Estimated potassium intake and major adverse cardiovascular events in individuals with type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study with trans-ethnic validation.

Background: Data on the relationship between potassium intake and major cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with diabetes are scarce. We aim to study the association between estimated potassium intake and risk of MACE in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: The discovery cohort consisted of 1572 participants with type 2 diabetes from a secondary hospital.

Proteomics profiling and association with cardiorenal complications in type 2 diabetes subtypes in Asian population.

Aim: Among multi-ethnic Asians, type 2 diabetes (T2D) clustered in three subtypes; mild obesity-related diabetes (MOD), mild age-related diabetes with insulin insufficiency (MARD-II) and severe insulin-resistant diabetes with relative insulin insufficiency (SIRD-RII) had differential cardio-renal complication risk. We assessed the proteomic profiles to identify subtype specific biomarkers and its association with diabetes complications.

Methods: 1448 plasma proteins at baseline were measured and compared across the T2D subtypes.

Incident heart failure and the subsequent risk of progression to end stage kidney disease in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Background: Diabetic kidney disease is an established risk factor for heart failure. However, the impact of incident heart failure on the subsequent risk of renal failure has not been systematically assessed in diabetic population. We sought to study the risk of progression to end stage kidney disease (ESKD) after incident heart failure in Asian patients with type 2 diabetes.

Plasma ceramides predict all-cause and cause-specific mortality in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Context: The CERT1 (Cardiovascular Event Risk Test) score derived from plasma ceramides has been applied clinically for cardiovascular risk assessment.

Objective: To study whether plasma ceramides predict risk of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Design, Setting And Participants: A prospective study which included 1903 outpatients with type 2 diabetes in a regional hospital and a primary care facility in Singapore.

Association of plasma ceramide with decline in kidney function in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Circulating ceramide levels are dysregulated in kidney disease. However, their associations with rapid decline in kidney function (RDKF) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are unknown. In this prospective study of 1746 T2D participants, we examined the association of plasma ceramide Cer16:0, Cer18:0, Cer24:0, and Cer24:1 with RDKF, defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline of 5 ml/min/1.

Urine tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites and risk of end stage kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Context: Metabolites in tricarboxylic acid (TCA) pathway have pleiotropic functions.

Objective: To study the association between urine TCA cycle metabolites and the risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Design, Setting And Participants: A prospective study in a discovery (n = 1826) and a validation (n = 1235) cohort of type 2 diabetes in a regional hospital and a primary care facility.

Association of plasma angiogenin with risk of major cardiovascular events in type 2 diabetes.

Background: Angiogenin, an enzyme belonging to the ribonucleases A superfamily, plays an important role in vascular biology. Here, we sought to study the association of plasma angiogenin and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Methods: This prospective study included 1083 T2D individuals recruited from a secondary hospital and a primary care facility.

Juglone as a Natural Quorum Sensing Inhibitor against pqs-Mediated Virulence and Biofilms.

is a notorious opportunistic pathogen associated with chronic biofilm-related infections, posing a significant challenge to effective treatment strategies. Quorum sensing (QS) and biofilm formation are critical virulence factors employed by , contributing to its pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance. Other than the homoserine-based QS systems, also possesses the quinolone-based Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS) QS signaling.

Blood biomarkers improve the prediction of prevalent and incident severe chronic kidney disease.

Background: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is high. Identification of cases with CKD or at high risk of developing it is important to tailor early interventions. The objective of this study was to identify blood metabolites associated with prevalent and incident severe CKD, and to quantify the corresponding improvement in CKD detection and prediction.

Comparative Analysis of Tolerance to Experimentally Induced Astigmatism with Three Types of Multifocal Intraocular Lenses.

Purpose: The effect of residual astigmatism and its axis on distance and near visual acuities (VAs) with multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) has not been studied extensively. This study compared the tolerance to experimentally induced residual astigmatism among bifocal, trifocal, and extended depth-of-focus (EDOF) IOLs.

Patients And Methods: This retrospective, comparative study included 70 eyes of 70 patients implanted with bifocal, trifocal, or EDOF IOLs.

Plasma Tryptophan-Kynurenine Pathway Metabolites and Risk for Progression to End-Stage Kidney Disease in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.

Objective: We sought to study the associations between plasma metabolites in the tryptophan-kynurenine pathway and the risk of progression to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: Plasma tryptophan, kynurenine, 3-hydroxykynurenine, kynurenic acid, and xanthurenic acid concentrations were measured in discovery (n = 1,915) and replication (n = 346) cohorts. External validation was performed in Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) participants with diabetes (n = 1,312).

