Study the correlation of FIB-4 and sST2 levels with heart failure

Objective To investigate the correlation between hepatic fibrosis index-4 （FIB-4） and soluble growth stimulating gene 2 protein （sST2） with the incidence and severity of heart failure. Methods 114 patients with heart failure were selected in the heart failure group and 38 healthy controls in the same period were assigned into the control group. The differences in general conditions and the expression levels of FIB-4 and sST2 were compared between two groups. According to the NYHA cardiac function classification， all patients with heart failure were divided into grade Ⅱ-Ⅳ. According to the left ventricular ejection fraction （LVEF）， they were divided into heart failure with decreased ejection fraction （HFrEF）， heart failure with preserved ejection fraction （HFpEF） and heart failure with median ejection fraction （HFmrEF）. The levels of FIB-4 and sST2 were compared among all groups， and the receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curves of FIB-4 and sST2 and their combination and heart failure specificity were drawn. Results According to the New York Heart Association （NYHA） classification， the levels of FIB-4 in patients with heart failure were higher than those in healthy controls， and the levels of FIB-4 in grade Ⅳ patients were higher compared with those in grade Ⅱ and Ⅲ counterparts （all P < 0.01）， whereas no significant difference was observed between gradeⅡand grade Ⅲ individuals （P > 0.05）. Significant differences were found in the levels of sST2 among grade Ⅱ， grade Ⅲ and grade Ⅳ groups （all P < 0 05）. There were statistical differences in the overall distribution of FIB-4 and sST2 among patients with heart failure of different types （P < 0.05）. The ROC curve showed that the area under the ROC curve （AUC） of FIB-4 in the diagnosis of heart failure was 0.784， the AUC of heart failure diagnosed by ST2 was 0.910， and the AUC of these two combined in the diagnosis of heart failure was 0.922， and the specificity was higher than that of either single diagnosis （both P < 0.001）. Conclusions FIB-4 is related to the grading of cardiac function， and the level of sST2 is positively correlated with NYHA and LVEF classification. The combination of FIB-4 and sST2 yields higher specificity in the diagnosis of heart failure and can be utilized to evaluate the severity of heart failure， which is of great significance for the diagnosis， treatment and prognosis of heart failure

Observational and modeling studies of oceanic responses and feedbacks to typhoons Hato and Mangkhut over the northern shelf of the South China Sea

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Dong, W., Feng, Y., Chen, C., Wu, Z., Xu, D., Li, S., Xu, Q., Wang, L., Beardsley, R. C., Lin, H., Li, R., Chen, J., & Li, J. Observational and modeling studies of oceanic responses and feedbacks to typhoons Hato and Mangkhut over the northern shelf of the South China Sea. Progress in Oceanography, 191, (2021): 102507, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2020.102507.Meteorological and oceanic responses to Typhoons Hato and Mangkhut were captured by storm-monitoring network buoys over the northern shelf of the South China Sea. With similar shelf-traversing trajectories, these two typhoons exhibited distinctly different features in storm-induced oceanic mixing and oceanic heat transfer through the air-sea interface. A well-defined cold wake was detected underneath the storm due to a rapid drop in sea surface temperature during the Hato crossing, but not during the Mangkhut crossing. Impacts of oceanic mixing on forming a storm-produced cold wake were associated with the pre-storm condition of water stratification. In addition to oceanic mixing produced through the diffusion process by shear and buoyancy turbulence productions, the short-time scale of mixing suggested convection/overturning may play a critical role in the rapid cooling at the sea surface. The importance of convection/overturning to mixing depended on the duration of atmospheric cooling above the sea surface-the longer the atmospheric cooling, the more significant effect on mixing. Including the oceanic mixed layer (OML) in the WRF model was capable of reproducing the observed storm-induced variations of wind and air pressure, but not the air and sea surface temperatures. Process-oriented numerical experiments with the OML models supported both observational and modeling findings. To simulate the storm-induced mixing in a coupled atmospheric and oceanic model, we need to improve the physics of vertical mixing with non-hydrostatic convection/overturning. Warming over the shelf is projected to have a more energetic influence on future typhoon intensities and trajectories.This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Programs of China with grant numbers 2018YFC-1406201; 2016YFA-0602700; 2018YFC-1506903; 2018YFC-1406205, and the National Sciences Foundation of China with grant number U1811464. S. Li was supported by the oversea Ph.D. fellowship from the China Scholarship Council (No. 1409010025) and Dr. Chen’s Montgomery Charter Chair graduate education funds at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

Curcumin Downregulates Phosphate Carrier and Protects against Doxorubicin Induced Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis

