Magnesium, vitamin D status and mortality: results from US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001 to 2006 and NHANES III

Background: Magnesium plays an essential role in the synthesis and metabolism of vitamin D and magnesium supplementation substantially reversed the resistance to vitamin D treatment in patients with magnesium-dependent vitamin-D-resistant rickets. We hypothesized that dietary magnesium alone, particularly its interaction with vitamin D intake, contributes to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels, and the associations between serum 25(OH)D and risk of mortality may be modified by magnesium intake level. Methods: We tested these novel hypotheses utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001 to 2006, a population-based cross-sectional study, and the NHANES III cohort, a population-based cohort study. Serum 25(OH)D was used to define vitamin D status. Mortality outcomes in the NHANES III cohort were determined by using probabilistic linkage with the National Death Index (NDI). Results: High intake of total, dietary or supplemental magnesium was independently associated with significantly reduced risks of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency respectively. Intake of magnesium significantly interacted with intake of vitamin D in relation to risk of both vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency. Additionally, the inverse association between total magnesium intake and vitamin D insufficiency primarily appeared among populations at high risk of vitamin D insufficiency. Furthermore, the associations of serum 25(OH)D with mortality, particularly due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and colorectal cancer, were modified by magnesium intake, and the inverse associations were primarily present among those with magnesium intake above the median. Conclusions: Our preliminary findings indicate it is possible that magnesium intake alone or its interaction with vitamin D intake may contribute to vitamin D status. The associations between serum 25(OH)D and risk of mortality may be modified by the intake level of magnesium. Future studies, including cohort studies and clinical trials, are necessary to confirm the findings

Proposed clinical phases for the improvement of personalized treatment of checkpoint inhibitor–related pneumonitis

BackgroundCheckpoint inhibitor–related pneumonitis (CIP) is a lethal immune-related adverse event. However, the development process of CIP, which may provide insight into more effective management, has not been extensively examined.MethodsWe conducted a multicenter retrospective analysis of 56 patients who developed CIP. Clinical characteristics, radiological features, histologic features, and laboratory tests were analyzed. After a comprehensive analysis, we proposed acute, subacute, and chronic phases of CIP and summarized each phase’s characteristics.ResultsThere were 51 patients in the acute phase, 22 in the subacute phase, and 11 in the chronic phase. The median interval time from the beginning of CIP to the different phases was calculated (acute phase: ≤4.9 weeks; subacute phase: 4.9~13.1 weeks; and chronic phase: ≥13.1 weeks). The symptoms relieved from the acute phase to the chronic phase, and the CIP grade and Performance Status score decreased (P<0.05). The main change in radiologic features was the absorption of the lesions, and 3 (3/11) patients in the chronic phase had persistent traction bronchiectasis. For histologic features, most patients had acute fibrinous pneumonitis in the acute phase (5/8), and most had organizing pneumonia in the subacute phase (5/6). Other histologic changes advanced over time, with the lesions entering a state of fibrosis. Moreover, the levels of interleukin-6, interleukin-10 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) increased in the acute phase and decreased as CIP progressed (IL-6: 17.9 vs. 9.8 vs. 5.7, P=0.018; IL-10: 4.6 vs 3.0 vs. 2.0, P=0.041; hsCRP: 88.2 vs. 19.4 vs. 14.4, P=0.005).ConclusionsThe general development process of CIP can be divided into acute, subacute, and chronic phases, upon which a better management strategy might be based devised

Deep-Learning-Based Wireless Visual Sensor System for Shiitake Mushroom Sorting

The shiitake mushroom is the second-largest edible mushroom in the world, with a high nutritional and medicinal value. The surface texture of shiitake mushrooms can be quite different due to different growing environments, consequently leading to fluctuating market prices. To maximize the economic profit of the mushroom industry, it is necessary to sort the harvested mushrooms according to their qualities. This paper aimed to develop a deep-learning-based wireless visual sensor system for shiitake mushroom sorting, in which the visual detection was realized by the collection of images and cooperative transmission with the help of visual sensors and Wi-Fi modules, respectively. The model training process was achieved using Vision Transformer, then three data-augmentation methods, which were Random Erasing, RandAugment, and Label Smoothing, were applied under the premise of a small sample dataset. The training result of the final model turned out nearly perfect, with an accuracy rate reaching 99.2%. Meanwhile, the actual mushroom-sorting work using the developed system obtained an accuracy of 98.53%, with an 8.7 ms processing time for every single image. The results showed that the system could efficiently complete the sorting of shiitake mushrooms with a stable and high accuracy. In addition, the system could be extended for other sorting tasks based on visual features. It is also possible to combine binocular vision and multisensor technology with the current system to deal with sorting work that requires a higher accuracy and minor feature identification

