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Abstract The role of dairy products in cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention remains controversial. This study investigates the association between dairy consumption and CVD incidence using data from the China Kadoorie Biobank and the UK Biobank, complemented by an updated meta-analysis. Among Chinese participants, regular dairy consumption (primarily whole milk) is associated with a 9% increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and a 6% reduced risk of stroke compared to non-consumers. Among British participants, total dairy consumption is linked to lower risks of CVD, CHD, and ischemic stroke, with cheese and semi-skimmed/skimmed milk contributing to reduced CVD risk. Meta-analysis reveals that total dairy consumption is associated with a 3.7% reduced risk of CVD and a 6% reduced risk of stroke. Notably, inverse associations with CVD incidence are observed for cheese and low-fat dairy products. Current evidence suggests that dairy consumption, particularly cheese, may have protective effects against CVD and stroke.

Abstract Background The role of plant-based dietary patterns in preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD) among individuals with prediabetes and diabetes remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the associations of plant-based diet index (PDI), healthful PDI (hPDI), and unhealthful PDI (uPDI) with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and explore potential contributing factors among people with prediabetes and diabetes. Methods A total of 17,926 participants with prediabetes and 7798 with diabetes were enrolled from the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010 and followed until the end of 2020. We calculated the PDI, hPDI, and uPDI based on 18 major food groups including plant-based foods and animal-based foods and applied Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for CVD risk related to PDI, hPDI, and uPDI. Decomposition analysis was performed to assess the role of dietary components, and mediation analysis was performed to assess the potential mediating role of serum biomarkers underlying these associations. Results A total of 2324 CVD events were documented among individuals with prediabetes, while 1461 events occurred among patients with diabetes. An inverse association was found between hPDI and CVD risk among individuals with prediabetes (HR T3 vs. T1 = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.79–0.98, P trend = 0.025) but not those with diabetes. A positive association was found between uPDI and CVD risk among individuals with prediabetes (HR T3 vs. T1 = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.05–1.30, P trend = 0.005) and those with diabetes (HR T3 vs. T1 = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.00–1.29, P trend = 0.043). High-sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) intake accounted for 35% of the hPDI-CVD association and 15% of the uPDI-CVD association among individuals with prediabetes, whereas low intake of whole grain accounted for 36% of the association among patients with diabetes. Elevated cystatin C levels explained the largest proportion of the association between uPDI and CVD risk among individuals with prediabetes (15%, 95% CI = 7–30%) and diabetes (44%, 95% CI = 9–86%). Conclusions Adherence to an unhealthy plant-based diet is associated with a higher CVD risk in people with prediabetes or diabetes, which may be partially attributed to low consumption of whole grains, high intake of SSB, and high blood cystatin C levels.

Background and purpose: With the advancement of Industry 4.0 and the vigorous development of the Internet, search engines have become one of the important platforms for the public to obtain information. As the world's largest Chinese search engine, Baidu is widely popular with the Chinese public. Similar to Google Trends, the Baidu Index is one of the most important databases on the Internet and even in the entire data age. This study adopted the Baidu Index to investigate the public's attention to "Lifelong Education" and analyze its changing trend and geographical distribution, to grasp the public's attention to it in a more comprehensive way. Materials and methods: The Baidu Index was used to obtain the attention of the keyword “Lifelong Education" from July to November 2023. The characteristics of attention are analyzed from three aspects: trend research, demand graph, and user portrait. Finally, it focuses on the comparison between the keyword "Lifelong Education" and the related word "Lifelong Education Platform". Results: The term "Lifelong Education" showed two fluctuations during the period, both of which showed an initial rise and then a decline. For the demand graph, the public pays the most attention to "Lifelong Education Platform", "Lifelong Learning" and "Compulsory Education". The group that pays more attention to "Lifelong Education" is mainly distributed in East China, mostly female, 20~29 years old. Conclusion: Similar to Google Trends, the Baidu Index is a useful tool to study the trend of keyword searches, insight into the change in netizens' demand and monitoring the trend of media public opinion. The results show that the main reasons for the two obvious changes in search volume are that the National Open University of China opens freely lifelong education platform and provides free and comprehensive learning resources, and "Lifelong Education" appears as a translation in the National College English Test Band 4 (CET-4) in June 2023.

