The causal effect of Alzheimer's disease and family history of Alzheimer's disease on non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and left ventricular structure and function: a Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Previous studies have shown that Alzheimer's disease (AD) can cause myocardial damage. However, whether there is a causal association between AD and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) remains unclear. Using a comprehensive two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) method, we aimed to determine whether AD and family history of AD (FHAD) affect left ventricular (LV) structure and function and lead to NICM, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Methods: The summary statistics for exposures [AD, paternal history of AD (PH-AD), and maternal history of AD (MH-AD)] and outcomes (NICM, HCM, DCM, and LV traits) were obtained from the large European genome-wide association studies. The causal effects were estimated using inverse variance weighted, MR-Egger, and weighted median methods. Sensitivity analyses were conducted, including Cochran's Q test, MR-Egger intercept test, MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier, MR Steiger test, leave-one-out analysis, and the funnel plot. Results: Genetically predicted AD was associated with a lower risk of NICM [odds ratio (OR) 0.9306, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8825-0.9813, p = 0.0078], DCM (OR 0.8666, 95% CI 0.7752-0.9689, p = 0.0119), and LV remodeling index (OR 0.9969, 95% CI 0.9940-0.9998, p = 0.0337). Moreover, genetically predicted PH-AD was associated with a decreased risk of NICM (OR 0.8924, 95% CI 0.8332-0.9557, p = 0.0011). MH-AD was also strongly associated with a decreased risk of NICM (OR 0.8958, 95% CI 0.8449-0.9498, p = 0.0002). Different methods of sensitivity analysis demonstrated the robustness of the results. Conclusion: Our study revealed that AD and FHAD were associated with a decreased risk of NICM, providing a new genetic perspective on the pathogenesis of NICM.

Regulation of coordination and doping environment via target molecular transformation for boosting selective photocatalytic ability.

Here, a novel transformed CdO with low coordination and N doping environment was simply synthesized through the involvement of the target molecule tetracycline (TC). The results showed that the shedding of surface hydroxyl groups led to a low coordination environment, and N doping formed a new doping energy level, which increased the charge density and promoted the migration and separation of photo-generated carriers. Its photocatalytic performance was 4.32 times higher than that of hydroxy-rich CdO and the selectivity coefficient was 4.8. Combined with theoretical calculation and in situ Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) analysis, the significant improvement of selectivity was due to the interaction of the doped N atom with the methyl carbon in TC. This work provided a new idea for the simultaneous construction of low coordination environment and N-doped materials for efficient selective photocatalysis.

[The electron microscopic in situ hybridization and its application].

The technique of electron microsco-pic in situ hybridization is applying in situ hybridization at the electron microscopic level. It is mainly used in the ultrastructural localization of the lablled DNA, RNA and RHA in a cell and/or a tissue. In this paper I mainly elaborated its establishment and classification, and the operation procedure of nonradioactive electron microscopic in situ hybridization and some points for attention. In the end I also discussed its application for research.