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Background Alterations in the intestinal microbiota may have a role in functional bowel disorders (FBDs) pathogenesis. Probiotics are widely used to improve intestinal dysbacteriosis in patients suffering from FBDs. Compared with probiotics, washed microbiota transplantation (WMT) could be a promising treatment for FBDs. We conducted a retrospective evaluation of both treatments using a propensity-score matching analysis (PSMA). Methods A total of 103 patients with FBDs (irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional constipation (FC), functional diarrhea (FDr), functional abdominal bloating (FAB)) were divided into a WMT group or probiotics group (taking probiotics capsules). The following information was matched for PSMA: age, sex, disease course, body mass index, anxiety, insomnia, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, as well as levels of D-lactate, diamine oxidase (DAO), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). IBF and symptoms were evaluated at the first and second hospitalizations. Prognostic factors were assessed by Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Results PSMA resulted in 34 matched pairs (11 IBS, 12 FC, 7 FDr, and 4 FAB in the probiotics group and 14 IBS, 13 FC, 5 FDr, and 2 FAB in the WMT group). WMT was better for improving symptoms in FBD patients than probiotics (P = 0.002). Significantly fewer patients with intestinal barrier damage were in the WMT group than the probiotics group (38.2% vs. 67.6%, P = 0.041). D-lactate levels were reduced significantly after WMT (P = 0.031) and were selected as the prognostic factor for FBDs (HR = 0.248, 95%CI 0.093–0.666, P = 0.006) by univariate Cox regression analysis. Conclusion WMT could improve symptoms and IBF in patients with FBDs. Increased D-lactate levels may predict a strong efficacy of WMT in these patients.

Field experiments of nitrogen (N) treatment at five different application rates (0, 75, 150, 225, and 300 kg ha−1) were conducted under pot-seedling mechanical transplanting (PMT) in 2018 and 2019. Two high-quality and high-yielding hybrids of indica rice, Huiliangyou 898 and Y Liangyou 900, were used in this study. The N nutrition index (NNI) and accumulated N deficit (Nand), used to assess the N nutrition status in real-time, were calculated for the indica cultivars under PMT with a critical nitrogen concentration (Nc) dilution model based on shoot dry matter (DM) during the whole rice growth stage. The relationships between NNI and Nand with relative yield (RY) were determined, and accurate N application schemes were developed for hybrids indica rice under PMT. The results indicated that high application rate of N-fertilizer significantly increased the concentrations of shoot DM and N in aboveground organs during the observed stages in the two cultivars for two years (P

Sirtuin-6 (SIRT6), a member of the sirtuins family of NAD ( +) dependent deacetylases, has been shown to have beneficial effects in ischemic stroke. However, the role of SIRT6 in intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) has not reported. We observed that SIRT6 expression was down-regulated in human ICH patients and down-regulated in ICH-induced rat cortical neurons. We subsequently found that SIRT6 overexpression reduced brain tissue damage and increased neuronal survival in the ICH model of rats and hemin-induced cortical neurons. Our further study found that overexpression of SIRT6 can reduce inflammatory response by down-regulating the expression of NF-kB and thus promote the recovery of neurological function in ICH animals. In conclusion, SIRT6 can inhibit the expression of NF-kB and plays a neuroprotective role in ICH by inhibiting the NF-kB-mediated inflammatory response.SIRT6 could be a novel therapeutic target for ICH.

Wetting-drying alternation irrigation (WDI) can harvest high grain yield under effective irrigation water saving conditions. However, the kernel cadmium (Cd) content usually exceeds the national standard of 0.20 mg Cd per kg kernel in WDI. Applying a passivating agent with high-efficient repairing capabilities could be a feasible approach to reduce Cd content lower than 0.20 mg·kg

The prediction skill of Arctic Oscillation (AO) in the decadal experiments with the Beijing Climate Center Climate System Model version 1.1 (BCC_CSM1.1) is assessed. As compared with the observations and historical experiments, the contribution of initialization for climate model to predict the seasonal scale AO and its interannual variations is estimated. Results show that the spatial correlation coefficient of AO mode simulated by the decadal experiment is higher than that in the historical experiment. The two groups of experiments reasonably reproduce the characteristics that AO indices are the strongest in winter and the weakest in summer. Compared with historical experiments, the correlation coefficient of the monthly and winter AO indices are higher in the decadal experiments. In particular, the correlation coefficient of monthly AO index between decadal hindcast and observation reached 0.1 significant level. Furthermore, the periodicity of the monthly and spring AO indices are achieved only in the decadal experiments. Therefore, the initial state of model is initialized by using sea temperature data may help to improve the prediction skill of AO in the decadal prediction experiments to some extent. Keywords: BCC_CSM1.1, Climate model, Decadal, Arctic oscillation, Hindcast

Patients with cirrhosis are known to develop small bowel mucosal lesions. However, the occurrence of mucosal lesions in patients with abnormal liver function test results in the absence of chronic liver disease has not been fully evaluated. This study aims to examine the association between small bowel endoscopic lesions and liver dysfunction in patients without confirmed chronic liver disease. Two hundred ninety six consecutive patients who met the selection criteria underwent capsule endoscopy. The severity of the small intestinal mucosal lesions was evaluated quantitatively using the Lewis scoring system, and hepatic dysfunction was evaluated using an algorithm-based combination scoring system with 8 individual serological markers. Small bowel lesions were observed in 121 patients (40.88%). Hepatic dysfunction was significantly more prevalent in patients with small bowel lesions than in those without lesions (33.1%; 40/121 and 5.7%; 10/175, respectively; P < .001). The mean serum ALT and AST levels were significantly higher in patients with small bowel lesions than in those without lesions (P = .007 and P = .004, respectively). The mean scores for AST to Platelet Ratio Index, Forns Index, S-Index, Fibrosis-4 Index and BARD were significantly higher in patients with small bowel lesions than those without lesions. The Lewis score significantly and positively correlated with the Forns Index (P = .008) and the FIB-4 Index (P = .006). There is a close correlation between small intestinal mucosal lesions and hepatic dysfunction. The severity of hepatic dysfunction is directly proportional to the severity of the small intestinal mucosal lesions in patients without confirmed chronic liver disease.

The radiotherapy as a local and regional modality is widely applied in treatment of glioma, but most glioblastomas are commonly resistant to irradiation treatment. It remains challengeable to seek out efficient strategies to conquer the resistance of human glioblastoma cells to radiotherapy. Leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains protein 1 (LRIG1) is a newly discovered tumor suppressor which involved in regulation of chemosensitivity in various human cancer cells. In the present study, we established a radioresistant U251 cell line (U251R) to investigate the role of LRIG1 in regulation of radiosensitivity in human glioblastoma cells. Significantly decreased expression level of LRIG1 and enhanced expression of EGFR and phosphorylated Akt were detected in U251R cells compared with the parental U251 cells. U251R cells exhibited an advantage in colony formation ability, which accompanied by remarkably reduced X-ray-induced γ-H2AX foci formation and cell apoptosis. LRIG1 overexpression significantly inhibited the colony formation ability of U251R cells and obviously enhanced X-ray-inducedγ-H2AX foci formation and cell apoptosis. In addition, up-regulated expression of LRIG1 suppressed the expression level of EGFR and phosphorylated Akt protein. Our results demonstrated that LRIG1 expression was related to the radiosensitivity of human glioblastoma cells and may play an important role in the regulation of cellular radiosensitivity of human glioblastoma cells through the EGFR/Akt signaling pathway.