the topic, based on data from RCTs and observational studies, have contradictory findings. This meta-analysis was conducted to determine the difference in associated risks of calcium supplementation with cardiovascular disease and stroke in RCTs.METHODSRelevant studies published from database inception to 6 August 2021 were sourced from PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Any RCTs focusing on the relationship between calcium supplementation and incidence of cardiovascular disease or stroke were included. Articles were screened independently by two authors, according to the PICO criteria, with disagreements resolved by a third author.RESULTSTwelve RCTs were included in the meta-analysis. Calcium supplementation was not associated with myocardial infarction, total stroke, heart failure admission, and all-cause/cardiovascular mortality. Subgroup analysis focusing on calcium monotherapy/calcium co-therapy with vitamin D, female sex, follow-up duration, and geographical region did not affect the findings.CONCLUSIONCalcium supplementation was not associated with myocardial infarction, total stroke, heart failure admission, and cardiovascular/all-cause mortality. Further studies are required to examine and understand these associations.
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