Combination of Diabetes Risk Factors and Hepatic Steatosis in Chinese: The Cardiometabolic Risk in Chinese (CRC) Study

Aims Hepatic steatosis has been related to insulin resistance and increased diabetes risk. We assessed whether combination of diabetes risk factors, evaluated by the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score, was associated with risk of hepatic steatosis in an apparently healthy Chinese population. Research Design and Methods The study samples were from a community-based health examination survey in central China. In total 1,780 men and women (18–64 y) were included in the final analyses. Hepatic steatosis was diagnosed by ultrasonography. We created combination of diabetes risk factors score on basis of age, Body Mass Index, waist circumference, physical activity at least 4 h a week, daily consumption of fruits, berries or vegetables, history of antihypertensive drug treatment, history of high blood glucose. The total risk score is a simple sum of the individual weights, and values range from 0 to 20. Results: Hepatic steatosis was present 18% in the total population. In multivariate models, the odds ratios of hepatic steatosis were 1.20 (95%CI 1.15–1.25) in men and 1.25 (95%CI 1.14–1.37) in women by each unit increase in the combination of diabetes risk factors score, after adjustment for blood pressure, liver enzymes, plasma lipids, and fasting glucose. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for hepatic steatosis was 0.78 (95%CI 0.76–0.80), 0.76 in men (95%CI 0.74–0.78) and 0.83 (95%CI 0.79–0.87) in women. Conclusions: Our data suggest that combination of major diabetes risk factors was significantly related to risk of hepatic steatosis in Chinese adults

Neck circumference and early stage atherosclerosis: the cardiometabolic risk in Chinese (CRC) study

Background: Neck circumference (NC) has been previously related to cardiometabolic risk factors. In this study we examined the association between NC and early stage atherosclerosis in Chinese adults. Methods: The study samples were from a community-based health examination survey in central China. In total 2,318 men and women (18-64 y) were included in the final analyses. Carotid radial pulse wave velocity (crPWV), carotid femoral PWV (cfPWV), carotid artery dorsalis pedis PWV (cdPWV) and NC were measured. Results: After adjustment for age, sex, lipids, glucose, blood pressure, heart rate, body mass index (BMI), high NC was significantly associated with an increasing trend of cfPWV, cdPWV and crPWV (P = 0.001, 0.049, and 0.038; respectively). In addition, we found significant interaction between hypertension status and NC level in relation to cfPWV, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, fasting glucose, lipids and heart rate(P for interaction = 0.034). The associations between NC and cfPWV were significant (P = 0.02) among those with hypertension, but not significant among those without hypertension. Conclusions: Our data showed that high NC was associated with an increased risk of early stage atherosclerosis in Chinese adults, independent of other metabolic risk factors. Hypertension might modify the association between NC and cfPWV

Combination of Diabetes Risk Factors and Hepatic Steatosis in Chinese: The Cardiometabolic Risk in Chinese (CRC) Study

Aims Hepatic steatosis has been related to insulin resistance and increased diabetes risk. We assessed whether combination of diabetes risk factors, evaluated by the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score, was associated with risk of hepatic steatosis in an apparently healthy Chinese population. Research Design and Methods The study samples were from a community-based health examination survey in central China. In total 1,780 men and women (18–64 y) were included in the final analyses. Hepatic steatosis was diagnosed by ultrasonography. We created combination of diabetes risk factors score on basis of age, Body Mass Index, waist circumference, physical activity at least 4 h a week, daily consumption of fruits, berries or vegetables, history of antihypertensive drug treatment, history of high blood glucose. The total risk score is a simple sum of the individual weights, and values range from 0 to 20. Results: Hepatic steatosis was present 18% in the total population. In multivariate models, the odds ratios of hepatic steatosis were 1.20 (95%CI 1.15–1.25) in men and 1.25 (95%CI 1.14–1.37) in women by each unit increase in the combination of diabetes risk factors score, after adjustment for blood pressure, liver enzymes, plasma lipids, and fasting glucose. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for hepatic steatosis was 0.78 (95%CI 0.76–0.80), 0.76 in men (95%CI 0.74–0.78) and 0.83 (95%CI 0.79–0.87) in women. Conclusions: Our data suggest that combination of major diabetes risk factors was significantly related to risk of hepatic steatosis in Chinese adults

