Medical treatment and long-term outcome of chronic atrial fibrillation in the aged with chest distress: a retrospective analysis versus sinus rhythm

Although “chest distress” is the most frequent complication in the aged with chronic atrial frbrillation (AF) in clinical practice, there are few data on the association between chronic AF and coronary artery disease (CAD) in the aged in terms of medical treatment and long-term outcome. We assessed coronary artery lesions in such patients and evaluated the efficacy of medical treatment in long-term follow-ups. Of 315 elderly patients (mean age: 77.39 ± 6.33 years) who had undergone coronary angiography for chest distress, 297 exhibited sinus rhythm (SR), whereas 18 patients exhibited chronic AF. Patients with AF were followed for 4.22 ± 2.21 years. Average diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of AF patients was observed to be markedly less than that of patients with SR (57.33 ± 6.87 mmHg vs 71.08 ± 10.54 mmHg, t-test: P < 0.01). Compared with SR patients, severe stenosis of the coronary artery in AF patients was reduced (73.06% vs 44.44%, Chi-square test: P < 0.01). AF patients with chest distress had high CHADS2 score (3.72 ± 1.27), but only 33.3% patients received oral anticoagulants, and such patients had a significantly lower rate of revascularization (21.43% vs 55.63%, Chi-square test: P < 0.01), and higher rate of all-cause death (22.22% vs 4.38%, Chi-square test: P < 0.01) and thromboembolism (16.67% vs 1.68%, Chi-square test: P < 0.01) in the long-term follow-ups compared with SR patients. Chest distress in the aged with AF was related to insufficient coronary blood supply that was primarily due to a reduced DBP rather than to occult CAD. Adequate and safe medical therapy was difficult to achieve in these patients. Such patients typically have a poor prognosis, and optimal therapeutic strategies to treat them are urgently needed

Hub genes identification and validation of ferroptosis in SARS-CoV-2 induced ARDS: perspective from transcriptome analysis

IntroductionAcute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) poses a significant health challenge due to its high incidence and mortality rates. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has added complexity, with evidence suggesting a correlation between COVID-19 induced ARDS and post-COVID symptoms. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of ARDS in COVID-19 patients is crucial for effective clinical treatment.MethodTo investigate the potential role of ferroptosis in SARS-CoV-2 induced ARDS, we conducted a comprehensive analysis using bioinformatics methods. Datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were utilized, focusing on COVID-19 patients with varying ARDS severity. We employed weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), differential gene expression analysis, and single-cell sequencing to identify key genes associated with ferroptosis in ARDS. Hub genes were validated using additional GEO datasets and cell experiment.ResultThe analysis discerned 916 differentially expressed genes in moderate/severe ARDS patients compared to non-critical individuals. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) unveiled two modules that exhibited a positive correlation with ARDS, subsequently leading to the identification of 15 hub genes associated with ferroptosis. Among the noteworthy hub genes were MTF1, SAT1, and TXN. Protein-protein interaction analysis, and pathway analysis further elucidated their roles. Immune infiltrating analysis highlighted associations between hub genes and immune cells. Validation in additional datasets confirmed the upregulation of MTF1, SAT1, and TXN in SARS-CoV-2-induced ARDS. This was also demonstrated by qRT-PCR results in the BEAS-2B cells vitro model, suggesting their potential as diagnostic indicators.DiscussionThis study identifies MTF1, SAT1, and TXN as hub genes associated with ferroptosis in SARS-CoV-2-induced ARDS. These findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying ARDS in COVID-19 patients and offer potential targets for immune therapy and targeted treatment. Further experimental validation is warranted to solidify these findings and explore therapeutic interventions for ARDS in the context of COVID-19

IPDreamer: Appearance-Controllable 3D Object Generation with Image Prompts

Recent advances in text-to-3D generation have been remarkable, with methods such as DreamFusion leveraging large-scale text-to-image diffusion-based models to supervise 3D generation. These methods, including the variational score distillation proposed by ProlificDreamer, enable the synthesis of detailed and photorealistic textured meshes. However, the appearance of 3D objects generated by these methods is often random and uncontrollable, posing a challenge in achieving appearance-controllable 3D objects. To address this challenge, we introduce IPDreamer, a novel approach that incorporates image prompts to provide specific and comprehensive appearance information for 3D object generation. Our results demonstrate that IPDreamer effectively generates high-quality 3D objects that are consistent with both the provided text and image prompts, demonstrating its promising capability in appearance-controllable 3D object generation.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Association of Physical Activity with Hormone Receptor Status: The Shanghai Breast Cancer Study

