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Purpose: It is unclear whether or not nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)/metabolic dysfunction–associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is related to short sleep duration. A meta-analysis was conducted to determine if inadequate sleep time increased the risk of NAFLD/MAFLD. Methods: A comprehensive systematic literature review was conducted in the Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases from inception to August 1, 2022. Studies examining the correlation between inadequate sleep time and the risk of NAFLD/MAFLD were included. We pooled the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using a random-effects model. Results: This meta-analysis included fifteen studies involving a total of 261,554 participants. In the pooled analysis, short sleep duration was found to be strongly correlated with an increased risk of NAFLD/MAFLD (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.04–1.28; P = 0.01), with a moderate degree of heterogeneity between studies (I2 = 71.92%, Q = 49.87, P < 0.01). The sensitivity analysis suggested that the primary outcome was robust, and there was no significant publication bias. Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicates that inadequate sleep duration is strongly correlated with an elevated risk of NAFLD/MAFLD. The findings suggest that obtaining an adequate amount of sleep may be useful for preventing NAFLD/MAFLD, which is especially important given the low rate of response to pharmacotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amblyopia resulting from early deprivation of vision or defocus in one eye reflects an imbalance of input from the eyes to the visual cortex. We tested the hypothesis that asynchronous stimulation of the two eyes might induce synaptic plasticity and rebalance input. Experiments on normal adults showed that repetitive brief exposure of grating stimuli, with the onset of each stimulus delayed by 8.3 ms in one eye, results in a shift in perceptual eye dominance. Clinical studies (Clinical trial registration number: ChiCTR2100049130), using popular 3D movies with similar asynchrony between the two eyes (amblyopic eye stimulated first) to treat anisometropic amblyopia, established that just 10.5 h of conditioning over <3 weeks produced improvement that met criteria for successful treatment. The benefits of asynchronous conditioning accumulate over 20–30 45 min sessions, and are maintained for at least 2 years. Finally, we demonstrate that asynchronous binocular treatment alone is more effective than patching only. This novel treatment is popular with children and is some 50 times more efficient than patching alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing evidences have revealed that a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) has anti-fibrotic effect in different diseases. In this study, we first evaluated whether SAHA could suppress cardiac fibrosis. Mice with MI-induced cardiac fibrosis were treated with SAHA by intraperitoneal injection and their cardiac function was improved after SAHA treatment. Results of western blotting and qRT-PCR in heart tissues suggested that TGFβ1/P38 pathway was activated in MI mice, and this effect was reversed by SAHA. Cell proliferation assay suggested that SAHA could suppress TGF-β1-induced cardiac fibroblasts proliferation. Furthermore, results of western blotting and qRT-PCR in cardiac fibroblasts depicted that SAHA may exert its anti-fibrotic effect through inhibiting TGF-β1-induced P38 phosphorylation by promoting DUSP4 expression. Our findings may substantiate SAHA as a promising treatment for MI-induced cardiac fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Thyroid dysfunction contributes to adverse events in several types of cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the present study is to determine whether thyroid status is associated with the prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods: The present cohort arose from the China PEACE‑Prospective AMI study. Based on the evaluation of thyroid status, participants were divided into euthyroid, hypothyroid, and hyperthyroid groups. A total of 2569 AMI patients met the inclusion criteria of our present study. The primary outcomes were the 12-month composite cardiovascular endpoint (CCVE, a composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction, revascularization, and heart failure) and the composite cardio-cerebral vascular endpoint (CCCVE, comprising CCVE and stroke). Results: Of the entire cohort, 431 patients (16.8%) confirmed hypothyroid status and 102 (4.0%) were at hyperthyroid status. There were total 594 CCVEs (23.1%) and 687 CCCVEs (26.7%) in the general population. After adjusting conventional risk factors, AMI patients from the hypothyroid status group were at increased risk of the two composite endpoints, compared with euthyroid individuals (CCVE, HR:1.337, 95%CI: 1.097–1.630; CCCVE, HR:1.336, 95%CI: 1.111–1.607). However, no significant increased trends of the two composite endpoints could be observed in hyperthyroid group. Furthermore, hypothyroid status was also independently associated with a higher risk of revascularization (HR: 1.648, 95%CI: 1.047–2.595) and heart failure (HR: 1.382, 95%CI: 1.066–1.792). Conclusion: Compared with euthyroid status, hypothyroid status has an independent predicting value for adverse cardiovascular events in AMI patients. Further investigations