Weiqing Wang

This study examines the energy expenditure and physiological responses associated with short-term quadrupedal locomotion compared to bipedal walking in humans. It aims to support evolutionary theory and explore quadrupedal locomotion's potential for enhancing fitness and health. In a randomized crossover design, twelve participants performed quadru...

Immunity has shown potentials in informing drug development for cardiometabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and coronary artery disease (CAD). Here, we performed a transcriptome-wide Mendelian randomization (MR) study to estimate the putative causal effects of 11,021 gene expression profiles during CD4⁺ T cells activation on the develop...

Diabetes management often involves invasive blood glucose monitoring, which can be uncomfortable for patients. Non-invasive techniques like multiple μ-spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (mμSORS) offer a promising alternative. To provide clinical data supporting mμSORS, we conducted a clinical trial with 198 participants to evaluate mμSORS for non-...

Guang Ning and colleagues underline the importance of tackling social determinants and associated inequity in prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases

Background An updated definition was developed to better evaluate cardiovascular health (CVH). We aimed to investigate whether optimal or improvement of six CVH metrics defined by new Life's Essential 8 (LE8) may counteract the risk of subclinical atherosclerosis among patients with hyperglycemia. Methods We conducted a prospective analysis of 522...

Introduction Observational study suggested SGLT2 inhibitors might promote healthy aging. However, whether brain-related phenotypes mediate this association. We applied Mendelian randomization (MR) to investigate the effect of SGLT2 inhibition on chronological, biological age and cognition and explore the mediation effects of brain imaging-derived p...

Although fat is a crucial source of energy in diets, excessive intake leads to obesity. Fat absorption in the gut is prevailingly thought to occur organ-autonomously by diffusion1–3. Whether the process is controlled by the brain-to-gut axis, however, remains largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that the dorsal motor nucleus of vagus (DMV) plays a...

Background Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) health is affected by social determinants of health, especially education. CKM syndrome has not been evaluated in Chinese population, and the association of education with CKM syndrome in different sexes and its intertwined relation with lifestyles have not been explored. Objective We aimed to explo...

We evaluated the effect of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibition on prostate cancer by evidence triangulation. Using Mendelian randomization, we found that genetically proxied SGLT2 inhibition reduced the risk of overall (odds ratio = 0.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.38 to 0.82; 79,148 prostate cancer cases and 61,106 controls), a...

Background The WFS1 gene encodes the protein wolframin, which is crucial for maintaining endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis. Variants in this gene are predominantly associated with Wolfram syndrome and have been implicated in other disorders such as diabetes mellitus and psychiatric diseases, which increases the rate of clinical misdiagnosis. Metho...

Background Novel diabetes phenotypes were proposed by the Europeans through cluster analysis, but Chinese community diabetes populations might exhibit different characteristics. This study aims to explore the clinical characteristics of novel diabetes subgroups under data‐driven analysis in Chinese community diabetes populations. Methods We used K...

Understanding sex disparities in modifiable risk factors across the lifespan is essential for crafting individualized intervention strategies. We aim to investigate the age-related sex disparity in cardiometabolic phenotypes in a large nationwide Chinese cohort. A total of 254,670 adults aged 40 years or older were selected from a population-based...

We conducted a clinical trial with 200 type 2 diabetes patients to evaluate mμSORS for non-invasive blood glucose measurement. Using Optical Coherence Tomography, we studied skin thickness and optical attenuation in 172 diabetic and 26 healthy subjects. Results showed thicker stratum corneum and stratum spinosum in diabetics. Epidermal thickness in...

Context Emerging studies have revealed associations between dietary medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) and glucose homeostasis. However, the relationship between serum MCFAs and the incidence of diabetes, and potential interactions with genetic predisposition, remains unclear in prospective cohort studies. Objective To investigate associations and g...

Context Supplemental methotrexate (MTX) may affect the clinical course of Graves’ disease (GD). Objective Evaluate efficacy of add-on MTX on medical treatment in GD. Design Prospective, open-label, randomized supplementation controlled trial. Setting Academic endocrine outpatient clinic. Patients One hundred and fifty-three untreated hyperthyro...

Aims/hypothesis The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral semaglutide monotherapy vs placebo in a predominantly Chinese population with type 2 diabetes insufficiently controlled with diet and exercise alone. Methods The Peptide Innovation for Early Diabetes Treatment (PIONEER) 11 trial was a double-blind, randomised, Ph...

