Milk intake is widely recommended for a healthy diet. Epidemiological studies have suggested that the consumption of dairy products may be associated with a reduction in type 2 diabetes mellitus ...(T2DM). A meta-analysis was conducted to elucidate the association between dairy products consumption and T2DM.
A systematical literature search was done through the Medline database and seven related cohort studies were identified. The adjusted relative risks (RRs) with the highest and the lowest categories from each study were extracted to calculate the combined RR. A least-square trend estimation was applied to assess the dose-response relationships.
A combined RR of 0.86 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.79-0.92) was revealed on T2DM risk associated to dairy intake, with little evidence of heterogeneity. For subgroup analysis, a combined RR was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.74-0.90), 1.00 (95% CI, 0.89-1.10), 0.95 (95% CI, 0.86-1.05) and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.74-0.93) for the intake of low-fat dairy, high-fat dairy, whole milk and yogurt, respectively. Dose-response analysis showed that T2DM risk could be reduced 5% for total dairy products and 10% for low-fat dairy products.
An inverse association of daily intake of dairy products, especially low-fat dairy, with T2DM was revealed, indicating a beneficial effect of dairy consumption in the prevention of T2DM development.
The equiatomic high-entropy alloy FeNiCoCrMn is known to crystallize as a single phase with the face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal structure. To better understand this quinary solid solution alloy, we ...investigate various binary, ternary and quaternary alloys made from its constituent elements. Our goals are twofold: (i) to investigate which of these lower order systems also form solid solution alloys consisting of a single FCC phase, and (ii) to characterize their phase stability and recovery, recrystallization, and grain growth behaviors. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy with backscattered electron images showed that three of the five possible quaternaries (FeNiCoCr, FeNiCoMn and NiCoCrMn), five of the ten possible ternaries (FeNiCo, FeNiCr, FeNiMn, NiCoCr, and NiCoMn), and two of the ten possible binaries (FeNi and NiCo) were single-phase FCC solid solutions in the cast and homogenized condition, whereas the others either had different crystal structures or were multi-phase. The single-phase FCC quaternary, FeNiCoCr, along with its equiatomic ternary and binary subsidiaries, were selected for further investigations of phase stability and the thermomechanical processing needed to obtain equiaxed grain structures. Only four of these subsidiary alloys—two binaries (FeNi and NiCo) and two ternaries (FeNiCo and NiCoCr)—were found to be single-phase FCC after rolling at room temperature followed by annealing for 1 h at temperatures of 300–1100 °C. Pure Ni, which is FCC and one of the constituents of the quinary high-entropy alloy (FeNiCoCrMn), was also investigated for comparison with the higher order alloys. Among the materials investigated after thermomechanical processing (FeNiCoCr, FeNiCo, NiCoCr, FeNi, NiCo, and Ni), FeNiCo and Ni showed abnormal grain growth at relatively low annealing temperatures, while the other four showed normal grain growth behavior. The grain growth exponents for all five of the equiatomic alloys were found to be ∼0.25 (compared to ∼0.5 for unalloyed Ni), suggesting that solute drag may control grain growth in the alloys. For all five alloys, as well as for pure Ni, microhardness increases as the grain size decreases in a Hall-Petch type way. The ternary alloy NiCoCr was the hardest of the alloys investigated in this study, even when compared to the quaternary FeNiCoCr alloy. This suggests that solute hardening in equiatomic alloys depends not just on the number of alloying elements but also their type.
•Alloying element effects on mechanical properties/phase stability investigated.•Recrystallization/grain growth of binary-quaternary solid solutions investigated.•Solid solution formability does not increase with number of alloying elements.•Solid solution hardening does not increase with number of alloying elements.•The type not just the number of alloying elements needs to be taken into account.