are required to illustrate whether treatment of thyroid dysfunction could improve the prognosis of AMI patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fabrication of brittle magnetocaloric materials into heat exchangers is currently challenging for conventional manufacturing techniques. In the present study, we demonstrated that selective laser melting (SLM), an emerging 3D printing technique, offers a new and promising solution to fabricate the (Mn,Fe)2(P,Si) magnetocaloric alloys for magnetic refrigeration applications. The hexagonal (Mn,Fe)2(P,Si) phase, which shows a first-order magnetic transition, is successfully formed in the SLM-printed samples with a very small amount of impurity phase (less than 2% in volume fraction). The SLM processing parameters (e.g., the laser power and scanning speed) have a strong influence on the microstructure, magnetic phase transition and magnetocaloric properties of the printed samples. The microscopic mechanism underlying the changes in the microstructure and phase transition temperature has also been discussed. Besides that, a large isothermal entropy change, more than three times higher than that of the benchmark Gd material in a field change of 1 and 2 T, has been obtained in the SLM-printed samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amygdala is a limbic structure that is involved in many brain functions, including emotion, learning and memory. It has been reported that melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) innervate the medial amygdala (MeA). However, whether conventional RGCs (cRGCs) project to the MeA remains unknown. The goal of this study was to determine if cRGCs project to the MeA and to determine the morphological properties of MeA-projecting RGCs (MeA-RGCs). Retrogradely labeled RGCs in whole-mount retinas were intracellularly injected to reveal their dendritic morphologies. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to selectively label ipRGCs (MeA-ipRGCs) and cRGCs (MeA-cRGCs). The results showed that 95.7% of the retrogradely labeled cells were cRGCs and that the rest were ipRGCs. Specifically, MeA-cRGCs consist of two morphological types. The majority of them exhibit small but dense dendritic fields and diffuse ramification patterns as previously reported in RGB2 (95%), while the rest exhibit small but sparse dendritic branching patterns resembling those of RGB3 cells (5%). MeA-ipRGCs consist of M1 and M2 subtypes. The MeA-RGCs showed an even retinal distribution patterns. The soma and dendritic field sizes of the MeA-RGCs did not vary with eccentricity. In conclusion, the present results suggest that MeA-RGCs are structurally heterogeneous. These direct RGCs that input to the MeA could be important for regulating amygdala functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To characterize recombinant AAV2 (rAAV2)-mediated expression of L132C/T159C ChR2 mutant in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) of young adult cynomolgus monkeys. rAAV2 vectors carrying a fusion construct of the ChR2 mutant and GFP (ChR2-GFP) were delivered to the vitreous chamber by intravitreal injection. Expression patterns of the ChR2 mutant in RGCs were examined by immunohistochemical methods three months after injection. The RNA-binding protein with multiple splicing (RBPMS) was used as an RGC specific marker to differentiate RGCs from other retinal neurons and non-neuronal cells. The numbers of RBPMS+ and GFP+ double-labeled RGCs in the central foveal varied with the eccentricity. The expression peaked within 100 μm from the edge of the foveola and drastically decreased to a single superficial RGC layer approximately 300 μm from the edge. On average, the ratio of the double-labeled RGCs versus RBPMS+ RGCs approached 0.32±0.15 ( n=14 fields) at the central foveal region (0.1 to 0.53 mm). We observed that the ratio reached 0.78±0.16 ( n=21 fields) at peripheral retinal locations (eccentricity >7 mm). This investigation demonstrates that RBPMS could serve as a valuable RGC specific marker for future investigations in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroid dysfunction is associated with poor prognosis in heart failure, but theories of mechanisms are mainly based on animal experiments, not on human level. We aimed to explore the relation between thyroid function and myocardial injuries in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET). Myocardial fibrosis was detected by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) MRI, and myocardial perfusion/metabolism was evaluated by 99mTc-MIBI SPECT /18F-FDG PET imaging. Across the quartiles of FT3, decreased percentage of segments with LGE and perfusion/metabolism abnormalities were found. As for FT4 and TSH levels, no significant distribution trend of myocardial injuries could be detected. In logistic analysis, FT3 was independently associated with the presence of LGE (OR: 0.140, 95% CI: 0.035-0.567), perfusion abnormalities (OR: 0.172, 95% CI: 0.040-0.738) and metabolism abnormalities (OR: 0.281, 95% CI: 0.081-0.971). After a median follow-up of 46 months, LGE-positive and FT3 < 2.77 pg/mL was identified as the strongest predictor of cardiac events (HR: 8.623, 95% CI: 3.626-16.438). Low FT3 level is associated with myocardial fibrosis and perfusion/metabolism abnormalities in patients with IDCM. The combination of FT3 level and LGE provides useful information for assessing the prognosis of IDCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]