The performance evaluation of NIPT for fetal chromosome microdeletion/microduplication detection: a retrospective analysis of 68,588 Chinese cases.

Background: Chromosomal abnormalities are the main cause of birth defects in newborns. Since the inception of noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) technology, it has primarily been applied to the detection of common trisomy (T21, T18, T13). However, the application of NIPT in microdeletion and microduplication detection is still controversial. Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed the data of 68,588 cases that underwent NIPT at Ganzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital in China. These data were used to evaluate the performance of NIPT in fetal chromosome microdeletion/microduplication detection and to investigate the key factors affecting the NIPT performance. Results: A total of 281 cases (0.41%) had positive NIPT results with copy number variants (CNVs), of which 161 were validated by karyotyping and chromosome microarray analysis (CMA). Among the 161 cases, 92 were confirmed as true positives through karyotyping or CMA, including 61 microdeletion cases and 31 microduplication cases, resulting in a positive predictive value (PPV) of 57.14%. Improvements in library construction methods increased the fraction of cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) from 13.76% to 18.44%, leading to a significant improvement in the detection rate (0.47% vs. 0.15%) and PPV (59.86% vs. 28.57%) of NIPT for CNVs. Conclusion: This study proved the robust performance of NIPT for fetal chromosome microdeletion/microduplication detection. In addition, the cffDNA fraction is a key factor influencing NIPT, with increased cffDNA fraction improving the performance of NIPT.

Synergy Effect of High-Stability of VS4 Nanorods for Sodium Ion Battery.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted increasing interest as promising candidates for large-scale energy storage due to their low cost, natural abundance and similar chemical intercalation mechanism with lithium-ion batteries. However, achieving superior rate capability and long-life for SIBs remains a major challenge owing to the limitation of favorable anode materials selection. Herein, an elegant one-step solvothermal method was used to synthesize VS4 nanorods and VS4 nanorods/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocomposites. The effects of ethylene carbonate/diethyl carbonate(EC/DEC), ethylene carbonate/dimethyl carbonate(EC/DMC), and tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether (TEGDME) electrolytes on the electrochemical properties of VS4 nanorods were investigated. The VS4 nanorods electrodes exhibit high specific capacity in EC/DMC electrolytes. A theoretical calculation confirms the advance of EC/DMC electrolytes for VS4 nanorods. Significantly, the discharge capacity of VS4/RGO nanocomposites remains 100 mAh/g after 2000 cycles at a large current density of 2 A/g, indicating their excellent cycling stability. The nanocomposites can improve the electronic conductivity and reduce the Na+ diffusion energy barrier, thereby effectively improving the sodium storage performance of the hybrid material. This work offers great potential for exploring promising anode materials for electrochemical applications.

The older, the less potential benefit for type 2 diabetes from weight control.

BACKGROUND: Although moderate weight loss improves outcomes of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in young and middle-aged adults, there is a lack of high-quality evidence to support the strong relationship between obesity and T2DM in older people. This study aims to investigate whether the association of obesity with T2DM changes with aging. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 63,180 Chinses and US subjects from 3 datasets. Subjects were divided into young & middle-aged (≤59 years), young-old (60-75 years), and old-old (≥75 years). Logistic regression was used to determine the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association between obesity and T2DM, stratified by common confounders. A sliding-window based algorithm and restricted cubic splines were used to smoothly estimate the changes with aging. RESULTS: The OR (95% CI) for the associations between general obesity and T2DM were decreased from the young & middle-aged group (OR, 5.91; 95% CI, 5.33-6.56) to the young-old group (OR, 3.98; 95% CI, 3.56-4.45) and then to the old-old group (OR, 3.06; 95% CI, 2.57-3.66). The trend for this reduced association with aging persisted after stratification by obesity type, region, gender, recruiting time, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia in both Chinese and Americans. We also identified a weakened gender disparity for this association between the young & middle-aged subjects (P for disparity < 0.001) and the old-old group (P for disparity = ~ 0.36). CONCLUSIONS: The obesity-T2DM association is clearly reduced with aging, which indicates that the elderly may gain fewer potential benefits in weight lose than the younger patients. Considering this attenuated association, as well as the increased incidence of geriatric syndrome in the elderly, clinicians should comprehensively balance the benefits and side effects of weight loss in geriatric T2DM interventions.

Influence of oral nutritional agents rich in soluble dietary fiber on intestinal flora of elderly men with malnutrition.

OBJECTIVE: Observe the influence of oral nutritional agents rich in soluble dietary (enteral nutritional suspension [TPF-DM]) on intestinal flora of elderly male subjects with malnutrition. METHOD: Seventy-eight subjects with good nutrition were considered as the healthy control group. Twenty-eight male subjects who had malnutrition and were older than 70 years were included and randomly divided into the short-term (3 months) intervention group (n = 20) and the long-term (12 months) group (n = 8). They were provided with enteral nutritional suspension (TPF-DM) 500 mL/day or maximum tolerance dose, so as to observe the changes in nutrition-related indexes and intestinal flora after the elderly take enteral nutritional suspension (TPF-DM). RESULTS: (1) For elderly male subjects with malnutrition, their body weight, body mass index, hemoglobin, total protein, and albumin were significantly lower than the control group with favorable nutrition. (2) There were obvious differences in intestinal flora between healthy elderly male subjects and those with malnutrition. After the treatment of enteral nutritional suspension (TPF-DM), intestinal flora of the malnourished elderly subjects showed recovery toward the healthy elderly subjects. The obvious gradient changes of the flora were mainly in the bacteroidetes, firmicutes, and proteobacteria phyla, and the relative abundance of CAG2 clusters in the malnourished group was higher than that in the healthy control group, and the relative abundance decreased after long-term treatment, and the change approached the healthy control group. The relative abundance of CAG3 and CAG6 clusters in the malnourished group was lower than that in the healthy control group, and the relative abundance increased after long-term treatment, and the change approached the healthy control group. CONCLUSION: Malnutrition has obvious impact on intestinal flora of the elderly. Enteral nutritional suspension (TPF-DM) not only prevents the further decline in the state of nutrition but also helps the recovery in intestinal flora of the elderly. Long-term application can produce better effects.