Publications by authors named "Zhuang Zhong"

Aims: Many studies have utilized data sources such as clinical variables, polygenic risk scores, electrocardiogram (ECG), and plasma proteins to predict the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, few studies have integrated all four sources from a single study to comprehensively assess AF prediction.

Methods And Results: We included 8374 (Visit 3, 1993-95) and 3730 (Visit 5, 2011-13) participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study to predict incident AF and prevalent (but covert) AF.

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A comprehensive understanding of cadmium (Cd) migration in soils near contaminated hotspots is crucial for optimizing remediation efforts and ensuring crop health. This study investigates agricultural soils from four sites in mining and sewage-irrigation areas, assessing the impact of inorganic and organic fertilizer application on soil Cd remobilization. Results revealed that fertilization, particularly with mineral phosphorus, disrupts soil stability, substantially increases short-term Cd mobility in vulnerable regions.

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  • Residual feed intake (RFI) is identified as a crucial measure of feed efficiency in poultry, particularly in a study involving 800 slow-growing ducks.
  • Selection of low RFI (LRFI) ducks led to reduced feed consumption and improved feed efficiency without negative impacts on growth, slaughter rates, or meat quality.
  • Gene expression analysis revealed significant differences between high RFI (HRFI) and LRFI ducks, highlighting pathways related to fat and energy metabolism, with the gene PRKAG3 emerging as a key factor in RFI variations.
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  • Dietary threonine (Thr) affects fat storage in ducks, possibly by regulating hepatic lipid metabolism through the STAT3 protein.
  • Research involved isolating duck liver cells and treating them with various doses of Thr or a STAT3 overexpression plasmid to study fatty acid and triglyceride levels.
  • Findings showed that both Thr and overexpressed STAT3 reduce fat deposition in liver cells by inhibiting specific fatty acid and triglyceride metabolism pathways, particularly targeting the SCD1 gene.
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  • Organic fertilizers can improve soil quality and may help manage heavy metal (HM) pollution in vegetable production, but their effectiveness in this area needs more research.
  • * The study found that using organic fertilizers increased soil pH, cation exchange capacity, and organic matter while reducing harmful cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) levels, although it increased arsenic (As) levels in some cases.
  • * Organic fertilizers successfully kept Cd and Pb levels in water spinach below safety limits in soils with low Cd and Pb content, but caution is needed for As-contaminated soils where their effectiveness is limited.
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Considering the extremely high content of soil mineral elements in high geological background areas, it is crucial to understand the transportation and health risks of mineral elements in soil-plant systems. In this study, 30 soil and apple-paired samples were collected from the main apple production areas of Yunnan's high geological background region to determine the contents of mineral elements. The aim was to research the enrichment characteristics, nutritional values, and health risks associated with 12 mineral elements in apples.

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  • - Threonine (Thr) supplementation may help improve liver lipid metabolism in waterfowl, while its deficiency can lead to fat buildup in the liver, but the specific mechanisms are not fully understood.
  • - The study examines how STAT3, a key protein in regulating lipid and energy metabolism, is affected by Thr levels, especially in duck liver cells.
  • - Results indicate that a lack of Thr reduces STAT3 activity, causing increased lipid synthesis and decreased breakdown, leading to fat accumulation in duck hepatocytes.
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A general N-H insertion reactivity of acceptor-acceptor diazo malonate reagents is reported using [Ir(cod)Cl] as catalyst. A large range of amines, primary and secondary, aliphatic and aromatic, is possible. Mild temperatures, perfect substrate/reactant stoichiometry, and good functional group compatibility render the process particularly attractive for the (late-stage) functionalization of amines.

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  • - This study investigates the role of circRNAs and genes in abdominal fat deposition and growth performance in Cherry Valley duck variety, involving an analysis of 304 ducks and RNA-seq of fat tissues from groups with differing fat levels.
  • - Findings revealed that ducks with high abdominal fat had significantly higher ratios of abdominal and intramuscular fat compared to those with low fat.
  • - A total of 85 circRNAs were found to be upregulated and 72 downregulated, with 17 circRNAs identified as potential regulators of fat production, influencing important metabolic pathways.
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Soil heavy metal pollution is a global environmental challenge, posing significant threats to eco-environment, agricultural development, and human health. In recent years, advanced and effective remediation strategies for heavy metal-contaminated soils have developed rapidly, and a systematical summarization of this progress is important. In this review paper, first, the anthropogenic sources of heavy metals in agricultural soils, including atmospheric deposition, animal manure, mineral fertilizers, and pesticides, are summarized.

