[Effects of moxibustion at "Tianshu"（ST25） and "Shangjuxu" （ST37） on colonic metabolites and inflammatory factors in rats with Crohn's disease].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of moxibustion at "Tianshu"（ST25） and "Shangjuxu"（ST37） on the colonic metabolites and inflammatory factors in rats with Crohn's disease（CD）, so as to explore the mechanisms of moxibustion in protecting colon of CD rats based on metabolomics. METHODS: Twelve rats were first randomly selected from 36 male SD rats as a normal group（NG）. The CD model was induced by 2, 4, 6 trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid（TNBS） enema on the rest 24 rats. After successful modeling, rats were randomly divided into model（TNBS） and moxibustion（TNBS+MOX） groups（n=10 rats/group）. Moxibustion was applied at bilateral ST25 and ST37 for 30 min, once daily for 7 consecutive days in the TNBS+MOX group, while rats in the NG and TNBS groups did not receive any interventions. Body weight of rats was recorded and disease activity index（DAI） was assessed during the experiment. After interventions, HE staining was performed to observe pathological damage of colon. Serum levels of inflammatory factors were measured by ELISA. NMR hydrogen spectroscopy was used to detect colonic metabolites of each group, and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis（OPLS-DA） was used to screen differential colonic metabolites between groups, followed by pathway analysis using MetaboAnalyst 5.0 platform. RESULTS: After modeling, compared with the NG group, the body weight of the rats in the TNBS group was significantly decreased（P<0.05）, the DAI score was increased （P<0.05）, the colon had obvious inflammatory damage and the pathological injury index was increased（P<0.05）, and levels of serum tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α）, interleukin（IL）-1ß and interferon-γ（IFN-γ） were significantly increased（P<0.05）. After moxibustion intervention, compared with the TNBS group, the body weight was significantly increased（P<0.05）, while the levels of serum TNF-α, IL-1ß, IFN-γ, and DAI score of the rats in the TNBS+MOX group were significantly decreased（P<0.05）, with alleviated colonic inflammatory injury detected by HE staining. Compared with the NG group, the relative expressions of colonic hypoxanthine, betaine, creatine, inositol, taurine, uracil, and methanol of the TNBS group were decreased（P<0.05）, while the relative expressions of histidine, leucine, proline, lysine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, propionic acid, and valine were increased（P<0.05） in the TNBS group, among which, relative expressions of hypoxanthine, leucine, lysine, isoleucine, betaine, tyrosine, and taurine were reversed in the TNBS+MOX group relevant to the TNBS group, mainly involving phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, and taurine and subtaurine metabolism pathway. CONCLUSION: The mechanism of moxibustion at ST25 and ST37 for CD may be related to improving colon metabolic disorder state by regulating multiple metabolic metabolites and metabolic pathways, and reducing the level of inflammatory factors, so as to maintain intestinal immune homeostasis.

[Analysis of theoretical basis and clinical application of dog-days moxibustion].

The present situation of the clinical application of dog-days moxibustion (moxibustion applied in the three periods of the hot season) is summarized so as to provide the guide for the theoretic study and clinical application of dog-days moxibustion. The intervention time of dog-days moxibustion is on the 1st day of each of the three periods of the hot season. Simultaneously, the geographic factors are considered. The disorders of lung system are mostly dominant among the indications of dog-days moxibustion, complicated with spleen and stomach disorders as well as cold and deficiency syndromes/patterns. The acupoints are mainly selected from the front-mu points on the chest and the back-shu points on the back, in combination with the differentiation of diseases, symptoms/patterns and the disorder stages. The duration of treatment is ranged from 1 to 3 years. The clinical therapeutic effect is improved constantly along with the increase of treatment periods by years.

[Roles of sialic acids in sperm maturation and capacitation and sperm-egg recognition].

Sialic acids are a subset of nine-carbon alpha-keto aldonic acids involved in various biological functions. Sialic acid on the sperm surface is closely related to sperm maturation and capacitation and sperm-egg recognition, which makes sperm negatively charged to avoid accumulation and covers some antigenic determinants there to increase the survival rate of sperm in the female reproductive tract. The loss of sialic acids is an important factor mediating sperm capacitation. Moreover, the sialic acid at the extremity of the protein polymer is involved in signal identification in sperm-egg recognition. Here, we review the current understanding of sialic acids in sperm maturation and capacitation and sperm-egg recognition.

[Effect of parental feeding behavior on eating behavior of children aged 1-3 years].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the eating behavior of children aged 1-3 years and parental feeding behavior and the effect of family status on feeding behavior. METHODS: With stratified random sampling, 2 324 children aged 1-3 years were selected from Shanghai. Questionnaires were filled out by their parents or feeders to investigate the basic family information, parental feeding behavior, the eating behavior of children, and the basic information on children. RESULTS: The eating behavior of children was positively correlated with eating environment (r=0.223) and parental monitoring behavior (r=0.245) but negatively correlated with parental compulsive behavior (r=-0.264) (P<0.01). Moreover, the food preferences of children were negatively correlated with parental compulsive behavior (r=-0.569) but positively correlated with parental monitoring behavior (r=0.615) and eating environment (r=0.621). The emotional undereating of children was positively correlated with parental emotional feeding (r=0.259) and parental compulsive behavior (r=0.279). Parental monitoring behavior showed significant differences between different families (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Parental feeding behavior is closely related to the eating behavior of children. Parental feeding behavior may vary across different family status.

[Changes of serum urea and creatinine concentrations in rats with lipopolysaccharide and heat co-exposure].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and heat co-exposure on serum urea and creatinine (Cr) concentrations in rats. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were randomized into normothermic saline injection control group (group C), heat exposure saline injection group (group H), normothermic LPS injection group (group L), and heat exposure LPS injection group (group HL). The rats in groups H and HL were exposed to heat in a chamber at an dry bulb temperature (Tdb) of 35.0-/+0.5 degrees Celsius, and those in groups C and L were kept in a chamber at Tdb of 26-/+0.5 degrees Celsius. LPS (8 mg/kg) was injected via the tail vein in the rats in groups L and HL to induce endotoxemia, while those in groups C and H were given normal saline injection (8 ml/kg) via the tail vein. The serum levels of urea and Cr were determined at the time points of 0, 40, 80, and 120 min after the injections. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in serum Cr level at any level of the main effects of time, drug, or Tdb (P>0.05), but serum urea level varied significantly between the different time points, different levels of Tdb, and the drug injections (P<0.01). Significant interactions were identified between the time after injection, injected agents, and Tdb (P<0.01). Except for those in the group C, all rats showed elevated serum urea levels 40 min after the injection, particularly those in group HL. The serum urea levels were positively correlated to the level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Co-exposure to LPS and heat in rats may elicit and worsen systemic inflammatory response syndrome and kidney injury.