Introduction Due to the high cost and complexity, the oral glucose tolerance test is not adopted as the screening method for identifying diabetes patients, which leads to the misdiagnosis of patients with isolated post‐challenge hyperglycemia (IPH), that is., patients with normal fasting plasma glucose (<7.0 mmoL/L) and abnormal 2‐h postprandial bl...

Background Sex differences in blood pressure (BP) levels and hypertension are important and the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in sex differences in hypertension remains unclear. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the impact of SES on sex differences of hypertension in a nationally representative survey study. Methods A total of 98,658 pa...

Insight into associations between the gut microbiome with metabolism and aging is crucial for tailoring interventions to promote healthy longevity. In a discovery cohort of 10,207 individuals aged 40–93 years, we used 21 metabolic parameters to classify individuals into five clusters, termed metabolic multimorbidity clusters (MCs), that represent d...

Background The triglyceride glucose (TyG) index has been associated with an increased risk in breast cancer. However, this association remains unclear among the Chinese population. This study aimed to investigate whether the TyG index is associated with the risk of prevalent breast cancer in Chinese women. Methods This cross-sectional study includ...

Background Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an aggressive endocrine malignancy with limited therapeutic options. Treating advanced ACC with mitotane, the cornerstone therapy, remains challenging, thus underscoring the significance to predict mitotane response prior to treatment and seek other effective therapeutic strategies. Objective We aimed t...

Aims The adverse effects of sedentary behavior on obesity and chronic diseases are well established. However, the prevalence of sedentary behavior has increased, with only a minority of individuals meeting the recommended physical activity guidelines. This study aimed to investigate whether habitual leg shaking, a behavior traditionally considered...

Context The prevalence of unilateral primary aldosteronism (UPA) with cortisol co-secretion varies geographically. Objective To investigate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of UPA with cortisol co-secretion in a Chinese population. Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods We recruited 580 patients with UPA who underwent cosyntropin...

OBJECTIVE We aimed to examine the effects of a 5:2 regimens diet (2 days per week of energy restriction by formula diet) or an exercise (2 days per week of high-intensity interval training and resistance training) intervention compared with routine lifestyle education (control) on glycemic control and cardiometabolic health among adults with overwe...

The administration of oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs) to patients with type 2 diabetes elicits distinct and shared changes in the gut microbiota, with acarbose and berberine exhibiting greater impacts on the gut microbiota than metformin, vildagliptin, and glipizide. The baseline gut microbiota strongly associates with treatment responses of OADs.

Importance With the widespread use of anti–SARS-CoV-2 drugs, accumulating data have revealed potential viral load rebound after treatment. Objective To compare COVID-19 rebound after a standard 5-day course of antiviral treatment with VV116 vs nirmatrelvir-ritonavir. Design, Setting, and Participants This is a single-center, investigator-blinded,...

Aims To assess the excess risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated with different criteria for metabolic health, and the interplay of body size, insulin sensitivity and metabolic health with CVD risk. Materials and Methods We conducted a prospective study involving 115 638 participants from the China Cardiometabolic Disease and Cancer Cohor...

Background/aims: : Low educational attainment is a well-established risk factor for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in developed areas. However, the association between educational attainment and the risk of NAFLD is less clear in China. Methods: : A cross-sectional study including over 200,000 Chinese adults across mainland China was c...

Background Some studies have assessed the predictive role of the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) for macrovascular diseases. This prospective investigation aimed to elucidate whether AIP is associated with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) incidence. Methods The data were extracted from 4831 participants, of whom 2943 a...

The prevalence of heart failure (HF) subtypes, which are classified by left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), demonstrate significant sex differences. Here, we perform sex-stratified genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on LVEF and transcriptome-wide Mendelian randomization (MR) on LVEF, all-cause HF, HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF...

Context Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is rare and have high rates of recurrence and mortality. The role of adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) in localized ACC was controversial. Methods We conducted a retrospective study in our center between 2015 and 2021 to evaluate the efficacy and safety of adjuvant RT in localized ACC. Overall survival (OS) and...

