Washed microbiota transplantation improves symptoms and intestinal barrier function in patients with functional bowel disorders: a propensity-score matching analysis.

BACKGROUND: Alterations in the intestinal microbiota may play a role in the pathogenesis of functional bowel disorders (FBDs). Probiotics are widely used to improve intestinal dysbacteriosis in FBDs. In the context of FBDs, washed microbiota transplantation (WMT) appear to be a promising therapeutic option. We aimed to compare probiotics with WMT by using a propensity-score matching analysis (PSMA). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective investigation of 103 patients with FBDs, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional constipation (FC), functional diarrhea (FDr), functional abdominal bloating (FAB). Patients were divided into the WMT group or probiotics group (taking probiotics capsules). Data on the following parameters were matched for PSMA: age; sex; disease course; body mass index; anxiety; insomnia; tobacco smoking; alcohol consumption; and levels of D-lactate, diamine oxidase, and lipopolysaccharide. Intestinal barrier function (IBF) and symptoms were evaluated both before and after treatment initiation. Prognostic factors were assessed by Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. RESULTS: PSMA identified in 34 matched pairs (11 IBS, 12 FC, 7 FDr, and 4 FAB in the probiotics group and 14 IBS, 13 FC, 5 FDr, and 2 FAB in the WMT group. Improvement of FBD symptoms was greater with WMT than probiotics (P = 0.002). The WMT group had significantly fewer patients with intestinal barrier damage than the probiotics group (38.2% vs. 67.6%, P = 0.041). This improvement of FBD with WMT was further reflected as a reduction in D-lactate levels (P = 0.031). Increased D-lactate levels which were identified as a prognostic factor for FBDs (HR = 0.248, 95%CI 0.093-0.666, P = 0.006) in multivariate Cox regression analysis. CONCLUSION: WMT could improve symptoms and IBF in patients with FBDs. Increased D-lactate levels in patients with FBDs may predict a favorable response to WMT treatment.

Overexpressing SIRT6 can Attenuate the Injury of Intracerebral Hemorrhage by Down-Regulating NF-kB.

Sirtuin-6 (SIRT6), a member of the sirtuins family of NAD ( +) dependent deacetylases, has been shown to have beneficial effects in ischemic stroke. However, the role of SIRT6 in intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) has not reported. We observed that SIRT6 expression was down-regulated in human ICH patients and down-regulated in ICH-induced rat cortical neurons. We subsequently found that SIRT6 overexpression reduced brain tissue damage and increased neuronal survival in the ICH model of rats and hemin-induced cortical neurons. Our further study found that overexpression of SIRT6 can reduce inflammatory response by down-regulating the expression of NF-kB and thus promote the recovery of neurological function in ICH animals. In conclusion, SIRT6 can inhibit the expression of NF-kB and plays a neuroprotective role in ICH by inhibiting the NF-kB-mediated inflammatory response.SIRT6 could be a novel therapeutic target for ICH.

[Effects of Nano Material on Cadmium Accumulation Capacity and Grain Yield of Indica Hybrid Rice Under Wetting-drying Alternation Irrigation].

Wetting-drying alternation irrigation (WDI) can harvest high grain yield under effective irrigation water saving conditions. However, the kernel cadmium (Cd) content usually exceeds the national standard of 0.20 mg Cd per kg kernel in WDI. Applying a passivating agent with high-efficient repairing capabilities could be a feasible approach to reduce Cd content lower than 0.20 mg·kg-1 in WDI. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted with different irrigation regimes and passivating agents in a mildly Cd-polluted paddy field, of which the irrigation regimes were WDI and traditional flooded irrigation (FI) and the six passivating agents treatments were CK (no passivating agent; T1), slaked lime with 1125 kg·hm-2(T2), 1125 kg slaked lime and 3000 kg biochar per hectare (T3), 1125 kg slaked lime and 3000 kg organic fertilizer per hectare (T4), 1500 kg porous Nano stupalith per hectare (T5), and 1125 kg slaked lime combined with 1500 kg porous Nano stupalith per hectare (T6). Two typical Indica hybrid rice varieties with a high accumulated capacity named cultivar Shenliangyou 1813 and a low accumulated trait named cultivar Liangyou 6206 were utilized. The main reason that Indica hybrid rice cultivars were selected was their higher absorbed and accumulated characteristics than that of Japonica rice. The results indicated that available Cd content of the soil significantly declined with 17.13%-61.01% decreasing amplitude at maturity when compared with pre-transplanting in WDI; however, the reduction was in the range of -43.45%-21.07% for the FI treatment across cultivars and passivating agents treatments. The available Cd content at maturity was significantly greater in FI than in WDI (P<0.05). In contrast, WDI had higher Cd content on stem, leaf, and kernel organs at maturity than with FI treatment of both cultivars and all of the passivating agents (P<0.05). Generally, the T1 treatment had the maximum available Cd content in the soil layer and highest accumulated Cd content on different aboveground organs, followed by the T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6 treatments considering both cultivars and irrigation regimes. The Cd kernel contents were 0.23-0.24 mg·kg-1 and 0.16-0.21 mg·kg-1 for cultivars Shenliangyou 1813 and Liangyou 6206, respectively, in the T6 treatment. The higher Cd kernel content was generally related to a larger Cd content in the stem organ. For the grain yield, no significant differences were observed among cultivars, irrigation regimes, or passivating agents treatments (P>0.05). Under WDI, the kernel Cd content was still slightly higher than 0.20 mg·kg-1 in the T6 treatment (0.24 mg·kg-1 for cultivar Shenliangyou 1813 and 0.21 mg·kg-1 for cultivar Liangyou 6206); however, there is a predictability potential to produce lower than 0.20 mg·kg-1 kernel content in the T6 treatment if a cultivar with low accumulated capacity is used. Thus, the combined mode of the WDI+T6+cultivar with accumulated low Cd content could be considered an optimized cultivation scheme to obtain no Cd contaminated kernels with high grain yield and water-use efficiency in mildly polluted paddy fields.

