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Existing research on the agglomeration effect of urban roads mainly focuses on land use but ignores the differences between various locations, types, and directions of roads. Few studies have been conducted on the built buildings which can represent the actual utility, and land use as a kind of government authorization may not necessarily represent actual needs. This research provides an analytical framework and an empirical analysis to study the differences in impacts of different urban roads on land use and to identify its internal dynamic mechanism. Guangzhou, being the research object, is one of the five major central cities in China. By using the techniques of GIS and SPSS, together with the methods of corridor effect, correlation analysis, and geographic detector, we analyze the external characteristics of office buildings and land gathering along both sides of the roads, explore the urban characteristics of corridor effect, then analyze the relationship with urban traffic flow and bus network density in order to find out the internal motivation of corridor effect. The fundamental conclusion can be drawn that the corridor effect on the land used for commercial offices is mostly unnoticeable, and roads of different locations, types, and directions display various scope and intensity of corridor effects. The agglomeration power is mainly caused by private transportation and has no relationship with public transport. The article concludes the model of the corridor effect and provides some policy suggestions to the government in order to strengthen the linkage development of transportation and land and to promote the improvement of land use efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore the relationship among patient-specific SNPs from one SLE family, lupus susceptibility, and laboratory indicators in a western Chinese population. Methods: We previously performed whole exome sequencing in one SLE family and screened 5 SLE candidate SNPs. In this study, we verified them in 634 SLE patients and 400 healthy controls and analyzed the relationship between SNPs and laboratory indicators. Results: Among the 5 candidate SNPs, PHLDB1 rs7389T/G (dominant model, OR = 0.627, 95%CI = 0.480–0.820, P = 0.001) and WDFY4 rs7097397G/A (dominant model, OR = 0.653, 95%CI = 0.438–0.973, P = 0.035) were associated with SLE susceptibility. In addition, the G allele of rs7389 was related to an increased level of TNF-α (q = 0.013). The A allele of rs7097397 was related to reduced levels of IL-1β (q = 0.033) and IL-6 (q = 0.039) and high positive rate of antinuclear antibodies (q = 0.021). Conclusions: Our study indicated that both the rs7389T/G and rs7097397G/A polymorphisms were related to SLE susceptibility in western China. rs7389T/G was related to increased TNF-α content, while rs7097397G/A was associated with reduced IL-1β and IL-6 content and increased antinuclear antibody positive rate. Key Points • The G allele of rs7389 was related to reduced susceptibility to SLE. • The A allele of rs7097397 was associated with reduced susceptibility to SLE. • The G allele of rs7389 was related to increased levels of TNF-α. • The A allele of rs7097397 was related to decreased concentrations of IL-1β and IL-6, as well as an increased positive rate of antinuclear antibody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Madecassoside is the highest amount of triterpene constituent in Centella asiatica herbs, a frequently prescribed crude drug in southeastern Asian and China for wound healing and scar management. The present study aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential and underlying mechanisms of madecassoside on collagen II (CII)-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice. Madecassoside (10, 20 and 40mg/kg), orally administered from the day of the antigen challenge for twenty consecutive days, dose-dependently alleviated the severity of the disease based on the reduced clinical scores, and elevated the body weights of mice. Histopathological examination indicated that madecassoside alleviated infiltration of inflammatory cells and synovial hyperplasia as well as protected joint destruction. Moreover, madecassoside reduced the serum level of anti-CII IgG, suppressed the delayed type hypersensitivity against CII in ears, and moderately suppress CII-stimulated proliferation of lymphocytes from popliteal lymph nodes in CIA mice. In vitro, madecassoside was ineffective in the activation of macrophages caused by lipopolysaccharide. It was concluded that madecassoside substantially prevented mouse CIA, and might be the major active constituent of C. asiatica herbs responsible for clinical uses for rheumatoid arthritis. The underlying mechanisms of action may be mainly through regulating the abnormal humoral and cellular immunity as well as protecting joint destruction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Oral microbial dysbiosis is known to increase susceptibility of an individual to develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Individuals at-risk of RA may undergo different phases of disease progression. In this study, we aim to investigate whether and whereby the oral microbiome communities alter prior to symptoms of RA. Seventy-nine saliva samples were collected from 29 high-risk individuals, who were positive for anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) and have no clinical arthritis, 27 RA patients and 23 healthy controls (HCs). The salivary microbiome was examined using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Alpha and beta diversity analysis and the linear discriminant analysis were applied to examine the bacterial diversity, community structure and discriminatory taxa between three groups, respectively. The correlation between salivary bacteria and autoantibodies were analyzed. In the "pre-clinical" stages, salivary microbial diversity was significantly reduced comparing to RA patients and HCs. In contrast to HCs, like RA patients, individuals at high-risk for RA showed a reduction in the abundance of genus Defluviitaleaceae_UCG-011 and the species Neisseria oralis , but an expansion of Prevotella _6. Unexpectedly, the relative abundance of Porphyromonas gingivalis , reported as opportunistic pathogens for RA development, was significantly decreased in high-risk individuals. Additionally, we identified four genera in the saliva from high-risk individuals positively correlated with serum ACPA titers, and the other two genera inversely displayed. In summary, we observed a characteristic compositional change of salivary microbes in individuals at high-risk for RA, suggesting that oral microbiota dysbiosis occurs in the "pre-clinical" stage of RA and are correlated with systemic autoimmune features., (Copyright © 2020 Tong, Zheng, Qing, Zhao, Li, Su, Zhang, Zhao, Luo and Liu.)