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Background: Formerly known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) has now become the most widespread chronic liver disease worldwide. The primary goal of this study is to assess the ability of different indexes (including VAI, TyG, HOMA-IR, BMI, LAP, WHtR, TyG-BMI, TyG-WC, and TyG-WHtR) to predict MASLD in individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), particularly within the Chinese population. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 1,742 patients with T2DM, recruited from the Metabolic Management Centers (MMC) at Suzhou Municipal Hospital. Abdominal ultrasonography was employed for MASLD diagnosis in patients with T2DM. The predictive accuracy of various screening indexes for MASLD in the Chinese T2DM population was evaluated using logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Results: Among the 1,742 participants, 996 were diagnosed with MASLD. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, positive associations with the risk of MASLD were found for all the nine indexes. The lipid accumulation product (LAP) exhibited the greatest predictive value for detecting MASLD, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.786(95%CI 0.764,0.807), followed by BMI(AUC = 0.785), VAI(AUC = 0.744), TyG(AUC = 0.720), WHtR(AUC = 0.710) and HOMA-IR(AUC = 0.676). The composite Indexes (TyG-BMI, TyG-WC, TyG-WHtR) also showed considerable predictive ability with AUCs of 0.765, 0.752 and 0.748, respectively. Conclusion: Our results indicated that all nine indexes have favorable correlations with the risk of MASLD, and most of them have a good performance in predicting MASLD. According to our study, LAP was a reliable index for predicting MASLD among Chinese T2DM patients. The exploration of non-invasive screenings will provide significant support for the early detection and diagnosis of MASLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fine aggregate matrix (FAM), consisting of asphalt binder, mineral filler, fine aggregate, and air voids, plays a major role in the mechanistic response of asphalt mixtures. The behavior of FAM is significantly affected by multiple factors including fine aggregate gradation, asphalt binder type, mineralogical type of the fine aggregate, test temperature, and aging. In this study, three asphalt binders, six fine aggregate gradations, two mineralogical types of fine aggregate, and one field aging effect were considered to prepare FAM samples. A modified multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) test was used to investigate the high temperature viscoelastic behavior of FAMs by using the torsion bar fixture of a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), and an appropriate range of creep stress loading in the MSCR test for FAMs was controlled within 1.2 kPa to 25.6 kPa. The results showed that the F-AC13 specimen had the strongest stress sensitivity, especially at the phase of large creep stress. The F-AC20 and F-SUP20 specimens had excellent high temperature viscoelastic performance. The viscoelastic properties of the FAMs were consistent with the properties of their asphalt binder. The FAMs with fine basalt aggregate had better deformation resistance, and the FAMs with fine limestone aggregate had better elastic recovery. The nonrecoverable creep compliance Jnr values of the FAM specimens had more sensitivity to the temperature change, and the percentage recovery %R values increased slightly with increasing temperature. After field aging, the FAM specimens had better deformation resistance and worse elastic recovery. A multifactor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was selected to comprehensively evaluate the significance of these influence factors on the FAM performance. The fine aggregate gradation, asphalt binder, and creep stress had significant effects on the viscoelastic behavior of FAMs. Therefore, improvement of the asphalt binder and fine aggregate gradation can directly enhance the performance of FAMs. The applied creep stress was also a critical condition of the MSCR test for the measurement of FAM performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UvrC is a subunit of excinuclease ABC, which mediates nucleotide excision repair (NER) in bacteria. Our previous studies showed that transposon Tn4531 insertion in the UvrC encoding gene Riean_1413 results in reduced biofilm formation by Riemerella anatipestifer strain CH3 and attenuates virulence of strain YZb1. In this study, whether R. anatipestifer UvrC has some biological functions other than NER was investigated. Firstly, the uvrC of R. anatipestifer strain Yb2 was in-frame deleted by homologous recombination, generating deletion mutant ΔuvrC, and its complemented strain cΔuvrC was constructed based on Escherichia coli – R. anatipestifer shuttle plasmid pRES. Compared to the wild-type (WT) R. anatipestifer strain Yb2, uvrC deleted mutant ΔuvrC significantly reduced biofilm formation, tolerance to H2O2- and HOCl-induced oxidative stress, iron utilization, and adhesion to and invasion of duck embryonic hepatocytes, but not its growth curve and proteolytic activity. In addition, animal experiments showed that the LD50 value of ΔuvrC in ducklings was about 13-fold higher than that of the WT, and the bacterial loads in ΔuvrC infected ducklings were significantly lower than those in Yb2-infected ducklings, indicating uvrC deletion in R. anatipestifer attenuated virulence. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that R. anatipestifer UvrC is required for iron utilization, biofilm formation, oxidative stress tolerance and virulence of strain Yb2, demonstrating multiple functions of UvrC. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Deletion of uvrC in R. anatipestfer Yb2 significantly reduced its biofilm formation. uvrC deletion led to reduced tolerance to H2O2- and HOCl-induced oxidative stress. The iron utilization of uvrC deleted mutant was significantly reduced. The uvrC deletion in R. anatipestifer Yb2 attenuated its virulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we used the EH4 audio-magnetotelluric sounding, combining with the drilling data, to detect and define the spatial electrical properties and structural characteristics of the Qiaojia paleo-landslide. Based on the detection results, the average depth of the main sliding surface is considered to be 250 m and six faults (F1-F6) were identified, among which the Xiaojiang fault zone (F1) is the main active fault. Meanwhile, it is inferred from the sounding results and drill date that the terrace along the Jinsha River fall into four layers from the surface (Qh) to the deep, namely the sandy clay layer, gravel layer, broken limestone layer, and complete limestone bedrock. The broken limestone layer and the complete limestone bedrock are in the bedrock outcrop area from the surface to the deep. The comprehensive analysis shows that the paleo-landslide is temporarily stable at present, but along with large earthquake activity in the north section of Xiaojiang fault zone in the future, whether the paleo-landslide is likely to revive or similar paleo-landslides will reoccur in this region needs further study. Our study proved the effectiveness of the EH4 audio-magnetotelluric method in detecting gigantic paleo-landslide.