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Background Hepatokines are a variety of proteins secreted by the liver, a key organ involved in systemic metabolism and endocrine, directly affect the liver glycolipid metabolism, and play an important role in the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Ectodysplasin A (EDA) is a newly discovered hepatokine, which is considered to be strongly related to diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance. Objective To assess the relationship between serum EDA level and the risk of NAFLD in patients with T2DM. Methods One hundred and thirty T2DM patients, including 74 males (56.92%) and 56 females (43.08%), with a mean age of (55.6±12.4) years, were recruited from Department of Endocrinology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University between November 2017 and November 2020. Baseline data, results of glucose tolerance test, insulin response test, C-peptide response to glucagon test, and color Doppler ultrasound of the abdomen were collected. Baseline data were compared between patients with ultrasound-detected NAFLD (n=80) and those without (n=50). Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between serum EDA and the other clinical and biochemical indices. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the influencing factors of EDA level. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the effect of EDA level on the risk of NAFLD. Results Compared with non-NAFLD group, NAFLD group had much younger mean age, shorter mean duration of T2DM, but significantly higher mean levels of BMI, fasting insulin (FIns), 2-hour postprandial insulin responses (2 hIns), fasting C-peptide (FCP), 2-hour postprandial C-peptide (2 hCP), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), triacylglycerol (TG), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), blood uric acid (SUA), urea nitrogen (BUN), and EDA level (P

This study aims to develop a new evaluation method for quickly and conveniently screening cognitive impairment in the elderly. The five-minute cognitive test (FCT) was designed to capture deficits in five domains of cognitive abilities, including episodic memory, language fluency, time orientation, visuospatial function, and executive function. Subsequently, FCT efficiencies in differentiating normally cognitive ability from cognitive impairment were explored and compared with that of the Mini-Mental Status Evaluation (MMSE). Equipercentile equating method was utilized to create a crosswalk between scores of the FCT and MMSE. Further, the association of scores of the FCT and MMSE with hippocampal volumes was investigated. There were 241 subjects aged 60 years or above enrolled in this study, including 107 adults with cognitive abilities in normal range, 107 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 27 patients with mild Alzheimer disease (AD). The AUC of FCT for detection of cognitive impairment (MCI and mild AD) was 0.885 (95% CI 0.838 to 0.922). The sensitivity and specificity of FCT for the diagnosis of cognitive impairment were 80.6% and 84.11 %, respectively. FCT's diagnostic performance was superior to that of MMSE in the same cohort. Mean completion time of FCT was 339.9 ± 67.7 seconds (5-6 min). In addition, a conversion table between scores on the FCT and MMSE was created. Further, the FCT scores were positively correlated with hippocampal volumes. The FCT is a novel, reliable, and valid cognitive screening test for the detection of dementia at early stages.

Background: The relationship between epinephrine and cancer can be dose‐dependent in in vivo study. Whether it is the same in human body still needs verification. Method: We used frozen human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tissues to detect epinephrine content and analyzed its relationship with survival using the K‐M method and Cox regression. Disturbance of blood cell count and C‐reactive protein and identification of related potent intermediary factors were also analyzed. Results: K‐M plot and Cox regression all showed the inverted U‐shaped relationship between epinephrine and PDAC survival. Lymphocyte adjustment can increase the HRs of epinephrine for PDAC death by >10%. Conclusion: Epinephrine played an anti‐tumor or pro‐tumor effect depending on the specific concentration. Circulating lymphocyte count was elevated and might acted as a compensation pathway to reduce the pro‐tumor effect of epinephrine to PDAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective of this study is to identify reliable and accurate biomarkers for the early stratification of disease severity, a crucial aspect that is currently lacking for the impending phases of the next COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In this study, we identified important module and hub genes related to clinical severe COVID-19 using differentially expressed genes (DEGs) screening combing weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) in dataset GSE213313. We further screened and confirmed these hub genes in another two new independent datasets (GSE172114 and GSE157103). In order to evaluate these key genes' stability and robustness for diagnosing or predicting the progression of illness, we used RT-PCR validation of selected genes in blood samples obtained from hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Results: A total of 968 and 52 DEGs were identified between COVID-19 patients and normal people, critical and non-critical patients, respectively. Then, using WGCNA, 10 modules were constructed. Among them, the blue module positively associated with clinic disease severity of COVID-19. From overlapped section between DEGs and blue module, 12 intersected common differential genes were obtained. Subsequently, these hub genes were validated in another two new independent datasets as well and 9 genes that overlapped showed a highly correlation with disease severity. Finally, the mRNA expression levels of these hub genes were tested in blood samples from COVID-19 patients. In severe cases, there was increased expression of MCEMP1, ANXA3, CD177, and SCN9A. In particular, MCEMP1 increased with disease severity, which suggested an unfavorable development and a frustrating prognosis. Conclusion: Using comprehensive bioinformatical analysis and the validation of clinical samples, we identified four major candidate genes, MCEMP1, ANXA3, CD177, and SCN9A, which are essential for diagnosis or development of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalytic nitrogen fixation using solar illumination under ambient conditions is a promising strategy for production of the indispensable chemical NH3. However, due to the catalyst's limitations in solar energy utilization, loss of hot electrons during transfer, and low nitrogen adsorption and activation capacity, the unsatisfactory solar‐to‐chemical conversion (SCC) efficiencies of most photocatalysts limit their practical applications. Herein, cerium oxide nanosheets with abundant strain‐VO defects were anchored on Au hollow nanomushroom through atomically sharp interfaces to construct a novel semiconductor/plasmonic metal hollow nanomushroom‐like heterostructure (denoted cerium oxide‐AD/Au). Plasmonic Au extended the absorption of light from the visible to the second near‐infrared region. The superior interface greatly enhanced the transfer efficiency of hot electrons. Abundant strain‐VO defects induced by interfacial compressive strain promoted adsorption and in situ activation of nitrogen, and such synergistic promotion of strain and VO defects was further confirmed by density functional theory calculations. The judicious structural and defect engineering co‐promoted the efficient nitrogen photofixation of the cerium oxide‐AD/Au heterostructures with a SCC efficiency of 0.1 % under simulated AM 1.5G solar illumination, which is comparable to the average solar‐to‐biomass conversion efficiency of natural photosynthesis by typical plants, thus exhibiting significant potential as a new candidate for artificial photosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]