The relationship between frequent premature ventricular complexes and epicardial adipose tissue volume

BackgroundEpicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is related to atrial fibrillation. The association between EAT volume and premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) remains unclear. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of EAT volume on the risk of frequent PVCs and burden levels of PVCs.MethodsThis observational study retrospectively recruited consecutive patients who had consultation between 2019 and 2021 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Frequent PVC patients (n = 402) and control patients (n = 402) undergoing non-contrast computed tomography (CT) were enrolled. We selected evaluation criteria for the conduct of a 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) analysis. Multivariable logistic analysis was used to investigate factors related to frequent PVCs. Furthermore, the determinants of EAT volume and the burden levels of PVCs were evaluated.ResultsPatients with PVCs had a significantly larger EAT volume than control patients. EAT volume was significantly larger in male PVC patients with BMI ≥24 kg/m2, diabetes mellitus, and E/A ratio <1. EAT volume was independently associated with PVCs. Moreover, the larger EAT volume was an independent predictor for the high burden level of PVCs. We revealed that the risk of high PVC burden level was increased with the rising of EAT volume by restricted cubic splines.ConclusionsEAT volume was larger in frequent PVC patients than in control patients, regardless of other confounding factors. A large EAT volume was independently associated with high burden levels of PVCs. EAT volume may be a new mechanism to explain the pathogenesis of PVCs

Sex Differences in Quality of Life and their Explanatory Variables in Patients with Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation

Background: Women with atrial fibrillation (AF) have poorer quality of life (QoL) than men; however, the factors contributing to the poorer QoL in women is unclear. Methods: We analyzed data for 3562 patients with non-valvular AF enrolled in the China Registry of Atrial Fibrillation. The Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to evaluate QoL, which was compared between women and men. A multivariate logistic regression analysis model was used to explore factors potentially explaining the sex difference in QoL. Results: Overall, 43.3% of the cohort comprised women (n=1541) who were older than their male counterparts (72 ± 9.8 vs. 68 ± 11.9 years, P<0.001). Compared with men, women were more likely to have more symptoms, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and heart failure. Women were less likely than men to receive catheter ablation (4.5% vs. 6.1%, P=0.044). Women also had lower physical component summary (PCS) scores (48 ± 9 vs. 51 ± 9, P<0.001) and mental component summary (MCS) scores (49 ± 10 vs. 51 ± 10, P<0.001) than men. In the multivariable analysis of the poorer PCS scores in women, patient age explained 32.9%, low socioeconomic status explained 20.0%, lifestyle explained 14.3%, cardiovascular comorbidities explained 15.7%, the presence of more symptoms explained 5.7%, and less catheter ablation explained 1.4%. These factors also explained similar proportions of the sex difference in MCS scores. Together, these factors explained 54.3% of the poorer physical function status and 46.8% of the poorer mental function status in women than men. Conclusions: Women with AF had poorer QoL than men. The following factors partly explained the poorer QoL in women: older age, low level of socioeconomic status, more cardiovascular comorbidities, less smoking and drinking, more symptoms, and less catheter ablation

Cortical structural differences in major depressive disorder correlate with cell type-specific transcriptional signatures

Abstract: Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been shown to be associated with structural abnormalities in a variety of spatially diverse brain regions. However, the correlation between brain structural changes in MDD and gene expression is unclear. Here, we examine the link between brain-wide gene expression and morphometric changes in individuals with MDD, using neuroimaging data from two independent cohorts and a publicly available transcriptomic dataset. Morphometric similarity network (MSN) analysis shows replicable cortical structural differences in individuals with MDD compared to control subjects. Using human brain gene expression data, we observe that the expression of MDD-associated genes spatially correlates with MSN differences. Analysis of cell type-specific signature genes suggests that microglia and neuronal specific transcriptional changes account for most of the observed correlation with MDD-specific MSN differences. Collectively, our findings link molecular and structural changes relevant for MDD

A hierarchical porous microstructure for improving long-term stability of Ni1-xCux/SDC anode-supported IT-SOFCs fueled with dry methane

A series of Ni1-xCux/Sm-doped ceria (Ni1-xCux/SDC) anodes have been prepared through introducing a soluble pore former with the co-pressing and co-sintering process. Uniform hierarchical porous microstructures are formed in Ni0.9Cu0.1/SDC anode with interconnected large pores of 2–5 μm and 100–300 nm small pores on the wall. The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) based on such anode exhibits exceptional electrochemical catalytic activity for dry CH4 oxidation and a maximum power density of 379 mW cm−2 is acquired at 600 °C. Durability test results show only 2.4% power density drop is observed after 72 h operation under a constant cell voltage of 0.5 V. The results have demonstrated that the optimization of anode microstructures is an effective way to improve the performance and long-term stability of Ni1-xCux alloy-based anode-supported SOFC