[Objective] With the ongoing urbanization in China, the frequency of heavy-duty vehicles traversing buried pipelines is steadily increasing. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to investigate the mechanical response patterns of buried pipelines subjected to heavyduty vehicle rolling in order to ensure the safety of oil and gas pipelines. [Methods] Field tests were conducted to investigate the rolling of heavy-duty vehicles on a buried X70 pipeline. Strain gauge technology was employed to gather pipeline response data and summarize the response patterns of soil pressure and axial stress. Additionally, an ABAQUS software-based finite element simulation model was established to simulate the soil-pipeline interaction using a nonlinear contact model. The vehicle load was simplified as the dead load of a moving plane source, and a DLOAD subprogram was developed to implement the loading. Subsequently, simulations were conducted based on the test conditions. [Results] The results demonstrated a negligible deviation between the simulated and tested values of the additional axial stress in the pipeline. Furthermore, the simulated distribution patterns of soil pressure and axial stress aligned with those observed in the tests, thus the response patterns of soil pressure and axial stress were verified. Based on the verified finite element model, the impact of six parameters, i.e.,vehicle load, vehicle speed, pipe diameter, pipe wall thickness, fill height, and pipeline internal pressure, on the axial stress of the pipeline was explored through simulation by employing a single-variable approach. [Conclusion] The topsoil pressure and axial stress at the section beneath the crawler belts on both sides are higher than those at the central section. Conversely, the bottom axial stress is lower than that at the central section. Augmenting the pipe diameter, pipe wall thickness, or fill height can diminish the additional axial stress induced by vehicle rolling on the pipeline. However, altering the vehicle speed and pipeline internal pressure does not yield significant effects on the axial stress.The obtained mechanical response patterns of the buried pipeline can be used as a reference for evaluating the safety margin of pipelines under heavy-duty vehicle rolling.

Abstract Addressing the limitations of existing landslide displacement prediction models in capturing the dynamic characteristics of data changes, this study introduces a novel dynamic displacement prediction model for landslides. The proposed method combines Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) with Sparrow Search Optimization (SSO) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) techniques to formulate a comprehensive VMD–SSO–LSTM model. Through the application of VMD, the method dissects cumulative displacement and rainfall data, thereby extracting distinct components such as trend, periodicity, and fluctuation components for displacement, as well as low-frequency and high-frequency components for rainfall. Furthermore, leveraging Gray Correlational Analysis, the interrelationships between the periodic component of displacement and the low-frequency component of rainfall, as well as the fluctuation component of displacement and the high-frequency component of rainfall, are established. Building upon this foundation, the SSO–LSTM model dynamically predicts the interrelated displacement components, synthesizing the predicted values of each component to generate real-time dynamic forecasts. Simulation results underscore the effectiveness of the proposed VMD–SSO–LSTM model, indicating root-mean-square error (RMSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values of 1.2329 mm and 0.1624%, respectively, along with a goodness of fit (R2) of 0.9969. In comparison to both back propagation (BP) prediction model and LSTM prediction model, the VMD–SSO–LSTM model exhibits heightened predictive accuracy.

Consumption of fried foods is highly prevalent in the Western dietary pattern. Western diet has been unfavorably linked with high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Heart failure (HF) as a cardiovascular disease subtype is a growing global pandemic with high morbidity and mortality. However, the causal relationship between long-term fried food consumption and incident HF remains unclear. Our population-based study revealed that frequent fried food consumption is strongly associated with 15% higher risk of HF. The causal relationship may be ascribed to the dietary acrylamide exposure in fried foods. Further cross-sectional study evidenced that acrylamide exposure is associated with an increased risk of HF. Furthermore, we discover and demonstrate that chronic acrylamide exposure may induce HF in zebrafish and mice. Mechanistically, we reveal that acrylamide induces energy metabolism disturbance in heart due to the mitochondria dysfunction and metabolic remodeling. Moreover, acrylamide exposure induces myocardial apoptosis via inhibiting NOTCH1-phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT signaling. In addition, acrylamide exposure could affect heart development during early life stage, and the adverse effect of acrylamide exposure is a threat for next generation via epigenetic change evoked by DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1). In this study, we reveal the adverse effects and underlying mechanism of fried foods and acrylamide as a typical food processing contaminant on HF from population-based observations to experimental validation. Collectively, these results both epidemiologically and mechanistically provide strong evidence to unravel the mechanism of acrylamide-triggered HF and highlight the significance of reducing fried food consumption for lower the risk of HF.

