The causal relationships between gut microbiota and venous thromboembolism: a Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is still one of the most severe health issues, increasing mortality and lengthening hospital stays. Different abundances of gut microbiota have been clinically linked to VTE and coagulopathy. However, whether gut microbiota affected VTE formation remained uncertain.

Exploring the Role of Glycine Metabolism in Coronary Artery Disease: Insights from Human Genetics and Mouse Models.

Circulating glycine levels have been associated with reduced risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) in humans but these associations have not been observed in all studies. We evaluated whether the relationship between glycine levels and atherosclerosis was causal using genetic analyses in humans and feeding studies in mice. Serum glycine levels were evaluated for association with risk of CAD in the UK Biobank.

Reducing the Influence of Time Pressure on Risky Choice.

While the impact of time pressure on decision-making is extensively studied, how individuals regulate their behavior under such conditions is less understood. This study addressed this gap by prompting participants to use cognitive reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy. Participants were instructed to reinterpret their emotions during the decision-making process and asked to answer within 1,000 ms.

Biomimetic Morphogenesis of Strontium Chitosan-Gelatin Composite Aggregates via EPD and Biomineralization in vitro and in vivo.

Introduction: Biomineralization has been increasingly adopted for the synthesis of advanced materials with superior properties. Hierarchical architecture growth mimicking biomineralization has been studied using various organic molecules to template inorganic materials with controlled morphology. In our previous study, self-assembled Sr/CS/G(SrCO-chitosan-gelatin) aggregates were fabricated using electrophoretic deposition (EPD).

Effect of Genetic and Dietary Perturbation of Glycine Metabolism on Atherosclerosis in Humans and Mice.

Objective: Epidemiological and genetic studies have reported inverse associations between circulating glycine levels and risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, these findings have not been consistently observed in all studies. We sought to evaluate the causal relationship between circulating glycine levels and atherosclerosis using large-scale genetic analyses in humans and dietary supplementation experiments in mice.

Risk factor analysis and construction of prediction models of gallbladder carcinoma in patients with gallstones.

Background: Gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) is a biliary tract tumor with a high mortality rate. The objectives of this study were to explore the risk factors of GBC in patients with gallstones and to establish effective screening indicators.

Methods: A total of 588 patients from medical centers in two different regions of China were included in this study and defined as the internal test samples and the external validation samples, respectively.

Extensive 3D mapping of dislocation structures in bulk aluminum.

Thermomechanical processing such as annealing is one of the main methods to tailor the mechanical properties of materials, however, much is unknown about the reorganization of dislocation structures deep inside macroscopic crystals that give rise to those changes. Here, we demonstrate the self-organization of dislocation structures upon high-temperature annealing in a mm-sized single crystal of aluminum. We map a large embedded 3D volume ([Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]m[Formula: see text]) of dislocation structures using dark field X-ray microscopy (DFXM), a diffraction-based imaging technique.

A Water Balloon as an Innovative Energy Storage Medium.

Soft rubbery materials are capable of withstanding large deformation, and stretched rubber contracts when heated. Additionally, rubber balloons exhibit non-monotonic pressure-volume curves. These unique properties have inspired numerous ingenious inventions based on rubber balloons.

Mesoporous calcium silicate nanoparticles for superficial dental tissue reconstruction, and .

The underlying dentin could be exposed to a humid atmosphere filled with bacteria if the covering enamel layer is broken because of external chemical and physical conditions. Accordingly, some diseases like bacterial invasion and dentin hypersensitivity often occur, which impact the daily life of patients. The study is aimed at evaluating the occluding effects of mesoporous calcium silicate nanoparticles (MCSNs) on the dentinal tubules and , as well as the antibacterial property and drug delivery ability when loaded with chlorhexidine (CHX) .

Accurate Prediction of Hydration Sites of Proteins Using Energy Model With Atom Embedding.