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has stimulated tremendous efforts to develop therapeutic agents that target severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 to control viral infection. So far, a few small-molecule antiviral drugs, including nirmatrelvir–ritonavir (Paxlovid), remdesivir, and molnupiravir have been marketed for the tr...

Context Cushing's Syndrome (CS) is a severe endocrine disease characterized by excessive secretion of cortisol with multiple metabolic disorders. While gut dysbiosis plays a vital role in metabolic disorders, the role of gut microbiota in CS remains unclear. Objective The objective of this work is to examine the alteration of gut microbiota in pat...

Background Previous observational studies have documented an inverse association of birthweight with myocardial infarction (MI) but a positive association with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the causality of these associations and the underlying mediating pathways remain unclear. We aimed to investigate the causal effects of birthweight, incorp...

Studies have found a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and chronic kidney disease (CKD) risk, but limited research evaluated the association of reallocating excessive sleep to other behavior with CKD. We included 104 538 participants from the nationwide cohort of the Risk Evaluation of Cancers in Chinese Diabetic Individuals: A Longitudi...

Context The association between the gut microbiota and thyroid cancer remains controversial. Objective We aimed to systematically investigate the interactive causal relationships between the abundance and metabolism pathways of gut microbiota and thyroid cancer. Methods We leveraged genome-wide association studies for the abundance of 211 microbi...

Observations of the association between carbohydrate intake and hypertension are inconsistent, with mediating pathways unclear. We aimed to investigate the causal effect of relative carbohydrate intake on hypertension and the mediating roles of psychological well-being and adiposity. Using summary-level statistics of genome-wide association studies...

The important role of m6A RNA modification in β-cell function has been established; however, how it regulates pancreatic development and endocrine differentiation remains unknown. Here, we generated transgenic mice lacking RNA methyltransferase-like 3 (Mettl3) specifically in Pdx1+ pancreatic progenitor cells and found the mice with the mutation de...

The gut microbiota interacts with intestinal epithelial cells through microbial metabolites to regulate the release of gut hormones. We investigated whether the gut microbiota affects the postprandial glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) response using antibiotic-treated mice and germ-free mice. Gut microbiome depletion completely abolished postprandial...

Background Gut microbiota imbalances have been suggested as a contributing factor to atrial fibrillation (AF), but the causal relationship is not fully understood. Objectives To explore the causal relationships between the gut microbiota and AF using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Methods Summary statistics were from genome-wide associati...

Malnutrition in early life increases the risk of osteoporosis, but the association of early-life undernutrition combined with adulthood obesity patterns with low-energy fracture remains unknown. This study included 5323 community-dwelling subjects aged ⩾40 years from China. Early-life famine exposure was identified based on the participants’ birth...

Aims We aimed to investigate changes of fecal short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and their association with metabolic benefits after sleeve gastrectomy (SG). Specifically, whether pre-surgery SCFAs modify surgical therapeutic effects was determined. Methods 62 participants with measurements of fecal SCFAs and metabolic indices before and 1, 3, 6 mont...

Aim To investigate the sex‐specific causality of body compositions in type 2 diabetes and related glycaemic traits using Mendelian randomization (MR). Materials and Methods We leveraged sex‐specific summary‐level statistics from genome‐wide association studies for three adipose deposits adjusted for body mass index and height, including abdominal...

Background The association between weight change during early adulthood and cardiometabolic diseases remains uncertain in Chinese population. Whether the association varies with comprehensive cardiovascular health (CVH) in midlife assessed by “Life’s Essential 8” has not been characterized. We aim to examine the associations of early adulthood weig...

Aims To examine the associations of sleep duration and changes in BMI with the onset of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Materials and methods 2,959 participants with type 2 diabetes were divided into three groups based on sleep duration: short (<7 h/day), intermediate (7-9 h/day), or long (>9 h/day). Changes in BMI during follow-up were trisected i...

Background Observational studies indicated a decreased risk of prostate cancer by SGLT2 inhibitors, but high-quality evidence is lacking to make a clear conclusion. We evaluated the effect of SGLT2 inhibition on prostate cancer risk by triangulating evidence from three methods. Methods Genetic variants associated with HbA1c levels (P<5e-8) in the g...

Previous studies have found that the association between modifiable risk factors and arterial stiffness varied with age. We aimed to explore the age-specific difference in the relationship between new cardiovascular health (CVH) score and arterial stiffness and further detected the age-specific temporal relationships in a prospective cohort study....

