Causal Relationship Between Intelligence, Noncognitive Education, Cognition and Urinary Tract or Kidney Infection: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: The occurrence of urinary tract or kidney infection is correlated with intelligence, noncognitive education and cognition, but the causal relationship between them remains uncertain, and which risk factors mediate this causal relationship remains unknown.

Methods: The intelligence (n=269,867), noncognitive education (n=510,795) and cognition data (n=257,700) were obtained from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) conducted in individuals of European ethnicities. The genetic associations between these factors and urinary tract or kidney infection (UK Biobank, n=397,867) were analyzed using linkage disequilibrium score regression.

Locally Resonant Metagrating by Elastic Impedance Modulation.

Optical and acoustic metagratings have addressed the challenges of low-efficiency wave manipulation and high-complexity fabrication associated with metamaterials and metasurfaces. In this research, the concept of locally resonant elastic metagrating (LREM) is both theoretically and experimentally demonstrated, which is underpinned by the unique elastic impedance modulation and the hybridization of intrinsic evanescent waves. Remarkably, the LREM overcomes the size limitations of conventional metagratings and offers a distinctive design paradigm for highly efficient, compact, and lightweight structures for wave manipulation in elastic wave systems.

S100A8 induces cyclophosphamide-induced alopecia via NCF2/NOX2-mediated ferroptosis.

Chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA), commonly associated with agents such as cyclophosphamide (CYP), is a prevalent and distressing side effect of numerous chemotherapeutic treatments, significantly impacting patients' quality of life. S100A8, a calcium-binding protein involved in inflammatory responses and oxidative stress regulation, plays a pivotal role in cellular homeostasis. In this study, we investigated the involvement of S100A8 in ferroptosis within a CYP-induced CIA mouse model.

Neutralizing antibody responses to three XBB protein vaccines in older adults.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of strong immune defenses against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. While COVID-19 vaccines containing XBB subvariants have proven effective in neutralizing new SARS-CoV-2 variants, a gap remains in knowledge regarding neutralizing antibody responses in older adults aged >65 years against these newly emerged variants. This study was therefore undertaken to investigate and compare neutralizing antibody responses to three XBB-containing protein-based vaccines (trivalent XBB.

Analysis of Factors Related to Arteriovenous Fistula Expansion in Non-Diabetic Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients Based on Vascular Ultrasound.

Background: Maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) is an effective treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease. Although MHD can prolong the survival of patients, their quality of life is lower and the fatality rate is higher. This work analyzed the factors related to the autogenous arteriovenous fistula (AVF)-like expansion of non-diabetic MHD patients by vascular ultrasound (VUS).

Analysis of risk factor for peritonitis in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Objective: To investigate the risk factors for peritonitis in peritoneal dialysis patients and to develop and validate a predictive model.

Methods: A total of 219 patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) who had their first peritoneal dialysis catheter placement and regular follow-up at Wuhan No. 1 Hospital between April 2020 and August 2023 were included in this study.

Candidate genes for alkali tolerance identified by genome-wide association study at the seedling stage in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Alkali stress is one of the most serious abiotic stresses limiting crop yield and it has become an increasingly serious global problem in recent years. Alkalinity tolerance (AT) at the seedling stage is one of the determinant factors for establishment of rice population under alkaline stress condition. Here, we evaluated and measured seven traits related to AT of 528 diverse rice accessions at the seedling stage.

Associations of sarcopenia, obesity, and metabolic health with the risk of urinary incontinence in U.S. adult women: a population-based cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Urinary incontinence (UI) significantly impairs women's quality of life. Identifying its risk factors is essential for developing effective interventions. Sarcopenia, characterized by the accelerated loss of muscle mass and function, is an emerging concern often linked to obesity and abnormal metabolic status, exacerbating various adverse health outcomes.

Association of pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain on postpartum pelvic floor muscle morphology and function in Chinese primiparous women: A retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Our study aimed to investigate the association between maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain (GWG), and impaired pelvic floor muscle (PFM) morphology and function during the early postpartum period.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital from December 2020 to December 2022. A total of 1118 primiparous women with singleton pregnancies who underwent vaginal deliveries and participated in postpartum PFM assessments were included.

Structural Modulation of Covalent Organic Frameworks for Efficient Hydrogen Peroxide Electrocatalysis.

The electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide (HO) using metal-free catalysts has emerged as a viable and sustainable alternative to the conventional anthraquinone process. However, the precise architectural design of these electrocatalysts poses a significant challenge, requiring intricate structural engineering to optimize electron transfer during the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we introduce a novel design of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) that effectively shift the ORR from a four-electron to a more advantageous two-electron pathway.

Exosomes isolated from TNF-α-treated bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells ameliorate pelvic floor dysfunction in rats.

Exosomes derived from bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can alleviate the symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) in rats. However, the potential therapeutical effects of exosomes derived from BMSCs treated with tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α on the symptoms of PFD in rats are unknown. Exosomes extracted from BMSCs treated with or without TNF-α were applied to treat PFD rats.

The role of regulatory T cells in vitiligo and therapeutic advances: a mini-review.

Background: Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play vital roles in controlling immune reactions and maintaining immune tolerance in the body. The targeted destruction of epidermal melanocytes by activated CD8T cells is a key event in the development of vitiligo. However, Tregs may exert immunosuppressive effects on CD8T cells, which could be beneficial in treating vitiligo.

Prognostic value of transthoracic echocardiography score for the prognosis of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients.

Background: We devoted ourselves to proving that the initial transthoracic echocardiography score (TTES) had predictive significance for patients with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).

Methods: In this retrospective analysis, 274 CAPD patients who had PD therapy were recruited sequentially. TTE exams were performed three months following the start of PD therapy.

Data integration and inference of gene regulation using single-cell temporal multimodal data with scTIE.

Single-cell technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to dissect gene regulatory mechanisms in context-specific ways. Although there are computational methods for extracting gene regulatory relationships from scRNA-seq and scATAC-seq data, the data integration problem, essential for accurate cell type identification, has been mostly treated as a standalone challenge. Here we present scTIE, a unified method that integrates temporal multimodal data and infers regulatory relationships predictive of cellular state changes.

Canagliflozin ameliorates high glucose-induced apoptosis in NRK-52E cells via inhibiting oxidative stress and activating AMPK/mTOR-mediated autophagy.

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors, as a new type of hypoglycemic drug, can prevent proximal renal tubule injury related to glucose toxicity and play a renoprotective role. Canagliflozin, a recognized SGLT-2 inhibitor, has been proved to have potential protection in diabetic nephropathy (DN), but its mechanism has not been fully elucidated. In this study, the protective effect of canagliflozin against high glucose (HG)-induced renal tubular epithelial cell (NRK-52E) injury in vitro was assessed.

Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells Promote Trophoblast Cell Proliferation and Migration by Targeting TFPI2 in Preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy disorder characterized by systemic organ damage and high blood pressure. It has been reported that microRNA-195 (miR-195) is associated with preeclampsia. In this study, we discovered the target of miR-195 in regulating human extravillous cytotrophoblast-derived transformed cell proliferation and migration.

Boosting Graph Contrastive Learning via Adaptive Sampling.

Contrastive learning (CL) is a prominent technique for self-supervised representation learning, which aims to contrast semantically similar (i.e., positive) and dissimilar (i.