It is important to study the effects of pyrolysis and ablation of heat protection material in integrated design of hypersonic vehicles. In order to predict and assess the material pyrolysis and ablation effects on target signatures and microwave communication, based on chemical nonequilibrium gas dynamic equations and solid heat transfer equations, the general surface conditions to couple flowfield with heat shield and the thermophysical and chemical models were set up. The method to solve governing equations for hypersonic flowfield and ablator heat transfer was established, and the feasibility of such model and method was validated. In addition, the flowfield and wake over reentry body with complex shape and silicon-based heat protection material were simulated numerically and the influence of the material pyrolysis and ablation on plasma distribution were analyzed. The study shows that the effects of pyrolysis and ablation on plasma distribution are small in the absence of alkali metal element in the surface materials, and the effects on plasma distribution are significant in the case of containing trace amounts of alkali elements. For the latter case, its influence on reentry target signatures and microwave communication can not be ignored.

BackgroundThe role of specific unsaturated fatty acids (FAs) in the development of overweight/obesity remains unclear in the general population. Here, we aimed to explore the associations of different types of unsaturated FAs with overweight/obesity risk among the Chinese population.MethodsEight thousand seven hundred forty-two subjects free of overweight/obesity at entry in the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) were followed up until 2015. Dietary unsaturated FAs were assessed by 3-day 24-h recalls with a weighing method in each wave. Cox regression models were used to obtain the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for overweight/obesity risk associated with unsaturated FAs.ResultsDuring a median follow-up of 7 years, 2,753 subjects (1,350 males and 1,403 females) developed overweight/obesity. Consuming more monounsaturated FAs (MUFAs) was associated with a lower risk of overweight/obesity (highest vs. lowest quartile: HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.67–0.96; P-trend = 0.010). Similar inverse associations were observed for plant-MUFAs (HRQ4vsQ1 0.83, 95% CI: 0.73–0.94; P-trend = 0.003) and animal-MUFAs (HRQ4vsQ1 0.77, 95% CI: 0.64–0.94; P-trend = 0.004), total dietary oleic acid (OA) (HRQ4vsQ1 0.66, 95% CI: 0.55–0.79; P-trend

The widespread distribution of karst landforms has led to a shortage of water resources in Southwest China. Understanding the spatiotemporal variations in and driving factors of evapotranspiration (ET) in this area is crucial for understanding and predicting severe water resource shortage. This study conducted trend analysis using meteorological data from 2003 to 2020 as well as remote sensing products such as Penman–Monteith–Leuning equation version 2 (PML-V2) ET. The factors influencing the spatial distribution pattern of average ET were identified using a geographical detector. Partial correlation analysis was performed to characterize the relationships between ET and the factors governing its variations, determined using the random forest model. The results demonstrated the following: (1) The average ET decreased with increasing latitude and altitude, primarily affected by the landform type in terms of longitude and displaying “W”-shaped fluctuations. Overall, the annual ET exhibited a significant (p < 0.05) increasing trend, with 72.63% of its area under the increasing trend. (2) The results of the geographic detector indicated sunshine duration as the strongest explanatory factor of the spatial distribution of ET, followed by enhanced vegetation index (EVI), landform type, precipitation, elevation, slope, and aspect. Instead of an individual factor, the interplay between multiple factors more considerably influenced the spatial distribution pattern of ET. (3) The EVI exhibited an overall increasing trend, with a significant increase over 73.59% of the study area and a positive correlation with ET. Thus, the increase in EVI had the strongest impact on ET in the study area, which was further confirmed by the results of the random forest model for 42.92% of the study area. Thus, the present findings clarify the spatiotemporal variations in and driving factors of ET in Southwest China and can serve as a benchmark for policies aiming to develop and manage water resources in this region.

