Causal associations between type 1 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases: a Mendelian randomization study

Abstract Background The presence of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has been demonstrated to pose an increased risk for developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the causal relationships between T1DM and CVDs remain unclear due to the uncontrolled confounding factors and reverse causation bias of the observational studies. Methods Summary statistics of T1DM and seven CVDs from the largest available genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of European ancestry and FinnGen biobank were extracted for the primary MR analysis, and the analysis was replicated using UK biobank (UKBB) for validation. Three complementary methods: inverse variance weighted (IVW), weighted median, and MR-Egger were used for the MR estimates. The potential pleiotropic effects were assessed by MR-Egger intercept and MR-PRESSO global test. Additionally, multivariable MR (MVMR) analysis was performed to examine whether T1DM has independent effects on CVDs with adjustment of potential confounding factors. Moreover, a two-step MR approach was used to assess the potential mediating effects of these factors on the causal effects between T1DM and CVDs. Results Causal effects of T1DM on peripheral atherosclerosis (odds ratio [OR] = 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02–1.10; p = 0.002)] and coronary atherosclerosis (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01–1.05; p = 0.001) were found. The results were less likely to be biased by the horizontal pleiotropic effects (both p values of MR-Egger intercept and MR-PRESSO Global test > 0.05). In the following MVMR analysis, we found the causal effects of T1DM on peripheral atherosclerosis and coronary atherosclerosis remain significant after adjusting for a series of potential confounding factors. Moreover, we found that hypertension partly mediated the causal effects of T1DM on peripheral atherosclerosis (proportion of mediation effect in total effect: 11.47%, 95% CI: 3.23–19.71%) and coronary atherosclerosis (16.84%, 95% CI: 5.35–28.33%). We didn’t find significant causal relationships between T1DM and other CVDs, including heart failure (HF), coronary artery disease (CAD), atrial fibrillation (AF), myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. For the reverse MR from CVD to T1DM, no significant causal relationships were identified. Conclusion This MR study provided evidence supporting the causal effect of T1DM on peripheral atherosclerosis and coronary atherosclerosis, with hypertension partly mediating this effect

Elucidating Halogen‐Assisted Self‐Assembly Enhanced Mechanochromic Aggregation‐Induced Emission

International audienceAbstract We present a successful strategy to obtain a self‐assembled material stabilized by halogen bonding with enhanced mechanochromic aggregation‐induced emission (AIE). The meta ‐bromophenyl‐substituted tetraphenylethene fluorophore ( m ‐BrTBE) exhibits an emission which is more red‐shifted compared to the phenyl‐ring‐substituted tetraphenylethene fluorophore (TBE) in film. Remarkably, m ‐BrTBE molecules self‐assemble into uniform ball‐like aggregates with high photoluminescence quantum yield up to 85.3 %, which indicates that the molecular conformation and intermolecular interactions are different from those in the crystalline state. Based on single‐crystal analysis, scanning tunneling microscopic observations, and theoretical calculations, the unusual self‐assembly enhanced AIE behavior is attributed to the important effect of meta ‐bromide substituents which not only form intermolecular Br⋅⋅⋅π halogen bonding and H⋅⋅⋅Br hydrogen bonding interactions to block nonradiative relaxation pathways effectively but also promote radiative processes

Tillage Practices Affected Yield and Water Use Efficiency of Maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L., Longdan No.8) by Regulating Soil Moisture and Temperature in Semi-Arid Environment

Tillage practices can regulate soil environmental factors and, thus, affect crop yield. Farmers’ acceptance of this is not high because of a lack of awareness, and, in the dryland farming region of the Longdong Loess Plateau in China, the lack of acceptance is due to the established use of the no-till operation. It is urgent to explore suitable tillage practices for maize (Zea mays L., Longdan No.8) planting in this area. The impact of tillage practices on the soil water content, soil temperature, field water consumption structure, yield, and water use efficiency (WUE) of maize was determined. Six tillage practices were implemented in 2021 and their effects were determined in 2021 and 2022, including conventional tillage with no straw (T), conventional tillage with straw incorporated (TS), subsoiling tillage with no straw (SST), subsoiling tillage with straw incorporated (SSTS), no-tillage with no straw (NT) and no-tillage with straw mulching (NTS). Over two years, compared to T, the soil volumetric water content (SWv) with SSTS was significantly increased in the 5–10 cm soil layer at the V12 (big flare stage of maize) stage in 2022. SSTS significantly reduced soil temperature (ST) in the 20 and 25 cm soil depths at the V12 stage, and in every soil layer of the R2 (grain-filling stage of maize) stage. SSTS significantly reduced soil evaporation during the growing season (Ec), and significantly increased crop transpiration (Tc) when compared to T. Compared with T, SST and SSTS significantly increased biomass yield (BY), by 29.7–32.1 and 41.2–53.5%, respectively, increased grain number per ear by 6.3–16.5 and 10.4–38.8%, respectively, improved grain yield (GY) by 4.9–6.9 and 6.2–13.7%, respectively; SSTS significantly increased WUE by 5.5–15.4%. The correlation between soil volumetric water content at the V12 stage and grain yield was highly significant; the ST at the R2 stage had a significant positive correlation with grain number per ear, GY, and BY. Therefore, subsoiling tillage with straw incorporated increased the soil moisture content and reduced the soil temperature, optimized the water consumption structure, and improved the effective utilization of soil water, resulting in the accumulation of a higher biomass yield, and increased the number of ears, obtaining a higher yield, and improved water use efficiency. Therefore, subsoiling tillage with straw incorporated is a suitable tillage practice in the dry farming area of Longdong Loess Plateau, China