To summarise evidence about the effectiveness of home blood pressure telemonitoring (HBPT) and identify the key components of intervention. We comprehensively searched PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane ...Library for relevant studies. The authors were contacted for additional information. Two authors independently extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias. 46 randomised controlled trials including a total of 13 875 cases were identified. Compared with usual care, HBPT improved office systolic blood pressure (BP) and diastolic BP by 3.99 mm Hg (95% confidence interval (CI): 5.06-2.93; P<0.001) and 1.99 mm Hg (95% CI: -2.60 to -1.39; P<0.001), respectively. A larger proportion of patients achieved BP normalisation in the intervention group (relative risk (RR): 1.16; 95% CI: 1.08-1.25; P<0.001). For HBPT plus additional support (including counselling, education, behavioural management, medication management with decision, adherence contracts and so on) versus HBPT alone (or plus less intense additional support), the mean changes in systolic and diastolic BP were 2.44 mm Hg (95% Cl, 4.88 to 0.00 mm Hg; P=0.05) and 1.12 mm Hg (95% CI, -2.34 to 0.1 mm Hg; P=0.07), respectively. For those surrogate outcomes, low-strength evidence failed to show difference. In subgroup analysis, high strength evidence supported a lower BP with HBPT that lasted for 6 or 12 months and was accompanied with counselling support from study personnel. HBPT can improve BP control in the hypertensive patients. It may be more efficacious when a proactive additional support is provided during the intervention process.
Purpose
Clinicians use tamsulosin, an α1‐adrenoceptor antagonist, to manage symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Because α1‐adrenoceptors are also present in the brain, the potential ...exists for adverse effects on cognitive functions. We explored the association between tamsulosin use and dementia risk.
Methods
We used Medicare data (2006–2012) to conduct a cohort study among patients aged ≥65 years and diagnosed with BPH. Men taking tamsulosin (n = 253 136) were matched at a 1:1 ratio using propensity‐scores to each of 6 comparison cohorts: patients who used no BPH‐medication (n = 180 926), and patients who used the following alternative‐BPH‐medications: doxazosin (n = 28 581), terazosin (n = 23 858), alfuzosin (n = 17 934), dutasteride (n = 34 027), and finasteride (n = 38 767). Assessment began following the first fill of BPH‐medication to identify incident dementia by ICD‐9 diagnosis codes. We estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for dementia using Cox proportional hazard regression for each of the 6 propensity‐score‐matched cohort‐pairs.
Results
The median follow‐up period for all cohorts was 19.8 months. After propensity‐score matching, the tamsulosin cohort had an incidence of dementia of 31.3/1000 person‐years compared with only 25.9/1000 person‐years in the no‐BPH‐medication cohort. The risk of dementia was significantly higher in the tamsulosin cohort, when compared with the no‐BPH‐medication cohort (HR 95% CI: 1.17 1.14, 1.21) and each of the alternative‐BPH‐medication cohorts: doxazosin (1.20 1.12, 1.28), terazosin (1.11 1.04, 1.19), alfuzosin (1.12 1.03, 1.22), dutasteride (1.26 1.19, 1.34), and finasteride (1.13 1.07, 1.19). The significance of these findings persisted in sensitivity analyses.
Conclusion
Tamsulosin may increase the risk of dementia in older men with BPH.
Drying and wetting induce a number of microstructural changes that could impact transport properties and durability of concrete structures, but their significance is not well-established. This ...research examines pastes, mortars and concretes with different w/b ratios, binders, aggregate sizes, curing and conditioning regimes. 50mm thick samples were dried to equilibrium at either 105°C, 50°C/7% RH, 21°C/33% RH or gentle stepwise at 21°C/93% RH→3% RH, and then rewetted stepwise by humidification at 21°C/33% RH→86% RH and full saturation to produce varying degrees of damage and moisture content. Oxygen diffusivity and permeability, electrical conductivity, microcracking, accessible and total porosity were measured at different conditioning stages over 3-year period to better understand the effects of shrinkage, hysteresis and drying-induced damage on transport properties. The effect of supplementary cementitious materials (GGBS, SF) and implications of drying-wetting on concrete durability are discussed.
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•A repetitive laser processing strategy with several variables is well designed.•The functionally graded NiTi alloy with three-dimensional size is manufactured.•The graded ...functionality as continuous increase in recoverable strain is obtained.•The microstructure gradient shows evolution of phase constitution and defects.•The graded functionality results from the swift of deformation mechanisms.