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  • The study investigated the impact of threonine (Thr) levels in diets on breast muscle development in Pekin ducks by feeding them different Thr diets over 21 days.
  • Results showed that a Thr deficiency diet (Thr-D) led to reduced body weight and muscle fiber size, while a Thr sufficiency diet (Thr-S) promoted growth.
  • RNA sequencing identified 1,300 differentially expressed genes, revealing that Thr affects key signaling pathways related to muscle development, highlighting the importance of Thr in the growth and differentiation of breast muscle in ducks.
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Phytoremediation technology, as an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach, is widely used to restore soil contaminated by heavy metal(loid)s. However, the adaptability and absorption capacity of plants to multiple elements are the crucial factors affecting the application of phytoremediation in mining areas. In this study, dominant native plant species and their paired soils were collected near a lead-zinc mine in Inner Mongolia, to assess the ecological risk of heavy metal(loid)s and phytoremediation potential.

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The health risk caused by heavy metal accumulation in vegetables is of great concern. In this study, a database of heavy metal content in a vegetable-soil system in China was constructed through literature review and field sample collection. A systematic analysis of seven heavy metal contents in edible parts of vegetables and their bioaccumulation capacity among different vegetables was also performed.

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  • South Asia and Southeast Asia are the original homes of domestic chickens, with unique local breeds facing extinction due to intensified poultry farming practices.
  • A study analyzed 21 local chicken populations from southern China and Vietnam using 18 genetic markers, revealing a rich genetic diversity with 377 alleles identified, particularly high variability at the LEI0094 locus.
  • The research found close genetic relationships among several local breeds, indicating they share a common ancestry, while highlighting the need for conservation efforts in response to breeding pressures.
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Dietary threonine (Thr) deficiency enhances triglyceride (TG) deposition in the liver of Pekin ducks, which injures hepatic function and impairs growth performance. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, we investigated the effects of dietary Thr deficiency on the expressions of proteins and phosphoproteins in liver of Pekin ducks, to identify the underlying molecular changes.

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  • * Traditional methods of analyzing brain images often rely on imperfect atlases, potentially missing critical information about brain function.
  • * To improve this, the study suggests using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for automatic feature extraction from 3D MRI data, which has successfully identified genetic variants associated with AD and other mental disorders in a recent application to ADNI data.
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  • - Perovskite materials have diverse crystal structures, and their properties can be predicted using advanced techniques like machine learning (ML), which are faster and less expensive than traditional methods like density functional theory (DFT) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).
  • - This study utilized a dataset of 1647 perovskite compounds to create a model that can automatically identify crystal structures based on key chemical and geometric features, employing a new descriptor called the bond-valence vector sum (BVVS).
  • - The ML model demonstrated high accuracy (up to 97.4%) in predicting the space group and crystal system, and achieved a correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.887 for lattice constants, making it a
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Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) have been increasingly applied to identify (putative) causal genes for complex traits and diseases. TWAS can be regarded as a two-sample two-stage least squares method for instrumental variable (IV) regression for causal inference. The standard TWAS (called TWAS-L) only considers a linear relationship between a gene's expression and a trait in stage 2, which may lose statistical power when not true.

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Cadmium (Cd) pollution of agricultural soil is of public concern due to its high potential toxicity and mobility. This study aimed to reveal the risk of Cd accumulation in soil and wheat/maize systems, with a specific focus on the source-specific ecological risk, human health risk and Cd enrichment model. For this we investigated more than 6100 paired soil and grain samples with 216 datasets including soil Cd contents, soil pH and grain Cd contents of 85 sites from China.

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The reasons for differences in lipid depositions between fatty-type (F-T) and lean-type (L-T) ducks remain unknown. The present study aimed to compare the growth performance, lipid deposition, and gene expression related to lipid droplet formation in F-T and L-T Pekin ducks. One-day-old, 140 each L-T and F-T male ducks were selected and distributed separately into 20 replicate cages.

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Tea (Camellia sinensis) is a popular beverage that is consumed globally. However, a better understanding of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) content in tea leaves and infusion is necessary to minimize risk on human health. Therefore, 249 tea samples (grown in different areas) covering six types of tea were collected in China to investigate the PTEs contents, identify their potential source and assess the health risk associated with drinking tea.

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Celastrol is a quinone methide triterpenoid extracted from the root bark of Hook F, and it exhibits extensive biological activities such as anti-cancer effects. However, narrow therapeutic window together with undesired side effects limit its clinical application. In this study, we explore celastrol's cardiotoxicity using the methods of histology and cell biology.

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  • The study investigates how adding sulfur (S) affects cadmium (Cd) accumulation in rice grown in contaminated paddy soil, focusing on different water management practices.
  • Results show that under discontinuous flooding, sulfur increases Cd concentrations in soil water and iron plaque, while continuous flooding reduces this effect.
  • Ultimately, while sulfur can reduce Cd transfer to rice straw, excessive S application raises Cd levels in rice grains, signaling potential risks in paddy fertilization strategies.
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