Kaempferol alleviates acute alcoholic liver injury in mice by regulating intestinal tight junction proteins and butyrate receptors and transporters.

An impaired gut-liver axis is a potential factor that contributes to alcoholic liver disease. Specifically, ethanol decreases intestinal integrity and causes gut dysbiosis. Butyrate, a fermentation byproduct of gut microbiota, is negatively altered following acute ethanol exposure. This study aimed to determine whether kaempferol could protect against alcoholic liver injury (AALI) in mice by regulating tight junction (TJ) proteins and butyrate receptors and transporters in intestines. Male Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice were randomly divided into five treatment groups: control, ethanol administered (5 g/kg), and the low-, medium- and high-dosage kaempferol (25, 50, 100 mg/kg) treatments. Intestinal expression was evaluated for the TJ proteins ZO-1 and occludin and the butyrate receptor GPR109A and butyrate transporter SLC58A proteins, in addition to plasma ALT and AST levels and pathomorphological changes in liver and intestinal tissues. The expression of the TJ proteins ZO-1 and occludin, butyrate receptors, and butyrate transporters in the ileum and proximal colon decreased in AALI mice, while plasma ALT and AST levels markedly increased. Kaempferol supplementation reversed these effects. These results suggest that kaempferol could serve as a prophylactic treatment against AALI in mice by increasing the expression of butyrate receptors, transporters, and TJ proteins in the intestinal mucosa.

Time series analysis and spatial autocorrelation analysis of dengue data in China from 2011 to 2018 / 中华疾病控制杂志

Objective To understand the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of dengue fever in China from 2011 to 2018, and predict the incidence of dengue fever in China in 2019. Methods Based on the case data of dengue fever in China from 2011 to 2018 in the Chinese Disease Prevention and Control Information System, the trend of dengue fever was described and predicted by using the autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) with R 3.6.0 software. Based on the data of the incidence of dengue fever in the country, provinces and cities from 2011 to 2016 provided by the national scientific data sharing platform for population and health, global and local spatial autocorrelation analysis was performed using GeoDa 1.12 software to determine the dengue fever hotspots. Results The incidence of dengue fever was 14 302 in 2019, showing no disease outbreaks. The incidence of dengue fever in 2012(Moran’s I=-0.088, P=0.037), 2013(Moran’s I=-0.121, P=0.040) and 2014(Moran’s I=-0.076, P=0.045) showed a global spatial negatively correlaton. In 2016(Moran’s I=0.078, P=0.048), the incidence of dengue fever was positively correlated with global space. The results of local autocorrelation analysis showed that the high incidence of dengue fever was mainly in the southeast coastal areas of China. Conclusions In 2019, the epidemic of dengue fever in China showed no obvious fluctuation trend, and the epidemic situation showed spatial clustering distribution.

[Quantification of human ermap by using real-time FQ-PCR].

To develop a real-time FQ-PCR method for quantifying human ermap, a set of primers and a fluorescent probe were designed by primer express 2.0. pBluescriptSK(+) plasmid contained ermap cDNA was transcribed to generate calibration standards for quantification. A real time FQ-PCR method was established. The results showed that when the concentrations of DNA to be amplified were ranged from 1.725 x 10(7) to 1.725 x 10(10) cps/ml, there was a good correlation between template concentration and cycle threshold, and the correlation coefficient reached to -0.999376. In conclusion, real time FQ-PCR which is specific, sensitive and accurate can be used to further research on human ermap.