Loureirin B protects against obesity via activation of adipose tissue ω3 PUFA-GPR120-UCP1 axis in mice.

Obesity and related metabolic disorders are worldwide epidemics. Current lifestyle interventions and drug treatment for obesity seem insufficient. Here, we show that Loureirin B (LB), a major flavonoid molecule extracted from Sanguis Draxonis, prevents diet-induced obesity and ameliorates concomitant metabolic abnormalities including fatty liver, insulin resistance and systemic inflammation in mice. Mechanistically, LB treatment increases the proportion of ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in brown adipose tissue (BAT) and white adipose tissue (WAT), which subsequently activates the key lipid sensor GPR120. In line with this, LB treatment promotes browning of WAT and activates BAT thermogenesis through upregulation of UCP1, a downstream effector of GPR120. Conversely, inhibition of GPR120 abolishes the thermogenic effect of LB in primary cultured brown adipocytes. Together, these results suggest that LB possesses anti-obesity property by enhancing adipose tissue thermogenesis via activation of ω3 PUFA-GPR120-UCP1 axis and holds promises for combating obesity and its related metabolic syndrome.

Changes in newly notified cases and control of tuberculosis in China: time-series analysis of surveillance data.

BACKGROUND: China has made progress in tuberculosis control, but this disease remains a burden in many regions of China. We performed time-series analysis to examine changes in the rates of newly notified and newly smear-positive cases of tuberculosis in different regions of China from 1997 to 2018 and assessed the effect of the current control program. METHODS: National and provincial notification data on tuberculosis from 1997 to 2018, which covers 31 provinces in the mainland of China, were extracted from the Chinese public health science data center. The annual percentage changes in newly notified and smear-positive cases were analyzed using a joinpoint regression method. RESULTS: There were 18 646 672 newly notified tuberculosis cases from 1997 to 2018, with the greatest number in 2005. A total of 6 605 414 of these cases (35.42%) were smear-positive cases. The number of newly notified cases in China overall decreased (96.88-59.27 cases per 100 000) significantly during the most recent years. The decline during this period ranged from -3.9% (95% CI -5.7 to -2.9) in the western region to -4.3% (95% CI -4.8 to -3.7) in the eastern region. Most provinces had significant declines in newly notified and smear-positive cases, whereas the decline of newly smear-positive cases in Xinjiang was about half of that observed during the same period in China overall (-4.1% vs -9.9%). In addition to disparities in annual percentage changes, the rate of newly notified cases was higher in the western region than in the eastern and central regions. CONCLUSIONS: The burden of tuberculosis has been on declining throughout China during recent years, but tuberculosis in western China continues to be a public health emergency that needs to be urgently addressed. Effective prevention and control strategies are needed for regions with high disease burdens and those with increasing or unchanging numbers of newly notified and smear-positive cases of tuberculosis.

Not Only Top-Down: The Dual-Processing of Gender-Emotion Stereotypes.

Is gender-emotion stereotype a "one-hundred percent" top-down processing phenomenon, or are there additional contributions to cognitive processing from background clues when they are related to stereotypes? In the present study, we measured the gender-emotion stereotypes of 57 undergraduates with a face recall task and found that, regardless of whether the emotional expressions of distractors were congruent or incongruent with targets, people tended to misperceive the fearful faces of men as angry and the angry faces of women as fearful. In particular, there was a significantly larger effect in the distractor-incongruent condition. The revised process-dissociation procedure analysis confirmed that both automatic and controlled processing have their own independent effects on gender-emotion stereotypes. This finding supports a dual-processing perspective on stereotypes and contributes to future research in both theory and methodology.

Screening of different sample types associated with sheep and cattle for the presence of nematophagous fungi in China.

A total of 1502 samples, including feces of sheep (793) and cattle (348), pasture soil (118), dung compost (147) and barn soil (96), were examined between October 2012 and August 2014 to discover potential strains of nematophagous fungi for the biological control of livestock-parasitic nematodes. These samples were collected from 87 sites located in 48 counties of 20 provinces (autonomous regions/municipalities) of China. Fungi were identified down to a species level. Four hundred and seventy-seven isolates, which were distributed in 8 genera and 28 taxa, were identified as nematophagous fungi. Nematode-trapping fungi included 17 species and one unidentified species of Arthrobotrys, two of Dactylella, Drechslerella dactyloides, and Duddingtonia flagrans. Five identified species and two unidentified species of endoparasitic fungi were isolated. The predominant species from all regions were Arthrobotrys oligospora, followed by Arthrobotrys musiformis, Arthrobotrys (Monacrosporium) thaumasiun, and Arthrobotrys (Monacrosporium) microscaphoides. Species with adhesive networks were the most frequently isolated. Among the endoparasitic fungi, Podocrella harposporifera (Harposporium anguillulae) was the most common species, followed by Harposporium lilliputanum and Harposporium arcuatum. Based on Shannon diversity index, the diversity levels of nematophagous fungi were relatively higher in samples associated with cattle, barn soil, and subtropical monsoon climate zone. Three species isolated from this study, namely, Duddingtonia flagrans, Arthrobotrys salina (Monacrosporium salinum), and Arthrobotrys oligospora var. sarmatica, are newly recorded in China, and 20 species (including one unidentified species) are newly recorded in sheep and cattle barn soils worldwide.