The correlation between intestinal mucosal lesions and hepatic dysfunction in patients without chronic liver disease.

Patients with cirrhosis are known to develop small bowel mucosal lesions. However, the occurrence of mucosal lesions in patients with abnormal liver function test results in the absence of chronic liver disease has not been fully evaluated. This study aims to examine the association between small bowel endoscopic lesions and liver dysfunction in patients without confirmed chronic liver disease.Two hundred ninety six consecutive patients who met the selection criteria underwent capsule endoscopy. The severity of the small intestinal mucosal lesions was evaluated quantitatively using the Lewis scoring system, and hepatic dysfunction was evaluated using an algorithm-based combination scoring system with 8 individual serological markers.Small bowel lesions were observed in 121 patients (40.88%). Hepatic dysfunction was significantly more prevalent in patients with small bowel lesions than in those without lesions (33.1%; 40/121 and 5.7%; 10/175, respectively; P < .001). The mean serum ALT and AST levels were significantly higher in patients with small bowel lesions than in those without lesions (P = .007 and P = .004, respectively). The mean scores for AST to Platelet Ratio Index, Forns Index, S-Index, Fibrosis-4 Index and BARD were significantly higher in patients with small bowel lesions than those without lesions. The Lewis score significantly and positively correlated with the Forns Index (P = .008) and the FIB-4 Index (P = .006).There is a close correlation between small intestinal mucosal lesions and hepatic dysfunction. The severity of hepatic dysfunction is directly proportional to the severity of the small intestinal mucosal lesions in patients without confirmed chronic liver disease.

LRIG1 enhances the radiosensitivity of radioresistant human glioblastoma U251 cells via attenuation of the EGFR/Akt signaling pathway.

The radiotherapy as a local and regional modality is widely applied in treatment of glioma, but most glioblastomas are commonly resistant to irradiation treatment. It remains challengeable to seek out efficient strategies to conquer the resistance of human glioblastoma cells to radiotherapy. Leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains protein 1 (LRIG1) is a newly discovered tumor suppressor which involved in regulation of chemosensitivity in various human cancer cells. In the present study, we established a radioresistant U251 cell line (U251R) to investigate the role of LRIG1 in regulation of radiosensitivity in human glioblastoma cells. Significantly decreased expression level of LRIG1 and enhanced expression of EGFR and phosphorylated Akt were detected in U251R cells compared with the parental U251 cells. U251R cells exhibited an advantage in colony formation ability, which accompanied by remarkably reduced X-ray-induced γ-H2AX foci formation and cell apoptosis. LRIG1 overexpression significantly inhibited the colony formation ability of U251R cells and obviously enhanced X-ray-inducedγ-H2AX foci formation and cell apoptosis. In addition, up-regulated expression of LRIG1 suppressed the expression level of EGFR and phosphorylated Akt protein. Our results demonstrated that LRIG1 expression was related to the radiosensitivity of human glioblastoma cells and may play an important role in the regulation of cellular radiosensitivity of human glioblastoma cells through the EGFR/Akt signaling pathway.

Photodynamic therapy mediated by 5-aminolevulinic acid suppresses gliomas growth by decreasing the microvessels.

Although 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been demonstrated to be a novel and effective therapeutic modality for some human malignancies, its effect and mechanism on glioma are still controversial. Previous studies have reported that 5-ALA-PDT induced necrosis of C6 rat glioma cells in vitro. The aim of this study was to further investigate the effect and mechanism of 5-ALA-PDT on C6 gliomas implanted in rats in vivo. Twenty-four rats bearing similar size of subcutaneously implanted C6 rat glioma were randomly divided into 3 groups: receiving 5-ALA-PDT (group A), laser irradiation (group B), and mock procedures but without any treatment (group C), respectively. The growth, histology, microvessel density (MVD), and apoptosis of the grafts in each group were determined after the treatments. As compared with groups B and C, the volume of tumor grafts was significantly reduced (P<0.05), MVD was significantly decreased (P<0.001), and the cellular necrosis was obviously increased in group A. There was no significant difference in apoptosis among the three groups. The in vivo studies confirmed that 5-ALA-PDT may be an effective treatment for gliomas by inhibiting the tumor growth. The mechanism underlying may involve increasing the cellular necrosis but not inducing the cellular apoptosis, which may result from the destruction of the tumor microvessels.