Efficacy and Safety of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Post-Stroke Dysphagia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Dysphagia is one of the most common symptoms in patients after stroke onset, which has multiple unfavorable effects on quality of life and functional recovery. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation that is widely used to improve deglutition function. Recently, some studies have confirmed that tDCS enhances deglutition function after stroke. However, the number of evaluation indexes used in those studies was small, and the number of trials included was limited. Most importantly, the optimal stimulation protocol is still uncertain and the safety of tDCS has not been reviewed. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to address these shortcomings. Methods: Seven databases were searched entirely, including Pubmed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed), Wan-fang database, and the Chinese Scientific Journals Database (VIP) from inception to 31 December 2021. Two reviewers independently evaluated the eligibility of retrieved data according to the selection criteria and assessed the methodological quality of the studies using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Outcomes, measures, and indicators used in this study included the dysphagia outcome and severity scale (DOSS), modified Mann assessment of swallowing ability (MMASA), functional oral intake scale (FOIS), functional dysphagia scale (FDS), and Kubota’s water-drinking test (KWDT). Sensitivity and subgroup analyses were performed to evaluate the intervention effect more specifically. Results: Fifteen trials with a total of 787 participants (394 subjects in the tDCS groups were treated with true tDCS, and 393 subjects in the control groups were wait-listed or treated with sham tDCS) involving tDCS for dysphagia after stroke and were included in the meta-analysis. Results of this meta-analysis confirmed that tDCS had a positive effect on post-stroke dysphagia. Subgroup analyses revealed that bilateral and high-intensity stimulation with tDCS had a more significant impact on post-stroke dysphagia. Furthermore, no adverse events occurred during the application of tDCS for post-stroke dysphagia. Conclusion: tDCS can promote the recovery of deglutition function in patients with dysphagia after stroke. In addition, bilateral stimulation and high-intensity stimulation may have better effects. However, the safety evidence for tDCS and post-stroke dysphagia is insufficient

Body Dimension Measurements of Qinchuan Cattle with Transfer Learning from LiDAR Sensing

For the time-consuming and stressful body measuring task of Qinchuan cattle and farmers, the demand for the automatic measurement of body dimensions has become more and more urgent. It is necessary to explore automatic measurements with deep learning to improve breeding efficiency and promote the development of industry. In this paper, a novel approach to measuring the body dimensions of live Qinchuan cattle with on transfer learning is proposed. Deep learning of the Kd-network was trained with classical three-dimensional (3D) point cloud datasets (PCD) of the ShapeNet datasets. After a series of processes of PCD sensed by the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor, the cattle silhouettes could be extracted, which after augmentation could be applied as an input layer to the Kd-network. With the output of a convolutional layer of the trained deep model, the output layer of the deep model could be applied to pre-train the full connection network. The TrAdaBoost algorithm was employed to transfer the pre-trained convolutional layer and full connection of the deep model. To classify and recognize the PCD of the cattle silhouette, the average accuracy rate after training with transfer learning could reach up to 93.6%. On the basis of silhouette extraction, the candidate region of the feature surface shape could be extracted with mean curvature and Gaussian curvature. After the computation of the FPFH (fast point feature histogram) of the surface shape, the center of the feature surface could be recognized and the body dimensions of the cattle could finally be calculated. The experimental results showed that the comprehensive error of body dimensions was close to 2%, which could provide a feasible approach to the non-contact observations of the bodies of large physique livestock without any human intervention

Recent Developments on the Roles of Calcium Signals and Potential Therapy Targets in Cervical Cancer

Intracellular calcium (Ca2+) concentration ([Ca2+]i) is implicated in proliferation, invasion, and metastasis in cancerous tissues. A variety of oncologic therapies and some candidate drugs induce their antitumor effects (in part or in whole) through the modulation of [Ca2+]i. Cervical cancer is one of most common cancers among women worldwide. Recently, major research advances relating to the Ca2+ signals in cervical cancer are emerging. In this review, we comprehensively describe the current progress concerning the roles of Ca2+ signals in the occurrence, development, and prognosis of cervical cancer. It will enhance our understanding of the causative mechanism of Ca2+ signals in cervical cancer and thus provide new sights for identifying potential therapeutic targets for drug discovery

Cardiovascular risk factor profile by gender and FINDRISC values.

<p>Data are means except where noted otherwise.</p

Clinical characteristics of the participants by gender.

<p>Data are means ± standard deviations for the continuous variables and percentage for the categorical variables.</p

Receiver operating characteristic curve for the performance of steatosis in the study population.

<p>The analyses were adjusted for blood pressure, liver enzymes, plasma lipids, and fasting glucose.</p