Causal relationship between gut microbiota and cancers: a two-sample Mendelian randomisation study.

BACKGROUND: Evidence from observational studies and clinical trials suggests that the gut microbiota is associated with cancer. However, the causal association between gut microbiota and cancer remains to be determined. METHODS: We first identified two sets of gut microbiota based on phylum, class, order, family, and genus level information, and cancer data were obtained from the IEU Open GWAS project. We then performed two-sample Mendelian randomisation (MR) to determine whether the gut microbiota is causally associated with eight cancer types. Furthermore, we performed a bi-directional MR analysis to examine the direction of the causal relations. RESULTS: We identified 11 causal relationships between genetic liability in the gut microbiome and cancer, including those involving the genus Bifidobacterium. We found 17 strong associations between genetic liability in the gut microbiome and cancer. Moreover, we found 24 associations between genetic liability in the gut microbiome and cancer using multiple datasets. CONCLUSIONS: Our MR analysis revealed that the gut microbiota was causally associated with cancers and may be useful in providing new insights for further mechanistic and clinical studies of microbiota-mediated cancer.

A spectral learning path for simultaneous multi-parameter detection of water quality.

Water quality parameters (WQP) are the most intuitive indicators of the environmental quality of water body. Due to the complexity and variability of the chemical environment of water body, simple and rapid detection of multiple parameters of water quality becomes a difficult task. In this paper, spectral images (named SPIs) and deep learning (DL) techniques were combined to construct an intelligent method for WQP detection. A novel spectroscopic instrument was used to obtain SPIs, which were converted into feature images of water chemistry and then combined with deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to train models and predict WQP. The results showed that the method of combining SPIs and DL has high accuracy and stability, and good prediction results with average relative error of each parameter (anions and cations, TOC, TP, TN, NO3--N, NH3-N) at 1.3%, coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.996, root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.1, residual prediction deviation (RPD) of 16.2, and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.067. The method can achieve rapid and accurate detection of high-dimensional water quality multi-parameters, and has the advantages of simple pre-processing and low cost. It can be applied not only to the intelligent detection of environmental waters, but also has the potential to be applied in chemical, biological and medical fields.

Construction of NiCoZnS materials with controllable morphology for high-performance supercapacitors.

A facile two-step hydrothermal approach with post-sulfurization treatment was put forward to construct the mixed transition metal sulfide (NiCoZnS) with a high electrochemical performance. The different morphologies of NiCoZnS materials were successfully fabricated by adjusted the Ni/Co molar ratio of the NiCoZn(OH)F precursor. Moreover, thein situphase transformation from the NiCoZn(OH)F phase to Zn0.76Co0.24S and NiCo2S4phases and lattice defects via the S2-ion-exchange were determined by x-ray diffractometer, transmission electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques, which improved electric conductivity and interfacial active sites of the NiCoZnS, and so promoted the reaction kinetics. Significantly, the urchin-like NiCoZnS1/1prepared at the Ni/Co molar ratio of 1.0 exhibited promising electrochemical performances with high capacitance and excellent cycling stability. Furthermore, the asymmetric device (NiCoZnS//AC) using NiCoZnS1/1as the positive electrode had excellent supercapacitor performances with an energy density of 57.8 Wh·kg-1at a power density of 750 W·kg-1as well as a long cycle life (79.2% capacity retention after 10 000 cycles), indicating the potential application in high-performance supercapacitors.

