Type 2 diabetes is closely related to an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFL). Whether sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors can attenuate AF/AFL ...progression remains unclear.
We searched electronic databases (PubMed, Embase and ClinicalTrials.gov) from their inception to January 2020 for trials evaluating the AF outcomes of SGLT2 inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes. The data search and extraction were conducted with a standardized data form and any conflicts were resolved by consensus. Relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used for binary variables, and the weighed mean differences (WMDs) with the standard deviation (SDs) were applied for continuous variables.
We included data from 16 identified trials consisting of 38,335 patients with type 2 diabetes. Incorporated data demonstrated that compared to placebo, SGLT2 inhibitors significantly reduced AF/AFL (RR: 0.76; 95% CI 0.65-0.90; p = 0.001) and all-cause mortality (RR: 0.91; 95% CI 0.83-0.99; p = 0.03). AF/AFL reductions were not modified by age, body weight, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), or systolic blood pressure (SBP) at baseline (all p-interactions > 0.3). SGLT2 inhibitors also significantly reduced heart failure events (RR: 0.73; 95% CI 0.64-0.84; p < 0.00001), HbA1c (WMD: - 0.62%; 95% CI - 0.89 to - 0.34; p < 0.00001), body weight (WMD: - 2.12 kg; 95% CI - 2.91 to - 1.34; p < 0.00001), SBP (WMD: - 3.34 mmHg; 95% CI - 4.12 to - 2.56; p < 0.00001), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (WMD: - 1.11 mmHg; 95% CI - 1.62 to - 0.60; p < 0.0001). Of note, cerebrovascular events and myocardial infarction did not increase in patients taking SGLT2 inhibitors.
SGLT2 inhibitors may confer a specific AF/AFL-reduction benefit in the susceptible type 2 diabetes population, regardless of age, body weight, HbA1c, and systolic blood pressure at baseline. Such an AF/AFL-reduction benefit may be partly attributed to pharmacological effects on reductions in HbA1c, body weight, blood pressure, and the occurrence of heart failure.
Summary
Plants control water‐use efficiency (WUE) by regulating water loss and CO2 diffusion through stomata. Variation in stomatal control has been reported among lineages of vascular plants, thus ...giving rise to the possibility that different lineages may show distinct WUE dynamics in response to water stress.
Here, we compared the response of gas exchange to decreasing leaf water potential among four ferns and nine seed plant species exposed to a gradually intensifying water deficit. The data collected were combined with those from 339 phylogenetically diverse species obtained from previous studies.
In well‐watered angiosperms, the maximum stomatal conductance was high and greater than that required for maximum WUE, but drought stress caused a rapid reduction in stomatal conductance and an increase in WUE in response to elevated concentrations of abscisic acid. However, in ferns, stomata did not open beyond the optimum point corresponding to maximum WUE and actually exhibited a steady WUE in response to dehydration. Thus, seed plants showed improved photosynthetic WUE under water stress.
The ability of seed plants to increase WUE could provide them with an advantage over ferns under drought conditions, thereby presumably increasing their fitness under selection pressure by drought.
Carbon-based supercapacitors can provide high electrical power, but they do not have sufficient energy density to directly compete with batteries. We found that a nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous ...few-layer carbon has a capacitance of 855 farads per gram in aqueous electrolytes and can be bipolarly charged or discharged at a fast, carbon-like speed. The improvement mostly stems from robust redox reactions at nitrogen-associated defects that transform inert graphene-like layered carbon into an electrochemically active substance without affecting its electric conductivity. These bipolar aqueous-electrolyte electrochemical cells offer power densities and lifetimes similar to those of carbon-based supercapacitors and can store a specific energy of 41 watt-hours per kilogram (19.5 watt-hours per liter).
A quadrangular prismatic tricyclooxacalixarene cage 1 based on tetraphenylethylene (TPE) was efficiently synthesized by a one‐pot SNAr condensation reaction. As a result of the porous internal ...structure in the solid state, cage 1 exhibited a good CO2 uptake capacity of 12.5 wt % and a high selectivity for CO2 over N2 adsorption of 80 (273 K, 1 bar) with a BET surface area of 432 m2 g−1. Formation of cage 1 led to the fluorescence of TPE being switched on in solution. The system was employed as a single‐molecule platform to study the mechanism of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) by examining the restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR).