The introduction of graded functionality to NiTi shape memory alloy is being pursued to widen martensitic transformation intervals, enhance the controllability and further promote their widespread application as smart components. However, it is far away to obtain bulk graded NiTi alloy using current methods. In this work, a repetitive laser processing strategy was designed and employed to manufacture functionally graded NiTi alloy. The highest martensitic transformation interval was measured to be 126.7 ± 0.4 °C. The graded functionality was confirmed to display as the continuous increase in mechanical recoverable strain with regard to the applied strain. Furthermore, the graded functionality is independent upon the processing parameters and loading conditions. The microstructure gradient was characterized with the increased grain size and increased amount of B19′ phase, as well as the variation of interior defects along the gradient direction. This is exactly because of the microstructure gradient that causes the dependence of fracture mechanism on the loading condition. The graded functionality was finally analyzed to derive from swift of deformation mechanisms between the detwinning process of pre-existing B19′ variants and the stress-induced martensitic B19′ phase transformation. This work indeed provides a novel and effective approach to manufacture three-dimensional graded NiTi alloy, which could undertake complex structure design thereby catering to desired functional performance in various areas.
Nitro-aromatic compounds (NACs), as important contributors to the light absorption by brown carbon, have been widely observed in various ambient atmospheres; however, their formation in the urban ...atmosphere was little studied. In this work, we report an intensive field study of NACs in summer 2016 at an urban Beijing site, characterized by both high-NOx and anthropogenic VOC dominated conditions. We investigated the factors that influence NAC formation (e.g., NO2, VOC precursors, RH and photolysis) through quantification of eight NACs, along with major components in fine particulate matter, selected volatile organic compounds, and gases. The average total concentration of the quantified NACs was 6.63 ng m-3, higher than those reported in other summertime studies (0.14–6.44 ng m-3). 4-Nitrophenol (4NP, 32.4 %) and 4-nitrocatechol (4NC, 28.5 %) were the top two most abundant NACs, followed by methyl-nitrocatechol (MNC), methyl-nitrophenol (MNP), and dimethyl-nitrophenol (DMNP). The oxidation of toluene and benzene in the presence of NOx was found to be a more dominant source of NACs than primary biomass burning emissions. The NO2 concentration level was found to be an important factor influencing the secondary formation of NACs. A transition from low- to high-NOx regimes coincided with a shift from organic- to inorganic-dominated oxidation products. The transition thresholds were NO2∼20 ppb for daytime andNO2∼25 ppb for nighttime conditions. Under low-NOx conditions, NACs increased with NO2, while the NO3- concentrations and (NO3-)/NACs ratios were lower, implying organic-dominated products. Under high-NOx conditions, NAC concentrations did not further increase with NO2, while theNO3- concentrations and (NO3-)/NACs ratios showed increasing trends, signaling a shift from organic- to inorganic-dominated products. Nighttime enhancements were observed for 3M4NC and 4M5NC, while daytime enhancements were noted for 4NP, 2M4NP, and DMNP, indicating different formation pathways for these two groups of NACs. Our analysis suggested that the aqueous-phase oxidation was likely the major formation pathway of 4M5NC and 3M5NC, while photo-oxidation of toluene and benzene in the presence of NO2 could be more important for the formation of nitrophenol and its derivatives. Using the (3M4NC+4M5NC) / 4NP ratios as an indicator of the relative contribution of aqueous-phase and gas-phase oxidation pathways to NAC formation, we observed that the relative contribution of aqueous-phase pathways increased at elevated ambient RH and remained constant at RH > 30 %. We also found that the concentrations of VOC precursors (e.g., toluene and benzene) and aerosol surface area acted as important factors in promoting NAC formation, and photolysis as an important loss pathway for nitrophenols.