Objective To explore the difference of SP-B content in alveolar lavage fluid (ALF) between immature lung and mature lung at the same time point after lung blast injury, and investigate the significance and pathophysiological characteristics of related indexes. Methods The experimental animals (both sexes) included 40 healthy young New Zealand rabbits, weighting 442.10±55.30 g (young rabbit group), and 40 healthy New Zealand rabbits, aged 24 weeks, weighting 2 018.15±145.80 g (adult rabbits group). The experimental model was established under different driving pressures to ensure that the severity of injury was consistent (drive pressure: 4.5 MPa for young rabbit group and 4.0 MPa for adult rabbit group). After injury, the ALF content of SP-B was measured with ELISA at the immediate (0), 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h after injury, and the lungs were observed for gross anatomy and pathological changes. The tissue water content and other physiological indicators were determined at the same time. Results The severity of lung injury was consistent between the 2 groups (P>0.05). The SP-B concentration in the young rabbit group was lower than that in the adult rabbit group at all time points (P < 0.05); the alveolar wall rupture and injury were more commonly observed in the young rabbits, and the alveolar interstitial hemorrhage and inflammatory cell infiltration were more common in the adult rabbits; the lung water content at 2 h after injury (82.68±0.58 vs 81.06±0.34) and the oxygen saturation at 0.5 h after injury (75.00±18.52 vs 42.20±21.84) were higher in young rabbits group than adult rabbits group (P < 0.05). The percentage of neutrophils in the young rabbits group at 6 (36.92±16.01 vs 60.30±12.09), 12 (31.42±11.30 vs 46.40±14.15), 24 (29.48±4.76 vs 35.52±9.77) and 48 h (25.70±11.66 vs 37.68±9.11) after injury were lower than adult rabbits group (P < 0.05). Conclusion Compared with mature lungs of adult rabbits after lung blast injury, the immature lungs of young rabbits recover faster and have milder inflammatory reaction, but the SP-B content is lower, the synthesis and secretion function recover slowly, which may lead to the recovery of respiratory function slow. Our results may be used to guide the treatment for injury in immature and mature lungs.

Portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) is one of the most serious forms of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) vessel metastasis and has a poor survival rate. However, the molecular mechanism of PVTT has not yet been elucidated. In this study, the molecular mechanism of AXL expressed in tumor-derived endothelial cells (TECs) in vessel metastasis was investigated. High AXL expression was observed in TECs, but not in the tumor cells of HCC patients with PVTT and this was associated with poor overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). AXL overexpression was positively associated with CD 31 expression both in vitro and in vivo. AXL promoted the cell proliferation, tube formation, and migration of both TECs and normal endothelial cells (NECs). High expression of AXL in TECs promoted the cell migration, but not the proliferation of HCC cells. Further studies demonstrated that AXL promoted cell migration and tube formation through activation of the PI3K/AKT/SOX2/DKK-1 axis. AXL overexpression in HUVECs promoted tumor growth and liver or vessel metastasis of HCC in xenograft nude mice, which could be counteracted by treatment with R428, an AXL inhibitor. R428 reduced tumor growth and CD 31 expression in HCC in PDX xenograft nude mice. Therefore, AXL over-expression in TECs promotes vessel metastasis of HCC, which indicates that AXL in TECs could be a potential therapeutic target in HCC patients with PVTT.

M2-polarized (alternatively activated) macrophages play an important role in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Allograft inflammatory factor 1 (AIF1) is overexpressed in M2-polarized macrophages. This study explored the role of AIF1 in tumor-associated macrophages in HCC. Macrophages were stimulated with colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF1) to characterize the regulatory pathway of AIF1 in macrophages. The chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter gene assay were conducted to examine transcription factors associated with AIF1 expression. AIF1 was down or upregulated, and the effects on tumor progression were evaluated by using in vitro and in vivo co-culture systems. A cytokine array was performed to screen the downstream functional components of AIF1. Tumor tissue from 206 patients with HCC were used to explore the clinical significance of AIF1. AIF1 induced a M2-like phenotype of macrophages. By facilitating the binding of c-Jun to the promoter of AIF1, CSF1 secreted from hepatoma cells increased AIF1 expression through the CSF1R-MEK1/2-Erk1/2-c-Jun axis. AIF1 expressed in macrophages promoted the migration of hepatoma cells in co-culture system of RAW264.7 and Hepa1-6 and tumor growth in an animal model. The cytokine array showed that CXCL16 was increased in RAW264.7 cells with overexpressed AIF1, leading to enhanced tumor cell migration. In human HCC tissue, AIF1-positive macrophages in the adjacent microenvironment was associated with microvascular invasion and advanced TNM stages and with patients' overall and disease-free survival (p = 0.002 for both). AIF1 expression in macrophages plays a pivotal role in the interaction between macrophages and hepatoma cells.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is one of the curative therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), however, accelerated progression of residual HCC after incomplete RFA has been reported more frequently. The underlying molecular mechanism of this phenomenon remains to be elucidated. In this study, we used an incomplete RFA orthotopic HCC nude mouse model to study the invasive and metastatic potential of residual cancer as well as the correlated mechanism.The incomplete RFA orthotopic nude mouse models were established using high metastatic potential HCC cell line HCCLM3 and low metastatic potential HCC cell line HepG2, respectively. The changes in cellular morphology, motility, metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and HCC cell molecular markers after in vitro and in vivo incomplete RFA intervention were observed.Pulmonary and intraperitoneal metastasis were observed in an in vivo study. The underlying pro-invasive mechanism of incomplete RFA appeared to be associated with promoting EMT, including down-regulation of E-cadherin and up-regulation of N-cadherin and vimentin. These results were in accordance with the in vitro response of HCC cells to heat intervention. Further studies demonstrated that β-catenin was a pivotal factor during this course and blocking β-catenin reduced metastasis and EMT phenotype changes in heat-treated HCCLM3 cells in vitro.Incomplete RFA enhanced the invasive and metastatic potential of residual cancer, accompanying with EMT-like phenotype changes by activating β-catenin signaling in HCCLM3 cells.