Optimization of a Pilot Hydrocracking Unit To Improve the Yield and Quality of Jet Fuel Together with Heavy Naphtha and Tail Oil

Hydrocracking of vacuum gas oil (VGO) is a commonly used process to produce more high-quality transportation fuels and chemicals. In this work, effects of four different operation modes, i.e., SSOTP, FRTHT, FRTHC, and PRTHT, with different recycling modes of tail oil are comparatively studied on the performance of VGO hydrocracking. The FRTHT and FRTHC give rise to a higher yield and/or quality of jet fuel, heavy naphtha, and tail oil compared with that of the other two modes. Moreover, effects of the distillation–cutting scheme are also studied to further increase the yield and quality of jet fuel. It is found that all four of the operation modes show a much higher yield but a slightly higher smoke point for the jet fuel. The insights revealed here could shed new light on the optimization of VGO hydrocracking to produce more targeted products

Optimization of a Pilot Hydrocracking Unit To Improve the Yield and Quality of Jet Fuel Together with Heavy Naphtha and Tail Oil

Hydrocracking of vacuum gas oil (VGO) is a commonly used process to produce more high-quality transportation fuels and chemicals. In this work, effects of four different operation modes, i.e., SSOTP, FRTHT, FRTHC, and PRTHT, with different recycling modes of tail oil are comparatively studied on the performance of VGO hydrocracking. The FRTHT and FRTHC give rise to a higher yield and/or quality of jet fuel, heavy naphtha, and tail oil compared with that of the other two modes. Moreover, effects of the distillation–cutting scheme are also studied to further increase the yield and quality of jet fuel. It is found that all four of the operation modes show a much higher yield but a slightly higher smoke point for the jet fuel. The insights revealed here could shed new light on the optimization of VGO hydrocracking to produce more targeted products

The Synthesis of Al-SBA-16 Materials with a Novel Method and Their Catalytic Application on Hydrogenation for FCC Diesel

A series of aluminum modified Al-SBA-16 materials with different Si and Al molar ratios (50, 40, 30, 20, and 10) were successfully synthesized through a two-step preparation method using aluminum isopropoxide as Al source. Meanwhile, the corresponding catalysts were prepared by impregnating Ni and Mo active metals on the as-synthesized samples. The hydrogenation performances of the obtained catalysts were tested under the same conditions in a fixed-bed microreactor by using FCC diesel as feedstock. Furthermore, the hydrogenation reaction conditions over the NiMo/​AS-20 (Al-SBA-16 with a Si/Al ratio of 20) catalyst were studied and optimized. The as-synthesized materials and their corresponding NiMo catalysts were characterized by N₂ adsorption and desorption, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ²⁷Al MAS NMR, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, temperature-programmed reduction, Pyridine Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Raman spectra. It was found that Al-SBA-16 materials with highly ordered structures were successfully prepared through the above method. The catalysts evaluation results exhibited that, as the Si/Al ratio reached 20, NiMo/​AS-20 presented the highest hydrodesulfurization and hydrodenitrogenation of 97.0% and 96.1%, respectively. The main reasons were ascribed to that the support of AS-20 possessed the relatively excellent textural properties; NiMo/​AS-20 possessed the highest Mo­(Oh) distribution and weakest interaction between the AS-20 support and NiMo active metal species, which would lead to a high hydrogenation activity. The NiMo/​AS-20 catalyst presented better acidity properties comparing with other NiMo/​Al-SBA-16 catalysts. In addition, the evaluation result displayed that the hydrogenation performance had a trend to increase with the value of H₂ pressure, temperature, H₂/oil, and residence time