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Objective The orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 is an important factor regulating metabolism. Nur77 knockout mice become obese with age, but the cause of obesity in these mice has not been fully ascertained. We attempted to explain the cause of obesity in Nur77 knockout mice from the perspective of the gut microbiota and to investigate the inhibitory effect of calcipotriol combined with BRD9 inhibitor (iBRD9) on obesity. Methods Eight-week-old wild-type mice and Nur77 knockout C57BL/6J mice were treated with calcipotriol combined with iBRD9 for 12 weeks. Mouse feces were collected and the gut microbiota was assessed by analyzing 16S rRNA gene sequences. The bacterial abundance difference was analyzed, and the intestinal mucosal tight junction protein, antimicrobial peptide, and inflammatory cytokine mRNA levels of the colon and serum LPS and inflammatory cytokine levels were measured. Results Calcipotriol combined with iBRD9 treatment reduced the body weight and body fat percentage in Nur77 knockout mice. In the gut microbiota of Nur77 knockout mice, the relative abundances of Lachnospiraceae and Prevotellaceae decreased, and Rikenellaceae increased; while Rikenellaceae decreased after treatment (p p p p p Conclusions Calcipotriol combined with iBRD9 can regulate the gut microbiota, improve intestinal mucosal barrier function, reduce LPS absorption into the blood, and alleviate obesity in Nur77 knockout mice.

Objective Sarcopenia in older adults is closely related to vitamin D deficiency and reduced levels of physical activity, but little has been reported on the interaction between physical activity and the positive effects of vitamin D. The purpose of this study was to explore the interactive effect of vitamin D and physical activity on muscle mass and function through animal experiments and population surveys. Methods Male 4‐week‐old C57BL/6J mice were fed different purified diets: a vitamin D‐deficient diet (with increased calcium and phosphorus to prevent the effects of abnormal mineral levels on muscle) or a 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D)‐supplemented diet. After 24 weeks on the assigned diets, the mice were immobilized. The level of skeletal muscle atrophy in the mice was determined by grip strength, gastrocnemius (GA) muscle mass and muscle fiber cross‐sectional area (CSA); additionally, the protein expression levels of FOXO3a and the E3 ubiquitin ligases MuRF1 and MAFbx were detected. A cross‐sectional study included data from 4139 older adults (64.9% women, 67.9 ± 6.7 years) as part of a survey in Shenyang, Northeast China. The associations of serum 25(OH)D3 and physical activity with timed up and go test (TUG) performance, handgrip strength, calf circumference, and body muscle mass were assessed by a linear regression analysis that was adjusted for covariates. Results In activity‐limited mice, vitamin D deficiency accelerated the decrease in GA muscle weight, muscle fiber CSA, and grip strength and increased the protein expression of MuRF1, MAFbx, and FOXO3a (all P < 0.05). In addition, 1,25D supplementation may inhibit the grip‐strength reduction induced by limited activity (P = 0.069). Serum 25(OH)D3 and physical activity were linearly related to TUG time (P < 0.001) and handgrip strength (P < 0.05) after adjustment for sex, age, body mass index (BMI), education level, smoking status, and serum calcium level. Serum 25(OH)D3 and physical activity had interactive effects on TUG (P < 0.001) and handgrip strength (P < 0.05) but not calf circumference or body muscle mass in older adults. Conclusions The effect of vitamin D on muscle strength and physical performance depends on physical activity level in the elderly. It is recommended that older adults strive to avoid both physical inactivity and vitamin D deficiency. Because physical inactivity and vitamin D deficiency may exacerbate muscle atrophy, the biological mechanism may involve synergistic effects of vitamin D and physical activity on the promotion of muscle protein ubiquitination and degradation.

