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Although non-invasive liver fibrosis scores (LFSs) have already been considered as effective tools for estimating cardiovascular risk, their roles in predicting disease severity and cardiovascular event (CVEs) in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) are not comprehensively evaluated. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether non-alcoholic fatty liver disease fibrosis score (NAFLD-FS) and fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) are associated with CVEs in a large cohort with long-term follow-up. A cohort of 5143 patients with angiography-proven stable CAD were consecutively enrolled and followed up for CVEs. The degree of coronary severity was assessed using the number of diseased vessels, Gensini, Syntax, and Jeopardy scores. The predictive values of NAFLD-FS and FIB-4 scores to coronary severity, coronary calcification (CAC), and CVEs were assessed, respectively. During a median follow-up of 7 years, 435 CVEs were recorded. Both NAFLD-FS and FIB-4 were predictors for the presence of CAC. The degree of coronary stenosis was significantly higher in high NAFLD-FS categories while FIB-4 was only positively associated with the number of diseased vessels and Gensini score. In Kaplan–Meier analysis, the patients with intermediate and high NAFLD-FS and FIB-4 had higher risk of CVEs and cardiovascular mortality. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, NAFLD-FS and FIB-4 were independently associated with CVEs [hazard ratio (95% confidence interval): 1.150 (1.063–1.244), p

The conventional sugar market is relatively homogeneous, consisting of edible products such as refined white sugar and brown sugar. A high level of health consciousness has been developed in recent years among human beings for sugar intake. Therefore, Sugarcane Research Institute of Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YSRI), China, has started initiative to develop sucrose co-crystallization technology as a means to derive functional and healthier value-added sugar and brown sugar products with various edible, tastier, and medicinal plant homologs. In the process of sucrose co-crystallization, bioactive components of edible and medicinal plant homologs were mixed and copolymerized with sucrose and brown sugar to form a stable and co-crystallization edible product. Co-crystallized products had high dispersion and uniformity and may be improved in crystal shape, fluidity, moisture absorption, and stability of the altered sugar compounds. Co-crystallized white sugar value-added products were developed with Phyllanthus emblica, Polygonatum kingianum, Dendrobium nobile, Pueraria montana, Lepidium meyenii, and Panax notoginseng and brown sugar value-added products derived from Crataegus pinnatifida, Citrus × limon, seed of Vitis vinifera, Zingiber officinale, Wolfiporia cocos, Hippophae rhamnoides, and Angelica sinensis. These sugar value-added products were rich in plant-derived bioactive constituents with potential health benefits and have a great potential for commercialization of the consumer market all over the world.

The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, is an important pest that affects rice (Oryza sativa) production in Asia. The flavone tricin (5,7,4′-trihydroxy-3′,5′-dimethoxy flavone) is a valuable secondary metabolite commonly found in rice plants that can defend rice plants against infestation by BPH. BPH damage can reduce the metabolic level of tricin in rice. Our preliminary transcriptome research results showed that BPH salivary protein 7 (NlSP7), is highly responsive to tricin stimuli. However, the function of NlSP7 in mediating the interaction between the rice plant and the BPH is unknown. In this study, we cloned the NlSP7 gene in N. lugens and found that its mRNA level was greater in the presence of high tricin content than low tricin content, regardless of whether the BPHs were fed a rice plant diet or an artificial diet containing 100 mg/L tricin. Knocking down NlSP7 resulted in BPH individuals spending more time in the non-penetration and pathway phase, and less time feeding on the phloem of rice plants. These changes decreased BPH food intake, feeding behavior, and fitness, as well as the tricin content of the rice plants. These findings demonstrate that the salivary protein 7 of BPH functions as an effector for tricin metabolism in rice.

Background The atherogenicity of remnant cholesterol (RC) has been underlined by recent guidelines, which was linked to coronary artery disease (CAD), especially for patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). This study aimed to examine the prognostic value of plasma RC in the patients with CAD under different glucose metabolism status. Methods Fasting plasma RC were directly calculated or measured in 4331 patients with CAD. Patients were followed for the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) and categorized according to both glucose metabolism status [DM, pre-DM, normoglycemia (NG)] and RC levels. Cox proportional hazards model was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals. Results During a mean follow-up of 5.1 years, 541 (12.5%) MACEs occurred. The risk for MACEs was significantly higher in patients with elevated RC levels after adjustment for potential confounders. No significant difference in MACEs was observed between pre-DM and NG groups (p > 0.05). When stratified by combined status of glucose metabolism and RC, highest levels of calculated and measured RC were significant and independent predictors of developing MACEs in pre-DM (HR: 1.64 and 1.98; both p Conclusions In this large-scale and long-term follow-up cohort study, data firstly demonstrated that higher RC levels were significantly associated with the worse prognosis in DM and pre-DM patients with CAD, suggesting that RC may be a target for patients with impaired glucose metabolism.