Simultaneous Dissemination of Nanoplastics and Antibiotic Resistance by Nematode Couriers.

Nanoplastics (NPs) are increasingly recognized as a newly emerging pollutant in the environment. NPs can enable the colonization of microbial pathogens on their surfaces and adsorb toxic pollutants, such as heavy metals and residual antibiotics. Although the dissemination of plastic particles in water bodies and the atmosphere is widely studied, the dissemination of NPs and adsorbed pollutants on land, via biological means, is poorly understood.

Clinical outcome of a quadrifocal (trifocal) intraocular lens in Chinese patients: prospective, observational case series.

Purpose: To report the visual outcomes and quality of vision and life after bilateral implantation of a single-piece trifocal intraocular lens (IOL) in Chinese patients.

Setting: Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Hong Kong, China.

Design: Prospective, observational case series.

Fibrosis resolution in the mouse liver: Role of Mmp12 and potential role of calpain 1/2.

Although most work has focused on resolution of collagen ECM, fibrosis resolution involves changes to several ECM proteins. The purpose of the current study was twofold: 1) to examine the role of MMP12 and elastin; and 2) to investigate the changes in degraded proteins in plasma (i.e.

Urine Leucine-Rich α-2 Glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) Predicts the Risk of Progression to End-Stage Kidney Disease in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.

Objective: Leucine-rich α-2 glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) was recently identified as an amplifier of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-induced kidney fibrosis in animal models. We aimed to study whether urine LRG1 is associated with risk of progression to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: A total of 1,837 participants with type 2 diabetes and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) >30 mL/min/1.

Empirical Support for the Involvement Load Hypothesis (ILH): A Systematic Review.

The Involvement Load Hypothesis (ILH) has become a widely used framework for predicting second language (L2) vocabulary learning from task completion. The purpose of this systematic review was to analyze the predictive ability of the ILH in the acquisition of aspects of knowing a word, its application in different target populations, the effective vocabulary learning task types designed based on the ILH, and the occurrence rate of the ILH components in vocabulary learning tasks. We searched IEEE, ERIC, WOS, Scopus, and ProQuest databases for empirical studies published between 2001 and 2021, using a vocabulary-focused keyword string combined with an ILH-focused keyword string.

Clinical variable-based cluster analysis identifies novel subgroups with a distinct genetic signature, lipidomic pattern and cardio-renal risks in Asian patients with recent-onset type 2 diabetes.

Aims/hypothesis: We sought to subtype South East Asian patients with type 2 diabetes by de novo cluster analysis on clinical variables, and to determine whether the novel subgroups carry distinct genetic and lipidomic features as well as differential cardio-renal risks.

Methods: Analysis by k-means algorithm was performed in 687 participants with recent-onset diabetes in Singapore. Genetic risk for beta cell dysfunction was assessed by polygenic risk score.

Heterogeneity in extracellular vesicle secretion by single human macrophages revealed by super-resolution microscopy.

The diverse origins, nanometre-scale and invasive isolation procedures associated with extracellular vesicles (EVs) mean they are usually studied in bulk and disconnected from their parental cell. Here, we used super-resolution microscopy to directly compare EVs secreted by individual human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs). MDMs were differentiated to be M0-, M1- or M2-like, with all three secreting EVs at similar densities following activation.

Genetic Risk Score for Plasma Uric Acid Levels Is Associated With Early Rapid Kidney Function Decline in Type 2 Diabetes.

Context: Observational studies have shown that elevated uric acid (UA) is associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, whether the relationship is causal remains unclear.

Objective: To determine the association of plasma UA and incident CKD and the causal relationship between plasma UA and rapid decline in kidney function (RDKF) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Pre-Service Teachers Learning to Teach English to Very Young Learners in Macau: Do Beliefs Trump Practice?

The global importance of English and therefore the teaching of the English language has made the English language curriculum an integral part of all levels of teacher education, including early childhood education. The purpose of this study was to first explore the beliefs about the teaching of English to very young learners held by pre-service pre-primary teachers in Macau and then to see whether these beliefs were reflected in their microteaching. Qualitative content analysis performed on the written reflections and transcriptions of the microteaching videos of 75 pre-service pre-primary teachers found that their beliefs about classroom practices, lesson planning, and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners and learning were the most predominant beliefs exhibited in their reflections and were evidenced in their microteaching.