Aims/Introduction In the present meta‐analysis, we aimed to determine the effects of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT‐2i) in addition to insulin therapy on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes patients. Materials and Methods Randomized controlled trials were identified by searching the PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases published before September 2017. The intervention group received SGLT‐2i as add‐on treatment to insulin therapy, and the control group received placebos in addition to insulin. We assessed pooled data, including weighted mean differences and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using a random‐effects model. Results A total of 10 randomized controlled trials (n = 5,159) were eligible. The weighted mean differences for systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were −3.17 mmHg (95% CI −4.53, −1.80, I 2 = 0%) and −1.60 mmHg (95% CI −2.52, −0.69, I 2 = 0%) in the intervention groups. Glycosylated hemoglobin, fasting plasma glucose, postprandial glucose and daily insulin were also lower in the intervention groups, with relative weighted mean differences of −0.49% (95% CI −0.71, −0.28%, I 2 = 92%), −1.10 mmol/L (95% CI −1.69, −0.51 mmol/L, I 2 = 84%), −3.63 mmol/L (95% CI −4.36, −2.89, I 2 = 0%) and −5.42 IU/day (95% CI −8.12, −2.72, I 2 = 93%). The transformations of uric acid and bodyweight were −26.16 μmol/L (95% CI −42.14, −10.17, I 2 = 80%) and −2.13 kg (95% CI −2.66, −1.60, I 2 = 83%). The relative risk of hypoglycemia was 1.09 (95% CI 1.02, 1.17, P < 0.01). The relative risks of urinary tract and genital infection were 1.29 (95% CI 1.03, 1.62, P = 0.03) and 5.25 (95% CI 3.55, 7.74, P < 0.01). Conclusions The results showed that in the intervention group, greater reductions were achieved for blood pressure, glucose control, uric acid and bodyweight. This treatment regimen might therefore provide beneficial effects on the occurrence and development of cardiovascular events.

Feng Chen,1 Yingfang Wang,1 Yan Guo,1 Jiabei Wang,1 Aolin Yang,2 Qingqing Lv,2 Yixuan Liu,1 Guojing Ma,1 Ying Liu,3 Difei Wang11Department of Geriatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Nutrition, the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110122, People’s Republic of ChinaBackground and objective: Oxidative stress has been demonstrated to be a mechanism that leads to bone mass reduction, and according to many studies, serum uric acid (UA) is a strong endogenous antioxidant that can protect bone mineral density (BMD). To date, there have been no large-scale, cross-sectional studies based on the population in northeast China to assess the relationship between serum UA and BMD. Therefore, we examined the association between serum UA and BMD among a Chinese population older than 60years old in northeast China.Methods: This research was a cross-sectional study of 3465 Chinese individuals over 60years old in nine communities from the city of Shenyang, which is the capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province. Participants were stratified into three groups by serum UA or BMD levels, and then Pearson’s correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to study the relationship between serum UA and BMD.Results: We found that participants with higher serum UA levels had significantly greater BMD and T-values compared to those of participants with lower serum UA levels. After adjusting for confounding factors, Pearson’s correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis showed that higher serum UA levels remained associated with higher BMD levels (P

BACKGROUND In recent years, many studies on vitamin D have been published. We combed these data for hot spot analyses and predicted future research topic trends. MATERIAL AND METHODS Articles (4625) concerning vitamin D published in the past 3 years were selected as a study sample. Bibliographic Items Co-occurrence Matrix Builder (BICOMB) software was used to screen high-frequency Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and construct a MeSH terms-source article matrix and MeSH terms co-occurrence matrix. Then, Graphical Clustering Toolkit (gCLUTO) software was employed to analyze the matrix by double-clustering and visual analysis to detect the trends on the subject. RESULTS Ninety high-frequency major MeSH terms were obtained from 4625 articles and divided into 5 clusters, and we generated a visualized matrix and a mountain map. Strategic coordinates were established by the co-occurrence matrix of the MeSH terms based on the above classification, and the 5 clusters described above were further divided into 7 topics. We classified the vitamin D-related diseases into 12 categories and analyzed their distribution. CONCLUSIONS The analysis of strategic coordinates revealed that the epidemiological study of vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D-related diseases is a hot research topic. The use of vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of some diseases, especially diabetes, was found to have a significant potential future research value.

Flexible pressure sensors have played a great role in acquiring information from human and automatics because of their wide use in electronic skin, soft robot, human-machine interaction and so on. Among a variety of flexible pressure sensors, capacitive pressure sensor has many advantages like simple structure, insensitive to temperature and humidity, low power consumption, etc. It is easy to fabricate such kind of pressure sensor, nevertheless, how to improve its sensitivity to broaden the high effective application has been a hotspot issue in recent years. In this paper, a large amount of research outputs on sensitivity improvement have been reviewed for flexible capacitive pressure sensor, including the aspects from introduction of performance evaluation indicators, working principle, generally used materials and capacitor structures to the methods of how to improve the sensitivity of capacitive pressure sensors. Then, the effective ways to obtain high sensitivity of pressure sensors have been compared and the development trend of flexible capacitive pressure sensor is prospected. This paper aims to provide references for the further research on the efficient fabrication of flexible capacitive pressure sensors and effective usage of such sensors in high sensitivity requirements of application areas.