Evidence exists that breast tumors differing by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status may be phenotypically distinct diseases resulting from dissimilar etiologic processes. Few studies have attempted to examine the association of physical activity with breast cancer subtype. Such research may prove instructive into the biological mechanisms of activity. Consequently, this investigation was designed to assess the relationship between physical activity and hormone receptor-defined breast cancers in a population of Asian women in which the distribution of receptor types differed from traditional Western populations. Participants, ages 25 to 64 years, were recruited into this population-based, case-control study of breast cancer conducted in Shanghai, China from August 1996 to March 1998. Histologically confirmed breast cancer cases with available receptor status information (n = 1001) and age frequency-matched controls (n = 1,556) completed in-person interviews. Polytomous logistic regression was used to model the association between measures of activity with each breast cancer subtype (ER+/PR+, ER−/PR−, ER+/PR−, and ER−/PR+) using the control population as the reference group. Exercise in both adolescence and the last 10 years was associated with a decreased risk of both receptor-positive (ER+/PR+) and receptor-negative (ER−/PR−) breast cancers in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women (odds ratios, 0.44 and 0.51 and 0.43 and 0.21, respectively). Sweating during exercise within the last 10 years was also associated with decreased risk for receptor-positive and receptor-negative breast cancers among post-menopausal women (odds ratios, 0.58 and 0.28, respectively). These findings suggest that physical activity may reduce breast cancer risk through both hormonal and nonhormonal pathways

The Association between Serum Serine and Glycine and Related-Metabolites with Pancreatic Cancer in a Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Serine and glycine play an important role in the folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism. The metabolism of serine and glycine has been shown to be associated with cancer cell proliferation. No prior epidemiologic study has investigated the associations for serum levels of serine and glycine with pancreatic cancer risk. Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study involved 129 incident pancreatic cancer cases and 258 individually matched controls within a prospective cohort study of 18,244 male residents in Shanghai, China. Glycine and serine and related metabolites in pre-diagnostic serum were quantified using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. A conditional logistic regression method was used to evaluate the associations for serine, glycine, and related metabolites with pancreatic cancer risk with adjustment for potential confounders. Results: Odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of pancreatic cancer for the highest quartile of serine and glycine were 0.33 (0.14–0.75) and 0.25 (0.11–0.58), respectively, compared with their respective lowest quartiles (both p’s < 0.01). No significant association with risk of pancreatic cancer was observed for other serine- or glycine related metabolites including cystathionine, cysteine, and sarcosine. Conclusion: The risk of pancreatic cancer was reduced by more than 70% in individuals with elevated levels of glycine and serine in serum collected, on average, more than 10 years prior to cancer diagnosis in a prospectively designed case-control study. These novel findings support a protective role of serine and glycine against the development of pancreatic cancer in humans that might have an implication for cancer prevention.publishedVersio

Associations between Longer Leukocyte Telomere Length and Increased Lung Cancer Risk among Never Smokers in Urban China

BACKGROUND: The complex relationship between measured leukocyte telomere length (LTL), genetically predicted LTL (gTL), and carcinogenesis is exemplified by lung cancer. We previously reported associations between longer pre-diagnostic LTL, gTL, and increased lung cancer risk among European and East Asian populations. However, we had limited statistical power to examine the associations among never smokers by gender and histology. METHODS: To investigate further, we conducted nested case-control analyses on an expanded sample of never smokers from the prospective Shanghai Women\u27s Health Studies (798 cases and 792 controls) and Shanghai Men\u27s Health Studies (161 cases and 162 controls). We broke the case-control matching and used multivariable unconditional logistic regression models to estimate the ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of incident lung cancer and adenocarcinoma (LUAD), in relation to LTL measured using quantitative PCR and gTL determined using a polygenic score. In addition, we conducted Mendelian randomization (MR) using MR-PRESSO. RESULTS: We found striking dose-response relationships between longer LTL and gTL, and increased lung cancer risk among never-smoking women (P trendLTL = 4×10-6; P trendgTL = 3×10-4). Similarly, among never-smoking men, longer measured LTL was associated with over triple the risk compared with those with the shortest (OR, 3.48; 95% CI, 1.85-6.57). The overall results were similar for LUAD among women and men. MR analyses supported causal associations with LUAD among women (OR1 SD gTL, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.03-1.37; P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Longer pre-diagnostic LTL is associated with increased lung cancer risk among never smokers. IMPACT: Our findings firmly support the role of longer telomeres in lung carcinogenesis

Longer telomere length in peripheral white blood cells is associated with risk of lung cancer and the rs2736100 (CLPTM1L-TERT) polymorphism in a prospective cohort study among women in China.

