Objectives
Excessive accumulation of adipose tissue may accelerate brain aging, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Several adiposity indices were proposed to assess obesity, while ...their linkage with brain health in older adults remained unclear. Here we aimed to examine the associations of adiposity indices with global and regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) in older adults, while considering insulin resistance.
Design
This was a cross-sectional population-based study that included older adults derived from the baseline participants in the ongoing Multimodal Interventions to Delay Dementia and Disability in rural China (MIND-China) study.
Setting And Participants
The study included 103 Chinese rural-dwelling older adults (age≥60 years; 69.9% women) who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging scans.
Methods
We estimated eight adiposity indices based on anthropometric measures. We automatically quantified global and regional CBF using the arterial spin labeling scans. Insulin resistance was assessed using the triglyceride-glucose index and then dichotomized into high and low levels according to the median. Data were analyzed using general linear model and voxel-wise analysis.
Results
Of the eight examined adiposity indices, only higher waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and body roundness index (BRI) were associated with reduced global CBF (multivariable-adjusted β-coefficients and 95%CI: −1.76; −3.25, −0.27 and −1.77; −3.25, −0.30, respectively) and hypoperfusion in bilateral middle temporal gyri, angular gyri and superior temporal gyri, left middle cingulum and precuneus (P<0.05). There were statistical interactions of WHtR and BRI with levels of insulin resistance on CBF, such that the significant associations of higher WHtR and BRI with lower global and regional CBF existed only in people with high insulin resistance (P<0.05).
Conclusion
Higher WHtR and BRI are associated with cerebral hypoperfusion in older adults, especially in people with high insulin resistance. This may highlight the pathological role of visceral fat in vascular brain aging.
We present high signal-to-noise ratio, multifrequency polarization pulse profiles for 24 millisecond pulsars that are being observed as part of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array project. The pulsars are ...observed in three bands, centred close to 730, 1400 and 3100 MHz, using a dual-band 10 cm/50 cm receiver and the central beam of the 20-cm multibeam receiver. Observations spanning approximately six years have been carefully calibrated and summed to produce high S/N profiles. This allows us to study the individual profile components and in particular how they evolve with frequency. We also identify previously undetected profile features. For many pulsars we show that pulsed emission extends across almost the entire pulse profile. The pulse component widths and component separations follow a complex evolution with frequency; in some cases these parameters increase and in other cases they decrease with increasing frequency. The evolution with frequency of the polarization properties of the profile is also non-trivial. We provide evidence that the pre- and post-cursors generally have higher fractional linear polarization than the main pulse. We have obtained the spectral index and rotation measure for each pulsar by fitting across all three observing bands. For the majority of pulsars, the spectra follow a single power-law and the position angles follow a ... relation, as expected. However, clear deviations are seen for some pulsars. We also present phase-resolved measurements of the spectral index, fractional linear polarization and rotation measure. All these properties are shown to vary systematically over the pulse profile. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
Magnetic topological phases of quantum matter are an emerging frontier in physics and material science. Along these lines, several kagome magnets have appeared as the most promising platforms. Here, ...we explore magnetic correlations in the kagome magnet Co
Sn
S
. Using muon spin-rotation, we present evidence for competing magnetic orders in the kagome lattice of this compound. Our results show that while the sample exhibits an out-of-plane ferromagnetic ground state, an in-plane antiferromagnetic state appears at temperatures above 90 K, eventually attaining a volume fraction of 80% around 170 K, before reaching a non-magnetic state. Strikingly, the reduction of the anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) above 90 K linearly follows the disappearance of the volume fraction of the ferromagnetic state. We further show that the competition of these magnetic phases is tunable through applying either an external magnetic field or hydrostatic pressure. Our results taken together suggest the thermal and quantum tuning of Berry curvature induced AHC via external tuning of magnetic order.
Increased glycolysis in the lung vasculature has been connected to the development of pulmonary hypertension (PH). We therefore investigated whether glycolytic regulator ...6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2, 6-bisphosphatase (PFKFB3)-mediated endothelial glycolysis plays a critical role in the development of PH. Heterozygous global deficiency of Pfkfb3 protected mice from developing hypoxia-induced PH, and administration of the PFKFB3 inhibitor 3PO almost completely prevented PH in rats treated with Sugen 5416/hypoxia, indicating a causative role of PFKFB3 in the development of PH. Immunostaining of lung sections and Western blot with isolated lung endothelial cells showed a dramatic increase in PFKFB3 expression and activity in pulmonary endothelial cells of rodents and humans with PH. We generated mice that were constitutively or inducibly deficient in endothelial Pfkfb3 and found that these mice were incapable of developing PH or showed slowed PH progression. Compared with control mice, endothelial Pfkfb3-knockout mice exhibited less severity of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation, endothelial inflammation, and leukocyte recruitment in the lungs. In the absence of PFKFB3, lung endothelial cells from rodents and humans with PH produced lower levels of growth factors (such as PDGFB and FGF2) and proinflammatory factors (such as CXCL12 and IL1β). This is mechanistically linked to decreased levels of HIF2A in lung ECs following PFKFB3 knockdown. Taken together, these results suggest that targeting PFKFB3 is a promising strategy for the treatment of PH.
