Relationships among gut microbes, the interleukin family, and hypertension: a mediation Mendelian randomization study

PurposeObservational studies have increasingly recognized the influence of gut microbes on blood pressure modulation. Despite these findings, a direct causal link between gut flora and hypertension remains unestablished due to inherent confounders and the challenges of reverse causality in observational research. In this study, we sought to elucidate the causal relationship between specific gut flora and hypertension and its intermediary mediators.MethodsWe employed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) and mediation MR analysis, analyzing 211 species of gut bacteria, with a focus on the interleukin family as potential mediators and hypertension as the primary outcome. The central methodological technique was inverse variance-weighted estimation, supplemented by various other estimators.ResultsOur findings revealed that two bacterial species positively correlated with hypertension risk, while five exhibited a negative association. Further validation was conducted using sensitivity analyses. Notably, our mediation MR results suggest interleukin-1 receptor type 2 (IL-1R2) as a mediator for the effect of the genus Clostridium innocuum group on hypertension, accounting for a mediation proportion of 14.07% [mediation effect: (b = 0.0007, 95%CI: 0.0002–0.0011); proportion mediation = 14.07% (4.26–23.40%)].ConclusionOur research confirms a genetic causal relationship between specific gut microbes and hypertension, emphasizing the potential mediating role of interleukin-1 receptor type 2 (IL-1R2) and offering insights for clinical hypertension interventions

Interface of Ni-MgCr₂O₄ Spinel Promotes the Autothermal Reforming of Acetic Acid through Accelerated Oxidation of Carbon-Containing Intermediate Species

Autothermal reforming (ATR) is an effective route for hydrogen production from acetic acid (HAc) derived from biomass. Ni-based catalysts are promising candidates for ATR due to their high activity, but coke formation hinders their practical application. To tackle this issue, a series of Ni-Mg-Cr catalysts with supports of Cr2O3 or MgCr2O4 were prepared by the sol–gel method and evaluated in ATR. The results indicated that as compared to the Ni-Cr2O3 catalyst, the Ni0.25Mg0.75CrO3.5±δ catalyst with MgCr2O4 support presented higher catalytic performance: the conversion rate of acetic acid was stable near 100%, with hydrogen yield reaching 2.64 mol-H2/mol-HAc during a 40 h ATR test, while there was no obvious coking. It was found that Mg modification was prone to constituting a stable MgCr2O4 spinel support with a high specific surface area for adsorption and transformation of HAc; however, for catalysts with excessive Mg addition, namely, Ni0.43Mg2.56CrO4.5±δ and Ni0.69Mg5.31CrO7.5±δ, low reactivity was found and was linked to constraining of Ni from the solid solution of Mg(Ni)O. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that during the ATR process, Ni4-MgCr2O4 presents a low energy barrier for the overall transformation path and a high stabilization of reaction intermediates; furthermore, as compared to Ni4-Cr2O3, oxidation of C* species by O* and OH* is significantly accelerated on Ni4-MgCr2O4 due to the considerably decreased energy barriers, thus eliminating carbon deposition and improving catalytic activity