A Pilot Study on Zinc Isotopic Compositions in Shallow‐Water Coral Skeletons

Abstract The trace metal element zinc (Zn) participates in coral metabolic processes and therefore accumulates in their skeletons. These metabolic processes are largely controlled by the changes of environment in which they live, so Zn isotopic compositions (δ66Zn) in coral skeletons may possibly serve as potential tracers for climate and environmental changes. In this study, we first reported the δ66Zn in shallow‐water coral skeletons by investigating with monthly resolution δ66Zn values in the skeleton of a modern Porites coral 10AR2 from the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, and the bulk skeletal δ66Zn values of several coral species from the Luhuitou Reef of Hainan Island in the northern South China Sea. Correlations between δ66Zn and other climate and environmental proxies (Sr/Ca, δ18O, and δ13C) and instrumental environmental variables (sea surface temperature, river runoff, and chlorophyll a) are poor, suggesting that the effects of external environmental changes on monthly variations in δ66Zn in coral skeletons are not significant. However, significant interspecific differences in the skeletal δ66Zn of corals growing under identical external environments may suggest the occurrence of biologically controlled δ66Zn fractionation during coral skeletons formation. In addition, the monthly δ66Zn in the 10AR2 coral skeleton roughly decreases with increasing temperature, which is in agreement with the recent finding that δ66Zn in coral tissues and zooxanthellae increases with increasing temperature and can serve as a proxy for thermal stress in corals. We thus suggest that the complicated coral internal biological processes hinder the use of skeletal δ66Zn as a climate and environmental proxy

Effects of combining immune checkpoint inhibitors and anti-angiogenic agents on bone metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer patients

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of combining immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and anti-angiogenic agents in treating lung cancer patients with bone metastases (BMs), as it is unclear whether this combination is effective for this condition. Non-small cell lung cancer patients with BMs receiving ICIs were divided into experimental and control groups based on anti-angiogenic treatment. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method, with log-rank test for comparisons. Prognostic factors were determined by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. The study included 95 patients. The experimental group (n = 42) had a higher disease control rate (DCR) (90.5% vs. 68.6%, p = .009), objective response rate (ORR) (35.7% vs. 24.5%, p = .235), and longer median bone PFS (14.3 months vs. 8.3 months, p = .011) for bone metastasis. However, there were no significant differences in overall DCR (92.8% vs. 86.7%, p = .339), ORR (64.3% vs. 62.3%, p = .839), and PFS (12.4 months vs. 11.6 months, p = 0.383) between the 2 groups. The experimental group had a lower incidence of skeleton-related events (SREs) (28.6% vs. 35.8%, p = .425), and SRE patients had shorter PFS (7.7 vs. 14.3 months, p < .001) and OS (12.1 vs. 19.0 months, p = .028). Anti-angiogenic therapy (HR = 0.55, p = .012) and SRE (HR = 2.93, p < .001) were identified as independent prognostic factors for bone metastatic PFS. Adverse events were slightly higher in the experimental group (29.3% vs. 18.9%, p = .238), but not statistically significant. The combination of ICIs and anti-angiogenic agents leads to a significant PFS for BMs and potentially decreases SRE

Additional file 3: of Isoliquiritigenin alleviates early brain injury after experimental intracerebral hemorrhage via suppressing ROS- and/or NF-κB-mediated NLRP3 inflammasome activation by promoting Nrf2 antioxidant pathway

Mechanism diagram. Underlying molecular mechanisms of ILG’s neuroprotective effects on the early brain injury after ICH induction. ILG alleviated the early brain injury following ICH may be involved in the regulation of ROS and / or NF-κB on the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome pathway by the triggering of Nrf2 activity and the induction of Nrf2-mediated antioxidant system. (TIF 232 kb