Abstract
The interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere is one of the most important research subjects in the fields of astrophysics and space physics. For more than half a century, ...based on the pressure balance assumption between the solar wind and the magnetosphere and considering other important factors, such as the interplanetary magnetic field and magnetic reconnection process, the dynamic processes at the magnetopause have been extensively analyzed. However, the responses of magnetopause to the solar wind dynamic pressure variations are still complicated to understand. Here, we show that the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere can be regarded as a quasi-elastodynamic process. The driving frequency of the solar wind is determined as a crucial reason for the phase difference between solar wind dynamic pressure variations and magnetopause standoff distance. The low-pass filter effect and oscillation properties of the magnetopause can also be well explained by the forced damped vibrations. Moreover, the quasi-elastodynamic processes predict deformations at the magnetopause, which resemble the magnetopause surface wave. Finally, a three-dimensional time-dependent magnetopause model is constructed and verified by observation. Based on 12,242 magnetopause crossing events, it is found that the new model reveals ∼9.7% better prediction accuracy than the widely used time-independent model. These results can also shed light on our understanding of the solar-wind–magnetopause interaction for other planets.
Summary
By Bayesian random effects network meta-analysis stratified by prevalent vertebral fracture (PVF), we conclude that different effective drugs should be used to prevent fragility fractures ...according to postmenopausal women with or without PVF and that there are two drugs (i.e., parathyroid hormone (1-84) and abaloparatide) less tolerated than placebo.
Introduction
No studies have compared various osteoporosis drugs in postmenopausal women (PMW) either with or without prevalent vertebral fracture (PVF). We aimed to compare them in the two different subgroups.
Methods
We searched different databases to select relevant studies. We performed Bayesian random effects network meta-analysis to synthesize hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for clinical fracture stratified by PVF and to synthesize risk ratio (RR) for tolerability and vertebral fracture.
Results
We included 33 trials involving 79,144 PMW. In the PVF ≥ 50% subgroup, teriparatide (HR 0.39, 95% CI 0.28–0.57), romosozumab (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.29–0.75), risedronate (HR 0.62, 95% CI 0.50–0.79), zoledronate (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.47–0.96), and alendronate (HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.47–0.97) reduced clinical fracture risk. In the other subgroup, abaloparatide (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.33–0.92), romosozumab (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.47–0.95), and denosumab (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.50–0.85) reduced clinical fracture risk. Five drugs reduced vertebral fracture risk in the PVF ≥ 50% subgroup whereas seven did in the other subgroup. All drugs did not increase withdrawal risk except for parathyroid hormone (1-84) (PTH) (RR 1.9, 95% CI 1.4–2.6) and abaloparatide (RR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2–2.3).
Conclusion
Different effective drugs should be used to prevent fragility fractures according to PMW with or without PVF, and romosozumab is the only one which can reduce clinical and vertebral fractures in both of the two populations. PTH and abaloparatide are less tolerated than placebo whereas the eight other drugs assessed in the study have the same tolerability as placebo.
Summary
In this study, we analyzed 93 whole genomes from Chinese spot‐billed ducks (CSB), meat‐type ducks (MET), and egg and dual purpose‐type ducks (EDT) to characterize the genetic material flowing ...between the CSB and modern ducks. Using a frequency of shared identical‐by‐descent method, approximately 10.9 Mb introgression segments containing 140 genes were identified showing the signatures of introgression between CSB and EDT. Meanwhile, nearly 10.6 M introgression regions containing 149 genes were identified between CSB and MET. Based on the haplotypes tree of each segment, we found that the introgression between CSB and domesticated ducks was asymmetric with a high level of gene flow from domestic to CSB and a low level of migration in the opposite direction. Moreover, we identified several genes that were introgressions from CSB and showed the signature of positive selection, which may contribute to the breeding of modern ducks. Our results provide new insight into the evolution and breeding history of domestic ducks and may be useful for the future management of wild and domestic duck populations.
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