Background Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) is a novel marker of myocardial injury and has been reported to be associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) including patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Unfortunately, its prognostic value in patients with CVD and impaired glucose metabolism (IGM) is unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of H-FABP in CVD patients with IGM. Methods A total of 4594 patients with angiography-proven coronary artery disease (CAD) were enrolled and divided into subgroup according to glucose metabolism status (normal glucose regulation [NGR], pre-DM, and DM). Baseline levels of H-FABP were measured using latex immunoturbidimetric method. The cardiovascular events (CVE) were defined as cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke and coronary revascularization. Cox regression and Kaplan–Meier analysis were used to evaluate the relations of H-FABP and glucose metabolism status to CVEs. Results During the follow-up period with up to 7.1 years, 380 CVEs occurred. Patients with CVE had higher levels of H-FABP compared to those without CVE (p Conclusions Our data firstly showed that elevated H-FABP levels were associated with worse outcomes in CAD patients with pre-DM and DM, which provided the novel information that H-FABP might be a prognostic marker for clinical outcomes among patients with CAD and IGM.

The structural evolution, relative stability, electronic property, and hydrogen adsorption of the alkali auride series, AunM ( $ n = 1-8$ ), $ {\rm M}= {\rm Li}$ , Na, K, Rb, Cs), have been investigated using the density functional theory calculations at PW91 level. For the lowest-energy clusters, the dopant atom M prefers to occupy a peripheral or capped site in the host, and M-induced geometries become three-dimensional more easily. The average binding energy per atom, fragmentation energy, second-order difference of energy, and HOMO-LUMO energy gap show a pronounced odd-even oscillation with the number of Au atoms, and the enhanced relative stabilities are found in Au5M ( $ {\rm M}= {\rm Li}$ , Na, K) and Au3M ( $ {\rm M}= {\rm Rb}$ , Cs) clusters. In these clusters, the H2 molecule would like to bond with Au atom rather than impurity atom. After adsorption, the AunM structures and H2 molecule in all AunM-H2 clusters are hardly perturbed and still maintain their structural integrity. The geometrical and energetic information indicates a weak adsorption of H2 molecule.

To examine the effects of β3-adrenoceptor (β3-AR) activation on atherosclerotic plaque development in ApoE(-/-) mice.Thirty six week-old male ApoE(-/-) mice on a high-fat diet were treated with atorvastatin (10 mg·kg(-1)·d(-1), po), BRL37344 (β3-AR agonist, 1.65 or 3.30 μg/kg, ip, twice a week) or SR52390A (β3-AR antagonist, 50 μg/kg, ip, twice a week) for 12 weeks. Wild-type C57BL/6J mice receiving a normal diet were taken as healthy controls. At the end of the treatments, serum levels of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (nHDL-C), glucose and insulin were measured. The thoracic aortas were dissected out, the area of atherosclerotic plaques and extent of fibrosis in the plaques were examined using HE and Masson's trichome staining, respectively.Compared to wild-type mice, ApoE(-/-) mice fed on a high-fat diet exhibited prominent hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance, associated with large area of atherosclerotic plaques and great extent of fibrosis in aortas. Atorvastatin significantly decreased the serum levels of TC and nHDL-C, and reduced the plaque area and collagen content in aortas. BRL37344 significantly decreased the serum levels of TG, TC, nHDL-C, glucose and insulin, and increased HDL-C and the insulin sensitivity, and dose-dependently reduced the plaque area and collagen content in aortas. SR52390A treatment did not affect any parameters studied.The β3-AR agonist impedes the progression of atherosclerosis in ApoE(-/-) mice, through improvement of the lipid and glucose profiles.

Ab initio method based on density functional theory at PW91PW91 level has been applied in studying the geometrical structures, relative stabilities, and electronic properties of small bimetallic Au(n)Be(+) (n = 1-8) cluster cations. The geometrical optimizations indicate that a transition point from preferentially planar (two-dimensional) to three-dimensional (3D) structures occurs at n = 6. The relative stabilities of Au(n)Be(+) clusters for the ground-state structures are analyzed based on the averaged binding energies, fragmentation energies, and second-order difference of energies. The calculated results reveal that the AuBe(+) and Au(5)Be(+) clusters possess higher relative stability for small size Au(n)Be(+) (n = 1-8) clusters. The HOMO-LUMO energy gaps as a function of the cluster size exhibit a pronounced even-odd alternation phenomenon. Sequently, the natural population analysis and polarizability for our systems have been analyzed and compared further.