Comparing neoadjuvant long-course chemoradiotherapy with short-course radiotherapy in rectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to compare short-course radiotherapy (SC) or neoadjuvant long-course chemoradiotherapy (LC) treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer patients. METHODS: Patients with a diagnosis of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) who had undergone neoadjuvant radiotherapy before surgery between 2013 and 2018 at the medical center in China were included in this study. All patients' MRI confirmed T2N+M0 or T3-4N0-3M0 clinical stages. Patients in the SC group received pelvic radiotherapy with a dose of 5 × 5 Gy (with or without chemotherapy at any time), followed by immediate or delayed surgery. Patients in the LC group received a dose of 50-50.4 Gy in 25-28 fractions, concomitantly with FOLFOX or capecitabine-based chemotherapy, followed by surgery 4-6 weeks later. All clinical data were retrospectively collected, and long-term follow-up was completed and recorded at the same time. RESULTS: A total of 170 were eligible to participate in this study, 32 patients in the SC group, and 138 in the LC group. The median follow-up time of living patients was 39 months. The disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates in the SC group and LC group at 3 years, were, 84.9% versus 72.4% (P = 0.273) and 96.2% versus 87.2% (P = 0.510), respectively. The complete pathological response (pCR) rates in the SC group and LC group were, 25% versus 18.1% (the difference was not statistically significant, P = 0.375), respectively. However, the SC group had better node(N) downstaging compared to the LC group (P = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS: There were no differences observed in DFS and OS between short-course radiotherapy and long-course chemoradiation, and both can be used as treatment options for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

High-sensitive sensor for the simultaneous determination of phenolics based on multi-walled carbon nanotube/NiCoAl hydrotalcite electrode material.

The ternary NiCoAl hydrotalcite (NiCoAl-LDH) was combined with carboxylic multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) to fabricate a novel electrochemical sensor for simultaneously determining the co-existing trace phenolic substances. The morphology, structure, and electrochemical behavior of the as-prepared materials were characterized by various techniques. Benefitting from the great conductivity of MWCNT and high electrocatalytic activity of NiCoAl-LDH for phenolic substances, the advanced MWCNT/NiCoAl-LDH sensor presented a fast response, high sensitivity, excellent stability, and satisfactory replicability. The sensor offered good linear responses in the ranges1.50~600 µM to hydroquinone (HQ), 5.00~1.03 × 103 µM to catechol (CC), and 6.00 × 10-2~250 µM to bisphenol A (BPA). The detection limits of HQ, CC, and BPA were 0.4, 0.8, and 6. × 10-3 µM (S/N = 3), respectively. In environmental water, the sensor achieved satisfactory recoveries for the simultaneous detection of HQ (98.6~101%), CC (98.0~101%), and BPA (97.5~101%), with relative standard deviations less than 4.4%.

Myo-inositol oxygenase (MIOX) accelerated inflammation in the model of infection-induced cardiac dysfunction by NLRP3 inflammasome.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac dysfunction is an important component of multiple organ failure caused by sepsis, and an important cause of high mortality in patients with sepsis. Herein, we attempted to determine whether myo-inositol oxygenase (MIOX) has proinflammation enzyme in infection-induced cardiac dysfunction (IICD) and its underlying mechanism. METHODS: Patients with IICD were collected by our hospital. A mouse model of IICD was induced into male db/db mice by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). All mice were injected with 20 µL of LV-MIOX or LV-control short hairpin RNA using a 0.5-mL insulin syringe. On the second day, all mice were induced by CLP. H9C2 cell was also induced with lipopolysaccharide and adenosine triphosphate. Quantitative analysis of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and gene microarray hybridization was used to analyze the mRNA expression levels. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunofluorescence, and Western blot analysis were used to analyze the protein expression levels. RESULTS: The serum expressions of MIOX mRNA level in patients with IICD were upregulated compared to normal healthy volunteers. MIOX promoted inflammation levels in the in vitro model of IICD. Si-MIOX inhibited inflammation levels in the in vitro model of IICD. MIOX accelerated inflammation and cardiac dysfunction in infection-induced mice. MIOX interacted with NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) protein to reduce the degradation of NLRP3. The inhibition of MIOX reversed the effects of NLRP3 in the in vitro model of cardiac dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these findings demonstrate that MIOX accelerates inflammation in the model of IICD, which may be, at least in part, attributable to NLRP3 activity by the suppression of NLRP3 degradation in IICD.

Ni-Co-Mn hydrotalcite-derived hierarchically porous sulfide for hybrid supercapacitors.

