Context:Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) is a novel histone methylation modulator that regulates energy metabolism, and NNMT knockdown prevents diet-induced obesity in mice. However, whether NNMT plays a role in human obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) remains to be elucidated.Objective: NNMT catalyzes methylation of nicotinamide to generate N 1 -methylnicotinamide (me-NAM). We aimed to investigate the associations of serum me-NAM with obesity and T2DM in Chinese.Design, Setting, and Participants: The study subjects (n ϭ 1160) were recruited from Dali, a city of Yunnan Province, in southwest China. Anthropometric phenotypes, fasting glucose, and serum lipids were measured. Serum me-NAM was measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.Results: Serum me-NAM was positively correlated with body mass index and waist circumference and negatively with high-density lipoprotein (P Յ .03). The correlations remained highly significant in the multivariate adjusted correlation analyses. In men (n ϭ 691), positive correlations between me-NAM and fasting glucose, low-density lipoprotein, liver function, and serum creatinine levels were also observed in both simple and multivariate adjusted correlation analyses. In multiple logistic regression analyses, elevated serum me-NAM was associated with higher risks for overweight/obesity (odds ratios, 2.36 and 5.78; 95% confidence intervals, 1.10 -5.08 and 1.78 -18.76 for men and women, respectively; P Յ .03) and diabetes (odds ratios, 1.56 and 1.86; 95% confidence intervals, 1.10 -2.22 and 1.05-3.31 for men and women, respectively; P Յ .03). Conclusions:This first large-scale population study shows that me-NAM, as an indicator of NNMT activity, is strongly associated with obesity and diabetes, supporting NNMT as a potential target for treating obesity and diabetes in humans. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 100: 3112-3117, 2015)

Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) is a common pathological and physiological phenomenon. Tetramethylpyrazine is the extract of the traditional Chinese medicine Chuanxiong, which can exert protective effects on MIRI in multiple ways. This paper reviewed the current research progress and evidence about the cardiovascular effects of tetramethylpyrazine, which included protecting mitochondria and improving energy metabolism, scavenging oxygen free radicals (OFRs) to inhibit lipid peroxidation, attenuating calcium (Ca2+) overload and maintaining Ca2+ homeostasis in cells, inhibiting apoptosis and protecting myocardial cells, interfering with the inflammatory reaction and mitigating cell injury, interfering with cell signaling pathways, and improving function of endothelial cells and protecting myocardial cells. However, further rigorously designed randomized controlled trials are warranted.

Accurate and timely flood inundation maps serve as crucial information for hydrologists, first‐responders, and decision makers of natural disaster management agencies. In this study, two modeling approaches are applied to estimate the inundation area for a large flooding event that occurred in May 2016 in the Brazos River: (1) Height Above the Nearest Drainage combined with National Hydrograph Dataset Plus (NHDPlus‐HAND) and (2) International River Interface Cooperative — Flow and Sediment Transport with Morphological Evolution of Channels (iRIC‐FaSTMECH). The inundation extents simulated from these two modeling approaches are then compared against the observed inundation extents derived from a Landsat 8 satellite image. The simulated results from NHDPlus‐HAND and iRIC‐FaSTMECH show 56% and 70% of overlaps with the observed flood extents, respectively. A modified version of the NHDPlus‐HAND model, considering networked catchment behaviors, is also tested with an improved fitness of 67%. This study suggests that NHDPlus‐HAND has the potential for real‐time continental inundation forecast due to its low computational cost and ease to couple with the National Water Model. Better performance of NHDPlus‐HAND can be achieved by considering the inter‐catchment flows during extreme riverine flood events. Overall, this study presents a comprehensive examination made of remote sensing compared with HAND‐based inundation mapping in a region of complex topography.

Planning of traditional coastal flood risk management strategies are largely predicated on storm surge protection against extreme hurricanes, i.e. storm surge. However, (1) hurricane storm surge and (2) hurricane rainfall-runoff are not mutually exclusive flood hazards. Little research has emphasized the need for quantifying and characterizing the joint hydraulic processes between hurricane storm surge and rainfall-runoff during real events for enhancing effective flood risk mitigation. In this regard, an improved hydrological and hydrodynamic modeling framework has been developed for the Houston Ship Channel (HSC) and Galveston Bayto serve as a quantitative testbed for evaluating coupled hurricane storm surge and rainfall-runoff.

Background: Sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate (STS) injection, the extractive of traditional Chinese medicine Danshen, is supposed to be a supplementary treatment in hypertensive nephropathy. Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of STS in treatment of hypertensive nephropathy. Methods: We systematically searched China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Database (VIP), Wan-fang database, Chinese Biomedicine Database (CBM), PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library from their inception to December 2018. All studies were screened by two reviewers according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria independently. The Cochrane Collaboration's risk tool was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. Reviewer Manager 5.3 was employed for statistical analysis. Results: Sixteen trials involving 1,696 patients were included. The meta-analysis results indicated a combination of STS and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) was more effective than ARB monotherapy in modulating hypertensive nephropathy, as represented by improved estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) [mean difference (MD) = 6.87, 95% CI (4.47, 9.28), P < 0.00001] and reduced 24 h urinary protein [MD = −0.23, 95% CI (−0.27, −0.19), P < 0.00001], serum creatinine (SCr) [MD = −21.74, 95% CI (−24.11, −19.38), P < 0.00001], cystatin-C [MD = −0.16, 95% CI (−0.24, −0.07), P = 0.0003], urinary immunoglobulin G (IgG) [MD = −0.85, 95% CI (−1.11, −0.59), P < 0.00001], and urinary transferrin [MD = −0.61, 95% CI (−1.04, −0.17), P = 0.007]. In addition, the combination therapy had better control in systolic blood pressure (SBP) [MD = −6.53, 95% CI (−8.19, −4.87), P < 0.00001] and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) [MD = −4.14, 95% CI (−5.69, −2.59), P < 0.00001]. Only three trials reported adverse events, and no adverse drug reactions were observed.