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Objective: The association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and childhood asthma is unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the association between H. pylori and childhood asthma. Methods: A literature search, study selection, and data extraction were performed independently and in duplicate. Data were analyzed using STATA software. Results: Eighteen studies enrolling 17,196 children were analyzed. All studies were of moderate-to-high quality. Four studies subcategorized H. pylori infection according to CagA status. Overall, there was a significant negative association between H. pylori and risk for childhood asthma (OR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54–0.87; P = 0.002), with no/marginal publication bias identified by the Egger's test and the Begg's test (P = 0.162 and P = 0.198, respectively). The observed inverse association persisted for CagA(+) strains of H. pylori (OR = 0.58; 95% CI, 0.35–0.96; P = 0.034) but not for CagA(−) strains (OR = 0.52; 95% CI, 0.12–2.28; P = 0.387). There was no significant difference between studies with respect to study design, participant age, geographical region, and method of measuring H. pylori. Conclusion: The evidence suggests that H. pylori infection, particularly CagA(+) H. pylori infection, is inversely associated with the risk of childhood asthma. Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at publisher's website. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luffa is expected to become a substitute for mattress filling materials due to its natural biodegradability, light texture, good air permeability, higher water absorption, and desorption. In this paper, two-variety luffa cylinders (LCs) as mattress filling materials were investigated. The results showed that the compressive strength and plateau stress of both the high-density and low-density LCs significantly related to their density. However, the compressive strength and plateau stress of the high-density LCs were about 3 times that of the low-density LCs, while the firmness of the high-density luffa mattresses was no more than 3 times that of the low-density luffa mattresses. Furthermore, the compression treatment of the LCs has a great effect on the firmness of the luffa mattresses. The compressive treatment of the LCs to the densification stage increased the Dcore of the low-density luffa mattresses but decreased the Dcore of the high-density luffa mattress. The firmness of the low-density luffa mattress was lower than that of 3D jute, carvel jute, and palm mattresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The ubiquitously expressed nonhistone nuclear protein high‐mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) has different functions related to posttranslational modifications and cellular localization. In the nucleus, HMGB1 modulates gene transcription, replication and DNA repair as well as determines chromosomal architecture. When the post‐transcriptional modified HMGB1 is released into the extracellular space, it triggers several physiological and pathological responses and initiates innate immunity through interacting with its reciprocal receptors (i.e., TLR4/2 and RAGE). The effect of HMGB1‐mediated inflammatory activation on different systems has received increasing attention. HMGB1 is now considered to be an alarmin and participates in multiple inflammation‐related diseases. In addition, HMGB1 also affects the occurrence and progression of tumors. However, most studies involving HMGB1 have been focused on adults or mature animals. Due to differences in disease characteristics between children and adults, it is necessary to clarify the role of HMGB1 in pediatric diseases. Methods and Results: Through systematic database retrieval, this review aimed to first elaborate the characteristics of HMGB1 under physiological and pathological conditions and then discuss the clinical significance of HMGB1 in the pediatric diseases according to different systems. Conclusions: HMGB1 plays an important role in a variety of pediatric diseases and may be used as a diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for new strategies for the prevention and treatment of pediatric diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High somatic cell counts (SCCs) in milk significantly influence the quality of milk and give rise to substantial economic loss. The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of extreme heat and cold compared to other season and melatonin (MLT) on milk SCCs in Chinese crossbred (Nili-Ravi×Murrah) buffaloes. We collected the 1948 milk SCCs data records from 2012 to 2017 to explore the effect of different month in China on milk SCCs. Meanwhile, twenty buffaloes with relatively high milk SCCs were employed and randomly divided into two groups (T1 and T2, n=10 each group) to evaluate the effect of MLT treatment on milk SCCs, blood antioxidant activities and immune levels of buffaloes during summer in China. Results showed that the milk SCCs in high temperature seasons (July and August) and low temperature seasons (December, January and February) were significantly higher compared with other months (P<0.05). In summer, MLT treatment significantly reduced milk SCCs and increased the IgM and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels in plasma on day 1 after MLT treatment, and then both IgM and SOD levels were decreased significantly. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that environmental temperature stress (heat and cold) caused the higher milk SCCs and MLT treatment improved the quality of milk by reducing SCCs suggesting that MLT could improve immune activity in buffaloes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]