The competition between dislocation emission and cleavage at a crack tip plays an important role in governing the intrinsic fracture behavior of crystalline materials. This competition is not well ...understood in magnesium, which has many different combinations of cleavage planes and dislocation slip systems. Here, using both anisotropic linear elastic fracture mechanics theory and atomistic simulations, the emission/cleavage competition in magnesium is evaluated for a comprehensive set of crack orientations and crack tip geometries under mode I crack tip stress intensity loading at T=0K. Both theory and simulation show that cleavage is favored in most crack orientations, including basal plane cracks, tensile twin and basal-prismatic plane interface cracks. Initial slight crack tip blunting does not significantly change the behavior. These results suggest that magnesium has extremely low intrinsic fracture toughness, consistent with observations of many different cleavage-like planes in low-temperature fracture experiments. Based on T=0K properties, obtaining a more-ductile material via crack tip dislocation emission on the pyramidal and basal slip systems would require substantial and moderate reductions of the unstable stacking fault energy (∼50% and ∼20%, respectively) to be achieved at finite temperatures and/or via alloying.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been demonstrated to have critical roles in regulating cancer cell proliferation, survival and sensitivity to chemotherapy. The potential application of using miRNAs to ...predict therapeutic response to cancer treatment holds high promise, but miRNAs with predictive value remain to be identified and underlying mechanisms have not been completely understood. Here, we show a strong correlation between miR-621 expression and chemosensitivity to paclitaxel plus carboplatin (PTX/CBP) regimen, an effective neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer patients. High level of miR-621 predicts better response to PTX/CBP regimen neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients, who also tend to achieve pathological complete response. Ectopic overexpression of miR-621 promoted apoptosis and increased chemosensitivity to PTX and CBP both in cultured breast cancer cells and in xenograft tumor model. We further show that FBXO11 is a direct functional target of miR-621 and miR-621 level is negatively correlated with FBXO11 expression in breast cancer patients. Ectopic expression of FBXO11 attenuated increased apoptosis in breast cancer cells overexpressing miR-621 upon PTX or CBP treatment. Consistently, high FBXO11 expression significantly correlated with poor survival in breast cancer patients. Mechanistically, we found in breast cancer cells FBXO11 interacts with p53 and promotes its neddylation, which suppressed the p53 transactivity. Accordingly, miR-621-dependent FBXO11 suppression enhanced p53 activity and increased apoptosis in breast cancer cells exposed to chemotherapeutics. Taken together, our data suggest that miR-621 enhances chemosensitivity of breast cancer cells to PTX/CBP chemotherapy by suppressing FBXO11-dependent inhibition of p53. miR-621 may serve as a predictive biomarker and a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer treatment.
Aims
Relatively, few anti‐biofilm polysaccharides against Pseudomonas aeruginosa were done to investigate the underlying molecular mechanism. Exopolysaccharide EPS273 can clearly reduce biofilm ...formation and infection of P. aeruginosa. This study aims to investigate its anti‐biofilm and anti‐infection mechanism on transcriptional level.
Methods and Results
Herein, we used an RNA‐Seq transcriptomic approach to investigate the underlying anti‐biofilm and anti‐infection mechanism of EPS273. The expression levels of a large number of genes were changed after P. aeruginosa PAO1 was treated with EPS273. Especially, the genes related to biofilm formation, such as gene involved in production of extracellular matrix and virulence factor, genes involved in flagella and cell motility and genes involved in iron acquisition. Notably, the expression levels of genes involved in regulatory and signal transduction were markedly downregulated, such as two‐component system PhoP‐PhoQ and quorum sensing (QS) system LasI/LasR and RhlI/RhlR. Furthermore, when genes phoP and phoQ were disrupted, respectively, the reduction of biofilm formation and cell motility in mutant △phoP or △phoQ was also detected.
Conclusion
EPS273 may exert its anti‐biofilm and anti‐infection function by downregulating gene expression of two‐component system PhoP‐PhoQ and QS systems LasI/LasR and RhlI/RhlR of P. aeruginosa, which further regulated expression of genes involved in biofilm formation.
Significance and Impact of the Study
Our data will expand understanding of anti‐biofilm mechanisms of polysaccharides on transcriptomic level.
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