BACKGROUND & AIMS:microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to regulate angiogenesis by down-regulating the expression of pro-angiogenic or anti-angiogenic factors. The aims of this study were to investigate whether miR-26a inhibited angiogenesis by down-regulating vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and its clinical relevance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS:The expression of miR-26a was modified in HepG2 and HCCLM3 cell lines respectively, and a panel of angiogenic factors was measured by real-time PCR in the cells. A luciferase reporter assay was used to validate the target gene of miR-26a. Specific inhibitors of signal transduction pathway and siRNA approaches were used to explore the regulatory mechanism of miR-26a. Migration and tube forming assays were conducted to show the changes of angiogenesis induced by miR-26a and its target genes. Finally animal studies were used to further validate those findings. RESULTS:Ectopic expression of miR-26a exhibited decreased levels of VEGFA in HepG2 cells. Migration and tube forming of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were decreased in the conditioned medium from ectopic expression of miR-26a in HepG2 cells compared to control HepG2 cells. The pro-angiogenic effects of the conditioned medium of HepG2 cells on HUVECs were specifically decreased by LY294002, YC-1, and bevacizumab. Integrated analysis disclosed PIK3C2α as a downstream target gene of miR-26a. Ectopic expression of miR-26a suppressed ectopic and orthotopic tumor growth and vascularity in nude mice. The results in HCCLM3 were consistent with those in HepG2. miR-26a expression was inversely correlated with VEGFA expression in HCC patients. CONCLUSIONS:miR-26a modulated angiogenesis of HCC through the PIK3C2α/Akt/HIF-1α/VEGFA pathway. The expression of VEGFA was inversely correlated with miR-26a expression in HCC tumors.

BACKGROUND AIMS: We previously demonstrated the pro-metastasis effect of sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is mediated by down-regulation of tumor suppressor HTATIP2. The aim of the present study was to determine whether aspirin minimizes this effect and improves survival. METHODS: The effects of sorafenib, aspirin, and combined sorafenib and aspirin were observed in HCCLM3 and HepG2 xenograft nude mice. Tumor growth, intrahepatic metastasis (IHM), lung metastasis, and survival were assessed. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array, real-time (RT)-PCR, and Western blotting were used to examine gene expression. The anti-invasion and anti-metastasis effects of aspirin were studied in HTATIP2-knockdown and HTATIP2-overexpressing HCC cell lines. The molecular mechanism of HTATIP2 regulation by aspirin was explored. RESULTS: Aspirin suppressed the pro-invasion and pro-metastasis effects of sorafenib in HCC and up-regulated HTATIP2 expression. Aspirin did not inhibit the proliferation of HCC cells, but it decreased the invasiveness of HCC with lower expression of HTATIP2 and increased expression of a set of markers, indicating a mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition in tumor cells. The up-regulation of HTATPI2 expression by aspirin is most likely mediated through inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX) 2 expression. CONCLUSIONS: Aspirin minimized the pro-metastasis effect of sorafenib by up-regulating the tumor suppressor HTATIP2; this mechanism is mediated through inhibition of COX2.