A recent genome-wide association study of lung cancer among never-smoking females in Asia demonstrated that the rs2736100 polymorphism in the TERT-CLPTM1L locus on chromosome 5p15.33 was strongly and significantly associated with risk of adenocarcinoma of the lung. The telomerase gene TERT is a reverse transcriptase that is critical for telomere replication and stabilization by controlling telomere length. We previously found that longer telomere length measured in peripheral white blood cell DNA was associated with increased risk of lung cancer in a prospective cohort study of smoking males in Finland. To follow up on this finding, we carried out a nested case-control study of 215 female lung cancer cases and 215 female controls, 94% of whom were never-smokers, in the prospective Shanghai Women's Health Study cohort. There was a dose-response relationship between tertiles of telomere length and risk of lung cancer (odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0, 1.4 [0.8-2.5], and 2.2 [1.2-4.0], respectively; P trend = 0.003). Further, the association was unchanged by the length of time from blood collection to case diagnosis. In addition, the rs2736100 G allele, which we previously have shown to be associated with risk of lung cancer in this cohort, was significantly associated with longer telomere length in these same study subjects (P trend = 0.030). Our findings suggest that individuals with longer telomere length in peripheral white blood cells may have an increased risk of lung cancer, but require replication in additional prospective cohorts and populations

Childhood Sexual Abuse and the Development of Recurrent Major Depression in Chinese Women

Background Our prior study in Han Chinese women has shown that women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are at increased risk for developing major depression (MD). Would this relationship be found in our whole data set? Method Three levels of CSA (non-genital, genital, and intercourse) were assessed by self-report in two groups of Han Chinese women: 6017 clinically ascertained with recurrent MD and 5983 matched controls. Diagnostic and other risk factor information was assessed at personal interview. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated by logistic regression. Results We confirmed earlier results by replicating prior analyses in 3,950 new recurrent MD cases. There were no significant differences between the two data sets. Any form of CSA was significantly associated with recurrent MD (OR 4.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) [3.19–5.24]). This association strengthened with increasing CSA severity: non-genital (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.58–3.15), genital (OR 5.24, 95% CI 3.52–8.15) and intercourse (OR 10.65, 95% CI 5.56–23.71). Among the depressed women, those with CSA had an earlier age of onset, longer depressive episodes. Recurrent MD patients those with CSA had an increased risk for dysthymia (OR 1.60, 95%CI 1.11–2.27) and phobia (OR 1.41, 95%CI 1.09–1.80). Any form of CSA was significantly associated with suicidal ideation or attempt (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.20–1.89) and feelings of worthlessness or guilt (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.02–2.02). Intercourse (OR 3.47, 95%CI 1.66–8.22), use of force and threats (OR 1.95, 95%CI 1.05–3.82) and how strongly the victims were affected at the time (OR 1.39, 95%CI 1.20–1.64) were significantly associated with recurrent MD

Genome-wide trans-ancestry meta-analysis provides insight into the genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes susceptibility.

To further understanding of the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes (T2D) susceptibility, we aggregated published meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), including 26,488 cases and 83,964 controls of European, east Asian, south Asian and Mexican and Mexican American ancestry. We observed a significant excess in the directional consistency of T2D risk alleles across ancestry groups, even at SNPs demonstrating only weak evidence of association. By following up the strongest signals of association from the trans-ethnic meta-analysis in an additional 21,491 cases and 55,647 controls of European ancestry, we identified seven new T2D susceptibility loci. Furthermore, we observed considerable improvements in the fine-mapping resolution of common variant association signals at several T2D susceptibility loci. These observations highlight the benefits of trans-ethnic GWAS for the discovery and characterization of complex trait loci and emphasize an exciting opportunity to extend insight into the genetic architecture and pathogenesis of human diseases across populations of diverse ancestry

Associations of Educational Attainment, Occupation, Social Class and Major Depressive Disorder among Han Chinese Women

Background The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is higher in those with low levels of educational attainment, the unemployed and those with low social status. However the extent to which these factors cause MDD is unclear. Most of the available data comes from studies in developed countries, and these findings may not extrapolate to developing countries. Examining the relationship between MDD and socio economic status in China is likely to add to the debate because of the radical economic and social changes occurring in China over the last 30 years. Principal findings We report results from 3,639 Chinese women with recurrent MDD and 3,800 controls. Highly significant odds ratios (ORs) were observed between MDD and full time employment (OR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.25–0.46, logP = 78), social status (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.77–0.87, logP = 13.3) and education attainment (OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.86–0.90, logP = 6.8). We found a monotonic relationship between increasing age and increasing levels of educational attainment. Those with only primary school education have significantly more episodes of MDD (mean 6.5, P-value = 0.009) and have a clinically more severe disorder, while those with higher educational attainment are likely to manifest more comorbid anxiety disorders. Conclusions In China lower socioeconomic position is associated with increased rates of MDD, as it is elsewhere in the world. Significantly more episodes of MDD occur among those with lower educational attainment (rather than longer episodes of disease), consistent with the hypothesis that the lower socioeconomic position increases the likelihood of developing MDD. The phenomenology of MDD varies according to the degree of educational attainment: higher educational attainment not only appears to protect against MDD but alters its presentation, to a more anxious phenotype