METHODS: We carried out a systematic search of all available RCTs up to June 2019 in the following electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Pooled weight mean difference (WMD) of the included studies was estimated using random-effects model.
RESULTS: A total of 27 articles were included in this meta-analysis, with walnuts dosage ranging from 15 to 108 g/d for 2 wk to 2 y. Overall, interventions with walnut intake did not alter waist circumference (WC) (WMD: -0.193 cm, 95 % CI: -1.03, 0.64, p = 0.651), body weight (BW) (0.083 kg, 95 % CI: -0.032, 0.198, p = 0.159), body mass index (BMI) (WMD: -0.40 kg/m,295 % CI: -0.244, 0.164, p = 0.703), and fat mass (FM) (WMD: 0.28 %, 95 % CI: -0.49, 1.06, p = 0.476). Following dose-response evaluation, reduced BW (Coef.= -1.62, p = 0.001), BMI (Coef.= -1.24, p = 0.041) and WC (Coef.= -5.39, p = 0.038) were significantly observed through walnut intake up to 35 g/day. However, the number of studies can be limited as to the individual analysis of the measures through the dose-response fashion.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, results from this meta-analysis suggest that interventions with walnut intake does not alter BW, BMI, FM, and WC. To date, there is no discernible evidence to support walnut intake for improving anthropometric indicators of weight loss.
METHODS: To determine the antibacterial effectiveness of the MAC against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we conducted minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) assays. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques were employed to observe bacterial morphology and biofilm formation. We further performed a biofilm inhibition assay to assess the effect of the MAC on biofilm formation. Whole-transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis were employed to elucidate the antibacterial mechanism of the MAC. Additionally, the expression levels of differentially expressed genes were validated using the real-time PCR approach.
RESULTS: Our findings demonstrated the antibacterial activity of the MAC against P. aeruginosa. SEM analysis revealed that the MAC can induce morphological changes in bacterial cells. The biofilm assay showed that the MAC could reduce biofilm formation. Whole-transcriptome analysis revealed 1093 differentially expressed genes consisting of 659 upregulated genes and 434 downregulated genes, in response to the MAC treatment. Mechanistically, the MAC inhibited P. aeruginosa growth by targeting metabolic processes, secretion system, signal transduction, and cell membrane functions, thereby potentially compromising the survival of this human pathogen. This study provides valuable insights into the antibacterial and antibiofilm activities of the MAC, a synergistic and cost-effective malic acid combination, which holds promise as a potential therapeutic drug cocktail for treating human infectious diseases in the future.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 7476 patients with routine health check-up data who underwent prostate biopsies from January 2008 to December 2021 in eight referral centres in Asia were screened. After data pre-processing and cleaning, 5037 patients and 117 features were analyzed. Seven AI-based algorithms were tested for feature selection and seven AI-based algorithms were tested for classification, with the best combination applied for model construction. The APAC score was established in the CH cohort and validated in a multi-centre cohort and in each validation cohort to evaluate its generalizability in different Asian regions. The performance of the models was evaluated using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), calibration plot, and decision curve analyses.
RESULTS: Eighteen features were involved in the APCA score predicting HGPCa, with some of these markers not previously used in prostate cancer diagnosis. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.76 (95% CI:0.74-0.78) in the multi-centre validation cohort and the increment of AUC (APCA vs. PSA) was 0.16 (95% CI:0.13-0.20). The calibration plots yielded a high degree of coherence and the decision curve analysis yielded a higher net clinical benefit. Applying the APCA score could reduce unnecessary biopsies by 20.2% and 38.4%, at the risk of missing 5.0% and 10.0% of HGPCa cases in the multi-centre validation cohort, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: The APCA score based on routine health check-ups could reduce unnecessary prostate biopsies without additional examinations in Asian populations. Further prospective population-based studies are warranted to confirm these results.
METHODS: Using measures of discrimination and calibration, we tested the performance of the NL-IHRS (n=100 475) and FC-IHRS (n=107 863) for predicting incident CVD in a community-based, prospective study across seven geographic regions: South Asia, China, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Europe/North America, South America and Africa. CVD was defined as the composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure or coronary revascularisation.
RESULTS: Mean age of the study population was 50.53 (SD 9.79) years and mean follow-up was 4.89 (SD 2.24) years. The NL-IHRS had moderate to good discrimination for incident CVD across geographic regions (concordance statistic (C-statistic) ranging from 0.64 to 0.74), although recalibration was necessary in all regions, which improved its performance in the overall cohort (increase in C-statistic from 0.69 to 0.72, p<0.001). Regional recalibration was also necessary for the FC-IHRS, which also improved its overall discrimination (increase in C-statistic from 0.71 to 0.74, p<0.001). In 85 078 participants with complete data for both scores, discrimination was only modestly better with the FC-IHRS compared with the NL-IHRS (0.74 vs 0.73, p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: External validations of the NL-IHRS and FC-IHRS suggest that regionally recalibrated versions of both can be useful for estimating CVD risk across a diverse range of community-based populations. CVD prediction using a non-laboratory score can provide similar accuracy to laboratory-based methods.