Emissive porous cage: A tricyclooxacalixarene cage molecule based on triphenylethylene (TPE) was prepared. The porous internal structure of the system gave rise to a good CO2 uptake capacity and it showed a high selectivity for CO2 adsorption over N2. The cage molecule exhibited TPE fluorescence in solution and was used as a single‐molecule platform to investigate the mechanism of aggregation‐induced emission in TPE. Atom colors: C=gray; N=blue; O=red.
Late Carboniferous–middle Permian magmatism in the Jiamusi Massif of northeast China, in the eastern segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), provides critical evidence regarding the ...tectonic history and geodynamic processes in the region. The gabbro–diorites of the Longtouqiao pluton and two groups of coeval granite in the study area comprise a bimodal magmatic suite. Precise LA-ICP-MS U–Pb zircon ages indicate that the granitoids and gabbro–diorites were emplaced in the late Carboniferous–middle Permian (302–267Ma). Group I granites have high SiO2 (70.75–77.04wt.%) and K2O (3.65–5.89wt.%) contents, are enriched in LILEs (e.g., Rb, Th, and U) relative to HFSEs and LREEs, and have negative Nb, Ta, P, and Ti anomalies, which collectively indicate affinities with subduction-related magmas. Group II granites are weakly peraluminous (A/CNK=1.03–1.07) and are characterized by enrichment in alkalis (Na2O+K2O=8.22–8.90wt.%), low MgO (0.04–0.09wt.%) and P2O5 (0.01–0.04wt.%) contents, high Zr and Nb contents, high 10,000×Ga/Al ratios, and they are geochemically similar to aluminous A-type granites. All the magmatic zircons in these granitoids have great variations of εHf(t) (+7.89 to −5.60) and two-stage Hf model ages (TDM2) of 0.8–1.7Ga, which suggest that the precursor magmas originated from a heterogeneous source that involved juvenile components derived from a depleted mantle source during magma generation. The aluminous A-type granite magmas were probably derived by high-temperature partial melting of a felsic crustal source, whereas the other granite magmas probably resulted from partial melting of a mafic lower crust. The gabbro–diorites of the Longtouqiao pluton are depleted in Nb, Ta, P, and Ti, and show flat distributions of most LILEs and HFSEs, except for large positive anomalies in Ba, K, and Pb. These features reflect a limited degree of crustal contamination associated with the subduction-related magmatic processes. These data, together with previously reported data and the nature of various rock types along the eastern part of the Jiamusi Massif, suggest that the intrusive rocks were formed in a geodynamic regime that changed from compression to extension during the westwards subduction of the Paleo-Pacific oceanic lithosphere, probably as a result of slab break-off of the subducting plate.
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•The studied intrusions in the Jiamusi Massif were emplaced at 302–267Ma.•The I- and A-type granites formed by different crustal contributions.•The gabbro–diorites were derived from heterogeneous mantle sources.•A slab break-off probably existed during the Permian.
The Jiamusi Block is located in the easternmost Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) and its tectonic affinity and evolution is highly controversial. Here we describe newly discovered Neoproterozoic ...orthogneisses and early Paleozoic granitoids of the Mashan Complex from the Jiamusi Block. SIMS U-Pb dating for zircons from three high-grade orthogneisses yields protolith and metamorphic ages ranging from 757 to 751Ma and from 530 to 476Ma, respectively. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dates for zircons from four gneissic granitoids define two stages of early Paleozoic magmatism (i.e., 530–502Ma, and 490–476Ma). These new data, together with recent published ages, indicate that the basement rocks of the Jiamusi Block record an important Neoproterozoic-early Paleozoic magmatic (ca. 895–476Ma) and metamorphic (ca. 563–476) event, and we accordingly infer that the granulite facies metamorphism might have occurred before 541–476Ma, and around 567–561Ma. Geochemical and zircon Hf isotopic data suggest that the ca. 752Ma rift-related gneisses were derived from dominantly juvenile crustal rocks with both the heat and material involvement of a depleted asthenosphere mantle at relatively low pressures, which then underwent an ancient wall-rock assimilation, whereas the ca. 490–476Ma post-collisional granitoids originated from reworking of an ancient crustal source and subsequently experienced intensive crystal fractionation. The good correlation on the ca. 755–115Ma geological events between the Jiamusi and Khanka blocks suggests they formed a contiguous crustal unit. The existing data indicate that this combined block cannot be directly derived from the Siberia, North China, South China, and Tarim cratons. Instead, it might be either a rifted portion of the Sayang-Baikal orogen or derived from a peri-Gondwana position. We evaluate the model that the Jiamusi-Khanka Block may have originated as part of the Late Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Kuunga orogen trapped between South India and East Antarctica-Australia. Sometime after ca. 470Ma, it rifted away from East Gondwana and drifted northward to collide with the Songliao Block of NE China in the Early Jurassic.