We propose a method based on neural networks to accurately predict hydration sites in proteins. In our approach, high-quality data of protein structures are used to parametrize our neural network model, which is a differentiable score function that can evaluate an arbitrary position in 3D structures on proteins and predict the nearest water molecule that is not present. The score function is further integrated into our water placement algorithm to generate explicit hydration sites.

Genome-wide analysis identifies novel susceptibility loci for myocardial infarction.

Aims: While most patients with myocardial infarction (MI) have underlying coronary atherosclerosis, not all patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) develop MI. We sought to address the hypothesis that some of the genetic factors which establish atherosclerosis may be distinct from those that predispose to vulnerable plaques and thrombus formation.

Methods And Results: We carried out a genome-wide association study for MI in the UK Biobank (n∼472 000), followed by a meta-analysis with summary statistics from the CARDIoGRAMplusC4D Consortium (n∼167 000).

Genome-wide analysis highlights contribution of immune system pathways to the genetic architecture of asthma.

Asthma is a chronic and genetically complex respiratory disease that affects over 300 million people worldwide. Here, we report a genome-wide analysis for asthma using data from the UK Biobank and the Trans-National Asthma Genetic Consortium. We identify 66 previously unknown asthma loci and demonstrate that the susceptibility alleles in these regions are, either individually or as a function of cumulative genetic burden, associated with risk to a greater extent in men than women.

A GWAS approach identifies Dapp1 as a determinant of air pollution-induced airway hyperreactivity.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways with contributions from genes, environmental exposures, and their interactions. While genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in humans have identified ~200 susceptibility loci, the genetic factors that modulate risk of asthma through gene-environment (GxE) interactions remain poorly understood. Using the Hybrid Mouse Diversity Panel (HMDP), we sought to identify the genetic determinants of airway hyperreactivity (AHR) in response to diesel exhaust particles (DEP), a model traffic-related air pollutant.

Comparison of the relapse rates in seizure-free patients in whom antiepileptic therapy was discontinued and those in whom the therapy was continued: A meta-analysis.

About 70% of patients with epilepsy can be seizure-free with an appropriate treatment. When the seizures are under control, discontinuation of the antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) can help avoid their side effects; however, it may increase the risk of relapse. Some studies have compared the relapse rates between patients in whom AEDs have been continued and those in whom AEDs have been discontinued.

H19/miR-675-5p Targeting SFN Enhances the Invasion and Metastasis of Nasalpharyngeal Cancer Cells.

Aims: The aim is to study the role of miR-675-5p coded by long non-coding RNA H19 in the development of Nasopharyngeal Cancer (NPC) and whether miR-675-5p regulates the invasion and metastasis of NPC through targeting SFN (14-3-3σ). The study further validated the relationship between H19, miR-675-5p and SFN in NPC and their relationship with the invasion and metastasis of NPC.

Methods: Western blot was used to detect the expression of 14-3-3σ protein in immortalized normal nasopharyngeal epithelial cells NP69 and different metastatic potential NPC cells, 6-10B and 5-8F.

Genetic Determinants of Circulating Glycine Levels and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease.

Background Recent studies have revealed sexually dimorphic associations between the carbamoyl-phosphate synthase 1 locus, intermediates of the metabolic pathway leading from choline to urea, and risk of coronary artery disease ( CAD ) in women. Based on evidence from the literature, the atheroprotective association with carbamoyl-phosphate synthase 1 could be mediated by the strong genetic effect of this locus on increased circulating glycine levels. Methods and Results We sought to identify additional genetic determinants of circulating glycine levels by carrying out a meta-analysis of genome-wide association study data in up to 30 118 subjects of European ancestry.

MiR-597 Targeting 14-3-3σ Enhances Cellular Invasion and EMT in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells.

Background: Alterations in microRNAs (miRNAs) are related to the occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and play an important role in the molecular mechanism of NPC. Our previous studies show low expression of 14-3-3σ (SFN) is related to the metastasis and differentiation of NPC, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear.