Aim To evaluate the effect of metformin on urate metabolism. Materials and Methods Using the UK Biobank, we first performed association analyses of metformin use with urate levels, risk of hyperuricaemia and incident gout in patients with diabetes. To explore the causal effect of metformin on urate and gout, we identified genetic variants proxying...

Background Metformin shows beneficial effects on cardiometabolic health in diabetic individuals. However, the beneficial effects in the general population, especially in non-diabetic individuals are unclear. We aim to estimate the effects of perturbation of seven metformin targets on cardiometabolic health using Mendelian randomization (MR). Metho...

Background and Purpose We investigated the causal relationships between the gut microbiota (GM), stroke, and potential metabolite mediators using Mendelian randomization (MR). Methods We leveraged the summary statistics of GM (n=18,340 in the MiBioGen consortium), blood metabolites (n=115,078 in the UK Biobank), and stroke (cases n=60,176 and cont...

Epidemiological evidence regarding the effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is conflicting. Additionally, little evidence exists regarding the effects of specific omega-3 components on IBD risk. We applied two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to disentangle the effects of omega-3...

Cover legend: The cover image is based on the Research Article Causal associations of sarcopenia-related traits with cardiometabolic disease and Alzheimer's disease and the mediating role of insulin resistance: A Mendelian randomization study by Chaojie Ye et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13923

Background: "Obesity paradox" occurs in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients when body mass index (BMI) is applied to define obesity. We examined the association of visceral fat area (VFA) as an obesity measurement with arterial stiffness in seven ideal cardiovascular health metrics (ICVHMs). Methods: A total of 29 048 patients were included...

Objective: This study investigated the association of economic status with metabolic index control in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Methods: In total, 37 454 T2DM patients from 10 National Metabolic Management Centers in China were recruited and categorized into two groups: a high-gross domestic product (GDP) group (n = 23 993) and a...

Background: Diabesity is a term used to emphasize the dual epidemic and the combined detrimental effects of diabetes and obesity. We aimed to investigate the associations of diabesity with the incidence and resolution of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: This prospective cohort study included 5549 participants with a median foll...

Context: Fusion oncogenes, especially those involving RET or NTRK, are known drivers of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). They are prevalent in pediatric patients and correlate with aggressive tumor behavior. Objective: We explored the age dependence of fusion oncogenes and aggressive tumor behavior in young adult PTC patients.Experimental Design:...

Context Adrenal incidentaloma (AI) is commonly discovered on cross-sectional imaging. Mild autonomous cortisol secretion is the most common functional disorder detected in AI. Objective To delineate the association between radiological characteristics of benign adrenocortical tumors and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Methods In the st...

One lead genetic risk signal of obesity—the rs1421085 T>C variant within the FTO gene—is reported to be functional in vitro but lacks evidence at an organism level. Here we recapitulate the homologous human variant in mice with global and brown adipocyte-specific variant knock-in and reveal that mice carrying the C-allele show increased brown fat t...

Background: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and diabetes mellitus are both modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease; however, whether elevated LDL-C levels confer a risk for diabetes remains unclear. Objective: We aimed to examine the association between serum LDL-C concentrations at baseline and the risk of developing diab...

Background and Aims: Whether parity related mortality risk can be mitigated by healthy lifestyles in later life remains unclear. We aimed to examine the combined association and interaction between parity and lifestyle factors in later life on all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Methods: 96,170 women aged ≥ 40 years were included. Parity and li...

This study aims to evaluate the causal effect of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibition on bone mineral density (BMD), osteoporosis, and fracture risk using genetics. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed utilizing two sets of genetic variants as instruments (six and two single-nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs]) a...

Purpose We aimed to establish a next-generation sequencing panel for the molecular diagnosis of thyroid nodules. Methods The panel, named ThyNod Panel, was designed to detect SNV, indel, fusion, CNV in 48 thyroid malignancy associated genes as rule in markers, 3 benign associated genes as rule out markers, RNA expression levels in 16 thyroid diffe...

Background and aims: Educational attainment is an essential socio-economic indicator with broad implications for lifestyle behaviour and metabolic health. We aimed to investigate the causal effect of education on chronic liver diseases and the potential mediating pathways. Methods: We applied univariable Mendelian randomization (MR) to assess th...