ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To compare the levels of short-chain fatty acids in enterobacteria-related metabolites in feces between infants with cholestatic hepatopathy and healthy infants. METHODS: Thirty infants with cholestatic hepatopathy were enrolled in this study as the disease group, while 30 healthy infants were enrolled as the control group. Fecal specimens were collected from the disease group before and after treatment and from the control group. Gas chromatography was used to quantitatively determine the content of short-chain fatty acids in the feces of both groups including acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, and isovaleric acid. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the concentrations of acetic acid and propionic acid between the control and disease groups before and after treatment, as well as no significant changes in the two markers in the disease group after treatment (P>0.05). The disease group had a significantly increased concentration of butyric acid after treatment (P<0.05). The concentrations of isobutyric acid and isovaleric acid in the control group were significantly higher than those in the disease group before and after treatment (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Intestinal protein metabolites in infants with cholestatic hepatopathy are significantly different from those in healthy infants, whereas there is no significant difference with respect to carbohydrate metabolites.
Subject(s)
Enterobacteriaceae , Acetates , Butyric Acid , Fatty Acids, Volatile , Feces , Humans , InfantABSTRACT
It was reported that the main obstacle of Li2ZrO3 as high-temperature CO2 absorbents is the very slow CO2 sorption kinetics, which are ascribed to the gradual formation of compact zirconia and carbonate shells along with inner unreacted lithium zirconate cores; accordingly, the "sticky" Li+ and O2- ions have to travel a long distance through the solid shells by diffusion. We report here that three-dimensional interconnected nanoporous Li2ZrO3 exhibiting ultrafast kinetics is promising for CO2 sorption. Specifically, nanoporous Li2ZrO3 (LZ-NP) exhibited a rapid sorption rate of 10.28 wt %/min with an uptake of 27 wt % of CO2. Typically, the k1 values of LZ-NP (kinetic parameters extracted from sorption kinetics) were nearly 1 order of magnitude higher than the previously reported conventional Li2ZrO3 reaction systems. Its sorption capacity of 25 wt % within â¼4 min is 2 orders of magnitude faster than those obtained using spherical Li2ZrO3 powders. Furthermore, nanoporous Li2ZrO3 exhibited good stability over 60 absorption-desorption cycles, showing its potential for practical CO2 capture applications. CO2 adsorption isotherms for Li2ZrO3 absorbents were successfully modeled using a double-exponential equation at various CO2 partial pressures.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To compare body composition at birth in the appropriate-for-gestational-age infants of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and normal glucose tolerance and determine the influencing factors of body composition in infants of women with GDM and normal glucose tolerance. METHODS: A study was conducted on 160 appropriate-for-gestational-age infants (90 males and 70 females) of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM group) and 284 appropriate-for-gestational-age infants (139 males and 145 females) of women with normal glucose tolerance (control group). Anthropometric measurements were obtained within 24 to 48 hours of birth. Multiple stepwise regression was used to determine the correlating factors of fat mass, percent of body fat and fat free mass mass. RESULTS: There were no significant difference in gestational age, birth weight, length, body mass index, circumferences of head, chest and upper arm, biceps, abdominal superficial skin fold between two groups (all P > 0.05), but GDM group was characterized by higher skin folds of triceps and subscapular and flank versus control group(all P = 0.000). GDM group had greater fat mass but decreased fat free mass versus control group ((585 ± 59) vs (480 ± 74) g, 17.8% ± 0.8% vs 14.7% ± 1.9%, (2685 ± 127) vs (2784 ± 109) g, all P = 0.000). Stepwise regression showed that maternal fasting glucose level of oral glucose tolerance test and pre-gravid body mass index correlated with fat mass and percent of body fat. Fasting glucose level had the strongest correlation with fat mass and percent of body fat (P = 0.004, 0.006). Gestational age and maternal height correlated with fat free mass in GDM group (P = 0.040, 0.013). On the other hand, maternal weight gain correlated with fat mass (P = 0.015), fasting glucose level and maternal prepartal weight were correlated with percent of body fat (P = 0.002, 0.043) and pre-gravid body mass index had correlation with fat free mass in control group (P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: The appropriate-for-gestational-age infants of women with GDM have increased fat mass and percent of body fat, but decreased fat free mass. Maternal fasting glucose level of oral glucose tolerance test, pre-gravid body mass index, weight gain and maternal prepartal weight are influencing factors of body composition in neonates.