Methods: Through bioinformatics analysis, we find miR-597 is the preferred target miRNA of 14-3-3σ.

Effect of divalent ions and a polyphosphate on composition, structure, and stiffness of simulated drinking water biofilms.

The biofilm chemical and physical properties in engineered systems play an important role in governing pathogen transmission, fouling facilities, and corroding metal surfaces. Here, we investigated how simulated drinking water biofilm chemical composition, structure, and stiffness responded to the common scale control practice of adjusting divalent ions and adding polyphosphate. Magnetomotive optical coherence elastography (MM-OCE), a tool developed for diagnosing diseased tissues, was used to determine biofilm stiffness in this study.

Preparation and functionalization of acetylsalicylic acid loaded chitosan/gelatin membranes from ethanol-based suspensions via electrophoretic deposition.

Acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin, ASP), a frequently used analgesic and antipyretic drug, has prevailed for decades due to its multiple functions. To increase its solubility and maintain the topical and low-dose application, ethanol with electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was introduced. It was initially investigated to fabricate acetylsalicylic acid loaded chitosan/gelatin (CS/G) membranes via simple electrophoretic deposition under mild conditions.

Author Correction: Transient Scute activation via a self-stimulatory loop directs enteroendocrine cell pair specification from self-renewing intestinal stem cells.

In the version of this Article originally published, the author had misnumbered the reference citations in the Methods, using numbers 1-14 instead of 46-59. These errors have now been corrected in all online versions of the Article.

Transient Scute activation via a self-stimulatory loop directs enteroendocrine cell pair specification from self-renewing intestinal stem cells.

The process through which multiple types of cell-lineage-restricted progenitor cells are specified from multipotent stem cells is unclear. Here we show that, in intestinal stem cell lineages in adult Drosophila, in which the Delta-Notch-signalling-guided progenitor cell differentiation into enterocytes is the default mode, the specification of enteroendocrine cells (EEs) is initiated by transient Scute activation in a process driven by transcriptional self-stimulation combined with a negative feedback regulation between Scute and Notch targets. Scute activation induces asymmetric intestinal stem cell divisions that generate EE progenitor cells.

miR19b-3p promotes the growth and metastasis of colorectal cancer via directly targeting ITGB8.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are widely up-regulated or down-regulated in a variety of tumors, including lung cancer, liver cancer, and colorectal cancer (CRC). Furthermore, miRNAs can function as tumor suppressors or proto-oncogenes by controlling the growth and metastasis of cancer cells. In the present study, we found a significant increase in miR19b-3p levels in CRC compared to tumor tissue and revealed the role of miR19b-3p in CRC growth and metastasis.

Evaluation of antibacterial, angiogenic, and osteogenic activities of green synthesized gap-bridging copper-doped nanocomposite coatings.

Titanium (Ti) and its alloys have been widely used in clinics for years. However, their bio-inert surface challenges application in patients with compromised surgical conditions. Numerous studies were conducted to modify the surface topography and chemical composition of Ti substrates, for the purpose of obtaining antibacterial, angiogenic, and osteogenic activities.

Enhanced antibacterial activity and biocompatibility of zinc-incorporated organic-inorganic nanocomposite coatings via electrophoretic deposition.

Increased use of reconstruction procedures in orthopedics has improved the life of patients undergoing surgery. However, surgical site infection remains a major challenge. Efforts were made to fabricate antibacterial surfaces with good biocompatibility.

A green single-step procedure to synthesize Ag-containing nanocomposite coatings with low cytotoxicity and efficient antibacterial properties.

Implant-associated infections still pose a serious threat leading to several complications. This study reported an environmentally benign Ag-containing nanocomposite coating with efficient antibacterial property fabricated on the metal implant via electrophoretic deposition (EPD). In such coatings, AgO/AgCl mixed with chitosan/gelatin (CS/G) polymers work together to exert the antibacterial property which could act as an alternative to traditional Ag nanoparticles.