Aim. To explore the effects of curcumin on phosphate carrier (PiC) and its role in protection against doxorubicin induced myocyte toxicity. Methods. Using H9c2 cell line, the cardiotoxic effect of doxorubicin and its mitigation by curcumin were studied. H9c2 cells were cultured with doxorubicin and/or curcumin at various concentrations. Analysis for apoptosis of H9c2 was done using flow cytometry. Confocal laser scanning microscopy was used to record the fluorescence intensity ratios and to determine the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) opening state. Oxidative stress was measured using glutathione level, superoxide dismutase activities, and malondialdehyde content. The effect of doxorubicin and curcumin on PiC gene expression was measured by real-time PCR. Results. Curcumin decreased mRNA of PiC and was partly protective against oxidative stress, loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, and apoptosis induced by doxorubicin. Interestingly, the effect was not clearly dose dependent and the concentration of 12 mg/L was more efficient than 15 and 10 mg/L. Conclusion. Curcumin downregulates PiC and partly protects against doxorubicin induced oxidative stress and myocyte apoptosis

A Combined Self-Consistent Method to Estimate the Effective Properties of Polypropylene/Calcium Carbonate Composites

In this work, trying to avoid difficulty of application due to the irregular filler shapes in experiments, self-consistent and differential self-consistent methods were combined to obtain a decoupled equation. The combined method suggests a tenor gamma independent of filler-contents being an important connection between high and low filler-contents. On one hand, the constant parameter can be calculated by Eshelby's inclusion theory or the Mori-Tanaka method to predict effective properties of composites coinciding with its hypothesis. On the other hand, the parameter can be calculated with several experimental results to estimate the effective properties of prepared composites of other different contents. In addition, an evaluation index sigma'(f) of the interactional strength between matrix and fillers is proposed based on experiments. In experiments, a hyper-dispersant was synthesized to prepare polypropylene/calcium carbonate (PP/CaCO3) composites up to 70 wt % of filler-content with dispersion, whose dosage was only 5 wt % of the CaCO3 contents. Based on several verifications, it is hoped that the combined self-consistent method is valid for other two-phase composites in experiments with the same application progress as in this work

Co-existence of Rhizobia and Diverse Non-rhizobial Bacteria in the Rhizosphere and Nodules of Dalbergia odorifera Seedlings Inoculated with Bradyrhizobium elkanii, Rhizobium multihospitium–Like and Burkholderia pyrrocinia–Like Strains

Rhizobia induce root nodules and fix atmospheric N2 for most legume species in exchange for carbon. However, the diverse endophytic non-rhizobial bacteria in legume nodules that co-exist with rhizobia are often ignored because they are difficult to cultivate using routine cultivation approaches. To enhance our understanding of the incidence and diversity of legume–bacteria associations, a high-throughput sequencing analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA genes was used to examine the bacterial community in the rhizospheres and root nodules of Dalbergia odorifera seedlings that were uninoculated or inoculated with Bradyrhizobium elkanii H255, Rhizobium multihospitium–like HT221, or Burkholderia pyrrocinia–like H022238, in two growth media (nitrogen [N]-supplied soil or N-omitted potting mix). Seedlings inoculated with Bradyrhizobium had significantly more nodules than seedlings in the other inoculation conditions, regardless of growth media. Using the 15N natural abundance method, it was shown that the inoculated plants had significantly higher N2 fixation efficiency (48–57%) and specific nodule activity [269–313 μg N mg−1 of dry weight (dwt) nodule] compared to the uninoculated plants (203 μg N mg−1 dwt nodule). The 16S rRNA gene analysis showed that there was generally a higher bacterial diversity in the rhizosphere than in the nodules in the corresponding condition. Both rhizobial inoculation and media status significantly altered the bacterial communities in the rhizospheres and nodules (P < 0.05), with the exception of the inoculated soil rhizospheres. Regarding non-rhizobial bacteria, three genera, i.e., Lactococcus, Bacillus, and Pseudomonas, were consistently enriched in the rhizosphere and Bradyrhizobium, Chloroplast norank (which belongs to Cyanobacteria), and Lactococcus were commonly found in the nodules. In contrast, common rhizobial genera (including Rhizobium, Mesorhizobium, and Burkholderia) were only present in the nodules at low relative abundances (0.01–3.41%). Regarding non-rhizobial bacteria, 32 genera were found in the nodules, with non-rhizobial bacteria being predominant in the N omitted potting mix (with a relative abundance of 56–87%). This study suggests that legume nodules are inhabited by a high diversity of non-rhizobial bacteria, which may play a vital role in nodulation and N2 fixation in the host plants

Reply to Mahat, R.K.; Rathore, V. Comment on “Xiang et al. Association between the Triglyceride-Glucose Index and Vitamin D Status in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. <i>Nutrients</i> 2023, <i>15</i>, 639”

We are pleased to see that Mahat and Rathore [...