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•Ca. 895-476Ma magmatic and ca. 563-476 metamorphic events have been documented in the Jiamusi Block.•The peak of the granulite-facies metamorphism might have occurred at some time before 541-476 Ma, and around 567-561 Ma.•The linkage between the Jiamusi-Khanka Block and East Gondwana is constrained.
3D architectures constructed from a tubular graphene network can withstand repeated >95% compression cycling without damage. Aided by intertubular covalent bonding, this material takes full advantage ...of the graphene tube's unique attributes, including complete pre‐ and post‐buckling elasticity, outstanding electrical conductivity, and extraordinary physicochemical stability. A highly connected tubular graphene will thus be the ultimate, structurally robust, ultrastrong, ultralight material.
Porous carbons are widely used in the energy storage and conversion field because of their excellent electrical conductivity, high specific surface area and superb electrochemical stability. The ...template method is one of the most advanced approaches to prepare porous carbons with well-defined pore structures and suitable pore size distributions. The pore formation mechanism and structure-property relationships of porous carbons obtained by template methods for supercapacitor electrodes are summarized. They include hard templates (magnesium-based, silica-based, zinc-based, calcium-based templates), soft templates (conventional soft template, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvent) and self-templates (biomass, MOFs). Furthermore, the problems in tailoring the pore texture of porous carbons are clarified, and proposals are made for future research.
Drought is a cyclical phenomenon in natural environments. During dehydration, stomatal closure is mainly regulated by abscisic acid (ABA) dynamics that limit transpiration in seed plants, but ...following rehydration, the mechanism of gas exchange recovery is still not clear. In this study, leaf water potential (ψleaf), stomatal conductance (gs), leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf), foliar ABA level, ethylene emission rate in response to dehydration and rehydration were investigated in four Caragana species with isohydric (Caragana spinosa and C. pruinosa) and anisohydric (C. intermedia and C. microphylla) traits. Two isohydric species with ABA‐induced stomatal closure exhibited more sensitive gs and Kleaf to decreasing ψleaf than two anisohydric species which exhibited a switch from ABA to water potential‐driven stomatal closure during dehydration. Following rehydration, the recovery of gas exchange was not associated with a decrease in ABA level but was strongly limited by the degradation of the ethylene emission rate in all species. Furthermore, two anisohydric species with low drought‐induced ethylene production exhibited more rapid recovery in gas exchange upon rehydration. Our results indicated that ethylene is a key factor regulating the drought‐recovery ability in terms of gas exchange, which may shape species adaptation to drought and potential species distribution.
Drought is a cyclical phenomenon in natural environments. During dehydration, stomatal closure is mainly regulated by abscisic acid (ABA) dynamics that limit transpiration in seed plants, but the mechanisms of gas exchange recovery are still not clear following rehydration. The results in this study indicate that ethylene is a key factor regulating the drought‐recovery ability in terms of gas exchange, which may shape species adaptation to drought and potential species distribution.
Cost-effective adsorbents for water treatment is easy available through one-pot Friedel–Crafts reaction of triptycene. With hierarchical porous structure, high surface area, high thermal stability, ...and excellent adsorption capacities for organic solvents and dyes, the triptycene-based hyper-cross-linked polymer sponge (THPS) may be ideal adsorbents for a wide range of large-scale applications in water purification and treatment.
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