The density functional theory (DFT) method has been employed to systematically investigate the geometrical structures, relative stabilities, and electronic and magnetic properties of Au(n)M (M = Al and Si, n = 1-9) clusters for clarifying the effect of Al(Si) modulation on the gold nanostructures. Of all the clusters studied, the most stable configurations adopt a three-dimensional structure for Au(n)Al at n = 4-8 and Au(n)Si at n = 3-9, while for pure gold systems, no three-dimensional lowest energy structures are obtained. Through a careful analysis of the fragmentation energy, second-order difference of energy, HOMO-LUMO energy gap, and magnetic moment as a function of cluster size, an odd-even alternative phenomenon has been observed. The results show that the clusters with even-number valence electrons have a higher relative stability, but lower magnetic moments. Furthermore, Al(Si) doping is found to enhance the stabilities of gold frameworks. In addition, the charge analysis has been given to understand the different effects of individual doped atom on electronic properties and compared further.

The local meta-GGA exchange correlation density functional (TPSS) with a relativistic effective core potential was employed to systematically investigate the geometric structures, stabilities, and electronic properties of bimetallic Ca2Aun (n = 1-9) and pure gold Au-n (n 2, and that one Au atom capping the Ca2Aun-1 structure for different-sized Ca2Aun (n = 1-9) clusters is the dominant growth pattern. The average atomic binding energies and second-order difference in energies show that the Ca2Au4 isomer is the most stable among the Ca2Aun clusters. The same pronounced even-odd alternations are found in the HOMO-LUMO gaps, VIPs, and hardnesses. The polarizabilities of the Ca2Aun clusters show an obvious local minimum at n = 4. Moreover, the inverse corrections to the polarizabilities versus the ionization potential and hardness were found for the gold clusters.

The velocity of an over-burst coal seam is about 1/3 compared to a normal coal seam based on laboratory test results. This can be considered as a basis to confirm the area of coal and gas burst by seismic exploration technique. Similarly, the simulation result of the theoretical seismic model shows that there is obvious distinction between over-burst coal and normal coal based on the coal reflection’s travel-time, energy and frequency. The results from the actual seismic data acquired in the coal and gas over-burst cases is consistent with that of the laboratory and seismic modeling; that is, in the coal and gas burst region, seismic reflection travel time is delayed, seismic amplitude is weakened and seismic frequency is reduced. Therefore, it can be concluded that seismic exploration technique is promising for use in distinguishing coal and gas over-burst regions based on the variation of seismic reflection travel time, amplitude and frequency.

Proteomics, the study of the proteome and its activation state, integrates several fundamental techniques: high-throughput protein purification and profiling, the use of genomic and proteomic databases, and mass spectrometry. In gynecologic oncology, proteomics will contribute greatly to our understanding of the molecular basis of cancer growth. It holds promise for the identification of potential pathologic markers and therapeutic targets and for providing information in clinical applications. This article reviews recent progress in proteomic techniques and their applications in the search for biomarkers for early diagnosis, disease monitoring, treatment response predicting, therapy tailoring, and identification of novel molecular targets, in gynecologic oncology. However, a major challenge of removing high-abundance proteins from biologic complexes still remains.

Objective To evaluate the efficiency of surgery plus radiotherapy and chemotherapy versus radiotherapy plus chemotherapy in the treatment of older patients with stage I or II cervical carcinoma and to seek suitable treatment for such patients.

Employing first-principles density functional theory at the PW91PW91 level, the equilibrium geometries, relative stabilities, and electronic properties of bimetallic Au n M2 (M = Na, Mg, Al; n = 1–8) clusters have been systematically investigated in comparison with pure gold clusters. The optimised results indicate that the doping atom Na trends to occupy a peripheral site in the host, while Mg and Al atoms favour the center site. Furthermore, Al-induced geometries become three-dimensional more easily. Much to our surprise, in the most stable isomers, doping with binary Group-III metal atoms markedly changes the geometries of the ground-state Aun+2 clusters, and higher average atomic binding energies are found in Al-doped clusters. The calculated fragmentation energies, second-order difference of energies, HOMO-LUMO energy gaps, and chemical hardness as a function of cluster size exhibit a pronounced odd-even alternating phenomenon, suggesting the clusters with closed electronic shells have higher relative stabilities. A natural population analysis has been performed to understand the effects of different doping atoms on electronic properties.