PREVIOUS DELIVERY OF MACROSOMIA IS ASSOCIATED WITH MATERNAL ADIPOSITY IN LATER LIFE IN CHINESE PAROUS WOMEN WITH NORMAL WEIGHT BEFORE AND/OR AFTER PREGNANCY.

Objective: Obesity has become a major worldwide health challenge. Macrosomic infants are more likely to experience type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity and hypertension in adulthood. However, whether macrosomia increases the risk of maternal adiposity later in life is still unknown. Methods: One thousand nine hundred eighty-six unrelated parous women of Chinese Han ancestry aged from 40 to 76 years were enrolled. Self-reported information about reproductive status, including age at menarche, number of children, previous delivery of macrosomic infants, and body weight before and after pregnancy were obtained from personal interview by trained interviewers using a standard questionnaire. Macrosomia was defined as birth weight greater than 4,000 g. Adiposity indexes were measured or calculated. Results: Prior delivery of macrosomia was associated with an increased risk of having obesity in parous women with normal weight before pregnancy (odds ratio [OR] = 1.840; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.028, 3.294; P = .040), as well as a higher risk of overweight/obesity in parous women with normal weight after pregnancy (OR = 1.777; 95% CI 1.131, 2.794; P = .013). In addition, previous delivery of macrosomia was related with 1.919 (95% CI 1.207, 3.050; P = .006) times higher risk of overweight/obesity in parous women with normal weight before and after pregnancy. Conclusion: The present study suggests that prior delivery of macrosomia may be an independent risk factor for adiposity later in life in parous women with normal weight before and/or after pregnancy. Abbreviations: BMI = body mass index; CI = confidence interval; OR = odds ratio; WC = waist circumference; WHR = waist-to-hip ratio; WHtR = waist-to-height ratio.

Association between skeletal muscle mass to visceral fat area ratio and arterial stiffness in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: The skeletal muscle mass-to-visceral fat area ratio (SVR) has been linked to arterial stiffness in non-diabetic adults. We examined the association between the SVR and arterial stiffness in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (252 men and 171 women) aged 40-75 years were enrolled and divided into three groups according to SVR tertiles. Arterial stiffness was measured as brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), with baPWV> 1800 mm/s defined as high. Spearman's partial correlation was used to adjust confounding factors. The odds ratio for high baPWV was determined by multiple logistic regression analyses, and receiver-operating characteristic analysis was conducted. RESULTS: SVR was associated with baPWV in Chinese patients with T2DM (Spearman's partial correlation = - 0.129, P < 0.01). SVR was found to be significantly associated with baPWV on multiple logistic regression analysis. Patients in the lower SVR tertiles had a higher OR than did those in the higher SVR tertiles, after adjusting for multiple covariates (Q1: OR = 4.33 in men and 4.66 in women; Q3: OR = 1). The area under the curve for SVR was significantly greater than that for appendicular skeletal muscle (ASM), ASM/height2, and visceral fat area (VAF) for identifying high baPWV (0.747 in men and 0.710 in women). The optimal cutoffs values of SVR for detecting high baPWV were 191.7 g/cm2 for men and 157.3 g/cm2 for women. CONCLUSIONS: SVR has an independent, negative association with arterial stiffness, and is a better risk-assessment tool than ASM, ASM/height2, and VFA in clinical practice to identify patients with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk.

The roles and applications of short-chain fatty acids derived from microbial fermentation of dietary fibers in human cancer.

Dietary fibers (DFs) and their metabolites attract significant attention in research on health and disease, attributing to their effects on regulating metabolism, proliferation, inflammation, and immunity. When fermented by gut microbiota, DFs mainly produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as acetic acid, propionic acid, and butyric acid. As the essential nutrients for intestinal epithelial cells, SCFAs maintain intestinal homeostasis and play essential roles in a wide range of biological functions. SCFAs have been found to inhibit histone deacetylase, activate G protein-coupled receptors, and modulate the immune response, which impacts cancer and anti-cancer treatment. Notably, while extensive studies have illuminated the roles of SCFAs in colorectal cancer development, progression, and treatment outcomes, limited evidence is available for other types of cancers. This restricts our understanding of the complex mechanisms and clinical applications of SCFAs in tumors outside the intestinal tract. In this study, we provide a comprehensive summary of the latest evidence on the roles and mechanisms of SCFAs, with a focus on butyric acid and propionic acid, derived from microbial fermentation of DFs in cancer. Additionally, we recapitulate the clinical applications of SCFAs in cancer treatments and offer our perspectives on the challenges, limitations, and prospects of utilizing SCFAs in cancer research and therapy.

