Understanding the educational inequalities in suicide attempts and their mediators:a Mendelian randomisation study

Background Educational inequalities in suicide have become increasingly prominent over the past decade.Elucidating modifiable risk factors that serve as intermediaries in the impact of low educational attainment on suicide has the potential to reduce health disparities.Aims To examine the risk factors that mediate the relationship between educational attainment and suicide attempts and quantify their contributions to the mediation effect.Methods We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomisation(MR)analysis to estimate the causal effect of educational attainment on suicide attempts,utilising genome-wide association study summary statistics from the Integrative Psychiatric Research(iPSYCH;6024 cases and 44240 controls)and FinnGen(8978 cases and 368299 controls).We systematically evaluated 42 putative mediators within the causal pathway connecting reduced educational attainment to suicide attempts and employed two-step and multivariable MR to quantify the proportion of the mediated effect.Results In the combined analysis of iPSYCH and FinnGen,each standard deviation(SD)decrease in genetically predicted educational attainment(equating to 3.4 years of education)was associated with a 105%higher risk of suicide attempts(odds ratio(OR):2.05;95%confidence interval(Cl):1.81 to 2.31).0f the 42 risk factors analysed,the two-step MR identified five factors that mediated the association between educational attainment and suicide attempts.The respective proportions of mediation were 47%(95%Cl:29%to 66%)for smoking behaviour,36%(95%Cl:0%to 84%)for chronic pain,49%(95%Cl:36%to 61%)for depression,35%(95%Cl:12%to 59%)for anxiety and 26%(95%Cl:18%to 34%)for insomnia.Multivariable MR implicated these five mediators collectively,accounting for 68%(95%Cl:40%to 96%)of the total effect.Conclusions This study identified smoking,chronic pain and mental disorders as primary intervention targets for attenuating suicide risk attributable to lower educational levels in the European population.

An alfalfa MYB-like transcriptional factor MsMYBH positively regulates alfalfa seedling drought resistance and undergoes MsWAV3-mediated degradation

Drought is a major threat to alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.)production.The discovery of important alfalfa genes regulating drought response will facilitate breeding for drought-resistant alfalfa cultivars.Here,we report a genome-wide association study of drought resistance in alfalfa.We identified and functionally characterized an MYB-like transcription factor gene(MsMYBH),which increases the drought resistance in alfalfa.Compared with the wild-types,the biomass and forage quality were enhanced in MsMYBH overexpressed plants.Combined RNA-seq,proteomics and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed that MsMYBH can directly bind to the promoters of MsMCP1,MsMCP2,MsPRX1A and MsCARCAB to improve their expression.The outcomes of such interactions include better water balance,high photosynthetic efficiency and scavenge excess H_(2)O_(2)in response to drought.Furthermore,an E3 ubiquitin ligase(MsWAV3)was found to induce MsMYBH degradation under long-term drought,via the 26S proteasome pathway.Furthermore,variable-number tandem repeats in MsMYBH promoter were characterized among a collection of germplasms,and the variation is associated with promoter activity.Collectively,our findings shed light on the functions of MsMYBH and provide a pivotal gene that could be leveraged for breeding drought-resistant alfalfa.This discovery also offers new insights into the mechanisms of drought resistance in alfalfa.

Profile error compensation in precision grinding of ellipsoid optical surface

Optical glass elements with the ellipsoidal surface are used in many critical aerospace instruments,such as satellites,telescope and cameras.Their optical performance is mainly affected by profile accuracy and surface quality.In this paper,a rectangular ellipsoid surface is precisely ground on a BK7 optical glass blank by grating scanning grinding path with a three-axis CNC precision surface grinder.A profile error compensation procedure for ellipsoidal grinding is proposed based on the error analysis about the primary error sources in the XY and YZ projection planes during the grinding process.The mathematical prediction models of the wheel arc profile error,the measurement and wear error of the grinding wheel radiuses are established.By applying the proposed error compensation procedure,the profile accuracy of the ellipsoidal surface was improved from 4 lm to 2 lm in the XY plane,and improved from 15 lm to 5 lm in the YZ plane.

Intrinsically flexible all-carbon-nanotube electronics enabled by a hybrid organic-inorganic gate dielectric

The advancement of Internet of Things has stimulated huge demands on low-voltage flexible electronics.Carbon-nanotube(CNT)-based electronics are of great promise to this end for their intrinsic flexibility,high carrier mobility,and capability to synthesize as semiconducting or metallic to serve as the channels,electrodes,and interconnects of circuits.However,the gate dielectric often has to adopt brittle oxides,which can seriously limit the device flexibility.Herein,we show that a hybrid polyimide-Al2O3 material can serve as a good gate dielectric to realize truly intrinsic flexibility of transistors and circuits based on CNTs.With this hybrid dielectric,high-performance all-CNT transistors and integrated circuits of inverters,ring oscillators,and logic gates are demonstrated.Particularly,the inverters exhibit a remarkably high gain of 342.5 and can be used as an analog amplifier for millivolt small signals.Ultralow voltage(50 mV)operation is also feasible,which highlights the great promise for low-power applications.