Ternary transition metal sulfides have attracted much attention due to their superior electrochemical properties. Nevertheless, it is difficult to commercialize sulfides due to their intrinsic properties such as dull reaction kinetics and an insufficient number of active sites. Herein, a self-supporting porous NiCoMnS sulfide (NiCoMnS/NF) arrayed on nickel foam (NF) with 3D honeycomb-like structure was designed and prepared via a hydrothermal and post-sulfidation process. It was found that the 3D hierarchically network architecture, constructed by nanosheets with abundant cavities, endowed NiCoMnS/NF with a high specific area and rich ion/electron-transport channels, which facilitated ion/electron transfer and Faradaic reaction kinetic. The optimal NiCoMnS/NF exhibited a markedly improved electrochemical performance due to the merits of complementary multi-composition and unique 3D network structure with multi-level "superhighways". Furthermore, the NiCoMnS//AC device fabricated with NiCoMnS/NF cathode and activated carbon (AC) anode delivered an excellent specific charge and exceptional energy density. This work offers a reference for designing the structure of electrode materials.

Efficacy of nasal irrigation and oral rinse with sodium bicarbonate solution on virus clearance for COVID-19 patients.

Background: Recent studies have shown that the infectivity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is reduced under alkaline conditions. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of nasal irrigation and oral rinse with sodium bicarbonate solution on virus clearance among COVID-19 patients. Materials and methods: COVID-19 patients were recruited and randomly divided into two group, i.e., the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group received regular care plus nasal irrigation and oral rinse with 5% sodium bicarbonate solution, while the control group only received regular care. Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples were collected daily for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays. The negative conversion time and hospitalization time of the patients were recorded, and the results were statistically analyzed. Results: A total of 55 COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate symptoms were included in our study. There was no significant difference in gender, age and health status between the two groups. The average negative conversion time was 1.63 days after treatment with sodium bicarbonate, and the average hospitalization time of the control group and the experimental group were 12.53 and 7.7 days, respectively. Conclusions: Nasal irrigation and oral rinse with 5% sodium bicarbonate solution is effective in virus clearance for COVID-19 patients.

Controllable architecture of the NiCoZnS@NiCoFe layered double hydroxide coral-like structure for high-performance supercapacitors.

The rational design of the morphological structure of electrode materials is considered as an important strategy to obtain high-performance supercapacitors. So, NiCoZnS materials with different Ni/Co/Zn molar ratios on Ni foam (NF) were synthesized, in which the Ni/Co/Zn molar ratio plays a key role in the morphological structure and electrochemical performances. Furthermore, the pre-prepared NiCoZnS materials act as substrates to guide the self-assembling of NiCoFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets on the substrate surface to form core-shell electrode materials (NiCoZnS@NiCoFe-LDH) with a 3D mesoporous hierarchical network structure for further improving electrochemical performances. The unique interconnected coral-like NiCoZnS1@NiCoFe-LDH with a large specific surface area (93.1 m2 g-1) and high specific capacitance is achieved at the Ni/Co/Zn molar ratio of 1 : 1 : 1. Benefiting from the unique structural feature and respective merits of the NiCoZnS and NiCoFe-LDH, the NiCoZnS1@NiCoFe-LDH demonstrates an ultrahigh specific capacitance of 1524.0 C g-1 (3386.7 F g-1) at 1.0 A g-1 and excellent 95.0% capacitance retention at 10 A g-1 after 5000 cycles. As for practical application, the assembled NiCoZnS1@NiCoFe-LDH//AC delivers a favorable energy density of 66.25 W h kg-1 at 1500 W kg-1 and a long-term cycling lifetime (86.04% retention at 5.0 A g-1 after 10 000 cycles), which suggests promising potential in energy storage and conversion.

PRMT5 Promotes Human Lung Cancer Cell Apoptosis via Akt/Gsk3ß Signaling Induced by Resveratrol.

Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) is implicated in various types of human cancer and tumor development, especially in lung cancer. Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether suppression of PRMT5 could promote lung cancer cell apoptosis and chemosensitivity induced by resveratrol, and the underlying molecular mechanism remains completely unknown. Here, we showed that PRMT5 was overexpressed in human lung cancer tissues and different types of lung cancer cell lines. Moreover, we constructed PRMT5 stable knockdown cell lines (A549 and ASCT-a-1) and investigated the roles of PRMT5 and the related signaling pathway in lung cancer cell apoptosis induced by resveratrol. Our results indicated that inhibition or down-regulation of PRMT5 by GSK591, a PRMT5-specific inhibitor, or shRNAs markedly enhanced cell apoptosis and chemosensitivity stimulated by resveratrol. Further investigation showed that inhibition or down-regulation of PRMT5 further reduced Akt/GSK3ß phosphorylation and the downstream targets cyclin D1 and E1 expression upon resveratrol treatment. Our findings suggest that PRMT5 is a pivotal mediator for human lung cancer cell death induced by resveratrol, which also reveals that PRMT5 may serve as a new therapeutic target for the treatment of human lung cancer.

Preparation of a NiAl-Oxide@Polypyrrole Composite for High-Performance Supercapacitors.

A core-shell NiAlO@polypyrrole composite (NiAlO@PPy) with a 3D "sand rose"-like morphology was prepared via a facile in situ oxidative polymerization of pyrrole monomer, where the role of PPy coating thickness was investigated for high-performance supercapacitors. Microstructure analyses indicated that the PPy was successfully coated onto the NiAlO surface to form a core-shell structure. The NiAlO@PPy exhibited a better electrochemical performance than pure NiAlO, and the moderate thickness of the PPy shell layer was beneficial for expediting the electron transfer in the redox reaction. It was found that the NiAlO@PPy5 prepared at 5.0 mL L-1 addition amount of pyrrole monomer demonstrated the best electrochemical performance with a high specific capacitance of 883.2 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1 and excellent capacitance retention of 91.82 % of its initial capacitance after 1000 cycles at 3 A g-1 . The outstanding electrochemical performance of NiAlO@PPy5 were due to the synergistic effect of NiAlO and PPy, where the uniform network-like PPy shell with the optimal thickness made electrolyte ions more easily accessible for faradic reactions. This work provided a simple approach for designing organic-inorganic core-shell materials as high-performance electrode materials for electrochemical supercapacitors.

[Effect of moxibustion on motility, absorption and content of ATP in small intestine of spleen-deficiency rats].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanism of reinforcing function of moxibustion to spleen-stomach. METHODS: Forty healthy Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: group A (blank group), group B (model group), group C (moxibustion group) and group D (herbs group). The rat model of spleen-deficiency was established by intragastric administration with 200% Dahuang (Rhubarb) infusion. The rats in group A and B, and D served as the blank control, model, and Sijunzi decoction group respectively, while those in group C received moxibustion at "Zusanli" (ST 36), "Zhongwan" (CV 12), "Guanyuan" (CV 4), "Pishu" (BL 20) and "Weishu" (BL 21), etc. The common symptoms and intestinal propulsive rate were observed. The content of I-xylose in serum was detected by phloroglucinol method. Colorimetry method was used to detected content of ATP in jejunum tissues. RESULTS: Compared with group A, the symptom score in group B was increased significantly (both P < 0.01), while the intestinal propulsive rates, the content of D-xylose in serum and ATP in jejunum tissues were decreased significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Compared with group B, the symptom score in group C and D was decreased significantly (both P < 0.01), while the intestinal propulsive rates, the content of D-xylose in serum and ATP in jejunum tissues were increased significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). There were no significant difference between group C and D (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Moxibustion at "Zusanli" (ST 36) etc. could relieve symptoms of spleen-deficiency, enhance motility and absorption functions of small intestine and improve metabolism of small intestine. The efficacy is equal to administration of Sijunzi decoction.