The Genomes of Oryza sativa: A History of Duplications

We report improved whole-genome shotgun sequences for the genomes of indica and japonica rice, both with multimegabase contiguity, or almost 1,000-fold improvement over the drafts of 2002. Tested against a nonredundant collection of 19,079 full-length cDNAs, 97.7% of the genes are aligned, without fragmentation, to the mapped super-scaffolds of one or the other genome. We introduce a gene identification procedure for plants that does not rely on similarity to known genes to remove erroneous predictions resulting from transposable elements. Using the available EST data to adjust for residual errors in the predictions, the estimated gene count is at least 38,000–40,000. Only 2%–3% of the genes are unique to any one subspecies, comparable to the amount of sequence that might still be missing. Despite this lack of variation in gene content, there is enormous variation in the intergenic regions. At least a quarter of the two sequences could not be aligned, and where they could be aligned, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rates varied from as little as 3.0 SNP/kb in the coding regions to 27.6 SNP/kb in the transposable elements. A more inclusive new approach for analyzing duplication history is introduced here. It reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication, a recent segmental duplication on Chromosomes 11 and 12, and massive ongoing individual gene duplications. We find 18 distinct pairs of duplicated segments that cover 65.7% of the genome; 17 of these pairs date back to a common time before the divergence of the grasses. More important, ongoing individual gene duplications provide a never-ending source of raw material for gene genesis and are major contributors to the differences between members of the grass family

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Integrated Transcriptomics and Metabolomics Analysis of Two Maize Hybrids (ZD309 and XY335) under Heat Stress at the Flowering Stage

High temperature around flowering has a serious impact on the growth and development of maize. However, few maize genes related to flowering under heat stress have been confirmed, and the regulatory mechanism is unclear. To reveal the molecular mechanism of heat tolerance in maize, two maize hybrids, ZD309 and XY335, with different heat resistance, were selected to perform transcriptome and metabolomics analysis at the flowering stage under heat stress. In ZD309, 314 up-regulated and 463 down-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected, while 168 up-regulated and 119 down-regulated DEGs were identified in XY335. By comparing the differential gene expression patterns of ZD309 and XY335, we found the “frontloaded” genes which were less up-regulated in heat-tolerant maize during high temperature stress. They included heat tolerance genes, which may react faster at the protein level to provide resilience to instantaneous heat stress. A total of 1062 metabolites were identified via metabolomics analysis. Lipids, saccharides, and flavonoids were found to be differentially expressed under heat stress, indicating these metabolites’ response to high temperature. Our study will contribute to the identification of heat tolerance genes in maize, therefore contributing to the breeding of heat-tolerant maize varieties

Metabolic disorders and risk of cardiovascular diseases: a two-sample mendelian randomization study

Abstract Background Metabolic disorders are increasing worldwide and are characterized by various risk factors such as abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, impaired glucose metabolism, and dyslipidemia. Observational studies suggested a bidirectional association between cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders and its components. However, the causal associations between them remained unclear. This study aims to investigate the causal relationship between metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease through Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Methods A two-sample MR analysis based on publicly available genome-wide association studies were used to infer the causality. The single-nucleotide polymorphisms with potential pleiotropy were excluded by MR-PRESSO. The effect estimates were constructed using the random-effects inverse-variance-weighted method as the primary estimate. Furthermore, MR-Egger and weighted median were also performed to detect heterogeneity and pleiotropy. Results Genetically predicted metabolic disorders increased the risk for coronary heart disease (OR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.55–2.03, p < 0.001), myocardial infarction (OR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.52–2.03, p < 0.001), heart failure (OR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.14–1.39, p < 0.001), hypertension (OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00-1.02, p = 0.002), and stroke (OR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.08–1.32, p < 0.001). The concordance of the results of various complementary sensitivity MR methods reinforces the causal relationship further. Conclusion This study provides evidence of a causal relationship between metabolic disorders and increased risk of coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, heart failure, hypertension, and stroke. Special attention should be paid to improving metabolic disorders to reduce the development of cardiovascular diseases

Structure and Entanglement Factors on Dynamics of Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles functionalized with long polymer chains at low graft density are interesting systems to study structure–dynamic relationships in polymer nanocomposites since they are shown to aggregate into strings in both solution and melts and also into spheres and branched aggregates in the presence of free polymer chains. This work investigates structure and entanglement effects in composites of polystyrene-grafted iron oxide nanoparticles by measuring particle relaxations using X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. Particles within highly ordered strings and aggregated systems experience a dynamically heterogeneous environment displaying hyperdiffusive relaxation commonly observed in jammed soft glassy systems. Furthermore, particle dynamics is diffusive for branched aggregated structures which could be caused by less penetration of long matrix chains into brushes. These results suggest that particle motion is dictated by the strong interactions of chains grafted at low density with the host matrix polymer