[Structure and expression analysis of cbp gene in different natural colored-cocoon strains of Bombyx mori].

Carotenoid-binding protein (CBP) is the only key protein that has been characterized to be involved in yellow cocoon coloration of the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori). Gene structure and mRNA expression profiles of cbp along with UV-Vis spectrum profiles of carotenoids in silk glands were investigated among twelve strains to disclose their relationship with cocoon color. Yellow cocoon strains of B. mori contained two or three cbp gene types, which had different mRNA products with a longer form acting functionally to code CBP protein and the smaller one without exon 2. The structures of cbp were different among the green cocoon strains with the mRNA product lacking exon 2. Only one cbp gene structure existed in white cocoon strains of B. mori, which produced the mRNA product free of exon 2. A newly identified intron 1 sequence of cbp gene in this study may have cocoon color-specificity among strains. The UV-Vis spectrum profiles of carotenoids in the yellow cocoon strains' silk glands were significantly different from those in the green cocoon strains and white cocoon strains.Together, it can be concluded that the gene structure and expression profile of cbp was closely linked to cocoon colors of B. mori.

A comparative study of online communities and popularity of BBS in four Chinese universities.

Online forums in Chinese universities play an important role in understanding collective behavior of college students. Of particular interest are community and popularity. We address these two issues by examining data from Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) of four Chinese universities. To characterize users' behavior, we introduce a hypothesis test to infer individual preferred boards, which yields a polarization of users. We also perform a multilevel algorithm to detect communities of each BBS network. We measure the similarity between the board-preferred polarization and the algorithmically identified community structure by quantitative and visual tools. The resulting discrepancy indicates that board labels are inadequate to represent underlying communities. To reveal online popularity, we employ latent Dirichlet allocation to mine topics from threads to compare popularity in different universities. Based on which, we implement the Cox-Stuart test to explore the change in popularity over time and reproduce significantly ascending and descending topics around a decade. Finally, we devise a two-step model based on users' preference and interests to reproduce the observed connectivity patterns.

Molecular interplay between microRNA-130a and PTEN in palmitic acid-mediated impaired function of endothelial progenitor cells: Effects of metformin.

Metformin serves an important role in improving the functions of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small non­coding RNAs, have been investigated as significant regulators of EPC vascular functions. The present study investigated the molecular crosstalk between metformin and miRNA­130a (miR­130a) in the functions of EPCs exposed to palmitic acid (PA). Isolated EPCs were treated with metformin, PA, and metformin + PA, respectively. Cell Counting Kit­8, Transwell and Matrigel assays were performed to detect the proliferation, migration and tube formation ability of EPCs following different treatments. The expression of miR­130a, phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and phosphorylated­AKT was analyzed by reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. The specific mechanism underlying the function of metformin in EPCs was further elucidated by transfecting miR­130a mimics and inhibitor to overexpress and inhibit the expression of miR­130a in EPCs, respectively. EPCs exhibited impaired functions of proliferation (P<0.01 compared with the control), migration (P<0.01 compared with the control) and tube formation (P<0.01 compared with the control) following treatment with PA, and the expression levels of miR­130a and PTEN were decreased and increased, respectively. However, the presence of metformin, or the overexpression of miR­130a using miR­130a mimic alleviated the impairment of angiogenesis and proliferation, decreased the expression of PTEN and activated the phosphoinositide­3 kinase/AKT pathway in EPCs exposed to PA. By contrast, downregulating the expression of miR­130a with a miR­130a inhibitor reversed the metformin­mediated protection. These results demonstrate the beneficial effect of miR­130a/PTEN on EPC functions, which can be regulated by metformin. The effects of metformin on improving PA­induced EPC dysfunction are mediated by miR­130a and PTEN, which may assist in the prevention and/or treatment of diabetic vascular disease.